Great iPhone Apps
After spending hundreds of dollars at the iPhone app store and writing many negative reviews, I believe I finally stumbled upon a few applications warranting a positive reaction. Back in June Apple was bragging that the number of iPhone applications has exceeded 50,000. Clearly, what we have here is a Stalinist approach: quantity has a quality all its own. The results of my admittedly subjective but cheeky and technically adroit evaluation of a reasonably random slice of the iPhone app store pie show that I dislike or strongly dislike nearly every application I purchased. The following short list of applications represents the point-something-percent of the fifty thousand iPhone apps that were not written by trained monkeys.
RedLaser
The first – and also the best one I found to date – app on the list is RedLaser. This application will scan the UPC barcode on a product and will use Google to find you the best price online. You can save product lists and email them to yourself or to others. Clicking on product links will bring up retailer Web sites where you can find more detailed information about the product. This can be very useful when shopping for computer components or electrical appliances, since sales staff at most stores is clueless and cannot answer even basic questions about the products they are selling.
RedLaser is not perfect. To an extent, it is still a work in progress, but it is getting better with more features on the way and is well worth the two bucks. Why did this excellent application get only 2 stars out of five at the iPhone store? I suspect this has something to do with the typical technically-challenged iPhone user, who would be taking a picture of a product box instead of the label and who would be holding the camera sideways while trying to scan the stocking barcode instead of the UPC. I went through my garage, randomly picking up boxes from my recent purchases: RedLaser works just fine, if you use it properly and if your hands don’t shake too much from excessive drinking.
Most importantly, RedLaser is one of those precious few iPhone applications that will actually save you time and money. Last week, for example, I went to Home Depot to buy a hedge trimmer. The one I chose was the Black & Decker 18V priced at $79.99. My original intention was to find the trimmer that I like and the order it online for less. RedLaser saved me the hassle by showing that the Home Depot price was actually the lowest and so I just bought it at the store. RedLaser also saved me $30 when I was shopping for a Dyson vacuum cleaner at Sears. I scanned the barcode and RedLaser found a better price at the Best Buy next door.
MobileNavigator
At almost $90, MobileNavigator North America by Navigon AG is the most expensive iPhone app I bought to date. I was driving down to the beach and, knowing my sense of direction, I realized a need for better navigation software than the one that came with my iPhone. MobileNavigator is simple to use, it integrates with your contact list, it gives clear and timely voice instructions, and it automatically recalculates the route if you choose to get off-course. This is really all you need from your GPS navigation system.
With MobileNavigator you can create custom routes with multiple POIs, keep history of routes and a list of favorite destinations, switch between daylight and night modes, and adjust volume for voice commands. The address search function – a perennial problem for many other GPS navigation systems – is very fast and highly intuitive in MobileNavigator. I found this application easy to use while driving and it kept me from doing what I do best when behind the wheel: getting lost. The price bites, but it is in the ballpark for similar applications for tablet PCs and car computers. The maps are regularly updated and the updates are included in the purchase price.
NightCamera
Similarly to the excellent RedLaser app, NightCamera has been unjustly underrated by incompetent users. NightCamera uses iPhone’s internal gyroscope to compensate for one of the phone’s most significant drawbacks: lack of a flash. This app is simple and ingenious. All you have to do is to point the camera, press the shutter button and then try to hold it as steady as possible. When NightCamera feels your hands stopped shaking, it takes the picture. For greater stability you can brace your hand against something steady: a table, a wall, a sober friend. You can also adjust the application’s sensitivity to motion.
I fancy myself a serious amateur photographer and I took a number of photos using iPhone’s standard camera app and NightCamera. The results from the latter are invariably sharper. Why did iPhone users at the app store gave NightCamera such a low rating? Once again, I think the typical iPhone user lacks the technical background to understand exactly how this app works, thinking that some sort of black sorcery to make their photos sharper. This is not to say that NightCamera has no limitations: if you get drunk and go horseback riding at night, this application will be completely useless. For most other occasions, however, you will find NightCamera entirely adequate and more.
UrbanSpoon
Did you ever have to stand in the middle of a street with a bunch of friends arguing over where to go to eat? I take my food very seriously and finding myself at a bad restaurant upsets me almost as much as having to pay taxes. UrbanSpoon is free. It is also has an intuitive and fun interface and a huge database of restaurants complete with reviews from simple folk like you and I, as opposed to snobby food critics who want to entertain their taste palette rather than eat.
UrbanSpoon also makes it extremely easy to rate restaurants and write reviews. This is perfect for people like me, who like to go online to complain about things. Long wait time? Did they forget to give you a fork? Did you find cork fragments floating in your 1982 Chateau Margaux? Without delay you can pull out your trusty iPhone, launch UrbanSpoon and blast the restaurant to pieces. Instant gratification. And don’t think your praise or criticism would fall on deaf ears: restaurant business is highly competitive and every review counts.
Hopefully, in the future I will find even more of these gems in the pile of dung that is the iPhone app store. I am sure they are there somewhere. I just need to get a bigger shovel.
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I purchased this portable navigator before a long trip into areas I had never visited before. I was somewhat concerned because at least one of my destinations was in a semi-remote rural area, but the navigator got me there with no difficulty. It was also wonderful to have the bluetooth recognize my cell phone and work flawlessly. I love it!!