Firstly; MyRail Lite- a great application for anyone in the UK who ever uses the train; it looks up the live train timetables by station, including a GPS lookup to find your nearest station. Very useful, and very well designed.

On the other hand is the Ocarina application. It turns your iPhone into an ocarina- blow into the microphone to play, and use the touch screen to “cover” the holes and play different notes. It also lets you connect to a network of Ocarina users (who have opted to make their melodies available) and listen to them play. A nice and innovative use of all the available hardware.

At 59p, you could argue that it’s a complete waste of time and money, but having wasted a couple of hours over the weekend on figuring out how to play it, figuring out how to play a few tunes I like and listening to what other people all over the world are playing on it, I’m not sure whether that’s necessarily a bad thing…

So my advice is to download them both, then when you’ve got time to kill before going out to catch your train, you can play the Legend of Zelda theme tune while you wait.

NetNewsWire

I’ve already talked about this is some detail; it uses the Newsgator RSS reader to deliver news headlines to your iPhone. Very handy, but nothing too special- or at least it wouldn’t be if it weren’t for the fact that it stores them on the handset, so you can read your choice of headlines on the underground, and also let’s you tag interesting articles as “clippings” to read at your leisure.

I’ve been playing around with RSS readers for a while, and haven’t yet found one for the desktop that really works the way I want it to. So I find it quite odd that I’ve found one that works on the mobile almost exactly as I want it to. If I was only allowed one application on my iPhone, this would be the one.

Last.fm

Most useful over a wifi connection, this streams music from the last.fm website to your iPhone. The more you use it, the better it knows what music you like and the better the service becomes, but my favourite way of using it is just putting a tag and listening to music that fits my mood. Great for discovering new music.

Google

Another must-have; universal search- searches the web, as you’d expect (as you would at google.com), but also searches your contacts list, and gives the option for a local search- enter “florist”, click on “find a florist near me”, and then jump to a Google Map that shows you what’s nearby and how to get there.

Facebook

Jump straight into Facebook- no need to enter your email address and password. Pretty much all the functions you would want, optimised for the iPhone. Stalking your friends has never been easier…

Units

Converts units- km to miles, acres to square miles, centigrade to farenheit and anything else you can think of. Doesn’t sound like much- until you find you need it. Then it becomes brilliant.

Enigmo

A great little game- and the only app on this list that isn’t free. Basically a puzzle game; you direct a stream of drips into holders by moving around things for them to bounce off, flow down and so on. If you liked Lemmings, you’ll probably like this.

RjDj

The strangest application that I’ve seen.. Or rather, heard. It turns the sound that your microphone picks up and turns it into a bizarre audio collage. Sounds odd, because it is. More of an art experiment than anything else- if you think it sounds interesting, then you’ll like it. If not, don’t bother.

Phonesaber

Wave your phone around, and it makes lightsaber sound effects. This one never gets old. (For me, anyway. Your mileage may vary…)

Remote

When you’re connected to the same wifi zone as your PC, this turns your iPhone into a remote control for iTunes-browse through and control your music library in the same way that you browse through the tracks on your phone. Definitely a must-have if you use iTunes (which, as you’ve got an iPhone, you probably do…)

ICanHasCheezburger

A complete waste of time and another one that you’ll know if you’ll like it straight away; connects to the sites on the icanhascheezburger network. (Lolcats, Loldogs, Failblog, Graphjam and a few others.) If you’ve not seen the sites, then you’ve probably been emailled the pictures by someone; photos with silly captions along a number of different themes. A pointless waste of time, no doubt, but might well bring a smile to your face.

Honourable mention:

WordPress

Most people aren’t interested in blogging, but if you are then a) WordPress is a good blogging system to use, and b) the WordPress iPhone application makes it as easy as you could hope for. Still has the same old iPhone problems (ie. no copy/paste) but if you want to blog from an iPhone, there’s no doubt in my mind that this is the best way to do it.

I think it’s going to be some time before we start to see this being tried and tested, but the potential for this seems to be huge.

Firstly, there’s the possibility of bypassing the computer. Steve Jobs has talked of the iPhone as being Apple’s entry into the “netbook” market; doing the same job as a small, compact laptop. An Android device like the G1 phone but larger could be a similar kind of device- but without the constraints of the iPhone.

