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…
…
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.