When the iPhone was first launched, it was never intended to be a gaming platform. This was largely because the first set of applications launched for the iphone were web-based and this didn't turn on the developers. However when the iPhone was jailbroken and the Cydia installer became popular (before the appstore was launched), the potential of the iphone as a gaming device was slowly being explored thanks to the built-in accelerometer and the touch screen that gave novel game play ideas. When the appstore did launch finally, thousands of games were developed and now the iPhone has a niche place in the gaming market. It also helps that the recently launched iPhone 3GS has a faster graphics processor and a CPU that should help push the iphone as a gaming device to a larger market. Now getting on to the list:

1) Labyrinth:
This is the game that started it all for the iphone. The first game to properly demonstrate the accelerometer. With the objective to tilt the iphone in different directions to navigate a ball bearing to a goal clearing an obstacle course is quite a challenge and a lot of fun.




2) Word Warp:
Honestly, I am not a big fan of playing games on a phone when I have a 2000$ gaming rig sitting at home. But then when I am travelling or am stuck at some place without much to do, I like taking out my phone and killing time. Wordwarp is a game that came highly recommended and I instantly fell in love with it, whipping out my phone every single idle moment I had to form 7-letter words from 7 alphabets that are given. Having achieved my target of 10000 points (11,500) I don't play the game much anymore but it is one of the best iphone games out there in my opinion. The game also helped me pick up a lot of 3 letter words that I hadn't heard of before to improve my scrabble skills.



3) Cops and Robbers lite:
Cops and Robbers lite (there is a paid version) is a nice 3D adventure game for the iphone and the lite version is a good technology demonstration game combining the accelerometer, touch and 3D. When I first saw the game I was shocked that the iphone was even capable of 3D graphics. This is one nice looking game that looks like a lot of fun though the lite version has only one level.



4) PapiJump:
This is as simple as a game can get and is fun. Yet another accelerometer based phone where Papi (a smiley circle) is always jumping and the player has to keep tilting the phone to ensure that papi lands on tiles and keeps making upward progress and not fall into a bottomless pit.



5) Paper Toss:
When I saw the game in the appstore highly rated, I wondered how something that sounded so silly could be so popular. All you have to do the in the game is launch crumpled paper into a waste bin in an office room with a pedestal fan that causes disturbance in the air. The magnitude of the wind caused by the fan is indicated by a number and the player has to compensate the angle of launch based on this magnitude. There are three difficulty levels to choose from and the game is surprisingly addicting.

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I will admit that I am not a big fan of the call handling capabilities of the iphone. However, the handy applications developed for the iphone make it worth having. A cheaper alternative is to get the iPod touch, but without a camera it is not as handy as the iphone.

1. Units:
Units is a tool for converting units of measurement from one standard to another. The tool is neatly grouped into different types of measurements like Area, Temperature, Length, Time, Speed etc. The application also comes with a ruler with inch and centimeter markings which can be used for measurements.

2. Dictionary.com:
This dictionary application references dictionary.com dictionary and thesaurus with 275,000 words and 80,000 synonyms. Wedict is an alternative which was earlier available for free download but is now a paid application for 6$ which I feel is a little too expensive for a dictionary. But the interesting thing about wedict is the downloadable dictionary files for multiple languages and even different types within a single language.

3. Flashlight:
There are many flashlight applications for iphone that help search for things in the dark. However, the Flashlight application from the Cydia or the ICY installer (you need to jailbreak the iphone for this) is brighter than the applications found in the Apple appstore.

4. Wikipanion:
Wikipanion is your wikipedia companion allowing you to search the entire wikipedia database after you have downloaded it to the iPhone. Beware that the database is a massive 4+ GB of information and an 8GB iphone is recommended at the very least.

5. Kindle:
Kindle is a book reader utility from Amazon that helps download the digital copy of books purchased from amazon into the iphone. Amazon also sells "Digital only" versions of books that are much cheaper than a real book. You will also find a lot of free books in amazon if you search for "0.00$" or "$0.00". Some of the free titles are Paranoia by Joseph Finder, The angel Experiment by James Patterson, Treasure Island, Sherlock Holmes Collection and Twenty Thousand Leagues under the sea.

6. Snapture:
Snapture is a replacement for the Camera application that comes with the iphone. Snapture adds features like digital zoom, burst mode, multiple image sizes, easy snap (you no longer have to click on a specific icon on the screen to take pictures), timer mode and multiple color modes like sepia, monochrome etc. This application is available only via Cydia or Icy.

7. Cycorder:
One of the best applications for the iphone that the original iphone should have come with. A must have application for the older iphone models that do not permit video recording, cycorder records video with brilliant quality that puts other cameras of 1.3 MP to shame. Cycorder is available only for download from cydia and not the appstore.

8. Batterystatus:
Battery status is a battery monitoring tool for the iphone that gives you information like % battery level, talk time over 3G, talk time over 2G, standby time, browsing over edge time, browsing over wi-fi time and audio and video playback times. Very handy application that can give you the time within which you have to find the next recharge point.

9. Epocrates:
Epocrates is a medical database with drug and disease information that is handy with detecting spurious drugs, general medication, drug interactions and other details. For more details about Epocrates refer to this article.

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