Instapaper is the original "read later" service that lets you save web pages for offline reading in a highly optimized, distraction free format. It also syncs them between your iOS devices and the Instapaper web site, so you can catch up on your reading pretty much anywhere. A recent update includes some very nice visuals with iBooks-style page-turning animations and gestures.

For those who don't like page-turning animation because they feel it's too slow, you'll be happy to know that the pagination mode has also been improved to be lightning fast and more accurate.

Some other changes include a new draggable dot bar to replace the scroll bat in pagination mode, new two-finger-swpie gesture to close an article, automatic full-screen switching, the ability to share Drafts and Quotebook apps, and you can now select the Twilight Sepia color tint at any time.

I'm a big fan of Instapaper. It's gorgeous and rock solid, but with other great contenders like Readability and Pocket, you may also want to check out our Instapaper vs Pocket vs Readability: Read later app for iPhone shootout.

$4.99 - Download Now

Rene and Seth talk WWDC 2012 and iOS 6, Apple's Q2 2012 financial results, free iPhone games, Instapaper vs Pocket vs Readability, and Google Drive. This is iPhone & iPad Live!

• Subscribe via iTunes: Audio | Video
• Subscribe via RSS: Audio | Video
• Download directly: Audio | Video

Meta

• Ultimate guide to iCloud
• How to fix cellular antenna reception problems on a Verizon or Sprint iPhone 4

WWDC 2012

• Apple announces WWDC 2012, June 11 – 15
• WWDC 2012 sells out in 2 hours. At $1600 a ticket. At 5:30am Pacific time.

Apple Financial Results

• Apple reports Q2 2012 results, 35.1 million iPhones, 11.8 million iPads, 7.7 million iPods, $11.6 billion in profit
• Highlights from Apple Q2 2012 financial results conference call
• Stellar Q2 2012 highlights why Apple is a must-own tech stock
• Verizon sells 3.2 million iPhones, earns $3.91 billion in Q1, 2012
• AT&T activates 4.3 million iPhones in Q1 2012, accounts for 78% of smartphone sales
• Sprint scrapes by in Q1 2012 with 1.5 million iPhone sales, sees $863 million net loss
• Tim Cook tells competitors to invent their own stuff — Apple is not the world’s developer
• Tim Cook thinks Apple’s iPad + MacBook Air strategy is better than Microsoft’s Windows 8 everywhere plan

Apps

• Best free iPhone games
• Instapaper vs Pocket vs Readability: Read later app for iPhone shootout!
• Google announces Google Drive, gives 5GB of free cloud storage to all users
• Eddy Cue says Apple can’t treat magazines differently than FarmVille when it comes to iBooks
• Yes, sometimes you do need to kill all the apps in your multitasking dock

Hosts

• Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie)
• Seth Clifford (@sethclifford)

Credits

You can reach all of us on Twitter @iMore, or you can email us at podcast@imore.com

For all our podcasts -- audio and video -- including iPhone and iPad Live, ZEN and TECH, Iterate, and more, see MobileNations.com/shows

If you haven't already please subscribe to all our shows in iTunes and leave a rating. It helps people find the show and means a lot to us!

Instapaper, Pocket (formerly known as Read It Later), and Readability are all great ways to "read later", or time-shift the Web articles and other content you don't have time to read now. (Think of them as TiVo for the web.) Some are highly focused on text, others also prioritize photos and videos. Some are highly focused on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad only, others offer more cross-platform and Android support. Each one tries to solve the same problem -- letting you enjoy the content you want to enjoy, when you want to enjoy it -- but goes about it in a different way. So which one does it best, and for whom?

Note: Instapaper, Pocket, and Readability all have support for both iPhone and iPad but we're focusing exclusively on the iPhone versions for this shootout.

Instapaper vs Pocket vs Readability: Design & Interface

Reading is a personal experience for most of us, and one that should always be be enjoyable. More than likely, you'll want to kick back and relax while catching up on the day's stories. While content is king, the experience you get while interacting with that content can be just as important for most.

Instapaper for iPhone uses a standard list view for separating sections. Clicking into the Read Later section presents you with a list of articles. The main page also contains any folders you've created listed at the bottom. While useable, the interface is rather boring.

Instapaper approaches saving articles in a fairly straight-forward way -- the table view and the file system. You can create folders on your iPhone to categorize and archive articles. Tap into the section you'd like to view and tap on an article you'd like to read. Your top tab, labeled Read Later, is where you'll find all the articles you've saved to the service. Articles are displayed in an a stripped down format, devoid of ads and other cruft, and that makes them really easy to read.

Instapaper also integrates a feature called tilt scrolling that, as the name implies, will scroll the page up and down as you tilt your iPhone. Tab into font settings to switch from light and dark mode, change the font type (with some beautiful new typefaces to choose from), increase or decrease font size, change line spacing, and to widen or narrow margins. Overall, Instapaper does a good job of formatting articles nicely. I have run into a few issues with how it formats images or headers on websites which can be bothersome at times.

Readability's name is well suited as it's obvious that their main goal is to make articles as readable as possible. This includes making menus and navigation as unobtrusive as possible while you're reading content.

Readability approaches things a bit differently when it comes to menus and organization. The main home screen will aggregate a list of your saved content. Tapping on the reading list button will allow you to navigate to items you've marked as favorites or view archived articles.

Readability also allows you to switch between light and dark modes and change the font to customize the experience. Their font choices are beautiful but not always optimal for long form reading. Where Readability really shines, however, is how it makes sure the focus is on having a seamless reading experience. When you tap into an article all the menus and navigation options disappear, leaving you with nothing but the content you want in front of you. Tap anywhere on the screen to bring up the menus. Swipe to the right to bring up your main reading list again.

Pocket for iPhone takes a new approach with their re-designed and re-named application. The interace is very clean but colorful and useful at the same time. Organizing articles by tags, archiving or deleting them, and changing settings is straight forward. Pocket also makes it easy to switch between a scaled down and full blown version of a web page with the tap of a button.

Pocket has newly designed interface to go with its new name. Just like Readability and Instapaper, you can change the margins, fonts, switch from dark to light mode, and customize the experience. But that's pretty much where the similarities end.

Pocket treats photos and videos as first-class citizens alongside articles. You can sort by articles that contain images, video, or just plain text articles. You can also bulk edit from the main screen. Simply tap the edit button and either trash articles, mark them as read, or tag them with categories.

When inside an article, Pocket allows you to quickly switch from a scaled down version and the full blown web version of a saved clip. And toggling between them is super fast. It's also great at rendering inline images, and is really smart about what content should and shouldn't be presented.

While all three have easy to use interfaces, their designs are very different. Instapaper is almost old-school in its presentation, but incredibly focused in its choices. Readability looks very good but the edge goes to Pocket which has the best mix of presentation of functionality. The ability to easily edit and sort articles is great and the interface is both powerful and accessible.

Instapaper vs Pocket vs Readability: Cross-platform support

If you have multiple devices, whether it's an iPhone and iPad, or iPhone and Kindle Fire, or some other combination, being able to access the content you saved on the platforms you use is important. Here's what Instapaper, Pocket, and Readability support:

Instapaper

• iPhone
• iPad
• Kindle Fire

Readability

• iPhone
• iPad
• Android
• Kindle Fire

Pocket

• iPhone
• iPad
• Android
• Kindle Fire

Instapaper doesn't provide official support for Android and none of them seem to officially support BlackBerry or Windows Phone. So for now, it's a tie between Pocket and Readability as far as native mobile app support goes.

