Remember back in January 2007 when Steve Jobs tried to use the RDF to persuade us that Web apps on the iPhone were just as good as real apps running on the phone's OS? Man, that seems like forever ago. Now, here we are, almost two years and 15,000 apps later.

And, boy, do we have choices when it comes to doing cool stuff with our iPhones. To save you time and give you the 101st reason to be glad you own an iPhone, we tested nine different iPhone-optimized websites and their corresponding iPhone apps to see which is faster, better, and more full-featured. The nine we tested are Facebook, Amazon, eBay, The New York Times, Google, Flickr, Weather.com, Zagat, OpenTable, and Bank of America.  For sites whose mobile version we'd never tried--like that of The New York Times--we were sometimes pleasantly surprised. In other cases--as  with Flickr's mobile site compared to the free app Fickit--there was no contest, and the app was far superior.


1. FACEBOOK
(iphone.facebook.com) vs. Facebook app (free, App Store)

We have to give props to  the kids at Facebook for creating an iPhone-optimized version of its site. But for checking out what's new with your friends, checking and sending FB messages, and even using the  chat feature, the free Facebook app is way more efficient than the mobile website.



This is what a family photo triptych looked like on Facebook's mobile website...

For starters, the  app does a better job displaying your profile info, friends, and the photos you've uploaded. Friends are shown in a Contacts-style list, photos display in as tiny but faithfully rendered versions of themselves, and you can easily upload new photos, tag existing ones, and even use Facebook's other features, like chat.



...And this is what it looked like in the Facebook app. Much better!

WINNER: Facebook app
Deciding Factors: Profile info, photos, inbox messages, and other Facebook bits 'n' pieces look better and are easier to access in the app than they are on the mobile site.



2. AMAZON
Amazon vs. Amazon Mobile (free, App Store)


Amazon's so iPhone-savvy, you don't even have to use a different URL on your phone to access its iPhone-friendly site. Once you get there, though, you'll know it's iPhone-optimized by the clean look and feel, and quick page loads.


Search results display in an easily readable format on Amazon's site viewed in Mobile Safari.

It's a great way to go if you haven't taken the time to download the free Amazon Mobile app, but the app has a huge advantage over the website, and it's called Amazon Remembers, which lets you snap a picture of something you are interested in buying so Amazon's busy bots can scour the site's vast inventory to see if there's a product like what you want available.

 Search results are the same in Amazon Mobile, but they look a tad cleaner.


Since some neighborhood cats (or maybe bored kids) vandalized a couple of the  solar-powered garden lights along our front walk last fall, I've been meaning to buy a new set and recycle the damaged ones. Using Amazon Remembers, I snapped a pic of one of the lights and got a notification that a similar item had been found--No Web searches or phone calls necessary. Thanks, Amazon Mobile!

Tap the link to see a list of products that look like the one(s) you want to buy.



WINNER: Amazon Mobile
Deciding Factor: Amazon Remembers

3. EBAY
iphone.ebay.com vs. eBay Mobile (free, App Store)


Yes,  it's shallow to be influenced by appearances, but the eBay Mobile app just looks purtier than eBay's iPhoneized website.

The last time I bought something on eBay was 1998, but I know my interfaces, and all it takes is a few searches on eBay Mobile and eBay's iPhone-optimized site to see that the app is just a bit sleeker, loads faster, and lets you easily zoom in on photos of items for sale, place bids, and add things to your watch list.




Same thing as above on ipphone.ebay.com...not too shabby, really.


eBay's iPhone site is easy to use, too, but the unclutteredness of eBay Mobile appeals to me more, so I've chosen the app as the smackdown winner, though its victory is not particularly decisive.

Bid, buy, watch. You can do it all in eBay Mobile.


WINNER: eBay Mobile
Deciding Factors: app loads faster, is easier to navigate, and does a great job with images. Plus, you can also easily watch items, and items you've bought, sold and are watching appear in both the app and the mobile site as long as you're logged in.



4. NEW YORK TIMES
mobile.nytimes.com vs. NYTimes (free, App Store)

The story lists in the NYTimes apps are easy to read.

 The most egregiously missing feature from NYTimes, the New york Times' iPhone app, is the ability to share articles you find noteworthy via email from within the app. That's why we were happy to have discovered the Times' mobile website, which offers almost as clean and navigable an interface as the NYTimes app.

Get your NY Times fix and share the interesting stories with anyone using the email link that's missing from the app.

WINNER: mobile.nytimes.com
Deciding Factors: Loads as quickly  as or quicker than articles using the app. Lets you email a story you want to share with someone.


5. GOOGLE
www.google.com and maps.google.com vs. built-in Search and Maps apps

Google Search built in to Mobile Safari and maps.google.com vs. Google Mobile (free, App Store) and Maps app (built-in)

When the Google Mobile app first hit the App Store, it seemed kind of pointless to add yet another app when we already had so many installed. But then we installed it and since then have become addicted to the Voice Search feature, which seems to have magical capabilities and understands us in almost any instance, except when there's excessive background noise or we don't speak clearly.


Say what you want to search for and Google Mobile finds it...ta da!



Results searching for the same keyword (Tesla) in the Google search bar in Mobile Safari are the same as in Google Mobile, but it's so much easier to say it than to tap it out it on the iPhone's onscreen keyboard.


In our tests, the speed of both Google Mobile searches and and the built-in Google search bar in Mobile Safari were pretty much identical--about 3 seconds to return results over Wi-Fi.


The other thing the app has going for it is a quick link to other Google services--a nice touch when you're in a hurry.


You could visit maps.google.com in Mobile Safari, but why why bother with all that pinching in and out, typing in your starting location, and so on?



In the built-in Maps app, just tap the location crosshairs icon and then tap the Map view to get the phone to find your current location.


WINNER: Google Mobile and built-in Maps app
Deciding Factors: Google Mobile's voice search option rocks. With 3G iPhones, the Maps app keeps you on course wherever you roam, and whether you're driving, taking transit, or hoofing it.