Hidden Gems: Which Apps Got Shafted In The AppAwards?
by Ian
July 22, 2009
Our inaugural AppAwards just ended. I'm very happy with the turnout (almost 60,000 votes cast) and the 252 apps which were nominated in our 54 categories were among the best the App Store has to offer.
However, some apps didn't make the cut and this is as much a place for you to vent about it as it is for me.
Though I was on the AppAwards nomination committee, I am not an iPhone God.
And though I wish I was, I am not, in fact, perfect. It is with great sadness that I mourn the absence of these great apps from the AppAwards nominations.
Read It Later Pro ($2.99), Read It Later (Free)
Read It Later is such a cool idea and it works great. If you haven't tried it, the app lets you add any link to your Read It Later List. It's ideal for airplanes, subways or car rides where you don't have internet access or want to save battery by turning off the network connection.
Much like Beejive before it had Push Notifications, I didn't give this app a chance because it didn't seem like an elegant or workable solution. Beejive used to send you an email whenever you had a new message. I didn't think that would work out and never sprung the $10 to buy the app. However, I finally did and was surprised how great it was. Now it's a moot point thanks to Push Notifications.
Read It Later seemed unusable because there was no "read it later" button in my Google Reader. Boy was I wrong. Turns out you can add bookmarklets to any browser, including Mobile Safari, that do a great good job of saving links for later. It works really well in Google Reader on the iPhone which is what matters to me.
Until there's a quality newsreader app that features smart Push Notifications for read counts/breaking news, Read It Later will be the only news app on my home page.
Pocket Tanks Deluxe ($4.99), Pocket Tanks (Free)
I've played Pocket Tanks for the better part of 10 years and wrote the developer, Michael P. Welch, out of the blue a couple months ago just on the off chance he was going to develop an iPhone version.
Turns out it was only days away from release.
The iPhone version rocks and gives iShoot a run for its money. Pocket Tanks is all about the weapons and it has a ton of them. You could play the game for hours and still not try out every weapon.
It has a loyal following on the Mac/PC and I guarantee it will develop a similar following on the iPhone.
Though I didn't nominate it because I still don't think it can compete with iShoot head to head because it still needs wifi multiplayer.
If you haven't tried it out yet, make sure to download the free version.
Cooliris (free)
Probably the best search experience for images on the iPhone.
You can tilt the iPhone, swipe or pinch and zoom across a wall of images. You can search Google, Flickr, Yahoo, Youtube, SmugMug or DeviantART. You can save any image to your camera roll. You can tweet an image directly from the app. In short, this is a perfect iPhone app.
Coolirirs was certainly a contender for Most Innovative User Interface or Best User Interface, but those were both extremely competitive and subjective categories. In retrospect, I wish it was nominated for either of those categories.
Definitely worth a download. Guaranteed you'll like it.
The Also-Ran's, The Shouldn't Have Won's, Your Unforgivable Omissions And Next Year
Seriously, Rolando 2 for app of the year? Am I the only one upset about this? Sure those little rolly guys are cute but Textfree Unlimited saved me $5/month. There are a lot of categories where I scratched my head at the winner but could see why it won. Sure Shazam is amazing, but have you tried out photo recognition in Evernote? How about ReQall? Speech to text to task with Push Notifications is pretty awesome.
But Rolando 2, seriously?
Oh well.
I'm starting early on my campaign for Mover 2 to be App Of The Year in 2010. It's still in Apple's queue awaiting approval or rejection. Please get approved. Please get approved.
Installed on two iPhones or iPod Touches, Mover 2 will (eventually) let you slide all sorts of media from one iPhone to another. Right now, with Mover 1, you can only share photos and contacts on wifi. Eventually you'll be able to share videos, bookmarks and copied text over bluetooth. Vote Mover, 2010!
Finally, that brings me to you. I want you to tell me the most under-appreciated apps of the 2008-2009 app year. Did they lose? Were they overlooked? Let me know in the comments.