Instapaper vs Pocket vs Readability: 3rd party app support

In order for a "read later" service to be of service, it has to be readily available from the apps you use all day. Because Instapaper, Pocket, and Readability have all been around for a while, in one form or another, you can find support for all three services in many of the most popular Twitter, RSS, and similar apps.

Tie.

Instapaper vs Pocket vs Readability: Desktop Support

Instapaper, Readability, and Pocket all provide web browser plug-ins to easily save content to read later, and all offer a web-based way to access this content when and where you want to access it. Just like the mobile apps, however, the experience will be different across each client.

Instapaper on the web sticks to the standard format of just listing articles on a page. You can click into them to view the full blown desktop version or view a text version as well. It gets the job done but it's nothing too exciting.

Instapaper's website sticks to the standard table view of articles. Clicking one takes you to the full article. You can also choose to view a text version or to archive it. It gets the job done and does it well but just like the app, it isn't very exciting to look at.

Readability on the web provides a simliar experience to Readability on the iPhone. The layout and icons are very simliar and easy to find. Each article also has sharing options directly underneath it.

Readability's website also provides an experience that's a closely tied to their iPhone app, and that makes it really usable. It doesn't hide navigation the way the website does, but due to the bigger canvas they have to work with, that's not a problem. You can find your main navigation off the to left and each article will have sharing options and edit options directly underneath it. Easy to use and easy to maintain.

Pocket provides an experience on the web that's a bit different. It looks almost exactly the same as the iPhone and iPad interface. The experience is seamless regardless what device you're reading on. Users will appreciate that.

Pocket's website also tries to be as close to the mobile experience as possible. At least when it comes to layout and format. You can, of course, view full blown articles but the layout feels very simliar. You actually don't even feel like you're on a website for the most part. It feels like you're browsing right from your phone but with the bigger screen real-estate of your computer monitor. Same functionality, same basic layout, just full blown articles.

Since the websites all mirror the apps to a greater or lesser degree, just like with the app, Pocket has the edge here.

Instapaper vs Pocket vs Readability: Cost

If cost is a factor to you, you'll be happy to know that both Pocket and Readability are available for free. (At least up front, at least for now.)

Instapaper costs $4.99 but it's a universal app so you'll only need to purchase once. There's also an optional subscription service that offers additional functionality.

Readability also has a -- now optional, still controversial -- subscription service.

Some users will no doubt prefer the presumed security that comes from paying for an app or service, most just want free stuff, no questions asked.

Tie between Readability and Pocket.

Instapaper vs Pocket vs Readability: Conclusion

While Instapaper vs Pocket vs Readability all have great native apps, fantastic web sites, and excellent services, they all come to the table with very different focuses and approaches.

Power iOS-only users might love Instapaper's thoughtful functionality and no-frills design, while cross-platform users might find it too austere and limited.

New users might take a liking to Readbility's good looks and high level of integration, while power users might find it a bit limited. (Their business model, which we won't get into here, is also a turn-off to some.)

Cross-platform and multimedia users might enjoy Pockets wider device support, slick interface, and first-class handling of photos and videos. Dedicated iOS-centric, article-centric users might not like the broader focus.

So which is the best?

Pocket.

The re-design brought with it much greater attention to detail and it really shows. Pocket provides the best design and user experience for the broadest base of users, both on the app and on the website.

If you're already all-in on Instapaper and video isn't a priority for you, there's no reason to switch to anything else. If you want more than articles, or you're new to the whole idea of "read later" and time-shifting content, give Pocket a go. It's free, so there's no risk to try it out, and you may be surprised how quickly you start saving things you happen upon on the web.

If you've been "reading later" for a while and have a personal preference, let us know why in our iPhone apps forum.

Pocket - Free - Download Now

Readability - Free - Download Now

Instapaper - $4.99 - Download Now

Instapaper is the original "read later" service that lets you save web pages for offline reading in a highly optimized, distraction free format. It also syncs them between your iOS devices and the Instapaper web site, so you can catch up on your reading pretty much anywhere. It has just been updated to version 4.1 and optimized for the new iPad's Retina display. Instapaper has also added six beautiful, carefully selected new fonts. This all combines to make for an absolutely gorgeous reading experience on the new iPad.

For those who enjoy distraction-free reading, not only does Instapaper strip away everything but the text of an article, the app itself becomes remarkably clean -- you can tap on the article you're reading to hide the toolbars at the top of the screen, allowing you to fully immerse yourself in the content.

Another interesting addition to Instapaper is what they call "Twilight Sepia". I'm sorry undead teen romance fans, this does not mean you can flip a switch that shows sepia-toned images of Edward and Jacob. Rather, Twilight Sepia is the sunset-based Automatic Dark Mode that slightly tints the screen with a sepia tone during sunset hours before going to Dark Mode at night.

There is also some new gestures included in Instapaper to exit an article. If pagination -- a feature that breaks long articles into a series of book-like pages -- is inactive, just swipe to the right. If you're using pagination, swipe right when on the first page or swipe left when on the last page to exit the article. (Otherwise swiping lets you move back and forth through the pages).

Instapaper support, the ability to send an article to Instapaper, is a feature included in many apps including most Twitter apps. You can also add a bookmarklet to both the browser on your computer and Mobile Safari so you can save any article you find on the web. Instapaper walks you through the process of adding the bookmarklet to your iPhone and iPad, making it very easy to start sending articles to Instapaper.

If you're unfamiliar with bookmarklets, they're simply bookmarks that, instead of opening a webpage, work like tiny programs. When tapping Instapaper's bookmarklet, it adds the current webpage to your Instapaper account and flashes "Saving..." and "Saved" across your screen.

When you launch Instapaper, it will also check your clipboard and, if you've copied a web page address, will offer to save it for you. This makes it especially convenient for iPhone users who see an interesting article on the go, maybe in Twitter or Facebook, or while surfing the web while waiting in line, but don't have time to read it right then or there. With a couple taps, it can go right into Instapaper where it's available for you whenever you have time to put your grab your iPad, put your feet up, and enjoy.

Instapaper is the most popular "read later" service for a reason. It's been around for a while and is always rock solid. The user interface is incredibly thoughtful and super easy to use. All your articles stay in sync between your iPad, iPhone, and computer making it a seamless, beautiful experience.

$4.99 - Download Now

More: Introducing Instapaper 4.1 for iPhone, iPad

Noteshelf made our iPads useful in planning sessions. Elements made Dropbox note-taking sing.

[Orchestra To-Do] (http://www.imore.com/tag/orchestra-to-do) packed out tasks with functionality. Due made reminders quick and powerful.

Instapaper put everything we wanted to read in our pockets, but better. Screens took iOS back to our Macs.

A ton of very different apps to be sure, but all of them helped us get stuff done, and it's your job to pick the very best one.

