iPhone News Updated

News grabs apps featured in iPhone ads to see if they live up to the hype

News grabs apps featured in iPhone ads to see if they live up to the hype

Every geek has paused an iPhone TV commercial to read all the app names as they whiz by - but have you tried them? See for yourself whether the apps in the ads deliver on Apple’s promises.

“There are apps that help you catch a train” (New York Subway 09, $4.99): This one should come in handy for veteran straphangers, though its $4.99 price tag sets the bar high. While it does do great things - like provide stop-to-stop itineraries - we found the subway map to be lacking. There are no street names in Manhattan and, in the other boroughs, no streets, period. GRADE: C

“(If) you’d like to send a postcard home” (Postman, 99 cents): After you’ve snapped a photo with your iPhone and imported it into Postman, you can add a quick line of text - like “Wish you were here!” - on top of the photo, then flip it to add a longer message. Postman turns it into an e-postcard, complete with old-fashioned snail-mail postage, and allows you to share it via e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr or Postman’s Web site, or simply save it to your photo library. GRADE: B+

“If you wanna share contact info with a bump” (Bump, free): While we were able to share contacts and photos by bumping iPhones (actually, our hands - the app doesn’t ask you to risk your hardware), we first had to both log in and create Bump profiles. By then, we could have shipped them via standard e-mail without any fuss. GRADE: D

“(If) you wanna share a photo with a flick” (Mover, free): See above, except this one only works over WiFi, which makes it even more of an obstacle. GRADE: D-

GRAB IT: “(If you) wanna catch a game-winning run - live” (MLB.com At Bat, $9.99 in-season or free for At Bat Lite): Live game audio, pitch-by-pitch updates, video highlights and now an expanding live video streaming service make this the best app out there for baseball fans and probably the single best sports app, period. GRADE: A+

SKIP IT: “Apps that help you find your parking spot” (G-Park, 99 cents): This application uses GPS to pinpoint and map where you parked your car, leaving space in your brain for more important concerns, like who you might be meeting or what you’re doing there in the first place. Based on the reviews - they’re brutal - we’d advise you skip this one. In the Big Apple we don’t need GPS to tell us we’re parked on the corner of 33rd and Ninth. GRADE: D

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