Apps Come True

This is a follow up to my old post about iPhone desired apps. Now that the v2.0 (2.1 currently), allows for apps to be installed on the iPhone through the AppStore , we can finally and legally have apps from a selection of more than 4,000. This is definitely a great step, but let me present how my current app needs are met:

1. Office capabilities. No update to this sort. I can still natively view a variety of different docs on my iPhone but nothing for editing. There is some hope for excel files soon but not yet.

2. Cut and Paste. Not yet, and I doubt this will be part of the v2.2.

3. ePocrates. This was one of the first apps available for the iPhone and IMHO I prefer using this on my iPhone compared to my Palm TX.

4. Video recording. Nothing available so far.

5. iSilo for iPhone. Hallelujah!!! I still don't own this app, but I am looking closely into the development and plan to buy soon. You can find the actual app (v1.30) here.

6. Flash on Safari. Not an option and I think we will not see this happen on the current iPhone 2/3G, likely due to the CPU power needed and most importantly the strain it would put on the battery, although there are opinions out there that suggest the opposite.

7. Ssh and VNC. Both of these are available for the iPhone. There is a great post that compares all the current ssh apps for the iPhone. I am using TouchTerm and I think it is a great little tool. Keep in mind that the iPhone is a portable device/phone and not meant to be used to run Emacs to edit your thesis. Also there is MochaVNC for the ones who need it (i don't).

8. Instant Messenger. A ton of options available. I have AIM installed but rarely use it. All the chatting I do nowdays happens through the Facebook app.

9. File browser. I am not really interested to mess around with the files of the iPhone. But I do like to be able to have files on the go and be able to view them (since we have established in point No1 that I can't edit them). For this purpose I use the Box.net app, to access my box.net account. FYI, if you don't have an account, do yourself a favor and get one (or ask me to sent you an invite); this is the best IMHO online storage service and it has a free option for 1Gb. I also use Air Sharing to mount my iPhone as an external drive on my ibook and transfer files to it for future use. This allows me to carry with me pdf files for reading on the go. This is a great little app especially since I grabbed it for free during their September promo.

So, I think v2.0 (v2.1 currently) is a great step forward for the iPhone. With a great amount of apps (a good collection of free apps), the functionality of the iPhone is greatly improved. I do believe that a copy/paste function would make things almost ideal, and there is room for improvement for Apple.

Dreaming of iPhone Apps

So with the recent release of the iPhone SDK and the announcement of the App Store for June, I can't help but think of all the things I want my iPhone to do and right now it cannot:

1. Office capabilities (doc, xls, ppt). Although I don't think I will be writing 10-page long documents on my iPhone, it is necessary to be able to edit, e.g my CV on the go. Or update a spreadsheet with my work hours log.

2. Cut and Paste. This is not an application, but thinking of the iPhone 2.0 I believe this is a definite MUST have for any portable device.

3. ePocrates or any drug reference tool. Judging from the ePocrates demo presented with iPhone 2.0, I am pretty sure this will be done rather fast.

4. Video recording. This is another sad reality; even the cheapest camera phone now days can do this.

5. iSilo for iPhone. There is a lot of hype about this ever since the iPhone was fist announced, but still nothing available from iSilo.

6. Flash on Safari. Many sites are now built with flash and also many games/apps online are bases on flash technology.

7. Ssh and VNC. This would allow me to control all my computers remotely in full.

8. Instant Messenger, preferably compatible with many protocols (AIM, MSN, Yahoo, Gtalk, etc). At least an AIM clone will be available soon.

9. File browser. This is not typical for an Apple based device (see iPod) but it would be nice to browse the files on the iPhone, download files from the net and look into smb shares.