This home screen post features my friend and podcasting colleague, Victor Cajiao. Victor (twitter) produces the Typical Mac User and Typical Shutter Bug podcasts. In addition to being a huge Apple geek, Victor is a great human. So Victor, what is on your home screen?

What are your most interesting home screen apps?

To me I live and use the Flickr app all the time. I check out other peoples pictures, I look to see if people comment on my pictures and I discover new photographers. I look at this app at least twice per day.

What is your favorite app?

News Rack: I was a Net Newswire user but after finding NewsRack (because of the iPad), I really love the implementation of this app. It’s clean, does what it needs to and gets out of the way. I have about 55 feeds that I read religiously and this application organizes all of those well. It also provides syncing with my feeds on Google. What can I say it just works and after all that is how I measure all good things these days.

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

Twitter for sure on my home screen. A few screens over I have Plants Vs Zombies and I play that while I’m in line or just wasting time.

How many screens have you filled?

I have eight screens worth of apps. I use about two screens worth. Also my iPhone usage has gone down by 80% or more after I got the iPad.

What is the app you are still missing?

Screen recording for iPhone. Would love to do some back screencasts of my iPhone apps. Specifically my photo apps which I use a lot and would love to show my Typical Shutterbug Audience how I exploit these when using the iPhone’s camera.

How many times a day do you use your device?

Forty eight? Lets just say , I use my phone a lot.

What is your favorite feature?

I love the camera. Love to shoot random shots and then use applications like Photogene, AutoStich and Best Camera to manipulate them and then use Twitter to show them off.

If you were Steve Jobs, what would you add?

I’d make sure that the use experience of the devices no matter what carrier was the same and more “Apple like”

Anything else you’d like to share?

Bazinga (you get it, if you get it)

Thanks Victor. What a boring interview … Bazinga!

Today’s home screen post features Patrick Rhone, a very nice fellow and the curator of Minimal Mac, one of my very favorite Mac sites. Patrick is on twitter and you can learn more about his projects here.

Patrick summarizes the minimal Mac brilliantly.

I believe the most minimal computer is the one that is optimized for you. How you work. The menubar items you need. The dock items you need. The applications you need. The system you need. The peripherals you need. The tools you need to get the job done.

Patrick is the first guest to share his iPad home screen.

What are your most interesting home screen apps?

The one that is not quite released yet ;-).

What is your favorite app?

Too hard to choose between Instapaper and Simplenote.

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

Ego. I like to pretend that I don’t care about my numbers and that I have it mainly because it is the easiest way to log into multiple Tumblr accounts. But I really do check the numbers and care about them too.

How many screens have you filled?

Only two filled. Three icons on the third one. That said, most everything outside of the home screen are either things I am waiting for iPad versions of or apps for my two year old daughter and my wife. I rarely use anything not on the home screen.

What is the app you are still missing?

A decent Tumblr client. An iPad version of Reeder (which is so good that I’m using the iPad version on my iPad).

How many times a day do you use your iPhone/iPad?

I use both pretty much most of the day. Combined, they make up about 80% of my overall computer usage.

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPad?

My fingers.

If you were Steve Jobs, what would you add to the iPhone/iPad?

They are both pretty perfect for my needs. Can’t think of anything I would improve. Perhaps a return of the aluminum back to the iPhone but that is an aesthetic thing.

Anything else you’d like to share?

Yes. You don’t need as much as you think you do.

Thanks Patrick!

At this year’s ABA Tech Show, I had the pleasure of meeting one of my favorite bloggers, Jeff Richardson, who publishes iPhoneJD. Never mind the legal focus, Jeff’s blog is excellent for all power iPhone users. In addition to his insightful commentary, Jeff is an all around swell guy. You can follow him on Twitter, @jeffrichardson. So Jeff, lets see your home screen.

What are your most interesting home screen apps?

LogMeIn Ignition is particularly interesting because it allows me to control a computer from my iPhone, which is almost like running a full desktop program (such as Outlook or my document management software) directly on the iPhone.  Because of the size of the iPhone screen, you don’t want to do anything that is very time intensive, but for things that don’t take much time it gives the iPhone the power of a full Mac or PC.

What is your favorite app?

