The Best iPhone Apps Of The Week

The AppAdvice iPhone App Of The Week: Coverjam Pro, $.99 & Universal, Released July 18 (free version also available) Coverjam Can Be Your Groovy iPod Replacement Coverjam Pro by Electric Pocket is a facelift for your iPhone’s music player. The app turns that boring old cover art into a slideshow of images related to the artists playing in your queue, a la SoundHound only without the extra information. Coverjam also serves as an all out iPod replacement, playing your media directly from your iTunes library. The cover flow mechanic is a nice touch (when it works) and song playback was flawless, however Coverjam isn’t quite ready to take center stage from your iPod. New Releases Google+, Free, Released July 19 Official Native Google+ App Now Available To Download After almost two weeks of the approval process, Apple has finally released the official, native Google+ client for the iPhone. It's available right now free of charge. As a reminder, Google+ is Google's new social layer for the web currently in beta (invitation only). Similar to Facebook, it allows people to separate their friends into circles, and share all sorts of online content with them, as well as interact live over video chat. Pixies Official, Free, Released July 20 An Official Pixies App Arrives For The iPhone Pixies, the alternative rock band, have released an official app for the iPhone/iPod touch to coincide with the band’s first U.S. tour in ten years. Created by Topspin Media, Inc., the official app is a must-have for Pixies fans everywhere. In addition to offering on-demand streaming of archive performances, the app offers access to the band’s infamous Purple Tape. First created at Fort Apache Studios in 1986, the Purple Tape is a 17-track demo that made the band famous. Updated Songify, Free, Updated July 19 Songify For iPhone: Effortlessly Turns Speech Into Song You want to be a singer? Before applying to American Idol, X Factor et. al., take a look at Songify, because even if you can't sing, this iPhone app can help you out. Thanks to the app's clever technology, users simply have to speak into their iPhone and Songify will auto-tune away, and create a catchy track out of your speech. Clever, huh? It sure is. And what's more, the application is fun, too. While only a limited number of styles are available for free (the rest carry a $0.99 in-app price-tag), it is possible to have a lot of fun with the three built-in styles already available within Songify (my personal favorite is Deluge, by Khush). Float Reader, Free, Updated July 20 Float Reader Makes Reading News & Magazines On Your iPhone Easier Apple can add to the iPhone as many enhancements as they want, but the handset will still have one limitation; the screen is sometimes too small for optimal reading. However, Float Reader for the iPhone/iPod touch has arrived making reading on the handset easier and more flexible than ever. Created by Scribd, the social publishing site, the app helps you explore your favorite web content, including news and magazines, from one place. Plus, Facebook, Twitter, and Scribd members can use the app to make recommendations to others. SoundHound ∞, $6.99 & Universal, Updated July 20 Follow Along Line By Line With LiveLyrics, Available In The New SoundHound 4 One of the top music tagging and information apps just got a bit sweeter a little earlier today. Available to United States and Canada users, the LiveLyrics feature of SoundHound v4.0 makes singing along to a song as easy as karaoke. You may be thinking; SoundHound already offers lyrics for my favorite songs. Indeed, however, LiveLyrics takes that up a notch or tow. Supporting over 500,000 songs at launch, LiveLyrics identifies what verse and line is currently being sung. Once again, there are already iOS apps that offer this type of feature, right? Correct, but LiveLyrics has capabilities only apps like SoundHound can successfully pull off. The Best iPhone Apps Of The Week is published each weekend; a companion piece, The Best iPad Apps Of The Week, is published separately. Attention developers: If you would like your app to be considered for one of our “Best Of” lists, please me know by sending me a treat @bryanmwolfe. Note: Your app must have been new or updated in the last week to make the current list.