Another Top Twelve List: Our Favorite iPhone Apps

08 Jan

Posted by Mark MacKinnon as Apple, iPhone

We never tire of top ten lists, but come to think of it, why are these lists always … ten. Why not a top 12? Remember, 12 is divisible par 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 12! Try that with 10! Sorry about that, we’re geeks.

iPhone Apps are currently in the 10 000 + numbers. How many of us will ever use more than a dozen or so apps? After two years, we’ve boiled it down based on usage, practicality and usefulness.

So here goes.

Facebook – Mobility and friends, what a great way to keep in touch on the go. Take your friends with you everywhere. Of all the apps, this one is probably the best way to nurse your social media addiction.
Echofon – We’ve tried all the twitter apps out there, and Echofon is our favorite. We’ve even purchased the full version with multiple account management. Intuitive, easy, fast and simple to use.
Fring – Well, Fring is one of those apps you won’t use every day, but when you need to MSN someone abroad while antiquing in the backcountry, this is the app you need to use.
Radio apps – We’ll bunch these into one category since we have proprietary and general apps. We used the NPR addict, the RTÉ Radio 1, 2fm and Radio France apps. The general trend with radio apps is to offer streaming and podcasting over streams. If you want to browse radio stations, we tried and paid for VisuaRadio (one of the early apps out there) and Tuner. Both offer a large array of streams. The only downside to this family of apps? The amount of data you’ll be downloading when you get hooked!
iReddit – Not the best app out there, but if you’re like us, you need to check your submissions while using the transit system. Right? We’re hoping for an improved version of the app soon, but so far it’s not a disappointment, just not up to par with Reddit expectations. We’re a special bunch.
Shazam – So useful when you just need to know who’s singing that song and where you can get it. Just tap and watch the application check the audio with known sound files.
Games – Surprisingly, we’re not big gamers. But when we take a break, we love to play a game or so to keep us busy. BrainTeaser, Chess by Gameloft, Checkers by Optime, Solitaire by Posimotion and of course Toobz by OffCenterSoftware are our favorites. Toobz is addictive, what else can you say about time based plumbing?
Financial Apps – We’re always broke, but we love pretending we’re rich. So of course we have Ebay and Paypal applications. Oh, we just got 5 $ from another sale…
Photoshop Mobile – Excellent free app. Crop, resize, color correct your iPhone pictures on the fly. Saves a copy to your photo library instead of rewriting the original image.
Urbanspoon – This would be a great app if only it didn’t list CLOSED restaurants! ARGH. A little buggy, but very useful when you’re searching for a change in the restaurant scene.
Flixter – Awesome! Times, shows, places, theaters, ratings… What else can we say?
Flashlight – Probably our most used app ever. One of us has convinced his 5 year old niece the flashing strobe lights option is in fact a truth machine …