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.

6. FLICKR
(m.flickr.com) vs. Flickit (free, App Store)

Flickr's mobile site is just fine for viewing your own or others' photo streams, but it doesn't provide an easy way to upload new photos--and any Flickr power user knows that just doesn't cut the mustard. That said, Flickr's built-in email upload option (in which you set up a custom email address to send photos to, using the subject line as the photo title and the body of the email as its description) works great, but for simplicity's sake and ease of adding tags and setting a photo's privacy options, Flickit, a free app from Green Volcano Software, kicks the Flickr mobile site's ass.

Checking your photostream or clicking around flickr on m.flickr.com works just fine. Just don't expect Flickr.com's full upload capabilities.

One caveat: To upload photos to Flickr using Flickit on your iPhone, you have to have the images saved on your phone in the Photo Library or Camera Roll--or if you're really spontaneous you can tap the camera icon in Flickit, take a bunch of pics and upload them right then and there.



We're not sure why Flickr hasn't  created its own iPhone photo-uploading app, but we're glad Green Volcano software stepped in with Flickit.


WINNER: Flickit
Deciding factors: Uploading photos with Flickit is way cooler and easier than using the only other mode available from your phone, namely uploading via email using your custom Flickr photo upload email address.



7. WEATHER.COM
www.weather.com/iphone vs. free The Weather Channel app (free, App Store)

Any time a popular, useful website like weather.com makes surfing easier on Mobile Safari, they get additional street cred points. But the ability to choose the location using the iPhone 3G's GPS chip gives the free Weather Channel app a leg up on the mobile site. And if you haven't installed the Weather Channel app and are still using the iPhone's built-in Weather app, I must implore you to get with the program. TWC's hourly, 36-hour, and 10-day forecasts are loads more helpful than the built-in Weather app's same-day forecast.

Tap the GPS icon in the upper-left corner of The Weather Channel app screen and add your location to Favorites if you want.

The Weather Channel's iPhone-ized website still provides more detailed info than the built-in Weather app, but it looks prettier in the the Weather Channel app than it does on the site.

As far as deciding between the Weather Channel app and weather.com's iPhone-optimized site, w're giving the nod to the app, because even though you need a network connection to get updated weather info using the app, it loads faster than weather.com's mobile sit. Plus, you can use the iPhone 3G's onboard GPS chip to automatically detect our location.

WINNER: The Weather Channel app
Deciding Factors: Tie-in with GPS means you'll never have to type in your zip code--or know the zip code of a new city--again.

8. ZAGAT
zagat.mobi vs. Zagat to Go '09 ($9.99, App Store)


Even if you can't pronounce it, Zagat has some of the most reliable recommendations for restaurants, nightlife, and other stuff that matters outside the drudgery of the workday. You have two options for finding Zagat-recommended restaurants and so on on your iPhone, the free Web way or the $10 app way. If you bristle at the thought of having to pay more than 99 cents--or at all--for iPhone apps, just know this. For $5 less than it costs to buy one bound paper Zagat guide, you can get Zagat-to-Go '09, which gives you restaurant and nightlife info for whatever city you happen to find yourself in.


It's handy as all get out--and 100% free--but not quite as sleek as the $9.99 app.


The same can be said for zagat.mobi viewed on Mobile Safari, but in that case it helps if you have a paid membership to Zagat.com ($9.99 a year), which gives you more complete access to all of the review data on Zagat.com.  If you don't have Zagat.com member access, you might as well pay the 10 bucks for the app, which has a spare, elegant, easy-to-use interface, that's just slightly cleaner but a lot easier to read than the mobile website's.


All the info is there in Zagat to Go, tappable, callable, and so on.

WINNER: Zagat to Go '09
Deciding Factors: Elegant, uncluttered interface, GPS tie-in (iPhone 3G) to easily select current location.

9. OPENTABLE
m.opentable.com vs. OpenTable (free, App Store)


Get the OpenTable app on your iPhone, foodies!


If you use OpenTable on the Web, you should have the OpenTable app on your iPhone. While m.opentable.com is the next best thing, the app is a couple degrees better as far as readability and usability. The app can read your location (iPhone 3G) and find table availability at your favorite nearby restaurants.


It's not pretty, but the mobile version of OpenTable gets the job done.

The mobile website loads faster than the full site on Mobile Safari, so if you don't have the app installed,you should use the mobile site on your iPhone, but as far as readability of the returned results for open tables in your chosen area on your chosen date, the app is much easier to decipher.

 WINNER: App
Deciding Factors: The app is fast, easy to use, and can find you using your iPhone 3G's GPS chip.
 

10. BANK OF AMERICA
www.bankofamerica.com/mobile vs. BofA Mobile Banking (free, App Store)


Bank from your iPhone on Mobile Safari or BofA's free app--the experience is the same.

BofA banking customers, try not to feel too superior to people like me who bank at, well, not BofA. Luckily my husband banks with BofA, which allowed me to test the bank's mobile banking site and free iPhonemobile banking app--and, by extension, force him to reveal his secret username and password info.

WINNER: It's the user's choice, as they're nearly identical in look, feel, and features.

Finally, if you think we missed any key sites that also have apps, hit us in the comments!