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My Top iPhone/iPod Touch Apps

A Kazillion Apps!

Well, not quite. At last count, there were some 30,000+ apps in Apple’s App Store. It’s getting to the point where there are almost too many choices — I mean, how many of you have bought an app that’s now relegated to the last page, or even *GASP* removed? *RAISES HAND*

Well, never fear, DWongster’s here to help.

The following are apps that I actually use on my iPod Touch on a regular basis. Most of these apps are ones I’ve had for a while now.  What I’ve found are certain apps “bubble up” to my “top screen” — the first or second page.

I’ll state my estimated frequency of use, how I use the app, and some final thoughts.

DWongster’s Top built-in iPhone/iPod Touch Apps:

I should note that the iPhone/iPod Touch already comes with a great set of built-in apps — they obviously contribute greatly to the device’s popularity.

• Safari – everyday – I actually use the browser primarily for email, specifically Gmail. I also recently started using Gmail’s Tasks. All of the Gmail apps have been optimized for the iPhone/iPod Touch, and look great (for Gmail). If I really want to surf the web, then I fire up my Mac.
• Calendar – everyday – I have Gmail Calendar sync’ed with my Mac’s iCal, and from there my iPod Touch, so I can enter or edit events at any location and have everything sync up. I really enjoy the user-interface on the iPod Touch Calendar. The one improvement I’d like is the ability to jump to any date (say a year or more in either direction — hard to do right now via scroll-swiping).
• Contacts – 2 or 3 times a week – Interface is great for entering contact info. I love how touching an address will automatically access Google Maps. All that’s needed is a “back” button from Google Maps to go back into my Contacts where I left it.
• Clock – everyday – I must say I’ve never been happier with the built in Alarm feature. You can easily set multiple alarms, choose from a large variety of alarm sounds, etc.  The World Clock is great to know when international friends are (or should be) awake, and I use the Timer for various cooking tasks. Truly useful.
• Remote – for parties – (not built-in–it should be, though, but a Free Download from Apple) It’s great to be able to access my iTunes music library from anywhere in the house.

DWongster’s Top Tracking Apps (Lists):

• Grocery IQ – few times a week – This app allows you to add items to a shopping list. It’s got predictive typing — start typing the first few letters and you get a list of possible guesses, plus it’s easy to add items. In additional to the shopping List, there’s Favorites, History and Aisles (which I don’t use; I know where my products are). User-interface is pretty good: as you shop, you can tick off the items.
• Gas Cubby – every fill-up – Awesome app that allows you to keep track of gas fill-ups and any service you have done to your car. My favorite is seeing my gas mileage at a glance. The UI is great: enter odometer reading, two out of three and the third is automatically calculated (Gallons, Cost/Gallon, Total Cost). Options include Payment type, Location, gas brand and quality (87, 89, 90+ or Diesel), tracking multiple cars, and cool graphs showing your mileage, cost per gallon, total gas expenses, automatically accessible by turning your device to landscape mode. The one feature I’d like to see is the ability to download or email the info, say for tax records. Update: The developer just tweeted me, informing me that the export (email) feature is available via tapping on the Search key, then the email icon shows up on the upper right. Cool! And kudos for their near instantaneous support!

DWongster’s Top Social Media Apps:

• Tweetie – everyday – awesome app for using Twitter with a very intuitive interface for lots of Twitter-related tasks
• Retweet – everyday – great app for keeping tabs on what’s popular on Twitter, specifically what people are “retweeting”. Can be set to see what’s popular from the last 30 minutes, 3 hours, 12 or 24 hours
• Facebook – every 2-3 days – I normally log on via web browser, but this free app will let you access your FB account. Interface is pretty good.
• Byline – everyday – this is my preferred RSS reader. It accesses my Gmail Reader account and presents my feeds in an easy to use manner. I can very quickly scan through the hundreds of posts I get daily, reading only the ones that interest me with its built in browser. The interface allows you to go right back to the reader feed. One downside: it does crash once in a while — perhaps once a week.

DWongster’s “Justs for Fun” Apps:

There are times when you’re just waiting for other people, and so here are some cool, fun apps that are interesting, and don’t take up a lot of time. So while I don’t use these everyday, I do use them when I have minutes to kill.

• Rolando – a “platform” game if you need to describe it to someone, but it’s really more than that. It’s cute and quirky, with a cool soundtrack, fun premise, and awesome use of the touch interface and accelerometer. Gameplay can be as long or short as you want, as there’s autosave, plus the design of the game is such that even if don’t replay it for a long time, you can jump right in where you left off without skipping a beat. Highly recommended!
• Sway – another platform game with a very good user interface. Much like Rolando, you can jump in and out of playing the game, for as little or as long as you want. This was a recent addition, so I have not played a lot, but it’s definitely fun!
• Stanza – here’s a great app for downloading and reading ebooks in the public domain — and there are tons of books: Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes, Swiss Family Robinson are some I’ve downloaded. Plus, a recent update now allows you to purchase ebook versions of today’s books as well. Interface is really good, with the ability to change font styles and sizes, portrait or landscape mode, and much more.
• Crosswords – a great crossword app with a terrific interface. Included are Clues and Hints (ability to reveal a single letter or entire word, or just show errors). The best part is the ability to download free crosswords from various publishers.
• 7 Chords – a guitar chord tabulature studying aid. I’m a rank beginner very too little time, but with this app you can check out any chord, and in that chord a bunch of variations. The inteface cleverly uses gesture swiping and a scroll wheel. You can even hear the chord played out in successful single notes by tapping.

So there you have it — my top 16 apps for the iPhone/iPod Touch. They could all fit on the first screen.

Of course, I have a bunch more, but if you’re either new to the device, or just want something that will not be relegated to page 8, check out some of the apps I mentioned.

Do you have any favorite apps you think I should check out?

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