We had no doubt iPhone would be the best smartphone we ever used, but we never could have imagined just how many ways it would take over our lives. From tools we’ll never need again to places we won’t be going back to, iPhone’s versatility never ceases to amaze us--and we’re not just talking about pocket fishermen, paperbacks and newspapers. Want to avoid sleeping on the couch after a fight with your better half? There’s an app for that.





The day the music died

When we got our first iPhone, we had an inkling it would be the last cellphone we’d ever buy, but we never thought it would be the last iPod, too. But iPhone is so good at being "a widescreen iPod with touch controls," we can’t find a reason to drop any more money on another music player, even if it might offer higher capacity or an extra bell or whistle. And based on last quarter’s sales figures, we’re not alone.





It blinded us with science

It might not have the TI-83 geek chic, but we sure wish we had iPhone’s handy horizontal scientific calculator for our sine, cosine and tangent needs back in high school trig class: It fits in our pocket and doesn’t need solar power. Oh and if the bundled Calculator app isn't enough for you, there are ton of calculator apps in the App Store.





The trouble with scribbles

As diligent cub reporters, we were taught to never leave home without our trusty pocket notepads, but now that iPhone has Voice Memos to go along with its landscape Notes app, we’re not sure if we’ll ever feel the same way about lined paper again. And pens. Who ever heard of a digital ink leak ruining their brand new jeans?






Lost and found

Thanks to Google and Apple, we’ll never have to struggle to fold another oversized map of Oregon or pull over at a San Leandro gas station after getting lost for 45 minutes on the way to Lake Chabot while your wife repeatedly asks you why you’re always too macho to ask for directions and gives you the silent treatment for the rest of the ride and makes you sleep on the couch once you finally get to your hotel room.





Generating buzz

The clock radio certainly had plenty of competition before iPhone came around, but there aren’t too many that offer a snooze button and the mellifluous Marimba melody. Besides, iPhone is officially the first alarm clock we actually enjoy setting.





Oh, say can you see?

How many times have you fumbled around in the dark for those accursed D batteries that only fit in flashlights and Go-bot-eating Zods? iPhone’s super-bright screen has left us with a whole lot more juice for our mechanical monster.





Post haste

Never again will we return from vacation to the scowl of one of our friends or relatives who we accidentally left off our obligatory postcard list. Not only can we make an iCal reminder that pops up mid-way through our trip, we don’t even have to get ripped off at our hotel gift shop anymore. Any number of apps will turn our photos into neat digital postcards that can be whisked away without having to put down our mojito.

 

Oh Snap!

While we’re on the subject of vacationing, how many times have you arrived at your destination only to realize that you’ve forgotten your charger, memory card or (in our case) the whole damn camera? Back to the gift shop, right? Nope. iPhone’s camera certainly won’t replace your PowerShot, but it’ll take a decent pic of Mount Rushmore--or at least as decent as the $25 Kodak single-use your hotel is selling.

 

Feel the burn

It won’t shout slogans of encouragement, but then again, it won’t cost $50 an hour, either. With a smorgasbord of apps that count your calories, plan your workout and keep your health on track, you’ll never again have to endure a guilt trip from your personal trainer or feel the shame of trying to do push-ups in front of a gym full of muscle-bound freaks.



Photo by lateralus2112

Tune up

It’s not that we don’t look fondly on those endless hours of music lessons and choir practice we suffered through as wee MacHeads, but we can’t help but be a little jealous of iPhone’s musical prowess. Not only can you scratch records, pound drums, bang a cowbell and blow into a flute, now you can sing like T-Pain, too. Man, where was the App Store when we were butchering "Mary Had a Little Lamb" for Mrs. Schloenberg?






Flash flood warning


From vocabulary words to the periodic table of elements, we would have had a much easier time keeping track of our flash cards if they weren’t scrawled on dozens of 3-by-5-inch pieces of card stock. And if we had an iPhone when we were seven, maybe we could have found a more creative use for index cards.

 

Day planner man, fighter of the iPlanner man

Our life was never important enough to keep track of in a tiny Trapper Keeper, but now that we all have iPhones, we finally get it. Our digital day planner has suddenly given us a whole bunch of reasons to cram our calendar, address book and journal with all sorts of crucial information.





