Edit: STOP READING THIS NOW! Go to www.secondapps.com/neogaf/ on your iPhone, iPod touch, click "+" to add to bookmarks, and "add to home screen". There, not so hard was it? And you now have the best app available.
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I wanted to get an idea of what kinds of non-gaming apps people are using, but it somehow doesn't feel like the iPhone thread is the right thread to be discussing them. The gaming side has a pretty strong one, but not one for other apps. This may get shot down as redundant, so I guess we'll see how this turns out. Hopefully we can get turned onto some apps that we would otherwise have missed, or get shown some bargains.
So what non-gaming apps are people using, or what non-gaming apps do people recommend?
Personally, I try to keep my apps pages down to four:
Page 1: Predominantly Apple apps
Page 2: Tools and toys
Page 3: Games
Page 4: reference and web-related apps.
This keeps me choosey, and really think about what I need.
Besides the default apps (I use Safari a LOT) I also use (sorry I can't recall all the prices):
Skype (free): I think this is really competent and streamlined. Works well, and looks way better than Fring.
Palringo (free): It's free, but I don't use it that much. I feel I need a messenging app, however, with MSN being my preferred service.
Darkness: This is an app that gives time for sunset and sunrise for any areas around the world (including a GPS current location). It also has times for moonrise and set, and moon phase. I mainly use this to keep track of the sun and moon for photography purposes. Fro bjango (makers of istat). I really like this app, although I preferred the version 1 style layout.
Air Sharing: I got this when it was free. It's basically a portable drive app. Since I don't have data, I use it to carry pdfs of my bus schedule, plus some other documents. They've released a pro version too, but it didn't seem to give me anything I need.
iStat (US$1.99): Shows memory usage plus a memory dumper for iPhone. Also can link with a Mac (running a server app) to report processor, network usage, fan temps etc. From bjango/islayer makers of iStat for Mac.
DSLR Remote (US$9.99 introductory -> $19.99): an app that can connect with a computer connected to compatible Canon DSLRs for semi-remote shooting (the camera still has to be tethered to a computer on the same network). It doesn't do anything that the EOS utility couldn't do, but it's straight forward, and can forward a liveview to your phone. It feels more responsive than the computer too. Adjustable exposure and capture settings (not focus, though). In future, they may arrange a method that can skip the computer.
Brushes: A finger painting app. It works well, but is really simple, which I think is the appeal. It actually records all strokes, so you can watch them as a movie (when exported using the Brushes viewer for Mac). The NewYorker has a cover painted exclusively using this app.
by Goro Fajita
by Neco
by Xoan Baltar
Flickr group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/brushes/pool/
PhotoGene: Basically a mini photoshop for your iPhone photos. Has a few filters and frames, adjust contrast saturation etc. It's ok. It's hard to edit, because while photos look good on the screen, they can still look naff when uploaded to a computer.
PhotoBuddy: Just some useful tools for photography, such as colour temperature chart, DOF calculator, sun and moon calc and other stuff. It's just a nice layout that uses a lot of the iPhone apis.
PhotoBoard: a multitouch mini 'MS Surface' for making collages and stuff. It's fun to play with, but you can export an image at highish res. Tends to choke with too many images, however.
Flashlight (free?): I don't know why I have this, as Safari can act as a pretty decent flashlight should you really need one. I kept it around as a way of making coloured highlights for photography, but I've only ever used it in that capacity once.
Converter (99c): Simple, and I like the layout. Could be a bit faster.
Molecules (free): A VERY simple 3D molecule viewer. Can connect and download pdb files, but it struggles with proteins. More just a toy.
SpeakEasy: I tried a lot of voice recorders, and I liked the design of this one the most. It actually keeps recorded files within itself, which get backed up during the iPhone backup. An app on your pc can extract the files from that backup. I'll probably delete this when 3.0 rolls around, because I don't really want redundant apps, even though I think this is probably nicer than Apple's.
Classics($1.99?): A fancily presented ebook reader for a selection of public domain classics. I just like the app. I don't think I've actually read anything completely on it, however.
Google (free): I don't really use this either, but I think it's a nice app. Consolidates a bunch of google things (mostly that I don't use).
Wikipanion: (free?) A nice wiki viewer. I think it was free. Good layout, and nice to just quickly reference something.
WordBook: My dictionary of choice. I kind of want to use Dictionary.com app (which is free), but since I paid for this, and it does what I need most of the time, it's ok. Has user settable links, so you can forward words to wiki, other dictionaries or whatever.
NeoGAF webapp: Pretty much a staple. God, this is awesome.
Dianhua (free): a free Chinese-English dictionary. I'm always on the lookout for a good dictionary.
Japanese (US$9.99?). I got this when it was free, but it's a really good app.
Speed Test (free): a network speed tester with selectable servers. I think this one is the best. But I like to have a second opinion sometimes...
SpeedTest (ad-supported free): Another one. It's simple and clean. I had iNetwork, but since these two do a better job, I deleted iNetwork, even though I paid for it.
Shazam (free): Song identifier. I keep this around for novelty. I don't really use it much, parrtially because I don't always have a network. It works pretty well, records about 12 seconds, uploads it to the server for comparison and returns very accurate results with links to iTunes. I actually sent a rendition of the Star Wars theme, and it gave me the correct version from the correct album!
