My Favorite iPhone Apps

a review applications by Christopher Tan

Lately, I have many friends who just bought an iPhone for the first time, and I keep getting questions like … "What's the best app for this or that ?" …

So, to make all our lives easier, I have compiled a list of the main apps that I use =) …

Please feel free to share this list with your friends ... and do share your favorite apps in the comments =) ... I would like you guys to introduce cool apps to me too =)

Productivity

• Life Browser - It's a nice web browser with some very convenient features not available in Safari
• Todo - Powerful todo list manager
• abcNotes - Like a virtual post it note
• GoodReader - The best PDF reader with annotation features, yes, I tested most of them
• iCurrencyPad - Currency converter
• Convertbot - Unit converter
• Bento - Personal database, kinda like a mobile DBase/MS Access, so you can create custom database to store anything
• Brushes - Nicest drawing app I tested
• Evernote - Keeping notes and syncing it with your Mac/PC/iPad over the air
• Xmarks - Sync browser bookmarks from your Mac/PC
• iProRecorder - Professional use voice recorder
• QuickOffice/Docs To Go - Kinda like a mobile MS Office
• iBooks - This is Apple's book reading app, can read PDFs too
• Genius Scan - It's like having a portable scanner for scanning documents, etc

Entertainment

• OPlayer - Plays AVI/RMVB/etc without conversion (Do turn on Skip Frame in the settings to play RMVB more smoothly)
• F1 2010 Timing App - Get live timing, stats, etc for F1
• Wine Ph.D. - Nice app for wine drinkers

Communications

• Whatsapp - It's like SMS/MMS, but it's free
• IM+ - App for MSN/Skype/FB Chat/GoogleTalk/YahooIM/Twitter/etc
• Facebook - If you don't know what this is, you probably don't need a smartphone
• Foursquare - App to share your location with friends
• Twitter - There are tons of Twitter apps, but my current fav is the official Twitter app
• Skype - Call/chat with your friends
• Tango - It's like FaceTime, but it works over 3G as well
• Yahoo Messenger - I like this is because it lets me video conference with a Mac/PC
• Vonage - Kinda like Skype, but it uses your Facebook contacts instead, so it's easy to see which of your friends you can call

Photography

• Filterstorm - Very nice photo editor, I think the best now (http://filterstorm.com/)
• Photogene - Another nice photo editor, lots of features
• Instagram - Nice app for taking pics, apply a cool filter, then share it automatically on FB/Twitter/etc.
• PhotoShake - Very nice app for combining multiple photos
• Diptic - Another nice app for combining multiple photos
• MoreBeaute - Girls will love this app … Hehehee
• Polarize - Makes your pic look like it came out of a Polaroid camera
• LiveEffects - Take a pic with various choices of special effects
• PhotoFunia - Try it, put you and your friends on billboards, t-shirts, whatever
• Flickr - Official Flickr app
• Hipstamatic - Apply old camera/film effects to your pics
• Pano - Shoot panoramas
• You Gotta See This! - It's sort of like for taking panorama, but it's also very different, so you gotta see it yourself
• TiltShiftFocus - Applies a tilt-shift like effect on your photo
• ToonCamera - See the world like cartoon, and snap pics of it
• SlowShutter - Allows you to take slow-shutter pics

Videography

• iMovie - A truly truly amazing video editor for iPhone 4, a must have ! Here's my crash course on how to use: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPZmUGc8W7w
• ReelDirector - Another nice video editor, more powerful, but much harder to use and less convenient than iMovie
• FlexiCorder - Lets you switch between front and rear cam seamlessly while shooting video
• Qik Video Pro - Lets you live broadcast video
• VideoZoom - Live zooming while recording video

Utilities

• Remote - This nice app from Apple lets you remote control your iTunes on your Mac/PC
• Google Mobile - Search by entering search term, or by voice, or by snapping a pic
• PlumbBob - Uses augmented reality to let you see if something is really vertical
• iHandy Level - Virtual bubble level
• Dragon Dictation - Turns what you say into text

Turn-by-turn Navigation

• TomTom Malaysia & Singapore - Nice user interface
• Papago! (Singapore+Malaysia) Pro - Uglier user interface, but has more up to date maps

News

• Zinio - Subscribe and read magazines, very nice. I saved RM1k+ on subscriptions.
• Engadget
• Wired Reviews
• AppAdvice
• Bloomberg
• Pulse News - RSS reader

Games - Too many, so I shall just list some

• Angry Birds
• Plant Vs Zombies
• Veggie Samurai
• Cut the Rope
• Monster Dash
• Mega Worm
• Pigrush
• Pinball HD
• Fieldrunners
• HeavyGunner
• The Creeps
• Real Racing
• Need For Speed: Shift
• N.O.V.A.
• Archetype
• Mirror's Edge
• Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 2
• Modern Combat 2
• FIFA 11
• Banzai Rabbit

