Location:
Google Maps
Free, iOS/Android
Google
Maps has become a must-download and a must-install for new iPhone
users. Android users can feel deservedly smug with their more
feature-rich version.
M8
Free, iOS/Android/Blackberry
Touch
A sat nav-like experience; it gives users a 3D eye level viewpoint and a
rich database of local information. Tape it to your dashboard.
National Rail Enquiries
Free, iOS/Android
Only
the brave would dare to use Britain’s railway network without this app.
A neat layout and interface brings the information you need in a
speedy, efficient fashion
Glympse
Free, iOS/Android/Windows Phone/Blackberry
Share
your location for a limited time with specific people, who can then
plot your journey. Perfect for letting people know you are en route to
them.
Prey
Free, iOS/Android
Prey
lets you keep track of your laptop, phone and tablet via a web-accessed
control panel, and perform actions such as triggering an alarm or
erasing sensitive data.
Sport & Fitness:
Fotmob
Free, iOS/Android/Windows Phone/Blackberry
Fotmob
offers an instant check on live football scores. It covers leagues from
Venezuela to Austria, including England and Scotland of course.
ESPN Cricinfo
Free, iOS/Android/Windows Phone
This
app delivers live cricket scores, news and full access to terrifyingly
comprehensive statistics. The interface is slightly irritating.
Zombies, Run!
£2.49, iOS/Android (£2.79)/Windows Phone (£1.49)
Zombies,
Run! is a running aid and an audio adventure combined, an ingenious and
brilliantly executed way of prising you off the sofa.
BBC Sport
Free, iOS/(Android soon)
Almost
two million people downloaded the BBC Olympics app. The new BBC Sport
app is a hybrid affair that pulls in content from the BBC website along
with live audio streams.
F1 2013 Timing App
£23.99, iOS/Android/Blackberry
This
app provides 3D maps with real-time track positions for each driver,
live timings, race statistics, tyre data, live pausing and replays.
Entertainment:
Vimeo
Free, iOS/Android/Windows Phone
Vimeo
has found its niche as a curator of quality short films. From
timelapsed cityscapes to origami animation, it’s a great collection of
ingenuity and upcoming talent.
Numberlys
£3.99, iOS
You
may not imagine Fritz Lang’s 1927 sci-fi classic Metropolis as an
inspiration for a kids’ alphabet app, but Numberlys is the impressive
result. It’s an adventure, a mystery, a game and a story.
Air Video
£1.99, iOS
Air
Video liberates movie files from your computer hard drive and allows
you to stream them to your phone or tablet. And, if you have an Apple
TV, it can act as a bridge between your computer and the telly.
BBC iPlayer
Free, iOS/Android/Blackberry
Search
for programmes, add them to your favourites list (so they all appear in
one tab as they’re broadcast) and download them to your phone to keep
for 30 days and watch them on the move.
The Sonnets
£9.99, iPad
Widely
acclaimed as a triumph, Faber’s iPad version of Shakespeare’s sonnets
is densely layered without being distracting, pulling together audio,
video, explanatory notes and, of course, the text.
TuneIn Radio
Free, iOS/Android/Windows Phone/Blackberry
The
ultimate radio app, TuneIn is a gateway to more than 70,000 radio
stations from across the globe. It also has masses of podcasts.
Tubebox
£0.69, iOS
With
an interface that takes its cues from Apple’s Newstand app, Tubebox
lets you save and categorise your YouTube favourites for trouble-free
viewing without wifi.
Nasa app
Free, iOS/Android
Nasa’s
mobile app provides images and video of past space missions and
up-to-theminute content, including sighting opportunities for the
International Space Station.
Buzzfeed
Free, iOS/Android
With
viral content spinning about the web in a maelstrom of unhinged lunacy,
Buzzfeed restores order to proceedings with diverting collections of
quick-hit content.
Geocaching
£6.99, iOS/Android/Windows Phone
Use
this app to guide you through urban or rural terrain, locating and
logging geocaches as you go. It’s like treasure hunt with a smartphone.
Images:
Snapseed
Free, iOS/Android
Select
a picture or part of a picture, then rotate, crop, filter, brighten or
desaturate – and better still, you’re not obliged to share your creation
on social media.
Fuzel
Free, iOS
Fuzel
lets you combine multiple pictures into a single image, using a layout
of your choice and with extensive control over each section of that
image.
Camera Awesome
Free, iOS
Camera
Awesome gives easy access to image stabilisation, fast and slow burst,
timers, filters and sharing; the only drawback is use of the word
“awesomeize”. Ugh.
Vignette
£1.60, Android
Vignette
is a fully featured alternative to Google’s standard camera app. Before
you take your snap you can adjust white balance, exposure and focus
distance.
Image Blender
£1.99, iOS
Anyone
who’s used layers in Photoshop will be familiar with the concept of
Image Blender. Stack one photo on another, then combine the two using
the various modes.
