Reviews of iPhone/iPod Touch Apps

[Pupator]

Thought it would be a good idea to keep these in one place for a while. I'm going to do some quick, first look reviews that I'll update with more info later.


Application: Remote
Price: Free
Requirements: iTunes, PC or Mac
Grade: A++
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This is incredible. It's no surprise that Apple's application would be the fastest, smoothest one out there. All you have to do is connect your device to the same wifi network as your computer. Then you open "Remote" on the iPhone/Touch and click "Add a New Library." It will give you a pin code and by this time your phone will have appeared in iTunes on your computer as a device. Click it - enter the PIN and you're off.

You can access all the songs, playlists, videos, etc. by using your iPhone/Touch as a remote. Press play on a song and the computer speakers start playing.

This is an incredibly useful app for me when my PC is in one room but streams to my Bluetooth speakers in another room. Great, great stuff.

[Pupator]

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.

The app itself works quite well and is only limited by the (I think) sorryness of the iPhone camera. Perhaps the 3G iPhone has a better camera. Still, it's neat for quick snapshots to share with others; and the geotagging is pretty cool.

[Pupator]

Application: Midomi
Price: Free
Requirements: None
Grade: C
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Midomi claims that it can find whatever song you're looking for - with lots of way to find it. You can sing or hum and it can identify the song. Or you can hold it up to the speakers if a song is playing and it will identify it. Finally you can say or type the artist, song name, or lyrics and it will find it.

I had a 0% success rate singing into it - and I'm not that bad.
I had a 10% success rate holding it up to a speaker (1/10).
I can type song names into the iTunes store and find what I need.

This would be a neat application if I had a higher success rate, but as it is I'm not impressed.

[Pupator]

Application: Baseball
Price: Free
Requirements: None
Grade: A (if you're a baseball geek)
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The ultimate app for baseball geeks. Quite simply it's an interface for a DB of baseball stats. You pick the team, then the player, then the year and it gives you that players stats for the year. The stats are broken down into sections for personal, batting, pitching, and fielding.

The app could be improved by adding information about specific games (playoffs) but it's very good as is.

[Pupator]

Application: eReader
Price: Free
Requirements: eReader.com account
Grade: B (Wish there was a way to import my own, free books.)
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eReader is a robust eBook application that comes with two books - Tarzan and Last of the Mohicans (great book if you haven't read it).

Books open quickly and look great on the screen. The bookshelf (list of books you have) is easy to navigate and adding books is as easy as clicking a + button that takes you to your eReader.com account. Classic books are as cheap as $2. Other (newer) books range between $5-$20.

Within the eReader software you can turn pages with a simple swipe (would be nice if the volume button did this too) and there's a toolbar for searching books for specific words. You can also change the display font.

[Pupator]

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.

This app lets you do it on your iPhone. You can also download the software that lets you do it on your computer. Amazing, amazing stuff if you've got a lot to rememeber.

The app itself is snappy and easy to use. Put in your account information and you're off.

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!"

[Pupator]

Application: Google
Price: Free
Requirements: None
Grade: B
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Google is, obviously, a search app. You open it and type in a term and it looks for the term in all kinds of places. If you start typing a name it will search your contacts as well as the web. As soon as you start typing it quickly suggests lots of options to hurry things along.

The app works well enough, though it would be nice if it also searched your notes and e-mails.

[lelisa13p]

This is a gentle reminder for members to keep this thread On Topic since it involves reviews of new software.

[RobbM]

Although I've not been brave enough to do the early update to my iPhone, I'd like to add a "Harumph!" to Pup's review of Evernote. This is a fantastic service that makes it easy to keep track of just about everything. And one thing that Pup didn't mention is that their 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!

I've got 2 apps in the bin: Remote and Evernote.

[Pupator]

Application: Jolt
Price: Free
Requirements: Jolt Account
Grade:
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I liked that you could register for a Jolt account on the iPhone itself, including being sent the confirmation link via SMS.

Jott is a notekeeper and a todo keeper. You can call the jott phone number to record notes and it will transcribe them into text. This did not happen quickly for me over EDGE.

I shouldn't give Jott a grade because it seems pretty good but I didn't test all the features as I'm already a fan of Evernote.