1st Impressions

This is another Cydia app for jailbroken iPhone’s. It tells you just about anything you could ever want to know about your iPhone internals. Nothing else comes close to it. It has pages and pages of information. The small screenshot doesn’t really do it justice.

IntelliScreen is only for those adventurous enough to disconnect from the Apple worship and jailbreak your phone. It is available from Cydia and gives you the kind of home screen that any other smart phone platform has had for years. In fact, you get three screens out of it. The first two can view content and/or alerts of your choosing, while the third is a speed dial of favorite contacts. The download is free and a free trial license is available. This and Winterboard are thevtwo top reasons why I jailbreak my phone…well there is that whole cut and paste thing too, but now I am leaving review mode and getting into gripe mode. I’ll quit while I am ahead. Check out IntelliScreen and never waste your lock screen again.

MedTag is the perfect free app if you have medical issues, especially if they result in seizures, fainting, or any other condition that would make communication difficult. Personally, I don’t have communication issues as much as memory ones. I guess it would work in that condition too. It would be handy to hand to an ER doc so they could see all relevent info. The app looks pretty comprehensive. Maybe it will sync to Google’s online health database some day.

I am surprised at how well I like this addicting and relaxing game. The graphics are lovely and the sound soothing enough that I have actually used it to soothe me to sleep. The object of the game is simple. Find and pick up 5 shells and you get a bottle. Launch the bottle with a note inside. Other people find your bottles and you find theirs. Once you have a message, you can respond to it. The higher your level of interaction, the more you find.

You never know where your bottles are going to show up. On my recent birthday, I got well-wishes from five different countries. The game is cheap enough that you should try it. You ms be like me and get surprised at how well you like it.

Faces Visual Dialer is the dialer app that I have been searching for. It is SuperDial on steroids. It incorporated everything I would expect from a dialer app, and is only $1. When you tap a photo, it automatically performs whatever default communication method you specified for them. A small icon on the top of their image indicates what that preferred method is. Tap and hold and you get a menu of ALL the different ways to communicate with them. It could not be easier. Custom backgrounds and titles for up to 10 pages are an available option as well. And if you rotate your screen, you can see two pages at once. Shake it (the iPhone) and it launches all your contacts. If that were not enough, you can also use it to send contact info to someone. Make my Must-Have list.

iFound is the best, most comprehensive, free app of it’s kind that I have checked out. It has some really nice features like ability to store and share locations and, something I was really looking for, subcategories for types of restaurants. For free, it is definately worth the download.

I have to say that I have a new favorite game. Zentomino is the perfect puzzle game. The graphics are amazing, the music soothing, it is easy to learn, and game play promises to be endless. The $2 game comes with an initial 150 or so puzzles, but is from the same developer as TanZen, which is constantly being updated with more. The same is promised here. Definately falls into that must-have list for me.

OK, so Amazon put out a Kindle app. I don’t read much, but I thought with all the buzz that I would try it out. Luckily, there are plenty of free books available.

Kindle has some really nice features. It auto-syncs with you purchases, has a full screen mode. The variable font size is nice. Overall it makes for an enjoyable experience. I can see keeping it on my iPhone for no other reason than the functionality it adds.

AroundMe is one of those location based apps that helps you find close-by banks, restaurants, and so forth. The distances indicated are sometimes off a bit, and I really like the Locations section that tells about nearby cities and geographic landmarks, but the app has a couple of drawbacks as well. I see no way to sort by distance, I would love to hide some categories, and I would love subcategories under Restatants.

AppSniper is another of my must-have apps. For a dollar, it minds the store for you. If something goes on sale, it let’s you know. When something is added, it let’s you know. And when a ’sniped’ item drops below a set price or a ‘watched’ item gets an update, guess what….it lets you know! I do suffer from the ocassional crash, but the app developer is very responsive and is working to address those. As soon as they are addressed, this app gets five stars from me.