News & Reference:
Readability
Free, iOS/Android
Reading
apps allow you to save a long online article for later to sync reading
lists between devices. Readability pips Instapaper, mainly down to its
beautiful typography, which is particularly easy on the eye.
Flipboard
Free, iOS/Android/Kindle Fire
Flipboard
pulls information from Facebook friends, people you’re following on
Twitter and so on. Whether your news should be filtered through friends
is a question Flipboard answers with grace.
London: City Through Time
£9.99, iPad
A
stunning portrait of a city. It has the complete text of the London
Encyclopedia, rare prints and works of art and zoomable panoramas.
Ideally every city would have one.
Tweetbot
£1.99, iOS
You
may wince at a Twitter app being in the news and reference section, but
Twitter never fails to break news. Tweetbot is beautifully laid out,
flexible, intuitive and with a cheeky character of its own.
Plume
Free, Android
For
Twitterholics on Android. Stable performance, great attention to
detail, easy handling of common Twitter tasks, and a decent range of
customisation options to make you feel at home.
The Independent
Free, iOS/Android/Blackberry/Kindle
We
couldn’t look at news apps in The Independent without this. Launch the
app, download an entire paper in under a minute and browse offline.
Wolfram Alpha
£1.99, iOS/Android(£1.86)/Kindle Fire
A
“computational knowledge engine” that analyses queries and computes the
answers rather than guessing. Finds info other engines wouldn’t.
Star Walk
£1.99, iOS
Star
Walk has that OMG factor that makes people shake their heads in
disbelief. On a starry night, point your iPhone to the heavens and let
it show you which stars you’re looking at.
Circa News
Free, iOS
Many
apps filter the news, but Circa’s approach involves a team of editors
who gather the most important stories and break them down into bullet
points for easy digestion.
Terminology
£1.49, iOS
A
nicely designed offline app combining a dictionary, a thesaurus and
links to external sites such as Wiktionary. With customisable fonts and a
pleasantly readable interface.
Games:
Amazing Alex
Free, iOS/Android
The
Mousetrap board game for the 21st century: build a contraption to put a
ball in a basket, pop a balloon and so on. Placing items in sequence
has never been so much fun.
Clash Of Clans
Free, iOS
If
you’ve ever felt the urge to build a village, form an army and battle
against neighbouring tribes on a screen two inches high, this fits the
bill. One of the best free iOS games.
Angry Birds Star Wars
Free, iOS (£0.69)/Android
It
has made pinging pixelated birds out of catapults morally acceptable
and distracted innumerable people from more important tasks. More Angry
Birds than Star Wars.
Fieldrunners 2
£0.69, iOS
A
modern spin on the “tower defence” genre: build a maze of traps to stop
invaders. Cute graphics and compelling gameplay. One of the most
absorbing games on iOS.
Dead Trigger
Free, iOS/Android
“The
world we know is gone”, begins the intro sequence to this hugely
popular firstperson shooter game. Combines fantastic graphics and an
ingenious interface.
Music:
iKaosillator
£13.99, iOS
An
app version of the standalone Kaossilator, made by Korg. One of the
best musical instruments on a smartphone. Loop and layer the day away,
losing yourself in a world of beats and squelchy synths.
Soundhound
Free, iOS,/Android/Windows Phone
Shazam-style
music identification in app form, Soundhound is probably the best of
the bunch, with Spotify integration and the ability to identify tunes
from humming.
Spotify
From free, iOS/Android/Windows Phone
Transform
your handheld device into a digital jukebox. It’s nothing short of
astounding. And it’s well worth a £10-a-month subscription to use this
app to its fullest.
Ampkit
Free, iOS
Life
used to be disappointing for bedroom electric guitar strummers. Ampkit
changes everything: plug your guitar into the iPhone for a convincing
simulacrum of powerful amps, speakers and effects.
Whosampled
£1.99, iOS
We
live in a world where the magpie-like swiping of hooks, licks and
samples from other songs is widespread. This is a fantastic hopping off
point for musical discovery; preview songs within the app.
Lifestyle & Shopping:
eBay
Free, iOS/Android/Windows Phone/Blackberry
A
must-download if you use eBay even sporadically. Alerts tell you when
you’ve been outbid or when your item is attracting interest.
WhatsApp
Free, iOS (£0.69)/Android/Windows Phone/Blackberry
One
of the best-known apps that allow us to get around the SMS rip off,
carrying more than two billion messages a day across the internet, free.
Ovoto
Free, iOS/Android
Unable
to make a decision? Take a photo of the two things you can’t choose
between and Ovoto will turn it into a poll for Twitter and Facebook pals
to vote on. Problem solved.
Seatguru
Free, iOS/Android
Includes
information about the comfort (or otherwise) of seats on aircraft
worldwide. It covers more than 700 airlines, and also doubles as a
flight status checker.
Triposo
Free, iOS/Android
What
to see, what to eat and where to stay. With downloads of information
and maps for more than 8,000 destinations worldwide. An essential travel
companion.
