Ever go to a nice bakery or restaurant that just seems too good to be true? Its located somewhere to the side of a bustling neighborhood or business district, has amazingly great tasting food, quaint and low-priced, and to top it off it seems that your one of the few lucky ones in city to know about it? Same theory for iPhone apps apply. I, like other passionate Apple / iPhone enthusiasts out there tend to try out a LOT of apps. Some are free, some are from the App Store, some come with a fee, some are downloaded through Cydia. Whatever the app, they all come with the same minimum price tag of 57×57 pixels of precious home screen space. Over time, you need to decide which 57×57 pixels stay, and which go.

Since having the original iPhone 2G and updating/upgrading throughout the years I have accumulated many apps. I recently went through them in my App Library of iTunes and deleted a lot I don’t use anymore or were replaced by better apps. For us iPhone enthusiasts we all know the “good” iPhone apps from the bad. It can be subtle differences or huge eye popping flaws that draw us away from one to another, but in the end its always about functionality, design, and reliability. I am not here to make a post about the great apps out there you most likely already know about if your an avid iPhone user. (Facebook, Tweetie, BeeJive IM, CNN, LogMeIn, etc)

No, I’m here to share iPhone app reviews that’s I think go above and beyond. These are a mixed bag of apps from both the AppStore and Cydia but deserve a nod because they excel in their creativeness to make the iPhone reach a new level of mobility once installed. Setting aside the Apple Fanboyish tone for a moment, I do believe that having a communications tool nearby at all times is extremely important and the more we can get out of it the better off you and your most in-touch contacts will be.  This goes for the iPhone, Android based phones, or any other cell phones that are in the smart phone category. Though, I do believe the iPhone is the only one so far that has the best advantage to help people stay in touch, do everyday (and not so everyday) tasks, and just help in general overall above any other mobile device. This is why I am passionate about the iPhone, because it really has revolutionized how, when, and where people connect, interact, work, and be entertained.

Moving on to the meat and potatoes, here are some really nifty apps I have come across that I think have changed or will change (with updates) how the iPhone can/will be used.

IP-Relay

I used to have a T-Mobile Sidekick and Sidekick II back in the day. These little suckers were amazing at the time, although lacking a lot of things we now take for granted they did serve great purposes. One of the best things I liked about it was having IP-Relay at my fingertips. Now that iPhone has its own app for that, it will help a lot of handicapped and unable people to communicate that were previously incapable to before. IP-Relay (or TRS, Telecommunications Relay Service) is a text-based system that the user (usually handicapped or hearing impaired) uses to connect to an operator to text/chat with them the conversation to the number they would have normally dialed to.

The user would type to the program on their computer/iphone screen to “dial” (in this case have the operator dial) the number so that they are then connected live. Once connected the Operator quickly asks the callee party if they know how IP-Relay works. If the party says “No” the Operator begins to explain the process. Instead of explaining I think it would be best to just show you how it works, a sample of a typical call script below:

“Hello, this is Operator #123456 calling on behalf of Alex with an IP-Relay (or Operator Assisted) call, do you know how to use the system?”

“Yes.”

(The Operator then waits for instructions from me on the other end.) I might type something like:

“Hi Mom, I just wanted to let you know that my eardrum is doing much better from the accidental flux capacitor explosion the other day. I still have more recovery but in the meantime I am using this service that lets me hear what you would say to me by reading what the Operator types to me after you say it!”

At this point some programs send an additional code to the Operator after hitting the Return key. Usually some code like “GA” (Go Ahead) is used to let the Operator know that person is done typing/speaking.  So after hitting Return or GA, the Operator tells my mom what I typed. My mom replies:

“Oh thats great, I cant wait until you get the book back from Biff so we can all get back to our normal space time continuums! I will see you in the future! Bye! — Go Ahead”

The Operator types out what my mom said to me, and waits for my reply. I can finish the conversation by either saying “Goodbye” or some programs have an actual “Hang Up” button that lets the Operator know the call is finished.

