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iPhone Apps

Discussing apps (in particular their design and usability) that people have installed or want to install - with reviews from people who have actually tried out the app (what a concept!)

Adam Kazwell posted a link

PCalc for iPhone 1.0.2

August 28 at 3:00 pm - via Reshare - Link

"from Daring Fireball "My favorite App Store app keeps getting better. New in version 1.0.2 is a very nifty multiple-undo implementation — just swipe the numeric display to go back one level in the undo stack. (In addition to being a better calculator than Apple’s, PCalc is a full-fledged unit calculator too.)" -" - Adam Kazwell

Adam Kazwell posted a link

Oosah’s iPhone App Extends Storage to Whopping 1TB

August 26 at 3:11 pm - via Bookmarklet - Link

looking forward to testing this out when it's available - Adam Kazwell via Bookmarklet

Nathan Chase posted a link

Newsstand RSS Reader for iPhone

August 26 at 1:39 pm - via Reshare - Link

i'd use this if it synced with Google Reader - UI is very, very nice... - Nathan Chase

That looks stunning. - Kevin Fox

Adam Kazwell posted a link

iHologram - iPhone application

August 23 at 1:13 am - via Reshare - Link

Chris White liked this

fantastic way to navigate around a virtual space on an iPhone - Adam Kazwell

Adam Kazwell posted a link

Contrasting reviews of MagicPad

August 5 at 1:14 pm - via Reshare - Link

"Rene Ritchie reviews MagicPad, the $4 iPhone notes app that offers text selection, styled text, and copy/paste, and gives it a rating of 4.5 out of 5....I bought and have been testing MagicPad for the last few days, and I’d pretty much create the same list of pros and cons. But for a rating, I’d assign it a zero. Without auto-correction, the app is utterly useless. Half the words I type are misspelled, some beyond recognition. It’s an interesting test of how important the iPhone’s auto-correction is in making its on-screen keyboard usable. The answer is “utterly essential”" - Adam Kazwell

I wish there would be a way to disable auto-correction on the whole phone. I'm writing in two languages and auto-correction is more in the way than it helps. - Andreas Gohr

@andreas agreed. Plus, autocorrection in Spanish is much worse than in English :( - santiromero

Adam Kazwell posted a link

tap tap tap ~ Donkeys and Pickaxes

August 5 at 1:07 pm - via Bookmarklet - Link

"So, the total sales for both apps was $9,896.54 and after Apple took their 30% cut we ended up with $6,927.58 for the 7 day period. Multiply this by 52 and it works out to around $360,000 for the year, assuming things stay the same. Not too shabby at all." - Adam Kazwell via Bookmarklet

Adam Kazwell posted a link

John Gruber on the NetShare tethering app for the iPhone

August 1 at 11:27 am - via Reshare - Link

available here: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObj... - Adam Kazwell

Ten step guide to sharing your iPhone's connection with NetShare: http://www.appleinsider.com/ar... - Adam Kazwell

Adam Kazwell posted a message

“Browsing through the RSS feed of the latest 200-300 apps, I decided to try these out:”

July 27 at 2:20 pm - Link

300 Bowl by TheWay Ltd., Muddled by Lonely Star, iTrans BART, Touch Tennis: FS5, Labyrinth Lite Edition, Pangea VR - Adam Kazwell

touch tennis and labyrinth have great physics, and Muddled is tough even on the easy levels. The problems with labyrinth and Muddled is the UI is still very basic - the gameplay is pretty well developed, but switching menus, changing levels still has some work to be done. - Adam Kazwell

I tried compassFree today but wasn't impressed. - Jon West

uninstalled 300 bowl...gameplay was average, graphics far below what the iPhone is capable of - Adam Kazwell

