10 Best iPhone Apps – January 2011 Review
Apps are one of the reasons why the iPhone platform has proved to be so ‘sticky’. Once users get hooked into using certain apps, they simply don’t want to switch to another platform and be without them. Here we’ve rounded up ten of our current iPhone favourites, ranging from a timely flight tracker to one of the best looking games on the iPhone.
With hundreds of thousands of apps now available on the App Store we obviously can’t try out every single one of them, so if you think we’ve missed some of your favourites or reckon you’ve found some real gems feel free to add your own suggestion using the comments section at the end of the article.
HotDealsApp
1. iTunes link: HotDealsAppPrice: Free
The premise behind Hotdealsapp is pretty straightforward. It simply lists applications that have been reduced in price or have been changed from paid apps into free apps. You can view the app deals either by popularity or by the most recently reduced and there’s also a section that lists only free apps. Clicking on an app in the list reveals its full details along with a link to the app store, where you can make your purchase.
Naturally you can also search the database of apps to find specific ones you’re after. You can even sign up for a free account and mark apps you’re interested in. The software will then let you know the next time they go on sale via a push notification.
Verdict: It’s got a bit of a rough and ready feel to it, but HotDealsApp provides a pretty straightforward way to find some interesting apps that are on special offer or have been converted from paid for to free apps.
Infinity Blade
2. iTunes link: Infinity BladePrice: £3.49
Infinity Blade was first shown off at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in June 2010 as a technical demo called Project Sword. It’s the first game built from the ground up for iOS using Epic’s Unreal Engine 3, which has long been used for 3D games on the current generation of home consoles. As a result, it features the most stunning 3D graphics yet seen on iOS devices.
The game sees you venture from location to location taking part in sword duels with a variety of foes. Much of the game is on-rails, but you do control your sword by swiping on the screen and then using the left and right dodge buttons as well as a central shield button. Nevertheless, the gameplay is fast, addictive and surprisingly deep.
Verdict: Amazing graphics and frenetic, satisfying gameplay make Infinity Blade a must have for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch owners
3. Lucozade FitCoach
iTunes link: Lucozade FitCoachPrice: Free
FitCoach was designed as a promotional tool for Lucozade and the first version of the application was a bit hit and miss. However, the app has recently been given a serious interface make over and the result is a new look that’s closer to that used on titles like Wii Sports on Nintendo’s game console.
The developers have also toned down the promotion of Lucozade products. The app acts as a virtual personal trainer. You enter your height and weight and it’ll work out a fitness plan for you. It includes videos to show you how to correctly perform individual exercises and has an integrated planner to help you track of which exercises you should be doing on any given day.
Verdict: With its useful video instruction guides and fun and friendly user interface Fitcoach is currently one of the better free fitness apps available on the iPhone.
4. Vlingo
iTunes link: VlingoPrice: Free
Vlingo enables you to speak into your iPhone and have what you say transcribed into text. You can use it to search the web using a variety of search engines such as Google and Bing, but also perform a range of other functions including dialling a contact, searching for a location on a map or updating your status on Facebook.
You can also make in-app purchases to add additional features such as the ability to use your voice to email friends or send text messages to your contacts, although the later merely translates your speech to text and then makes you cut and paste the results into a new text messages, which is hardly ideal. Once Vlingo has translated your speech into text it offers a preview of it so you can edit it to correct any mistakes.
Verdict: The extra paid for features are perhaps a tad overpriced, but Vlingo still offers enough features for free to make it well worth a download.
5. FlightTrack Pro
iTunes link: [linkout:http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/id302325893?mt=8FlightTrack Pro]
Price: £5.99
With the recent bad weather causing travel chaos and leading to the closure of many airports around the country many of us found we had to pay closer attention to flight schedules than we would have liked. Although a bit pricey, Flight Tracker Pro is probably the best option on the iPhone for keeping up to date with your flight status th
We also love the way it integrates with Tripit, taking flight information you’ve forwarded to Tripit directly and so saving you the hassle of re-entering flight details.
Handily, it can also alert you to status updates on your flight via push notifications so you don’t have to have the app running to keep on top of itinerary changes.
