By Leo Stiles
Just in case our first five essential iPhone 4 apps were not enough, JOE has had another rummage around the App Store and unearthed five more amazing apps that will allow you to get even more enjoyment out of your shiny new toy.
Real Racing
(€3.99)
Recently updated to take advantage of the iPhone 4, Real Racing cements its reputation as the finest racing game in the App Store. Much like N.O.V.A. from the previous article, this game forces you to re-evaluate your expectations through its fantastic graphics and inventive control schemes and shows that as far as the iPhone and gaming goes, you really shouldn’t accept compromises.
The meat of the game is the career mode which allows you to race in over 70 events across 12 tracks as you seek to increase your rankings and unlock the game’s 48 cars. Multiplayer is on the menu too with up to 6 other players supported over local Wi-Fi. You can join online leagues and carve out a reputation. You can also save videos that are automatically uploaded to YouTube.
This game also supports multitasking and allows you to take calls and listen to your own music while you play. When a call comes in to the phone, the game will pause and then run in the background while you take the call. It will then resume on command, eliminating those race-ruining interruptions of old.
Many full price PS3 and Xbox titles fail to offer the amount of content you will find in Real Racing and for just €3.99 it’s terrific value.
Dropbox
(Free)
This one is an old favourite in the JOE office and now, thanks to the iPhone 4, it has become truly indispensible.
Dropbox works by giving you an online folder into which you can put all of your photos, videos and documents. Through some internet magic, it manages to update that folder as it appears in your iPhone, desktop and laptop.
The latest update allows you to upload pictures and HD videos taken with your iPhone 4, and thanks to the ability to background the app you can upload your files in bulk and then let Dropbox do its thing in the background.
For anyone that has ever left important documents at home or has lost a USB stick, Dropbox is a life saver and because it is simple, you are far more likely to use it regularly. It’s not just useful for the office either, as travellers now have a way to upload photos and videos on the move, something that should keep those snaps safe and enable you to keep your iPhone memory clear for more important things like Angry Birds (see below).
TuneIn Radio
(€1.59)
Radio apps are one of the types of apps that really benefit from being able to run in the background of the iPhone and TuneIn Radio is no exception.
This app gives you access to 40,000 online radio streams including all your favourite Irish stations and it also has a built-in search facility that should help you find even the most obscure selections.
If that is all this app did then we would still be recommending it, but there are a few features built in to TuneIn Radio that make the app the best of its kind.
First is the ability to pause live radio which works just like Sky Plus (it records the live stream when you hit the pause button and then plays back the recording when you hit play, resuming the radio show exactly where you left off).
Entire radio shows can be recorded live and the app can access all related podcasts from your favourite shows in case you missed them.
Angry Birds
(€0.79)
This app has been at the top of the paid apps chart for three months. Once played, it’s not hard to see why.
A physics-based castle destruction game, Angry Birds charges you with killing villainous pigs by bringing their castles crashing down around their ears. To do this you must catapult a limited amount of birds at the structure’s weak points with various types of birds, some acting as bombers and some as explosives.
Angry Birds is deceptively simple and like all the best games it has that pull of ‘one last go…’ that becomes horribly addictive. Things start out simple enough with the early levels conquered easily, but soon things get devilishly complex and you might find yourself playing a level over and over till you get that last remaining pig, only to then glance at your watch and discover that it’s 2am.
The game offers over 150 levels at present with the developers Roxio promising more in the coming months, and as the game costs a ridiculously low €0.79, you really have no excuse not to own this.
Skype
(Free)
Skype has long been the application of choice for anyone who likes free calls and now with the ability to run in the background, the iPhone 4 app becomes a really useful communication tool.
Skype allows you to make and receive calls over the internet using a technology called Voice over IP (VoIP) and only requires that the person that you are calling has the same software installed.
If this sounds a bit like the Face Time feature that came with your shiny new iPhone 4, well that’s because they are almost the same. Face Time is all about video calls, but Skype ignores fancy video to focus on high quality audio and unlike Face Time, the app is not restricted to just other iPhone 4 users.
Anyone who is running Skype on their mobile phone, PC or Mac can be called as the software is universal. With the ability to run in the background on the iPhone 4, Skype can now operate like a true telephone. You can make and receive high-quality calls when connected to Wi-Fi but performance was a bit patchy on 3G when our coverage was not at maximum.
There is a slight catch and that is that when left to run in the background, the Skype app is a big drain on battery life, making the app less useful if you are out and about.
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