What are your favorite iPhone apps?

I finally got around to getting an iPhone last week and so far the apps are what make the iPhone fun and I really like it as a gaming platform. I haven't really played this much in a long time and the iPhone is perfect for a casual gamer like myself.

So please share your favorite iPhone apps (especially games) in case I haven't heard of them. Here are some I recently liked:

Google Sync (free)

Not technically an app, but a service that is very useful. It gives you push sync (means add it on either and it shows up on the other quickly) between your phone contacts and calendar and Google contacts (gmail, or google apps for your domain) and Google Calendar.

Syncing is a core part of a smart phone and this is the most painless it can get, leaving all your contacts backed up online and accessible from any internet-connected computer. Mobile Me does the same but costs money, and this is a nice free service that immediately makes my phone useful (without the right sync I won't bother using a mobile calendar as I don't like entering data on the mobile and the desktop calendar isn't as good at reminding me of things wherever I am).

Dialer (free)

Free app that lets you dial by voice. E.g. "call tom smith" will search your contacts and call, which can be useful if you have a lot of contacts as the lack of tactile keys makes blind dialing harder.

Remote (free)

Lets you control iTunes on a desktop with your iPhone over wifi. Also lets guests vote on upcoming songs from the iTunes DJ, meaning anyone with an iPod touch or iPhone can vote on the music that is playing at your house.

Skype (free)

One of the best mobile VOIP clients I have seen (the versions I had for Pocket PC and Windows Mobile were horrid) and you can use this to chat or call Skype accounts for free or call phone numbers around the world cheaply. My cell phone is just for local use but I use skype phone numbers for my US calls and this lets me do that from the mobile.

Google Mobile, Talk etc (free)

If you are already using Google email, chat and document solutions then their apps and custom mobile pages for the iPhone let you take it with you.

Amazon Kindle for Iphone (free)

I am very interested in eventually going digital with books, and the Kindle and Kindle store sound like good options. This lets me test the library before buying a Kindle and though the small screen and back lighting make for a lot less reading comfort than a Kindle it was a lot better than I expected. Unfortunately the first thing I tried was a free short called "Serial" by Jack Kilborn which was one of the most disturbing bits of cheap writing I've read but I can't fault the app for that.

Google Reader (free)

Really just a mobile page but their RSS readers are clear winners to me on both the desktop and mobile and if you already use them on the desktop this is a no-brainer for your RSS solution on the mobile.

Lose It (free)

A nutrition, diet and exercise log. I'm trying to get more exercise and this is a pretty cool app. Overkill though, as it also serves as a calorie counter (with built-in food database) but I used a similar app years ago for that kind of thing (to undo a fast food diet) and it worked well for me and educated me a lot about nutrition and diet.

Real Soccer 2009 ($4.99)

Very well-done soccer game for a mobile. Lacking tactile feedback is a problem but the touch interface is well implemented and this is like a Wii-quality game on a mobile. Impressive!

Need for Speed Underground ($9.99)

Not just the best racing game hands down but I also think this is easily the best mobile game ever made in terms of graphics, depth and playability. I didn't think the accelerometer would work well (I don't like it to steer on the Wii) but it surprised me and if you like racing games it's pretty fun (even though the whole story line and underground theme are annoying to me, I just skip them).


Sims 3 ($9.99)

I always get bored of these games pretty quickly, and this was no exception but it's another one of those impressive graphical games from EA. It crashes a bit more than it should (though updates have made that a lot better) but it was surprisingly deep for a mobile game and more fun than I remember the desktop game being initially (it's simpler) but the cooking and fishing mini games get old fast.

Tap Defense (free)

Game concepts that work well in Flash tend to work well on the iPhone platform and one of my favorite flash games was tower defense. These are always fun till you finally beat the last level.