With the pending release of the new iPhone 4S it seems like it’d be a good idea to get ahead of the question everyone I know who’s getting an iPhone for the first time is going to ask me: WHAT APPS SHOULD I GET? Okay, sit tight… I’m gonna spare you the list of all the apps I’ve every used and liked and just list what I think is valuable and worth looking at adding to your shiny new toy. I’m also not going to include any of the built-in apps that come installed with the iPhone. One more disclaimer: I haven’t messed with iOS5 yet, and I’m sure I’ll love some of the goodness it’s bringing… that stuff isn’t mentioned here either.

I’ll break is down in to two categories: Everything Else and Games. Why those two? Cuz if you’re looking for games you’ll know what to read, and it’s too tough to categorize everything else. Crappy reasoning, but deal with it.  Most everything on this list is either free or dirt cheap–if it made the list, it’s worth whatever it costs.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• Evernote – Your notes… about anything you want… everywhere you want them. While it’s a good note app by itself, this one really shines if you have it on multiple devices.
• Our Groceries – A simple grocery shopping list with a simple way to sync it. Example: Monique and I both have iPhones, we both have this app, we both can add and remove things on a grocery shopping list and have it update immediately. The best part about this app is that it doesn’t try to be more than it is. Give me a simple list and let whoever I want to see it, see it. If I have time to run by the store on the way home, I can check the list to see what I should buy.
• Sports Apps – lemme clump these together (CLUMP!)  I use Sportacular for most things (but go find your favorite as there’s plenty out there to choose from), then there’s a few specialty things I need (I need them, I say!) like Speed for all things racing, and Yahoo’s Fantasy Football app (however clunky it always starts out being each year, it always gets better as the year progresses)
• Social Media – You’ll wanna go get Facebook and Google+.  Facebook because you have to use it and Google+ because you want to.  Also grab Twitter (although iOS5 will have ) and Foursquare if you’re into that kinda thing.  Now you can let everyone you know where you’re eating and what type of soft drink you just poured yourself.  (please don’t)
• Yelp – Speaking of eating, this will tell you where you wanna do that, based on the public’s opinion, which is always a pretty good judge of that kinda thing.  But the people don’t stop there, oh no… Yelp can also give you pointers on mechanics, gardeners, or whatever you’re looking for.  I like the yelp, it’s not just for girls!
• IMO – Instant Messaging on your phone.  I paid $10 for one that wasn’t as good as this one, it has its quirks, but it’s free and it does every protocol you can think of.
• Moxier Wallet – Okay I know I’m all over the place, but that’s what you get when you’re in a category called “Everything Else” duh.  This app is a vault of sorts, keep all of your top secret info in here.  I use it to remember all of my logins and passwords to websites.  It’s fully encrypted and password protected of course. This isn’t the only app like this in town, there’s a ton!  But this is just the one I use, there might be something you like better out there.
• Your Bank’s App – Speaking of finances, if you’re bank is a real bank, they probably have an iphone app.  Heck I have a credit union and they’ve got one.  So look it up, it’s a nice way to check balances and what not quickly.
• Subscription Entertainment – Two in this group… Netflix and DirecTV.  The former for instantly watching media, and the latter for scheduling your DVR.  You have to, of course, subscribe to the corresponding service (I told you this was my list!)
• Shazam – Why the heck is this so far down the list?  I use it all the time.  You’ve heard about it, right?  This is the app you want if you need to identify music you hear in a public place.  Activate it, hold it up, and seconds later you know what song is playing.  I also use it remember to remind me to buy songs I hear on the radio during commuting.
• Instagram – with the upcoming iOS5 changes, I would have recommended Camera+ but I don’t think you’ll need it anymore.  Have a look at Instagram for some cool presets for your photos.  I could list a ton more photography apps that I have, but that’s another post all together.
• IMDB – Not only is it a great app for all things movie facts, but it’s also got a great local showtimes feature.  If you’re looking for a movie trailer app that also has local times in it, check out the newly released iTunes Movie Trailers app.
• KAYAK – Great for checking Airline fares, but it also has a great airline tracker that I use more than anything else it offers.
• Shopping Apps – Going to list a few here, no need to go into why.  You need a UPC code scanner with price comparison, these are great for when you’re in the store and want to make sure you’re not getting ripped off, or at least know you are before you buy the thing anyway.  The two I have are Red Laser and Price Savvy, both do essentially the same thing. I also like the ebay and Amazon apps, the latter having the ability to take a picture of something and find it on Amazon!  So naturally, I took a picture of Vork… that was interesting because it found a book by some dude that looks pretty much just like Vork.  Creepy.

