Its been a month-ish since I started playing with applications on my glorious iPod so I thought I should round up which are proving to be the most useful and entertaining. The majority are free, which is a great start but is slightly worrying given the number of previously free apps which have recently had a price tag added by their developers. I have no doubt that apps from the big developers (Facebook, Google etc) will remain free but the chances of some of the most treasured free apps, particularly games, staying free aren’t looking good. For now though, I’ll look at apps before posting about games later.
Facebook – whatever has been said about a lack of features in the first version of this one, we’re already seeing big improvements. The ability to chat with your Facebook friends is fantastic, especially for iPod Touch owners like myself who don’t have the luxury of the iPhone’s texting app. Interface issues still need ironing out, though access to photos is great. Well worth the download – and free!
Ambiance – a new one purchased (yes, for all of £0.59!) on the back of a TUAW review, and well worth the money. I’ve always wanted a ’sound box’ to help with sleep but hated the idea of paying hundreds for a box that plays trickling water at me so this, along with my trusty £15.99 iPod speaker dock from ASDA, is a fantastic alternative and amazingly it works like a treat!
Remote – probably going to change my listening habits for good. I’ve got sick of dragging my laptop round with me or trying to plug in/find batteries for my speaker dock but Remote now comes to the rescue by letting you control your iTunes library and player from your iPod via WiFi. With the help of my previously neglected AirPort Express, imagine a Sonos system for a fraction of the price with the added ability, if you invest in a little bit of shareware called AirFoil, to stream any audio from your PC/Mac to any remote HiFi in your house. Genius – and free!
Last.fm – I’ve had an account for this for ages and never used it, until now! I’m in love with the free streaming, usually accurate recommendations of what you likely want to hear and flexibility to customise your own radio station. Very cool, particularly with a speaker dock – and a good net connection – and, of course, free!
iShape – another new one which is changing my life! Having entered a few details about weight/height/age/sex etc it calculates your BMI, optimum weight and sets you a timetable and calorie count to stick to in order to reach your goal within a specific amount of time. I’m so impressed with the way you can record and track what you eat to make sure you don’t have the wrong type or amount of food and its so easy to use! Loving it and can’t wait to see if it works! At £5.99 it isn’t the most expensive app I’ve invested in so far, but its certainly been the best value for money even after only a few days.
Not to be missed also is the new BBC iPlayer web app which is a vast improvement on the initial clumsy implementation. The design is great, the quality is fine and I’m so impressed that the BBC is really leading the way in providing decent streaming video to the iPod/iPhone. If you haven’t already tried it you really should!
Perhaps to be saved for another post are the most disappointing apps – Flickr app ‘Exposure’ (for being too obsessed with advertising) and accelerometer harnessing ‘Steps’ (for simply not working!) being two of the worst. At least I didn’t pay for Exposure, but the farce that is my £2.99 copy of Steps just shows why some developers must be thanking their lucky stars that there isn’t a try before you buy option available through the AppStore yet. Be careful of reviews in the store itself though because Apple doesn’t seem to be doing a very good job of moderating them and some are clearly being used as a clever form of marketing – as I found with iShape, the best option is to trust in Google and do a search for ‘iPhone Apps’ and the type of app you’re looking for or a specific app’s name.