Adam Kazwell posted a link

Part-time apps developers getting rich

August 1 at 5:55 pm - via Reshare - Link

Jon West and Adam Turetzky liked this

Adam Kazwell posted a link

FORTUNE: Apple 2.0 iPhone apps: 1,001 and counting «

July 29 at 10:46 am - via Bookmarklet - Link

Roughly 20% of the apps are free; 90% cost $10 or less....On Sunday, July 13, Apple (AAPL) issued a press release announcing that 10 million apps had been downloaded from the App Store in its first three days; by July 21, that number had risen to 25 million. - Adam Kazwell via Bookmarklet

Adam Kazwell posted a link

Dan Frakes Reviews Nine iPhone To-Do Apps

July 25 at 4:24 pm - via Reshare - Link

Chris White liked this

"After testing these apps I was disappointed to find that there wasn’t a single program that includes all the “essential” features of a basic to-do-list app without adding several additional layers of GTD or project-management complexity....I found myself using My Lists for traditional to-do task tracking, and Tanjas Checklist for shopping lists, although if you want to be able to schedule tasks—or if you’re just looking for a free option—Dobot Todos is the way to go." - Adam Kazwell

Adam Kazwell posted a link

iPhone App Builder, a Business Idea

July 21 at 1:29 pm - via Reshare - Link

"The iPhone is ideally suited for simple, single-purpose apps like the ones people build today with Yahoo! Pipes. For example, last year I made a simple mashup that combines the bands I listen to from Last.fm with concert data from Upcoming to show a list of upcoming concerts for my favorite bands touring my area. I built that in less than an hour with zero programming experience. Now, imagine if that feed was an app on your iPhone that could automatically access your GPS location and present the concert results on a Google Map or as an iTunes playlist with sample tracks from each artist. That’s a pretty powerful concept that shouldn’t be limited to people who know how to write code for the iPhone." - Adam Kazwell

I wish they just made it possible to get the location information from Safari, then you could do that whole application on Y! Pipes instead of bothering with an application builder. - Sam Pullara

Adam Kazwell posted a link

Cocktails: Beautifully Designed Mixology Tool for the iPhone

July 18 at 9:37 am - via Bookmarklet - Link

"Cocktails is simply a beautiful app to look at and use. While the list of cocktails is relatively normal looking, the glass icon being the graphical element standout, it is really the recipe page — seen to the right — that shows an incredible attention to detail. The typography is precise and crisp, with appropriate bits of unicode characters used when necessary. Also, the background changes color depending on the age of the drink. For example, the Manhattan cocktail dates back to 1888, yet there are many modern versions, too. If you were to flick that recipe to the left, the backgrounds of the recipe would become lighter as the age of the recipe lessens." - Adam Kazwell via Bookmarklet

Adam Kazwell posted a link

Preview video of Last.fm's iPhone app

July 12 at 12:31 am - via Reshare - Link

Adam Turetzky liked this

Nice! I'll be happy to see this come out. The Pandora app is pretty cool as well. - Adam Turetzky

Last.fm vs. Pandora - what's the word on what people prefer so far? - Adam Kazwell

I've played with the Pandora one a little bit. I just installed the Last.fm one. At first glance the Last.fm one "looks" like it's a little more feature rich, but what I've done with Pandora so far has mimicd their web interface and worked great. I'm amazed at how good both sound and how simple to use. Terrestrial and Satellite radio should be very afraid. These two apps along wih AOL Radio really change the game now that you can walk around with this stuff in your pocket - Adam Turetzky

more on Pandora vs. Last.fm....seeing more positive votes for Pandora from those that have tried both: http://search.twitter.com/sear... - Adam Kazwell

and just played with AOL Radio for the first time today - it's awesome having some local stations back (ie: XRT and the Score in Chicago) - Adam Kazwell

The last.fm app is crashing everytime I open a new radio or any other operations... Useless to me. - santiromero

Adam Kazwell posted a link

Pandora Usage Stats Prove It’s iPhone’s Killer App

July 15 at 2:18 pm - via Reshare - Link

Adam Turetzky liked this

Adam Kazwell posted three links

See what the Twitter-verse is saying about iPhone apps (thanks to Summarize functionality)

July 15 at 1:11 pm - Link

Tap tap tap - a nice collection of iPhone apps (damn, these guys are doing everything right - and beating me to the punch doing it :)

