Archive for category Productivity Apps

Roundup: 6 Online Banking Apps for the iPhone

Sep 19

Posted by John Hawkes in Best iPhone Apps, Free iPhone Apps, Mobile Banking Apps, Productivity Apps, iPhone Financial Apps, iPhone Mobile Banking Apps, iPhone Productivity Apps | No Comments

Online banking has changed the way the world handles money. Now with the iPhone, it can change how and when you pay your bills or balance your checkbook. Below are 6 iPhone apps for the major US banks that let you do your online banking anywhere.

Bank of America – Mobile Banking

Bank of America – Mobile Banking (free, iTunes link) gives you access to your BoA account while on the go. With the app, you can:

Check balances anytime, anywhere
Pay bills
Transfer funds
Find the closes BoA branches and ATMs usings the iPhone’s GPS

The app uses Bank of America’s SiteKey to verify your identify and prevent fraud. Their Online Banking Guarantee ensures you won’t be responsible for unauthorized transactions.

Bank of America – Mobile Banking is a free download from the iTunes App Store.

Citi Mobile

Citi Mobile (free, iTunes link) is an easy-to-use app that lets customers bank anywhere. With the app, you can:

Check your account balances (savings, checking, credit, loan, mortgage, etc)
Pay bills
Transfer funds
Find ATMs and bank branches using the iPhone’s GPS
Contact customer service with one-touch dialing

The app uses 128-bit encryption to protect your data. Should you lose your iPhone, access to your account via Citi Mobile can be deactivated instantly by calling a toll-free number.

Citi Mobile is a free download from the iTunes App Store.

Chase Mobile

Chase Mobile (free, iTunes link) lets Chase Online customers access their accounts while on the go. With the app, you can:

Pay bills and credit cards
Transfer money
View account balances
View transaction history
Find the closest Chase ATM or branch using the iPhone’s GPS

Chase Mobile for iPhone and iPod Touch

Chase Mobile is a free download from the iTunes App Store.

Wells Fargo Mobile

Wells Fargo Mobile (free, iTunes link) lets you check your balance, pay bills, and transfer money between accounts. Using the iPhone’s GPS, you can also find the nearest Wells Fargo bank or ATM.

To protect your data, the app uses 128-bit SSL encryption.

Wells Fargo Mobile is a free download from the iTunes App Store.

PNC Mobile Banking

PNC Mobile Banking (free, iTunes link) gives 24/7 access to your PNC Bank account. It’s a free service to all PNC online banking customers, but requires you to sign up first on the website.

To enroll and activate, go to PNC Online Banking, click Mobile Banking, and click Enroll under the Mobile Banking Application. Follow the instructions to get an Activation Code.

With the app, you get the typical features:

Check balances
View transactions
Pay bills
Transfer funds
Locate PNC ATMs and branches

The app offers PNC’s Security Assurance, which protects, detects, and resolves cases of theft and fraud.

PNC Mobile Banking is a free download from the iTunes App Store.

USAA Mobile

The cool thing about USAA Mobile (free, iTunes link) is that you can deposit checks by snapping a picture with the iPhone’s camera. Yup, take a picture with the app and send it in, and the money’s in the bank. Remember the days when you actually had to handle cash? Ahh, c’est la vie.

USAA Mobile Cash Check with iPhones Camera

Of course, USAA Mobile offers all the classic features you’d expect from an iPhone mobile banking app, including:

Check accounts
Check transactions
Pay bills
Loan calculator
ATM and branch locator
Accident checklist (things to do if you get in a car accident)

USAA Mobile is a free download from the iTunes App Store.

Review: TextExpander Touch for iPhone

Aug 27

Posted by John Hawkes in Productivity Apps, iPhone Apps | 1 Comment

On the desktop, TextExpander is an indispensible program that saves time for anyone who does repetitive typing tasks like coding or creating form letters. The application inserts user-defined chunks of text into any program with just a few keystrokes. Now there’s an iPhone version, TextExpander touch ($1.99, iTunes link), whose functionality is a little less universal than the desktop counterpart thanks to the iPhone’s limit on apps running in the background.

For composing text, TextExpander touch works essentially like the iPhone’s Notes app, although not as good. You can create a new blank document or load a saved one and start typing as normal, the difference being you can use predefined triggers to insert your chunks of text (triggers are a combination of characters you type, like AA1, that are automatically replaced with your snippet of text).

When you’re finished typing, you can send the text to the Mail app or copy the text for use in other apps like SMS, Safari, etc. Unfortunately, I can’t recommend using it to compose long emails, as it lacks the iPhone’s autocorrection (it does have its own version of autocorrect you can turn on, but it’s horrible).

What I do see TextExpander touch being useful for is business people who want to quickly insert addresses or combine different chunks of text, or coders who want to hash out some ideas while on the go (although I can’t see anyone actually coding on the iPhone).

TextExpander Local Network iPhone Snippets

If you already use TextExpander on your Mac, you can transfer your snippets to the iPhone over your local WiFi network (requires TextExpander 2.7). The app also comes with sample snippets and predefined groups like CSS, HTML, accented words, and symbols. There’s also built-in support for sending text to a few iPhone Twitter clients (Twitterrific, Twitterrific Premium, Tweetie, Twittelator Pro, TwitterFon, and TwitterFon Pro).

