There are hundreds of thousands of apps, but which ones are right for iOS 4? That’s a tricky question as different apps come to market iOS 4 tested and others bring more advanced functionality to the table — step inside for more.
Water, water everywhere, but what’s safe to drink? Every app here is at the very least iOS 4 tested and many have additional enhancements, like the multitasking found in Pandora (rocks!). From games to productivity, find the apps you’re looking for!
40. Dots Free — Killer graphics and sound for your iOS 4 iPhone! Play against another human or your iPhone — it’s wherever fun and the price is right.
39. Kindle (universal) — Read multimedia enhanced ebooks on your hardware enhanced iPhone 4. More sound, movies and a better reading experience.
— Kindle for iPad, iPhone get multimedia playback
38. AroundMe — Where’s the closest gas station? Need to find an open drugstore at 2a.m.? You need iOS 4 tested AroundMe.
37. Solitaire (universal) — iOS 4 tested that’s ready for those mobile moments when there’s simply nothing better to do. Try Klondike 1 Deal!
36. Find My iPhone — Lost your iPhone? Don’t despair, take action! Leverages your MobileMe account to track down your iPhone, wipe it, send a message to the finder and more.
— Apple updates Find My iPhone, opens MobileMe Mail beta
35. Vuvuzela 2010 — The number one free app in dozens of countries. Do you love soccer? Embrace the vuvuzela on your iPhone!
34. Wi-Fi Finder — Wanna get some FaceTime? You’ll need to find open Wi-Fi hotspots and this is just the app to do it.
— See also: FaceTime calls won’t eat your minutes
33. A+ 12,000+ Wallpapers — Ready for new wallpapers and login screens? Here’s a just a few to get you started, for free!
32. Bing! — Don’t just search it, Bing! it. Find stuff with the iPhone 4′s exceptional camera, search via voice and much more.
31. Tic Tac Toe — Play against your iPhone or another human right next to you or around the world over Wi-Fi or 3G. iOS tested n’ ready.
30. We Rule — Farm. Build. Rule. iOS 4 tested and ready with more crops, structures and people for you to manage and control.
29. Google Mobile (universal) — The app that puts the power of the Goog in your pocket, speech recognition in multiple languages.
28. Word with Friends — Push notifications, chat, strong Facebook + Twitter integration. Scrabble? We don’t need no stinkin’ Scrabble.
27. The Weather Channel — More beautiful graphics and maps on iPhone 4′s incomparable Retina display.
26. EXO-Planet — Live multiplayer over 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Free yourself from the bonds of gravity in this third-person shooter.
25. SoundHound (universal) — The app that gives you instant music search and discovery.
24. 3D Wallpapers & Backgrounds — No more waiting for your beautiful pics n’ images to load — it’s way faster.
23. Spawn Glow — Create beautiful art and share it with your social networking friends.
22. Facebook — Not a lot of iOS 4 love here, but you can upload 720p pics, watch videos and it is (or was) the world’s most popular app.
— Watch videos with Facebook 3.1.3 for iPhone
21. Windows Live Messenger — Fast app switching and background push notifications. Stay connected with your friends worldwide.
20. Twitter — This is the official Twitter app from Twitter and now it multitasks as well as you do.
19. Audiobooks — Play audio files in the background while you read — simple, yet priceless.
18. XE Currency — It’s got multitasking, permitting you to convert 180+ currencies on the go, anywhere.
17. Fandango — Arguably the best mobile movie app allows you to juggle other tasks while finding theaters and tickets
16. Foursquare — It’s got fast app switching, yet background location tracking isn’t there (yet).
15. Twitterific (universal) — This particular Twitter client takes advantage of fast app switching, a must for always in touch social media sluts nuts.
14. New York Times — It’s now got fast app switching and remembers where you left off in articles.
13. Evernote (universal) — Multitasking permits Evernote to stay synchronized even when its not running in the foreground, so it’s ready when you need it.