Vote up top and tell us why you voted they way you did in the comments! These are your awards, so get to it!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Instapaper - @sethclifford

This week's pick was an easy one. Instapaper has long been one of my favorite apps, and I've been using it for years. Developer Marco Arment has released an incredible update to the app this week, one of the biggest (if not the biggest) in the lifespan of the app. Instapaper 4.0 has so many new features, I'm not even going to list them here (plus, if my geek-Cylon intuition is right, a certain other TiPb editor is likely to be talking about them somewhere in this very post - if he doesn't though, you can read about them here in depth). I will, however, tell you that my favorite part of the new update to Instapaper is without a doubt its interface changes.

Marco has made subtle changes to the UI that improve both readability and function without sacrificing anything. I am completely smitten with the extra screen space at the top of saved articles now, as well as the clean, dark theme and the new icon on my home screen. And I haven't even touched on the incredible changes to the iPad version! (Again, I'm banking on that other editor to go into it.)

If you've never tried Instapaper, or perhaps tried it in the past and haven't seen it in a while, check out the update. It's substantial, and a great new take on an old favorite of mine. Plus, Marco is a super nice guy and I'm sure he'd appreciate it. Just don't email him…

[$4.99 - App Store link]

iTunes Movie Trailers - @chrisoldroyd

This weeks pick is iTunes Movie Trailers by Apple. By rights I shouldn't have this as its only available in the United States and I am in the UK; it is not available outside of the US for whatever reason the movie studios thought of at that particular time. Did I tell you how much I hate the movie studios and how they fail to apply any common sense to the decisions they make?

Anyway back to my pick, this app looks simple but it looks beautiful too. It's a grid of the latest movies, you click them and watch the trailer. That's it basically, the trailers look great on the iPad screen and whet your appetite for the full movie. You can also view trailers in a calendar view; which shows you when the movies will be released as well as a top 25 view of what is currently playing in theaters too. The theaters tab uses your location using GPS or you can manually input a ZIP Code. You can then go and purchase theater tickets which is obviously US only.

Trailers is a universal binary so works on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch!

[Free - App Store link]

box.net - @Alli_Flowers

Another online storage solution, box.net offers the same kind of features you get everywhere else. Unlike the others, box.net is currently giving away 50GB of storage absolutely free, just for installing and using the iOS box.net app.

Access all the files you have stored in your box.net account easily with the iOS app. Upload photos directly from the camera, of browse your library.

I see no reason to limit yourself to a single online storage solution, so I recommend grabbing this while you can get the 50GB. Who can't use an extra 50GB of storage?!

[Free - App Store link]

My Secret Folder - @andrewwray

My Secret Folder is a great way to make sure all your hidden photos and documents stay hidden. The app locks down any important or sensitive items with a passcode, preventing unauthorized users from accessing your important documents, photos and more. The great thing about My Secret Folder is when someone tries to get access but enters an incorrect passcode, the app will quietly snap a photo of the perpetrator with location information so you know who's tried to break in.

My Secret Folder also camouflages the app icon to look like a regular folder on the homescreen so nobody will even know it's an app. What's more is that My Secret Folder was recently updated to version 1.5, letting you add things like secrete notes, private contacts and bookmarks. There's even a porn mode browser for those other sites you like to visit, and you can snap photos from directly within the app to help save time. If you're looking for an effective way to lock down your sensitive documents and photos, this is the app you've been looking for.

[$0.99 - App Store Link]

The Early Edition 2 for iPad - @llofte

The Early Edition was the original newspaper that launched alongside the iPad and in my opinion, it was "meh". However, Glasshouse Apps did a fabulous job with The Early Edition 2 and I think it's great!

The Early Edition isn't your typical newspaper of popular news - it's of news that's important to you. Basically, it's an RSS reader that pulls all your feeds together and displays them in the format of a newspaper, but it does it so beautifully.

I've said this a million times on TiPb, but I'm a sucker for a good UI, and The Early Edition is some great eye candy. On the iPad 2, it runs butter smooth and it's all the little details that make it great. For example, if you turn the pages slowly enough, you can see the print on the back of each page. Little things like this make me smile.

Seriously, I'm loving this app.

[$4.99 - App Store link]

Siri - @reneritchie

I was originally going to pick Instapaper 4 or The Early Edition 2 and was having a really hard time choosing between them, but now that Seth and Leanna have removed that dilemma by neatly, preemptively picking both, I can move on to something lamer yet simultaneously even more genuine.

I haven't used anything on my iPhone 4S more this week than the built-in, artificially intelligent voice control system with the Pixar personality Apple wisely kept calling Siri.

If you've tried Dragon Dictate, if you've tried Vlingo, you've only tried 25% of Siri. It understands relationships. It understands context. It ties into location and the other built-in apps. It doesn't just listen, it converses.

It doesn't nail every word or action every time, but it's not much worse than human generated typos, damn-you-autocorrects, and wrong button/icon presses either. In fact, for most of what I do when I'm on the go Siri is not only fine, it's extra ordinary.

I use Siri to set location based reminders so I really will call my friend back when I get home (and Siri helpfully pops up the number, ready to call, to make it even more exceptionally convenient.) I use it to send emails and messages while I'm driving and couldn't safely or legally type them out. I use it to dictate Tweets and quick replies while I'm working on my Mac and don't want to interrupt the flow by jumping between apps.

The original Mac wasn't to GUI-based computing what OS X Lion is, and Siri probably isn't to whatever the mature natural voice interface ultimately ends up becoming, but like the original Mac, it's finally off to one hell of a mainstream start.

I even used Siri to dictate and mail this Pick of the Week...

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

iOS 5 brings a lot of great new features to iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad but more than that -- it lets developers bring us even better apps and games! Whether it's a great old app that's been updated with amazing new functionality, or a brand new app that never would have been possible before, they now get access to everything from Documents in the Cloud to AirPlay Mirroring to Twitter integration to Newsstand, to persistent location and more.

There will no doubt be a flood of them soon but for right now, right this minute, here are a list of our favorites, the ones we think are the best -- TiPb's Top 5 apps that support awesome new iOS 5 features!

iWork Numbers, Pages, and Keynote (Documents in the Cloud)

Apple's iWork productivity suite includes the Numbers spreadsheet, the Pages word processor, and the Keynote presentation maker. While not as powerful as Microsoft's ubiquitous Office suite, for smaller jobs they can make for even more beautiful, better laid out documents. And now, Documents in the Cloud. It only makes sense that Apple is right out of the gate with iCloud support for their own apps, and that the support is pretty good. Any Numbers, Pages, or Keynote document that you start on your iPhone or iPad is stored up on iCloud and pushed back down to all your other devices, including -- eventually -- the iWork apps on the Mac.

There's no file system, no file management. The idea is for you to simply open your apps and find your documents there waiting for you, up to date and ready for more. If editing on all your iOS and OS X devices is important for you, iWork is now a powerful, easy way to do it.

Note: iWork apps are universal, so you only have to buy once to use on all your iOS devices, including iPhone and iPad. However, each app needs to be bought separately, and the Mac versions need to be bought separately as well.

• Numbers - $9.99 App Store link
• Pages - $9.99 - [App Store link](mt=8 http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=xhXvKggNk&subid=&offerid=146261.1&type=10&tmpid=3909&RD_PARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fapp%2Fpages%2Fid361309726%3Fmt%3D8)
• Keynote - $9.99 App Store link

Magazine and newspaper apps (Newsstand)

While many people seem to hate even the presence of Newsstand on their home screens, it actually manages to very neatly solve several problems previously associated with subscription media like magazines and newspapers. It's really just a custom folder, and magazines and newspapers are still served up as apps, but Newsstand keeps them all in one place, updates automagically when new issues "come out", and takes you to a subscription section of the App Store so you don't have to wade through games and novelty apps to find your periodicals.

