creative editing ha-HAAA!

Word on the street is Android mobile OS is battling iPhones at 50/50 market share nowadays. Little snippits like paying $20+ less per month, cheap-ass phones, running on services with actually working internet, and a giant apple not dictating how to use your device may influence you to switch to this brand. Probably more likely is somebody less techie close to you is gonna switch to the bad guys and (re-)introduce themselves to the wonderful world of touching an out-of-the-way icon to make a phone call; behold the new world of apps. The same as the old world of apps.

The problem with these application stores is that both of them suck harder than Microsoft in organizing the goods. In Android’s case, once you get the top 30 or 40 programs you see featured in the Market all the time, discovering new reliable shit becomes crazy difficult after it’s buried. We’re back to the wild west of word of mouth blog to pull users in any direction to get their goods. *pfft* what do I mean “back to”? We’ve been like this for years.

Well sure, I’ll help out. Here’s a mashup list of all the apps I use that you should go on a Market download spree to get a hold of. Like, meow!

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The wonder of rubbing our smart-phones with a fingertip to do stuff has been upon us for several years now, as well as the glory of the App Store, a treasure trove of stuff that you can do in your browser with badly-written flash made into programs. As such, I thought I would consult you plebeians on what you feel is worthy to keep in your iPhone, and instruct you on the greatness of my own.

Or, in not seventy-six words, here’s the standouts on the iPhone I keep coming back to.

Pandora: Streaming internet radio of pretty much every genre imaginable over 3G. This is why I don’t listen to radio anymore. This app has stayed on my front page since I acquired it, and I use it almost daily.

Now Playing: A listing of movie releases and DVD releases that is fully integrated with rotten tomatoes and imdb reviews as well as Netflix. It does trailers, too. The app will find you and show you all the nearby theaters, what’s there, and what’s worth watching. Or what to ignore at the theater and throw on Netflix. It’ll also throw it on Netflix for you.

Urban Spoon: There are many, many better restaurant finders on your iPhone (AroundMe and the Google Maps app to name two), but there’s something compelling about rolling the slots and taking what comes up as your dinner choice.

Kindle/Stanza: I have both, but which you use will probably depend on what you like. Stanza has the best selection of downloadable, free, e-books available for the iPhone. The Kindle app syncs with your Kindle and remembers your place across both devices. This is witchcraft and utterly delightful.

Facebook: Yeah, if you have an iPhone you probably already have this app, but it bears mentioning as it works really, really well. Often better than the site itself. How about that?

Lux Touch: I mentioned this in one of the very first things I wrote for the site, and it’s been on my phone getting playtime since then. The free version of this app is Risk with AI bots. I’ve never bought the full version because this is all I need. Controls perfectly, runs well, and it’s Risk. What more do you want?

RogueTouch: This was a dollar or some such amount when I got it. Now it runs for $3. Totally worth it. It’s Rogue, the old-school dungeon crawl, on your phone, with a decent interface. Rogue has about fifty levels, and is in the “I hate your family” level of difficulty. This means that you’ve got a lot of replay value if you enjoy this sort of thing. Also a ton of variety in loot and a fairly large number of baddies to face. Saves anywhere, but you die and it’s back to the beginning.

Field Runners: Field Runners is a $3 tower defense game. When it came out initially it was barely worth that. Since then they’ve added new units, two new maps, unlockable game modes, and a ton of game modes. It has a pause/save anywhere function that is delightful (and should be on every game app, period).

Words/Chess with Friends: Every multiplayer iPhone game should play like this. ALL of them. It’s pass and play (or play by e-mail, if you prefer that image) Chess/Scrabble/whatever else they come out with that I will totally buy on your phone. The beauty of this is that you can take a turn anywhere.

Frotz: This one is hard to recommend for everyone. Frotz is Stanza, only for text-based adventures. If you can get by the iPhone keyboard (it has some shortcuts to help), this is a treasure trove of nostalgia. If not, you’ll hate it. Potentially has unlimited playtime, but again, some of the text-games are…not good. Free, so worth a try.

