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[FerranMG]

I'm gonna throw in a few apps I use and that I swear by them:

- Browser: iCab, both for iPhone and iPad. I've tried a plethora of other browsers: Safari, Sleipnir, Dolphin, and I always come back to iCab. It has a great balance of performance and usability. I remember Sleipnir rendered pages faster, but it's UI was too cluttered. I'll try again Safari for the iPad now that it's been updated with tabs, though.

- Calendar: Calvetica. You know, it has no rival. It's fast, it's extremely usable, it's beautiful, has awesome support. I truly love it. Plus, it's universal.

- RSS: I use Reeder on the iPhone, and Pulse on the iPad. Reeder is close to perfection in the iPhone, but I like a more visual way to see the feeds in the iPad given the bigger screen. Pulse has improved quite a bit from some time ago since now. More stable and faster to load the feeds. I've also used Byline in the iPhone (it's free with non-intrusive ads and does its job very well), and Flux (similar to Pulse, but with a less friendly interface).

- Twitter: Tweetbot on the iPhone, Twitter on the iPad (I love its slick interface). However, I use Hootsuite to post at the same time in Facebook and Twitter.

- To-do list: I've been using the Reminders app in iOS5 and it's pretty good. I used before Put Things Off, which was also awsome, but it lacked reminders. It's not an absolute requirement for me, so I'm still getting a feel of the iOS5 Remidners app and will see how it suits me.
I also use Wunderlist, but only to share lists with my girlfriend. I used to like it a lot, but it's buggy as hell and I've already given up waiting for the devs to make it more stable.

- Notes: Simplenote. It's very simple, but great, and keeps all my notes synched between iPhone and iPad.

- Camera: I use Instagram as my de facto camera app. It got a huge facelift a few weeks ago, and it's now very fast and has higher resolution for the pictures (my two main gripes with the previous version).

- I've used Read it later for a long time because it was once 0.79€, opposed to Instapaper being 4€. It's good, but I'm growing tired of it's interface, and I think it also lacks some functionalities. I'm actually thinking of trying Instapaper. Maybe someone who has tried both can write a few pros and cons of each one.


I think that's it.

 

[Pachterballs]

after posting in the 4S thread, then here...; i tend went to itunes on the phone. and grabbed a selection of apps that filled in the gaps for the genres. Gotta say; if you look at their top of the app store and go across the ranges; you'll end up with a pretty boss selection of apps for the phone. I now have 8 pages of apps with a fair few games and my iphone 64gb is still under half full.

 

[flyover]

New Instapaper looks hot.

http://www.marco.org/2011/10/17/instapaper-4-released

It is nice! Love that app.

 

[Pachterballs]

one thing I don't like about twitter (default) is I can't retweet with comment with it - unless I'm missing something? I'm using echofone pro *admittedly I haven't used it much but it went on sale for $0.99 so I bought it. I also use twitterific which is pretty great.

 

[Gaaraz]

Wow, great list Ferrang! Thank you. Will tweak the OP some more later to reflect some of those recommendations iCab certainly looks a lot better than Atomic Browser, but unfortunately I'm going to find it hard to recommend any browser without the brilliant 'Reader' functionality now in Safari.

New Instapaper looks simply incredible, but yet again it's really starting to emphasise the difference between the iPhone and the iPad. I always used to think to myself "meh, I don't need an iPad, it's basically just a bigger iPhone" which at one point I'd say was certainly the case. But not any more.

Instapaper for iPad = gorgeous and useful. Instapaper for iPhone = ugly and meh.

 

[Vilix]

Best stalking app.

You guys need to go read the reviews it's getting at the App Store. Some are very interesting and hilarious.

 

[dream]

I've been playing with Instapaper 4.0 all morning and it's an incredible update. So much so that I actually emailed Marco just to say thanks.

 

[Utako]

Instapaper's dictionary and scrollbar interfaces are better than iOS's!

It's my most-used media app. It is brilliant and it needs to get in the OP, stat.

 

[Gaaraz]

Pardon my ignorance but what is the appeal of it? Especially with Reader now integrated into Safari. I know the offline things could be useful, maybe it's for people without 3G etc?

 

[flyover]

Pardon my ignorance but what is the appeal of it? Especially with Reader now integrated into Safari. I know the offline things could be useful, maybe it's for people without 3G etc?

I have an iPod Touch, so I'm offline a lot. Instapaper's very nice to have for those times. I also like it, because I'll save articles from work (where I don't have Safari) and read them at home that night. I also like that, since I've been using it for so long, I have an archive of things I've read and want to revisit.