Don’t cry for me

Few apps are cooler than Babyphone, designed to replace the pricey baby monitors all new parents are obliged to buy. Simply place your iPhone by your baby’s crib, input a secondary phone number, and iPhone will give you a ring when baby wakes up. (And if you don’t have a newborn, it works just as well to catch co-workers rattling around in your lunch bag.)




My fake plastic love

These days, you don’t need a business degree to launch a Web site and open a small business. Thanks to the iPhone, you don’t have to drop a bunch a dough on a clunky credit card reader, either. Of course, you’ll have to make the sale first, but iPhone will take care of the rest--and keep your customers’ pockets clear of all those annoying pieces of paper with your company’s name plastered all over it.

 

Last call

Remember judging your local bartender based upon his or her's knowledge of obscure beverages? If they couldn't make a Flaming Blue J. how could they be expected to grab the correct beer? Well now bartenders and their seemingly never-ending ability to make any drink on the planet can be easily replaced with a few iPhone apps. Why spend time at the local bar paying too much for booze when you can pretend you're a bartender at home? Plus, getting home is safer. You're already there. On the floor. That's spinning. 

A teaspoon of sugar

We’re not sure what we’re going to do with all that extra space in our kitchen cabinets now that iPhone has condensed our library of cookbooks into a 3.5-inch display. Between Betty Crocker, Epicurious and Allrecipes, we’ve got every cuisine covered--and Google’s always there to help with all any fancy terms or perplexing measurements. And the stains wipe right off with ease.






Point and click

OK, so you have to buy a $2,500 component that converts Wi-Fi into infrared, but the iPhone can replace your home entertainment center's universal remote that always getting lost. If you're a TiVo owner, you can control it over your local network. Or, we can just wait for Apple to finally release its Mac mini DVR and 50-inch Cinema Display.






Flash on iPhone


Apple has taken its share of lumps for not fitting it with a memory card slot, but that doesn’t mean iPhone isn’t capable of handling all of our file-carrying needs. MobileMe users have got it good with Apple’s iDisk app, but those of us without mac-dot-com addresses can download Air Sharing, DropBox or ZumoDrive and say goodbye to gimmicky flash drives forever.




Check it out

Signing, tearing, waiting on line at the bank: Writing checks is so 1988, but just because our debit card does most of the work doesn’t mean we aren't totally immune from sending and receiving them. A number of apps on iPhone allow you to pay bills and wire money, but the best has to be USAA Mobile, which lets you deposit checks right simply by snapping a photo of the paper nuisance. Now that’s a veteran’s benefit if we ever saw one.




Hey there, fanny boy

Frankly we’d like to forget these ever even existed, but if iPhone can eliminate the need to look like a lame kangaroo, we’re all for it. We never really saw much use for them, but now that iPhone carries your books, games, maps, camera, flashlight and iPod for you, take our advice and leave the fanny pack home.

Pic a winner

Never again will we have to squeeze a wallet-size photo into a flimsy, see-through sleeve and jam it into our back pocket just so we can show our co-workers how cute our kids are. Now we can show them a whole slideshow.




Starry, starry night

We haven’t stepped foot in a planetarium since our fifth-grade field trip, and now that iPhone’s become such an astronomical success, we won’t be going back. With a plethora of awesome apps to chart the sky, we only have one question: Is there an app to help us get over the lingering pain of being rejected when we tried to hold hands with the cute girl sitting next to us?




Pinball wizard

Why pay $2 in quarters for a 3-minute game of air hockey at an arcade when 99 pennies will get you unlimited access--and without the annoying eight-year-old begging to play winner?





Kindling for the fire

No one likes studying, but we might have enjoyed it a little more if we didn’t have to carry around dozens of Cliffs Notes and those God-awful giant SAT prep books. No, scratch that. We still would have hated it.





Say what?

With so many uses, there’s one thing iPhone takes away that an app can’t easily replace: excuses. "I left my backpack at school," "The dog ate my homework." "I didn’t get the message," "The power went out," "The post office must’ve lost it"--and our all-time favorite, "The check’s in the mail"--just don’t have the credence they once had.