iPhone 2.0 - App Store

Everyone is talking about the iPhone 3G and to be honest with good reason. Im a bit biased but i think the iPhone is one of the best technology products of all time.

That said this post isnt specifically about the 3G because, well, i don't have one so i can't really comment. This post is about the kick ass application update the original iPhone got on Friday (or thursday for the ambitious / geeky).

So that said, on Thursday i updated my phone to the 2.0 version of the iPhone OS. Having had a weekend to play around with the new update I can honestly say I think the iPhone deserves to win back to back best invention of the year awards.

Some new features of the new software include the well known app store, mobile me integration, outlook integration, and a fancy new app to get to your contacts without going through the phone. That one is kinda boring so ill focus on the rest.

First mobile me. When i bought Amanda's laptop i bought myself a year subscription to dot mac which turned into mobile me last week. So far im underwhelmed. Its a nice service but it did have launch problems. Putting those aside I'm just not seeing much benifit. Its nice that i can get to my contacts online. Its nice i can get my calendar and i have a bit of storage space on the iDisk but i dont see myself using it much. Email to me is completley useless. I have no desire to change emails again to josh.schramm@me.com and I dont see anyway to have the mobile me client pull my email and send on behalf of my gmail. Also for some reason i cant even pull my mobileme email to mail.app so whatever. So far my google centric solution of gmail combined with google calendar is working much better. Only problem is contacts integration which the new version of address book kind of fixes. If only google would spend a bit of time improving contacts id be happy.

Next exchange support. I love that i can now get company email. It works exceptionally well, pushes to my phone and set up was dead simple. My main complaint lies with the fact that exchange support for the iPhone is limited to syncing only your local contacts and calendar OR your exhange one. I.E. I have a LOT of contacts on my mac, i want those on my phone first and foremost, but I'd also love my company directory. Well tough luck, one or the other. Supposedly mobile me fixes this but I'm not too sure how yet. Calendaring to me is even more annoying. I have a work calendar in exchange and a home calendar in iCal (syncing to google calendar through a utility called spanning sync). I want both to be available. I can't really understand why they arent. If you look at the calendar application on the iPhone you can now sync multiple iCal calendars and switch between them. Why not just add to that list exchange calendars and sync them side by side. Seems silly to me they choose to go another route. That said just having email is a huge improvement especially when everyone at work carries a blackberry for that reason. Now i can carry my iPhone and still stay in touch.

Now the real killer part. The App Store. Most more technically savvy iPhone owners have known that they could jailbreak their phones for a long time and install custom applications. Jailbreaking added a level of functionality to the phone that made it absolutley amazing. There were some killer apps including Last.Fm, uXM (xm radio), various IM and VOIP clients. With the new app store jailbreakers had to (temporarily) go back to the supported software and install "legit" applications. So far i can honestly say what is on the legit app store out paces just about every illegitimate app.

Some apps i have installed and love -

Apple Remote - Free - This turns your iPhone into a wifi remote control for your iTunes or Apple TV. SOunds boring but it works so incredably well its amazing. Your phone displays the currently playing song or movie and with a touch of a button it instantly changes. This app must have some killer network optimization because it really feels sometimes like the song changed before you even pushed the button. Best of all no line of sight needed for this remote and no expensive hundred dollar + radio wave universal remote.

Super Monkey Ball - 10 bucks - a game designed for a device thats motion sensitive. This game uses the accelermoter of the phone to control a ball as you navigate maze like levels. Worth the price of admission but can be very difficult and frustrating.

AOL Radio - Free - My most recent awesome find. AOL streams hundreds of radio stations across the country as well as a large number of their own mixes. All CBS radio stations are supported so cleveland Opie and Anthony fans can listen. One of the best things, it works over EDGE making it an awesome application for 1st gen iPhone owners.

Pandora - Free - This is my replacement for Last.FM (although they release a client today i havent tried yet). Pandora allows you to enter bands you like and creates a radio station for you of similar artists. It bases its choices off a complicated formula that judges the music itself (unlike last.fm which bases recommendations off the likes of other users who listen to the same music). Pandora seems to work better than last.fm if your looking for truley similar music. If you want to branch out last.fm is a better choice. Either way this iPhone app is also killer. Works over EDGE and has great quality.

I have a few other apps including twitteriffic, evernote, ebay, google but i havent used them as much so i wont bother.

What i think makes this the best invention of the year isnt just the apps but the fact that it changes your phone from a communications device to an all in one entertainment/communications/social networking utility. It becomes indespensible and anyone who never thought they would use their phone to check email or whatever will find themselves wrong. This is a killer product, and well worth 200 bucks.