Appstore: I Am Rich. No, You Are A Moron….

I mean, come on, what kind of joke is this? A new app (should I even call that an app?) has shown up on the appstore by the name “I am Rich”. Now, we all know there are some good apps but just as many that are worthless to say the least. Somehow, Apple has decided to let this ‘joke’ get past their radars and tests and make it to the appstore for the public to consider buying, for as little as US$999.00 US$999.99…..YES, that’s right, $1K for this! Now, anyone who is willing to pay a dime for this is just an idiot! I don’t care how much money you have and if you really want to give money away, why not make a donation to a charity?

I am one to give praise to Apple when it deserves it, but this time I can only say that if they continue to allow this stupidity…..well, you get the point.

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iPhone 2.0.1 Available

Apple has released version 2.0.1 of the iPhone firmware. It is available through iTunes for those who want to update their iPhones. One thing I noticed is that it doesn’t mention specific fixes, it simply says “bug fixes”.

I have already updated my iPhone to 2.0.1 and so far so good. One fix that I’ve noticed so far is in the address book. Before, there would be a couple of seconds lapse between the time you selected the search field and when the keyboard would pop up. This is fixed with this update and the keyboard is immediately available and search is fast and responsive.

iPhone Apps: My Fave 5

I’ve had about 3 days since upgrading my iPhone to firmware 2.0 and the opportunity to download and try many of the apps in the iTunes appstore, so the idea for this post is to list my favorite five applications so far and why I like them. So let’s get started.

1. MLB.com At Bat (US$4.99)

I’m a huge baseball fan and a huge Yankees fan. I absolutely love this app. The ability to just fire this up and have all the scoring info from all the games at my fingertips is just phenomenal. I can just tap on a game and see the line score, see who’s on base, who’s pitching and who’s hitting. MLB.com took it even a step further and a simple tap of the video icon let’s you watch clips from the game (same as on the MLB.com website). The video works well even on EDGE (although a bit pixelated) but on WiFi is magnificent. This was the first app that I downloaded and I didn’t think twice to pay the $4.99!

MLB At Bat iPhone App

2. Facebook (Free)

What can I say about this app? Clean design, well thought out and simply great. The Friends section can easily replace the iPhone Contacts section at times. A simple tap on a phone number calls your friend. Same for email, just tap an email address and voila! – mail app opens up. You can even take a picture right from the Facebook app. Great!

Facebook iPhone App

3. ShoZu (Free)

I’ve always loved ShoZu on my S60 devices and when I got the iPhone I continued to use ShoZu by emailing the pictures. This method worked great but having a native app is always better. This way I can see my friends pictures and comment right on the app without having to go to Flickr, for example. Sending photos is as simple as a tap on “Send Photos” and choosing the picture you want to send. This app is a gem and certainly something I was missing.

ShoZu iPhone App

4. Google App (Free)

Google did not disappoint with their iPhone app offering. Start typing in the search box and the app starts giving you suggestions. It even searches within your address book. Simply tap on one of the results and Safari opens up. I find myself using this a lot now.

Google iPhone App

5. Evernote (Free)

Evernote is very useful in allowing you to save notes and all sorts of information. I used this constantly on my computer and also made use of their web clipper to save web pages and things of interest. Now with this app, I can save a text note, take a picture of something and save it to my Evernote account to remember later and even an audio note. But the best part of it is that I can access this information from any web browser anywhere I am.

Evernote iPhone App

Needless to say, there are other great apps that I have tried so far but since the title says “My Fave 5”, I need to stop at 5, right? NOT! Who says I can’t have some notable mentions? Here they are:

Last.FM

Last.Fm

Pandora

Pandora

Midomi Mobile

Midomi Mobile

Twitterrific

Twitterrific

iPhone 2.0 Installed

I came home from work and decided to download the iPhone 2.0 software and updated my original iPhone. The update process took approximately 30 minutes, complete with a restore and re-sync of all my data. So far so good….I have hit the AppStore and downloaded quite a few apps. I am putting them through the paces right now and I’m happy to report that I haven’t experienced the issues (slowness, crashes) that others have reported (knock on wood). Could it be because I never jailbroke my phone? Who knows!

At this point, I think I will wait out a few days before taking the plunge for the iPhone 3G…..maybe I won’t get it after all. Who am I kidding? 🙂

ShoZu Now on iPhone….

Well, on July 11th, to be exact. That’s right, ShoZu has announced that their official iPhone application will be available on the iTunes App Store and will be a free download. This is certainly welcomed news for me as an iPhone user and even better since I am considering the iPhone 3G.

Check out the video.

MyPhoneRocks.com: N95 Video at the iPhone Line

Interesting and cool video at MyPhoneRocks.com, filmed completely on the Nokia N95, from the iPhone launch line at the San Francisco Apple Flagship store.

MLB Players’ Lust For iPhone

I thought it was interesting to see a piece on ESPN.com about Major League Baseball players interest in the iPhone. Peter Gammons writes about Justin Verlander, who was pitching the night of the iPhone release, texting someone at an Apple store and then sending his girlfriend to line up and get a couple.

I say interesting because it is the least of what I’m expecting when reading ESPN.com. I think that speaks to the craziness and hype this device’s launch has caused.

Yahoo Tech: Why I Am Not Getting An iPhone

Gina Hughes, The Techie Diva at Yahoo! Tech, has an article about the reasons she is not getting an iPhone. Amongst the reasons, she cites price, plans and this being the first generation.

For me personally, I don’t think I’ll be getting one simply because although a cool device, I’d probably get bored pretty soon and miss some of the other things that I love about smartphones, such as the ability to install several third-party apps, a video camera, and no MMS? Come’on…I still can’t get over that. Yes, I understand that you can send pictures via email but I still think this phone should have MMS capability.

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N95 vs. iPhone

Symbian-Guru and IntoMobile have created a series of funny videos comparing the iPhone to the N95. The videos are very clever and well-made. They will release one each day at 6PM CST. If you haven’t seen them, please do and give credit to these guys.

Today’s was episode 2: N95 vs. iPhone – Camera.

See the video here.

More Details on the iPhone

Engadget has posted some more details about the iPhone. The scoop comes from someone who has spent a lot of time with a pre-launch unit. Some of my worries appear to have some foundation. For example, I worry how the touch keyboard will respond to two-handed typing and the touchscreen. Here is what they had to say about them:

“The keyboard was simply described as “disappointing”. Keyboarding with two thumbs often registers multiple key presses (two or three at a time) resulting in a lot of mistakes. The best way to type is with a single finger (as shown in most of Apple’s demos), but two thumbs is supposedly very difficult. After trying it for a number of days our source gave up using their thumbs.”

“The touchscreen was said to, in general, require somewhat hard presses to register input, and needs some getting used to. “

Read the article here.