March 10, 2009 6:11 AM PDT
Six killer iPhone freebies
Freebie app SnapTell lets you price-compare books, CDs, and more just by snapping a photo.
(Credit: SnapTell)NPR, e-books, and auto-repair, oh my! The fantastic iPhone (and iPod Touch) freebies just keep on coming. Here's a look at six apps that have earned a permanent home on my handset. (Note: All links go directly to the iTunes Store.)
- Kindle for iPhone Though not perfect in its 1.0 release, the Kindle app brings Amazon's 240,000-strong e-book library to your iPhone--and that alone is reason to celebrate. Don't knock it till you've tried it.
- Lose It! Trying to lose weight? Forget the diet du jour: It all boils down to math. If you burn more calories than you consume, presto: the pounds come off. Lose It! makes it a snap to set a weight goal and track daily calories and exercise.
- Public Radio Tuner An excellent companion to the NPR Mobile app I mentioned last time, Public Radio Tuner lets you stream hundreds of stations and can even zero in on local ones.
- RepairPal A must-have for car owners, RepairPal helps you price-compare repair estimates, find and contact local mechanics, get roadside assistance, and more.
- SnapTell The ultimate app for cheapskates? Might could be. Snap a photo of any book cover, CD, DVD, or video game, and the app serves up ratings, reviews, videos, and, best of all, price comparisons. (Thanks to brohan81 for recommending this one.)
- Textfree Lite If you routinely rack up massive text-messaging charges (I'm looking at you, teenagers), grab Textfree Lite. It lets you send messages free of charge (15 per day in the Lite version, so consider this a trial run). You can receive free texts as well, but only from other Textfree users. Yeah, it's a bit of a hassle, but so are big monthly bills.
In the meantime, check out my last roundup of fab iPhone freebies. And the batch before that. Talk about an embarrassment of free riches!
Rick Broida, a technology writer for nearly 20 years, is the author of more than a dozen books. In addition to writing CNET's The Cheapskate blog, he oversees BNET's Business Hacks. Rick is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CBS Interactive. Disclosure. Deals found on The Cheapskate are subject to availability, expiration, and other terms determined by sellers. Follow Rick on Twitter at cheapskateblog. 
It costs $.99 and sends texts via gmail. Pros are the texts are free (duh), you can text any cell phone as much as you want and they can respond, it also has landscape mode (which is not even available on the native iphone sms app).
Cons are it doesn't alert you to new texts as they arrive (unless you're jailbroken), if you text too many people without one responding gmail may label you as a spammer, and you will probably need to open a new gmail account since it can interfere with your main one.
I use it when I know I'm going to be texting someone a lot and don't want to use up my 1500 texts.
I've had this app a long time and I LOVE it. It's called A Personal Assistant and it allows you to check all your online credit card, bank, and cell phone accounts online. It even allows you to map out a trip itinerary (haven't tried) and check your facebook/myspace profiles.
I use to to check my bank, credit card, and e-trade, Vanguard, and my high yield savings account balances. Plus I use it to see how many minutes I've used on my AT&T account for the month and how many rollover minutes I have total. It also has a feature where if your cell phone gets nabbed you can nuke all the info over your email address so a theif can't steal it.
Converter (units converter)
NetNewsWire (RSS reader)
Shopper (shopping list)
Face Melter (entertainment)
Shazam (identify music that's playing)
dB (noise level monitor)
- by bobkrause June 4, 2009 11:51 AM PDT
- I prefer Stanza to Kindle as an eBook reader. It's free, connects seamlessly to a number of free eBook providers (including Project Gutenberg), is highly customizable, and isn't tied tightly to Amazon!
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