12. LinkedIn — Optimized for fast app switching, helps you stay connected with your network.
11. WordPress (universal) — Optimized for the Retina display, better handling of drafts when quitting and more.
10. FarmVille — This one’s iOS 4 tested, so you can plow, plant and harvest on the go with your iPhone 4 or upgraded device.
9. iBooks (universal) — The best eReader (we don’t need no stickin’ Kindle app)
— See also: What’s new in iBooks 1.1
8. Dropbox (universal) — Mobile warriors agree; this is a must have app. Sync and share you stuff wherever and whenever.
7. Truphone — Now runs in the background and allows calls to come through while multitasking.
6. Tap Tap Revenge 3 — Not sure how this app benefits from multitasking, but it’s freaking’ awesome.
5. GodFinger — Now your people can toil, and earn you gold, while get on with your real life.
4. Twitter — Stay up-to-the-moment even when this app’s running in the background with push notifications and more.
3. Loopt — Find out who’s around, what to do and where to go while you get on with your day.
2. NPR Music — Expect excellence while you multitask to superbly curated music and related content.
1. Pandora (universal) — The app everybody’s been waiting for and wanting. Tune in and then do anything you want — Pandora keeps playing!
* Instapaper Free iPhone app
* Photoshop.com Mobile iPhone app
* Wikipedia Mobile iPhone app
* Apple iPhone 4
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Posted on 12 Jul 2010 at 11:44
Smartphones are becoming increasingly popular and a lot of that is down to the increased functionality and improved web-browsing experience, but probably the biggest step forward is the availability of apps. While smartphone apps themselves have been around for a long time, it wasn’t until Apple launched the App Store for the iPhone and iPod touch that they were readily available to everyone.
Prior to the App Store, installing apps on any smartphone wasn’t something for the faint-hearted, but especially so on the iPhone. It required a relatively complex procedure to ‘jailbreak’ the handset so that you could install additional apps. If the process went wrong, you could end up bricking your handset outside of Apple’s warranty terms. Jailbreaking is still popular today, but it’s not as necessary because there are more than 150,000 apps available in the App Store.
Due to the sheer number of apps, there’s inevitably a lot that are rubbish – thankfully nobody has made a Phantom Menace app, because that’d no doubt be as rubbish as the film was – and so we’ve selected our favourite apps from the store. We’ve focused exclusively on Free iPhone Apps here and have excluded apps like Facebook, Twitter, Skype and other similar apps as it makes little sense cluttering our list with apps that many of you already use. In the future, we’ll be looking at paid-for apps and games on iPhone, as well as extending the series to other smartphone platforms so stay tuned.
Apple Remote
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Apple Remote iPhone appRemote was Apple’s first iPhone app and it allows you to use your iPhone or iPod touch as a remote control.
The latest version allows you to use gestures when you’re controlling an Apple TV box, but if you’re using it to control iTunes on your PC or Mac, you’ll have to prod and poke your way around the interface. The good thing is that the interface is very intuitive like almost every Apple product, so this isn’t a massive issue.
To use it to control iTunes, you’ll need to plug your computer into a set of speakers and then open up iTunes. Once you’ve done this, start the Remote app and follow the simple instructions – in literally no time, you’ll be controlling iTunes playback from the comfort of your couch.
Amazon Mobile UK
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Amazon Mobile UK iPhone appIf you’re a regular Amazon user, Amazon’s iPhone app might be right up your street as it makes the sometimes chaotic Amazon website incredibly simple to navigate while your’e out and about. Once you’ve logged into your account, Amazon’s personalisation tools make it very personal to your tastes.
It links seamlessly to the website too, meaning if you’ve planned to buy items on your desktop machine but got sidetracked, it will remember them. If you enable one click purchasing, items will be on their way to you in an instant.
What’s more, it has an interesting feature called Amazon Remembers which allows you to take a picture of an item and upload it to Amazon. These are then matched to items in the Amazon store by freelancers using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk crowdsourcing program. Once a match has been found you’re alerted via email and, generally speaking, it only takes a few minutes. Sometimes, the matches aren’t perfect, but they do come very close.
