My Favorite iPhone Apps (So Far)

Why I have an iPhone

So I recently won a free iPhone 3GS 16GB because I entered my name into some kind of online contest. Amazingly, the day after I submitted my name I actually won, and about a month later my iPhone came in the mail. Being a cheap bastard, and afraid of signing a 2-year contract with AT&T, I declined to get a data plan but I kept the phone anyway so that I could play with it like a shiny new toy.

Anyway, I thought I’d go ahead and share my favorite iPhone apps so far:

Facebook – Free

This one is a no brainer. It’s just like Facebook.com, except with a more intuitive interface for the iPhone. Not all of the functionality is there yet, but still, this is the fastest and easiest way use Facebook on the iPhone without doing some kind of weird zooming dance with your fingers in a Safari browser.

Twitterific – Free

I haven’t tried any other Twitter apps, but this one works pretty well. Since I don’t spend a huge amount of time on Twitter this is good enough for me. Your mileage may vary.

Skype – Free

Thanks to Skype, I can use my iPhone like a phone, without paying AT&T a dime. I still have to pay Skype of course but hey, it’s pretty cheap and it works internationally. As long as I have wifi access.

Pandora – Free

Internet radio for free on your iPhone. This is for when I get bored of listening to all of the music I already have. Of course it would also be nice if my iPhone supported actual AM/FM radio but this is the next best thing.

SpanishDict – $1

I had a hard time finding an English-Spanish dictionary that works without Internet access, and this one does. It actually also has several other features, like a word game, some key phrases, a daily word, etc., but mostly I use it for the dictionary. This came in super handy in Colombia a couple of times actually.

Spanish! – $1

Yes, another Spanish app. This one is a pretty awesome flashcard application, with 1000 Spanish words built in. It somewhat reminds me of SuperMemo, in the way that it introduces new words to you slowly and as you master words you see them less often, whereas words you miss a lot show up more often. You can try to remember the English definition of Spanish words or vice versa, and it will even pronounce all 1000 Spanish words if you touch them. This app is a really awesome way to build your vocabulary, and much easier than making your own set of real-life flash cards.

Fling! – $1

Fling is an addictive puzzle game where you basically try to fling a set of furballs in a grid toward each other in order to knock them off the board, until only one furball remains. The gameplay is simple, but the puzzles get increasingly more difficult to sequence. This one is definitely a good way to waste some time if you need to do so, for example on a long bus ride or while waiting for the waiter to finally take your order.

Cube Runner – Free

A simple “racer” type game where you steer by tilting the iPhone itself, and the object of the game is to make it through a random field of cubes without hitting any at increasing speeds. There are three difficulty levels, but even on Easy you’ll be challenged to beat your own high score.

Flight Control – $1

This game is my latest obsession, and several of my friends’ as well. Basically a random sequence of different planes enter an airfield and your job is to touch and drag them into a path that will land them onto a runway, or in the case of helicopters, a landing pad. The object is to land as many aircraft as possible without any of them hitting each other. Add in some tricky things like planes of different speeds and this game becomes a really challenging multitasking clusterfield, if you will. You can also send planes to a buddy while playing multiplayer mode on wifi or Bluetooth. Definitely check this one out.

Your Favorite Apps?

Go ahead and leave a comment and tell me what your favorite iPhone apps are. What am I missing?