Stuff that came preloaded on the iPhone

I won't go over everything because the iPhone actually comes with a lot of stuff. But the preloaded stuff I've used the most, in no particular order, is:

• The built-in camera. It's only 2.0 megapixels, and since there's no flash indoor shots can be a little dark, but it's not bad:

  

  Before the iPhone, I've never found it easy to get pictures off of a cell phone. The iPhone makes it very simple. When you plug into your computer it asks if you want to upload the pics. You can also email a pic straight from your phone at that handy 3G speed.

• Built-in YouTube. I thought this would be something I'd use rarely, but not a day has gone by since I got the iPhone that I haven't watched some YouTube video. Typically I'm not hitting the YouTube icon; rather, I'm sent to YouTube vids by way of the...

• Safari web browser. This browser isn't bad. It can open up to eight windows. It's integrated with the YouTube function, and you can expand the tiny print by doing a two-finger stretch gesture on the screen. The Internet is finally portable... for real.

  Safari is not perfect. I'd love to be able to go to the Speculist and listen to FastForward Radio directly from the page. No dice. I had to find another way to get FFR.

• Built-in iPod. Of course the iPhone is also a very nice iPod. I loved my stand-alone iPod before, but I found that I didn't carry it with me on a regular basis. Since this iPod is hitching a ride with my phone, its a regular part of my life. I got the 16 gig iPhone - I've never regretted going with more storage - so it easily holds my entire music collection and four or five feature length movies. I use the Avex DVD to iPod Converter to get movies.

• Email. I easily integrated my gmail into the phone. This is very cool. The texting works fine too.

• The clock. Pretty much every screen offers the time, but what I love about the Clock is how simple it is to set up alarms with messages that tell you what the alarm is about. Need to wake up early every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but would like a little extra sleep on other days? No problem.

• The App Store. Its very cool to hear about an app, go to the app store, and downloaded and install a new app in less than a minute. You don't have to do it via your computer and iTunes. Its simple and intuitive. Its almost as if they wanted to make it easy for you to spend your money with them.

The free stuff I've downloaded.

Probably the most remarkable thing about these aps: of the aps that are essential - the stuff that I can't do without now that I have an iPhone - 95% are free. So, here are the essential free apps:

• Pandora. Sure Pandora is cool on the computer. You enter a band or song name and it sets up a radio station for you. Kick back and listen to some good songs - free. But Pandora didn't get real for me until I could take it with me. 95% of my radio listening is in my car on my commute. I find now that I'm not listening to my local stations anymore. I probably listen to Pandora now more than I do the tunes I've uploaded to the phone.

• Kindle for the iPhone. That's right. The last gadget I geeked out about (the Kindle) now has a companion - the iPhone. The books I buy for the Kindle can be quickly downloaded and read from the iPhone. The interface is beautiful and simple. Its not hard to read.

  Am I sorry I bought the actual physical Kindle? No. The iPhone is good for reading a chapter during a spare minute away from home. The Kindle is much better - easier on the eyes - for book-length reading.

• The Weather Channel. This free download kills the iPhone's built-in weather app. Its got current weather, weather maps, 10-day forcasts and - get this - a video weather report for your region.

• Facebook. Think your Facebook addiction is bad now? Download this app. It's integrated with the camera so that you can quickly take a shot, add a caption, and post it. Your family and friends across the world can see, immediately, a picture of your kid blowing out his birthday candles before you've served the cake. That's cool.

• Yellowpages. It knows where you are and gives you the yellowpages for that area. When you look up a business, it can give it to you in the order of the businesses closest to you. You see the number to call there in Yellowpages - tap that and you're calling. Simple, elegant, powerful.

• Fandango. I'm a movie buff and I've always been impressed by Fandango's user interface on the computer. This app brings that functionality to the iPhone. As with Pandora, portability changes the entire experience of using Fandango.

• iChess. A free chess program.

• Sudoku. I got the Sudoku bug awhile back. This free app looks and plays great.

• iHandy level. I've actually used this. It settled a dispute over whether a picture was hanging crooked. It was.

• Oil and Gas. If you need to know what the price of natural gas is, there's no easier tool than this. It also tracks the price of oil and the average national cost of gas at the pumps.

  This app's probably not for everyone, but the fact that someone took the time to write this app is instructive. No matter what obscure thing you'd like your iPhone to do, somebody has probably already done it or is working on it.

• NPR Addict. If you like National Public Radio, get this free app. Lots of audio, and print stories too.

That was the free stuff. I'll get around to testing Skype for the iPhone in the next day or so. If it works as well as advertised, it will another essential free app.

The Stuff I've Paid for

• Documents. I imagined I would use this to open Word documents or Excel worksheets. Unfortunately I had to download the pay version ($4.99) to figure out that this app is unsuitable for what I wanted to do with it. I've taken it off the iPhone.

• Mediafly. I use this podcatcher to get FastForward Radio without the need of going through iTunes or using a computer. It just grabs it from the air. Very cool. It's interface is confusing though. I've had to fool around with this quite a bit to do things that should be simpler. $2.99.

  UPDATE: I never got happy with Mediafly. It was just too hard to get it to update (and updating apparently required a wifi connection rather than just using 3G). The interface was just too confusing. So, I kept looking for a a better iPhone podcatcher.

  RssPlayer fits the bill. Just type in the rss address, hit subscribe, and then download your podcast - from anywhere via your 3G connection. The show artwork is displayed full-screen, and episode descriptions are just a tap away. Also, as far as I know, it is the only podcatcher for iPhone that allows you to suspend the program and then come back and start the show again where you left off. Its exactly what I wanted in a podcatcher and no more. $2.99

  Here's a random feed to test out the RSSPlayer:

  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/fastforwardradio/feed

• Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart. I got this racing game for my kids, and I found that I play it too. Very fun. $5.99.

• Ms. Pac-Man. Just like the arcade. You might be wondering about the joystick issue. They offer three control options. One option was cute but useless - tilt the iPhone to make Ms. Pac-Man move. The other tap method looks like a modern hand-held game controller. But you'll want to use the swipe method. With a little adjustment you'll forget you're not in an arcade. $5.99.

• Talk Radio. If you love talk radio (or love to hate it) you'll want to grab this $2.99 ap. Version 1.0 was a simple frequency finder. It could help a traveler find a favorite show on the AM dial. Version 2.0 lets you stream the shows directly to your iPhone. "Talk Radio" tracks Alan Colmes, Coast to Coast, Dennis Miller, Glenn Beck, NPR, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Fred Thompson, Mark Levin, and others.

Right now the iPhone is the best digital swiss army knife you can buy. What essential apps (free or pay) have I missed? What apps should be avoided?