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101 Most Essential iPhone Apps of 2008
Posted 12/09/2008 at 12:56:46pm | by
Mac|Life Staff
It seems like only yesterday a young Steve Jobs sheepishly took the stage and announced that the iPhone and iPod touch would have native third-party applications. We danced in the streets when we heard the news. We figured a few hundred apps would be released. We'd play a few games, send a few tweets from the road, and make a few Facebook friends while waiting in line at our favorite taqueria.
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Now it's December, and the App Store boasts over 10,000 apps and Apple reports over 300 million downloads. We thought about compiling a list of every one of those apps, but we got some delicious cupcakes in the office and we ended up on a two-day sugar high. Those were a great two days.
So instead we've compiled a list of our 101 favorite apps. Most are high quality apps that we've found indispensable. Some are frivolous fun and while they aren't groundbreaking, or even necessary, they have special place in our hearts and on our devices.
How did your favorite app fair? Find out below.
101. Ms. PAC-MAN
We got PAC-MAN fever, it's driving us crazy. We're going out of our minds. Not the greatest game in the App Store, but sometimes you need some nostalgia.
100. A Small Orange Metronome
Metronome is a bargain, combining a simple tuner and metronome in one app.
99. eWallet
eWallet can securely store sensitive information you might want to keep on hand. Credit card numbers, membership info, passwords, serial numbers, insurance card info--organize it all into wallets, categories, and cards.
98. Save Benjis
Save Benjis can compare Internet prices while you're out at the mall, to make sure you're never paying more than you have to.
97. SportsTap
What's the score? The free SportsTap app can keep you up-to-date with current scores for college and pro sports: football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, auto racing, tennis, golf, and all your local teams too.
96. FotoTimer
Just a timer for the iPhone's camera, but it's easy to use, only $2, and can help you get cleaner, better shots, especially in low light.
95. More Cowbell!
Come on baby, Don't Fear the Reaper. Just give him more cowbell.
94. WikiMe
You know the saying: Wherever you go, there you are. WikiMe tells you exactly "where" you are from a Wikipedia perspective, listing all the entries that are related to your current location (or any postal code).
93. MiniPiano
Free and fun for kids of all ages, MiniPiano lets you bang away on 14 keys to your heart's delight. Upgrade to the $3 FingerPiano app to play three octaves and even learn some songs.
92. Cocktails
Looking for the perfect drink to celebrate season two of Mad Men? Look no further: Cocktails puts more than 1000 high-quality drink recipes on your iPhone or iPod touch.
91. FlyCast
Thousands and thousands of live radio streams, with Search, Favorites, and History settings. And it's free!
90. PhotoFrame
Stream photos to your device from flickr -- it's like your iPhone or iPod touch becomes a digital photo frame. Especially nice if you keep your phone docked by your desk and get tired of looking at that battery-life meter.
89. GL Golf
While you're waiting for the PGA-licensed greatness Tiger Woods, check out the best golf game currently on the iPhone. GL Golf includes a generous selection of five fictional courses, and a relatively accurate physics engine that relies on traditional videogame golf finger taps (no accelerometer-reliant swings here, folks). The course design errs a bit toward silly-funky, and choosing the dusk or dawn tee-time options is an exercise in futility, because they don't let you see jack. Nonetheless, the 3D engine is competent, and the back spin, draw/fade and loft/punch controls really, truly work. Bottomline: It's a completely fun, not-at-all-jacked-up golf game (unlike pretty much all the others we've tried).
88. Grocery IQ
We all have to go grocery shopping, and the Notes application isn't all that helpful with large lists. With an extensive database of products, and the ability to email your list for someone else to do the shopping, Grocery IQ is a shopper's dream.
87. LED Football
If you’re old enough to remember the classic Mattel Football electronic game, you’ll do a nostalgia-fueled double-take when you see LED Football. It’s a near-perfect replica, not just of the gameplay, but also of the handheld itself.
86. Panorama
Many digital cameras automatically stitch together panoramic photos. You just have to take a series of overlapping, horizontal photographs, hit a button, and the camera does the rest. Now the iPhone has joined those ranks.
COMMENTS:
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iQ Mobile Search
Submitted by nanotron on Tue, 2008-12-09 16:25
You might also want to try out iQ Mobile Search.
Use iQ Mobile Search to search from a variety of today's most popular search providers and services.