AP News Feed: Another one I’ve spoken of before, but this is a great little tool. Customizable homepage with stories from your area and all over. Video and photo. Updates and will do push notifications. If you want mobile news this is probably your best bet.

Midomi/SoundHound: Two names, one app. SoundHound literally listens to music you play/sing/hum for it, then finds you a title and group. Not as much useful to me as simply witchcraft. I can now hear a song in passing, identify it (provided I can listen to or hum 15 seconds of the tune), then purchase it myself (Midomi is linked right into your iPhone purchases, because these guys aren’t idiots). You also get a full lyrics page and links to YouTube videos, as well as Pandora radio tie-ins and similar artists. Essentially this is Now Playing for your music, as it can work with all your other cool music apps and devices to provide an awesome experience. I really should use this more.

Anyway, while I have six pages of apps on my iPhone, these guys are the standouts, and most of them are totally free. As of last look everything but the games can be acquired without paying a dime, and at $3 a pop you’re out lunch at Five Guys if you buy everything here.

So what’s on your phone?

I bring you another batch of iPhone apps, dear reader. All of which are free, all of which will make your phone so much more than the device that brings Youtube to entertain during your bowel movements.

Yeah, the metaphor well’s dry tonight. So on with the apps.

Frotz: This is perhaps the most badass application to grace the iPhone since Stanza (see last apps article, a must-have). Frotz is labeled as an “Interactive fiction” collection. What this means is you get a free application that comes chock-full of text-based adventures, along with a link to the IFDB, which allows you to download thousands more. The downside: typing commands with the iPhone can be a little clunky. The upside: You have access anywhere to hundreds of thousands of hours of content. Any text-based adventure fan with a commute should have this.

Lux Touch: It’s Risk. On your iPhone. For free. One touch and you start a randomly generated board with 3 computer opponents and race to global domination. The touch controls are fantastic, and the game is amazingly intuitive. The downside? Only one play mode and no frills whatsoever. This is still a fantastic app for any risk fan or owner of Lux for the PC/Mac/Linux. To put this in John terms: Once I downloaded this I ceased playing Aurora Feint.

Cannongame: Like Worms, only without moving or worms. You control a cannon and have 15 shots to destroy a variety of targets, adjusting for range, height, etc, etc. Velocity and height are both adjusted via cool little touch-sensitive dials. Sponsored by the Discovery Channel, this isn’t a bad little free application. It is rather short, though, as you only have a handful of levels that don’t really change. You can’t knock it for the price, though.

AroundMe: A cool app that uses Google maps to tell you just what’s nearby. Fantastic for being on foot in a city, or just for finding a gas station on a road trip. The app will tell you with reasonable accuracy where anything from a gas station to a movie theater to a fast food joint to a hospital, with most other reasonable needs accommodated. Gives you one-touch dialing for phone numbers, or allows you to drop the spot in as a pin on iPhone maps.

AirSharing: Turns your iPhone into a network drive. When you just can’t be asked to get up and go over to the computer and dock it. Not a bad way to juggle files, really, as the iPhone can then replace a flash drive for most situations and you don’t need to worry about lugging the USB cable for it with you. Works through Mac or PC, and is Bonjour for PC compatible, if you happen to be one of the 3 people that uses that.

Wikipanion: A quasi-useful app that brings Wikipedia to your iPhone. Which already has internet. Which obviously has Wikipedia…

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Ok, that aside, the application does seem to run a bit faster than Safari-ing over to the site, and the text is automatically formatted for the phone on each entry. There’s also some handy search functions added. Altogether not a bad application for those of you who can abide redundancy.

So there you go. Another handful of semi-useful or nifty applications for the most powerful device you’ll ever take to a public restroom. Tune in for more free stuff to shove into your phonehole.

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.

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