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Topic: Smartphones

25 must-have iPhone apps, according to Jason Hiner

Summary: Get the inside track on iPhone apps that can improve your productivity, and offer a little bit of geek fun, from TechRepublic Editor in Chief Jason Hiner.

Jason Hiner

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Get the inside track on iPhone apps that can improve your productivity, and a few that can provide a little geek fun. Here's a list of the top 25 iPhone apps from TechRepublic Editor in Chief Jason Hiner. Also look for follow up lists from Jason on the top Android apps, Android widgets, and iPad apps.

See all 25 apps in single list and get links to download them from the App Store.
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Topics: Smartphones, Apple, Apps, Hardware, iPhone, Mobility

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28 comments
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  • Apps and Their Future

    There are so many apps available now, and it seems the market to creating new apps is ever growing. Surely, we can't need all of them!<br><br>That said, I do find the range of iPhone/iPad/Andoird apps quite fascinating. The apparent ease with which they seem to be created opens up so many opportunities to create something unique and useful to you. There are even competitions now for people to submit their apps as new business ideas (<a href="http://www.ukesnc.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.ukesnc.com</a>)<br><br>If apps are becoming more important, does this mean that the way we use the internet as a whole will change? Will there still be a need for websites if there are apps available for everything instead?
    galile0
    Reply Vote

    • RE: 25 must-have iPhone apps, according to Jason Hiner

      @galile0 I think Google at least is trying to merge apps and the internet into one. Looking at what they showed at Google I/O they are well on their way to getting this shift to happen.
      storm14k
      Reply Vote

    • RE: 25 must-have iPhone apps, according to Jason Hiner

      @galile0 "Surely we can't need all of them!"

      This is called competition. Furthermore, it's a very big assumption to assume that an application that solves a particular problem is the zenith of app development. Not to mention new application categories can surface.

      -M
      betelgeuse68
      Reply Vote

      • I prefer paying $1 for 10 apps that do one job efficiently ....

        ... than paying $25 for an app that does the same 10 jobs but in a crappy way.
        wackoae
        Reply Vote

    • RE: 25 must-have iPhone apps, according to Jason Hiner

      @galile0 Yes the way we use the Internet is changing. Apple's next OS X (Lion) allows users to access apps on their desktop (referring here to the screen, so laptops (MacBooks) are included!).
      ColinT1970
      Reply Vote

  • RE: 25 must-have iPhone apps, according to Jason Hiner

    .
    streatorunlimited
    Reply Vote

  • Where is Angry Birds???

    You know, the dumb but fun game app that lets you slingshot birds at green pigs.
    wackoae
    Reply Vote

    • RE: 25 must-have iPhone apps, according to Jason Hiner

      @wackoae
      ANDROID IS DOING SO GOOD AGSINST WINDOWS MOBILE

      http://lensfire.blogspot.com/search/label/Mobile
      inspirearun@...
      Reply Vote

  • RE: 25 must-have iPhone apps, according to Jason Hiner

    I have installed kindle in my ipad, beacause i've bought ipad as an e-book not as an psp. i'll not choose kindle for my iphone if i have. The rest 24 apps are as useful as apps collected by ifunia in their iphone column.
    Robert penn
    Reply Vote

  • RE: 25 must-have iPhone apps, according to Jason Hiner

    Of course we don't need all of the apps - but what fun picking and choosing the ones we WANT and a few we NEED.
    DebsSweet
    Reply Vote

    • Welcome to Self-Discipline 101.

      One of the things I <i>LOVE</i> about iOS 4 is being able to group apps together; I've now gone from 8 pages(!) of apps down to one. Doing so made it more obvious which I used regularly, which apps I need only once in a while, and which apps I collected like a pack-rat. I've removed all the (generally free) apps in the last category from both my iTouch and iTunes, and un-ticked the second group in iTunes (so they don't sync). This freed up an almost embarrassing amount of space in the device.
      Jeff Dickey
      Reply Vote

  • RE: 25 must-have iPhone apps, according to Jason Hiner

    How can there be a "Must Have" Iphone app or a "Must Have" windows 7 gadget when neither the Iphone nor Windows-7 are in and of themselves must have.

    More and more we forget that there is a diffence between a want and a need.
    eabyrd
    Reply Vote

  • RE: 25 must-have iPhone apps, according to Jason Hiner

    i love the XBMC.. it does the same job.
    ruchit47
    Reply Vote

  • FileSync Should Be On This List

    FileSync allows you to sync files from an FTP anytime, anywhere. It's the only one on the market that does it.

    http://www.jeff-net.com/filesync.htm

    It only cost $1 or $2, too.
    Jeff-Net
    Reply Vote

    • RE: 25 must-have iPhone apps, according to Jason Hiner

      @Jeff-Net

      Great that you are advertising your own app... I might be interested but I won't pay for an app until there are some ratings. That is why you offer it for free until you get those ratings.
      sdc01
      Reply Vote

  • RE: 25 must-have iPhone apps, according to Jason Hiner

    Can't wait for his iPad must-haves.
    joanmilke@...
    Reply Vote

  • The most interesting part of the App environment

    is how fast users have taken to it. Downloading a mass of apps to see what they will and will not use.

    Then generally paying in the $1 to $5 range for the app - or more on the iPad, but still cheap.

    And thanks for the list Jason. I've spotted a couple to look at!
    Ken_z
    Reply Vote

  • Voice-recognition text and email ~ Google to the rescue?

    With all the valid concern over texting / emailing while driving, why hasn't someone (eg: Google) come out with an iPhone app that reads aloud one's text and/or email messages .. AND allows one to speak their reply? I mention Google because, IMHO, their Google App is outstanding in regard to its voice-recognition accuracy, when speaking search criteria.<br><br>Having an app that does this would be a life-saver; even in a physical sense.
    paulie-d
    Reply Vote

  • RE: 25 must-have iPhone apps, according to Jason Hiner

    GO FOR MORE ON MOBILE
    http://lensfire.blogspot.com/search/label/Mobile
    inspirearun@...
    Reply Vote

  • Must-avoid apps

    Apps should be rated by how much they track your usage and by how much of your data is made available to a third party (perhaps to the app developer themselves).

    Many of Google's apps would rank very low on this scale. For this reason, I don't consider them "must-have" but rather "must-avoid".
    dogbreath1
    Reply Vote
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