 

[345triangle]

instapaper is probably my favourite app. marco is a king.

i mainly use it so that i always have something to read on my wi-fi ipad, but i use it a bunch on my phone as well. even if i have time to read something, i'll usually stick it into instapaper first anyway just because the reading experience is so much nicer and i like to have things archived.

 

[Magnus]

I wasn't able to get an answer in the iOS thread itself (maybe because no one honestly knows), so I'll ask here.

I live in Canada and have a plan that enables unlimited text messaging to/from Canada, and picture/video messaging subject to data rates, also unlimited in quantity with other Canadians.

Does anyone know if iMessage strictly uses data when communicating with other iMessage users, instead of one's text plan? I'm specifically wondering if my communication with other iMessage users in the States/internationally will now just use data instead of billing me on a per message basis as in the past.

Like...I guess a more general version of my question is....does iMessage to iMessage now completely reside within the realm of data, or do text rates still apply?

I hate being dinged $0.10 - $0.25 for every single US text I sent or received. It adds up so fast, and it's so lame to tell my American amigos to FB or e-mail me instead.

 

[Marty Chinn]

I wasn't able to get an answer in the iOS thread itself (maybe because no one honestly knows), so I'll ask here.

I live in Canada and have a plan that enables unlimited text messaging to/from Canada, and picture/video messaging subject to data rates, also unlimited in quantity with other Canadians.

Does anyone know if iMessage strictly uses data when communicating with other iMessage users, instead of one's text plan? I'm specifically wondering if my communication with other iMessage users in the States/internationally will now just use data instead of billing me on a per message basis as in the past.

Like...I guess a more general version of my question is....does iMessage to iMessage now completely reside within the realm of data, or do text rates still apply?

Strictly data.

 

[Magnus]

Strictly data.

Fucking amazing. THANK YOU!

 

[hyp]

one thing I don't like about twitter (default) is I can't retweet with comment with it - unless I'm missing something? I'm using echofone pro *admittedly I haven't used it much but it went on sale for $0.99 so I bought it. I also use twitterific which is pretty great.

canʻt you just choose the "Quote Tweet" option and enter comments that way? thatʻs what i do.

 

[Meier]

Flipboard looks great.. I'll have to jump on that. Camera+ is pretty awesome. Agree with the Instagram recommendation.. just a really fun app. I haven't used Hipstamatic in ages. You don't even have to edit your photos with Instagram -- it's just a nice way to share them.

Tweetie/Twitter for iPhone has been AWFUL since the iOS5 update. It loads my timeline so god damn slow now and is taking forever to post things half the time. I may end up going to another client which would be kind of sad since I've used it for years now.

GroupMe was a pretty cool way to "text" a lot of people with data but it feels kinda useless now with iMessage.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Fucking amazing. THANK YOU!

Blue message = iMessage
Green message = SMS

Be careful

 

[Sye d'Burns]

Wow, great list Ferrang! Thank you. Will tweak the OP some more later to reflect some of those recommendations iCab certainly looks a lot better than Atomic Browser, but unfortunately I'm going to find it hard to recommend any browser without the brilliant 'Reader' functionality now in Safari.

While it is a good list, I'm curious as to why it looks not just better but a lot better to you than atomic? My experience has been that atomic renders faster, is more stable on the whole and has a better functioning ad-blocking filter.

I'm just curious as to on what criteria your determination was made.

 

[Magnus]

Blue message = iMessage
Green message = SMS

Be careful

Totally. The worst is, I had iMessage/iOS5 early on release day, and my US friends didn't. I'm looking back now and realizing I messaged them before they upgraded, so all those messages will likely be billed as international texts, haha.

Starting today, I choose a contact, and let it sit for 2-3 seconds to let iMessage load if the other user has it. Sometimes as I'm typing a message out to someone, the green Send button changes to blue, so I imagine it takes a few seconds for the network to check for iOS5 on the recipient's end.

 

[Pachterballs]

so now's there's a instagramclone called hipster which essentially allows a "filterised" image with big fat text+card options to go with your image - its not bad. I uploaded my 1st today.

That app name is sure to raise some neogaf eyebrows.

 

[Meier]

Can you edit photos with instagram or just share them?

You can only use filters on them.. no cropping, etc. outside of just zooming in. If you want to actually edit your photos, get Camera+. It's editing tools and filters are fairly extensive for only being $0.99. I'd say it's an absolute must have app. I relagated the standard Camera to a folder on the second page in lieu of Camera+.

 

[sotodefonk]

splashtop remote desktop works wonderfully, better than log me in for me, even to watch video in realtime if you are on the same network) and you can use your gmail account and it will automatically find you without you entering IPs and ports....

also it is available to ipad/iphone and android and touchpad, and it only cost 1.99 bucks.

 

[polg]

Lots of debate still going on about news readers, so maybe time for a poll? Feedly/Pulse/Reeder?