Verdict: An easy to use interface, great integration with Tripit and support for push notifications make FlightTrack Pro worthy of its slightly high asking price.
6. Hipstamatic
iTunes link: HipstamaticPrice: £1.19
The iPhone’s less than fantastic native camera application has lead to a whole load of excellent third party camera apps appearing in the App store. However, most of these try to replicate the look and feel of the native app, while adding in some more advanced features.
This certainly isn’t the approach taken by Hipstamatic. Instead its interface is designed to mimic that of a cheap retro camera and enables you to select from a range of lens, flash types and films to add different effects to the pictures that you capture. The results are certainly quirky, but also look incredibly cool. What’s more, you can also buy additional Hipstapaks via in-app purchasing to add extra effects.
Verdict: Obviously lovingly crafted, Hipostamatic not only looks brilliant and is very easy to use, but also produces very impressive results.
7. Tunein Radio
iTunes link: Tunein RadioPrice: £0.59
The iPhone isn’t exactly short of internet radio apps. A quick search of the App Store for ‘radio’ will return pages and pages of them. As a result it’s difficult for an app of this type to stand out in such a crowded market, but Tunein Radio manages to do so with ease, simply because it’s such a well thought-out and feature rich offering.
It lets you find stations using the various categories or just by performing a free form search. You can also bookmark your favourite station and when a station is playing the top half of the interface shows you information about the current program you’re listening too. You can also record shows to your phone’s memory and even skip back in the stream in 5 or 30 second intervals.
Verdict: A great user interface and superb range of features make TuneIn Radio the best radio app available for the iPhone.
8. Fluid FX
iTunes link: Fluid FXPrice: Free
Fluid FX is made by Autodesk, the company behind the 3D software that’s used to create many of the effects you see in today’s Hollywood blockbusters. With such a high class pedigree you’d expect the effects that this app is capable of producing to be pretty impressive and thankfully it doesn’t disappoint.
You start with a still image and then manipulate it with various effects by swiping your finger on the screen. It’s a bit like digital finger painting. Effects range from realistic flames to comet trails, along with dissolving and vaporising pixel madness. You can save the results either as still images or as videos if you’re using an iPhone 4. The app use to costs £0.59, but Autodesk is currently offering it for free over the Christmas holidays.
Verdict: Fluid FX doesn’t really serve any useful purpose, but it provides some entertaining effects that can help while away a couple of hours when you’re bored.
9. AutoStitch Panorama
iTunes link: AutoStitch PanoramaPrice: £0.59
As its names suggests Autostitch Panorama enables you to take several photos and then stitch them together into an overall panorama. The app used to cost £2.99, but is currently available at a reduce price of £0.59. There are plenty of panorama apps on the App store, but Autostitch is definitely one of the better options.
Using the app is easy. First you start up your normal camera app and take a series of snaps on your phone that overlap slightly – the makers recommend that images should overlap by about 30 percent. You then open AutoStitch and select the photos from your camera roll that you’ve just taken. Once you tap on the Stitch button the application will analyse the pictures and glue them together to create one large panorama. It’ll even adjust the exposure of the individual pictures if it notices that that are big differences between adjacent images.
Verdict: Autostitch Panorama is cheap, quick and easy to use. If you want to make high quality panorama shots on your iPhone it’s a great option.
10. Google Latitude
iTunes link: Google LatitudePrice: Free
After a bit of a struggle with Apple, which saw the app added and then deleted from the App store, finally Latitude has officially landed on the iPhone. Latitude is a location aware social networking app that lets you and your friend keep in touch by sharing your location with each other. You sign up and then invite friend to join and share their location data.
Each of you has a personalised icon that shows your location on a map. If you spot someone nearby you can email, IM or text them to meet up. With this new app if you’re using an iPhone 4 or 3GS is that you can now share your location in the background even when latitude isn’t running.
But it’s not all about creepy friend stalking – there are also some privacy settings included too. For example, you can limit location sharing to city-level, hide your location or turn off automatic updating. Also bear in mind that all that location sharing can take its toll on battery life, especially if you let it run in the background.
Verdict: It’s far from perfect, but this official app is a big improvement on the rather awkward web-based version that iPhone Latitude users have had to previously put up with.