Those magazine and newspaper apps had to update for iOS 5 to support Newsstand, but many already have and many more will update shortly. If subscriptions are your thing, Newsstand, if not perfect, is certainly better.

Note: Some apps are universal, many aren't. Check for the + symbol on a case-by-case basis.

• Variable - App Store link

Real Racing 2 and Real Racing 2 HD (AirPlay Mirroring)

FireMint is always at the cutting edge of iOS gaming and iOS 5 is no different. They've already updated Real Racing 2 for iPhone and Real Racing 2 HD for iPad to support the new AirPlay Mirroring feature. It lets you stream your iPhone 4S or iPad 2 interface -- including any app or game -- through an Apple TV to a big screen HDTV. FireMint takes it to a whole new level -- they offer full on Party Play. What that means is you and up to 4 people total can each use an iPhone 4S or iPad 2 to race, multiplayer style, on the big screen. Not only is that a whole lot of fun -- it's a shot across the bow of every console in the casual gaming space.

Hopefully soon we'll see all sorts of board games, shooters, and other great titles support to feature. Until then we'll be busy playing Real Racing 2.

Note: It's not a universal binary, so you'll have to buy it separately for iPhone and iPad if you want it on both, but right now it's on 40% sale so it's as close to a no brainer as you can get.

• $2.99 on sale - iPhone App Store
• $3.99 on sale - iPad App Store

iQuick Tweet (Twitter Integration)

iOS 5 has built-in Twitter integration so you can rapidly tweet a photo, YouTube video, etc. iQuick Tweet smartly took that rapidity and made it the focus of a dedicated app. You launch, you type a Twitter status, you hit send, you're done. It's just that simple and it's just that fast.

If you want to read timelines, search through @mentions, explore profiles, check trends, or do a lot of other stuff besides tweeting, there's an embarrassment of full fledged Twitter clients on iOS, but if all you want to do is blast off a message, iQuick Tweet has you covered.

• $0.99 - iPhone App Store link

foursquare (Location)

For iOS 5 users, foursquare now offers the new Radar feature, with ability to alert you when your friends are near and doing something fun -- even if your iPhone is in your pocket. This awesome -- or terrifying -- new feature means you don't have to have your iPhone out and foursquare open all the time, in constant fear you might miss out on what's happening around you. While it's not as granular as Apple's new Find my Friends app, if your goal is to know where the cool stuff is happening, foursquare Rader is a lot more powerful.

• Free - iPhone App Store

Bonus: Instapaper (Brightness and Dictionary)

Favored as the best way to devour web articles by geeks everywhere, Instapaper proves that it's not just the big, flashy iOS 5 features that can make a difference -- the little ones matter too. Support for the built-in dictionary and native brightness controls means downloading the app is faster, and reading your saved articles is more comfortable than ever. (The UI has also received an excellent overhaul.)

Note: Instapaper is a universal app so you can buy it once and use it on all your iOS devices.

• $4.99 - App Store link

Addenda: Jailbreak apps

A lot of Jailbreak apps and tweaks are also being updated to support iOS 5. If Jailbreak is where your heart lies, keep your browser locked on TiPb.com/Jailbreak for all the updates.

Your favorite new iOS 5 apps?

iOS 5 is only a week old and we've only just begun to scratch the surface of what iOS 5 apps and games will bring to our iPhones and iPads. Did we miss any of your favorites? Did we leave any of the best new apps and updates out? Is there anything else that should have made our top 5 list?

If so, speak up and let us know in the comments!

Instapaper, the popular iPhone and iPad app that saves online material for offline reading, has been updated to 4.0. The interface has been complete redesigned, there is a new search subscription available for searching for the full contents of every article you've ever saved, and much more!

Great for long articles and blog posts that you find during the day and would like to read, but don't have the time when you find them. Save with Instapaper, then read later when you're commuting, in a meeting, or waiting in line.

Here's the update notes:

• Completely redesigned iPad list interface as a grid with sidebar
• Redesigned iPhone interface with a black-and-white theme
• Multi-select articles in list to archive, delete, or move in bulk
• Search Subscription: the $1/month Subscription from the Instapaper website is now available in the app via In-App Purchase. It's called Search Subscription, and it adds server-side searching of the full contents of every article you've ever saved. This replaces the old downloaded-articles-only search in the app.
• Archive and Delete now peacefully coexist everywhere
• App Directory (in Settings) lists apps that integrate with Instapaper
• Hardware brightness control in iOS 5 (brightness now also available on iPhone)
• Draggable scrollbar for quickly jumping through documents
• Article authors, published dates, and site titles are now displayed when available (availability will increase over time)
• "Friends" section can now browse all recent links posted in your Facebook news feed, Twitter timeline, and Tumblr Dashboard
• "Editors" is now fully intergrated and sourced exclusively from Give Me Something To Read
• New settings to customize number of Liked/Archive articles stored on device
• Wikipedia lookups added to newly redesigned "Define" popups
• Footnotes are converted to inline "..." buttons that display in popovers
• [iPhone] Option to hide the status bar while reading (hidden by default)
• [iPhone] Redesigned font (ᴀA) panel to be like iPad's
• [iPhone] Redesigned Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Pinboard, Evernote share forms
• YouTube URLs now open in the system's YouTube app
• New option to use Apple's dictionary under iOS 5
• Minor improvements to the in-article styling
• Smoother tilt scrolling that works well in all orientations
• New icon
• Added Tweetbot and The Hit List to Share panel
• When updating, the entire table no longer reloads after each article downloads. It now just reloads once after the main update request, showing all (even un-downloaded) articles, and they enable themselves as they get downloaded.

Instapaper is available on the iPhone and iPad for $4.99.

[App Store link]

Have an app you'd love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we'll take a look.

Marco Arment, creator of the popular Instapaper app for the iPhone and iPad, noticed an problem related to changes made in iOS 5 tied to iCloud backups.

A common scenario: an Instapaper customer is stocking up an iPad for a long flight. She syncs a bunch of movies and podcasts, downloads some magazines, and buys a few new games, leaving very little free space. Right before boarding, she remembers to download the newest issue of The Economist. (I think highly of my customers.) This causes free space to fall below the threshold that triggers the cleaner, which — in the background, unbeknownst to her — deletes everything that was saved in Instapaper. Later in the flight, with no internet connectivity, she goes to launch Instapaper and finds it completely empty.

(Last week, almost this exact scenario happened to one of my customers.)

Apps like eBook readers, podcast clients, offline mapping programs and even Apple's own iBooks app (as long as Apple is following its own rules) would have its cached data wiped clean if ever the device runs low on space.

Hit the link below for Arment's detailed explanation of the problem.

Source: Marco Arment

Apple's iOS 5 built-in a lot of new, basic functionality previously filled by 3rd party App Store apps, which effectively "Sherlocked" those apps, rendering them redundant in a post-iOS 5 world. Or did it? There's a world of difference between basic functionality that serves the needs of only the most casual user, and advanced functionality with enough control and features to satisfy a hardcore pro.

