iPhone App Review #4: µMonitor

Here’s µMonitor for the iPhone, which was recently rejected by the appstore after the “AppStore Gods” reviewed it for 4 months or so. According to Apple:

“We’ve reviewed µMonitor and determined that we cannot post this version of your application to the App Store at this time because this category of applications is often used for the purpose of infringing third party rights. We have chosen to not publish this type of application to the App Store.”

Basically, they don’t want to support third party apps that allow the use of BitTorrent. Thankfully, if your iPhone is jailbroken, you get the app. It’s already available through a quick search in Cydia.

Ain’t she sweet? This is one of my new favorite apps. The sweetest part of this app is being able to start and stop torrents remotely over 3G or EDGE on-the-go.

There’s really nothing to this app, except for what’s already been explained.

Unless you’re familiar with setting up the WebUI on µTorrent, I suggest you start here or use The Google.

Once you’re set up, though, it’s super-sweet. This is an awesome app and probably my favorite app not on the actual app store.

iPhone App Review #3: Facebook 3.0

So, there you have it. Facebook 3.0 for the iPhone and iPod Touch! Isn’t it pretty!? It’s actually really nice. The home screen has been completely revamped. As you can see, all the main features ofFacebook are nicely laid out. As you start receiving updates in your News Feed, Inbox, or whatever, you get a nice little notification letting you know about theupdates. Unfortunately, this version of the app doesn’t support push, but according to Facebook for iPhone’s Facebook page, “The one feature everyone is asking for, Push Notifications, is in development but it won’t make it into 3.0. You can expect it in a 3.1 update later this summer.” It’s good news for the end of the summer, but not now. I guess it’s a good thing. With all these push notification apps coming out, we’re gonna need to see some better battery management upgrades coming out in iPhone 3.1.

A second page, and possibly more, has been added to the home screen. Here, you can add and remove “bookmarks”. You can add a fan page you currently subscribe to or a contact you would like to gain quick access to. It’s safe to assume that in the future, the ability to add applications into the mix.

A really interesting feature has been added to the friends list part of the app. A little telephone icon now shows up beside the name of the contact (that has made that information available) and you can call them or send an SMS.

Other features added are 3GS video uploading, upload and manage photo albums, zooming in on photos, and you can now visit links posted in your News Feed via the built in web browser.

So, there you go. Upgrade your Facebook app for free at the iTunes App Store.

iPhone App Review #2: eBuddy

eBuddy is a free fully featured instant messaging (that doesn’t contain ads) application for the iPhone. It stands alone from other apps like IM+, BeeJive, andPalringo in that it offers full access to all the services that they offer (AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Jabber, GTalk, and Facebook Chat) and includes push notification. The instant messaging apps that come with push notification have a price range of $4.99-$9.99, but they don’t really offer much more (in terms of functionality) than eBuddy does. They offer more on the side of aesthetics for their price point.

eBuddy comes across as a clean and easy to navigate instant messaging app. It takes very little loading time (even on a 2G) and responds quickly inside the app. Once loaded, though, you have to register for an eBuddy account (if you haven’t already). It’s not very intrusive. Once it’s done you don’t have to worry about it again. All it needs is a login ID, password, and your age.

Push works as you would expect it to. It runs in the background and whenever you get an instant message, you’ll be notified like you would a text message. The only downside of push in the eBuddy app is that the longest you can leave it running when closed is 30 minutes. Most apps have a longer time like 24 hours or 3 days, but not this one. I guess, cuz it’s free….

Nothing special in the settings menu. You can sort your buddy list by name, group, or account. Notification options using sound and vibration. It has one feature called “shake to buzz”. This is basically the same as ‘nudging’ on MSN.

So, there you have it. It’s a great IM app for the iPhone if you’re looking for something free and well made.

iPhone App Review #1: Birdfeed

There are probably over a hundred Twitter apps for the iPhone. The most popular ones being Tweetie, Tweetdeck, Twitterfon, Twitterific, or something else. They’re all good in their own way. It’s all about your preferences in the long run. Some of these have features that another app won’t have such as a trends option, location finder, ability to search for tweets in your area, Retweeting Options, etc…

I’ve used most of these Twitter apps. My current favourite being Tweetie. It’s the only one that has the trends option. If Birdfeed had this option it’d be my new Twitter app and would definately be on my first page on my iPhone with Tweetie being on the second.

My favourite thing about Birdfeed is how great it looks with the iPhone. It’s the best looking iPhone Twitter client out there. It runs smoothly and is extremely easy to navigate. All your directories are there for one-touch-navigation. One great thing this app has, that isn’t in this picture, is the ability to show a counter for how many messages are waiting in your timeline, Mentions, and DMs when you open the app.

The Profile page is pretty clean and simple. It shows how many tweets you’ve made, how many followers you have, and how many people you are following. You can search for your @insertnamehere and look at your recent tweets. Of course, these are all standard in other iPhone apps, but it jus works so much better in Birdfeed.

One problem with Birdfeed is the fact that it doesn’t have a trends option. Ever since trends went live on Twitter, it’s been a big feature on their main page. You can see the top ten trending topics and take part in those conversations. This seems like a no brainer to add, but so far, the only app I know of that has this feature is Tweetie. Maybe in an update…

Another isuue I have is the ReTweet functionality. This is a problem with most Twitter apps other than Birdfeed. The command for ReTweeting is “RT: @insertnamehere <retweeted tweet>”. It seems like it’s standard, but apparently not. Birdfeed just adds a - @insertnamehere for their retweets. Tweetie does it with a (via @insertnamehere) at the end of a tweet. Honestly. Why do we need more than one option to do the same thing? Standards people!

I’m starting to rant now, so I’ll just end this. Birdfeed is my favourite iPhone Twitter app, but I won’t use it solely until they add a trending topics option. It is the graphically best one out there though.

Birdfeed is available in the iTunes store for $4.99 USD.