Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store
InsanelyGreat iPhone apps
Magnetism Studios, the guys behind Insanely Great Tees, have just launched four iPhone apps, which they are dubbing "Magnet Apps."Two of the apps are $4.99 and two are $2.99.
Here are the details:
Tile Sudoku ($4.99)
Sudoku is a popular puzzle game choice for iPhone devs, but Tile Sudoku has a neat little twist. Instead of selecting a number from a list, you drag numbered tiles to the correct space on the Sudoku grid. If you make a mistake, you can move the tile to the correct space or back to the tile bar. I haven't used any of the Sudoku iPhone apps yet (I have played some of the web-based versions), but this seems to make a lot of ergonomic sense.
You can buy it from the App Store here.
Mr. Shuffle ($2.99)
It's Mr. Potato Head on the iPhone! Mr. Shuffle lets you create funny faces out of cartoon parts. You can then add speech bubbles or captions to customize the images further. While all that is cool, the most fun part is probably the feature that lets you add elements to pictures you take of your friends from the iPhone camera.
You can buy it from the App Store here.
City Transit ($2.99)
Everytime I visit New York City, I dread having to carry around a transit map guide like a tourist. And even then, you never really know where the closest station is to your location or if there has been some sort of service change. City Transit aims to change all that. For $2.99, you get officially licensed MTA subway maps, a GPS-based station finder to find the nearest station (and it is integrated with Maps so you can get walking directions too) and service advisories from the MTA website, so that you know can quickly out about any line changes.
Magnetism has designed City Transit to have an expandable architecture and in the future you should be able to download maps for buses and commuter rail lines. This really looks like the perfect app for anyone who commutes to NYC.
You can buy it from the App Store here.
File Magnet ($4.99)
File Magnet, which right now will only work in conjunction with Macs running Leopard, is a way to transfer files to and from your Mac from your iPhone or iPod Touch over Wi-Fi and then view them. It supports PDF, DOC, TXT, RTF, RTFD, HTML, PNG, TIF, JPEG. GIF and iPhone compatible movies and audio files. Support for Excel and iWork files is coming soon. So instead of having to e-mail yourself PDF files, you can just load the File Magnet Uploader on your Mac and send it directly to your iPhone.
It does require Wi-Fi to transfer files back and forth, and is not compatible with Windows.
You can buy it from the App Store here.
Gallery: Magnet Apps
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
xcrunk said 3:05PM on 7-11-2008
Off topic, the Touch needs to be the iPhone sans the cellular stuff....built in speaker, camera.
What gives Apple? Update coming? September?
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Christina Warren said 3:37PM on 7-11-2008
Oh I totally agree.
CreativLogic said 3:20PM on 7-11-2008
File Magnet is great! But why can't I do this with Finder on my mac and Finder on my iPhone? I think this should have been one of the first Apps that Apple developed!
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richsim said 3:24PM on 7-11-2008
Does File Magnet allow you to view documents in landscape view, or is it just in portrait like e-mail attachments>
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Kane Dijkman said 3:24PM on 7-11-2008
I picked up FileMagnet yesterday and think its great. It still needs some features but it is a good start. The developer was fast to respond to my email regarding a needed feature so I have high hopes that they will succeed and do well.
Given the large amount of overpriced junk in the store (seriously, charging anything for a tip calculator just seems so much like a Palm app approach. A tip calculator is the type of thing you make to learn the dev tools and release for free to help bring attention to your other apps) I am glad to see companies like this that are selling good apps at reasonable prices. I hope they will flourish and squeeze out the junk.
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Christina Warren said 4:02PM on 7-11-2008
I totally agree. I have to admit being a bit disappointed by some of the applications included in the App Store -- it is nice to seem some developers really putting in effort to create well-priced, very usable apps.
And I'll second your tip calculator opinion -- that's just so insane. Especially when a calculator is already on the iPhone. It's one thing if the tool is free, but really, I'd rather just type in the amount of my bill times .15 or .20 (depending on where I am) in the built-in tool rather than pay for that privilege.
Zach said 3:34PM on 7-11-2008
It'd be insanely great if it made the CityTransit ap for other cities.
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Brad said 4:01PM on 7-11-2008
I found this game, Lumina, that I haven't heard anyone talking about. Simple but stylish adaptation of the classic Simon game. Only $2. Just not sure why I haven't heard anyone else talking about it.
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Francesco Caporusso said 10:35PM on 7-11-2008
That's pretty cool you think so. I know the guy who developed it. I'm sure he'll be happy to hear some positive feedback.
Jordan said 4:02PM on 7-11-2008
The transit app sounds very cool, especially the location awareness, but the MTA actually have their own iPhone-optimized site where they're just as diligent about posting service issues as they are on the full desktop site (which is surprisingly diligent). Between the MTA and Google Maps showing subway stations, I think this might be well covered already.
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Dalton said 4:57PM on 7-11-2008
Ah, but the Google Maps feature and the MTA website won't work while you're underground. ; )
I also find the CityTransit version of the map easier to read than a Google Map.
I bought CityTransit and File Magnet and they're both great apps. File Magnet is a tad bit buggy, it's obviously a 1.0 release, but the developer was quick to reply and it sounds like they are addressing customer feedback with new features soon.
File Magnet adds a HUGE new functionality to the iPhone. I can now download audio or video files at work (I'm thinking of podcasts mostly but other things too) and just drag and drop them rather than wait to get home to sync. Also a PDF reader. It won't replace a dedicate e-book reader (I bought BookShelf too!) but the functionality already included is pretty exciting.
Jordan said 5:06PM on 7-11-2008
One could argue that once underground, you'd have access to those big-ass maps pasted to the walls, or the littler-ass ones in the trains.
Though, yes, maps without needing connectivity on the phone is a really nice feature, and I didn't realize they were permanently downloaded. And probably makes it worth the price of admission right there.
eric f. said 9:58AM on 7-12-2008
And for those times that you need the map access and you're out of signal range, this app is less than half the price of a geeky (but helpful) Streetwise foldout map.
PSM said 4:30PM on 7-11-2008
I've decided after several hours of iPhone ownership that Citytransit is the greatest app in the history of ever ever ever! I'm especially impressed that it has the service advisories too. Now I can unsubscribe from the MTA's email lists.
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jared said 4:37PM on 7-11-2008
i want Quinn for iPhone.
free pretty tetris goodness. just that and i'll be happy.
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bstn1078 said 4:42PM on 7-11-2008
Does anyone know if you buy apps and use them on a original iPhone if they will transfer when you switch to a 3G iPhone?
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Aet said 10:01PM on 7-21-2008
Your iTunes account keeps track of which apps you have purchased, and allows you to freely re-download them should you delete them off your iTunes and/or iPhone. I'm pretty sure this extends to getting a new G3 iPhone as well, so long as it uses the same iTunes account.
jon said 5:48PM on 7-11-2008
SplashID is definitely my favorite iPhone app. Certainly one of the more practical apps out there, having all my login information easily available and secure is really nice. SplashMoney and SplashShopper are also highly recommended.
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ZeroCorpse said 9:13PM on 7-11-2008
Man... No free Klondike Solitaire?
Which solitaire is worth paying for, then? There are about seven of them available!!!
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marco said 10:22PM on 7-11-2008
Does anybody knows if you can send an attachment file uploaded by FileManagement??? if i can do that im buying it right away.
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