GarrettBartley.com

Just to put this out there, I am posting the collection of iPhone apps that I use on a fairly regular (or sometimes not-so-regular) basis. There are 4 pages of apps. I’ll tackle one page at a time. And, yes, I realize the new iPhone OS 3.0 is due out in less than 24 hours. I have glossed over the default apps and focused on anything that I have installed.

WeatherBug – This one has been grandfathered in. It was one of the first (if not the first) weather app that didn’t suck, and I’ve been using it ever since.

Pandora – I use this one quite a bit. Whenever the news isn’t on NPR, I typically open up Pandora and tune in to music I want to hear. I’ve been using Pandora for a couple of years on desktop computers, so I have built up a decent set of stations. I’d recommend doing this first so you don’t have to worry about thumbing up and down songs to build your stations while driving.

Amazon.com – I have an Amazon rewards card and do a majority of my online shopping at Amazon.com. This app is pretty handy when I want to make a quick purchase or look something up. If you’re an Amazon.com addict, this app is not good for you unless you have amazing self-control.

Last.fm – A fallback to Pandora. Pretty good fallback option.

Facebook – The Facebook app. Not bad, but you’re probably better off waiting to get to a computer if you want to do anything on Facebook.

AIM – This does pretty well for AOL Instant Messenger. I also find it fairly useless unless chatting online and sitting inside a single app for an extended period of time (since there’s no background or push notifications at this point) is acceptable.

MySpace – I honestly couldn’t tell you the last time I used this app. I couldn’t tell you the last time I logged into MySpace anyways. I should probably delete this one.

Nambu – This is probably my 2nd favorite Twitter app. It also supports a couple of extra services that I don’t use. But it shows you the number of unread messages since you last checked with the app (up to 100). It does pretty well. For a free Twitter app, I recommend this.

myLite – One of the first flashlight apps available. Really, it needs to just turn a bright white. There are a couple of flashy effects and even a lighter effect. I use this app whenever I need to brighten up anything in the dark. This is a recommended one.

eBay – This is pretty handy for buyers and sellers on eBay. If you are an eBayer, use this.

Flixster – This is probably one of the cooler apps out there. It shows movies playing around your location and can view trailers, reviews, showtimes, and theaters.

ScoreMobile – I’m a hockey fan, so this is handy to check scores while I’m out and about. I had this before the NHL had their mobile site, but it works for all sorts of sports.

Brightkite – I’ve been using Brightkite to upload pictures to Twitter for a while, so I thought I’d give their app a try. I rarely use it unless I want to set my location and upload a geo-tagged picture to Twitter. I pretty much use e-mail to Brightkite or TwitPic.com these days, though.

Google Earth – Yeah, it’s neat. But it’s really slow and the image detail kinda sucks. I personally don’t think this app is worth it.

Tweetie – This is the first paid-for app in the list. It cost me $2-3, which isn’t bad. It does all the things you might want a Twitter app to do. I use this more than Nambu these days mostly because I got tired of Nambu’s dark color scheme.

Skype – This is mostly a novelty app for me. I’ve toyed around with it before but don’t have many people I could call on Skype. I’d rather just dial them up from my contacts.

WootWatch – If you want a good Woot app, this is my favorite. It shows all the items from woot.com, shirt.woot.com, sellout.woot.com, and wine.woot.com. If you are a Wooter, I highly recommend this one.

RDP – A remote desktop protocol app for the iPhone. It’s slow and clumsy, but it works well in a bind.

myWireless – AT&T’s app. It lets you check your usage and pay the bill (except I’m on auto-pay). So far, I haven’t been able to retrieve my data usage, though.

IM+ Lite – This is just a free instant messaging app that supports XMPP (Jabber) without having to proxy through someone’s web service.

PhoneFlix – If you have Netflix, get this app. That is all.

TouchTerm – An SSH client for the iPhone! It’s slow and you have to use the on-screen keyboard, but it’s pretty useful when you need SSH on-the-go.