Shopping

• Ebay - Very handy if you shop on eBay, it uses push notification to let you know various status of your bids, etc.
• RedLaser - Scans barcodes/QR codes and find more info/shops selling it online
• Delivery Status Touch - Keeps track of all your packages sent using various courier services

Cool Stuff

• ARSoccer - Augmented reality football game
• ARDefender - Augmented reality tower defense game

Misc

• AppShopper - Makes it very easy to find paid apps that are having free promos. See http://on.fb.me/bQL9HD
• Google Earth
• AcrossAir - Augmented reality app for finding various places of interest, like restaurants, etc.
• Layar - Kinda like AcrossAir
• IMDB - Internet Movie DataBase app
• Maybank - Lets you find the nearest Maybank ATM/Branch
• Epic Citadel - Unreal Engine 3 tech demo
• Talking Tom - Try for yourself … LOL
• FoodSpotting - Find eating places around you
• Now Playing - Shows movies currently showing in the cinemas near your current location

More Apps !

There are now over 300,000 apps, and there are apps for almost any need you have =) ... But to make life easier for you, check out http://appadvice.com/applists ... they provide many different list of suggested apps for various purposes. You can also Google for apps or search the AppStore in iTunes.

Photographers

iPhone photography & videography blog - http://www.iphoneography.com/

The Best and Latest Pro Photography iPhone Apps - http://bit.ly/9lvYoF

10 Awesome iPhone Apps for Photographers - http://bit.ly/bvSpkB

Business Users

There are almost 8,000 apps for business users, but here are some of the ones featured by Apple:

http://www.apple.com/iphone/business/apps/app-store/intelligence.html

Christopher Tan facebook

Christopher Tan photography

BEST iPhone Apps for Photographers

BEST iPhone Apps for Photographers .. some of reviews about the apps and makes you takes a better pictures in future. i LIKE

Exposure Calculator 1.2 for iPhone
Takes the guesswork out of what shutter speed to use. Ever struggled with an exposure meter or the camera's auto exposure system and found that it just cannot seem to determine the correct shutter speed? I have and that is why this App was written. download

Expositor 1.1 is a handy slide-rule based exposure calculator for photography.

Normal use:

Pick the situation you're shooting, then slide the ruler until your camera's ISO is lined up next to it, and every combination of F-stop and shutter speed to the left will get you close to a perfect exposure.

Advanced use, settings based on artistic intent:

For a more creative example, let's calculate shooting sports on an overcast day with a shallow depth of field (F4) to isolate the subject, and a fast shutter (1/500s) to stop motion. Match the F-stop and speed, then check the ISO value next to 'Heavy overcast day' to see how sensitive your camera needs to be, in this case, ISO 200!

Advanced use, calculating ND filter requirements:

Say you're shooting a waterfall on an overcast day. To get a soft look, you'd like to use a shallow depth of field, F4, and drag the shutter a bit to blur the water, 1/4 second. Slide the ruler (touch and drag it) until F4 is lined up next to 1/4 second.

Notice that there's no ISO value listed next to 'Heavy overcast day'. That's because the scene is much too bright for you choice of aperture and shutter speed, but all is not lost! You can use the exposure compensation slider to calculate the density of the ND filter needed to bring the ambient light down to a workable range.

Slide the exposure compensation slider until an ISO supported by your camera (for this example, ISO 100) is next to 'Heavy overcast day'. This should put the slider value at +6 stops, meaning that at ISO 100, F4, and 1/4 seconds, the scene is six stops overexposed. Just grab enough filters to block six stops, put them on your camera, and you're ready to shoot a proper exposure with the look you want!

CINEMEK STORYBOARD COMPOSER

Storyboard Composer is the worlds first mobile story boarding application. No need to know how to draw, you can have your first story board up and running in a matter of minutes. Storyboard Composer allows professionals and students to portray their vision to others in an easily controllable and transportable format.

Price: $19.99/Download

PCAM FILM+DIGITAL CALCULATOR : Many pro photographers still need convincing that the iPhone can really help them with their craft. Take a look at this little lot if you need further evidence.

Price: $29.99/Download

HELIOS SUN POSITION CALCULATOR

An application that graphically predicts the path of the sun from dusk to dawn, on any given day, in any given place.

Designed as an aid to Cinematographers and Stills Photographers working in natural light, Helios is essential to anyone who needs to plan a day around the constantly changing character of sunlight. Gaffers, Grips, Location Managers, Production Designers and First Assistant Directors will already be aware of the value of this information. Other professionals, from Architects and Surveyors to Electricians and Landscape Gardeners can now predict sun exposure in the field, without the need for complex tables or graphs.

Price: $29.99/Download

LongTime is a tool for photographer who uses neutral density filter (nd) for capturing long time exposures. Determine the exposure time without attached filter. Calculate the exposure time for your ND-filter with LongTime.

Professional photographers are going to love this application. Ever since the introduction of iPhone, creative people all over the world have used it as a ever-ready portfolio and Photographers are no exception. iFolio for iPhone enables you to create and view Dynamic portfolios and share them on twitter or via email.