Download IP-Relay from the AppStore

Dragon Dictation

This app has been out for a couple of months now, but I think it has a good head start on Apple. This is the kind of features that should have been in the iPhone from the beginning but its comforting to know its at least possible with an OS update. In the meantime, Dragon Dictation (free) lets you speak, tap a button and have your words turned into text on the screen. I have to admit I was skeptical about the accuracy of this app before I downloaded it but was pleasantly surprised at it being able to pick up even my slang words. It also asks if you would like to upload your contacts information to their servers which can be a no no in some peoples books but it uses the information to make sure it knows when you speak someones name it gets it right. To get close to 100% accuracy with this app try adding words to its dictionary by putting those words as a contact themselves in your address book.

It can come in handy if your hands are tied at that moment. It also can be much faster than typing too! So before you send off that long email or text message consider Dragon Dictation, it won’t even cost you a penny. (But that traffic ticket will if you get caught using this)

Download Dragon Dictation from the AppStore

Zinio

I have been using the Zinio magazine reading software on my Mac for years. They have a VERY well done organizational system for magazines as well as a large selection to choose from. Their prices for magazine subscriptions really are a bargain. You could get a years worth of Maxim magazine, Popular Science, or SPIN magazines for only $10 each to name a few. The great thing is you own them for life, no need to worry about throwing it away and wondering if you might want to read it again someday, you’ll have it safely stored on your hard drive or iPhone.

But what if your hard drive crashes you ask, what then? Zinio lets you re-download past magazines you may have deleted or lost so you will always have access to your purchased magazines. This is what makes it worth it to me and I would even gladly pay more because of this fact, thankfully Zinio is awesome enough to not charge more for this feature.

Zinio for the iPhone lets you buy new magazines too. The “Shop” tab shows a list of all available magazines for the iPhone. When tapping on one, it takes you to Safari which lets you buy it securely through their mobile website. Once purchased, it will be waiting for you to download back in the Zinio app. Another nice feature is the crisp text view that you can switch to for most all pages within the magazines. Instead of viewing the individual page as a “whole picture” and zooming in/out to view it in the best possible way on your screen, you can just tap “Read” on the bottom and it converts all the words in that page to a selectable text format. Great for emailing, copying/pasting, etc.

Zinio was just released last month, the only drawback to the iPhone app is not ALL magazines are available to view on the iPhone. Zinio is working at making sure all past and future magazines are iPhone compatible. They started out with 4 magazines when the app was released, as of the end of February they are up to 75. Not bad at all Zinio, not bad at all.

Download Zinio from the AppStore

USB Drive

Are you someone who still has a USB Thumbdrive on your keychain? Stop that! You have an iPhone now, no need! Cydia brings you an app that will allow you to use your iPhone as a regular external USB storage device. It works well BOTH in Mac and Windows. Unless your filling your iPhone up to the rim with photos, music, videos and apps then this handy tool will do just nicely for extra storage when you need it. We carry our iPhones everywhere we go so and is perfectly capable of being used as an external hard drive so, why not?

Once you install USB Drive you can open the app up and create a drive partition of your choice in size to fit your needs. The default is set up at 1GB, which suits me well. There are a few options to make connecting your iPhone to a computer that might have trouble recognizing the iPhone as a USB Mass Storage device and rather as the normal “iPhone” drive that displays your photos in your camera roll. To help with this, the app has different USB Modes as follows:

Default mode: In this mode, the USB Drive app doesn’t install daemon application nor modify any USB settings. Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP) isactive as well as iTunes synchronization and tethering over USB.

Drive + iTunes mode: In this mode, the USB Drive app replaces PTP interface with Mass Storage interface and let you use iPhone as USB Drive. At the same time you can perform iTunes synchronization, developers can use XCode debugger, etc. In this mode USB Mass Storage will not work on Windows with iTunes or Apple USB Drivers installed.

Drive Only mode: This mode is to resolve compatibility issue with Windows and iTunes. In this mode USB Drive changes iPhone device USB product ID. This will prevent iTunes synchronization, but USB Mass Storage will work on Windows (and other operation systems of course). Switching to the Default or Drive + iTunes modes restores iTunes sync.

So stop carrying around that USB thumb-drive, and in most cases you most likely carry around your iPhone USB cable anyway for charging right?