July 15 at 1:05 pm - Link

"tap tap tap is a new iPhone app developer that makes small and inexpensive apps for the iPhone. They focus on design and usability and have some of the most stylish apps available for the iPhone. The company is founded by John Casasanta of MacHeist and Sophia Teutschler, developer of CoverSutra." - Adam Kazwell

Review: MLB at Bat for iPhone

July 15 at 1:02 pm - via Reshare - Link

"Jeff Smykil reviews MLB at Bat, one of my very favorite iPhone apps so far. The UI is effective, intuitive, and attractive. (Too bad Smykil boogered up the screenshot with unnecessary labels and boxes; check out the screenshots in the App Store to see what it really looks like.)" - Adam Kazwell

Kris posted a message

“Ah, when someone calls on the iphone it exists out of super monkey balls. I was just about to cross the finish line of world two hard after a solid 35 minutes of play and now i have to start all over. My roommates are calling me now for fun ever 20 minutes.”

July 14 at 10:24 pm - Link

There should be an app save-state that allows you to go back to the state before the phone call. - Chris White

Just got to the same place again and the game crashed. I think I'm done with this for a while. - Kris

Adam Kazwell posted a link

Early iPhone App Store metrics: Free iPhone apps get better reviews than paid ones » VentureBeat

July 14 at 3:19 pm - via Reshare - Link

it's all about setting low expectations :) - Adam Kazwell

app store metrics available here: http://www.medialets.com/app-s... - Adam Kazwell

Adam Kazwell posted a message

“weekend of downloading complete, let the week of uninstalling begin :)”

July 14 at 12:03 am - Link

first to go: Loopt and Google (seems like they were responsible for a lot of the slowness, buginess mentioned in this thread: http://friendfeed.com/e/d0ef16... - Adam Kazwell

Eric Thompson posted a message

“There are 175 games in the iPhone app store. I don't think Sony or Nintendo had this quantity of choices on day 1.”

July 11 at 2:00 pm - Link

Since Apple sorts using app names, so every app is going to start with a space character or punctuation. It'll be like the "AAA" phenomenon in phone books. - Amit Patel

Chris White posted a link

Want To Sell An iPhone App? Got Six Months To Wait In Line? (AAPL)

July 11 at 11:06 am - via Reshare - Link

"We hear the waiting list to get accepted into Apple's developer program is six months long. (That is, to be officially recognized as an iPhone developer, so you can submit your app to Apple for inclusion in the iPhone apps store.) Writing the app takes time, too, but you can start that whenever -- Apple says 250,000 have already downloaded the iPhone software developers kit. And Apple will still need to review your app before it goes up for sale." - Chris White

damn, 6 months?? Guess there's plenty of time to get the design right - Adam Kazwell

Seriously, I wonder if there's a market for someone who is currently in the program to let someone subdevelop under their account. - Kevin Fox

Six months from now, I wonder if they will all be free, or at least free+pay (like Twitterific). - Amit Patel

Adewale Oshineye posted a message

“Has anybody tried ActiveGuru's Vicinity yet?”

July 12 at 4:04 am - Link

nope, haven't even heard of it - what's it do? - Adam Kazwell

It's basically a grab-bag of every conceivable thing that you could location-enable. So it can tell you where you are (with lat+long as well as a place name), what wikipedia pages are near you, what interesting landmarks are near, what kinds of pubs/supermarkets/hotels are nearby and show you interesting photos near you from flickr and panoramio. Unfortunately all of this functionality is exposed as a big list rather through some kind of user-friendly map interface. If it had a better UI it would be awesome - Adewale Oshineye

Adam Turetzky posted a message

“Hopefully I'll add some more later, but I just wanted to make one comment as I go through this store and look at some of these apps I get the feeling that someone sent out an e-mail to every scam artist with a palm pilot and told them to step up to the money stream and put their hat out”

