Hidden Gems: Worthy Of The Home Screen

While I've featured some cool apps in this column, for one reason or another, not all of them have stayed on my phone. This week, all these apps will likely be staying on my phone and one will actually make it to the home screen.

HiCalc ($1.99) / HiCalc Lite (Free)

Just last week I mentioned I failed Algebra II in high school and this week I'm left wondering whether that would have happened if I had an iPhone and this app. That said, because I did fail Algebra II, I couldn't put this app through its paces when it comes to nasty equations. But, here, just take a look at this:

Wow, that looks like some crazy math. Well, honestly, it just looks like a bunch weird symbols to me. If you know what's going on above, good for you for passing Algebra II. Just because I don't need that serious math, however, doesn't mean I don't love this app. In fact, this calculator will be replacing Apple's default calculator on my home screen because of all its extra features.

Like Wundrbar, it murders several of those barely useful single function apps by giving you a heavy duty calculator plus a tip calculator, unit converter, currency converter and financial calculator (for things like loans and mortgages). I do have to say, though, the look of this app was a major turn off - it looks to be an ugly port of an app for other smartphones (like Windows Mobile). However, you can change the theme and make it gray on black, which is a little bit nicer on the eyes. I also found the unabridged names of the apps as they appear in iTunes to be pretty amateurish. The paid version is "HiCalc Winner Calculator & Unit Converter." I'm glad you won an award for your app but why is that in the name? For the free version it's "HiCalc Lite - BIG SALE OFF TODAY." Why say that in the name of your free app? Thanks to Dave for letting me (and now you) know about this app. As always, if you know a great app that just doesn't get the love it deserves, let me know in the comments or shoot me an email.

ContactGo ($1.99)

I doubted whether I'd actually use this app until shortly after I installed it. Within 10 minutes I got a call from my friend asking for my address so he could come over. I'm in a new apartment and haven't memorized it yet, so I simply popped open the app and quickly shot off an email with the address pulled from my contact information. While I adore apps that kill single purpose apps (see above), I also appreciate apps that work as described and give you the ability to do something you couldn't do before. ContactGo fits the bill, giving you the ability to email any or all of your contacts with any or all of the contact information included. While there are apps with similar functionality already available in the store for 99 cents, I really like how easy ContactGo is to use. It really is a snap to send out contact information. Simply open the app, select the contact and tap send and the text is loaded into the Apple's Mail app. Sadly, no vCard support.

Magic Compass Trick ($0.99)

Much like the scare apps I featured a couple weeks ago, the entertainment value you derive from this will vary. I, however, found it pretty cool. I am also very child like. Did I mention I failed Algebra II? With Magic Compass Trick you basically do a simple trick that makes an on screen compass on the iPhone point in the direction of an object in the room. I got my copy of Magic Compass Trick using one of the promo codes listed here on Twitter. Hopefully some of them are still active. If you do try it and like it, Instant Download Magic & Mentalism has a whole set of iPhone magic tricks to check out. This demonstration video gives you a good idea of what the trick with Magic Compass looks like:

Epicurious (Free)

It took me a few minutes to get the hang of how to navigate this powerful recipe app, but in the end I found it to be pretty great. My problem was that it doesn't really do lists of appropriate recipes. Instead, you're forced to swipe again and again as you look at each and every recipe. If you tap "weeknight dinners," for example, you have over 600 recipes to choose from. I'm not going to swipe that many times. So the way I found a recipe was to decide I wanted an asian dinner with chicken as an ingredient, so I filled out those two categories in the search and that narrowed the number of recipes significantly.

I found Miso Chicken with a Roasted Corn and Edamame Salad on the side. I added the two recipes to my shopping cart and headed to the grocery store to pick everything up using the itemized list. Half an hour later I was back cooking with a set of ingredients I didn't even knew existed before Epicurious. Two hours later we were eating an absolutely delicious dinner. The price is right, the content is deep and navigation is awesome. This will be my go to recipe app. It is ad supported but the ads aren't too obtrusive. Epicurious is working its way up the lifestyle top 10 list but I'm calling it a hidden gem because it deserves to be above Minesweeper on the overall list.