Where this might be a problem is if you start using it while you’re out shopping in brick and mortars. The temptation to look up Amazon’s price for an item might agitate shop owners and you may end up getting thrown out.
Access to Amazon’s MP3 store is also missing, so don’t expect to be able to download DRM-free MP3s to your iPhone – only CDs come up in search results, which is presumably because Apple doesn’t want anyone competing with the iTunes store. We’re not too bothered about this because MP3s are often overpriced and lower-quality than the physical alternative.
* Apple iPhone 4
* Apple Remote iPhone app
* Amazon Mobile UK iPhone app
* Dropbox iPhone app
* eBay Mobile iPhone app
* Flashlight iPhone app
* Movies by Flixster iPhone app
* Gorillacam iPhone app
* Instapaper Free iPhone app
* Photoshop.com Mobile iPhone app
* Wikipedia Mobile iPhone app
* Apple iPhone 4
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Posted on 12 Jul 2010 at 11:44
Dropbox
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Dropbox offers 2GB of free online storage space, with more available as part of a subscription. It allows you to access files stored in your Dropbox, which can be accessed from any PC with access to the internet. The iPhone app extends that to your mobile phone, where you’re able to view the most common file types. These include PDFs, Word documents, JPEG images and even MP3 files. Some video formats are supported, while others aren’t.
Dropbox iPhone appWhat’s more, you can share files located on your Dropbox with other people by emailing them a link to your online storage space. If you’re running Apple’s latest iOS 4.0, you can manipulate those files in other third party apps too.
The favourites function allows you to store files offline – providing you’ve got enough space – for quick access when you’re not connected. You need to register for a free Dropbox account – something that can be done in the iPhone app – and, for the best experience, install the Dropbox software on your home computer.
eBay Mobile
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eBay Mobile iPhone appIf you use eBay regularly, this is a free app that you won't be able to live without. Its home screen provides an at-a-glance view of everything you're watching, bidding on and selling - something that's awkward if you're trying to view the website in Safari mobile.
You can also search for items and filter the search, just as you would on eBay's website. This makes it easy to search for items that are local, and within your price range.
Also, you can access your messages using a similar interface to the iPhone's Mail app. Here you can both read and reply to messages, as well as deleting items you no longer want.
When it comes to viewing items for sale, the results list looks just like the main website, but the interface is streamlined for the small screen when you want to check the product's description and view images. Of course, you can easily place bids on the move, sniping items at the last minute without needing a computer.
Flashlight
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Imagine dropping your keys or some change on the floor while you’re at the bar in a nightclub. It’s dark below the bar and you need a flashlight. Even if you’ve got enough foresight to have one about your person, it’s probably attached to your keys and is of little use right now.
Flashlight iPhone appFear not, because help is at hand in the form of the handy Flashlight app. It transforms your phone’s screen into a flashlight by illuminating its pixels bright white. Strangely, the app also produces slightly less useful colours for some reason – we’ve not managed to work out why yet. Regardless, this app’s usefulness speaks volumes and while it’s not perfect, it’s good enough – and it’s free.
If you’ve got an iPhone 4, new Flashlight apps designed specifically for it are starting to appear in the App Store. These use the LED flash, instead of the screen, as a flashlight instead. You’re probably best looking for one of these if you’ve got a newer handset.
Movies by Flixster
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Movies by Flixster iPhone appMovies by Flixster tells you what films are showing in your local area and gives you information about all the latest movies. It’s an excellent app that has far more functionality than you’re ever likely to need.
Flixster has every major UK cinema in its database, complete with address, phone number, online ordering (where supported) and their entire film showtime schedule for the next seven days. It also allows you to find your nearest cinema – either using the iPhone’s built-in GPS or via a postcode search. You can store venues as favourites for quick access in the future.
The ability to search by movie title is also useful, as are the lists of what’s opening this week, top box office hits and much more. Upon selecting a film, you can check out plot synopsis, cast list, genre, run time and ratings from Flixster or Rotten Tomatoes. You can even watch a film’s trailer if it’s available. All in all, it’s an essential app for all film buffs and we’ve not found one – either free or paid for – that’s better.