What Apple did with iOS 5, as with previous generations of iOS, is take away the entry-level business of several prominent 3rd party apps, but still left them with the premium, higher order market. While it's always dangerous creating an enterprise based on glaring functionality holes Apple will almost certainly fill at some point in the future, there's just as much opportunity building a great product that Apple's entry into the space can benefit.

Here are a 5 apps (and a couple things more) I think could make that case.

Instapaper

Marco Arment's excellent read-it-later client, Instapaper, which strips away everything but body content from web articles and lets you store it on his web service and access it via a paid iOS app, at first glance, looks threatened by Apple's new Reader and Reading List features in iOS 5 for iPad and iPhone, and OS X Lion Safari. However, as any long term Instapaper user knows (and Arment himself will tell you), Instapaper goes far beyond the bare-bones, Readabiliy-derived, bookmark-synced implementation Apple is providing. Arment uses the example of how Apple baking RSS into Safari and Mail hasn't hurt dedicated RSS readers like Google Reader, Reeder, NetNewsWire, etc., and it's not a terrible. While Google's entry into navigation (with the free Google Maps Navigation) was met by a similar response from traditional turn-by-turn navigation vendors, Instapaper isn't a recurring monthly charge or a massive up-front expenditure. It is well regarded and has a devoted install base, and more importantly it has a passionate and creative developer who's probably as happy to occupy the high end against Reader/Reading List the way MacBook's occupy it against cheap netbooks.

Arment was smart, however, to drop the free version before Apple launched Reader/Reading List.

Camera+

Just like Apple put a hurt on HDR (high dynamic range) app makers with iOS 4, the addition of Twitter integration, gridlines, and basic photo editing tools will be challenging for App Store apps that previously filled those post-production and easy sharing niches. There's an especially bitter irony here for Camera+, however, as the Lisa Bettany-driven, Tap Tap Tap built, filter-filled shooter was previously removed from the App Store for using a private API that enabled the volume button to be used as a shutter switch -- something Apple has now added as default to the built-in Camera app in iOS 5. Whether you consider that fair or foul, in a post iOS 5 world, Camera+ still offers those previously mentioned filters. And as for the elements iOS 5 does include, some still seem to prefer Camera+'s implementation. So neither Camera+, nor other popular apps like Hipstamatic or Instagram are in immediate danger.

(Ironically, Apple's iBooks did much the same to Tap Tap Tap's Classic following iOS 4 [Hat tip, @arnoldkim])

LockInfo

LockInfo, the brilliant lock screen information and pull-down notification manager by David Ashman, was the primary reason I jailbroke under iOS 4.x. iOS was (and still is, outside the iOS 5 beta) a modal, interruptive bag of notification hurt, and LockInfo was my salve. With iOS 5's Notification Center, however, Apple has taken almost direct inspiration, offering both the lock screen info and the pull-down notifications that made LockInfo so indispensable. But again, Apple is -- so far -- only covering the basics. As Ashman told us during our video interview at WWDC 2011 there's a lot that LockInfo does that Apple's Notification Center still doesn't do. LockInfo provides quick access to full mail texts, for example, and has a plugin architecture for extensibility. Those who only need very basic, unobtrusive notifications will be fine with Notification Center. Power users will still want LockInfo's fuller feature set.

Todo

Whether you're a fan of Appigo's Todo, or of another app like Omni's OmniFocus, Cultured Code's Things, you probably thought there was no way Apple would ever enter their space. They hadn't in 4 versions of iOS, after all, and since Steve Jobs has assistants to manage his lists, there was a slim chance he even noticed the gap. (That's a joke, I know he doesn't code the entire OS himself. He has people for that too...). Enter Reminders in iOS 5. Time aware, location aware, it will help you get things done whenever, and wherever you need, and unlike Things it offers sync -- with iCal, after a fashion -- from day one. But it's rather spartan. It does what it does simply and elegantly (if you like paper textures), and that's about it. One-trick list-making apps and alarm apps are in a lot of trouble, but deep, highly productive, nerdy apps like Todo and Omnifocus, and even more able alarm apps like Due will still be required for more complex time management. Even Omni's premium price probably won't cause them too many problems since at that price people who get OmniFocus want OmniFocus, they don't want Reminders.

[$4.99 - iTunes link]

Kik

BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) is such a platform lock-in for RIM that it's not surprising astute developers made direct messaging apps for iPhone, including Kik, Whatsapp, and the now Facebook-owned Beluga. That's probably the very reason Apple introduced iMessage in iOS 5, to provide platform users the ability to quickly, easily, and cheaply text each other. (Roshambo'ing the carriers by building it into the previously SMS/MMS-only Messages app was no doubt the cherry on that feature Sunday.) But here's the thing -- Kik isn't a platform owner, so they have no vested interest in locking their users into a platform. Instead, they want to lock them into the app/service, and so they make them cross-platform (though RIM has pulled Kik from BlackBerry App World due to a legal dispute). This means, while they're still proprietary and you're still locked in, you can message people on non-Apple mobile devices, and if you ever switch to a non-Apple mobile device (perish the thought), you can bring your contacts with you. BBM might eventually go cross-platform, Twitter might one day supplant messaging apps, or -- please, oh please -- someone might actually build a great service with non-proprietary pipes on top of Jabber (or something similar), but for now only iOS-to-iOS only users will have any incentive to switch.

Jailbreak

Right before the WWDC 2011 keynote I asked Saurik, founder of Cydia, if Apple was out to make Jailbreak irrelevant. He didn't think they could, and neither did I, but Apple is certainly going through the list of compelling reasons to Jailbreak and checking them off in the stock software, at least some of them, at least to some degree. I already mentioned LockInfo, but Apple still doesn't offer any form of quick actions, like BiteSMS does for responding to text messages without having to switch to the Messages app. Apple doesn't offer quick access either, like SBSettings does for toggling Wi-Fi, Blue Tooth, Airplane Mode, etc. Apple doesn't offer themes beyond wall papers. And like a host of other apps do for a host of other features Apple can't or won't yet support. Nor do I think Apple wants to kill Jailbreak. Aside for their not going out of their way to kill recent exploits (with the exception of easily targetable malware vectors like web-based PDF attacks), it gives Apple a free expert mode and public test bed -- an incubator to see ideas and metaphors tried out on a scale their own secrecy would never allow. They have to have some way of vetting features for next year's iOS 6, right?

Android

As I was writing this article, Seth Weintraub joked that, with iOS 5, Apple tried to Sherlock Android. It's fair to say that however many checkboxes Apple was trying to take away from Jailbreak, they were trying just as hard to take them away from Google's competing OS. While Android's "openness" is disingenuous, their relative freedom and powerful feature set are inarguable. You can still do more on a stock Android device than you can on a stock iPhone, but the gap narrowed with iOS 5. (Ignoring for the moment rooting vs. Jailbreak which is a different conversation). Android still has widgets, it still has skins (a mixed blessing but an important one to many users), it still offers tons of customization options, and hooks into the OS Apple will probably never provide. It's a different OS, operating under a different model, but that will no doubt appeal to a different type of user. And most importantly for iOS, it will keep pushing Apple to check off those boxes and narrow that gap even further.

Who's Sherlocking who?