It is impossible for me to pick one favorite app.  The third party apps that I probably use the most right now are Twitterific, NetNewsWire, Facebook, Quickoffice, Documents to Go, MoxtionX GPS Drive, NotifyMe, Dragon Dictation and LogMeIn Ignition.  But even to designate one of these as my favorite isn’t accurate.  For example, I don’t use Skype very often, but when I do have a need for it, it is a must-have app. 

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

Probably word games.  I used to be addicted to Wurdle and 2 Across, but lately I’ve been playing Scrabble more.  But again, this changes over time.  I remember a period when I was addicted to Peggle.

How many screens have you filled?

The iPhone has 11 screens and I always have them all filled with quite a few on the “12th” screen, which means I can only get to those apps by doing a search for the app name.  I cannot wait for the next iPhone OS which will allow for folders and thousands of apps.  Yes, I suppose that makes me an appoholic, but there are so many useful apps that do so many useful things.

How many times a day do you use your iPhone?

I use my iPhone throughout the day and night.  How many “times” are there in a 24 hour period?  That’s approximately how many times I use my iPhone in a day.

If you were Steve Jobs, what would you add to the iPhone?

We all have a sense of what is coming in the next iPhone thanks to Gizmodo incident that has been all over the news lately.  One of the rumored new features is a better camera, and I would appreciate that.  I love taking pictures, and for “real” pictures I use my Nikon D50, but SLR cameras are too big to have with you all the time.  I frequently take pictures or video with my iPhone just because that is what is with me, and even though the camera on the 3GS is an improvement over the 3G, I would love to see an even better, crisper, higher-definition camera that takes better pictures and video.  I realize that there is a limit to what you can do with a device as small as an iPhone, but that doesn’t stop my from wishing for it.  Additionally, I would love to see voice commands integrated throughout the iPhone, and with Apple’s recent purchase of the fantastic Siri app, perhaps we will see this soon.

Thanks Jeff!

After a small hiatus, I’m happy to present a new Home Screen post. When in Chicago for the ABA Techshow, I was lucky enough to have tea with an excellent Mac and iPhone developer, Keith Alperin. Keith’s company, Helium Foot Software makes several Mac utilities, my favorite being MercuryMover. In addition to his coding prowess, Keith is a devoted father (he takes his son to the opposite site of Chicago every day for school) and an overall swell guy. Make sure to check out his software. You can follow Keith on Twitter right here.

What are your most interesting home screen apps?

I have two that when i use them, they make me feel like i’m living in the future.  First up: Buster [iTunes link].  Here in the big shouldered city of Chicago, my family and i lead a pretty pedestrian lifestyle.  We have a car, but generally you’ll find us on public trans.  Buster will tell you exactly how long you have to wait until the next bus arrives and gets bonus points for knowing what stop you’re at.  Second in order only is Briefcase.  Briefcase [iTunes link] is one of a few apps that lets you keep and view arbitrary files on your device: pictures, pages/word docs, audio clips, almost anything.  What really sets briefcase apart is how it can connect to your home machine from anywhere in the world and download and view just about any file from your hard drive.  Indistinguishable from magic.

One more that i wanted to mention is Constitution [iTunes link], because you never know when a constitutional crisis, or good political argument will break out.

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

I’m tempted to say my twitter clients, but i’ll go with a really fun game that i downloaded recently called Ground Effect [iTunes link].  It’s futuristic rocket plane racing at its best.

What is the app you are still missing?

I’m going to out myself here, but the app that i’m missing the most is a phone!  I’m the last iPhone developer who doesn’t own an iPhone.  I have a fleet of iPod Touches (one of which is always at my hip) but i’m waiting for the baddest iPhone A4 to come out before i finally throw down and sign up with AT&T.

How many times a day do you use your iPhone/iPod touch?

I’ve never counted.  Is there an app for that?

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPod touch?

After having the internet in your pocket, you never want to go back.

If you were Steve Jobs, what would you add to the iPhone?

I’m in no position to give advice to Uncle Steve, but if i had my four iPhone wishes fulfilled the would be:

1. More
2. of
3. the
4. same

As a developer, i’m acutely aware of the hardware limitations of the device.  Everything takes power.  There’s so little memory.  The CPU is so much slower than on a Mac.  Giving us more of what we have will make apps like the current crop easier to develop and will enable a new generation of apps that would make today’s iPhones shed unicorn tears.

