TOP IPHONE APPS 2011

The iPhone 4S  which launched in october of 2011 bring with it the new version of iOS, 5.0, which is now available on older handsets, proving that iOS still continues to go from strength to strength.

There’s no slow down on the app front either, as the App Store continues to see plenty of useful apps appear. Here we’ve rounded up another ten of the best for 2011. These range from an app to keep you up to date on what’s happening daily, to one that will help you find the best prices for products online.

Photo editing and sharing application Instagram has been awarded the coveted title of iPhone App of the Year.

The free app combines beautiful photo editing tools including retro camera filters, tilt-shift, and arty effects with, according to Apple, one of the world’s fastest growing social networks.

Free app Tiny Tower picked up the award for the best iPhone game of the year. The addictive game lets players build their own tiny tower and manage the businesses and people inside.

iPhone App of the year runners-up include the $1.99 video mash-up app VidRhythm and the free music discovery app Band Of The Day.

Cute $0.99 jumping game Tiny Wings and $4.99 stunt racing gameTouchgrind BMX were runners-up in the best iPhone games for 2011 section.

The hugely popular Angry Birds game dominated Apple’s top paid and free apps for the year with multiple seasonal and spin-off versions making it into the top ten lists.

Apple’s selection of top apps by category for 2011:
Books - Bartleby’s Book of Buttons Vol. 2
Business - Salesforce Chatter
Education - ABC Play
Entertainment - HBO GO
Finance - Bloomberg Radio+
Games - Infinity Blade II
Health & Fitness - iMuscle – iPhone edition
Lifestyle - Cards
Medical - AirStrip – Cardiology
Music - GarageBand
Navigation - Localscope
News - Flipboard
Newsstand - NYTimes
Photo & Video - Photogene for iPhone
Productivity - Orchestra To-do
Reference - Wikibot
Social Networking - Find My Friends
Sports - MLB.com
Travel - Airbnb
Utilities - Living Earth HD
Weather - swackett

Top 10 paid iPhone apps for the year:

1. Angry Birds
2. Fruit Ninja
3. Angry Birds Seasons
4. Cut the Rope
5. Tiny Wings
6. Angry Birds Rio
7. Words With Friends
8. Camera+
9. Doodle Jump
10. Plants vs. Zombies

Top 10 free iPhone apps for the year:

1. Facebook
2. Pandora Radio
3. Words with Friends Free
4. Angry Birds Free
5. Skype
6. Netflix
7. Angry Birds Rio Free
8. Groupon
9. Fruit Ninja Lite
10. Twitter

Pandora

Pandora was a great service on your computer, but it’s even better on your phone. Having the free app means that you can discover new music on your morning commute, at the gym, or wherever you happen to be. If you already have an account, you can sign in and easily access any of the channels you created on the web. And don’t worry if you created an awesome channel on your phone — it will all transfer back to your account so you can access it on your computer.

Soundhound

Can’t name that song? There are myriad apps to help, but we think SoundHound is the best. Boot SoundHound up and let it listen to the track for a few seconds and it’ll spit back the track name. The app’s good at picking up the beat even over ambient noise like a bar crowd or a casual conversation. Best part? It’s totally free.

Camera+

If the iPhone’s standard camera is like a digital point-and-shoot, the Camera+ app is like a high-quality SLR lens. Developed by a professional photographer, Camera+ includes a burst mode for action shots, an image stabilizer and even a timer for self-portraits. But the real fun begins after you trip the shutter. The app lets you manipulate your photos with crops, borders, color tints and retro effects. For the iPhone user serious about taking beautiful photos, it’s $1.99 well spent.

Photoshop Express

There’s an awfully fine line between having too many complicated photo editing features on a device that fits in the palm of your hand and not having enough tools to get any real work done. Photoshop Express straddles that line quite nicely, thank you, by offering basic editing features, color adjustment, filters, a handful of essential effects and several borders. Best of all, it’s free.

Netflix

The Netflix app for iPhone comes on the heels of its iPad app, which was a monster hit. Subscribing to any of the monthly Netflix packages, which start at $7.99, gives iPhone users access to Netflix’s instant streaming queue anywhere, even on a 3G connection (though a wi-fi connection provides a better experience). It’s an ideal app for commuters or parents who want to keep their kids entertained on the go. One gripe: Customers can’t update their DVD-by-mail queue within the app, a surprising omission. Let’s hope that feature is part of the next update.

IMDb

The app takes the already-popular website and puts it in usable, fast-moving mobile form. Every film tidbit you’d ever want to know is on IMDb, including cast lists, plot summaries and critical reviews. It’s a one-stop shop for film buffs and trivia hounds, who can also search for showtimes nearby and even shop for DVDs through Amazon. You can even watch trailers for upcoming or just-released films, should you tire of reading.

Kindle

It used to be that to access Amazon’s 800,000+ Kindle library, you needed a Kindle. But the free Kindle app let’s you buy and read any ebook available on Amazon, including a wealth of free classic titles such as Dracula, Treasure Island, and Gulliver’s Travels. With many of the same features, like varying text sizes, word look-ups and free sample chapters, who needs an extra piece of hardware?

Pulse

If you’re looking to upgrade your Google Reader experience, this app lets you import feeds from Google and view them in a nifty interactive mosaic. Once you’ve added your web and news sources, you can swipe stories from left to right, or up and down. Three stories are visible at any given time, and after you’ve read a story it grays it out lest it become a distraction. All in all, it’s a refreshing way to consume your daily content.

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