Time Magazine names its top 10 iPhone applications

Fans of the iPhone will tell you the Wi-Fi capability, media player or “push” email features aren’t what make the gadget so worthwhile. Rather it’s the applications available for download at the App Store that make the device so much fun.

Fans of the iPhone will tell you the Wi-Fi capability, media player or “push” email features aren’t what make the gadget so worthwhile. Rather it’s the applications available for download at the App Store that make the device so much fun.

Ranging from practical checklists to interactive games, these applications have exploded in popularity. Several developers are now making a living by creating new and exciting applications for the device. While most cost around $1 or $2, several are free and allow iPhone users to customise their phone even further.

So courtesy of Time.com, here are the top 10 best iPhone applications that will help you out and keep you entertained.

1. Pandora Internet Radio. This application is designed for music lovers who enjoy discovering new artists but don’t know where to start. You pick a song, album or artist and the application builds a “radio station” around songs from similar artists. You can even give a song a “thumbs-up” or “thumbs-down” to help customise your station even more. But unfortunately, this one is only available for US customers.

2. AroundMe. This application is designed for the user always on the road. Using geolocation technology, the application lists all types of services around you – petrol stations, cinemas, banks, hospitals, hotels, theatres and so on. The app also provides the distance to each one, and if requested can map out a route from your location to a selected location.

3. AP Mobile News Network. This news-on-demand service run by Associated Press downloads news stories to your device and continually updates them. You can sort stories by most recent and the application uses the GPS-chip to deliver local news. You can even save news stories to your phone to read them offline.

4. Ocarina. One nifty user managed to figure out the iPhone’s microphone can be used as an air-flow sensor. By holding the phone up to your mouth and blowing, you can create tunes by pressing on “holes” on the screen.

5. Wikipanion. This online encyclopedia, despite some inaccuracies, is usually pretty reliable. This application automatically searches while you type and displays the Wikipedia page in an iPhone-friendly format. If you upgrade to Wikipanion plus, you can save articles to read them offline.

6. Adrenaline Pool Lite. The iPhone has been made somewhat of a mini-games console, with hundreds of games now being developed. But Adrenaline Pool Lite, which has been around since the earliest consoles, is one of the most popular. Log in to a server and play your best against other anonymous iPhone users.

7. Instapaper. If you’ve ever browsed the internet on your iPhone and spot an interesting article with no time to spare, this app is for you. By clicking on a button next to an article’s name, you can download it to your device to read later offline.

8. NetNewsWire. Similar to AP Mobile News Network, this application “pushes” information from any news site or blog to your device.

9. iTalk. If you tend to dictate voice recordings or memos, you’ll need this application. By pressing a button on the screen, iTalk captures audio through the microphone in high-quality AIFF format. But even better is the companion application iTalkSynch, which you download to your computer. It then automatically searches your iPhone via Wi-Fi for any recordings and downloads them to your home PC.

10. FakeCall. Ever wanted to get out of a dull business meeting? This application lets you set up a fake contact and they “call” you on demand.

By the way, Time has also announced its 2008 Person of the Year. No surprises, US president-elect Barack Obama takes the top prize.

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