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It’s the big V-day, and I’m not talking about chocolates and roses. No, it’s the day when those shiny new iPhone 4’s take to the scene on Verizon’s nationwide network. How will "Big Red" handle the sudden influx of data hungry users? That’s for another discussion. Today, we welcome and embrace new iPhone users to the club, and suggest a few solid apps to load or if you’re really excited, pre-download and have at the ready for that very first (and likely, really long) iTunes sync.
Please note that this list will differ from my previous lists for the best free and paid apps for the iPad, Although they are available and certainly eye candy, apps such as Netflix or Slingplayer just don’t get much usage from me on the small screen. Also, I don’t read books much on my mobile device, so apps like Kindle, iBooks or Google Books, though well designed, rarely get opened on my iPhone. When commuting, I’d rather read news items or play a quick game. That being said, most of the following represent the tried and true, many have likely been "Top Apps" in their respective category at one time or another, others are personal favorites of mine, and some are just for plain fun. Enjoy.
Business
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Dragon Dictation (Free) – It’s interesting that this one’s in business as we use this in education a lot, and I’ve heard of iPhone users using this app all the time. With Dragon, you have one of the best voice to text applications out there, and though I still rather fumble my way through the keyboard, users swear by Dragon and certainly when you can’t type (in the car, hands are full), voice to text is the way to go.
Entertainment
IMDB (Free) – how many times have you wondered where you’ve seen an actor or actress in another film or television show? This is my go-to app for questions like that, especially when my all knowing movie loving brother is not around.
Games
Doodle Jump ($0.99) – I’ll be honest in that I actually never downloaded this app, but I couldn’t prepare a best-of list without including this extremely popular choice for iPhone and iPod Touch users. You don’t get to be the #1 paid app of all time for nothing. OK, I’m downloading this now.
Angry Birds ($0.99) – I got hooked on Angry Birds when I played it (for free) on my Android phone. It’s easy to see why this clever and addictive game is currently dominating the paid and free app charts. Also available in Angry Bird Seasons ($0.99), and Angry Birds Free.
Words with Friends ($0.99) – You know you have an addicting game on your hands when on the way to a wedding photo shoot, the entire groom and bridal party of a friend’s wedding is engaged in word battles with each other. A shameless imitation of Scrabble ($0.99)? Probably. More popular and designed better for multiplayer? Possibly, though it seems like there’s a price war going on as we speak with both discounted for $0.99. With EA’s strong backing of Scrabble, it could be a matter of time before the iconic board game overtakes WFF.
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