GAMES
You should know that I’m not into really serious gaming on my phone… I have an Xbox for that! But I do, however, have a list for you:

• Game Center – Before you play any games, register on Game Center.  It’s an app that’s already on your phone and it’s so much fun to add this social aspect to your games. You’ll be able to tell what your friends are playing, how you rank against them, and even use this app to play games with them!  Add me, I’m “joepopp”!
• Angry Birds – Oh just get it already.
• Cut the Rope – When you get bored of Angry Birds (hey, it happens), another place to get that similar fixanother one of those addicting games with a cool unique concept.  This one takes things a bit too far, if you ask me in the later levels, but the first 4 worlds or so are a lot of fun, and passable by non-gamers which is always attractive.
• Red Remover – See above, put it in the same folder as those two once you get it.
• Trainyard – It’s a puzzle strategy game!  This one involves getting trains from point A to point B, but there’s a whole lot more to it than that.
• Seven Little Words – Monique found this one, and man is it addictive.  This one is less about arcade-y puzzle action like the three listed above, it’s a word game, no timer, just play it.  Tons of add-on games available too.
• Words With Friends and Hanging With Friends – two great social turn-based word games for free! I’m “joepopp” if you wanna play!
• There’s more games I dig, but I’m just gonna list’em here in case you made it this far down the list and still want to download stuff:  StarDunk, Tiny Wings, Strategery, Slice It!, Wurdle, Moxie, Solitaire, DrawRace, Flight Control, Blue Block and Fruit Ninja.

Let me close with some advice.  Activate “Find My Phone” as soon as you can, and put a passcode on your phone!  Your life is in this thing, as well as the life (Well, the contact information) of all of your loved ones.  A simple 4-digit passcode will keep people from snooping in your phone and it’s only a minor inconvenience for you.  Small price to pay for peace of mind.

And you know what, kids?  That wasn’t even all of the things I could have put on this list.  I think I owe you a part 2 sometime.  This should be enough to get you all started though.  Have fun with your new phone!

This is life in the technology lane. If you always wait for the next price cut or to buy the new improved model, you’ll never buy any technology product because there is always something better and less expensive on the horizon. The good news is that if you buy products from companies that support them well, like Apple tries to do, you will receive years of useful and satisfying service from them even as newer models are introduced.

In the end there’s a refund for us poor unfortunates who had no idea what we were getting into when we bought this phone. I mean, obviously we’re entitled to money back, right? Lame.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m gonna take that $100 credit and spend it on more stuff that’s probably overpriced, that’ll teach’em! But come on people, be grown up about this. Apple is trying to take hold of a new market with an amazing device and in order to do that they need to be aggressive.  You were among the first to be able to enjoy it. Go use it to call someone who cares.

So while it sucks that it seems my time with the iPhone has been more expensive that it was supposed to be so far, I’m excited that the price came down so we could afford to get Monique one.  I went out and got her’s at lunch after the announcement this morning.  She’s all configured and ready to go!

If any of you have considered an iPhone, it’s a great time to get one, as the 4GB versions were dropped by $200 too making them a steal at $299.  Also, for those of you dead to the world that don’t already have an iPod, you may want to put one of those new Nanos on your Christmas list.  They’re amazing, and they’re priced right at $149 and $199 for the 4 and 8GB versions respectively.

The San Jose Sharks get cartoony! This new logo was unveiled in late July. I still haven’t seen any new uniforms, but those are on the way too. I don’t mind the new look, it’s really using the same colors as before but it’s a more aggressive style. Change is weird so far, but I’m sure it’ll grown on me.

Apple made a few announcements on August 7th where they introduced the new iMac, which looks like a giant iPhone, and the new iLife and iWork. The iMac is really nice, and comes with a new apple keyboard that I’ve ordered to replace my keyboard. The new ones have much less travel in the keys and are really nice to type on, plus they’re super thin!

As for iLife, it always seems to be packed with enough features to more than justify buying the new version each time it comes out. This time around there’s a ground-up re-write of iMovie, which I think will do wonders for those who have been shy about making movies because they were scared off by complicated software. Not that the older iMovie was complex, but this new interface is ridiculously easy. The downside of the new easy goodness is that some of the more advanced features were removed. So I’ll be keeping my old copy of iMovie ’06 (which the install kindly keeps for you in a separate folder). iWork is better than ever, and now there’s a new alternative for Excel called Numbers which seems really promising so far.

What’s next on the list? Our TEE-v done broke-ded! Yeah, we noticed a couple of weeks ago it was turning off from time to time on its own. Turns out it was trying to tell us that its lamp was nearing the end of its life. So tonight, after waiting and waiting, the dude is supposed to come out and fix it for a small fortune. Fun! It’ll be nice to have our idiot box back in action!

We took a mother of a road trip, me and the pregnant lady, to Greeley Colorado to meet up with a ton of family at my tri-annual Family Reunion. I still haven’t posted all of the pictures for this one, but they’re coming.