Similarly, it could be used to bypass mobile networks; a portable, wireless, internet-enabled device without the need for an expensive subscription commitment to a mobile network could offer something closer in size and functionality to the iPod Touch than the iPhone. Taking away that commitment allows for a cheaper device with network functionality that you can afford to not use- compared to spending £100 on an iPhone, using it as an iPod and paying an extra £35 a month for something you might never use.

This opens up a whole world of possibilities-things that might seem to have no benefits whatsoever in having some sort of communication system suddenly have new possibilities. (For example, you might think that a plant has no need for a communications network- but there’s a company making devices that monitor plants’ water levels and phones you when they need watering.)

These are just a few of my ideas of how Android could function in devices other than mobile phones;

TV/video- with an internet connection, you could access your TV/video/PVR from another device; use your mobile phone as an EPG, to set reminders for when programmes you want to watch are on, or even stream your programmes, slingbox-style, to other devices.

MP3 player- the iPod touch turned Apple’s iPod into a web surfing, emailling device that also allows you to download music and applications from iTunes. An Android-powered device could sever the reliance on the PC (still essential for managing your music and video library, podcasts, photos etc.)

Digital camera- not only removing the need to carry round a USB cable to transfer pictures from your camera to your computer, Android could also allow your camera (at a wifi hotspot) to transfer files directly to your favourite online photo service- Flickr, Facebook, Picasa, your blog etc. Or to download photos from those services to your camera.

Ebook- download your eBooks, daily news or anything else you want to read straight to your ebook reader- in any format. (I think Amazon’s Kindle is already a step in this direction- still awaiting the UK launch so I can get my hands on one for myself.)

PDA/Diary- keep your electronic organizer synchronized with the cloud whenever you are in a wifi hotspot. Share your diary, so others can send invitations or make plans around your availability.

Wallet- an electronic credit card which, rather than being the key to allow shops to connect to your bank account/credit card details, actually stores your details. Virtual cash, in a form that let’s you check your balance and statements, which could also be remotely locked if it was stolen.

Car- your carphone, built into your car. Open standards would let you use your Android phone as the actual phone, or as the car keys for anyone approved to drive it (remembering your preferred seat and temperature settings and automatically changing them when your partner uses theirs to drive), as well as keeping your music, doing the job of the CD changer in the boot. Because it’s open, you’d be able to upgrade the software (and wouldn’t be in the position some drivers have found themselves, with an iPod dock fixed in their car that won’t work with their new iPhone.)

Stereo- download music or radio over your home wifi. Stream it around your house. Store your music collection, and copy music to and from your phone whenever you’re in range. Or set it up to share your music collection over the Internet so that you can play your own collection when you’re at the office/your friends house- whether it happens to be on your phone/MP3 player or not.

Digital recorder- lay down your 4-track demos, mix them down, and upload them straight to MySpace etc. Synchronize a multi-track master and record a studio session without having to be in the same room- or even the same country.

Fridge- in the same way that a hotel minibar can electronically detect when you’ve had a drink, check your fridge from wherever you are to see if you’ve got enough milk/butter, or how long the meat has been defrosting for.

All fairly ambitious ideas, no doubt. But in lieu of a string of patent applications that I don’t have the time or money to submit, remember- you read them here first.

I hope…

As I’ve got a PC connected to my TV, this is ideal for me; my iPhone has now become my remote control. Rather than a bulky media centre keyboard or an expensive air mouse (for around £100, last time I looked- the Logitech DiNovo Mini looked like the best option), my phone now controls my computer. No more need for a bulky keyboard or a surface to use a mouse on- I can use my computer from the comfort of the sofa. One handed, too. A problem that I’ve been trying to solve for about six months has now been solved by a £3.49 application.

Combined with Apple’s own Remote application (which let’s you control iTunes from the iPhone, using an interface almost identical to the iPod control system) this is a step closer to my PC being a real media centre.

In short, if you have a computer connected to your TV, you dont just want it- you need this application. If you don’t have/want an iphone, then get an iPod touch.

It’s not perfect- multitouch drag and drop would be a great addition, and a hidden keyboard that would let you use the whole screen as a trackpad is a feature on it’s way that I like the look of. But it’s early days, and it’s already one of the few apps that I can see is going to really change the way I’ll use my phone and PC.

Either I tried to track too many sites, meaning there was too much information coming in (and a constantly growing mountain of unread news- making me feel like I was missing, rather than reading more), or with less sites I was still having to check sites to see what my feed reader had missed.

