In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s a pretty big day for those of us in the tech community. Today, we get the long-awaited 3G iPhone, brand new operating software, and an applications store.
Over the past 6 hours, fanboys around the world have been patiently awaiting their turns in line and/or furiously refreshing their computers to get their hands on these new products.
It’s caused such a stir, in fact, that Apple’s servers haven’t been able to keep up with the demand, causing people’s iPhones to go nutso during download. And many of those who’ve been waiting in line all day still haven’t been able to get the things to work. It’s what Gizmodo is calling the iPocalypse.
Lucky for me, I decided to “bend the rules” a little bit and downloaded the software package a day early. True, it completely deleted all of the data on my phone (contacts, a year’s worth of pictures, music, notes, videos…everything), but it was totally worth it.
I spent the majority of last night, #1: reprogramming all of my numbers and #2 downloading and playing with every application that I could get my hands on.
So for those of you who still haven’t been able to upgrade, here are my three favorite (FREE) applications thus far:
Whrrl
Created by Pelago, Inc., Whrrl is a location-based application that combines social networking with customer reviews. By using the Google mapping system, Whrrl will find where you’re located at any given time and allow you to write reviews for the places (restaurants, shops) around you. It will also allow you to see other Whrrl’ers who are currently, or who have been in that spot, and read what they had to say about it.
Shazam
Ever heard a song on the radio that you absolutely loved, but couldn’t figure out who performed it? With Shazam, you can hold your iPhone up to the speakers for a few seconds and the application will give you complete details on the song – artist, genre, album, label. It will also allow you to purchase the song directly through the iTunes service. Good news for a struggling record industry.
Light
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0aj0DnUeJY&feature=related[/youtube]
Probably the simplest application that will ever grace the iPhone, the Light application is simply just that: a light. Each night, I use my iPhone’s light to guide the way up my dark staircase. The problem is that the screen isn’t very bright and always shuts off about halfway up. Now, with the Light application, my screen turns a bright white and won’t shut off until I tell it to. So simple, yet so resourceful.
The moral of this story is that if you don’t have an iPhone yet, get one. But just wait until they fix them.
Images courtesy of Gizmodo