Lastly, we went to a great great concert on Monday night, had a friend with some last minute free tickets (Thanks Cary!) and we got to see Squeeze and Fountains of Wayne at the Greek! I am always weary of seeing bands that may be past their prime, but wow, Squeeze delivered! Those guys are getting up there in age and they still sound as good, or BETTER than they ever have.

In closing, I’ll throw a little baby update in here. We’re so excited to be having a girl. We’ve been shopping for stuff, we’re starting to go to checkups more frequently now (another one tomorrow morning), Monique’s got showers coming up, I’ve gotta get a lot of things done with the nursery before the big moment, and I really need to be posting to this here site more!

Who was I kidding thinking I wasn’t going to get an iPhone? I tried to convince myself of just this fact about a month ago when I started to believe some of the negative speculation and getting caught up in the idea that if I went with a cheaper phone, I could get the same satisfaction of a new gadget, but also solve the problems I was having with my current phone, which was losing it.

I went down to the freshly painted AT&T store 3 weeks ago and picked up a Nokia n75. I liked the phone a lot, but the serious flaw was that because it was “3G” (meaning it runs on a newer, quicker data network) it sucked the every lovin’ life out of its battery and had to be charged every night regardless of actual time being used that day. That was a deal breaker! I returned it on Wednesday amidst all of the hype about the iPhone. Then Thursday I made my Friday plans to stake out the local Apple store.

So I got to the Brea Mall at 9am Friday morning — prepared to wait 9 hours until 6pm, when the phone went on sale. I was a little discouraged to find out that I was #75 in line! Each person could buy 2 iPhones, so I was hoping the store received more than 150 of them. Waiting in line with all of the other crazies was a lot of fun and the time went by so much faster than I thought it would. There were some great people around me and we talked the whole day and I didn’t have to resort to my book or laptop that I brought with me. Most of the conversation was about speculation of inventory, and general pre-admiration of what the iPhone could do for us individually. But there was also some funny moments where 5 different people knocked down the line dividers, there was this old bitter dude (he looked like Larry David) who came by to give everyone a hard time and bounce his blue raquetball around, and of course the robo-security mall cops on Segways. Nice.

By the time 6pm rolled around we were ready to shell out some dough. The Apple store folks were awesome. There were like 50 employees in there, some as a welcoming crew screaming and giving high-5′s to people who were coming into the store to buy, and those leaving with their new treasures. I’ve always had a great experience at the Apple stores, but this was overkill. They were very organized, and most “checkout counters” were just employees with mobile credit card processors that printed out receipts right there on the spot. The girl that helped me had trouble with my card. It wouldn’t swipe!! I had to call Monique, who had met up with me about 5:30 and was waiting outside the store, to give another card to an employee and run it in to me. Well, it turned out to be the card reader that was at fault, and it finally all went through. We were out of there by 6:30 with our iPhones. Yeah, we got two! Monique’s going to decide if she wants to keep the 2nd one or no.. we’ll see.

As for the phone itself. I’ve been playing with it since about 7:30 (I had to eat!) and I’m really impressed. The touch keyboard I was worried about having trouble with is super intuitive and works great. The screen is the best screen I’ve ever seen on any small video device. It pairs up with the car’s bluetooth perfectly. It’s got a great camera. It’s the first phone I’ve even wanted to get my email with. I’m getting a much better signal in the house than I have with any other phone I’ve had. The visual voicemail is simply how voicemail should be done. After all my messin’ tonight the battery is only half drained. …and it’s a phone with a Video iPod built in! But I think the key is that it does all of these things in an incredible sexy design and with a (naturally) kick butt, easy-to-use Apple interface. Simple, and amazing.

Something tells me that May will also bring the next Apple OS.

In other Apple news related to me — I ordered an Apple Airport Extreme last week which should arrive in the next few days. I’m anxious to play around with the speed of the 802.11n and not care about the range of our router ever again, plus utilize an apple interface for my router (both Monique’s new iMac and my new work MacBook Pro have 802.11n built in). I’ve not many complaints about the Netgear router I’ve had for years, but it’s losing steam lately and the control panel blows.

They also unveiled iTunes 7, which has a “music store” in it that has now seriously outgrown music. It now has full length movies as a greater resoluton (640×480) using the H.426 codec (amazing if you haven’t witnessed it) available for purchase.

Near the end of the presentation, Steve introduced a consumer electronics device that’s “coming soon” (Q1 2007) that will cost $299. It’s a “set-top box” that goes in your livingroom and can wirelessly receive and display videos, photos, and music that are located on your computer. Not much is known about this thing yet, but at that price point, it doesn’t appear to be a DVR at all. Just a way to view the stuff on your network, and perhaps purchase new stuff through the iTunes Music Store. So essentially, this is Apple keeping up with Microsoft’s Media Edition biz, but doing it with a stand-alone device that lives in your livingroom. The iTV (as it’s tentatively named) will have HDMI out and wireless component out. That part makes me drool a little bit.