My iPod Touch Applications

Here I am sitting in English class and starting my blog post. I didn’t drag my entire laptop to class, but I did bring my handy dandy iPod touch. It allows me to write notes to myself, listen to music, view photos, and access the Internet over a wifi connection. Its a really neat tool to have and I’m enjoying the perks of having it. Anyway, I’m sure you all know about the applications that come with the iPhone and iPod Touch as well as the apps that you can download online from the iTunes apps store. Right after I received my touch, I went and visited the store. Little did I know I would be spending money on applications. I just couldn’t resist the gargantuan load of awesome tools, games, and programs. I spent quite a bit of time just surfing around. In this post I’ll list the apps that I have on my touch, including the ones that came factory installed. The first program is the clock, which includes a world clock, timer, alarm, and stopwatch. I don’t really use it a whole bunch, but its good to have just in case. The next items are the basic iPod features like music, video, and pictures. I did buy an iPod for a reason and I definitely use the music and pictures functions more than anything. I don’t have any video to add to my touch, but I might have some soon, so I’ll be using that a bit. The YouTube app is probably easy and fun to use, but I haven’t gotten around to using it yet. I might just have to give it a shot when I get home, but as of now I’m not a youtube app user. The maps and the weather apps are both very useful and I use them fairly regularly. It’s amazing how handy a calculator can be when you are out purchasing something and need to calculate the total or tax. I’ve personally used the calculator on countless occasions in stores trying to figure out how big the dent in my wallet would turn out to be. The built in notes app is decent for jotting things down in a hurry, but I prefer other apps that get the job done with more efficiency. It’s not that I don’t use the app, because I do use it. I just don’t use them as much. I put the mail, calendar, safari, and contacts apps on the permanent shared dock because I use them all the time and this way I am able to access them from any screen. It’s self explanatory what these apps do, but I just have to say that I love them to death. I also really like the App store and the iTunes that is factory installed onto the iPod Touch. This allows me to update or purchase new applications wherever there is a wireless internet connection and even allows me to purchase or listen to new music without being tethered to a computer on iTunes. What’s better is that I can purchase applications and music from my Touch and then just sync it with my computer when I do get home. How awesome is that? One of the factory installed apps that I never ever use its the stocks app. It must be appealing to a certain target population, but I’m not in that population. I don’t care about stocks and therefore I have no need to check them. Let’s move on to some other applications that I have purchased from the iTunes store. I’ll organize them by price. Let’s start, shall we? I’m going to start with some Internet sites that I sent to the home screen so I could access them at ease. The first one is Ping.fm, which many of you have heard about. If not, you should read one of my previous posts about it. It’s an excellent service and I’m glad to see that they are catering to the iPhone and iPod Touch demographic. I only wish they would make an application. The second application that is also based off of an Internet application is brightkite. It is another social networking tool that allows users from around the same area to meet each other and see what they have to say. It’s simple, intuitive, and easy to use. That’s why I sent it to my home screen. Alright, now that we have these two down, let’s move on to the good stuff. We’ll start with the free applications and then move up in price. Oh heck, for organizational sake, I’ll try and make it alphabetical.

1) AIM - FREE: What more can I say about this vastly popular chat client? It’s been around for a long time and it seems that it’s still going strong. You could call it the mainstream of the teenage culture, since a vast majority of them start young. It’s also a great tool for inter-office communication. This application shows you your buddy list and allows you to keep in touch with and chat to your co-workers, friends, and family.

2) Aurora Feint the Beginning - FREE: Awesome game! This has got to be my all-time favorite game on the touch. You pretty much rack up points from playing the game that is similar to bejeweled if any of you have ever played it. By switching the gems, or in this case the stones, you collect them when you get three in a row. When you pass a level, you get to make scrolls and spells, which can help you by doubling the amount you collect.

3) Blue Skies Lite - FREE: It’s an addicting game and the first game I actually played on the iPod Touch. It let me get a feel of the accelerometer. Pretty much you sit and shoot tanks, airplanes, and mines. It’s good for eating up time, although the free version is not the free version. Still, it’s worth a shot.

