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There’s an app for that! With over 250,000 apps currently available on iTunes for the iPhone and iPod Touch, it may difficult to find those that are worthwhile amongst all the apps that are worthless. Ranging from making light saber noises (or fart noises), to finding local restaurants and shops, to finding out your BAC, the purposes of the apps are endless. Here are my top 10 iPhone applications that are very useful, lack in bugs, and easy to use.
Top Iphone Apps - 2010
The huge influx of Androids, iPhones, iPads, Blackberries and other “App” capable devices have allowed every-day people with a little coding knowledge to create their own programs. Everything from finding happy hour specials at local bars to doctors being able to analyze x-rays can now be seen in apps for mobile devices. This open-source theme, is about to take a step to the next level.
Bug Labs, a small firm out of New York, is attempting to provide this freedom to not only applications, but the devices themselves. Using their hardware, anyone can invent a device that will be compatible with their mobile plans. Pete Semmelhack, CEO of Bug Labs, explained to the New York Observer, “Right now there are hundreds of thousands of apps but only a few dozen mobile devices. We want to create an ecosystem for mobile hardware that is just as robust as the one which exists for software.” Continue reading »
Who has the better apps? Who has the better maps? Who has the better phones? Verizon and AT&T, the two powerhouse cell phone providers, constantly try to find ways to one up each other. A recent development paints the picture that AT&T has taken the next big step.
After a three-year delay, Transit Wireless, LLC announced in July it had secured the financing needed to build a network that would allow for cell phone service in all 277 New York City subway stations. AT&T, along with T-Mobile, have each signed 10-year agreements to gain access to this new network. Continue reading »
As of June 7th, consumers who jump on the iPad bandwagon will no longer be able to purchase an “unlimited” download plan. Previously, an iPad user would drop $30 per month to send and receive as much data as they desired–but this is all going to change. The new limit is 2 gigabytes-per-month at a $25 rate. Needless to say, many consumers are frustrated.
The good news is that if you bought your iPad early, you are grandfathered in to the old rates and are not required to switch over to the new plan.
The bad news: it looks like Apple iPhone users aren’t off the hook. In an effort to weed down the number of iPhone customers holding on to their previous Unlimited Data Plans, AT&T is offering a service called “tethering” for $20 per month.
Tethering is a service that turns your portable device into a modem to provide internet access for their laptop. Put simply, if you’re in an area with no wireless internet, simply plug your iPhone into your laptop and enjoy an AT&T sponsored broadband connection. So, that’s the catch–give up your sweet Unlimited Data Plan and opt for the very-useful tethering feature.
Statistics show that on average 98% of AT&T’s customers user less than 2 Gigs per month–so, don’t be so quick to judge. Hypothetically, this change seems economically feasible…yet slightly questionable.
My opinion (since you’re obviously looking for it)?
–Keep your Unlimited Data Plan and hook up with CLEAR for your laptop wi-fi. It’s cheap, efficient, and the customer support is wonderful.
Sources: TechDirt | AT&T Wireless | Clear
-Alex
The official results are in, and the first quarter sales figures for 2010 are significantly in favor of Google’s Android smart phone. The war has waged for quite some time between Apple’s iPhone–with apps that pale in comparison to the amount of hype backing it up–and Google’s Android which has dedicated its operating system to various phone models and carriers across the board.
The iPhone, as many of you know, is paired only with AT&T service–and while Apple pushes its weight around the market, it rests firmly in the corner where only AT&T users and Mac Geeks dwell.
AT&T is big–really big. But Verizon is much bigger. You know those “coverage maps” you see in all the ‘Verizon VS AT&T‘ commercials? Those attempt to illustrate a whopping 92.8% of Verizon’s customers enjoying a relatively limitless wireless coverage zone.
iPhone’s biggest claim to fame is the App Store, featuring obscene numbers of user and professionally created applications for just about everything you’d ever want to do–from grocery shopping, to making fart-noises on the bus. The Google Android is gaining speed, however. They’re up to a healthy 50,000 applications and counting–and I believe they’ve even hosted their own fart-noise apps, so…good news there!
Because of Verizon’s dominant network, they have become a huge sponsor of Google’s Android–providing them with lots of advertising and marketing funds.
The last–and probably most important–factor that pushes the Android ahead is the pricing. Where the average price for a smart phone in 2010 is around $599 (retail price), the top-tier iPhones can be as pricey as $999 (used iphones for less than $200 and cheap droid phones). Because Google has the freedom to pick and choose its carriers and hosts models in varying price ranges, they have the potential to dominate every market.
The Android’s sales have outfoxed the iPhone, but not by much. With the first quarter percentages for the Android being 28%, and the iPhone’s being 21%, it is still a close race…but it is still only a race for 2nd place.
It should be no surprise that Reasearch in Motion’s Blackberry is still king of the smart phones with a first quarter sales rate of 36 percent. Across the board, new and refurbished Blackberrys make a huge impact on smart phone sales. They are efficient, inexpensive, and part of the largest networks in the country.
So, for now, Blackberry watches as Google and Apple duke it out–but there’s a lot more time left in 2010–and something tells me that the iPad won’t be the last tech gadget people are talking about this year.
Sources: Yahoo! Finance | ARS Technica | Android Community | Boy Genius Report
–Alex
