iPhone: Being a Cheap-Ass App User
So, you’ve bought your $300 phone, signed up for thousands of dollars in subscription fees from AT&T, and you have your iPhone. Now you want it to do more shit, but you’re completely without funds as you just sold a kidney and all of your hair to buy the phone itself. This is understandable.
You silly, bald, kidney-less sap.
Never fear, for I am here to point out the apps that you can get for free and that will help you justify a $300 phone that hangs up if you touch the mouthpiece while talking. So here are a few applications:
Mobile News: AP news feed from around the world with local stories, a variety of subjects, and photos/video. This is the application to use to stay informed on the go. Sometimes is finicky about auto-updating, but you can force it to manually.
The New York Times: Almost as good as Mobile News. Both are free, so it doesn’t hurt to keep both. If you want just one, take Mobile News.
AOL Radio: Streaming internet radio on your iPhone. Huge number of stations. Good sound quality. Low level of advertising. Get it.
Stanza: A great ebook reader which also gives you anywhere access to free libraries of hundreds and hundreds of volumes (1984, all of H.P. Lovecrafts works, The Time Machine, Les Miserables, and a bunch of others). Compatible with a huge number of ebook formats. Any of those books you see on iTunes for $0.99 you can get for free with this, and all under one application.
BoxOffice: Uses GPS coordinates to find theatres near you, movies available, then gives you access to trailers and ratings courtesy of the metareview site of your choice. Fantastic application.
Flashlight: Contrary to popular belief (or at least the DGR show), the $1 flashlight app is not the only one out there. This is free, offers a number of shades, intensities, and strobe effects. Enjoy.
People: Full white pages access anywhere with a fairly robust search engine. Kind of a no-brainer for a phone.
Shakespeare: All of his works. 1 app. No cost.
As far as games go, I’ve found a couple to recommend after John’s sated his Aurora Feint fetish. None of these are going to beat out titles on the DS or the PSP, but then you’re not paying for any of these, either. You cheap bastard.
Tris: Touch-based Tetris. For free. With online leaderboards. The touch-based controls take some getting used to, but beyond that this is about as flawless as it gets for a free game.
Othello: Pure strategy. Turn it to hard to feel like an idiot. No save game feature, unfortunately. Will pause for incoming calls/etc. but you can’t leave the application and come back to your game.
Sudoku Free: A very robust free version of the game. Tons of puzzles. Lots of difficulty variation. Perfect for a commute or a lunch break. Good savegame feature and decent hint system.
Labyrinth LE: The free version of a pay game gives you the first ten boards. Basically it’s the iPhone version of those wooden tilt-mazes for marbles you had as a kid. Hold the phone flat and tilt it around to move the ball, and avoid the holes. Great for showing apps off to others, as this is one of those instant pick up and play games. Fair amount of longevity and challenge for a demo.
There you go, a dozen cool things to do with your phone that you don’t have to pay a dime for. All of these can be searched for by name on the App Store and immediately picked up for free. Stay tuned, as I’m hopelessly addicted to the App Store and will be providing continuous updates on new cool widgets to shove into your phone. At least a couple of them will be useful. Promise.
August 26th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Thanks for the heads up on People. That thing is awesome!
I’d also like to recommend Shazam. It’s a neat little tool that identifies any song playing and links you to iTunes to purchase it. You simply hold your phone up to the speaker, wait a few seconds, and SHAZAM! Pretty awesome.
August 26th, 2008 at 11:25 am
This is a great article. I have yet to try out People but the free Sudoku and Stanza are fantastic new finds. Thanks!
August 26th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Grab Tris while you can, it’s getting pulled tomorrow since the tetris company is seeking legal action agents the developer. Around this time tomorrow it will be pulled so grab it while you can. (tris is better than the EA Tetris BTW)
August 26th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Great article.
Might I also recommend…
Urbanspoon: Kind of a roulette wheel of where to eat out.
Facebook app: Decently robust. Write on walls, upload photos from your phone, chat, facebook inbox, mini-feeds.
Pandora Radio: Streaming radio based on your particular tastes. Great way to discover new music.