Gorillacam
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The iPhone's bundled Camera app is a little basic for our liking, as there are very few options available. There are a number of apps out there that expand the camera’s functionality, but Joby’s Gorillacam is arguably the best we’ve found.
Gorillacam iPhone appIt includes several useful options, such as a self-timer, time-lapse shooting and the ability to take a picture by touching any part of the screen – an ideal inclusion if you want to take self-portraits, as it was nigh on impossible to correctly touch the default shutter button in Apple’s own camera app. There’s also a spirit level and a grid to help with composition – tools that many photographers find very useful on their main cameras.
Gorillacam also takes advantage of the autofocus lens found on the iPhone 4 and 3GS, although the slideshow functionality is currently broken on the iPhone 4. We’re expecting Joby to release an update in the near future that should fix this though. In the meantime, you can always drop back to Apple’s Photos app to check out the results.
Instapaper Free
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Instapaper Free iPhone appInstapaper allows you to cache almost any webpage so you can read it offline. It’s especially useful for iPod Touch and iPad users when they're out of range of a WiFi hotspot, but it’s also great for iPhone users who commute on the tube.
There are free and paid-for versions – the latter offers slightly more functionality – but the free version is good enough. It’s a very simple app to use and is integrated with the Safari web browser – to save an article, you simply need to add a “Read Later” bookmarklet and click it every time you want to save an article for later reading.
Upon launching the Instapaper app, stories you’ve saved are downloaded – which needs to be done before you head offline, of course – and will be available to read later on. You can organise your articles with the folders feature and you can add RSS feeds; they’ll automatically update when you launch the app and start downloading saved stories.
* Wikipedia Mobile iPhone app
* Apple iPhone 4
* Apple Remote iPhone app
* Amazon Mobile UK iPhone app
* Dropbox iPhone app
* eBay Mobile iPhone app
* Flashlight iPhone app
* Movies by Flixster iPhone app
* Gorillacam iPhone app
* Instapaper Free iPhone app
* Photoshop.com Mobile iPhone app
* Wikipedia Mobile iPhone app
* Apple iPhone 4
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Photoshop.com Mobile
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The iPhone version of Adobe's popular Photoshop image editor obviously isn't as sophisticated as the desktop version but it includes several useful options for tweaking your snaps while out and about. Cropping photos, applying effects or adjusting their contrast, exposure and saturation is surprisingly easy using the minimalist interface.
Photoshop.com Mobile iPhone appYou can crop in a range of aspect ratios, including 1:1, 3:4, 4:3 and a custom ratio, and there’s also support for rotating your image, as well as flipping it horizontally or vertically. Exposure, Saturation, tint and Black & White controls are also available – you simply select the effect you want and then slide your finger from one side of the screen to the other to apply it.
For those times when a more far-fetched image is desired, there are several photo effects available. Sketch and Soft Focus change the image drastically, while other photo effects use colour washing – the most useful are Black & White, Warm Vintage and Vignette Blur.
Wikipedia
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Wikipedia Mobile iPhone appWhile the mobile version of Wikipedia’s website works very well on the iPhone, the Wikipedia Mobile iPhone app focuses on improving the simplicity and speed at which you browse the online encyclopaedia.
There are some omissions in the app – most notable among them is the lack of multi-touch gesture support. It could be argued that this isn’t a huge deal because the content is well-formatted for the iPhone’s screen, though.
What is very useful is the suggestive search feature, which suggests pages as you’re typing into the search toolbar. The bookmarks feature is also well-implemented and allows you to quickly bookmark and access pages that you regularly visit. There’s also a history function that allows you to track down pages you’ve visited in the past.
The “Today’s Featured Article” is very well implemented too and, on the whole, it’s a well worth downloading if you find yourself browsing Wikipedia on a regular basis.
Author: Expert Reviews Staff
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