Nerve Endings Firing Away

Supremus was looking for apps for his new Verizon iPhone so what better time to compile a list of the apps on my iPhone currently. Most of them are self-explanatory or simply apps for the websites I visit regularly or services I use on the Internet. I have a iPhone 3GS so many apps that take advantage of the retina display on the iPhone 4 may be missing. I plan on upgrading in June when supposedly the iPhone 5 will release.

I’m only writing about the non-obvious apps. Rest you can search in the App Store and find them easily.

[click on image for a larger view]

Homescreen

Most are default apps like Messages, Weather, Stocks, Clock, etc.

Instapaper: This is a must-have app if you like to catch up on your reading while you are waiting or in bed. You’ve to sign up for an Instapaper account online and then mark long-form articles that you want to read later in the browser. The app syncs them automatically as soon as you open the app within a WiFi or 3G range.
Alarm Clock Pro: This app extends the alarm clock functionality of the iPhone and lets you also use it as a desktop clock while it is charging in the dock. You can set songs in your iTunes library on the phone as your wakeup alarm.

Photography

Camera+: A great app from Tap Tap offers plenty of shooting modes, basic editing, special effects, and sharing options. An additional set of effects are available for in-app purchase for an additional buck. Worth it if you like to shoot random pictures and share them with your network.
Pro HDR: Until you have the HDR capabilities of the iPhone 4, this app works just as well as the built-in feature or maybe even better.
PS Express: This is the original Photoshop on the go. Quick fixes and effects and you can share or save the edited photos instantly. It retains the originals.
Cinq: Until Steve Jobs relents and allows for wireless syncing, I use this app to remotely sync photos I take with my iPhone to my Mac thus eliminating the need to hook the iPhone to transfer photos.
Instagram: The latest in social networking is focused exclusively on photos. Currently an iPhone-only app, the ease with which you can take photos, apply great effects, and share them simultaneously across various networks, blogs, and photo sites is amazing.
TiltShiftGen: This relatively low-power app just does one thing and one thing only – apply the tilt shift lens effect to the photos you take. Unfortunately, the lite version is limited and doesn’t let you load an existing photo. But this app is much better and cheaper than its desktop equivalent which I made the mistake of buying on the Mac App Store.

Utilities

Toodledo: A to-do app that syncs with its web version. I’m not much of a to-do list guy so there might be better apps for this purpose.
WhatsApp: This app is useful if you like to exchange plenty of text messages within a small group of friends who also have this app. It offers free texting even internationally. Plus, push notifications make it easy to not miss any text message.

Music

Shazam: Hear a song playing in a coffee shop or on the street and want to know which one it is? Just open Shazam and tap to make it listen for around ten seconds and it will instantly recognize the song and even let you buy it instantly off iTunes or Amazon.
Pandora: Needs no introduction and iPhone’s ability to let it play it in the background makes it a must-have. I listen to it more than I listen to the songs in my iTunes library.
Attic: Plays songs from your iTunes library that you have not listened to in a while. Allows you to rediscover your old favorites that you had forgotten you had.
Dhingana: For your Indian music taste buds. Not that great of an app but the best of its kind.

Movies

Movies Now or Flixter: These apps offer a quick view of the movies playing in your local theaters and shows you the show times. Very useful when you are out and are deciding on whether to go for a movie. Movies Now is aesthetically pleasing and Flixster is more useful complete with Rotten Tomatoes Ratings.
Peel: The app version of a TV guide. Enter in your zipcode and you’ll be shown the current shows on TV.

Shopping

Cardstar: Throw out all the barcoded keytags from your membership stores and enter all your codes in this app. Fire up this app and let the cashier scan your code off your phone. One of my best clutter-free apps.
Red Laser: Lets you recognize any product (in its database) by scanning its barcode. Useful for price checks and compiling shopping lists.
Amazon: The Amazon apps are a must for any shopper. Download them and try them out. The features are far too many to list. One of my fave features – Like a product in the store? Take a picture and upload it to Amazon and they get back to you with the same or similar product on Amazon along with its price.

Voice/Video

OrbLive: Lets you stream live sports events from ESPN3 among other live events (you’ve to keep your computer on and install a desktop version of the app). If you can see it on your computer, this app will stream it to your phone. Works over WiFi and 3G. Slightly expensive for an app at $10 but it proved to be useful for me at one particular time.
8mm: The video camera on your tiny phone may be of HD quality but sometimes we yearn for the vintage effect. This app provides instantaneous vintage effects on video.
AirView: Move video streaming from one iOS device to another seamlessly. Useful if you want to share a video with another person in your house with an iPod touch or an iPhone.
Dragon Dictation: Voice recognition app for longer text. You’ve to train it but works well once you have.

Other System Apps

iOS is a robust operating system for my needs. The only place it sucks is the notification system. Hopefully it gets fixed soon and Steve Jobs is working on it to get it just right. Until then, BoxCar should be more than sufficient.

Other Apps

Utilities:
1Password, ATTScanner (for QR Codes), Dropbox, Evernote, Facebook, Find iPhone, Flickr, Foursquare, Google Voice, Google Latitude, Twitter, Yelp, VLC Remote.
Blogging:
Mint Stats, Tumblr, WordPress
News:
NY Times, Broadsheet, Digg, HT Media (Hindustan Times), NetNewsWire (feed reader), NDTV, Pulse News (Aggregator), Alien Blue (Reddit)
Finance:
ING Direct, Mint, Bank of American, MyWireless (AT&T Billing), ShareBuilder, Venmo (PayPal clone), Vanguard.
Movies:
IMDb, PhoneFlicks, NetFlix.
Reference:
Google, Wikipanion, Weather Channel, MapQuest.
Shopping:
Grocery IQ, Craigsphone, Price Check (Amazon).
Sleep:
WhiteNoise, Ambiance.
Voice/Video:
Skype.
Games:
Hangman, Paper Toss (I know, no Angry Birds yet)

I hope this list helped. Please mention your favorite apps in the comments.