Download with Cydia repo: http://repo.beyouriphone.com/

MyWi

Tethering the iPhone is a great help when internet is no where near your laptop or other wireless device. But what if you want to take it another step foward? In comes MyWi app. (Current version 3.4.1) It lets you create a mobile WiFi hotspot with the iPhone to let anyone hop on the network. It supports open network, as well as 40-bit and 104-bit WEP security to prevent others from getting access. If you want to go old school you can by enabling USB or Bluetooth tethering as an option too.

I used to use “PdaNet” as my tethering app but MyWi uses much less battery leaving me with more time to be connected. Everything within the app is as easy as pie. One of my favorite things to do with this app is making contrasting (funny?) SSID Wi-Fi networks in public areas that already have free Wi-Fi.

I will admit this can be used maliciously too though if you run it in an open area with a public Wi-Fi Open Network already in place and rename the SSID to something similar (or exactly the same) as the open network. Some random schmuck who hops on YOUR network could potentially be exposing all their information to you by browsing to the sites they normally would and submitting usernames and passwords thinking everything is dandy because they are on a WiFi network they don’t consider risky. I’m not going to get into an ethics conversation here, I’m just saying this is possible. On a separate note, people who use open public Wi-Fi networks should already know they are prone to having information looked at by the network admin of that Open Wi-Fi network – be it a coffee shop, your local library, hotel, or anyplace that offers free internet access.

The only drawback to this app is that if your not already using (or don’t like using) “Rock”, it installs this by default if you choose to install MyWi. The price for this app goes for $9.99 but comes with a free trial if you install it from the original distribution repo given below. Now I won’t go into details but I hear there is a non-Rock/Free version of this app that you can get from another repository floating around out there, might want to look to Google for that one. I only mention this because after reading many threads and sites out there, people seem to have their iPhones give them troubles galore after installing Rock. So be wary.

Download with Cydia repo: http://apt.modmyi.com/

iWep Pro

Without getting into ethics here, if you enjoy Wardriving you will love this iPhone app. By far one of the best iPhone WEP cracking apps out there that I have tested. Now free or by donation (which I highly recommend) you can check to see if your network security is up to snuff. Keep in mind this can be used for malicious reasons so please kids, don’t go breaking into someones router without their knowledge ok?

The current version as of this posting (1.1.2.1) allows  cracking to selected routers. Don’t go freaking out and think that anyone with an iPhone passing by will be able to crack your WEP enabled WiFi network anyway because this still has much work to be done to it, only certain routers can be cracked with this app. (And why are you on WEP anyway? Switch to WPA or WPA2 already) The repository also has several dictionaries for the app to search through, if your big on this kind of stuff keep a definite eye on this one.

Download with Cydia repo: http://iwazowski.com/repo/

FakeLocation

One of the best things about the iPhone; GPS, can also be one of the worst. A downfall to GPS is location aware apps that purposefully turn features off if your not within a certain range. MLB’s At Bat app does this, if you try to watch a live game while in an unauthorized “district range” you are blocked from watching it. Another downfall are apps that force you to use GPS and “post/broadcast” it without any option to turn it off. These apps are far and few between but they’re out there. FakeLocation lets you pick where you are and choose only specific apps to fake that location to. This can cause a headache for a lot of apps out there especially those social networks that rely on GPS a lot like FourSquare, Loopt, etc. Either way, this is a good tool to have in your utility belt anyway.

Download with Cydia repo: http://apt.modmyi.com/

3G Unrestrictor

This is borderline “Hole in the Wall” since a lot of jailbreakers use this app. I wanted to put it up here because I think the way Apple is heading with AT&T is a good one. Letting users download 20MB now instead of 10MB in the Appstore/iTunes Store is a plus. More good signs from AT&T are coming in on a weekly basis now, such as 3G support for TV/Movie streaming apps.

Still, there are still a handful of apps still that havent quite made the “3G supported” list yet. To fix that, grab 3G Unrestrictor and add that app to the its list. This will also allow you to watch YouTube videos on 3G with WiFi quality, lift the 20MB limit, and do wonders for your Skype calling.

Download from Cydia repo: http://apt.bigboss.us.com/repofiles/cydia/

So that’s my round-up of app picks that I think deserve a well lengthy golf-clap at the very least. I am really interested to see what the future holds for the iPhone and what kind of new advances it will lead us into. Hope that I was able to introduce you to a few apps you may not have known about, if you have any that you think are worth being on this list be sure to let me know in the comments!

