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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I remember reading somewhere that atleast 30% of drugs in the Indian market are spurious. And that is a very scary number. With medicines being as expensive they are, it is really troubling that you may be spending a lot of money on a product that doesn't do what it is supposed to, and even worse, cause problems for you.

Add to this the quality of the doctors around these days, it is hard to get a satisfying medical solution. My personal interactions with hospitals and doctors haven't been very nice. For instance, I have found that if I visit a clinic for fever (which might be nothing very serious), chances are that the doctor will prescribe 4-6 tests that will cost you a bomb without even touching you. I feel I might as well go to a diagnostic center and get some tests done rather than visit a doctor and take advice. I feel the humanity in the medical profession has been lost in the greed for money these days.

With this background, I am constantly on the look out for a reliable source of medical information. Unfortunately, doctors cannot be ruled out completely but I am always on the look out for the next best solution. And this is where Epocrates comes into the picture. Epocrates is a medical database that provides:

1) Hundreds of diagnoses with evidence-based content
2) Drug-drug interaction checker, MultiCheck
3) Extensive disease images library and pill pictures
4) Integrated clinical details
5) Printable patient medication handouts
6) Health plan & Medicare Part D insurance formularies

They have free and premium services which you can choose from.

This video explains how to make the best use of Epocrates:



The free version has only the drug guides, formulary information and drug interaction checkers whereas the premium versions have much more to offer like treatment guides, alternative medicines, over the counter names, symptom assessments and diagnostic and laboratory tests.

Epocrates is available for devices like the Palm PDAs, Iphone, Ipod Touch and Windows Mobile Devices, making this a very handy tool. An online version of the tool is also available.

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In the words of HTC "HTC Hero is the first phone to embody HTC Sense. HTC Sense is a distinct experience created to make HTC phones more simple for people to use, leaving them saying, it just makes sense."

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Apple has released the latest firmware 2.2 for the iPhone. Just power up with your phone connected and choose the option to update software.

New features in iPhone 2.2 firmware:

* Enhancements to Maps
o Google Street View*
o Public transit and walking directions
o Display address of dropped pins
o Share location via email
* Decrease in call setup failures and dropped calls

* Enhancements to Mail
o Resolved isolated issues with scheduled fetching of email
o Improved formatting of wide HTML email
* Podcasts are now available for download in iTunes application (over Wi-Fi and cellular network)

* Improved stability and performance of Safari
* Improved sound quality of Visual Voicemail messages
* Pressing Home button from any Home screen displays the first Home screen
* Preference to turn on/off auto-correction in Keyboard Settings

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There is a ton of money to be made programming for the Apple iPhone. iPhone applications can be hosted by developers at the Apple App Store. If you are giving away your application for free, then apple does not charge you for hosting the application. If however you charge for your software, you have to pay a small percentage to apple for every sale besides a one time fee.

From a 1000$ application called I am rich which displays a red gem on the screen just to prove that you are rich because you paid for the application (6 people actually bought the application before it was taken off the app store) to useful applications like note takers, games, text editors, eBook readers and much more, the iphone is the a great development platform because of its wide availability and popularity. Most not-free applications sell for around 99 cents making developers a good deal of money by selling in large volumes. It is not so difficult to make $250,000 in 2 months with a simple application developed as a side project.

So what do you need to take the plunge? Previously, the only information available for iPhone development came exclusively from apple and developers had to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) to get access to technical details to assist them. The NDA prohibited iPhone developers from writing tutorials, guides, blogs, books, and even wikis about the iPhone SDK. Recently, they dropped the NDA and have opened up the freedom to publish books and articles for the iphone.

Apple has made available a software development kit for the iPhone with which programmers can develop applications for the iPhone.

If you are an amateur programmer, Stanford university provides course materials for the iPhone programming class which can be accessed here.

There are a ton of other links on the internet which elaborate on the entire process of developing applications for the iPhone to getting it to the apple store. Check out some of these here:

• Learn how to develop for the iphone
• Develop iPhone applications using ruby on rails
  
• iPhone development in 22 not so easy steps
  
  

If you are not motivated enough to develop for the iphone, check out these articles:

• Tap Tap Tap 1 week sales
• Part-time Apps developers getting rich
  
• iPhone developers go from rags to riches

Still thinking if its worthwhile??

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