Simply type in a search term and quickly choose from any of the services on the list.
iQ includes country support for Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States.
Submitted by stevemur on Tue, 2008-12-09 17:14
Hope you get a chance to consider our app, BigOven 160,000+, for the next roundup.
It just passed 1 million downloads in the first 90 days since release, and is by far the most popular cooking-related app for the iPhone. It lets you look up recipes from the grocery store, your kitchen... anywhere. Search by ingredient, title, or keyword. Also includes a 1,000+ entry food dictionary. All free. Happy cooking!
Tetris...
Submitted by Ray Aguilera on Tue, 2008-12-09 21:10
If only EA would have not had 132 different splash screens before the game starts. It usually takes longer to load than than the few-minutes long window I would have liked to have spent actually playing Tetris.
Submitted by jbtipton on Wed, 2008-12-10 10:16
"How did your favorite app fair, f-a-i-r????"Was this written by a twelve year old?Who's editing this stuff?Is there anyone on the staff who has completed a basic English course at an accredited institution?There's more to life than spell check, kids!For the record, in this context, it should be spelled fare.
Submitted by jiubreyn on Thu, 2008-12-25 04:51
101 fantastic applications and you are worried about one typographical error?
Submitted by spike on Wed, 2008-12-10 13:06
i have not even made it through the list yet, and i love it already. the life-sized images of the apps make taking i the information a breeze, and i the last tenth of the list i already see several apps i want to check out. great job! (but, it is 'fare' not 'fair'. thanks.)
(also, in app #101, ned apparently "needs" a spell check.)
sometimes you ned some nostalgia
Submitted by Roberto Baldwin on Thu, 2008-12-11 17:50
Maybe I was talking about Flanders? Okay, I wasn't...
-Robbie
Submitted by fliqmania on Wed, 2008-12-10 14:43
Mark/Space, creator of The Missing Sync, has two free applications for the iPhone and iPod touch that let users send and receive - or beam, or 'fliq' - notes, photos and contacts on a shared network. Search for Fliq on the App Store or goto Mark/Space website
Submitted by fliqmania on Wed, 2008-12-10 14:43
Mark/Space, creator of The Missing Sync, has two free applications for the iPhone and iPod touch that let users send and receive - or beam, or 'fliq' - notes, photos and contacts on a shared network. Search for Fliq on the App Store or goto Mark/Space website
Submitted by Old John on Fri, 2008-12-12 11:44
i.tv looked great. But it failed to post accurate movie data for the Chicago area. It was notified, and nothing happened.
It never did post the movie Australia at least during the time I had it on my ipod. And, it did not post accurate times for other movies I was interested in.
I lost trust and patience with this app and took it off my ipod.
thank you,
Old John
Submitted by brenthotchkiss on Thu, 2009-01-01 13:43
I can't live without More Cowbell! LOL Also, love Shazam! Priceless! WikiMe is great! Amazon Mobile very cool. I've also made some other good finds on http://www.igoapps.com/search/do_search/popular_all/13/2/1/none
Submitted by happymom on Thu, 2009-01-01 23:28
I guess essential depends on the age of the user. My son would consider preschool iphone apps as essential, especially while waiting at a busy restaurant. His favorite kid app is Preschool Pals- Henry & Hailey. It is really cute. Fun characters that are very well drawn.
Submitted by Zharko on Thu, 2009-01-29 10:46
I also find the Storyz app (www.storyz.com) quite usefull.
Submitted by TotalControl on Sun, 2009-03-15 18:49
Great article; wished that the App prices were included in the list so that we don't have to click on the ones we're interested in to obtain more information.
Submitted by mkmooresr on Tue, 2009-03-17 18:32
I thought this was so cool. You can record a voice, or song, or anything you want, then the phone will send the recording as an M4A file so you can just click, drag, and drop it in iTunes to use as a ringer. SWEET!!!
Submitted by Combi on Sat, 2009-04-25 13:51
Hey, great list! I recommend SimCity ;) you can download them at http://VonHelp.com for free...
Submitted by alex.bnr on Wed, 2009-05-13 13:59
Great list of great apps.
It's really interesting review and it can help choose one of billion apps for iPhone or iPod.
BTW, iPhone is a good stuff for developers either =)
I hope, we'll see more reviews like that one. ;)Thanks to author
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