Alright gang, this is for all those people out there who got an iPhone 3G for Christmas, or even just had one for a while now but want to know what apps to get. There’s a ton to choose from, and it can get a bit expensive too. I have researched, tested, and played around with each one of these so I can tell you these are the best because I use them!

I will be breaking this up into categories to make it as easy as possible, I must warn you though that some of these applications may require you to jailbreak your iPhone, but not to worry I will note that for you. Overall there’s only a handful of apps that require Jailbreaking so it’s all good if you don’t want to “void your warranty”. /rolls eyes

Top Photo Editing Applications: Naked Touch
Naked Touch is my choice for editing photos on the go. Its no Photoshop of course, but its most likely the closest we will get to it. The app will allow you to import or export photos from your gallery or photo roll, as well as your facebook, flickr, or tumblr accounts. With tools like Cropping, Focus, Noise Reduction, Shadows & Highlights, Curves, Contrast & Brightness, White Balance, and Color Balance you should be covered for touching up photos.

Top Twitter App: Tweetie
Gatta give some love to the twitters right? I’ve been through a lot of twitter clients on the iPhone and I can say that Tweetie takes the cake. With easy navigation to get where you want to quickly, all your basic twitter options at the tap of a finger, and advanced tools available to you Tweetie will be staying with me for a while. Buttons on the bottom to access your recent tweets, replies, messages, favorites give you the ability to get to them quickly. A “more” button also gives you tools like viewing your profile, people you follow, people following you, trends, and search functions. The real icing on the cake though is the ability to have multiple twitter accounts in this app. If you twitter and have an iPhone, this is the client to get.

Top Instant Messenger app: BeejiveIM
We all have an instant messenger service, whether it be AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, MSN Live, MySpace IM, or Yahoo! Messenger. Folks, BeeJiveIM app can do all of those. The ability to add multiple accounts of said service(s) all running at the same time, an area to view all your current chats, favorite buddies, list by account or group, or search are some of the other tools that BeeJive offers you within the app. It has come a long way from being unstable and is now a very reliable app.
Tip for you Jailbreakers: Download and Install the “Backgrounder” Service from Cydia to have BeeJiveIM run in the background while you do other stuff on the iPhone, that way you stay online.

 

Top IRC app: Rooms
Having been an IRC junkie back in the day its pretty rare that I go back into a server and stay there with the occasional boredom bug I get once in a while. Mostly for nostalgic reasons I hop on IRC. No matter, I still want the best IRC app out there – enter “Rooms”. Boasting the ability to give you options like auto-connecting to particular servers & rooms, having a browser to view the different channels, and the good ol’ console if your more comfortable in that. Some other nice features I love are being able to change your font and font size, personalizing your quit message, saving your chatlog, auto correction, and being able to force the app to “stay connected” even after you turn off the screen. Being able to be in multiple rooms at once is nice since all it takes is a flick of the finger to the right or left to see that room.

 
 
 

Top Streaming Music app: (tie) Pandora and Last.fm
Tired of AOL Radio? I know, as cool as it is to be able to listen to radio stations locally or even from abroad your still listening to commercials and that all adds up to wasted battery life. Pandora and Last.fm both top my list for the best streaming music app, one of the main reasons is because if one does not have what I’m in the mood for, usually the other does (and visa versa). First, Pandora. Pulling its music from the Music Genome Project you can create whole radio stations based around songs or artists you choose. Being able to rate your songs a thumbs up or thumbs down helps with fine tuning that station so Pandora learns exactly what your taste is. Being able to bookmark a particular song or artist, allowing you to create a whole station out of that one song for later is another feature. And of course you got your basic stuff too like being able to buy that song from iTunes, or Emailing that station to your friend.

 

With Last.fm, your able to obviously link to your account and have the songs you listen to be updated to your profile. Starting new stations is as simple as pushing a button and typing in the appropriate Artist/Tag/User. Some handy features are knowing if the artist your listening to is currently “On Tour”, being able to “Love” or “Hate” the song, as well as tapping an Info button when the song is playing to find a wiki on that Artist. Info given includes their Bio, their tags, similar artists, events coming up for them, and the top users who listen to them. If I had to pick a winner out of these two I would have to go with Last.fm because of its social aspect which Pandora lacks.