Conclusion: TextExpander touch’s lack of universal access limits its functionality, and the lack of true autocorrection make it a poor typing app. It does one thing well: insert predefined chunks of text into a document.

TextExpander touch is a $1.99 download in the iTunes App Store.

Review: YouNote for iPhone

Feb 5

Posted by Alan in Free iPhone Apps, Productivity Apps, iPhone App Reviews, iPhone Productivity Apps | No Comments

YouNote (free, iTunes link) is a simple but versatile note-taking app for the iPhone. It offers 5 types of notes: text, camera, audio recording, drawing, and web.

What’s best about YouNote is its simple interface. There is one step to taking a note. Tap any of the icons at the top to write, draw, or record your note. I found YouNote’s process for note taking and note viewing to be a little more simple than Evernote, another great iPhone note-taking app.

YouNote lacks some of Evernote’s more powerful features like synching of notes with online and desktop versions of the app. There is an application that lets you backup YouNote data, but it involves some tricky home network setup that is mostly likely beyond casual users. Evernote, on the otherhand, offers a seamless synching experience for notes.

One of YouNote’s strengths is the ability to tag notes with different types of information. You can tag notes with your current location via the iPhone’s GPS. You can also tag items with keywords, colors, and contacts. When viewing notes on the main screen, you can sort or search the notes by the different tags.

YouNote’s biggest weakness is immobility of the data. You can’t email the notes to yourself or download them for use with another application. However, its lack of bells and whistle also gives the app a streamlined feel. We recommend it for people who are looking to capture small, disposable bits of information on their iPhone. For more advance note taking, we recommend Evernote.

YouNote is a free download in the iTunes App Store.

SnapTell: Take A Picture, Get Online Prices (Free iPhone App)

Jan 24

Posted by Alan in Best iPhone Apps, Free iPhone Apps, Productivity Apps, Shopping Apps, iPhone Applications | No Comments

SnapTell (free, download) lets you snap a picture of any book, CD, DVD, or video game and get prices from Amazon, Half.com, Google, eBay, Barnes & Noble, and other services. I’m usually doubtful about this kind of functionality, but it absolutely worked on every book cover I took a picture of.

Simply snap a picture of the front of the product, and SnapTell will upload it to their servers. Using text recognition software, SnapTell will send back product information and prices. The app even utilizes your current location to find local stores that carry the product as well as prices.

SnapTell is a free download in the iTunes App Store.

Edit Excel Spreadsheets on the iPhone with MobileFiles Pro

Jan 4

Posted by Alan in Productivity Apps, iPhone Office Apps, iPhone Productivity Apps | 1 Comment

MobileFiles Pro ($9.99, download) is a versatile office app for the iPhone, but its most intriguing feature is the ability to edit and create Microsoft Excel spreadsheets.

Here are some of the spreadsheet features:

View Microsoft Excel Spreadsheets (supports Excel 2003 and 2007).
Create Excel 2003 spreadsheets.
Switch between sheets within a workbook.
Change inputs and recalculate.
Use over 125 Excel functions
Change fonts and colors.

The app is mainly for light editing of Excel spreedsheets. For instance, basic editing works well, but most time-saving features like copy and paste are missing.

Editing Text Formatting in MobileFiles Pro

MobileFiles Pro also lets you access and transfer files between your desktop (Mac or PC) and iPhone, then view those files. It also includes a file manager to create folders and keep files organized.

It supports the viewing and playing of the following file formats:

Microsoft Word: .doc and .docx
Microsoft Excel: .xls and .xlsx
Microsoft PowerPoint: .ppt and .pptx
Images: .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .tif, .tiff, .gif and .svg
iWork: Pages, Numbers and Keynote [iWork files can be viewed only with MobileFiles Pro]
Adobe Acrobat: .pdf
Web Pages: .htm and .html
Web Archive: .mht
Text: .txt
Audio: .mp3

For synching, MobileFiles Pro requires either a WiFi connection or iDisk (Apple’s subscription MobileMe service). iDisk is useful for people who want to access files over cellular service.

Name: MobileFiles Pro
Developer: QuickOffice Link
Price: $9.99
Download:

iPhone Wikipedia Apps Reviewed

Dec 1

Posted by Alan in Best iPhone Apps, Free iPhone Apps, Productivity Apps, iPhone 3G Native Apps, iPhone Applications, iPhone Productivity Apps | 2 Comments

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
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

Fast Add!: Free iPhone App That Adds Contacts Quicker

Oct 10

Posted by Alan in Free iPhone Apps, Productivity Apps, iPhone 3G Native Apps, iPhone Applications, iPhone Native Apps | 2 Comments

Fast Add! (free, iTunes Link) adds basic contact information to your iPhone contacts very quickly. It adds first and last name and phone number with just a few taps, much quicker than the iPhone’s default method.

