I’ve received lots of great suggestions about worthwhile apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch after this week’s column on the topic. In keeping with the focus of my original write-up, these are all free or just 99 cents. Clicking on the linked names of each app will take you directly to its listing in the iTunes App Store. Got others? Add them in the comments, and I’ll incorporate them into the list – but let’s keep them to 99 cents or free.

UTILITY
AroundMe (free) “helps you find all sorts of things wherever you are,” says my friend Melissa Prusi. “I’ve used it to find gas stations, parking, etc.” Reader Susan Austin calls it her most used app and says it’s “awesome!” Marty Andreasen also likes the way it “uses GPS to tell you what things are near you like banks, bars, coffee, gas stations, hospitals, hotels, pharmacies, supermarkets, etc.”
Epicurious (free) “is a fun recipe app linked to the website of the same name,” Melissa says.
Evernote (free) is “the one app that sees more action on my Touch (after Mail),” says online commenter RVM4.  ”Install it on your desktop, too, and your notes are always sync’d. … This app has made me at last (almost) paperless.”
Google Mobile (free) might seem like an obvious choice, but Marty and fellow reader Kimon Swarts point out that it has voice recognition. It’s “quite accurate,” Marty adds.
iHandy Level (free) is one of those off-the-wall apps, turning your device into an electronic carpenter’s level. Susan recommends it. Reader Adgrady “helped a friend hang pictures in her office, and they were perfect with the iPhone level keeping them straight.”
Lose It (free) was recommended by Susan, co-worker Shari Gross and online commenter PatGLex. Shari said, “I just downloaded it this week after hearing two friends had used it and lost 15 and 10 pounds. It’s not much more than a calorie tracker, but it succeeds in increasing your awareness of how many calories we consume each day. It’s guilted me into losing 1 pound in a week.  Not sure if that’s considered successful or not.” PatGLex says, “I’ve already lost 7 pounds, as I learn to make good choices.”
MapsBuddy (99 cents), suggested by Kimon, helps you find places on a map with just one click.
Multicam Minneapolis (99 cents; other cities available) is especially useful to reader Jay Pfaender when he’s trying to get out of town to head up to his cabin. It “views live all traffic cams in the Twin Cities area,” he says. “Normal Friday night backup areas can be bookmarked for enroute viewing for avoidance.”
Skype (free) has made reader Roger Jones so happy that he called to tell me about it. “It’s very nice to have it on the iPod Touch, because it turns it into a telephone,” he says. Marty uses it, too. Note, though, that you need a headset with a built-in microphone to talk on the iPod Touch.
Textfree Lite (free) appeals to reader Jonah Edelman, who calls it ”an amazing texting app.” The free version allows a maximum of fifteen messages a day. The full version ($5.99) offers unlimited messages and a landscape keyboard. “This app is totally worth buying and great for text messaging!” Jonah says.
TwitterFon (free) is the “best free Twitter app by far,” my colleague Colleen Kelly says. “One-touch favorites. Color-coded replies etc. Worth money even.” I use Twitterific, the one mentioned in my column, but I’ll have to compare this.
Vlingo (free) offers hands-free, voice-activated dialing. Susan says it “saves me everytime!”
WhitePages (free) gets the nod from Susan and Jay, who says it “provides normal residence and business look-up, but the real value is the reverse look-up capability to help decide whether to answer incoming phone calls.” 
Yelp (free), recommended by reader Krgromer, works much like AroundMe. 
Zillow (free) is the GPS-enabled mobile version of the popular website that shows the value of homes in a particular area, along with other data. “Fun on Lake Minnetonka,” Marty says.

NEWS
NetNewsWire (free) gets my friend Kathy Snell’s pick as a good reader for RSS feeds from websites.
NYTimes (free) — the New York Times — is a favorite of Krgromer, who says, “The best part is under ‘more,’ when you tap ‘photos,’ then pick stories to read by their picture.”
USA Today (free) is recommended by Colleen because it has “one-touch sharing to Twitter and Facebook.”
WCCO (free) “has, by far, the best local app in town,” online commenter Thislilguy says. “Pulls in up-to-the-minute news and even video. Although the best part of the app is the radar. I am a biker and the radar on the app has been more useful then even my GPS.”
WSJ (free) — the Wall Street Journal — is a top pick by Marty, who notes that he is a financial adviser and that some of his picks are industry-driven.

