(no subject)

[oyceter]

And once more, I drop off the face of DW/LJ. I haven't even been reading, so if anything's happened in the past week or so, I have completely missed it.

This brought to you by my worst case of jet lag in a long long time... usually my sleep schedule is so messed up that jet lag knocks it back to normal, but right now I am plagued with waking up at 4:30 every morning and not being able to fall back asleep until 7. Ugh.

Anyway! I have finally taken the plunge and gotten an iPhone.

Rec me apps!

1. Free is good. If it is going to cost me (even a dollar), it had better be a damn good app.

2. Is there an app for DW?

3. Good book apps particularly welcome... either keeping track of your library or something like Stanza for ereading.

Comments

[inkstone]

re: 2
Not yet, I think. I know that was a project for one of the Google summer students. There's a mock-up on one of the development comms, IIRC.

[rilina]

Stanza is still my face reading app. The proprietary ones are glitchy.

I like the words with friends scrabble app, echofon for twitter, foursquare. I am still exploring apps, though, since this is basically the first time I haven't had an outdated model.

[lnhammer]

Clearly, you need to get Robot Unicorn Attack.

---L.

[gwyneira]

There's a Goodreads app which is pretty good -- not full site functionality, but enough to keep track of books and one's GR friends.

[vass]

Convert is a good unit converter. I don't know if it's free: my father gave me his old phone and it was already on there.

PicGrid is an addictive hanjie game. The lite version is free.

WordTrail is a Boggle-style game. The aim is to unscramble a nine-letter word. The only problem is that some of the words are things no reasonable person could be expected to guess. Another one I inherited from my father.

[dichroic]

Don't know if Convert is free but Cambio is and I think GlobeConvert is too - I agre that a unit converter is a really handy app to have, especially because they convert currency too.

Wurdle is an actual Boggle-type game (unscrambling words is not Biggle, though could be fun). Sudoku Free is free, and there's a paid version (.99 or 1.99) that has more games if you run out.

I use the Kindle reader a lot but only because I have a Kindle and it can access all those books - otherwise I agree on Stanza.

Flashlight is useful. Night Stand is handy for travel; it lets you use the iPhone as a bedside alarm (but to keep it visible you'll want to plug it in).

You'll want a better note-taker app than the included one; I use Fliq notes which lets you send notes back and forth to other devices. It's still not ideal, though (What I want is one that backs up notes when synced, lets me see the notes on either computer or iPhone, and lets me categorize notes in folders. I don't have any particular need for voice or graphic notes, though there are programs that do that too.)

[vom_marlowe]

I read ebooks on my ipod touch (very similar to the phone), all the time. I like to use Kindle, which is free.

[daedala]

If you want an addictive game, I think Carcassonne is well worth the $4.99. However, it might eat your free time. :)

[quivo]

SimpleNote is free and really well done; will stay out of your way and let you write notes quickly and easily. Did you get the newer iPhone, or one of the previous gen ones?

[heresluck]

I'm looking for book apps too! The GoodReads one is the most promising I've seen, but the thought of actually entering all my books into GoodReads in the first place makes me tired. Heh.

[jonquil]

Remember the Milk. Having Remember The Milk on the Web (free) and on the iPhone (extra cost) will save your life. You can be blogging away and think "Damn! I need to get the new release of Manga X!" and immediately put it on your manga shopping list, and the next time you're in the manga store, there it is on your iPhone.

[thomasyan]

When I get a chance, I plan to take a look at this Washington Post article about the 18 best apps. I doubt I'll agree on the entire list, but I figure it probably will have some ideas I'll want to snag.

Netflix will be coming out with a streaming app soon I believe for the iPhone. (There is already one for the iPad.)

The Starbucks locator app might be a good way to find places to meet others with iPhones/iPads. I haven't found it yet, but I think there is a compass app, so that you can always figure out the cardinal compass directions.

I got one of the Solitaire apps, and even upgraded to the paid version because I use it so much and the ads were so annoying.

[roadrunnertwice]

I do the iPad thing, and Stanza for "real" ebooks, Instapaper for essays and less-than-book-length fic, and SimplyPDF for PDFs seems to be the state of the art. (SP is light on features but feels really good on a page-to-page basis, which iBooks just fails epically at. I think it cost like two bucks, but even just the ability to crop the margins and not have to zoom EVERY. DANG. PAGE was worth the scratch. Instapaper also cost something, but man, if you like essays or fanfic, it is almost literally indispensable. I could go on about that one for days.)

Also, if you haven't gotten Simplenote yet: CRUCIAL. (Free with tiny & classy ads; requires free account on the web service.) Basically, it's just a pile of text files available to you everywhere and on any computer, the end. (And if you do the Macintosh thing, get Notational Velocity and muck around in the prefs until it syncs with the service, because it's more convenient than the web app.)