Anything else you’d like to share?

Two things.  The 100 ton bird in the room is Twitter and almost everyone in the MacSparky home screen fraternity has a Twitter app on their home screen.  Currently, mine is Tweetie [iTunes link], but in the same position on my second screen is Twitterlator Pro [iTunes link].  I was fortunate enough to meet Andrew Stone (who wrote Twitterlator) at WWDC last year and he was such a neat guy that i bought it on the spot.  For now i like the almost minimalism of Tweetie but i often switch those two around since Twitterlator has so many more features.

Secondly, i wanted to point out that there is some really incredible iPhone software available from independent developers. The iPhone really lends itself to the type of relatively small, yet highly polished app that indie developers really excel at creating.  Also, love it or loathe it, the App Store has opened that floodgate between regular every day users and tiny one and two person software shops.  I haven’t been able to get any numbers but anecdotally it seems that a high percentage of regular iPhone users are buying indie software; and from where i sit, that is an indisputable Good Thing.

This week’s Home Screen post features Jonathan Cost, host of Mac Tips Daily and publisher of thinkmac.net. In addition to being a prolific podcaster, Jonathan loves his iPhone

What are your most interesting home screen apps?

Dragon Dictation.
I use it frequently when I am on the move and can’t fiddle with the keyboard/screen to write a text message. I can quickly dictate, and it’s usually very accurate and typically doesn’t require corrections. Once it recognizes my speech it has a button that allows you to send it as SMS. It’s quicker, safer, and my preferred way for texting most of the time.

DVR Remote. It allows me to control my TivoHD when I can’t find the remote. It also comes in really handy when you need to do keyboard entry on the Tivo.

What is your favorite app?
Tweetie.
Not because it’s the best twitter app, but because it’s the app I probably launch the most.

Which app is your guilty pleasure?
[Spikey’s Bounce Around.] (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spikeys-bounce-around/id328206413?mt=8)
The ‘lite’ version had me hooked after a few levels, and then I bought the full version for $1.99. You are a spikey ball and your object is to free butterflies by bouncing around on trampolines and walls. It gets tough. I’ve been stuck on level 36 for about 4 days now. It requires little time or dedication to play, but it’s GREAT fun.

How many screens have you filled?

I have 10 screens with items on them, but they are not all full. One screen has 8 GPS apps on it.

What is the app you are still missing?

The app that allows me to stream my iTunes music to my iPhone.

How many times a day do you use your iPhone?

Uh, Like every 10 minutes. Definitely addicted to it. It’s pretty tough on the battery unlocking/locking all day long.

What is your favorite iPhone feature?

The ability to be connected all of the time. I used the iPod Touch for awhile, but lack of Wi-Fi spots made it more of a game/music device for me. Once I was able to become connected via 3G all of the time with the iPhone, it really changed how I used the device, especially with Twitter & Email.

Anything else you’d like to share?

Some of my other cool less frequently used apps are: ”Boxcar’, ‘NPR News’, AutoStitch’, ‘CubeCheater’,’ESPN Score Center’, ‘CheckPlease Lite’, ‘Mathemagics’, ‘Pandora’, ‘Trapster’, ‘Squarespace’, ‘Dragons Lair’, ‘Scrabble’, ‘CraigsPro+’, and ‘Instant Queue Add for Netflix’.

Thanks Jonathan!

This week’s home screen feature is by Allison Sheridan (twitter), a great friend and the host of the Nosillacast Podcast. Allison also lives in Southern California so we have travelled together to Macworld in the past. My favorite Allison story is how once we were talking about podcasts and I was sharing some of my favorite science and history podcasts with her. Allison looked at me completely deadpan and said, “I don’t listen to any of that stuff. For me, it’s all about the tech.” So let’s take a look at Allison’s home screen.

My most interesting home screen apps include:

11C Scientific
I think it’s fascinating that both Dave Hamilton and I have Reverse Polish Notation (RPN calculators on our home page! My preference is called 11C Scientific, and exact duplicate of the HP 11C calculator I’ve been carrying around since the 1970s.

DVR Remote
DVR Remote lets you type on a normal iPhone keyboard to enter the name of a show you’re trying to tell your TiVo to record. It’s so much fun to use I actually made a YouTube video showing how it works – it makes me giggle every time!