With iOS 5, Apple certainly killed the low-end, casual market for a lot of iPhone and iPad apps. (Just like they've done with previous generations of iOS, including Installer for Jailbreak when they released the App Store with iOS 2.) For the best-in-class, however, for the premium apps with the pro-level functionality, it's possible Apple's entry into their space will validate their functionality and introduce them to a much larger audience. Only time will tell if they ultimately lose any sales to the new built-in apps, or gain even more customers due to increased awareness. But this has happened before and it will happen again, and the really savvy developers will have positioned their really great apps to take full advantage, and perhaps kill a certain lucrative segment of the built-in apps' user base.

By building Safari Reading List and Safari Reader into iOS 5 Safari -- much as they've built them into OS X Lion -- Apple provides a similar uncluttered reading and sync service to Marco Arment's well known Instapaper app. Arment isn't raging however. In fact, he's a little excited.

When iOS 5 and Lion ship, Apple will show a much larger percentage of iOS-device owners that saving web pages to read later is a useful workflow and can dramatically improve the way they read.

If Reading List gets widely adopted and millions of people start saving pages for later reading, a portion of those people will be interested in upgrading to a dedicated, deluxe app and service to serve their needs better. And they’ll quickly find Instapaper in the App Store.

Apple took over the low end of a lot of app categories during Monday's WWDC 2011 iOS 5 unveiling. Notifications, Reminders, and Reading List will make it difficult to sell basic notification apps, to do apps, and read-it-later apps. Anyone with free version that offer limited functionality are likely done.

But Arment has a point. LockInfo is more powerful than Apple's Notifications, Appigo Todo and OmniFocus blow away Reminders, and Instapaper does far more than Reading List. For power users, they likely still have their place.

Any Instapaper users planning on giving it up?

[Marco.org]

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Pimp Your Screen - @GeorgiaTiPb

I really enjoy being able to customize my iPhone background as much as possible, Pimp Your Screen allows you to do just that. I had so much fun selecting among the various wallpapers in order to get that perfect look. There is a vast amount of beautiful backgrounds that will appeal to men and women. Take this application for a spin and let me know which wallpaper you choose.

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Memorable Meals - @alli_flowers

My friends love to tease me because every time we go out to eat, I take pictures of the food. Sometimes when a dish is brought out, it's like a delicious piece of art, and I want to remember it. So when I saw the app Memorable Meals, I thought it might help with this budding hobby of mine.

Memorable Meals allows you to track meals that are, well, memorable. You note what meal it is - lunch, dinner, breakfast, or if it's an appetizer. Remember where you had it and what the occasion was. Lots of room for notes, and even voice annotation. My only complaint is that you can only attach one photo per entry.

One of the nice features is the search function. Let's say you're trying to remember what you had that was especially delicious at a particular restaurant, or what someone made at a dinner party - you can easily find it.

And I discovered when using Memorable Meals tonight, that by entering the photos in an app, my friends no longer make fun of the activity. Go figure.

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Consume - @andrewwray

Bjango has a lot of great apps in the App Store, but I think my favorite has to be Consume. Consume is a sort of all-in-one tracking app that lets you keep tabs on your mobile phone usage (minutes, texts, data etc), broadband use, track packages or club memberships and a number of other cool things. Recently AT&T started cracking down on unauthorized MyWi users who tether their iPhone connection to different devices without an official tethering plan. Some speculate that they're only targeting heavy data users, so I've been using Consume a lot over the past couple of days to closely monitor data transfers when I tether so I can stay under the radar.

Rene was able to talk to Marc Edwards of Bjango last year about how Consume works and some of the other cool things you can do with it, and they've done a great job of keeping the app up-to-date and functional. If you're looking for an app with awesome design and great functionality then go ahead and give Consume a try for free!

[Free - iTunes link]

Instapaper 3 - @reneritchie

Instapaper 3 is a big update to an already great app. The major focus is on social integration to aid in reading discovery but you know what, and while I'm sure many new users will appreciate that, I've grown accustomed to using Instapaper in its classical sense -- to "save" articles I want to read later. These are typically articles I come across while working that I just don't have time to read now on my Mac but hope to be able to at some point when I'm waiting with my iPhone or curled up with my iPad. It's less about discovery -- for me -- and all about getting reading done. For that it has always, and continues to shine.

There are some minor nags -- I love the tilt-to-scroll feature on the iPhone version's toolbar but it's absent on the iPad version's. It's gimmicky but cool and I'd like it on both. [Update: Tilt-scrolling can be enabled on iPad via Settings pane, Scroll mode per @instapaper. Sorry about that!] Likewise I love the pagination option on iPad and would like it on iPhone as well, along with the page-turning animation we've gotten used to in iBooks, Kindle, and other reading apps. The reason I'm bringing this up is that the developer, Marco Arment, appears to put so much thought into interface and usability. It makes you want to talk about it. For example, if you try to page and the feature isn't toggled on, it asks you if you want to turn it on. If you tap the top bar it takes you to the top as you'd expect but asks you if you meant to tap it and offers you the option to return to where you were in case you tapped it by accident.

There's so much thoughtfulness in the app that Instapaper is as much a blueprint for how to design a great app as it is a reading client.

[$4.99 - iTunes link]

FX Photo Studio - @iMuggle

FX Photo Studio is available for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. If you've used Instagram, you'll love this app. Just like apps like Instagram, it lets you overlay effects onto your photos. But FX Photo studio also allows you to layer effects. I spent tons of time recently experimenting with different effects and settings. It also lets you do other things like cropping, flipping, and other basic photo editing functions. If you find an effects mix that you like, you can save it to your presets tab as well for easy access later.

It's definitely a great app to have handy for anyone who edits and shares a lot of pictures online. Check it out and let us know what you think!

[$1.99 - iTunes Link]

Cooking Mana - @skeetobite

I have selected Cooking Mama as my pick of the week. Not so much for myself, but instead for my daughter who plays it ALL the time. For those unfamiliar with the game, Cooking Mama is a cooking game, where you try to prepare recipes according to the instructions. The iPhone version of the game makes full use of the iPhone features - using the accelerometer to "pour" items into a pan, using multiouch to stir, using the gyroscope to move a pan back and forth on the stove. It is actually a very interactive game. As you play, you unlock other recipes and the game gets more and more complex. There are also in app purchases for other recipes.

I will admit, I have tried it and see it as "ok". However, my daughter (7 years old) loves it, and plays it all the time on her iPod touch. So if you have a young child at home, or if you fancy yourself young at heart, you might want to give the game a try...of course, you might never get your iPhone/iPod back again!

[$6.99 - iTunes link]

Instagallery - @llofte

Since joining the Instagram crowd, I have wished it was a universal app so that I could browse the photos on my iPad. Instagallery lets me do just that. With Instagallery, I am able to view photos, like them, and leave comments. It's awesome.

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

iLockScreen Maker - @RobT43 (Reader's Choice)

iLockScreen Maker is really great because it allows you take any photo on your iPhone and format it to fit your lockscreen. It's not nearly ads powerful as something like Lockinfo, but it does allow you to add some flair to your lockscreen without having to jailbreak.

You can format pictures to fit, add lots of different frames in many colors, and add calendar bars to the lockscreen.

It's quick and easy to use, and comes in a free version and a paid version (paid option has more frames and backgrounds).

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for my tweet each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every day, TiPb gets flooded with announcements for new and updated iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps and games. So every day we pick just a few of the most interesting, the most notable, and simply the most awesome to share with you!

