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The Week in iPhone Apps: Fresh Fring and Other Diversions
Posted by John Mahoney at 7:10 AM on October 4, 2008
Lots of news to catch up on this week from the App Store. So come have a look, iPhone folks, at what you may have missed on Giz this week, in addition to a few of our picks for new apps of the last seven days as always. We're excited first and foremost that Fring, a great multi-service IM and VoIP app, has just made it into the App Store (not even in the search index yet). Good thing, because the rest of this week's pics skew a bit toward the wacky side. But sometimes your weekend just needs a little wahh wahhhh...crickets...crickets....
Fring: Fring was my favourite IM app back in the jailbreak days, and now it's finally available in the App Store proper, tying together into one app Google Talk, AIM, Skype, MSN, Twitter--just about every IM or IM-like client you can think of, as well as adding VoIP calling when you're connected via Wi-Fi (and not 3G, even though the grab above shows a 3G icon during call). And unlike another recent and solid IM app Beejive (which is $US16), Fring is free. Give it a whirl. [via Mobility Today]
Spectrograph Wallpaper: Takes input from the iPhone's mic (or your second-gen iPod touch with microphone-equipped earbuds) and gives you a neat looking spectrograph analysis in a variety of colours, which you can then export directly to your phone's wallpaper. What does a fart look like? Find out for $US3.
Rimshot/Cricket Generator: Two classic sound effects, one app! Rimshot for the good jokes, and crickets for the rough ones (watch for Burns's cricket poison). If you ever see this being put to use by anyone claiming to be any kind of comedian real or imagined, chug your drink and leave immediately. Free.
10 Seconds Ago: I'm just going to let the developers explain this one for you:
It does "delay" the incoming sound via microphone by 10 seconds. This gap between the scenery you are currently looking at and the sound you here may give you strange feeling of passing time. You'll find yourself a bit more conscious about the ambient sound in our daily life.
Yes, it's Japanese, in case you were wondering. And free.
Sad Trombone: Maybe this should be a sign that it's about time to wrap it up for the week and get some rest, but the existence of "Sad Trombone" (whaa whaa) made me laugh out loud. Which in itself is a great moment for a sad trombone effect. The irony! $US1
This week's iPhone app coverage on Giz:
•Barack Obama's official iPhone app does all kinds of grassroots organizing goodness.
•iPhone-Backgrounder (for jailbreak) gives all apps, even legit ones from the App Store, the much-desired ability to run in the background.
•Flash on the iPhone is hinted at again by the Adobe folks, but progress is still slow waiting for Apple approval.
•Facebook's redesigned now has a shiny new redesigned iPhone app to go along with it.
•Tap Tap Revenge will feature NIN songs after an official licensing agreement between the developers and Apple-loving Mr. Reznor.
•We gave Star Wars: The Force Unleashed a hands-on look.
•Microsoft (via subsidiary Tellme, but still) plans to develop an iPhone app for voice-recognition searches.
•Excellent news, this: gone are the "looks cool" app reviews in iTunes, because it is now mandatory that you actually own an app you're going to review. What a concept!
•Heart Monitor measures your pulse with the iPhone's microphone.
This list is in no way definitive. If you've spotted a great app that hit the store this week, give us a heads up or, better yet, your firsthand impressions in the comments. And for even more apps: see our previous weekly roundups here, and check out our original iPhone App Review Marathon. Have a good weekend everybody.
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
jedimaster0103
Posted 7:57 AM 4/10/08
When you say "or second-generation iPod touch," are you saying "second-generation iPod touch with the new earbuds with built in mic" or are you saying the iPod touch has a built in mic? And, do the new mic earbuds come with the second-gen ipod touch, or do you have to buy those separately? Thanks!
jedimaster0103
aamith
Posted 7:56 AM 4/10/08
It's still available if you link to it from here:
[www.fring.com]
aamith
emercado15
Posted 7:52 AM 4/10/08
does the second gen ipod touch have a mic?
emercado15
BanMeAgainBrianLam
Posted 7:46 AM 4/10/08
It sounds like Jobs The Destoyer disapproved of Fring :P
BanMeAgainBrianLam
jewsrock
Posted 7:45 AM 4/10/08
lol the fring screenshot is running on an unlocked iphone in israel
jewsrock
WD40
Posted 7:43 AM 4/10/08
looks like fring has left the building!
WD40
Metkis
Posted 7:41 AM 4/10/08
That trombone app costs money?... I wouldn't pay a dime for that, it's a single button and a generic .mp3 file.