Zenbe Lists
I love Zenbe Lists. You see the iPhone app here but it’s also a website that syncs perfectly with the iPhone app. I make shopping lists, packing lists, Christmas lists, you name it, I put it all in Zenbe lists. I even made a separate Prism application for Zenbe so I can launch it in a snap on my Mac.

But my FAVORITE app is TimeScroller
TimeScroller is a must-have application if you like to, or have to hang out with people all over the globe. There’s no better way to keep track of what time it in different cities, figure out when you can all meet up, and in some cases figure out what day it is in another time zone. I used this constantly to play with my friends on the internets. There’s a Mac application too!

I do have a guilty pleasure and that’s Boomshine
It’s a very simple game, touch on the screen and put down a bubble that hopefully gets hit by the little colored dots floating around, the more you hit before your bubble goes away, the more points you get. I’m pretty sure there is no skill involved at all here but for some reason it makes you think you’re developing a strategy!

You’ll notice I use Simply Tweet as my Twitter client and I like it well enough but the one app I still haven’t found on the iPhone (or the Mac for that matter) that lets me create groups to follow on a separate screen. I follow a lot of people (around 400) so my feed is always interesting but I’d sure like to be able to flip to a group of just my family, or just my podcasting buddies (like MacSparky) and make sure I never miss their tweets. Nambu on the Mac got close but it was buggy and crashed on me whenever I did a direct tweet. Might need to go back and revisit that app since I haven’t tested in a long time. But if anyone knows of an iPhone app that will do groups for me I’d be most appreciative to hear about it!

I use my iPhone pretty much constantly, taking maybe 15 minute breaks from it – but oddly the thing I use the very least is the phone! I’m not saying I don’t appreciate having a phone around from time to time but if I had to give up one thing on my iPhone it would probably be the phone!

Thanks Allison!

Dave Hamilton(twitter) is one of my very favorite self proclaimed nerds. When not playing his drums (he is awesome), Dave, along with John Braun, host the Mac Geek Gab, which is by far the best Mac troubleshooting podcast. Dave also is one of the principals of the outstanding Mac news site, Mac Observer. So today we get to find what is on Dave’s home screen.

What is interesting on your home screen?

Camera Genius (CodeGoo) – For all those “I just want to take a picture now” opportunities. The thing I love the most about it is its “Anti Shake” feature. In a nutshell, it waits until your phone is stable before snapping the picture, so I just click the shutter button, take aim, and as soon as it’s happy it snaps the shot. Love it!

Twittelator Pro (Stone Design) – Andrew Stone did a fantastic job taking this app and completely reworking it last year, bringing it into the forefront of Twitter apps in both design aesthetics and functionality. Unfortunately, the default “Gray” theme is kind of wonky visually so I think many people are still initially turned off. But setting it to “Dove” (white background) or my favorite, “Raven” (black background), really makes the app pop. It does some great things in terms of managing multiple accounts, conversations, retweets, lists and more. And it also lets you customize your favorites bar any way you wish, making it truly personalizable (is that a word? ;-).

Todo (Appigo) – Listen, there’s nothing perfect about managing To Dos on the iPhone, but Appigo’s Todo syncs (over WiFi) with SyncServices on my Mac, allowing me to get close to what I’d want (which is live OTA sync). And it’s got a decent interface for managing/adding To Dos that I then see in BusyCal on my Mac (when SyncServices decides to play nice, which is most of the time).

What is your favorite app?

I’m not sure I have a favorite, per se. In general I spend most of my iPhone time in either Mail or Twittelator Pro.

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

See answers to #2 above. 🙂 I can get addicted to information flow pretty quickly, so having email and Twitter access in my pocket is simultaneously fantastic and terrible.

How many screens full of apps do you have?

I have 11 screens and all but one are at least more than half full. Most of the apps, of course, I don’t use often, at all, but there’s no reason to delete them if I only use them just once in a while. Beats re-downloading something if I realize I need an old app for some reason or another.

What is the app you are still missing?

A real calendar app. The lack of To Do support is astounding to me, but that’s not the half of it. The UI for the Calendar app is just terrible. I mean, why bother to have that craptastic monthly view take over my entire screen only so I can’t see more than one line of events at the bottom. I’m beside myself wondering why Apple hasn’t put a side-by-side week (or “multi-day”) view in, either. This app has probably the worst UI that Apple has designed in recent history. It, like iCal, makes me think that no one at Apple actually uses their own products for calendaring.