Then there’s the problem with keeping things synchronized; when your feed reader is full of ‘unread’ articles that you’ve actually read outside the reader (either just from web browsing, or on a different computer) then it takes more time to manage your feeds- not less.

On the desktop, next to my unread emails, “to do” lists and web browser (with bookmarks to the websites that the feeds are pulling information from), another reminder that there’s things going on that I’ve not yet read about- even on the limited selection of sites that I’ve chosen to follow- isn’t really something that I need.

But that’s changed now. I think I’ve found a way to ‘consume’ them that fits in much better with my day-to-day activities. It turns out that the main problem wasn’t with the readers I was using or the feeds I was following; it was the device I was reading them on. On the desktop, feed readers just don’t work for me too well. But on the mobile, they are perfect.

Firstly, it’s more snack-sized. If I want to just fill a few minutes waiting for a train checking the headlines, then it’s easy. If something catches my eye, I can read the summary. If I don’t have time to read an interesting looking article, I can save it for later. If I’ve got more time on my hands (and a signal, of course) then I can jump through to the website and read the whole thing.

On the desktop, there are drawbacks; I’ve got time to check the actual websites- If I’m reading a news feed that only has a summary of the story, then I’ll end up going to the website anyway. If I’m already using the computer, then the constant flow of new infomation can be a distraction- along with email, instant messages, Facebook etc. RSS is supposed to make you more efficient- not less! If I’m not using the computer then I’ve got to get out the laptop or move to my desktop and switch it on. With a mobile, it’s already on- again, time saved. Something I hadn’t expected was for my mobile to become my preferred way of accessing online news when I’m at home; even though I’ve got a laptop I can use anywhere in the flat and a desktop PC connected to a large screen, my mobile is increasingly the first thing I reach for when I want to go online. Often, by the time my laptop has started up, I could have done what I wanted to do on my phone.

Along with the convenience and speed that I can get started, two things that becomes increasingly important on the feed side of things are;
1) The importance of the headline. In a sea of headlines, there’s not much of an opportunity for the journalist to grab my attention and pull me in, so it’s got to tell enough of the story to catch my attention, leaving me wanting to know more. When I’m writing, I like cryptic headlines that make perfect sense after reading the article- so together, they make up a holistic whole. But for an RSS-based audience, the headline isn’t a part of the article; it’s a kind of trailer that needs to pull the audience in. (I think this is something the BBC.co.uk’s editorial team needs to learn- great articles, but the headlines get lost in a sea of other sources.)

2) It tends to make me read more blog posts. The reason for this is actually pretty clear; commercial sites exist to sell advertising, so the purpose of the feed is to draw people into the site; the headline catches your eye, a short summary gets your attention, so you go to see the adverts (and read the full story while you’re there…)

Bloggers (as a general rule of thumb) are less concerned about advertising. They just write to be read- not to drive traffic, so blog feeds tend to have the full article. This means that if I’m underground or out of signal (for whatever reason), I can still read it there and then- when I’m interested in it. The consequence for the blogger is that I’m more likely to become a regular reader, as I’ll be following them whenever they publish posts rather than whenever it pops into my head to visit their site, or I come across a link. There’s also the issue that I don’t have to wait for the adverts, graphics etc. to load over the slower mobile connection.

The application that I’m using is
NetNewsWire; this is a free application that uses the Newsgator feed service. It’s not quite perfect- I’d like to have more control of how Clippings (the stories you mark up to read later) are organized from the phone, like tagging them and putting them into folders- at the moment, I have to visit the website to do that. It would also be useful- although no doubt prohibitively intensive on memory and bandwidth- if it downloaded graphics along with the text of the feeds. I’m sure that these are issues that the developers are working on, and I’m looking forward to seeing some more updates. (Incidentally it’s what I use to gather the mobile news in the sidebar on this blog- although obviously if you’re reading this in RSS form you can’t see that.) There’s also the added bonus that when I’m underground, I can read my choice of news instead of picking up a copy of the Metro…

So right now, it’s great- without a doubt the most useful 3rd party applications on my iPhone, and more useful to me than included apps like stocks news and weather forecasts.

I’m going to keep this site updated with some other pointers to some great apps, but this one is definitely the one I’d miss most if it were to go.