Art of the iPhone

The good folks over at iLounge took a look at 16 Wikipedia apps available for the iPhone. Their top picks were Wikipanion (free) and its pay verison Wikipanion Plus ($4.99). The free version brings a large feature set, including

• Bookmarking, including bookmarking of specific sections of articles
• Organization of bookmarks into folders
• Table of contents for each article available with a tap at the bottom of the screen
• Related articles availabe with a tap at the bottom of the screen
• iPhone-optimized viewing of articles
• Opening of external links in Mobile Safari
• Ability to search for text within the article
• Adjusting of font size
• Locking of orientation (good for browsing while lying down)

The pay version, Wikipanion Plus, is for the more serious Wikipedia user who wants to save and view articles offline. It offers queuing and offline browsing. The queuing allows you to tap on links to articles in search results. The articles will begin downloading in the background as you continue your search. Any article can be downloaded fully for access later.

Here’s a look at all of the Wikipedia iPhone apps iLounge took a look at:

Name	Price	Grade	Download
Wikipanion	Free	A
Wikipanion Plus	$4.99	A
Wikiamo	Free	A-
Eureka	Free	B+
Wiki Tap	Free	B
Quickpedia	Free	B-
Kiwi	$0.99	C+
Wapedia	Free	C
InfoPedia	$1.99	C
Qwikipedia	Free	C-
WikiPDA	$0.99	C-
Encyclopedia	$7.99	D
Look Up Wikipedia	$2.99	D
GeoPedia	Free	NR
Next Wiki	$2.99	NR
WikiME	$0.99	NR