How many times a day do you use your iPhone/iPod touch?

Depends on the day. Some days none, some days more than I care to count.

What is your favorite feature on the iPhone?

How well it fits in my pocket and is basically unnoticeable to me while it’s there. That affords me the ability to simply have the phone with me everywhere, and I think that’s easy to take for granted with a device that has so much power.

If you were Steve Jobs, what would you add to the iPhone?

A frickin’ calendar app!

Anything else you’d like to share?

Did I mention the iPhone sucks at managing calendars and To Dos? Oh, I did? Then I guess we’re done. Thanks!

Thanks Dave!

Chuck Joiner is one of the most insightful and well respected commentators in the Mac community. Chuck produces several podcasts but his flagship podcast is “Mac Voices” where he interviews distinguished Mac developers and writers. I always enjoy Chuck’s podcasts and couldn’t wait to find out what is on his home screen. I am, however, going to need to talk to Chuck about that inbox.

So Chuck, what is on your home screen?

I’m still carrying quite a few of the iPhone’s default apps because I really do use them, though a few slots have been taken over by things I find more useful or better.

Tripod – There are plenty of great camera apps out there, but Tripod solves a problem for me. I never seem to hold the camera still when I shoot. Using the iPhone’s accelerometer, Tripod waits until the camera is still (after the shutter has been tapped) and then takes the photo.

If you’re trying to catch something fast, it isn’t the best option, but if you’re doing pictures of people or more static shots, this will all but guarantee you a sharp photo. You’ll also find out just how steady your hand is by watching the real-time equalizer.

WeatherBug Elite is the best weather app I’ve found, mainly because of the animated radar maps that are of a reasonable scale right at launch.

Google Reader – Yeah, I know, very old school. I’ve played with plenty of newsreaders, and while NetNewsWire lives on the second screen, I still find just using Google Reader’s web site convenient and easy. Who says iPhone-specific web sites are a bad thing?

Favorater – A speed-dial app that provides one-touch dialing via photos. Assign a button a contact from your Address Book; it will put the photo on a button and allow you to designate up to three numbers for the button. Just single, double or triple tap to dial the indicated number. Great for frequently called phone numbers, and easier to read than the
native iPhone app.

Pandora Radio – Who doesn’t have Pandora on their home screen? One-touch access to music you like from your Pandora account. As close to instant music gratification as you can get.

AT&T Mark The Spot – This has been on my iPhone since it came out, since I was experiencing an alarming number of dropped calls. Some feel this was a useless app, others thought it was a reasonable attempt by AT&T to gather information on their service challenges. Either way, it made me feel better to use it whenever I had a problem. And use it I did. There were days I hopped up and down on it like a jackrabbit. In the last couple weeks, I’ve hardly had to invoke it at all. Whether it made a difference or not, at least it made me feel better punching the “Dropped Call” button. Consider it a therapy app at the very least.

Dragon Dictation – One of those apps that you use to show off the capabilities of your iPhone, Dragon Dictation lets you dictate a short note, and then email, text or copy it to the clipboard. It works amazingly well, and even handles proper names, though the controversy continues to rage over the app’s uploading of your contact list to help accomplish the latter. Why type when you can talk?

WSJ (The Wall Street Journal) – Even if newspapers are on the down slope, The Wall Street Journal is still a must-read for anyone in business. This app gives you free access to much of the content (including the Op/Ed pieces) for free, although the in-app ads are a bit overdone.

Tweetie 2 – The space for a Twitter client on my home screen keeps changing, but is currently occupied by Tweetie 2. A nice, full-featured app that lets me get to what I want on Twitter, though I really like the sync options of TweetDeck with its desktop sister app.

What is your favorite app?

The one that solves whatever problem/need/desire I have at the moment.

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

I’d have to say the iPod video functionality is as close as I get to a guilty pleasure, since I usually have a favorite movie or TV show tucked in there somewhere in case all else fails and I have some extra time on my hands. Right now, that’s the Good Eats 10th Anniversary show, converted over from my TiVo.

How many screens full of apps do you have?

