Reviews of iPhone/iPod Touch Apps

[Pupator]

Application: Movies.app
Price: Free
Requirements: None
Grade: B+
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I did not expect to be impressed by Movies.app. You put in your zip code and it tells you (by film or by theater) where and when your movie is playing. Because it relies on online information you have to be connected to the web. For that reason, I didn't really see any advantage in this over the 500 web apps that already to the same thing.

But, I think it won me over. It's quick and it has extra helpful information. For example, when you pick a movie in addition to getting the showtimes for your local theater, you get to see the length, genre, rating, and it has a link both to watch the trailer and to see the movie info on IMDb. Pretty nice.

There are also sections to see box office results and information about movies that are opening soon.

[Pupator]

Application: People
Price: Free
Requirements: None
Grade: B+
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People is a "white pages" application that you can use to search for phone numbers and addresses when you know someone's name and their location. It's pretty neat because once it finds the person you have the option to immediately add them to your address book. It's a bit slow (on EDGE) but it works well.

[Pupator]

Application: Save Benjis
Price: Free
Requirements:
Grade: A++
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I had a web app that did this before and I loved it. When you're out shopping sometimes you can't remember what something cost online. This helps you find out. You enter in the barcode info or the product name and it searches the most common online destinations for it and shows you the price.

This app also has the ability to search in specific categories of prodcuts and several ways to refine your search. Very nice.

[Pupator]

Application: SourceForge Net News
Price: Free
Requirements:
Grade: B
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Simply put, this is an RSS reader for the news feeds from /. - Freshmeat, Thinkgeek, Linux.com, and SF.net. Good stuff for geeks. There's not much to this one.

[Pupator]

Application: SportsTap
Price: Free
Requirements: None
Grade: ??
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I've used SportsTap for as long as the website has existed. Great place to go to get quick sports scores including box scores. No news, no info, no hype (ehem, ESPN) - just the scores.

My problem with the app is that it's no different from the Web app - including the requirement (obviously) for an internet connection. So I'm not sure what the point of this is when I could just keep using the web app.

[Pupator]

Application: Paypal
Price: Free
Requirements: Paypal account
Grade: D (slow and not terribly useful for me)
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So you're in the grocery store line and it occurs to you that you forgot to send your uncle Leo his monthly allowance. No problem, send it with Paypal from your iPod/Touch.

I guess this is useful for folks who use their Paypal account like a checking account and use the debit card (are you nuts?) because you can check your balance. For me, sending my money flying around is important enough that I'd prefer to be at a real computer. But whatever. For me the interface was quite slow, but that could be an EDGE limitation rather than the app. It sure seems to lock up the phone for a minute or two though. I'm not sure EDGE is to blame...

Added input from Yorker: "Along with the Paypal app and the eBay app, it would be sooo much easier to search and manage your store on the go."

[yorker]

Is the eBay app out yet in the Appstore? Along with the Paypal app and the eBay app, it would be sooo much easier to search and manage your store on the go.

[Hook]

Evernote sounds like MS Office's Onenote (though, I have never tried the handheld version). That's not a complaint, I would love that on my Touch when I get one.

What did you mean you can't add free books for ereader? A format limitation or and ability to get them on the iphone/ touch limitation. Any possibility of going to Manybooks.net and downloading in ereader format?

[berylrb]

Application: SmugShot
Price: Free
Requires: SmugMug Photo Sharing Account
Grade: B
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Smugshot integrates the iPhone's camera with Smugmug - the best photosharing site on the web. You open SmugShot, enter your login information (only the first time), and choose the default directory for uploads. Then you use the phones camera (through the app) and it will automatically post your photos (with geotagging) to your gallery.
....

I know it is free but I wonder how it compares to Apple's .mac/mobileme photo tools? anyone? BTW, I thought you said you had to get to work, LOL?

Application: Movies.app
Price: Free
Requirements: None
Grade: B+
-------------
I did not expect to be impressed by Movies.app. You put in your zip code and it tells you (by film or by theater) where and when your movie is playing. Because it relies on online information you have to be connected to the web. For that reason, I didn't really see any advantage in this over the 500 web apps that already to the same thing.
...

or how about advantage over Yahoo!Movies/Favorites

Application: Evernote
Price: Free
Requirements: Evernote account
Grade: A+
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You have to use Evernote to understand it. Imagine a world where you can instantly store anything you need to remember in any form that you want. Want to write it down? Okay. Want to take a picture? Okay. Want to record an audio note? Okay.
...
Additional info from RobbM: Evernote's "servers have OCR (optical character recognition) technology, so if you take a picture of, say, a sign or a menu or something with words on it, after a few minutes (or less actually), the OCR will allow you to search for the text in the photo itself. I've tried it with handwritten notes, and it works, but it pays to have really good handwriting!"

search like spotlight?

[yorker]

How much space do the apps take up on the iPhone? This would be a good idea around what version/GB to get.