4) Constitution and Declaration for the iPhone or iPod Touch - FREE: I don’t know exactly why I have them on my iPod. This is actually two applications. There is one for the Constitution and one for the Declaration, but I chose to group them together since they are so similar in concept. Anyway, it could be good to have. I refer to it sometimes when I’m bored.

5) Dactyl - FREE: It’s a game of quick fingers. Diffuse the bombs before they blow up and make em quick because when one goes off, you lose. Concentrate and you’ll do fun. It also helps the time pass by. It’s easy to play, but hard to master.

6) Digiclock 24 - FREE: What can I say? It’s pretty much a clock. It’s great for using if you want to put a huge clock on your iPhone or iPod Touch and put it on a dock on your desk. Then there you have it, a nice looking clock. I’m using it right now on my desk, as a matter of fact. Best of all, its FREE!

7) Facebook - FREE: Similar to AIM, Facebook is well known by all. When the apps store came out, people where scrambling for the popular programs like Twitterrific, Facebook, and AIM. Well, Facebook is exactly what it is online, just a little bit simplified for the small screen. It still has the same functions and is easy to use. Connect and stay in touch with all your friends!

Flashlight - FREE: An awesome tool for the dark. Since the iPod screen is so bright, it can be used as a flashlight or a strobe light in the dark. You can customize the color, strobe, strobe speed, and there are presets for SOS as well. It’s a nice utility to have.

9) Gasbag - FREE: What is gasbag? A utility that helps you figure out where the cheapest gas is in your area. Just access the application and it’ll give you the locations of gas stations closest to you with an indicator on price. How cool is that?

10) Google - FREE: Google is now an everyday term. When we refer to searching on the internet, we say “just google it”. Now we have google on the iPhone and iPod Touch so you can satisfy your urges. It’s pretty much like a google desktop for your iPhone. It lets you search for anything on your iPod and check your mail too. Excellent application, and of course it’s free!

11) iBowl and iGolf - FREE: Since they are from the same company and the idea is the same, I’ll place them together. It’s pretty much bowling and golf, but instead of pushing a whole lot of buttons, you actually do the golf swing and the bowling with your iPhone or iPod Touch. The accelerometer registers the speed and the angle that you hit the gold ball or released the bowling ball. It’s pretty fun, but I must warn you. Make sure you hold on to your device!

12) Lightsaber - FREE: Who doesn’t want to be a Jedi master? I know I do. That’s why I practice nearly every day with my cool lightsaber application on my iPod Touch. It’s especially cool if you have an external speaker because it uses the accelerometer and makes the appropriate noise. So you can go crazy with your “saber”. Mwwhahaa!

13) Marblemash - FREE: Marblemash is another game that consumes time in oh such a fun way. It’s one of those tilt games with a marble and holes. The goal is to get through the maze of holes without the marble falling through. Best part is the tilting and screaming when I play the game. It gets more challenging with levels, so it’ll keep you occupied for a while.

14) Molecules - FREE: An excellent school tool. What’s it do? It allows you to connect to a database of molecules. You can them download models of these molecules and view them in 3D or 2D space on your device. You can rotate them, zoom in and out, and even look at them in terms of sticks and balls and the various other ways. So cool. My favorite is the DNA!

15) More Cowbell - FREE: More Cowbell, hmm, what can I say about this one? Well, I go to Davis, where the cows are definitely abundant. It’s pretty awesome to be able to shake the iPod and have a cowbell start tinkling. Whoot whoot!

16)  Pageonce - FREE: What in the world is this? I’ve actually been using PageOnce for a while, when it was in BETA. Online, it’s pretty much a startpage where you can view all of your bills, social networking sites, mail, and everything else. Seriously, for some reason you can add ANYTHING. It allows congregation of all your bills and your money. Excellent tool for online banking.

17) Pandora - FREE: Pandora is an excellent online radio, where you can discover new artists and songs or listen to ones that you love. They recommend songs that sound like the ones you currently listen to. It’s pretty awesome. If you have wifi and you’re bored and tired of listening to your album, then definitely give pandora a try and spice up your life!