Nine…and I’m trying to cut down.

What is the app you are still missing?

A pay-as-you-go tethering app. Is that really too much to ask for?

How many times a day do you use your iPhone/iPod touch?

I couldn’t even count. Even if I’m in the office, it is on the desk beside my MacBook Pro.

• What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPod touch?*

The ability to have access to information anywhere, anytime. It magnifies your ability to be productive to an amazing degree. When the rumors started circulating that Apple was working on a phone, none of us had any idea just how much this device would affect us.

If you were Steve Jobs, what would you add to the iPhone?

The option to control apps running in the background. I understand the reasons this hasn’t happened, but would like to have the option to run some things simultaneously, even at the cost of battery life.

Thanks Chuck!

This week, I’m featuring another international home screen. This one belongs to Bart Busschots of Ireland. Bart is a prolific podcaster contributing to the International Mac Podcast, the Mac Roundtable, and Allison Sheridan’s NosillaCast. Bart also blogs at BartB.ie. Bart was kind enough to share his home screen and a few of his thoughts.

The app I’ve come to rely on most heavily is ShopShop. It’s an app that does one thing but does it very well – it lets you create shopping lists. It remembers items you’ve bought before, so it rapidly auto-completes when you add things to your list, each item in your list can be checked off as you go around the shop – and you can have as many different lists as you want. I used to never end up buying the right things. I’d buy stuff I already had in the fridge, as well as coming home without loads of really important stuff. The reason this works so well for me is that I always have my iPhone with me, so as soon as I see we are out of something I instantly grab the phone and quickly and easily add it to the relevant list in ShopShop. Then, when I get to the shop, I just open up the app and grab everything I need and nothing more than I need. It’s not glamorous, it’s not cool, but it really helps me day in and day out!

What is your favorite app?

It’s so hard to pick a favorite! But, if you put a gun to my head and forced me to choose I think I’d pick StarMap. I just love star gazing, and it’s fantastic to have a full planetarium app in your pocket when you’re out under the stars. It really uses the multitouch interface well, and it has a night vision mode too!

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

As sad as it sounds – it’s Solitaire! If I’m ever in a queue anywhere I just whip out the iPhone and fire up solitaire. Same goes for plane or train journeys.

How many screens full of apps do you have?

I have 5 screens but they are not all completely full. If I were to fill every screen I’d say I have about 4  and a half screens full.

What is the app you are still missing?

What I’m missing isn’t so much an app but a crucial missing feature. I need a common space on the app where files and be stored and retrieved from any app. The Photos folder does that for photos and videos, but I need something like that for generic files.

How many times a day do you use your iPhone?

Too many to count. It’s the only phone I use, the only iPod I use, and I consider it as a portable computer with a lot of apps on it I use many times each day.

What is your favorite iPhone feature?

The interface wins hands-down. Directly manipulating thee things on the screen by touching the screen is just such a wonderfully natural way to interact with technology. The fact that when you flick things they have realistic momentum really adds to the feeling that the things on the screen are real, and you really are moving them around with your finger. This is what Apple have done so so right with this device, and what no one else seems to have done as well yet.

If you were Steve Jobs, what would you add to the iPhone?

Storage. It doesn’t have to be a traditional file system, but something. In fact, a database driven storage area could be a lot better. If the files had metadata to describe what they are, and apps were allowed to specify what they could and couldn’t do, then it would be easy to only ever present you with the files that are relevant to you in what ever app you are using. A word processor would only show text documents, an image editor images, a video editor videos etc.. General purpose apps like email could show all the files, as could Spotlight. We really do need to be able to store and access more stuff more easily on the iPhone.

Anything else you’d like to share?

The app store review process really worries me. I don’t have any confidence that Apple have my best interests at heart in how they vet apps. I don’t want Apple telling me what is and is not appropriate for me to do. I’m an adult, I don’t want to be mothered by Apple!

Thanks Bart!

Katie Floyd is my podcasting partner on the

Mac Power Users

and a terrific Mac Geek. Katie also has her iPhone with her “at all times” and agreed to share her home screen. In addition to the Mac Power Users, Katie also blogs at

KatieFloyd.me.

I’m old school; I keep almost all of the original Apple apps on my home screen. I’ve been using the iPhone since it was released and just got use to having the applications where they are. Though some of the apps (like photos) I don’t use all that often and could be replaced.

