Out of 300,000 iPhone Apps, here are the 10 best...

Something for everyone, and there's not a stinker in the bunch!

Source: Charlie White



Apple's App Store just broke the 300,000-application barrier last weekend, so in honor of that monumental achievement, I'd like to steer you toward my top ten all-time favorite iPhone apps. Because I am a 54-year-old codger, just about in the middle of our readers' demographic, there's a good chance my app picks will jibe with your needs.

1. TextPlus 4
Like many of us in our age group, I don't text much, but my teenage daughter does. Sometimes she gets so hyper-communicative - tapping out texts to me a mile a minute - that I exceed my iPhone account's monthly 200-text limit. Because texts are the biggest ripoff in the history of technology, this free app feels like a gift from the gods. I'll never pay another cent for texts again, well, except for that 200-text package that AT&T forces me to buy just because I'm an iPhone user. I like this TextPlus 4 app so much that I went ahead and paid the $3 extra to eliminate all its annoying ads.

2. Kindle for iPhone or iPod Touch
Statistics show that we like to read a whole lot more than those younger than us, and here's the near-perfect app for middle-aged bookworms. I've already been a Kindle user for a while, and I find it spectacularly convenient to also be able to sync up the books I'm reading on my iPhone and iPad using this free Kindle app. There's no fancy page turns like on Apple's iBooks app, but then Apple doesn't have Amazon's superior Kindle bookstore on board, either, with its zillions of available titles. And, when I read a few pages on my iPhone, my Kindle and iPad find out about it.

3. Next Episode
My wife and I have found about a dozen TV shows that we simply cannot miss, and this convenient $3 app lets us know how many days until the next new episode will be aired. That's convenient, for sure, but what places Next Episode on my favorites list is its ability to show me everything I'd want to know about each season, each episode, and upcoming episodes. Making it even more useful are recommendations for shows I've never heard of. I love this app.

4. AT&T Navigator or TomTom U.S. & Canada
It's a tossup between these two excellent turn-by-turn navigational tools. AT&T Navigator ($70/year) has surprisingly accurate speech recognition, letting you blurt out an address and it takes you there. A better value is the $60 (one-time fee) TomTom U.S. & Canada navigation app (now version 1.5), which lets you show it a picture, and it will take you to that location. An even better deal is the U.S. version without the Canadian maps, selling for $50. While each one of these navigation apps uses up way too much battery power for my taste, and also are a lot easier to use when they have a special $90 car kit, they both eliminate the need for another clunky device to cart around with you.

5. Dragon Search
If you need to find something quick, Dragon Search is your instant assistant. Powered by the same technology that makes Dragon NaturallySpeaking nearly miraculous, this handy little free app can send you on your Google search in a fraction of the time it would take for you to type your terms. Tap and tell it what you're looking for, and suddenly your question's answered. This was the stuff of science fiction when we were kids, and here it is for free. Remarkable.

6. Angry Birds
Seriously, you must believe me when I tell you I'm not really a gamer. But a friend of mine got me hooked on this whimsical trifle, which lets you send cute animated birds on a destructive trajectory, all in the name of getting rid of their evil pig adversaries. The only thing that made me angry about this game was the amount of time it sucked from my busy schedule. Yes, I know, you are an adult, but plunk down your $.99 and see if you can resist the hijinks of this flock of animated avian friends. And hey, now it's available for Android, too - selling 2 million copies of the game for Google's cellphone operating system in its first two days.

7. FlightTrack
I've raved about this $5 app before, so I'll keep this short: notify FlightTrack of your travel plans, and it will take it from there, functioning as your loyal and all-knowing assistant throughout your trip. For heavy travelers, it might just be the best five bucks you've ever spent.

8. Pandora Radio
All the things that make Pandora's website so wonderful are beautifully translated to this iPhone app. If you're not familiar with Pandora Radio, it's a free ad-supported service (or you can pay a yearly $36 fee to remove the ads and also enjoy higher-fidelity sound) that lets you create your own Internet radio station. Simply designate an artist or song you love, and it will find other songs that will suit you with uncanny accuracy. Because of Pandora, I've just about given up on my own extensive music collection, instead basking in the joy of the new.

9. Camera+
What if you could use one of your iPhone's volume controls as a shutter button for a camera? That's the wonder of Camera+, making the iPhone feel just like any digital camera. The only downside is that Apple found out about this wonderful feature after the $2 Camera+ had been available for a few weeks, and promptly removed it from the App Store. That's right, you can't buy this anymore, but if you're one of the lucky ones who downloaded it before it was killed, you're still enjoying its wonders. Sorry for the tease, readers, but I included this app in hopes that Apple will somehow decide to bring it back.

10. Texas Hold 'Em
This is the only other game on my top 10 list, and I included it because it's the best implementation of Texas Hold 'Em in the world, short of sitting at a table in Las Vegas. Your opponents are formidable - their artificial intelligence is excellent - and you can play through hundreds of hands of poker quicker than a Texas jackrabbit with its tail on fire. Because of its quick gameplay, this $5 app serves as a terrific trainer. Fact is, I knew nothing about Texas Hold 'Em until I got this app, and now I'd feel confident at any high-stakes poker parlor on the planet. That is, if I were playing with someone else's money.

From: http://www.techgoesstrong.com



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What do you think are the best Apps?





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