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Playing with AppStore

by Erica Sadun Jul 10th 2008 at 1:00PM

So I've downloaded the new 2.0 firmware, upgraded iTunes to 7.7 and went wild downloading free apps to my iPhone. Here's how the first batch stacked up.

iFob Social organizer sort of thing, that lets you beam your info to other iFob-enabled users. It's not a bad idea but it's eerily reminiscent of using the Zune. Sure you can connect to others but there are no others yet to connect to. In a Facebook/Twitter world, I don't see this one catching on.

Jared Jared is the same Freeverse app that they've previously released for OS X, but now Jared sings badly on the iPhone as well. I am completely unable to talk about this objectively because it's a love it or hate it app. Me? I love it. It's perfectly and addictively moronic and I just love me some Jared. Your mileage may vary.

Cube Runner Cube Runner by Andy Qua is exactly what a free iPhone app should be. It's simple, fun to play and has no unneeded bells and whistles. It's a simple accelerometer based game. You guide yourself through a minefield of cubes by tilting the phone. Nice.

Remote Apple's free remote tool lets you use your iPhone to control iTunes and Apple TV playback. Perfect and free.

Rotary Dialer Joshua Minor's Rotary Dialer is a great idea whose delivery falls short. It's not very usable (I tried) and it provides no retro click-click sounds as you dial. I guess it's a cute thing to show off to friends once or twice but it won't be making a home on my iPhone.

T4Two free If you're looking for a cute free pong game, you could do worse than T4Two. It offers a basic pong interface with a touch-draggable paddle and accelerometer awareness. Developer Masayuki Akamatsu did a nice job with this and offers several other free AppStore apps including a beat-tapping utility and a calculator.



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So I've downloaded the new 2.0 firmware, upgraded iTunes to 7.7 and went wild downloading free apps to my iPhone. Here's how the first...
 

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Chris

If you're interested in a better rotary dialer, check out http://www.iretrophone.com/ It's not free, but it does have the whiz-click sound effects!

July 11 2008 at 6:50 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Galley

The WeatherBug app is terrible. AccuWeather's web app is much, much better.

July 11 2008 at 9:50 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Cartman005

I'm very worried as iTunes currently says that it will check for an update for my iPod again on the 17th! The update has to be released before then! Doesn't Apple realize the sales that they may be losing because no one can use these apps without the update?

Also, am I the only one having a problem with apps automatically downloading when you click "Get App" even though I have use shopping cart on?
I accidentally downloaded a $9.99 calculator!

July 10 2008 at 9:31 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Toph

Hey,

The remote sounds like a great free app but... it uses wifi and the iphone doesn't have N spec wifi. So if I set my Airport Express and Time Capsule to use b & g compatibility mode and use the remote the whole network will drop to g spec speeds.... is this correct? What's the steaming performance of airtunes on g speeds? and what happens when time machine kicks in at the same time and tries to backup to my time capsule?

Any views?

Thanks,

Toph

July 10 2008 at 4:44 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Toph's comment
Funke, Tobias Dr.

There is plenty of bandwidth over B and G to easily handle the audio streaming.

As for your Time Capsule backup, I'm not sure about that one. I would think however, that N and G devices could coexist through the same WiFi router without degrading the N speed. That's just a guess though as I'm still running a G network here. Good luck.

July 10 2008 at 8:53 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Toph

What happens if your on a iCall and you get normal phone call? Does the iCall call get dropped?


July 10 2008 at 4:40 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
artifex

Erica: incontrovertible proof that the App Store means "Christmas In My Trousers"!

July 10 2008 at 4:38 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Dale

I'm just downloading the free apps I would definitely use now. I won't have an iPhone until tomorrow, if my local AT&T has them in stock, but I want to be ready.

July 10 2008 at 2:45 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mark

Is there an rss feed with everything on the AppStore?

July 10 2008 at 2:41 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
burtthaman

This is so frustrating. I can't get iTunes to find the remote application. I undocked my iPhone just to make sure. Then I opened Remote and tried to add library and it gives me the code to put in but iTunes NEVER lets me put in a code or recognizes my phone over wifi. What the hell is going on? Can anyone help?

July 10 2008 at 2:37 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to burtthaman's comment
Funke, Tobias Dr.

1. Install the remote app on your iPhone
2. With your phone docked, and iTunes open, launch the remote app on the iPhone.
3. In the left hand pane in iTunes where it normally lists your iPhone (and you can see the battery status) underneath it you should see an option for the remote. (You may have to press the arrow to expand).

Some of these steps may be redundant, but that should get it done.

July 10 2008 at 4:36 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ron Green

Has anyone figured out how to get the renote to work with the Apple TV? It says to go to remote under the general section of Settings but the only option is to pair/unpair remote/ there is no place to enter the code.

July 10 2008 at 2:21 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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