More info & Download link: iFolio | Price: Free

CameraBag is one of the most popular iPhone Applications for Photographers. It has a number of filters and you can either take your own photo to apply those filter or you can choose from your library. The filters that are built into CameraBag include Helga, 1974, Magazine, Instant, ColorCross etc. You can set the camera behavior as well as choose camera style. Other features include cropping, border effect, image size and emailing the photos right from the application.

More info & Download link: CameraBag | Price: $1.99

Nikon L&E is one of my favorite iPhone apps. It is Nikon’s official application for teaching you how to take creative photographs. It is updated regularly with new techniques and experiences/tips from Professional photographers from around the world. The default view of the app shows different photographs and selecting each one show the technique used to attain that photo.

More info & Download link: Nikon L&E | Price: Free

If you have ever used PhotoFunia.com you probably know what this application does. This application for iPhone lets you apply any effect (more than 100 available) to your Photographs. It is like using PhotoShop without learning it. It uses advanced technology to detect faces from photographs and then applies any effect you like. With PhotoFunia, you can place your face on a magazine or on the walls.

More info & Download link: PhotoFunia | Price: Free

Tilt-shift is one of the most loved techniques of photography. No wonder you can take til-shift photographs with your iPhone too. TiltShift app lets you do just that. With TiltShift, you can transform a scene into a miniature world. In TiltShift photography, photograph of a life-size location or object is manipulated so that it looks like a photograph of a miniature scale model.

More info & Download link: Tilt-Shift | Price: $1.99

If you are into model photography, nothing suits you better than Poses app for iPhone. It shows different poses against a white background and you can use these poses to set-up your model and then take its photos. The poses are spread over 3 volumes each retailing for $10. Each volume contains around 370 Poses. It also has an option to check how good/bad your model is positioned to the particular pose. It lets you see that using the built-in camera of the iPhone. When the model is fully in position, you can take the photograph using your DSLR or any other camera.

More info & Download link: Poses | Price: $9.99 Per Volume

Pano is one of the most useful and likely on of the best photography applications for iPhone. As the name suggests, Pano is used for taking panoramic photographs. You can either use a tripod or hand-held it. Pano does a decent job in aligning the images for the panorama as well. Take a first photographs and keep taking them as long as you want the panorama to be. When you are done, click cancel and wait for a few seconds until Pano aligns and makes the panorama for you.

More info & Download link: Pano | Price: $2.99

Creating HDR photos has never been easier than this app makes it. Pro HDR for iPhone let’s you take full-resolution HDR photographs. Pro HDR automatically takes under-exposed and over-exposed photographs of the scene. Then it aligns and merges the photographs to make one stunning HDR photo out of them.

More info & Download link: Pro HDR | Price: $1.99

DSLR Camera remote does exactly what the name suggests. It wirelessly triggers the shutter button of your camera. Not only that, it also lets you see the preview of the images you are taking. This application is great for taking self-portraits or macro photos. If you have ever tried to take macro photographs or long-exposure ones, you probably know that pressing the shutter button on the camera itself causes a shake in the camera which inturn ruins the images. However, with DSLR camera remote, you don’t have to worry about the shake because you will be triggering the shutter remotely and that too without connecting any wires to your DSLR or the iPhone.

More info & Download link: DSLR Remote | Price: $1.99 for Lite and $19.99 for Pro Version

• to review more application at : App Store
• > Photography

above information thanks to : dpshots.com , iphone.maccreate

Please do read about : My Favorite iPhone Apps

Oktoberfest 2010 @ 1 Utama

Oktoberfest 2010 @ 1 Utama is back again .... Remember prepare two 50cents coins to redeem a bottle of beer from 6pm onwards. Only 1,000 bottles are up for grabs daily. Above picture was in 2008 same event same place !! i still remember the song name "beer beer beer"

Event period:	28 October 2010 To 30 October 2010
Event name:	Oktoberfest 2010
Description of event:	Now serving you the 200th anniversary of celebration! Come on down to bottoms-up from 28th to 30th October at LG Floor Rainforest, 6pm onwards. Prepare two 50cents coins to redeem a bottle of beer from 6pm onwards. Only 1,000 bottles are up for grabs daily. Get in to the ONECARD priority lane to enjoy FREE* beer on us! *Terms & Conditions apply. This is a non-halal event.
Location:	Lower Ground Floor

not forget about Halloween !!!

Event period:	22 October 2010 To 31 October 2010
Event name:	FASHION COMES ALIVE THIS HALLOWEEN
Description of event:	It’s that time of the year again and 1 Utama is back to give you the thrill of your life! Join us as we showcase Halloween’s never-seen-before fashion tricks and treats for you. Catch our exciting make up workshop by Make Up For Ever and hair runway show by Michael & Guys Hair Salons. A Grand Final Halloween Costume Competition by fashion, hair and make up academies will also be held on 31 October 2010. Kids can participate in our Mask Painting workshops during this promotion. So grab your broomsticks or bat wings and fly on over to 1 Utama this Halloween!
Location:	Ground Floor