What if you really wanted to impress somebody with how amazing an iPhone can be? Suppose it is a friend considering buying an iPhone, but not yet quite convinced. They already know about what Apple brings to the table: web browsing, email checking, the camera, even Siri. It will be up to third-party apps to determine if the scales tip in the iPhone?s favor.
If you found yourself in this situation and were limited to showing off only ten apps, which ten would you choose? These apps needn?t be the most practical or most-likely-to-be-frequently-used. Rather, I?m looking for knock-your-socks-off, I-can?t-believe-an-iPhone-can-do-this apps, the sort that will elicit a ?Wow! I gotta have this? reaction.
My guess is that if you asked 100 people this question, you?d wind up with 100 very different lists. Here?s mine.
[Note: Similar competing apps often exist; the apps listed below are the ones I prefer, however slightly.]
10 & 9. Solar Walk and SkyView. To start off the list, let?s head to outer space.
Break out your 3-D glasses. Solar Walk offers a stunning 3-D view of our solar system, everything from the satellites orbiting the Earth to the distant planets. Zoom in or out to go from a close up of Earth to the view from outside our galaxy. Tap the display to get more information about each object. You can even watch movies of events such as solar eclipses.
With SkyView, it?s best to go outside at night and look up. The app displays a camera-view of the sky above you. Overlaying the view is an ?augmented reality? heads-up layer showing you the stars (including constellations), planets and satellites that are currently in your view. Move your iPhone and the display changes accordingly. Select an object and can track how it will move through the sky over the next 24 hours.