Metkis
whitino
Posted 7:39 AM 4/10/08
Did Fring get flung?
whitino
SirNirian
Posted 7:37 AM 4/10/08
Wow lots of typos in this post, where you high when you posted this? Well anyhow all these new apps coming out makes me want to buy an iPhone even more.
SirNirian
John Mahoney
Posted 7:36 AM 4/10/08
@Boots_Mcoy: Click the link.
John Mahoney
Boots_Mcoy
Posted 7:30 AM 4/10/08
i dont see fring in the app store???
Boots_Mcoy
ripfire
Posted 7:18 AM 4/10/08
Is there a website for the cricket sound?
ripfire
OMG! Ponies!
Posted 8:17 AM 4/10/08
Well, I have Tiny Violin, so I definitely need both RImshot and Sad Trombone. Now, if only Cupertino can get the lagginess out so I can fully become the Carrot Top of the iPhone.
OMG! Ponies!
MacAttack7388
Posted 8:15 AM 4/10/08
Someone needs to release a mic for the iPod Touch that would work with this software. I'd replace my pos verizon phone with my iTouch any day of the week.
------------------------
[gregstechblog.blogspot.com]
MacAttack7388
achinda99
Posted 8:09 AM 4/10/08
While fring is available on iTunes, I can't find it on the AppStore using my iPhone. I searched and checked the social networking category in the store (in which it is categorized in iTunes).
achinda99
John Mahoney
Posted 8:07 AM 4/10/08
Guys, the direct link to Fring is IN THE POST. Hit it!
[phobos.apple.com]
John Mahoney
spicedham
Posted 8:04 AM 4/10/08
looks like Fring is still available through desktop version of iTunes.
spicedham
whitino
Posted 8:00 AM 4/10/08
For Fring, follow the mobility today link. They provide a link to the download.
whitino
brutek
Posted 8:44 AM 4/10/08
@emercado15: If you buy an iPhone compatible headset, then yes, the mic is enabled in hardware: [store.apple.com] (read the bottom of the page!)
Not sure if it is accessible via the SDK yet. Anyone?
brutek
azmoviez
Posted 8:38 AM 4/10/08
Huzzah. You can download this through the AppStore.... sorta. I had to send it to my email account through iTunes as a recommendation.
Links on this or any page did not work.
azmoviez
Glaiel-Gamer
Posted 8:31 AM 4/10/08
let me know when aim has push notifications
Glaiel-Gamer
Seinosuke
Posted 8:25 AM 4/10/08
Woah, holy shit. VOIP on the iPhone?! No ****ing way.
Seinosuke
WasabiX
Posted 9:00 AM 4/10/08
@MacAttack7388: I've got the 1st Gen Touch myself but if the new 2nd Gen (with a valid mic) turns out to work with this App then I'd snap one up today. That's the burning question then far as I'm concerned -- Will VOIP work with Gen 2 Touch+Mic over Wifi?
WasabiX
Captain Nimlet
Posted 8:58 AM 4/10/08
devicescape made it this week. yay!
Captain Nimlet
ookees
Posted 8:47 AM 4/10/08
just downloaded fring to my 1st gen ipod touch, strangest thing is the both AIM and Yahoo will not show up on the add ons list. this pretty much kills the use of fring for me. thats one messed up bug.
ookees
Catalyst
Posted 9:27 AM 4/10/08
Is Fring better than Palringo? Palringo has worked pretty flawlessly for me, so far. As opposed to the Facebook App, which has not once logged into Facebook.
Catalyst
ThisIsSharksTerriroty
Posted 10:42 AM 4/10/08
u know it suppose to say HEAR not HERE right?
ThisIsSharksTerriroty
ranova
Posted 11:45 AM 4/10/08
@Catalyst:
people will rarely use fring to im, beejiveIM is much much better.
fring is for voip
ranova
ranova
Posted 11:44 AM 4/10/08
my review on fring:
[www.fring.com]
"I tried out Fring with Skype and Gizmo SIP; there is a noticable 5 second lag between people talking, also there is echoing. I am right near my wireless router, and skype on the computer works fine.
To get skypeout calls to work, you have to enter 001 before the 9/10 digit number (001-800-342-3543), otherwise itll bring you to terminated call right away. Thats a minor annoyance but easily fixable on their end - by making it automatically dial 001 for you for any calls made on Skype (in the US)
Also, after adding Skype addon in fring (which takes awhile to log in), it dials out fine. After exiting the program, and go back in, skype calls DO NOT work anymore. You have to remove the skype addon, and add it again.
