Print
Each new iPhone has offered fresh and fantastical ways to improve your daily life, but the epic tag-team of the iPhone 4 and iOS 4 deliver the greatest set of tools and features to date. With the introduction of FaceTime video calls, multitasking, and the high resolution Retina display, the iPhone 4 has moved even further away from being just a powerful phone and web-surfing device. Now more than ever, the iPhone is a true lifestyle-enhancing accessory.
Between the built-in features and the hundreds of thousands of options in the App Store, not to mention a few key accessories, the iPhone 4 can be figuratively formed and changed to fit your daily needs, whether you’re planning your daily commute, knocking out items on your to-do list, or simply looking to try a new restaurant. With this wide-ranging versatility in mind, we’ve come up with 40 ways in which the iPhone 4 can improve--or help you break free from--your daily routine, whether you’re at home or work, or out enjoying the world around you.
Wake up with the iPhone and your day will be "phenomenal. Magical."
Standalone alarm clocks are a thing of the past! You can use the built-in Clock app on your iPhone to set multiple alarms and customize them to your needs and preferences. You can choose the sound (including any custom ringtone) and label the alarm, as well as decide whether you’ll be able to tap the screen for snooze and if the alarm should repeat on the same day each week. Nobody likes waking up, but at least you can do it on your own terms.
Depending on where you call home, each new day can bring a meteorological surprise, so stepping outside without a quick check of the impending weather can yield painful results. The iPhone has a simple, built-in Weather app that offers localized results, but for a more in-depth forecast, you can grab The Weather Channel app (free, pictured), WeatherBug (free), or one of several regional-focused options. Don’t leave home without it!
If you rely on public transit to get to and from work each weekday, you know the uncertain wait for trains and buses can be soul-draining. No more! Many transit systems have apps that offer time estimates on buses and/or trains, like Buster ($0.99, pictured) for Chicago or MuniApp 2 ($0.99) and BART Live Arrivals (free) for the Bay Area. With that knowledge, you’ll know whether you have time to grab a bagel--or a few more minutes of sleep!
Most blogs and websites have RSS feeds, which make it really easy to catch up on all your favorite posts and updates in one place. Several great RSS readers are available on iPhone, including Reeder ($2.99, pictured), Byline ($4.99), and NewsRack ($4.99), which update in a heartbeat and offer a complete listing of the latest updates from the sites you picked. Creating a Google Reader profile and using that login is easiest, but many apps also let you add RSS feeds directly.
Need to make a call or pull up a particular album or playlist while driving to work? Thanks to the Voice Control feature in iOS 4, your iPhone can use speech recognition technology to execute commands on the fly. Simply hold the home button for a few seconds to trigger the feature, and then say a command like “Dial [Name]” or “Previous Track” and watch the magic happen. You might want to stick to touchscreen commands on a busy train, though!
Thanks to an app called Text’n Drive ($9.99), you don’t have to take your eyes off the road (or hands off the wheel) to hear the contents of your latest emails. Simply connect the app to your email account, leave the app running, and it’ll read off the text of your fresh emails. The free version reads only the first 45 words of an email message, but the Pro version reads much more and even lets you speak out a reply.
Several great accessories are available to make it easy for you to safely use features of your iPhone 4 while driving. One that does everything at once is Griffin’s WindowSeat HandsFree ($39.99, griffintechnology.com), which mounts an iPhone-holding apparatus on your windshield or dashboard, giving easy access to the phone for Google Maps or GPS applications. Additionally, the stand has a hands-free mic for calls and voice commands, and an auxiliary cable to plug into your car’s speaker system.
Internet streaming radio stations have been available on iPhone since the launch of the App Store, but with iOS 4’s multitasking feature, you can play music in the background while you continue to surf the web and use other apps. Pandora Radio (free, pictured) is the biggest name of the bunch, as its artist recommendation system builds stations around your favorite bands, but Last.fm (free) is another similar option, and Clear Channel’s iheart radio (free) delivers hundreds of over-the-air stations.
We can’t think of a better way to kill a commute than to play one of the iPhone’s thousands upon thousands of available games. Our list of favorites could fill this issue, but here are a few to start you off: fowl-flinging, structure-toppling hit Angry Birds ($0.99); faux-Scrabble favorite, Words With Friends ($2.99); crumbling-rooftop escape adventure, Canabalt ($2.99); zombie-bashing lawn protection sim, Plants vs. Zombies ($2.99); and platform-hopping pick, Doodle Jump ($0.99, pictured).
Save money (and trees) by reading the free digital version of many top newspapers on the iPhone, including the New York Times (pictured), USA Today, The Guardian, and The Wall Street Journal. BBC News (free) is another great app, especially for those seeking worldwide updates, and apps like NPR News (free) and Discovery News (free) offer other ways to find targeted news updates. Impress your coworkers around the water cooler by rattling off top headlines!
Next Page: Apps for Work »
taskmaster1977
October 17, 2010 at 3:08pm
Great article. I don't have an iPhone, but I do have an ipod Touch and I'm always looking for useful apps. I've added several from the article and will try them out.
