What’s On (My) iPhone- Entertainment Apps

This is the third installment of my "What’s On (My) iPhone" series looking at the apps I am ACTUALLY using on a daily basis. I have bought many from the App Store but only a few remain on my iPhone and are seeing real use. The four listed below give me a wide range of options and easily provide more content than I could consume in ten lifetimes.

iPod
First and foremost I have to mention the iPhone’s native iPod application.

With all of the applications available now for the iPhone it’s easy to forget that first and foremost the iPhone is the best iPod ever. It is a superb entertainment device. While I am not an audiophile I find the sound quality to be quite good. It has a beautiful wide screen which is fantastic for watching video or movies in a pinch and as a device for listening to podcasts/audiobooks or viewing video podcasts it can’t be beat. (I now watch a number of news programs like MSNBC’s Countdown on the iPhone rather than on my computer or TV.)

With 16 gigabytes of flash storage there is plenty of space (although 32 will be nice). Perhaps most significantly, because the iPod is also my telephone (and I never leave the house without it) any time I want music or video or a podcast or an audio book, it’s right there.

YouTube
When I first got my iPhone I wasn’t all that interested in the YouTube functionality. That has since changed in a big way. The ability to quick search for a wide range of free video clips is endlessly entertaining. While I often use it to watch music videos, increasingly I find it to be a good way to catch a glimpse of a new device or piece of software. Whatever I am interested in, there is inevitably a video or five about it on YouTube.   

Pandora
Elana wrote a review of Pandora a few weeks ago. I could not agree more. It is fantastic. In the weeks since the Pandora app was released I’ve been hooked. I love the ease of setting up stations, the sound quality is now quite good and it has introduced me to a number of artists I didn’t previously know.

There are some downsides, however. As Elana noted the licensing agreement Pandora has with the music companies results in the inability to rewind, replay or skip more than six songs per hour per station. All are significant inconveniences but I can’t blame Pandora for that. Second… I’m getting introduced to so many new artists that I am spending a small fortune to buy the music so I can listen whenever I want.

eReader
I’ve already written about eReader numerous times. As I’ve noted, it is an aquired taste but it is one that I have aquired and find quite enjoyable. Since the new version of the software came out it is completely stable. Moreover the new software has numerous settings  that make for an even better experience than before. You can now lock the iPhone into portrait or landscape, choose whether you want to turn the page with a "tap" or a "flick" and more.

There is, however, one significant feature that I am hoping it will be present in the next version of the software- auto scrolling. I would love an autoscroll feature that lets you set the speed and then enjoy reading without having to "turn a page". Hopefully we will see this in the next update.

Finally, once again the fact that my iPhone is also my phone means that I always have my book with me and can read a bit whenever I have a minute.

So those are the main entertainment apps I am using on my iPhone. Am I missing any that you use regularly?

Next Up- News Apps