WEATHER
I like Apple’s preinstalled weather app to get my forecast, as does Kathy, but others use a variety of options.
Accuweather (free) is “a good weather app,” Melissa says.
Radar in Motion (99 cents) is used by Jay “for the trip up north.” He says it “views the Twin Cities and Duluth radars effortlessly; for seeing what weather is coming, views the Fargo and Sioux Falls radar effortlessly.”
Weather Bug (free; also Weather Bug Elite, 99 cents) gets Krgromer’s vote: “Even the free version shows radar maps, webcams, and forecasts — cool — for up to four locations.”
The Weather Channel (free), the official app of the popular cable network and website, gets Susan’s vote. Jay also likes it “for final destination precise forecasts.”

ENTERTAINMENT
Ambiance Lite (free) gets Shari’s pick for providing ambient sounds. “It’s soothing to listen to a soundtrack of frogs while sitting on the deck (especially since there are no frogs where I live),” she says. “I also like the ocean sounds.”
Drum Kit Lite (free) is “a little drum set for your fingertips,” Shari says. “My nieces and nephew had fun with this in the car to Milwaukee, trying to keep up with the stereo.”
Flixster (free) was recommended by Susan, Melissa and Adgrady for finding movie listings, showtimes, reviews and trailers. I had originally planned to include it in my original write-up, but I cut it and featured Now Playing instead. The reason is that it didn’t include AMC Theatres in its listings when I looked. A follow-up check, though, shows that it does include AMC now. I actually prefer the Flixster interface, but both programs are super-swell.

TIME WASTERS
I purposely didn’t include games in my write-up, but people offered their favorites:
Ancient Frog LE (free), a puzzler in which you move a frog, ”is addictive and pretty, a fun game,” according to Krgromer.
Animatch (99 cents) is a top-selling matching game for kids. ”This is fabulous fun!” reader  K. Cormier says. “My kids love it when they introduce a new animal.  Cute graphics and sounds. Even adults find themselves playing more than one round.” She adds that there is a fun related app, Anisays (99 cents), which offers a “neat way to remember patterns – sound and pictures.”
Bubbles (99 cents) is a great kids app, Colleen says: “Move, make and pop bubbles. Yep. That’s it.”
BubbleWrap (free) is a self-explanatory pick from Susan.
Cube Runner (free) turns you into a virtual pilot as you maneuver a plane around blocks by tilting your device, another fave of Susan.
GemLogic Lite (free) is a Bejeweled-like puzzler. Commenting on her list filled with great practical apps, Kathy says, “Whoops, how did a game get on here?”
iMafia (free) is a popular multiplayer online role-playing game for mature players that Jonah loves. “There are many more games like this, but none of them can beat iMafia!” he says.
iSynth (free), says Krgromer, ”creates amazing pictures of places like the Taj Mahal that you can view in panaramic fashion — beautiful.”
RemoveEm (free) is a puzzle game that Colleen says is “hard to explain.” But, she adds, “The free one was so good, I actually bought the paid version. … This game has stopped more than one pouty tantrum.”
Touch Hockey FS5 (free) is air hockey. “No more needs be said,” Shari insists.
Word Scramble (free), another pick by Susan, is a fun word-search game.

Finally, just a follow-up, courtesy of Dan Grigsby of the Minneapolis-based Mobile Orchard app-news site, about two indispensible entertainment apps mentioned in my original column: Pandora Radio was written by Neil Mix, a Minnesota native who lives in Wisconsin. And the Public Radio Tuner was created by Bill Heyman and Damon Allison of Minneapolis-based CodeMorphic.

TAKE THE MP3 CHALLENGE!
Can you tell the difference between MP3s and the original CD?

This entry was posted on Friday, June 12th, 2009 at 11:35 am and is filed under Mobile. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.