Open the app and three fields appear: first name, last name, and phone number. Fill them out and tap Add Contact and that’s it, your contact has been added to your iPhone contacts list.

Anne Hathaway in my contacts. Thanks Fast Add!

The iPhone’s default contacts app is much slower because it requires you to open the app, tap a plus sign, tap Name, enter the name, tap Save, tap Phone Number, tap Save, etc.

Fast Add Edit View Gives Full Editing Functionality

If you make a mistake or want to add more information, tap Edit and you have full contact editing capabilities that match the iPhone’s contact app, including the ability to add a photo, email, postal address, ringtone, etc.

Name: Fast Add!
Developer: Carlos Perez
Price: Free
iTunes Link:

Touchtype Brings Landscape (Widescreen) Email Typing to the iPhone

Oct 8

Posted by Alan in Best iPhone Apps, Mail, Productivity Apps, iPhone 3G Native Apps, iPhone Applications, iPhone Native Apps, iPhone Productivity Apps | No Comments

Touchtype Widescreen Landscape Email Typing

Touchtype ($0.99) is a simple but incredibly useful app that allows you to write emails in landscape mode. Typing with the iPhone’s keyboard in landscape is much, much more comfortable than the default portrait mode. The keys are larger and have more space between them. This is a basic feature I hope Apple will get around to adding to the iPhone.

It’s simple and easy to use. Launch Touchtype, turn the iPhone on its side and begin typing. When you are finished, tap the icon in the top right corner and it will launch the iPhone’s email app with your text in the body of the email.

From there you can add the address, subject, and change the “From:” field if you have multiple email accounts.

Touchtype also allows you to reply to emails. Hit the reply button while viewing an email in the iPhone’s email app. Hit the home button, then launch Touchtype. Write the message, hit the button in the top right, and your text will be placed in the body of the reply email.

Touchtype is a must-have app if you do a lot of emailing.

Name: Touchtype
Developer: Michael Schneider
Version reviewed: 1.0
Price: $0.99
iTunes Download: Click here

DoBot ToDos Updated

Sep 24

Posted by Alan in Best iPhone Apps, Free iPhone Apps, Productivity Apps, iPhone 3G Native Apps, iPhone Applications | No Comments

DoBot ToDos (free) has been updated to version 1.1. The app is a basic but eye-pleasing to-do list organizer and one of our Best of iPhone apps.

The update added the ability to sort list items alphabetically as well as some bug fixes, including an important one involving deleting items in a sorted list.

While pen and paper still rules the to-do list world in terms of flexibility, one advantage of managing your lists on an app like this is the ability to organize multiple lists at the same time. For example, if you were managing a large project that had lots of sub-projects to be done, the to-do lists could be found in one spot, and lists and items easily added and removed as the project progresses.

Name: DoBot ToDos
Developer: Dobot Inc
Price: Free
Download: Click here.

Ambiance iPhone App: Soothing Sounds at a Touch

Sep 4

Posted by Alan in Productivity Apps, iPhone Applications, iPhone Native Apps, iPhone Productivity Apps | 6 Comments

Ambiance ($0.99) is an iPhone app that features 44 sounds to help you fall asleep or generally block out other bothersome environmental noise while you’re working or studying.

*Update 3/7/2009* We no longer recommend this app, as the developers have dramatically changed the app with a recent update. Sounds no long come with the app, but require you to register on an online website in order to download them.

Ambiance offers a range of sounds, from the soothing gurgle of a stream to the buzz of an electric fan. All sounds are looped for endless listening with the option to add a timer for automatic shutoff.

The timer functionality makes Ambiance useful as a sleep tool. Choose crickets, set the timer for an hour, and drift off to sleep to the soothing sound of nature. There is also a feature to automatically lower the volume slowly over time while the counter counts down to zero, or have the sound slowly fade after it reaches zero.

I’ve tested out the app several times at work, and there are definitely some very pleasant sounds on here. Some of my favorites are Coast, Creek, Wind, and the various rain sounds. (See after the break for an entire list of sounds.)

Yet, included are some truly annoying sounds, too. Cicada, for instance, is a high-pitched constant screech that makes me want to rip my earphones off. And the low buzzing Light Saber was likewise uncomfortable.

There are also several “color” noises available, in particular, white noise, which is supposed to block out most environmental noise and increase concentration. I found it uncomfortable to listen to, unlike a white noise machine I already have at work that easily fades into the background.

Ambiance does offer some menu options. You can place a timer on the sounds, remove the “color noises” from showing, add an alarm, have the app quit after the timer goes off, or have the volume fade during or after the timer countdown.

Ambiance is simple to use and has a clean interface. I enjoy using it at work and seems to help me concentrate. Its large variety of sounds offer something for everybody. And at $0.99, it’s also a big bargain.

Name: Ambiance
Developer: Matt Coneybeare
Price: $0.99
iTunes Download: Click here

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Editor's Picks:

Traffic Rush (free, iTunes link)

Tower Bloxx Deluxe ($0.99, review, iTunes link)

Dungeon Hunter ($4.99, review, iTunes link)

Need for Speed: Undercover ($4.99, review, iTunes Link)