Also curious to hear peoples opinion on the notes app - any objections to me putting AwesomeNote as the recommended one? Not used anything that comes close. Maybe EverNote as a free alternative, but mehhh

I'll install the other ones and compare. I really like Pulse.

I use Evernote to take notes in my meetings.

 

[PhoncipleBone]

splashtop remote desktop works wonderfully, better than log me in for me, even to watch video in realtime if you are on the same network) and you can use your gmail account and it will automatically find you without you entering IPs and ports....

also it is available to ipad/iphone and android and touchpad, and it only cost 1.99 bucks.

Thank you. Will have to try that one.

Any other cheap remote desktop apps that work with ios and osx?

 

[Gaaraz]

@ Instapaper fans - thank you, it's going into the OP right away, please let me know if the description is misleading, as personally I don't think I'll get anything out of it, let alone enough to spend £3 on it. But in the right circumstances it seems like an incredibly useful app!

@ Sye - I meant purely in terms of aesthetics, it looks a lot nicer. Have to say I didn't find Atomic Browser to be particularly faster than Safari either. It had lots of great features, but the full screen mode (which frankly is quite fiddly) and the two finger swipe gestures (back/forward, top/bottom of page) are the only things that make it stand out for me. But the 'Reader' functionality in Safari and the speed of it mean it's hard to drop for anything else.

@ soto - Okay. That looks pretty incredible. Going straight to the top of the remote desktop connection apps, purely because it seems to do what LogMeIn can do for a fraction of the price.

@ polg - thank you, would be interested to hear your thoughts. To me Pulse is maybe a bit too cluttered/confusing as there's so much going on each screen, and in the same respect Reeder is just far too boring/dull/unintuitive. I think Evernote is great as a very simple note taking tool, but it's very hard to organise those notes, unlike with AwesomeNote (which unfortunately isn't free)

 

[Sye d'Burns]

@ Sye - I meant purely in terms of aesthetics, it looks a lot nicer. Have to say I didn't find Atomic Browser to be particularly faster than Safari either. It had lots of great features, but the full screen mode (which frankly is quite fiddly) and the two finger swipe gestures (back/forward, top/bottom of page) are the only things that make it stand out for me. But the 'Reader' functionality in Safari and the speed of it mean it's hard to drop for anything else.

Ah, you meant aesthetics! I'm going to have to upgrade to ios5!

I haven't experienced the full-screen being fiddly in atomic. I don't use the two finger swipes, preferring instead to use the translucent buttons. Three up and three down work well enough for me though.

I don't really think atomic is faster than Safari, I was talking about iCab. Ultimately, I'm not sure I could go back to using safari on my phone. There just isn't enough real estate to allow for all space the task bars take.

You should mention in your section about goodreader that it plays any file that iOS can handle. While it does exceptionally well with pdfs, as I mentioned earlier, I have gained the most use out of its abilities to play audio files.

 

[Gaaraz]

Thanks, have updated the OP! Do you use it with Dropbox to push music files to your device then? Or can GoodReader exclusively do that somehow?

And good points on Atomic Browser, and yes the translucent buttons were pretty neat infact... if they implement an equivalent to Reader I can definitely see me using it, but it's such a treat to be able to view articles in such a great interface now (yes, in hindsight I should've got Instapaper years ago!) that I've been quite spoilt and struggle to go back to reading articles on a mobile web browser. Think I'll add it into the OP, but unsure whether Safari or Atomic Browser (or even iCab? seems very popular on MacRumours anyhow) should be the number one recommendation... would welcome opinions! Thank you

 

[Sye d'Burns]

Thanks, have updated the OP! Do you use it with Dropbox to push music files to your device then? Or can GoodReader exclusively do that somehow?

And good points on Atomic Browser, and yes the translucent buttons were pretty neat infact... if they implement an equivalent to Reader I can definitely see me using it, but it's such a treat to be able to view articles in such a great interface now (yes, in hindsight I should've got Instapaper years ago!) that I've been quite spoilt and struggle to go back to reading articles on a mobile web browser. Think I'll add it into the OP, but unsure whether Safari or Atomic Browser (or even iCab?) should be the number one recommendation... would welcome opinions! Thank you

You can transfer using dropbox, idisk, box and probably others. I usually mount it as a network drive or just go to the ip address in my browser on my desktop to move files or folders over that way.

How do I transfer files to/from GoodReader?

 

[Gaaraz]

Ah that's pretty cool, thank you! Will probably buy the app tbh

Another neat app, from the makers of 'Do it (tomorrow)' is Everyday Notes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/everyday-notes/id471314219?mt=8

 

[strata8]

You can transfer using dropbox, idisk, box and probably others. I usually mount it as a network drive or just go to the ip address in my browser on my desktop to move files or folders over that way.