• Instapaper: 3.0 is a huge updated that brings social features, a new browser, and more! [$4.99 - iTunes link]

• VocaLive: A suite of 12 real-time professional vocal effects along with a capable recorder for studio quality sound. For best results, use with iRig Mic. [$19.99 - iTunes link]

• YellowBrick: A location based social network for moms and dads. Earn virtual stickers and real world coupons and discounts! [Free- iTunes link]

• Retrollect: Assemble the highlights of your experiences and create a visual mash-up of your life. [Free - iTunes link]

• eBay Mobile: Update allows the ability to browse eBay items by category, allows sellers to reserve price on auctions, adds tracking and shipping information when sold items are shipped, and more! [Free - iTunes link]

Any other big apps or game releases or updates today? If you pick any of these up, let us know what you think!

Macro Arment's excellent Instapaper 2.2.5 has just become available for iPhone and iPad. I had the good fortune of talking briefly with Arment at WWDC and the amount of consideration he puts into usability and interface borders on the inspiring. His fearlessness in changing or even killing features to ultimately make a better product -- guess what? -- ultimately makes a better product.

New this time around are a rename from Instapaper Pro to just Instapaper, as well as additions to pagination, iPhone 4/iPhone 3GS backgroud task completion under iOS 4, support for iPhone 4 Retina Display, an overhaul to rotation and position saving, and one more thing...

... Instapaper now syncs position in partially read articles between devices.

Check out the full description and go get the app via the links below.

[Instapaper website, iTunes link]

We've been covering some of the new and notable iOS 4 updates as we find them going live in the App Store, but Apple's new Awesome iOS 4 Apps section in the iTunes App Store has just made that task a little easier.

Check them out to see Apple's favorites, and hit the jump to see some more of ours...

[iTunes via TechCrunch]

Bejeweled 2

I think Bejeweled 2 was one of the first games I downloaded (ok that's probably an exaggeration), but it's one of the ones that sticks in my head as an all time favorite. It's extremely addicting and links up with Bejeweled Blitz so if you have Facebook, you can show off your scores on Facebook as well. Bejeweled 2 has added fast app switching support as of now.

[iTunes Link]

Instapaper

An incredibly useful app just got even more useful. Instapaper has added multitasking support as of now and say they'll have more updates to come. For those of you not familiar with Instapaper, it allows you to save web pages for offline reading at your convenience. So if you're bored in class or at work and you happen to be somewhere with sucky service, Instapaper is awesome.

[iTunes Link]

iTeleport

iTeleport is an amazing app that allows you to access your desktop computer from anywhere. It is compatible with Mac and PC. Have a file you forgot to send before you left home? Use iTeleport to log in to your home computer and send it to yourself. Easy as that!

[iTunes Link]

Articles

Articles is definitely one of the better Wikipedia sources out there. If you're looking for a good reference app that's got an awesome layout and pleasing to the eye, you won't get any better. Especially since it's now completely compatible with iOS4 and adds not only multitasking support but optimization for the retina display for iPhone 4.

[iTunes Link]

Twitterrific

The grand daddy of iPhone Twitter apps has once again gone back to the drawing board for version 3.0, this time drawing inspiration from the simplicity and focus forced by their iPad re-design. That's right -- it's a universal binary so you only need to buy it once. It's free but you can co ad-free and multi-account with an in-app purchase (which applies to both iPad and iPhone version).

[iTunes link]

Like always, if you see any that are your favorites, send us a tip or a comment!

Developer Marco Arment has posted some preview pictures for the coming soon-as-possible iPad version of his terrific Instapaper Pro app, and provided some interesting commentary into the design and thinking behind the rapid release plan.

If you're not familiar with Instapaper, it's a software/services combo that lets you quickly mark interesting articles you come across to "read later" either via a bookmarklet in your browser or via embedded support in other apps like NetNewsWire or Tweetie. You can then go to the Instapaper website or open the Instapaper Free [Free - iTunes link] or Instapaper Pro [$4.99 - iTunes link] app on your iPhone or iPod touch (and soon iPad) and enjoy those articles in a highly read-optimized form. Geek candy, to be sure.

As to the iPad-specific version, Arment says the pixel-doubled iPhone version on the iPad was not acceptable (something we've heard before). From there:

Once I nailed down a few definite iPad-friendly features, I realized that I could port all of them to the iPhone version of Instapaper Pro. And if I did that, all of my customers (and I) could use these great new features now.

[...]I’ll experiment with more radical interface changes in the future, once I’ve had time to actually use the iPad for a while and figure out what really works on it, what doesn’t, and what the hardware can handle.

And on the time-frame:

I’m doing my best to make the day-one submission deadline. Even if the first version ships with a few edge-case bugs, I’d rather have that on my iPad for a couple of weeks than no Instapaper at all, and many customers have told me that they feel the same way.

If you're already a user, the great news is that Arment is releasing a universal binary, meaning you won't have to buy Instapaper Pro again just for the iPad -- you get both in one.

Give the whole article a read, it's a great behind-the-scenes peak at iPad development, and then let us know what you think.

Every week a few of us from team TiPb, bloggers and forum crew alike, will bring you our current favorite, funnest, most useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they're iPhone (or iPod touch) related, they're fair game.

So who's on deck this week and what are our picks? Find out after the break!

Chad's Pick: Reeder

I love Google Reader. The web interface is nice, but I desperately want an app to sync it with. I have found the perfect app; Reeder. Why? It looks great, has the fastest sync there is and the interface is fast and clean. At only $1.99, this app is a steal! [$1.99 - iTunes link]

James' Pick: iPod

One of the reasons that I purchased my first iPhone is that I have always been looking to converge all of my devices into one. I travel every week for work and carrying around an iPod, a digital camera, a cell phone and a portable DVD player can be a real pain while trying to go through the security line at the airport. With all of my cords, etc. I almost always get stopped and searched. Now while it seems I am picking the iPhone in general, I most use the iPod function. While being stuck on the runway, delayed at O'Hare, or long cross country flights, I need my music to help me get through the flight. If music isn't what I want to do, I can always catch up on my latest TV shows and movies. [Built-in]

Justin's Pick: Maps

I know everyone frowns on picking built in apps, but I haven't tried any new apps worth talking about so my pick is the Map app. In the past few weeks it's helped me, more than once, navigate new roads after getting fed up with traffic and turning off the highway onto some random street. Plus, I've used the traffic feature to avoid some routes in the first place. Besides TweetDeck, Weather, and Facebook it's probably my most used app. [Built in]

Matt's Pick: Notifications

I've never regularly used an RSS reader, because I would add a lot of feeds, then when I'd open it, I had all these things to read and that little number badge would be in the hundreds staring at me from my springboard. I happen to be one of those people that if there's a number badge on an app, then it needs to be resolved immediately. So I deleted the app. Resolved, right?!? The resolution to my issue was using the Notifications app. This allowed me to set up certain RSS feeds to be checked and Push notifications to be sent to me. Notifications doesn't only do push for RSS, but Twitter, Gmail & more, This allows me to pick and choose which RSS articles (or whatever) to view when they pop up instead of putting them off for later. [$2.99 - iTunes link]

