Tag Archive for 'iPhone'

My Top 10 iPhone Applications and Games. What’s yours?

It has now been a month since the release of the firmware 2.0 (and subsequent 2.0.1) for the iPhone and I have over this period of time had enough time to install, uninstall, reinstall several of the new applications available for the Jesus Phone. As everybody else seems to have done on the Interweb and helping my buddy Miles who just bought his own iPhone, here is my top ten of the apps I have been running on my phone… And I mean not just seating there but being used at least once a day!

1 - AOL Radio

No doubt about this one! I use it every day when I go running, I use at home in the morning (to not wake the while family up) and even sometimes at night. All of the CBS and AOL Radios on, including KROQ as well as several stations only available today on HD Radio (such as KROQ2). The beauty of it is that if I hear a song I like on KROQ, I can simply purchase it immediately on the iTunes store or on the AOL Music store.

AOL Radio

AOL Radio

2 - Twinkle

As much as I can rant about Twitter, I am still hooked to the damn thing and Twinkly is probably (for now) the best Twittin’ client on the iPhone, adding geolocation and finding other users twitting around you, which is fun and can lead to discovering interesting people living just around the block.

Twinkle

Twinkle

3 - Jott

This is the new best thing since sliced bread! I am pathetic with names, places or simply short term memory. I see and hear a million things a day about things I’d love to read, listen to, buy, visit, eat at, etc. So the only way for me to remember all these names, albums, addresses is to note them as I hear them. Sadly, I am not such a fast typer or often, I hear these suggestions on the radio while driving. Jott simply lets me dictate to my iPhone any sentence and will transcribe it and send it back to my to do list within minutes.

The beauty of it: It even works if you speak Franglaise…

Jott

Jott

4 - Evernote

Similar to Jott except that this one works with images and diagrams. Jott does speach to text. Evernote does OCR. The beauty in this one: It recognizes hand writing (even mine), making any search extremely easy.

Evernote

Evernote

5 - Shazam

10 times per day I hear a song I like but I don’t know or can’t remember the name of it and am hence unable to buy it. Well, Shazam does this for me. Place the phone close to a speaker, wait for 10 seconds and “Shazam”, it gives you the name of the song, the album and a direct access to the iTunes store to purchase it. Welcome impulse buy!

Shazam

Shazam

6 - Pandora

More music. More music… This one is the iPhone version of the now famous Pandora online service, based on the Genome Project. Ask Pandora for a play list based on a song, an artist, a mood or a variation of these and Pandora Radio will create youe little radio station, just for you. Then vote “I Like” or “I dislike” when ever a new song is played and your playlist gets even better, matching your musical taste even better…

Pandora

Pandora

7 - Wordpress

Well, you’re on my little Blog. I run a couple of other ones (one about my baby girl and and another one (already started) about our second baby, for our friends and family abroad). Wordpress on the iPhone is a blessing. There are soooo many things I’d like to post but only so much time to write about it…

Wordpress

Wordpress

8 - Super Monky Ball

Game. Fab. Stuck at level 5 (Easy mode). I know, I suck!

Super Monkey Ball

Super Monkey Ball

9 - Exposure

Why oh Why Flickr haven’t released an iPhone app yet… Oh wait, their management might be busy trying to avoid hostile take over or major board fight. Well, someone else did and Exposure is a a simple Flickr viewer, making use as well of Geolocation, letting me find pictures taken around my location. Pretty neat!

Exposure

Exposure

10 - The New York Times

Well, that’s it. It is the NYT, available in my pocket! I eat news whenever I can and this helps me find these precious seconds…

NYT

NYT

11 - Bubbles

I know, this is a top ten, but I couldn’t not include Bubbles in this list! This little app gives us minutes of peace when at the restaurant with Thia. She can pop bubbles and create more bubbles on the screen and pop them, and create more, etc…

Bubbles

Bubbles

Any parent should have this app on their iPhone.

So this concludes my Top 10. What is yours?

MobileMe status…

Until the current bug plagued version of mobileme is sorted, i wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole…

LEICESTER WEB commenting on JeffCroft.com

I have received my “JesusPhone”, sorry my iPhone 3G!

I have received my iPhone 3G

I have received my iPhone 3G

Update 1: My iPhone wasn’t lost in Redmon, WA after all, it was waiting for me on my desk!
Update 2
: It seems that the simm card delivered with the phone is faulty… Have to try with another one
Update 3
: The phone looks activated but it is now stuck in its restore process!
Update 4: After failing for 30 minutes, things are now OK…

iPhone 2.0 activation = EPIC FAIL

iPhone 2.0 activation = FAIL

The news is everywhere on the Interweb… Apple’s activation servers are down! Which means that no new iPhone can be activated and no old iPhone can be upgraded (upgrade requests a brief connection to their servers after the firmware is installed). We just bricked one of my colleagues iPhone!

Updated 11:05: Adding to their current misery, their brand new MobileMe service seems to be even less reliable than Twitter!

MobileMe beats Twitter

Updated 12:53PM: We can now activate phones but cannot get any signal (if this makes sense). Intersting part as well is that the new 3G iPhones shipped with the beta 8 software on them and should hence require to be upgraded in order to be activated.

I can has AppStore before you!

One day before it officialy launches

One day before it officially launches

One Day before the Jesus Phone 2.0 day!