my favourite i phone apps.

Ok, the love affair between myself and my iPhone 3G is about to reach its sixth month and it's still going strong  (thanks to T.H. who assisted me in my decision to commit to this smart-phone when my heart was weaker and wavering-BB? I don't think so). Best part yet, there's still so much to discover! In my 6 month relationship, I've only acquired 64 apps. I probably use 1/3 of them regularly and I refuse to pay more than $1.99 per app (with one exception below). But I thought that perhaps it was time to share the love! Here is a run-down of my top favourite apps these days.

Most useful news: CBC radio. (free!) After my alarm goes off I spend the first hour of my day with Matt Galloway's Metro Morning. 

Best game:  You know it- Angry Birds. (free!) I met this guy at a party recently who tried to convince me that there was no iPhone game better than Bejeweled. Yeah. right. 

Best Yoga App: Yoga Hour. I'm pretty sure I was one of the first to purchase it in August when it came out and used it everyday while I was on vacation and continued to use it in September in the park. Mind you, I'm a bit of a yoga geek. It's $2.99 but totally worth it especially if you can't afford to go to a yoga studio. Now that winter's upon us, do it at home. I like it  better than both Yoga Stretch ($0.99) and Pocket Yoga ($2.99). For one, you follow actual pictures of Darren Rhodes in the most advanced version of the posture as opposed to illustrated pictorials. It's a one hour, simple, vinyasa- flow sequence that can be tailored to any level. The music is great. While Pocket Yoga offers varied sequences for (30, 45 to 60 minute intervals) to me it feels a lot like pilates. And Yoga Stretch is unique in that you can pick from a bunch of poses to guide your own practice session, but folks who are advanced would benefit the most from this. 

Best interactive game: Words with Friends! It's Scrabble against other iPhone users- they have to get the app as well, sign on with a user name and presto...let the games begin. Waiting for the sweet notification that one of my opponents has played their move might just be one of the high lights of my days. Plus it's free. I have 6 games going on right now! 

Photo-editing:  I take A LOT of photos with my iPhone. I think I have 600. I upload a lot of them onto this blog. The following two apps used in tandem greatly enhance your i phone photography experience. First off is PS Express which does basic edits like cropping, contract, brightness etc. but in two seconds you can fix the exposure on all your underexposed photos (and you know that the iPhone is bad for that) and send them off via email, post to fb, save them in your library etc. We also know that there's no flash on the iPhone (what was APPLE thinking??)...so for dimly lit scenes, you should try Night Camera and you likely won't even have to edit the exposure afterwords. 

Next App Purchase: I just learned (thanks to birthday boy F.M.) that my weekly Friday highlight, Settlers of Catan (thanks R.), is available on the I phone! ($ 4.99)  You play against other players and if they're not available you play against the computer. I better start practicing so I can beat those kids next week.

Final note, be a smart smart-phone user. If you go abroad turn off your data roaming. Or keep your phone on airplane mode. Whatever you do, do not access data. You could rack up an ginormous phone bill...and few of us are lucky enough to have friends pretend to be us and use their mad acting skills to get FIDO to erase all charges...(thanks e).

S.