Notes has been replaced by Evernote which is what I use for notes and everything else. I use Things for task management and Tweetie is my preferred twitter client. I also use NetNewsWire to keep up with my RSS feeds. Seems like most of the dust has settled since the move to Google Reader as a backbone for the service. Lastly, I’ve added Apple’s remote. I have an AppleTV and a couple of Airport Express remote speakers around my house  and it’s nice to have the ability to control my content from anywhere in my house. So these are the Apps I have added to my home screen.

What is your favorite app?

I don’t know about a favorite – but the App that has changed my life since getting an iPhone has been Mail. Having email on my iPhone and available at my fingertips has been a game changer in the way I manage my personal and work email. It allows me to never be out of touch, though maybe that’s not such a good thing. 

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

I don’t’ really have one. I never got into gaming and I really use my iPhone more to keep in touch and organized. I guess Facebook and Twitter are arguably non-productive things I use my iPhone for. Does that count as a guilty pleasure? 

How many screens full of apps do you have?

Five – and the organization is really based on usage rather than dividing apps by category. My most used apps are on my home screen, next most used are on page 2 and so on. There are probably a few apps I could purge but I just keep them around incase I might need them.

What is the app you are still missing?

Google Voice. I use this service quite a bit for filtering calls and making long distance calls. There was a blow-up when Apple rejected (depending on the story you believe) this App and the FCC got involved. Personally I think AT&T had more of an issue with the App than Apple.  I never heard what became of the whole situation. Hopefully the parties can get together and get Google Voice back on the phone. There is as basic web version but it’s not as easy to use as an App would be.

How many times a day do you use your iPhone?

Constantly. It’s never more than an arms reach away. 

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone?

It’s really a combination of a lot of things – but it’s really the ability to have a small computer in my pocket and keep in touch almost anywhere. Probably my least used feature of my iPhone is the actual phone. But the ability to have my email, web browser and everything else at my fingertips has been a real life changer. When the iPhone was introduced, it was the first smart phone I ever owned. I never really saw the need for a smart phone, now I can’t imagine my life without it.

If you were Steve Jobs, what would you add to the iPhone?

I would build in more hands free functions.  The reality is, people are stupid and they will use their phone in the car and be distracted. Voice Control on the 3GS was a big step in the right direction, but how about the ability to put your phone in a total hands free mode where it will read incoming email and text messages, respond to basic commands and have speech to text recognition. We’ve already seen third party apps and accessibility mode of the iPhone do some of this so the technology is there. I’d like to see Apple put it all together.

Anything else you’d like to share?

Poor AT&T coverage has been a constant complaint of many people who use the iPhone. I have no coverage at my house and there are many people who are in the same boat. I’ve found a solution that works well for me and may be a help to someone else struggling with the same issue.

Knowing my poor coverage, it became obvious I would have to get some kind of home phone. Thankfully, it’s actually cheaper to bundle my cable, internet and basic phone from my cable company (Cox) then it would be just to buy cable and internet service. So the home phone line really costs me nothing.  

I use Google Voice to manage my calls. Since Google Voice can be confusing to those who aren’t familiar with the service, I just tell people it’s my home phone. It’s become habit that as soon as I get home in the evening I set my iPhone to forward to my Google Voice number. That way anyone who calls my cell phone rings my home phone and I don’t miss calls. Any calls I make from home in the evening I place through Google Voice using either the web interface or by dialing my Google number from my home phone and placing an outbound call. 

By using Google Voice I get free long distance within the US and my Google Voice number (which my friends should already have) shows up on their caller ID to avoid confusion. When I leave the house and turn off call forwarding, any calls to my Google Voice number ring both my home and cell phones, so I don’t miss any calls. One disadvantage is that AT&T counts any calls it forwards from my cell phone against my plan minutes and I don’t know when my home phone rings whether the call is coming direct or from my cell. Between night and weekend and rollover minutes I never have a problem with overages but it’s something I keep an eye on. If an incoming all sounds like it’s going to be particularly long, I usually just ask the person if I can call them right back to avoid burning AT&T minutes.

I’ll admit this method adds additional hassle, but Google Voice has other benefits so it’s a work around until the coverage issues are resolved.

Thanks Katie!