 
 

Top Research app: Wikipanion+
With wikipedia being a great source for information (however reliable it is) its not a bad idea to have Wikipanion+ at your side. Having quick access to any article by typing it in, being in a layout that is easily accessable with a tap of a button on the “Contents” button, and a option to change the font size this lil’ app will have you getting through Wiki articles in no time. One more great little feature is saving the wiki links within articles by adding it to your Queue. That comes in handy when your not near a cell tower or wifi access point.

 

Top Cooking app: iFood Assistant
I love good home cooked meals, but I love it even more when I know I actually cooked them right. iFood Assistant helps you with that by giving you a many options to choose from for your cooking needs. Being able to simply browse recipes, ideas for dinner, snacks & treats, shortcuts and tips, to actual full length videos showing you step by step on how to cook a meal. Whats better is that it boasts a shopping list, a recipe box, and being able to search for dishes if you don’t see what you were looking for! It even geolocates your position using GPS to show you your nearest grocery stores! I’ve tried out a lot of apps and this one has the most features and tools out of them all. Since Kraft made this app, you might notice a few subliminal hints to buy their products which is pretty harmless since you don’t *have* to. (ex: the cooking video chef might tell you “…place the Kraft American Cheese Slices on the meat like so…” instead of just “…place the cheese slices on the meat like so…” See? No biggie.)

Once you choose the meal you want, it shows you the prep time, total time, servings it makes, nutrition info, the ingredients you’ll need (it places it in your shopping list for you), and any comments by other users regarding that dish. The length of detail Kraft went into making this app is truly amazing. If you love cooking, this is the app to get.

 
 

Top Geocaching app: Geocaching
If you missed my previous blogpost about Geocaching you can take a look at it here. Feeling adventurous and want your iPhone to be of more help? Geocaching.com made an app that does just that. It geolocates your position, and auto-signs you into your account which then shows you a list of all the caches in your immediate area. Picking one is as simple as tapping on it. You can view a description of it, see comments left by other geocachers, its coordinates, hints (automatically decrypted), a search area to lookup trackable caches, and of course all the regular info you would expect to find on that particular cache like difficulty, terrain, and inventory. It also allows you to save a cache for later in case your short on time. This is well worth it if your a frequent Geocacher.

 

Top VNC app: Jaadu
Need to access your computer at home while out and about? Jaadu is the app to go to, with its easy controls and layout (and good support) you can see your desktop (mac or pc) right on your iPhone. Zooming in/out, Adding/Saving Servers, and ability to have it rotate the screen are all handy. Keyboard use is easy too, as you just point to the field you want to type in, tap, and then pull up the keyboard to type what you want and “enter”. Remember kids, you’ll need a WiFi or Good 3G signal to keep this baby runnin’.

Top Wine app: Drync Wine
If your a wine export or just getting into wine tasting you’ll want a little help every now and then to guide you in picking a good wine. In comes Drync Wine app. Features that can get you to remember important things like “what did that wine taste like?” or the average rating for a particular wine. Not only can you add wines to your virtual cellar, you can take pictures with your camera to document the labels and color. Oh, and it has a neat little feature with the tap of a button, tweets your wine your drinking to your friends that moment.

 

Top Skype app: Fring
Use Skype to call your friends and family for cheap? Would it not be awesome if there was an app for the iPhone that did that so you can get around paying for gone-over minutes? There is, its called Fring. This can also be considered a Instant Messenger app as it allows you to connect to other IM services but I’ll be focusing on the real meat and potatoes of this app. Now if your a non-jailbroken user you can only make Skype calls while on WiFi, but if you have access to Cydia go download “VoIPover3G” which tricks certain apps like Fring to think that your on WiFi when your infact on Edge or 3G.

  

Top FTP app: FTPOnTheGo
Being able to login to your website via FTP is essential to some and this app delivers. Keep bookmarks of your servers and login credentials, view the folders and files you have in a friendly finder type menu, create new files, upload pictures from your album, rename, delete, or view files are all features available. Only downside to this app I’ve seen is not being able to change CHMOD stuff, but other than that its a gem.