Another big bug is the "no .'s after the @," luckily I had an account with the old fring.
I would love for skype to work with minimal lag - Ive tried out truphone and that works semi-well - but expensive per/min"
ranova
banmojo
Posted 12:59 PM 4/10/08
@Metkis: seriously, what a rip. I'm so sick of these crappy apps costing money - typical for MacHeads to think that their crappy 'art' should cost anything.
I'm irritated and jaded, and I'm a PC.
ftw.
banmojo
evangelistc01
Posted 1:35 PM 4/10/08
@undefined: Why so bitter? Not all developers are "mac heads" despite being on an Apple platform.
I just wish Gizmodo would give more attention to productivity apps, rather than apps that don't really do anything (like the trombone app). Otherwise, it's fair game. If you don't want it, don't buy it. You have really great apps, and then you have real shitty ones.
I use this philosophy. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
evangelistc01
traphicone
Posted 4:11 PM 4/10/08
Huh. You can make some surprisingly interesting pictures with the spectrograph app. Reminds me of SETI@home.
traphicone
OprahBabb
Posted 6:10 PM 4/10/08
1. Maybe there was a delay in getting Fring up on the App Store, because I was able to find it no problem on my 1st Gen iPhone.
2. FINALLY! Mandatory ownership of app before reviewing. I'd like to kiss the ass of the genius who finally convinced the App Store Developers to impelment that one.
OprahBabb
dtemp
Posted 6:25 PM 4/10/08
Hymm, its sad that only one of the five featured apps (Fring) does anything meaningful... the others are fluff apps that, in my opinion, cheapen the device. At the very least, they are apps that you'll use for a total of 100 seconds ever. I guess people like these things for bar jokes.
Charging for that trombone app is just the dev's attempt to make some spending money with minimal effort; Apple should realize submissions like these dilute the App Store. If Apple is going to be draconian with the App Store (which they are), then they should go all the way and ban stuff like this. None of this half-draconian stuff.
dtemp
stenspect
Posted 7:08 PM 4/10/08
@whitino:
[phobos.apple.com]
stenspect
stenspect
Posted 7:08 PM 4/10/08
@aamith:
[phobos.apple.com]
stenspect
stenspect
Posted 7:08 PM 4/10/08
@whitino:
It's here: [phobos.apple.com]
stenspect
ErgonomicUncle
Posted 12:35 AM 5/10/08
It does not have AIM support. If it does, where do I find it?
ErgonomicUncle
ErgonomicUncle
Posted 1:05 AM 5/10/08
Ignore that
ErgonomicUncle
Dennis Raver
Posted 3:40 AM 5/10/08
@ripfire: Yup, [instantcrickets.com]
Dennis Raver
elgringoguapo
Posted 4:14 AM 5/10/08
@MacAttack7388:
Go to MacAlly. Its called the TunePal
[www.macally.com]
elgringoguapo
jewsrock
Posted 5:09 AM 5/10/08
isnt it "THIS week in iphone apps"?
jewsrock
aktif8
Posted 6:07 AM 5/10/08
@SirNirian: ..."where you high.." *were*
"..coming out makes me want..." *make*
you know what they say about glass houses.
aktif8
Seanross
Posted 5:21 PM 5/10/08
@undefined:
has just made it into the App Store (not even in the search index yet)
Reading is fundamental....
Seanross
Ryan Goins
Posted 4:42 AM 6/10/08
This version of fring is almost as terrible as the pre-release jailbreak version. At least in terms of VOIP. All calls terminate 1 out of 3 times. However, skype to skype does work really well. The call quality is great and there is no delay. If you are hoping to using skype out then forget it. There is a 3-5 second delay on the call making it impossible to have a conversation. I haven't personally tested SIP yet but have heard people experiencing the same delay. Let me know if you are having a better experience. I want working VOIP nowwww!
Ryan Goins
Ryan Goins
Posted 4:39 AM 6/10/08
@jedimaster0103:
The 2nd generation iPod touch does not come with the mic headphones you have to buy them separate. They are not on sale yet but the iPhone ones work with it. It does not have a built in mic. Hope that helps.
Ryan Goins
Ike_Skelton
Posted 12:59 AM 7/10/08
@Metkis: That's it, I'm going to make a sad trombone app and charge only $.50!
Ike_Skelton
Unseelie23
Posted 7:26 AM 7/10/08
Just downloaded it from App store using my phone just fine. Did a search for 'Fring' and it was right there.
Unseelie23