Paid-for Applications for the iPod Touch and iPhone can be really useful, but many of them don’t deliver on their promises and can turn out to be a waste of money. Unlike the free Apps on offer from Apple, a bit of research can help iPhone and iTouch owners to pick Apps that will make the device even more useful. These are some of the best paid-for Apps on the market.
Paid-For Game Applications for iTouch and iPhone
Mafia LIVE!: Rather than catering to iTouch or iPhone owners who just want a quick blast through an army of aliens, Mafia LIVE offers a slightly more intensive game of guns, greed and gangsters, which invites the user to join with other players, set up their own crime family and fight for the criminal rights to a city.
Though this game only works while connected to Wi-Fi, the community is fantastic and the game’s story is fairly deep, especially for a portable game. The graphics aren’t as good however, resembling the menus of a football manager sim, but the gameplay more than makes up for it. Cost: £1.97 ($2.61)
Brothers in Arms: Hour of Heroes: The iPhone and iTouch version of the popular Brothers in Arms series is a blast from the past. Centring on the soldiers of the 101st Airborne, the game sees the user fighting through a typical World War 2 plot, with the opportunity to fight on the ground and in a tank.
The controls are a little difficult to handle at first, but with practice using the touch screen becomes second nature. Graphics and sound quality is excellent- one to buy if you get trigger-happy on the train. Cost: £1.97 ($2.61):
Monopoly Here and Now: The World: Fans of the ever-popular board game Monopoly can’t go wrong with Here and Now. Offering play for up to four players or online play over Wi-Fi, Here and Now takes all the best bits of the board game and animates them in clear and colourful graphics, while also making good use of motion sensing for rolling dice and moving around the board. The ability to save games in progress ensures that this game can have the user addicted for days. Cost: £2.99 ($4.36)
Bejeweled 2: Fastest finger first is the order of the day, with another classic Bejeweled from developer Popcap. Fans of the older games will find not much has changed, but the use of the touch screen makes the game more intense, and the graphics are nice to look at- fans of Bejeweled need look no further for jewellery-based fun. Cost: £1.79 ($2.30)
Super Monkey Ball: Anyone familiar with the Super Monkey Ball (SMB) series will really enjoy this App, as it has retained all the ball-rolling fun that has become the SMB series’ trademark. The objective is to get a monkey in a ball from one side of the map to the other; the major catch being that tilting the iTouch or iPhone tilts the level under the ball, not the ball itself. Rendered in colourful, bright graphics and with a series of increasingly tricky levels, SMB is an addictive game, if a little overpriced. Cost: £4.99 ($6)
Paid-For Utility Applications for iTouch and iPhone
Appsniper: It is easy to forget that buying lots of Apps will quickly result in empty wallets and purses, so this App is an ideal investment for saving money, and will quickly pay for itself several times over. Appsniper is basically a market-trading program that monitors the price of Apps in the App Store and shows a regularly updated list of the cheapest Apps.
It can also be programmed to monitor the prices of individual Apps as they rise or drop, so catching a bargain when it drops in price becomes a lot easier- if planning to buy a lot of Apps, get this one first and save money. Cost: £0.59 ($0.80)
Byline: Byline is the ideal tool for anyone who is always using RSS feeds to keep in touch. Using the free Google Reader tool, Byline downloads the latest updates from any subscribed RSS feeds and displays them for the user, even when offline- in a similar way to the BBCReader. Although the interface is quite ugly to look at, it displays all the information in a neat browser style that is easy to navigate- regular users of Google Reader will find this to be the ideal companion for the iTouch or iPhone. Cost: , £2.99 ($4.36)
Paid-For Educational Applications for iTouch and iPhone
Starmap: Stargazers need look no further than this handy App to be able to discern a place in the universe. The App features full map of the sky which can be set to user’s location for easy identification of constellations and other heavenly bodies. The App also features an encyclopaedia of information on the sky at night and is great for introducing beginners to astronomy, however, beware of the hefty price tag. Cost: £6.99 ($10)
Wordbook English Dictionary and Thesaurus: A dictionary is an odd choice for an Application on a mobile device, but Wordbook is a fantastic tool for the literary minded, loaded with all the features of a normal dictionary and thesaurus but in a much easier form.
The App makes full use of the iTouch and iPhone’s touch screen technology and displays everything in a clear and easy to read form. Although the dictionary is mainly filled with American English, Standard English is highlighted under the appropriate word and easy to find- an ideal App for users who always like to have a dictionary nearby. Cost: £2.39 ($4)
Paid Apps can be a good or bad investment, but these ten offer the user a good cross-section of the best on offer, especially if using Appsniper to find the cheaper deals.
Read an article about the Best Free iPhone and iPod Touch Apps
Read a review of the Apple iPod Touch 16GB (2nd Generation)