July 11 at 2:32 am - Link

matt hollingsworth liked this

.... because there's gold gonna be raining down and money to be made. I have literally seen 7 tip calculators, about 10 to-do lists and all of them look like they're cut from the same Cocoa template mold that came with xcode, and just now I saw a time billing app that sells for $80. It has about 14 settings. There's a light version that will only handle 50 projects, it's $30. And one that really took the cake is the "Light". A single white screen that the author is charging a dollar for! This stuff is an insult and makes me feel like the app store is some type of 3rd world street bazar market - Adam Turetzky

And I haven't even gotten the ability to put apps on the iPhone. What's up with that? - Chris White

Show 5 more comments

I think I need a developer key. I can put other people's apps on the iPhone, I just think I can't put apps I've developed on it. If anyone knows different, let me know. - Chris White

Chris, are you a paid ADC member and at the tier that gets to demo apps on hardware? - Adam Turetzky

Adam, I am ADC select. I've never seen anything regarding being able to put apps on the iPhone though, and I don't think I ever got a reply after signing up for the iPhone developer program, but I can't be sure. - Chris White

Chris, strange, everything I can find on the subject says that anyone paying the $299 to be in the iPhone Dev program gets access to testing their apps in the simulator as well as the hardware. http://developer.apple.com/iph... - Adam Turetzky

Adam, that might be, I just don't know how to do it. Don't you need a key? The site still has this on it: "The iPhone Developer Program will initially be available to a limited number of developers during the beta period." And there's this: http://friendfeed.com/e/2b33ca... - Chris White

On the positive side, it's nice to see these apps side-by-side in the same store. Just wish there was a mechanism for demo'ing the software. - Eric Thompson

Wow, it seems a lot of those $4.99 and $9.99 tip calculators and rock gardens are suddenly $0.99 today. I guess iPhone app prices can be a moving target. - Adam Turetzky

Adam T - good catch - wondering if that trend will continue. to be honest, i hope all aps don't fall to the .99 cents price (more money for devs means better apps, right?)....more price info: http://www.techcrunch.com/2008... - Adam Kazwell

Adam Kazwell posted a link

“Most of my iPhone apps crash or stall a lot, and they have made my phone less reliable.”

July 13 at 1:43 pm - via Reshare - Link

interesting thread going on about how OS 2.0 affects performance....I've noticed a definite slow-down, but nothing intolerable. - Adam Kazwell

Adam Kazwell posted a link

from JoeLaz: Favorite iPhone Apps?

July 12 at 3:38 pm - via Reshare - Link

j1m liked this

Jared Radosevich posted a message

“Finally, I am able to update our iPod Touches. Download in progress”

July 12 at 4:41 am - Link

Eric Thompson posted a message

““My favorite apps so far are "Remote" and "Yelp". Remote works well if you have an Airport Express connected to a stereo system. I used Yelp at lunch today with my wife. We found a nice French bistro a few miles from where she works. Loved it! Also Pandora rocks!””

July 11 at 1:52 pm - Link

Adam Kazwell, Michael and matt hollingsworth liked this

All 3 of those are must haves. - Sam Pullara

Eric, glad you liked, please let me know if you have any feedback for the team (I work at Yelp and am only 2 feet from the guy developing it :)). - Michael

matt hollingsworth posted a message

“just got the 2.0 firmware goodness; the first app I just installed? Evernote!”

July 11 at 4:15 pm - Link

Sam Pullara posted a message

“Texas Hold'em is a great multiplayer game but the single player game is a little too flashy.”

July 11 at 1:35 pm - Link

Adam Kazwell posted a message

“Anyone played Enigmo yet? if I'm going to buy a game should it be this or Monkey Ball?”

July 11 at 9:51 am - Link

I haven't downloaded Enigmo, but I bought Monkey Ball and it's challenging and cute. It's a good diversion but it's very one-dimensional (try to keep the monkey from falling off the platform while collecting bananas). This is essentially a demo of how to use the accelerometers in the iPhone. - Eric Thompson

I can't get past the level where they take the rails off the sides. Died 8 times in a row. - Sam Pullara