 

Top Tethering app: PDAnet
Exclusively for Jailbroken iPhones, this app will allow you to tether your iPhones data connection to your laptop via a Ad-Hoc WiFi network. Its pretty straight forward, simply turn on WiFi on both your laptop and iPhone, create an Ad-Hoc network through your laptop, connect to it with your iPhone, launch PDAnet, and your laptop has internet no matter if your on the beach, train or bus so long as your iPhone has connection. Be wary though, if AT&T catches you tethering you could get quite a hefty bill next month so use this only if your in a pinch and don’t plan on downloading torrents or playing WoW.

 

Top Video Recorder: Qik (for streaming) and VideoRecorder3G (for Hi-Quality saving/playback)
Ah, The great mystery of the iPhone. Why is there no video recording application? Well, for us jailbroken users there is. Theres two routes you can take: Streaming, and Saved. First up, lets talk about Qik which is a great little app that has gone through many version to fine tune it. By having an account on Qik.com you can link up to it with this app and record video and stream it LIVE to your Qik profile page where others can view it as it comes in, chat about it and download it in flash or mp4 format. Qik has some pretty nifty features on their website too like linking to 12seconds, Youtube and other sites so you can export your video you just captured instantly to those websites.

 
 

But, what if you don’t care to stream it online for others and you just want to record video for your personal use to save to your computer later? VideoRecerder3G will do the trick with its hi-quality video and audio recording. After you finish your video you can retrieve it by either sFTPing into the iPhone, uploading it to Youtube, or sending it via Email. It allows you yo rename your videos, can start auto-encoding right away or can save the videos in either MPEG-4 or MOV format. If you choose MPEG-4 format you can choose the quality of encoding from Lowest, Lower, Better (default) and Best as well as the brightness of the video. It also boasts the ability to let you record in different modes like 320×240, 240×320, 384×288, and 288×384. File sizes usually range around 60MB for an hour of recording time. VideoRecorder3G is one of those jailbroken apps that are not free unfortunately, but I believe is worth the price, the free trial allows you to record up to 30 times with 30 seconds each session – afterwards you would need to buy a license for $20.

 
 

Top File Downloading App: dTunes
An app that lets you download music, videos and torrents is quite possibly one of the finest gems out there, dTunes gives you this. The newest version installs Terminal along with it, which we will be needing if you decide to use it for torrenting purposes. The app is cut up into three sections, first under the Music tab it takes you to Seeqpod which allows you to search for artists and songs on the web, dTunes then captures/saves the mp3 to a folder on your iPhone for playback later. Under the Video section it takes you to TinyTube.net which shows videos in MP4 format, where dTunes gives you an option to save them as well. Finally under Torrents it takes you to TPB and you can search for various torrents there. The way it works is once a torrent is found and downloaded you start it by opening the torrent (which makes it active) then exiting the app and going into terminal and typing a simple command “./gettorrent” without the quotations. Soon it will start the transfer and once completed you’ll have the files back in dTunes where you can play them (assuming your downloading video or music). Once you’ve finished transferring your files to your computer via sFTP you can delete them from within the dTunes app easily.

 

Other Misc. Top Apps:
Well, there were still a couple of apps that did not make my list because well, they didn’t really have a category of their own, or they might simply be for entertainment purposes. I did not go over games because I believe everyone has a different taste so I’ll leave that department up to you. (although if you must know, I love Monopoly, Rolando, SimCity, Price Is Right, Uno, and both the NES and GBA emulators.) I also did not go over any sort of theme or skinning app that changes the look of your iPhone OS such as Winterboard or 5-Icon Dock. These are all good apps/addons but they will be for another post, I wanted to target actual applications for specific purposes. Finally, if you don’t agree with some of my choices for the apps I picked in the categories above, then by all means leave a comment or drop me a line to tell me of a better app in that category and WHY. Maybe you’d like to see a category that you didn’t see here, I’ll be sure to cover it next time. I’m always open to trying out new apps and trying to find “the best” of the best.

Final Note: I do realize there are ways to get these apps for free and sources you can add that lets you download/install certain apps without paying a license but lets just keep that to ourselves and Google shall we?