Efforts to understand, improve, or do less harm to the world around me.


___________________

Friday, May 20, 2011

Recommended iPhone freeware

Based on experiences with an iPhone 3Gs.  Includes some crippleware and trialware, but nothing too annoying.

Strongly recommended:
  • Dragon Dictation - a must-have voice-to-text program.  Wish it was a little more integrated into the OS the way Android's voice-to-text is.
  • Siri - works really well for quickly finding things around you.  I can see this as critical for very busy people.
  • iMailG - a Gmail front-end that works really well.
  • Google Phone - text message for free when you have a net connection, get your own forwarding phone line, and other Google services
  • Gorillacam - a must-have photo program with all sorts of tweaks and boosts, including taking 3 pictures at a time, camera stabilization
  • Wifi photo - get pictures and videos off your phone over a network connection quickly and easily.  Big help if you didn't install iPhoto.
  • TuneIn Radio - has the best ratings of anything on the App Store, even above Angry Birds.
  • Soundhound - great for finding out what artist is playing on the radio around you
  • WavePad - the audio is TERRIBLE on the default speaker unless you turn it way down in options, but very good on headphones.  Has a variety of basic audio-editing capabilities including cut, echo, voice-triggering, and more.  Doesn't save to a compressed format, but great quality and feature-rich.
  • Sleep Machine - simple but effective sleep assistance
  • Mint - won't sync correctly with some banks, but still great.
  • Motionize - just a silly video/photo toy, but I've had a ton of fun playing with it
  • Photosynth - creates amazing panoramas, but you've got to sign up for Microsoft's service in order to save them in a panoramic format off the phone.
  • PS Express - great little picture toy for tweaking images
  • Glympse - tired of trying to tell someone where you are or want to keep track of someone else?  This service transmits your location to a person of your choice or a duration of your choice.
  • PDFReaderLite - not oustanding, but the best file viewer program if you want to read your PDFs and other documents on your phone.
  • Wuala - great backup service and tool
  • Dropbox - similar to Wuala, with less space but more convenience

Also good:
  • Alarmed - outstanding, but can't use a regular alarm when the phone is on silent like the default timer.
  • TouchMouse (free) and Mobile Mouse (not free) - lets you use your iPhone as a touchpad for a computer or media center.
  • TeamViewer - a remote desktop client with a long list of uses.
  • Speed Test - check your internet connection speeds.  Very helpful to compare different wifi spots.
  • Opera Mini - simple, easy to use, and a little smarter than other browsers.  Sadly it runs a bit slower, too.
  • Mercury - lots of tweaks and improvements on Safari, including password protection, privacy mode, tabs, skins, and more.  Some restrictions too for the free version, but not too bad.
  • The Weather Channel - their Android program sucked, but the iPhone one is nice.  Wish they wouldn't use national weather service for severe weather.  Barely readable.
  • Flight-Light - my flashlight program of choice.  Either on or blinking -- simple.
  • AroundMe / Localscope - prefer these to Google Places.  One of them isn't free anymore, not sure which.
  • SpyVid - important if you ever end up in a situation where you want to record someone or something unnoticed.
  • Gloop Free - kill about 45 minutes with this cool (tiny!) program.  Sort of interactive screensaver.
  • Indeed job search - the best job search program I've found so far
  • Errands - great todolist program, but doesn't save to any servers or back up to anything
  • CraigsPro - surprisingly feature-rich craigslist tool.
  • RPG Roller - good for table-top games like D&D
  • Stellarium - if you've ever wondered what's above you, this program will tell you in an altered reality format.  Just point it up at the sky and watch.

Games:
  • Physics Box - simple and fun
  • Overkill - not outstanding (in fact pretty hard), but if really bored, you can kill several hours
  • BTD4 Lite - so far the only "tower" game I've found for iPhone, its just as good as the online flash version
  • Pictoral - imaginative, interesting, and Challenger.  Save for the fact that its only visual, all the other brain teaser programs suck compared to this.
  • Beyond Ynth - a cool puzzle program, but anything past initial levels was genuinely difficult.

No comments: