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August 5, 2009 8:17 AM

My shiny IPhone 3GS will be arriving in a few days. Please help a girl who somewhere in the past 5 years became overwhelmed by the increasingly futuristic features of electronics get the most out of her new toy.

So far I know it has a compass. Which is cool because I suck at the cardinals, ya know?

I can run a laptop but did you know it has voice recognition and I don't really need to type anything? This is where I go "But I LIKE typing, just like in the old days." Then I have visions of my self in 20 years, having become a grouchy technophobe who refuses to get the new brain implant that makes all of life doable without even moving my mouth.

So what are the coolest make-life-easier apps? For instance, I don't remember life before Mapquest. What basics on the IPhone have replaced your old ways of doing things?

posted by sarelicar to Technology (14 answers total)

Flixster for finding movies. I don't have to type in my zip code anymore! Silly, I know, but I really like it. Same with The Weather Channel app. Google calendar. AroundMe.
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty at 8:24 AM on August 5, 2009

If you use iTunes/digital music, Shazam. Point the iPhone at the speaker and it'll tell you what that song you recognize but can't remember the name of or who did it is. It'll also give you a link to buy it in the iTunes store.

Note: this app is very dangerous to your pocketbook.
posted by immlass at 8:32 AM on August 5, 2009

Response by poster: @immlass I hear that!!
posted by sarelicar at 8:36 AM on August 5, 2009

I highly recommend My New iPhone: 52 Simple Projects by Wallace Wang. I've had my iPhone 3GS since June, picked up the book on Saturday, and have already learned a bunch of things.
posted by lukemeister at 8:46 AM on August 5, 2009 [2 favorites]

I got mine a few days ago. The only thing I've been REALLY impressed with so far is that I don't have to dial in for voicemail.

*shrugs*
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 8:48 AM on August 5, 2009

Pandora is a great app, one you should definitely get if you listen to music a lot. Last.fm is another good one too that is very similar to Pandora. You type in a favorite band, and the app will play songs from similar bands, genres, etc. A great way to find new music.

Weatherbug is great for seeing weather forecasts and looking at the weather radar.

The New York Times app is great for, well, reading the New York Times.
posted by stevenstevo at 9:47 AM on August 5, 2009

I moved from an ancient Nextel phone (no apps, no SMS, no web-browsing,etc) to a iPhone 3G,.. which I guess is similar to what you're going through.

I stay much more connected (if thats possible) to real-time events now with a combination of the following: SMS-texting, Facebook app, Twitterific app and Email. I like the flexibility that the iPhone gives me. I use the WiFi for faster connections when available, and its really nice to stay in constant contact with friends as I go through the day. Makes things much more efficient.

I think Twitter deserves a special mention here because if you use it correctly, it can be a windfall of great local useful information. On my Twitter account, I follow a variety of local government/business people:

city government: updates about local activities, traffic-flow/street closures, etc
restaurants: previews of the coming days lunch specials... stuff like that.
entertainment: reminders about concerts, movie openings,etc
local citizens: yard sales, accidents or other unexpected events.
posted by jmnugent at 9:52 AM on August 5, 2009

I'm a new 3GS owner too, and I'm loving these apps:

- AroundMe - uses the phone's GPS to pinpoint where you are and tell you where the nearest (insert here) is in relation to where you are.
- Twitteriffic - Yeah, Twitter.
- HabitFactor - Tracking my good habits.
- Pandora - Free music!
- Keeper - Keep track of my credit card numbers, various insurance numbers, etc.
- Public Radio - Public Radio. ON DEMAND. Nice.
- BargainBin - Find out which apps have had a price cut or even been lowered to free.
- Shazam - Hold it next to the speaker, hey presto, that's what that song is!
- Sol Free - Free Solitaire
- Zombieville - A great little zombie killing game
- Koi Pond - I use this, along with Labrynth 3D and WildWest Pinball to show off the 3GS bells and whistles
- Flixster - Movies, Theaters, Now Showing and DVD rentals.

It's an amazing little phone. Have fun!
posted by willmize at 10:11 AM on August 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

I'm a total nerd so a lot of the stuff I get stoked about with my new iPhone relates to services I used a lot already, but now have in my pocket.

• FlickIt for posting directly to Flickr when you take a picture.
• UrbanSpoon is awesome for "I'm hungry and I need to find a mexican place within 4 blocks" moments.
• TripIt if you do any traveling. Forward your flight confirmation emails to [e-mail], and they'll parse the details, then maintain a trip itinerary for you with flight info, delay updates, hotel and car rental stuff, etc.
• Flixster, as others have noted, for finding interesting movies playing nearby.
• pic2Shop is interesting and often handy when shopping - point the iPhone's camera at a barcode, and pic2Shop will parse it, search for the product online, and take you to the web page. While browsing Target the other day, I did it for a random house-brand product and was able to immediately read the reviews others had posted on Target.com. It's fussy sometimes with small barcodes, but really cool when it works.
• The free version of Twitteriffic for quick/easy/simple reading of Twitter feeds and posting updates if you feel like it. Facebook and MySpace have similarly smooth apps if you're into those.
• Comcast's iPhone app if you use Comcast for cable or internet. It lets you browse the current crop of on-demand movies, check your comcast account, etc. It's nice for "We're out having dinner and trying to decide whether we want to catch a movie at the theater or watch TV at home" moments.
• In general, check to see if any services/companies you use regularly have an interesting iPhone app. They're almost always free and sometimes actually handy.
• Tumblr and WordPress both have slick, streamlined iPhone apps if you maintain a blog with either. Approve/nuke comments, post new posts, etc. IT may not be your thing, but if it is you'll probably love having them.

posted by verb at 10:16 AM on August 5, 2009

RepeatGrocer - very quick and dirty list maker.
Instapaper. Offline reading of web pages.
eWallet. Keeps passwords.
Kindle. Reading kindle books
Stanza. Reading e-books
Facebook.
Google app. Consolidated google apps in one spot.
NPR Addict.
TwitterFon.
ScoreMobile. Sports scores.
posted by disclaimer at 10:17 AM on August 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

Here are my favorite aspects of iPhone:

- The Visual Voicemail - absolutely great. You get to see your voice mails like email, so you can choose which one to listen to, which one to delete, etc. It has revolutionized the way I think about voicemail and I don't think I can go back.

- Spotlight Search - there is something to be said about the simplicity of being able to search contacts, emails, calendar appointments all at the same time and instantly...

- Safari Browser - it really is better than most other mobile browsers out there. The two features I love the most are: (1) Autofill - considering that typing is still the most impeding feature of the phone (since it's a virtual keyboard), being able to automatically fill out forms and login screens is a big time saver. (2) smart zoom - I don't know if this has an official name, but on a web page where there are multiple columns or sections of text, you click on a section, and the iPhone automatically zooms in to that section of the page, making sure the text fills up the screen horizontally. Makes it really easy to read and navigate. I have not seen any other mobile browser that does this job so well.


And my favorite applications (which you will have to install via the App Store):

- Tweetdeck - makes it so easy to follow twitter feeds since you can categorize them into different groups

- Aroundme - reads your location via GPS and allows you to search for ANYTHING (bank, ATM, coffee house, gas station, hospital, movie theater, parking, restaurant, etc.) close to you. You can see how far they are, see all of them on a map so that you get an idea of where they are, place a call or send an email (if the contact info is available) immediately, and/or get the software to map you a route so that you can get there.

- Slacker (or Pandora) - streaming music based on your taste.

- Shazam - identify any song, whereever you hear it, radio, nightclub, TV, doesn't matter. It also keeps a list of everything you identified, so that you can do whatever you want with them at a later point in time.

- Evernote or ReQall - use them to store reminders, photos, snippets of info, books people recommend, whatever. The two work slightly differently so try them out and choose whichever one you like.

- Tap Tap Revenge 2 - completely addictive game... Topple is another one I enjoy.

- Grocery Gadget - this is the one that actually revolutionalized the way I shop. It's a shopping list software. What is unique is that both my wife and I have this on our iPhones. She can add something and I'll immediately see it on my list, and vice versa. It has completely eliminated much of the hassle of household communication to coordinate shopping. You can maintain different lists for different stores, and very easily enter quantities and specific notes. It will also sort it in the order you shop (has to learn it over time). Grocery IQ is a competitive app with additional capabilities if you don't need to sync it with someone else.


Finally, I also love Phanfare Photon, but it's only useful if you maintain photos on the Phanfare site (which is subscription based).
posted by tuxster at 10:59 AM on August 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

A couple I havent seen listed so far:

Flashlight: Yep, its a flashlight.
Offender Finder: Finds sex offenders in your neighborhood, gps area.
Rock Stars: Silly MMO that can be addictive.
Fandango: Movies
Yelp: Reviews of everything
Speed Test: See how fast your 3G is in different areas.
Amazon.com app: Easier amazon
Pocket Guitar: Fun little virtual guitar
posted by damn dirty ape at 11:50 AM on August 5, 2009

GymGoal helps me keep track of my workouts (previous lifts/reps, etc.).

Todo is a nice little todo list that i use for keeping a wishlist of assorted things I'd like to buy, grocery lists, measurements of various areas in my house that i'd like to fill with furniture or art at some point.

ixpenseit - for tracking expenses/budget. I do it for personal expenses, but it's most handy for work expenses too.

fuelly - this is just a web app, but it's nice to be able to fill out the details in the car at the gas station, rather than having to make a note of my mileage on my receipt and enter it into the computer later.

Gas Buddy (I just bookmarked a website link for this, but there's an app as well) is handy, as the cheapest gas can really range in price from block to block where I live.

Evernote - for various work/creative ideas, pictures of assorted things, recipes (if I'm deciding what to have for dinner I can look at this in store and grab the groceries). I used to just use a web based app for this, but now it's nice to have it in my pocket.

What's On - Television listings. I've only had it for the summer, so it's not too useful yet, but the interface is nice, and I think it'll come in handy this fall.

Flixster - as mentioned above is quicker than using the web to get the same information.
posted by backwards guitar at 11:54 AM on August 5, 2009

NYTimes
Wall Street Journal

These apps will download their respective newspapers' articles and store them on the hard drive for later reading. Invaluable for those times when you're bored and don't have a 3G signal.
posted by chalbe at 12:06 PM on August 5, 2009