Mobile Fotos – This is the first app I ever paid for. If you have a Flickr account, it will let you upload full-resolution pictures to your account. Features include geo-tagging, names, descriptions, and tagging.

Slacker – Another backup in case I have run out of skips on Pandora. I don’t use this one often, but it’s a free music streaming service, so why not?

Shazam – As seen on the iPhone commercials. If you hear a song that is playing and what to know the artist and title, this will do the trick…assuming you aren’t in a crowded place and/or are close to a speaker.

MultiCamCT – Another paid app ($2-3). It basically lets you access the TDOT SmartWay cameras around Chattanooga. You can even plot your route and scroll through the pictures to check on traffic for your ride to or from work.

Graffitio – Virtual messaging in the meatspace. You can leave messages on a virtual wall wherever you are in the real world. I use it sometimes for restaurants to recommend a new or favorite meal.

Kindle – I honestly haven’t used this yet. I have a Kindle, but still prefer real books.

WordPress – If you need to update your WordPress blog on-the-go, this is the app to do it. I think I’ve used it once for this site and that’s about it.

Evernote – I have an Evernote account and use it mostly for work. It comes in handy sometimes when I am in a meeting and need to pull up a document that I have saved on Evernote. I also found it useful this past weekend when we went to Ikea. I scanned in kitchen and bathroom dimensions on my desktop and saved them to Evernote. Then I was able to pull them up when we went to Ikea without having to tote around a few pieces of paper (lazy, I know).

feX – Another paid app (don’t remember the cost). This is one of the few must-have apps that I could recommend. That is, assuming you use Facebook. It will sync Facebook contact pictures (and birthdays) to the contacts on your phone. If you have a picture already assigned to that contact that wasn’t assigned through feX, it will let you selectively sync those. Cool app, works well, and is nice to help round out your contacts’ photos.

TiVo Mobile – This is actually just a web shortcut to m.tivo.com. If you own a TiVo, you should probably have this shortcut.

Quicken – If you use Quicken online, this will let you quickly view your finances. It’s not that robust, but it doesn’t hurt. I don’t maintain Quicken Online like I should, so it’s a little off. I just keep a mental note of my finances in my head and use Quicken on my desktop regularly.

Oregon Trail – Fun paid-for game. It’s a time-killer, but can crash every now and then and lose some of your progress. I plan on using this to entertain myself in airports. Just don’t get dysentery!

Zen Bound – Another paid-for game that’s interesting. You basically try to wrap a string around a block and cover as much surface area as possible. It’s very pretty and the music is relaxing.

TapDefense – A free game! If you like the tower defense style games, you’ll like this one (especially since it’s free).

Trace – Another free game. You basically trace lines on the screen and try to get your stick figure to the exit without hitting an object.

Sol Free – A free solitaire game. What more could you ask for?

AFII Lite – Aurora Feint 2 (the free version). This is another time-killer game. You basically try to get 3-(or more)-in-a-row of blocks to earn resources and advance in levels or buy scrolls or spells. Definitely a good one for the price.

Lightsaber – Because you never know when you might encounter another Jedi.

PBJ – It’s peanut butter jelly time!

EpicPetWars – I got this one for Amy. It’s an iPhone client for Pet Wars on Facebook. Meh.

Inotia Lite – I haven’t played this one yet.

Kingdoms – This is basically another Pet Wars or Mafia Wars clone.

My Bute – If you play My Brute, this is the standalone iPhone version. Kinda fun to kill a few minutes. I think it cost around $5-6.

YouMail – This was just announced today. If you use YouMail (and I do), it gives you a client to listen to your voicemail and change the default greeting.

That’s all for now. After writing all this up, I think I may clean out some apps just to reduce clutter. And who knows what new stuff will come out tomorrow with iPhone OS 3.0 or on Friday with the iPhone 3Gs (yes, I pre-ordered mine). I’ll probably make another post in the future!