Ten apps every iPhone user should own

A brilliant smartphone breeds brilliant apps. With the Apple iPhone, these “best ever” apps are not just worth checking out for a quick gaming thrill or because they’re interesting and unique.

They are the indispensible apps that every iPhone user should keep loaded at all times. And, they take advantage of the iPhone hardware in jaw-dropping ways.

For example, we have included a music app that lets you record a track and listen to a previous recorded track at the same time. Another allows you to control an arcade shooter with your finger, a visceral rush.

There are no lame ducks in this round-up, only the absolute best of the best.

1. Tweetdeck
One of the reasons Tweetdeck is so amazing is that it actually does more than Twitter.com itself, and runs on the iPhone as a portable app – which matches up well with the “life blogging” concept of Twitter. Tweetdeck shows you easy-to-read columns of those tweets (or status updates) you are following, with an easy to way to group tweets, save re-usable searches, follow topics, share photos, and even see new updates with just a shake of the iPhone.

2. Sonoma Wire Works FourTrack
The best music app for the iPhone, FourTrack is a true music sequencer in that you can record one track – say, a guitar or bass part – and then hear that track as you record vocals or other instruments. The app gets special attention because it is so easy to use – e.g., large sliders show you each track, and there’s one obvious record button – and records at high-quality. You can send your finished song to a PC or Mac to share your musical creation with the world.

3. Navigon MobileNavigator
Navigon has lived up to and exceeded their excellent reputation making apps for other smartphones with a this phenomenal iPhone GPS client. With an easier-to-understand interface than the TomTom GPS client for iPhone, 3D navigation that shows road markers and exits, location-sharing between Navigon users, and the best voice for turn-by-turn directions, the app accomplishes the goal of getting you from one location to another on the iPhone.

4. Google Mobile App
The free Google search client might not seem that exciting at first glance. After all, you can always search on the iPhone using the browser or by flicking all the way to the left (with iPhone OS 3.0). With the Google app running, however, you can raise the phone to your ear and the app listens to what you say automatically, then reports the search results.

5. Quickoffice
In a hard-fought battle against Documents-to-Go for iPhone, Quickoffice barely squeaks out with the victory by supporting both Word and Excel for document viewing editing — for the older 2003 versions, with a promise to support the latest 2007 version soon. (Docs-to-Go only supports Word editing.) With Quickoffice, there are also many options for sending offloading files from the iPhone after editing, using a Web site, the MobileMe service, or e-mail.

6. Guitar Toolkit
For one price, Guitar Toolkit does quite a few music-related tasks, a boon for guitar players or anyone who uses an instrument. You can tune using the iPhone, and the app is highly accurate. There are also features designed to teach you guitar, such as a chord chart – one that lets you strum the chord to hear what it sounds like – and a metronome.

7. HeavyMach
HeavyMach is one of the best mobile games ever created, pitching you in a science-fiction battle against enemies of all shapes and sizes. You tilt the iPhone to move, but most importantly – the more you tilt the more you move, so the game creates an extra sense of excitement. You tap to shoot, and can activate a jump or dash move to evade enemy fire.

8. Fieldrunners
Like HeavyMach, Fieldrunners creates tension and excitement by using the iPhone to its full extent: you control small “towers” that shoot at enemies as the crawl across the screen. The audio is excellent, graphics look stunning for a smartphone screen (better than the Nintendo DS), but the real draw is the frenetic gameplay, which involves intense strategy.

9. Metal Gear Solid Touch
The long-running Metal Gear series on the Playstation finds it way on to the iPhoen screen, and the result is – quite different. Instead of focusing on the rich storyline of the series, this arcade shooter emphasizes finger-quick response as you shoot down the bad guys. The rich graphics have a stark grayish tone and more depth than most games.

10. Skype
You might wonder: why install Skype on your iPhone? The app does not work with 3G service, and you can always use your iPhoen for calling. Yet, Skype allows you to save minutes on your calling plan by connecting over Wi-Fi, and you can purchase calling plans at Skype.com top receive calls from anyway, using your own Skype phone number. Skype also works great as an instant messaging client, and you can also sign-up for a voice mail account.

Words by John Brandon.

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