How do I transfer files to/from GoodReader?

Just to add to this, you can also transfer files to it using iTunes.

 

[NZer]

I'm gonna throw in a few apps I use and that I swear by them:

- I've used Read it later for a long time because it was once 0.79€, opposed to Instapaper being 4€. It's good, but I'm growing tired of it's interface, and I think it also lacks some functionalities. I'm actually thinking of trying Instapaper. Maybe someone who has tried both can write a few pros and cons of each one.

Me too!

A question about instapaper:

if you archive, is it permanently downloaded and stored, or stored in the cloud somewhere? Or does it redownload and 'repaper' it, so if the original source goes, it's gone?

Because I'm considering switching over from ReaditLater (which I used because instapaper doesn't have an android app), which seems to sucks for archiving. (Or possibly I don't know how to use it, but certainly isn't perfect.)

 

[Rekwest]

Get 50GB of free cloud storage with BOX for iOS http://t.co/0KZkkLUs
Just register with the free app.

 

[nataku]

Anyone have a recommended password manager app? Preferably free, if possible. I have way too many logins on random sites that I can never remember the passwords for.

 

[frogg609]

Anyone have a recommended password manager app? Preferably free, if possible. I have way too many logins on random sites that I can never remember the passwords for.

Could try out MiniKeePass. I use it with dropbox so I can also view my passwords and all on my desktop.

 

[Blackhead]

What are the best 'exhibition' apps? Apps that look good and auto-update in landscape or portrait while the iPad is displayed on a stand.

 

[Trojita]

So is Camera+ worth getting?

 

[chronos4590]

Best App for finding Food is Ness. Look at that interface. So beautiful and its free

 

[Blackhead]

So is Camera+ worth getting?

Yes. Shame you can't make it the default camera app.

 

[Baconbitz]

splashtop remote desktop works wonderfully, better than log me in for me, even to watch video in realtime if you are on the same network) and you can use your gmail account and it will automatically find you without you entering IPs and ports....

also it is available to ipad/iphone and android and touchpad, and it only cost 1.99 bucks.

Besides the app is there anything else I have to buy for this to work?

 

[AbsoluteZero]

So what do you guys like between RedLaser and Bakodo for barscan scannings?

 

[X-Frame]

Get 50GB of free cloud storage with BOX for iOS http://t.co/0KZkkLUs
Just register with the free app.

I'm always skeptical at things that seem too good to be true.

Is there a catch for this? You just sign up, make an account with the free app .. get your storage then delete the app and you're good?

 

[nataku]

I'm always skeptical at things that seem too good to be true.

Is there a catch for this? You just sign up, make an account with the free app .. get your storage then delete the app and you're good?

If it's like the Touchpad version of the free account you're limited to 100MB files sizes.

It used to be a 1GB file size limit back when I signed up for my free account on the Touchpad, but they did away with that pretty quickly after the whole firesale.

 

[Yaboosh]

Besides the app is there anything else I have to buy for this to work?

Nope. But it cant wake your pc from sleep and requires a client on the pc.

 

[sotodefonk]

Nope. But it cant wake your pc from sleep and requires a client on the pc.

Also, if you leave password locked your PC, you can connect and type the password, even if you just turned on the PC:
1. Turn on PC
2. Connect, put password and get disconnected
3. Wait a seconds until the streamer is loaded
4. Connect again

 

[Koodo]

Koodo -- I have TrueHDR .. is that basically the same as ProHDR?

Just checked and it seems to be the same concept (a merging tool) with similar features (auto, manual, library pictures), so yeah!

 

[chickdigger802]

I'd throw procamera on that list as well.

It did most of the camera + stuff first, yet it also has the ability to do video as well (which camera+ can't). You can also change the quality of video which the default camera app can't (a must for 16gb iphone 4s owners. 1080p video takes up a ton of room).

 

[Gaaraz]

That is a great feature tbh, I cannot believe Apple force the video recorder to 1080p... would be wasted on a lot of people, and like you said uses a crazy amount of storage. Will check it out and add it to the OP!

Another great new app is 500px, for viewing stunning photos from around the world - http://itunes.apple.com/app/500px/id471965292

 

[chickdigger802]

Would love if the TC split the OP to iphone and ipad.

The best ___ app on iphone might not be the best one for ipad.

 

[Gaaraz]

I don't have an iPad so it'd be very tricky for me to do that unfortunately. If anyone else wants to take over I'd be more than happy with that though.

 

[Vagabundo]

Does that remote desktop app work with ubuntu?

What protocal does it work with. I assume it is microsoft remote desktop (RDP)? I didn't know their was an implementation for OSX.