I just noticed Air Mouse Pro was also on sale for US$1.99. I probably won't get it though. I spend too much on apps.
-----------------------------
I wanted to get an idea of what kinds of non-gaming apps people are using, but it somehow doesn't feel like the iPhone thread is the right thread to be discussing them. The gaming side has a pretty strong one, but not one for other apps. This may get shot down as redundant, so I guess we'll see how this turns out. Hopefully we can get turned onto some apps that we would otherwise have missed, or get shown some bargains.
So what non-gaming apps are people using, or what non-gaming apps do people recommend?
Personally, I try to keep my apps pages down to four:
Page 1: Predominantly Apple apps
Page 2: Tools and toys
Page 3: Games
Page 4: reference and web-related apps.
This keeps me choosey, and really think about what I need.
Besides the default apps (I use Safari a LOT) I also use (sorry I can't recall all the prices):
Skype (free): I think this is really competent and streamlined. Works well, and looks way better than Fring.
Palringo (free): It's free, but I don't use it that much. I feel I need a messenging app, however, with MSN being my preferred service.
Darkness: This is an app that gives time for sunset and sunrise for any areas around the world (including a GPS current location). It also has times for moonrise and set, and moon phase. I mainly use this to keep track of the sun and moon for photography purposes. Fro bjango (makers of istat). I really like this app, although I preferred the version 1 style layout.
Air Sharing: I got this when it was free. It's basically a portable drive app. Since I don't have data, I use it to carry pdfs of my bus schedule, plus some other documents. They've released a pro version too, but it didn't seem to give me anything I need.
iStat (US$1.99): Shows memory usage plus a memory dumper for iPhone. Also can link with a Mac (running a server app) to report processor, network usage, fan temps etc. From bjango/islayer makers of iStat for Mac.
DSLR Remote (US$9.99 introductory -> $19.99): an app that can connect with a computer connected to compatible Canon DSLRs for semi-remote shooting (the camera still has to be tethered to a computer on the same network). It doesn't do anything that the EOS utility couldn't do, but it's straight forward, and can forward a liveview to your phone. It feels more responsive than the computer too. Adjustable exposure and capture settings (not focus, though). In future, they may arrange a method that can skip the computer.
Brushes: A finger painting app. It works well, but is really simple, which I think is the appeal. It actually records all strokes, so you can watch them as a movie (when exported using the Brushes viewer for Mac). The NewYorker has a cover painted exclusively using this app.
by Goro Fajita
by Neco
by Xoan Baltar
Flickr group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/brushes/pool/
PhotoGene: Basically a mini photoshop for your iPhone photos. Has a few filters and frames, adjust contrast saturation etc. It's ok. It's hard to edit, because while photos look good on the screen, they can still look naff when uploaded to a computer.
PhotoBuddy: Just some useful tools for photography, such as colour temperature chart, DOF calculator, sun and moon calc and other stuff. It's just a nice layout that uses a lot of the iPhone apis.
PhotoBoard: a multitouch mini 'MS Surface' for making collages and stuff. It's fun to play with, but you can export an image at highish res. Tends to choke with too many images, however.
Flashlight (free?): I don't know why I have this, as Safari can act as a pretty decent flashlight should you really need one. I kept it around as a way of making coloured highlights for photography, but I've only ever used it in that capacity once.
Converter (99c): Simple, and I like the layout. Could be a bit faster.
Molecules (free): A VERY simple 3D molecule viewer. Can connect and download pdb files, but it struggles with proteins. More just a toy.
SpeakEasy: I tried a lot of voice recorders, and I liked the design of this one the most. It actually keeps recorded files within itself, which get backed up during the iPhone backup. An app on your pc can extract the files from that backup. I'll probably delete this when 3.0 rolls around, because I don't really want redundant apps, even though I think this is probably nicer than Apple's.
Classics($1.99?): A fancily presented ebook reader for a selection of public domain classics. I just like the app. I don't think I've actually read anything completely on it, however.
Google (free): I don't really use this either, but I think it's a nice app. Consolidates a bunch of google things (mostly that I don't use).
Wikipanion: (free?) A nice wiki viewer. I think it was free. Good layout, and nice to just quickly reference something.
WordBook: My dictionary of choice. I kind of want to use Dictionary.com app (which is free), but since I paid for this, and it does what I need most of the time, it's ok. Has user settable links, so you can forward words to wiki, other dictionaries or whatever.
NeoGAF webapp: Pretty much a staple. God, this is awesome.
Dianhua (free): a free Chinese-English dictionary. I'm always on the lookout for a good dictionary.
Japanese (US$9.99?). I got this when it was free, but it's a really good app.
Speed Test (free): a network speed tester with selectable servers. I think this one is the best. But I like to have a second opinion sometimes...
SpeedTest (ad-supported free): Another one. It's simple and clean. I had iNetwork, but since these two do a better job, I deleted iNetwork, even though I paid for it.
Shazam (free): Song identifier. I keep this around for novelty. I don't really use it much, parrtially because I don't always have a network. It works pretty well, records about 12 seconds, uploads it to the server for comparison and returns very accurate results with links to iTunes. I actually sent a rendition of the Star Wars theme, and it gave me the correct version from the correct album!
I just noticed Air Mouse Pro was also on sale for US$1.99. I probably won't get it though. I spend too much on apps.
