Top iPhone apps for travelers

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By Samantha Chapnick

Programmers and accessory makers have had a few months now to strut their newly pimped iPhone stuff. After having a ball testing them all, I finally had to sit down and write up my favorite choices for travelers who want to enhance their iPhone experience, become more productive or just bring procrastination to new heights.

FUNCTIONAL

First we’ll look at a few small apps that make everyday tasks easier.

Toodledo
Toodledo is a to-do list maker’s dream come true. It completely eliminates any excuse for not knowing what you had to do, whether you are at your desk or on the road. With almost every to-do list feature anyone could need (including folders, prioritization, multiple viewing options, a notebook, goal-setting, and even a guilt-inducing productivity analysis feature) AND three easy ways to synch on the road, it’s the most comprehensive, simple and free tool out there. With a pro subscription (less than $50 a year) you can collaboratewith others, keep completed tasks accessible forever and have an encrypted connection. It also seamlessly hooks into iCal, Google Calendar, Jott, Twitter and other common programs.

I selected Toodledo not only because of its full feature set, but because of the flexibility of accessing it from your iPhone. You can simply go to the mobile version of the site. If you prefer not to have to be online (especially useful for fliers), download Appigo’s ToDo program.

Easy Task Manager
If you want a simpler task manager with all the basic features and no collaboration with others, Easy Task Manager is an easy choice. It is a full-featured to-do list with nothing extraneous — just tasks, prioritization, folders and notes.

Stanza
Stanza is a simple way to read great books and your own documents (all free) from your iPhone. At its most basic level, this fabulous program makes it easy to read books on your iPhone. While it doesn’t have the special screen contrast features of a specialized eReader like the Sony or Kindle, its scroll-free design, intelligent navigation and Open eBook standard makes it by far the best iPhone reader there is.

For business travelers who regularly read docs on the road, it offers another major benefit: By using the app in conjunction with the desktop version, almost any document can be converted to the ebook format. Translation: those cumbersome reports and pdfs suddenly become very iPhone friendly.

ABOVE AND BEYOND

These apps make such good use of the iPhone’s essence that they extend it beyond its basic uses. This is really where the device and apps shine.

Urban Spoon
Saying Urban Spoon is the way coolest, most awesome app I’ve used on the iPhone would really sum it up if I weren’t getting paid to write these reviews.

Imagine using a slot machine to decide where to go to eat and you basically understand Urban Spoon. Upon launching, it automatically detects your location (city) or you can enter it manually. Three columns appear: neighborhood, type of cuisine (e.g. Italian, Mexican) and budget ($ to $$$$). Under each is a lock, click any combination or all and shake the iPhone. The slots will spin (with an accompanying sound effect), and a suggested restaurant will appear along with a rating from other Urban Spoon users. Click the name and you’ll get details including full reviews from both popular media (e.g. New York Times) and users.

Beyond being one of the most unique interfaces out there, the content is actually very good. It almost always comes up with restaurants we like, and more importantly doesn’t seem to have any glaring gaps. It even helped us find two restaurants in Charleston, South Carolina that we didn’t know existed.

FlyCast
Don’t let your friends catch you using that old XM or Sirius Radio technology. Nah, you’re so hip you stream your awesome ’80s hits right on your iPhone (as long as you have the 3G version).

There are several services that offer radio-like streaming services over the iPhone. If you have the newestiPhone (the one that uses the 3G network), most of them will work well, including Last.fm, VirginRadio and Pandora.

If you have the older iPhone, don’t throw out your old radio quite yet. Only one service, FlyCast (formerly FlyTunes), worked consistently well. A simple interface and easy connection gives any iPhone user access to several hundred stations across most genres, including classical, show tunes, rock, blues and the fabulous ’80s. There is also access to a wide variety of popular news and sports podcasts.

Over Wi-Fi they were all pretty good — but how often does one ride in a car or jog through the park with a continuous Wi-Fi connection?

Shazam

I would like to say this was a favorite app because it held so much promise. Alas, I could never get it to work. Theoretically you should be able to launch the app, have it listen to some song that isplaying and it will automatically identify the artist and song. If you can get it to work, let me know!

EXTRAS

Drawing programs: There are numerous programs that transform the iPhone touchscreen into a drawing tablet. My favorites are iDoodle2 lite, Color Tilt (fingerpainting), and NetSketch.

Goofing off: The App store has brought my ability to put off writing columns like this to new heights. Simply surfing the store to see the latest shiny new time waster is far too much fun. After I finished checking my future on the 8 ball, tarot card, I Ching, and Fortune Cookie, I downloaded a rubber duck that squeaks when you touch the screen, and several other things I’m too embarrassed to even reveal they were so useless. My one requirement: it has to be free.

Alas, when I finally had to get serious and find the best time-wasters, that was a harder feat. So here are my top 10, most are self-explanatory: Sportacular (sports scores), PGA Score Tracker, TanZen Lite (Tangram Game), BlackjackRun LIte, IM+ All-In-One Messenger, Blanks (learn new complex vocabulary), Mandelbrot (art marries math to make pretty pictures), AeroWeather (precise weather conditions used by pilots), Bakelite (turns your chic new phone into an old-fashioned rotary dialer), iVote (vote in opinion polls and compare yourself to others), 21 Pro Blackjack,Sudoku.