iThingie apps

I recently got an iPod Touch (as in, a couple days ago), and am pretty excited about exploring different types of apps. My primary interest is in using the iPod Touch as an e-Book, but I've also picked up a number of other types of apps that seemed pretty useful. I was wondering, what apps have you got installed?

More than 3 pages worth of games and a few educational apps. xD Try Trainyard Express! It's really fun. I have the iPhone... got it mostly for gaming... OT, but the Bluetooth is terrible. It's got a lot of faults as a phone but I try to think of it as a portable gaming device with secondary phone functions. Twoferone sorta thing.

I'll look into Trainyard Express!

What kind of educational apps have you got? I got Human Japanese and Russian Alphabet, both free. I was looking into some German language ones but they were either too elementary for me or didn't have good ratings. If I feel as if I will use it, I might invest in a German-English dictionary though although the one I'm looking at costs $24.99. -_-;

As for games, I got:
FallDown (FREE) - keep the ball falling to the rising bottom layers before it gets smushed at the top. It sounds addicting and I've played it a couple of times but it's harder than it looks, and I think I could end up more frustrated than relaxed!

Castlevania Puzzle ($0.99, probably for Halloween) - haven't played the DS RPG version so since it was only $0.99, I decided to try out the puzzle version. Haven't tried it yet though. I think I'm more or less all puzzled out at the moment.

Glow Hockey 2 (FREE) - I've always liked Air Hockey. I think I would have preferred a more standard Air Hockey game but I don't recall seeing a good one that was free. Also, this glows so I guess it's pretty cool. ^_^

Farmville (FREE) - since I play it on Facebook. hehe.

PocketFrogs (FREE) - recommended by KittyJuan; I had played it a couple of times but didn't know what to do with it. Was starting to get bored until...I finally discovered how to play it today. LOL. It's pretty fun so far but I've still got more to learn. *mental note: ask someone how to get another habitat*


Edit: I've trimmed down on the games. I removed FallDown and Glow Hockey. I'm keeping Farmville for now although I rarely use it. It is too inconvenient, small, and slow on the iPod Touch. However, you do get to purchase exclusive iPod Touch items. I've also noticed a discrepancy between some of the prices. On the website, some exclusive iPod Touch items are priced in coins but on the app, they are in FV Cash.

I am playing PocketFrogs more but currently am stumped by a request so taking my time fulfilling it.

I've started playing Castlevania Puzzle. It seems like a cross between Tetris and Puzzle Quest: Warlords. It's not very sophisticated, and currently seems a bit too easy and boring. However, that could be due to the fact that I am on Easy Mode (I think).

The most used iPod Touch app is the Kindle app for me. I've been doing a lot of reading and listening to music, which is really the main reason I had wanted the iPod Touch in the first place.

Donut Games occasionally has promotions where one of their games are free. The games are decent and serve more as a time killer than anything to play long term.

If you want to get free games, download FreeAppADay and OpenFeint. They have a different game for free everday and although most of them suck, there are a few times where they post up decent games (i.e. Babylonian Twins, Monster) and once in a blue moon a really good game (i.e. Civilization Revolution). Try Stair Dismount Universal as well (it's free and pretty good).

Pocket Frogs seem to have been at the top of the charts in the App Store for a while now, but I haven't really gotten around to trying it yet.

For educational apps, I have Human Japanese Lite (clear explanations), Kotoba! (very good dictionary), and Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese (contains more explanations than HJ Lite). They are all pretty decent and free as far as I know.

Thanks for the recommendations, Chiswick!

Babylonian Twins seemed cute and fun but as it is no longer free, I am somewhat disinclined to try it out.

I couldn't find a game specifically called Monster.

I just downloaded Civilization Revolution Lite. I enjoyed playing it on the DS. I hope that there won't be too many problems with the finger navigation though...

erm...just read the description for Stair Dismount Universal. It sounds so...gruesome? blood-thirsty? Not sure how to describe it. Downloading it to try it out since the description was also sort of funny. lol.

I downloaded Trade Nations recently. It plays similarly to My Empire in Facebook. It's not the best game (I actually prefer My Empire) but it's not too bad. It's free.

I couldn't find Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese.

If you enjoy star gazing, Star Walk ($2.99) is a must-have. I allows you to browse the stars based on your geographical location. You can tap on a star or constellation to see it's name and other information. A recent update throws satellites into the mix as well. On an iPhone 3GS/4 you can point the device up to the sky and it will show you the stars that are visible in the direction in which you are pointing the phone. You can also rewind in history (or go into the future) to see how the stars were alined on a specific date. A fantastic educational app!

Wow! That star-gazing app sounds so cool. I wish I had an iPhone though because I would love the GPS capability. I will check it out. I've always wanted to be able to identify constellations.

I had to remove Stair Dismount. I simply couldn't bring myself to enjoy a game based on breaking the maximum number of bones in the body, although my sister had a gleeful time one night.

I recently downloaded Dragon Dictation, Red Laser, Virtuoso, Tap Tap Revenge 3, SoundHound (Free), Mint.com, and Bump. They are all free.

A family friend had Dragon Dictation on his iPhone, which he had me try out. Although it got my name wrong, I thought it was still useful enough for when I don't want to fuss with narrow touch keyboards.

I wish I had not spent $.99 on Scanner but had downloaded Red Laser instead. The family friend scanned a juice bottle which gave nutritional facts and places you can buy it with prices. Scanner...gave me an entirely different product that was not even edible. -__-;

Virtuoso Piano is pretty neat. Both my sister and the family friend has it. I occasionally want to play piano along with the music I am listening to, and did that for the first time today. Unfortunately, it only shows a certain number of keys so it wasn't that useful for smooth playing. I might get the Pro version. I think that it allows for two rows of keys, which might be more useful.

My sister likes Tap Tap Revenge 3 so I installed it to try it out. Haven't yet.

SoundHound is an app that allows you to find the name and/or artist of a song based on what you hum or what it hears on the radio. I believe. Haven't tried it out yet.

Mint.com is apparently a website where you can keep track of your finances. Not sure I'll be using it since it seems more than what I need. I am currently using Expenditures, which I purchased. You need a (free) account at Mint.com to use it, according to the family friend.

Bump allows you to exchange information and files with another iPhone/iPod Touch user by bumping your fists against each other while holding the iThing. Haven't tried it yet.

I recently tried the Yoga app I had purchased a while back. It was probably the first time since high school that I did any amount of yoga. It felt really good but I think I will need personal instruction to get the poses down perfectly...

Currently, my favorite and frequently used apps are:

Awesome Note (Paid)
Expenditure (Paid)
Stanza (Free)
Bluefire (Free)
Kindle (Free)