Top iPhone Apps

Initially, the iPhone was very good but it lacked a little bit of polish and was on a relatively slow network. But Apple doesn't stand still and it wasn't long before a 3G version of the phone became available.

Apple, however, realized that they couldn't just produce another cell phone, but had to produce one that moved the boundaries. They managed to shock the cell phone world with the introduction of this amazing little device.

It's a phone: as a phone it's pretty intuitive, it allows you to quickly search a phone book and place calls with no hassle. It also pauses any applications or songs that are active when calls are made or come in.

It's a music player: this little phone just happens to be an iPod too. Whether you love or hate the iPod, you have to admit that the sleek touch-screen interface combined with the legendary iTunes store elevate this player above most others, if just for the sheer usability- as a mp3 player it really isn't much better than the competition, it just packages itself far better.

It's a computer: wow! With the introduction of the App Store, Apple hit a home run. The App store is an amazing collection of widgets, games and utilities that are created by professional firms and enthusiastic amateurs. The sheer diversity of choice gives Apple a huge advantage over most other phone makers and elevates the usefulness of the iPhone to near Laptop status.

The iPhone introduced the world to the App Store. This store has literally thousands of applications; many are designed by professional companies, but more and more are being designed by amateur designers using the When you join the iPhone Developer Program,and the iPhone SDK kit. This is a very powerful program that allows you to design, publish and hopefully profit from your applications.

The applications I have chosen for my top ten below, were chosen for their ease of use, their playability or usability and their overall presentation. Feel free to disagree with my choices.

I'm not going to try to explain the game as I'm not sure if I truly understand the rules! Essentially, this game is based on the classic puzzle game Sudoku; it is a very difficult game to master, and involves thinking on multiple levels - essentially trying to fit the numbers 1 to 9 into a grid, and not repeating them in a row or column is a lot harder than it sounds!



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This game is a little like Risk with a fantasy theme. The idea is to seize land and destroy your rivals to become the only Dragon Lord remaining. You can play against the iPhone or take it in turns with your friends. It's fun and perhaps relies too much on luck, but overall very enjoyable.

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I first saw this on TV and then had to try. It's similar in concept to Bejeweled as you have to match three colored gems. However, it adds a iPhone twist as you tilt the iPhone to control it - it's amazingly addictive and fun; it's easy to play but very hard to master.



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I've recently got addicted to Texas Hold'em on Facebook, so it was nice to get hold of a version of this game for the iPhone. As an added bonus this game also features traditional Poker and Blackjack. The first thing you note with the game is the look - the designers have paid a lot attention to the graphics, and that's a nice touch. The game allows you to play with your friends or against the iPhone. The iPhone is actually a pretty decent opponent, or perhaps I'm a pretty poor player! This is fun and there are lots of nice little touches.

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I've always had a soft spot for breakout as it's one of the first video games I ever played. Super Breakout doesn't really change the game much; it's still a paddle and ball game where you bounce a ball off your paddle to break some bricks. However the game allows you to use the iPhone tilt feature for some power ups. The graphics are fairly standard, but you can use your own pictures as backgrounds.

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This is quite simply a great adaptation of the original Scrabble game. Play against the iPhone, against a friend or even against your Facebook buddies. While perhaps not the most exciting game to play, it is a great game to tax the mind - place your letters on the board to gain maximum points by using the bonus double and triple letter (or word) squares. Using a 'crossword' type setup this game really help you increase your vocabulary. The iPhone version features a cool teacher mode as well as allowing you to play your favorite songs while playing.

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I played a game like this on the Wii - as blocks are falling from the sky, you have to manipulate them with your fingers (drag and rotate) and build a stack - sounds easy, but you have to ensure that the stack doesn't fall! It's addictive and fun, and gets very hard!



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I'm not normally a shoot-em-up fan, but put me at the helm of the Enterprise and I'll Boldly Go where no Captain has gone before! This game is extremely fun and allows you to control the Enterprise in a variety of ways - tilt the iPhone, use a virtual joystick or touch the screen. The graphics are good and the game play is slick and extremely difficult at times. There's something about this game that keeps you coming back - perhaps it's the cameo appearances of the crew from the original series, or the faithful rendition of space ships from the show - who knows, I just kept playing!

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I've played a version of Tiger Woods PGA golf on the XBOX 360, the Wii and now the iPhone. The Wii is my personal favorite, but this version comes a close second. The graphics are stunning, and the game play, while initially difficult is great once you get used to it. The touch and drag swing meter is pretty intuitive and it is surprising how accurate it can be. This is one of the best games on the iPhone and only comes in second due to price.

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This is perhaps one of the most famous arcade games out there, and one I have been playing for years. Essentially the idea is to line up similar gems to 'pop' them. It is a highly addictive game that can get very difficult. This is currently one of the top ten iPhone games today - and quite simply it should be - the classics are always the best!


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What's not to like about this fun little app. This app contains recipes and videos showing you how to make some great cocktails. It's very easy to use and has many non alcoholic cocktails that are very refreshing. It's a great app to have at a party.





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One huge bonus of the new iPhone is the inbuilt GPS system, that can be used to find local restaurants etc. Yelp uses this to the fullest effect by offering reviews on local restaurants from real people - it's very quick and very useful - I've found a few gems!



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This is a nifty little app that allows you to shop on Amazon.com. Many of the great features of Amazon are available such as the ability to search, compare prices and read reviews. You have full access to your Amazon account including 1-click settings, wish lists, existing carts etc. This one is perhaps more useful for the ladies!



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Most mp3 players allow you to record your voice for later use; this nifty little application takes it one step further and transcribes the recorded voice into text - this can be saved for later use. It only allows about 15 seconds of recording, but it can be very useful for quick memos etc.



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This was one of the first applications that I saw on the iPhone, and while I'd seen other music sites have a similar feature, none seemed to produce the same results. Pandora's idea is simple - list some of your favorite artists and some songs and Pandora will analyze this list and create radio stations based on this list. You can create as many stations as you want! This is a really useful application and is pretty intuitive to use.

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I first came across this application on Napster but as usual Apple copied it and made it better. Essentially, if you hear a song that you like, hold your iPhone against the speaker and Midomi will attempt to identify it. It is fairly accurate, and really useful!



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This is an interesting and useful app and is especially useful for teenagers preparing for the SAT. It tests your mastery of over 200 words that often appear on the SAT test. It tests positive and negative connotations of words as well as synonyms, antonyms and definition.
Whether you are working towards your SATs or simply want to improve your understanding of some common words, then this application will be very useful; it's intuitive and easy to use, and while not too exciting it is very educational.
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Amazon has realized that the iPhone could be a huge competitor to their Kindle eBook reader, so rather than to try and beat Apple, they've produced an App that allows Kindle users to read Kindle books on the iPhone.

The application is very easy to use and it's this simplicity that sets it aside from other eBook readers on the iPhone.

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This is like having your own little Geography teacher in your pocket. This amazing app has data on over 200 countries. The presentation is excellent and the interface is very easy to use. It's like a world atlas combined with a mini encyclopedia as it contains information on the geography, the people, the government, the military, the economy etc for each country.
It is highly detailed and has a lot of additional information such as oceans etc. It is also updated free of charge which is always a good thing!
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If you're like me and you have an interest in money and the stock market, then you've probably seen the Bloomberg TV Channel.

This application offers quotes, news and company descriptions with the same detail and quality you'd expect from Bloomberg. It is a superb application and a must for any budding investor.

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