Five Amazing iPhone Applications
Apr 01, 2008 in Applications, Just Fun, Music Apps, Utilities
The iPhone is currently selling in great numbers and with the upcoming SDK release it looks likely to continue in its momentum, but a device with such potential appears to be lacking somewhat.
Here are five applications that would really light our fires and no doubt those of many current and future iPhone users. With the release of the iPhone SDK in late-February it is more than possible that some of these may already be in the works, if so drop us a line; if not then just credit would be fine…
Voice Dialling, Text to Speech
The combination of an iPhone and a Bluetooth headset is fantastic for when in the car, but the iPhone lacks one feature that many phones feature as standard.
But do not despair! A 3rd party could quite easily develop a solution to our woes, picture it now; you’re sat in your car with the iPhone in your pocket and headset in ear, you wish to call a friend but that would require you to break the law (in some countries) so what to do? Tap the button on top of the headset and speak “Call, so-and-so”, application recognises request and dials said friend.
That is a simple example of how speech recognition could make voice dialling a possibility but it could be expanded further, how about writing an email just by speaking, or a text?
And then when a text is received, read it out to me and allow me to reply; all without touching the phone.
The system is certainly feasible as computers have been able to do it for many years, and of course with the introduction of Mac OS X Leopard Apple has streamlined its speech engine and there are some fantastic speech recognition systems in existence.
Basic File Editing, Exchange Support
I know exactly what you’re thinking; the iPhone is not a computer and shouldn’t be seen as one. I know this but the facility would be great.
Its fairly obvious what such applications could offer, but it’s not as simple as taking the file from iPhone Mail editing it and sending it back? Well it certainly should be, problem is the current iPhone configuration doesn’t make this a simple task, first off the ability to save files somewhere would ideally need to be added and then the ability to get them off the iPhone with ease.
So what we’re looking for is the capability to save attachments from iPhone Mail or my Mac onto the phone and then be able to edit them in a basic manner. Add this ability for Excel, Word, Pages and Numbers documents and that is one killer app!
iPlayer, SlingPlayer
Lets start with a bit of background, the iPlayer is a new online video application released towards the end of last year by the BBC to offer UK residents (read: tax payers) the ability to replay over 250 programmes for up to seven days after they’ve shown on the TV, the BBC has attached the tagline “Making the unmissable… unmissable to iPlayer.. Windows users have the luxury of downloading the programming onto a PC.
So in a nutshell the iPlayer offers TV shows via a video on demand service online from one of the leading broadcasting companies in the world.
Now SlingPlayer, some of you may be familiar with Sling Media the company who makes the Slingbox and the accompanying SlingPlayer. Although the company makes many products, the Slingbox offers to the ability to stream the output of a cable, satellite or freeview set top box across the internet, viewable via the SlingPlayer.
Let’s think about it now, BBC TV shows downloaded onto the iPhone or available streaming via a locally running application. For those of us in the UK and who have used the iPlayer and enjoy BBC programming this is a fantastic prospect. The whole process could be completed without the need for a computer but Wi-Fi would no doubt be a necessity.
Also by installing SlingPlayer on the iPhone we’d be talking live TV from your 3000 channel satellite receiver to your pocket.
Both the iPlayer and SlingPlayer are companions that the iPhone shouldn’t be without, and we already know that Sling Media has the official iPhone SDK in their hands so fingers crossed!
VoIP
Voice over IP applications for the iPhone are certainly not a new prospect but with the SDK on the horizon it is certainly a much easier prospect to achieve. Unlike efforts to the turn the iPod touch into a phone the iPhone already features a microphone, speaker and a permanent data connection.
But the definition “killer app” speaks quality, ease of use and integration so none of these hacker attempts to get VoIP working are going to do. One application that builds seamlessly into the iPhone is what is needed; imagine having Skype usernames attached to contacts and dialling a friend and the application deciding whether to dial via VoIP or the standard network.
Peggle
Moving from the serious to the fun, Peggle is possibly the most addictive “casual game” ever invented and is made by the good people at Popcap. The astute among you will be seeing where this is going but let me explain anyway; Popcap makes many games, for example Bejeweled. Popcap also make games such as Bejeweled and Peggle for the iPod and recently has created a web version of Bejeweled for the iPhone.
So in essence, Peggle + iPhone = Addiction on the go.
There is no doubt in my mind that the iPhone will become an amazing gaming platform for these “casual games”, right now they are beginning to appear online but with the introduction of the SDK, surely these games will be native and no doubt purchasable from Popcap on the iTunes Store.
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