Is Google's iPhone app all that?

With so much fairy dust in the air over Apple's day-early release of the App Store and iTunes 7.7 (for Windows and Mac), it's easy to get caught up in the excitement. And we are excited. Being the intrepid reviewers we are, we're taking the unofficial iPhone 2.0 firmware for a ride to test out some of these apps. Be forewarned that the firmware has not yet been Apple-approved for wide release and cannot be vouched for.

More than 500 applications are already clustered in the App Store, many of them tiny apps and widgets that have been custom-built to run natively on the upgraded iPhone firmware. Most of these early entrants are nearly identical to the iPhone-optimized versions previously released by publishers to work with the iPhone Classic.

Google's app is a prime example. It opens with a blinking search bar and with the keypad already engaged. Like the optimized Web app version, suggested matches are displayed as the search begins; this time they are listed below the search field. Below the search space is a shortcut bar for seeing the array of Google apps, including Gmail, Maps, Docs, and Reader. These icons are themselves quick links for launching the Web-optimized versions of Gmail and clan.

The app does save a fraction of time in bypassing Safari's initial loading of the iPhone-optimized page and works without a hitch.

Catch the most recent news about the iPhone 3G and App Store.

[Vegaman_Dan]

There's that 500 application reference again. I wish these reporters would go to the site and actually count the apps. I've done the work and there were at 8 AM Thursday only 216. Right now that number hasn't changed as of 11 AM. Where are the hundreds and hundreds of missing apps that the reporter is referring to?

[Vegaman_Dan]

UPDATE: Apple is now releasing the flood gates on the apps- there are more than 500 listed. Still no change in content though- if you want games, tip calculators, and free public domain books (those cost 99 cents), then you're set. If you want anything else, go with the unlocked community instead. This is the first day, so give it time overall, I think.