18) Remote - FREE: This an Apple program which you can download so that you can connect to your iTunes library on a network. This allows you to choose which speakers you want music to play from and also what to play. Your entire library appears on your iPod or iPhone when you connect, which allows for excellent connectivity and control.

19) Superball 2 Lite - FREE: This is also a demo, but it’s awesome and it’s free. Its a superball demo and you can control the paddle with either your finger or if you want a little bit of a challenge, try using only the accelerometer. It’s fun!

20) Shozu - FREE: Excellent free tool for connecting to social networks and for blogging and micro-blogging. It supports a wide variety of sites and I love using it to post blog entries. It’s also free!

21) Speedtest - FREE: It’s also free and supported by ads, but it does help you determine the speed on the wifi network you’re on. Excellent tool to determine where you should be surfing. I use it all the time. Really.

22) Tap Tap - FREE: A free game, kind of like DDR, except its more like a guitar. Well then, I guess it’s guitar hero with three strings. You can change the difficulty and download new sound tracks so it’s awesome. Another time waster!

23) To Do’s - FREE: Definitely one of the better To Do lists out there. It lets you change the priorities and lets you know if you have any alerts. Perfect way to keep track of things you need to do. 

24) Twitterrific - FREE: Definitely an awesome tool. For those of you on Twitter, this is the must have tool to follow those you follow and to update your status. Pretty neat huh?

25) Units - FREE: It’s a basic conversion table that allows you to view the conversions for temperature, weight, and length. There is a whole bunch more. That’s why I love it.

26) Where - FREE: Here it is. This cool application allows you to find out where your friends are and also lets you find the closest gas stations, restaurants, Starbucks, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Perfect if you have no idea where you are or are suffering from temporary amnesia.

27) Whrrl - FREE: Excellent application that allows you, just like Where, to find friends and post reviews on places you have visited. Great place to see where other whrrlers have been and how they liked it.

28) WritingPad - FREE: Excellent application and my recommendation as the alternative for notes. When you type with writingpad, you don’t have to lift your finger because you can connect the letters and it’ll automatically spell out the word for you. If it’s not the word you had in mind, just correct it. It’s awesome and this is what I used to start my post.

29) Zippo Lighter - FREE: Still on the free apps. Actually this is the last free application that I have on my Touch. It’s an awesome lighter that is customizable. You flick the device to open the cover and flick the flint to turn it on. As you wave your device, the flame waves with it and you can turn it off by closing the lid. Awesome for conecerts!

30) Sun Compass - $0.99: Great application that allows you to figure out your rose compass directions by figuring out where the sun is. All you do is line the sun icon on your device with the sun in the sky and your directions will become clear to you.

31) Cro-Mag Rally - $1.99: A paid game, but an excellent one at that. It’s a racing game with a setting in the ancient and stone-age times. Race other cavemen and women in your pick of carts in your pick of settings. Awesome accelerometer control. It’s almost like mario-kart. An old version.

32) Air-sharing - $6.99: Excellent utility that turns your device into a mass storage device. You can transfer music, video, and even documents such as text, spreadsheet, PDF, or webpages and be able to view them right on your iPod. It’s a great idea and I use it all the time to view PDF’s after I transfer them wirelessly to my iPod. I can now carry my documents with me.

33) Wordbook - $7.99: Awesome dictionary, puzzle solver, and thesaurus. It’s a portable digital version so you aren’t tethered by books or your computer or laptop. Excellent for those writing times.

This concludes the applications that I have on my iPod Touch. If you have any programs that are cool and that I’d probably find useful and neat (which is just about anything), feel free to comment and let me know about it. I’m constantly on the search for neat little things to put on my Touch. I’ll post more when I get new useful FREE apps!

Related posts:

1. Freshapps
2. Testing an application for the touch
3. Adobe Air Applications
4. iTunes 7.7 is Now Available! iPhone 3G Soon To Come!
5. Ping.fm Repost