Leanna's Pick: Bejeweled 2

PopCap Games sure knows how to feed into my addiction of puzzle games. A few months back they successfully took over my life with Peggle and now I'm addicted to Bejeweled 2, more specifically, Blitz mode. Bejeweled Blitz is a one minute speed version of the classic game that is also available on Facebook. With Facebook Connect, Bejeweled Blitz is now with me everywhere I go! Not only is this game terribly addicting, but it looks and sounds amazing as well. [$2.99 - iTunes link]

Rene's Pick: Instapaper (Pro/Free)

I learned a while ago that I had time to either read, or write -- not both. Luckily, technological advances like RSS and Instapaper have let me squeeze in some honest-for-pleasure reading again, if only newsy/opiniony web matter. Still, with drop-dead simple bookmarklet integration on the desktop (find an article, hit the bookmarklet, it's saved), and transparent syncing between desktop and dedicated iPhone client, no longer is my day filled with "boy I wish I had time to read that non-iPhone-related post" but rather a single tap on Instapaper and it's now "boy I hope I have time to read this non-iPhone-related post later!" (I purchased the Pro version to support the developer, but there's also a free version if you want to try before you support) [$4.99 - iTunes link] or [Free - iTunes link]

Crackberry Kevin's Pick: BlackBerry Bold 9700

[Er, thanks Kevin. We think. Check it out on CrackBerry.com if you must... - Rene]

Your Pick?

You're part of team TiPb too, so what's your pick? What app was your absolute fav last week? Let us -- and everyone -- know in the comments!

NetNewsWire [Free with ads - iTunes link] and NetNewsWire Premium [$1.99 - iTunes link] for iPhone, the mobile version of NetNewsWire for Mac and FeedDemon for Windows, have just hit 2.0 and brings a lot of compelling features to the table -- especially for RSS geeks:

• Google Reader sync including Starred items synchronization
• Twitter integration – send articles as tweets
• Instapaper integration
• Latest News view –
• New article view
• New up and down arrows for navigating through news list
• Title and date of most recent item on Feeds screen.
• Excerpts and dates on news item lists
• Send articles via email without leaving NetNewsWire

It's enough that I'm finally going to go all in on Google Reader and NNW 2.0 (at least for the next week -- we'll see if it sticks).

Screens after the break. If you give NetNewsWire 2.0 a go as well, let us know what you think.

The iPhone and Twitter go together like peanut butter and chocolate. Okay, maybe not, but they're both darlings of the weberatti and enjoy popularity, prestige and -- when it comes to the App Store -- a growing plethora of choice combinations.

One such iPhone Twitter app enjoying attention lately is atebit's Tweetie, now on release 1.2. The nice thing for iPhone tweeters is that each Twitter client seems to focus on something different, giving us a good amount of diversity and choice. Tweetie, for example, excels at functionality. You can do a lot with it, perhaps more than any other Twitter client currently shipping. What kind of functionality? Where do I start!

Not only can you create an account, you can create multiple accounts. Awesome for those who want to tweet under, say, a personal name, a blog name, a work name, and a club name, for example.

Once logged in you can see Tweets, which includes all the posts of those you follow, Replies, which includes @(username) posts flagged your way, messages, which includes direct (private) posts just to you, Favorites, which are any posts you've flagged with a star, and More, which includes additional options.

Tweets

In Tweet view you can scroll to the top if you tap the title bar, just like in Safari. From there you can hit the inline refresh button to get the latest updated. If you get to the end and of the list want to see older tweets, you can tap on Load More.

To write a tweet, tap the new tweet button (looks like the new message button in Mail, but is top right in this interface).

Tap on a Tweet and you get a single-screen view of it along with an info button to see the user's profile, and if it was a reply, a button at the end of the tweet to follow it back up-stream. Handy feature that.

For quick actions, you can swipe from left to right over it to reveal Reply, User, and Star controls.

Favorite'ing

Simplest first: Star lets you toggle on or off favorite status for the tweet.

Replying

Reply will open a new Tweet composer with an @(username) at the ready, as well as buttons to attach a photo or share location. (If you're a new user, Tweetie like any other location-aware app will ask permission to use your location several times -- and you can always revoke that permission later if you become concerned). If you choose to cancel, you also get the option to save a tweet-in-progress as a draft -- very nice.

User Info

The user screen gives you an amazing amount of options: you see the @(username), the number of followers, the profile description, and web URL, and can follow or stop following right there. Beneath the general info are options to view Recent Tweets, to Search Twitter for that @(username)'s replies, to see who they're Following and who their Followers are, to Send a Public Reply (@ reply), to Send a Direct Message, and to Block and Unblock a user.

Replies

The Reply tab is similar to the Tweet tab but constrains the list to those who have sent you @ replies.

Messages

Messages lets you see any tweets sent directly and privately to you, or conversely private messages you sent directly to others. Unfortunately and counter-intuitively, you can't swipe on direct messages to reveal the same controls you get when you swipe on a tweet -- please add this feature! You can hit the Reply button at top right, but there's no "d (username)" that typically signifies a direct message, and the lack of a visual cue makes me paranoid that I may be responding to someone else, or to the public. You can also tap on the message itself to reveal the single message view (along with the option to Mail Link to this Tweet), and the tiny info button top right to load the user profile.

Favorites

Favorite view constrains the list to only your starred (favorite'd) tweets.

More

More gives you a metric ton of additional features, including your Profile, the ability to Go to a User, a list of other twitter users Nearby (based on location), popular keyword Trends on Twitter at the moment, and the ability to Search Twitter. Some of these are really nice to have, though both Profile and Go to User failed for me when I tried them.

Options

Some of the finest -- and foulest -- Tweetie functionality is hidden away in the iPhone Settings panel. Exit Tweetie and hop over there to change the default Theme (bubbles is currently the only alternative), increase the font size, and toggle Display Name between full and screen names,

If you use Instapaper and want to save web pages for later viewing, you can toggle support on for that as well.

Advanced settings let you turn Multiple Accounts on and off, control Image Compression via a slider, toggle Landscape Keyboard (which is a full screen landscape keyboard, but the app only remains in landscape when it brings up the keyboard. I'm not a big fan of the landscape keyboard in general, but for those who like it, this alone is a killer feature.

Popularity Enhancer is either a stroke of comedic genius, or is just a really sad essay on the state of the App Store. Suffice it to say, if you loves you some flashlight and fart sounds, turn this sucker on.

Lastly, you can set the amount of tweets that Tweetie loads at launch, either making it start faster, or with a greater amount of data.

Conclusion

Tweetie is simply the most functional Twitter client I've used to date. However, functionality does not always equal usability. Many software designers will tell you what is left out is at least -- if not more -- important than what is put in. Tweetie doesn't fall victim to this completely, but all that functionality does come at the expense of some usability and discoverability. Some users will inevitably prefer simpler, easier to use clients. Others will simply enjoy the power Tweetie provides.

At $2.99, it's more expensive than the free Twitter clients but considerably cheaper than other, paid clients (which can reach $9.99). For my money, the feature set alone makes it a must-have for serious iPhone Twitter users.

If they could make it a tad more consistent (i.e. swipe private messages the way you can tweets), and really give it WebApp class features (can I delete a Tweet? I can do that on the web, couldn't find a way on Tweetie), it would be darn-near invaluable.

Pros

• Supports Multiple Accounts
• Incredible Feature Set
• Can has fart sounds

Cons

• User experience could be more consistent
• Can has fart sounds

TiPb Review Rating