He spent a good part of last night playing around with my phone (a Droid, not an iPhone) trying to learn how about everything these phones can do.

So since I know I’ll be getting asked about which iPhone apps are the best, here is a list of 10 must have apps for the iPhone 4 for everyone to see (but no games, you can find people more qualified to give you game advice than me – I don’t do games).

Pandora (free)

With iOS 4, Pandora can finally run in the background so you can listen to music on your phone and do other things, like jot down notes, play games, send texts,  read the New York Time, and so on and so forth.  Pandora is a great way to discover new artists that you might not know you like so if you’re sick of the same old 40 songs being played on the radio, this free apps should be one of the first you download from the App Store

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stADpDu-z3c

The Weather Channel (free)

There is no shortage of weather apps available for the iPhone but this one is largely regarded as the best.    My favorite part – the ability to view and animate the radar so you can track the path of a storm.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a29uRtKdaLk

Find My iPhone (free – MobileMe Membership Required $99/yr)

Coming to the realization that you lost your iPhone really does give a person a sinking feeling in their heart.  Find my iPhone, developed by Apple allows you to remotely track down you iPhone if you lost it or if you think it might be stolen.  It also allows you to remotely wipe the phone to protect your personal information.   The best part is that even if you don’t have the app installed before you lose your phone, you can still use this program – all other lost iPhone apps need you to be prepared and have these programs installed before your iPhone is lost or stolen.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-wCuA6CgeE

Car Locator ($1.99)

For those who can’t remember where they parked (like me), this app is for you.  Just fire up this app when you park and tag your location.  When you’re ready to find your car later, just tell the app and it’ll guide you right back to it.  I use a similar app on my phone frequently when I park downtown as I often don’t remember exactly where the heck my car is – saves me a lot of time wondering around lookin’ like a fool.

Shazam

One of the greatest apps ever created.  If you’ve ever wanted to know what song is playing on the radio, this app will tell you.  You’d be amazed how often you find yourself using this app.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkFTcbC9jnk

Evernote

This is a great app for jotting down notes, ideas, voice recordings, pictures, and videos.  And the great part is that it will instantly sync to your computer so you have all the info is there for you when you’re ready to act on it.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMbh_nGduJY

OpenTable

With this restaurant you can find a restaurant with open tables and make a reservation all from your phone without making a single phone call – just push a couple buttons and you have a reservation… it’s that simple.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxFgw86ghJc

Taxi Magic

While this one probably isn’t applicable to people in all parts of the country, this app allows you to hail a cab from your iPhone and if you’re in a supported city, it’s extremely useful.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvClBbpP5es

Remember The Milk

This is an online to do list and task manager and a sweet one at that.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJXRzZUtuAE

AroundMe

Need directions to the nearest airport, police station, or coffee shop?  Then you need AroundMe as that’s exactly what this app does.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x0omiP99qE

Looking for even more great iPhone apps?   Here are some more lists:

• http://news.cnet.com/8301-13556_3-20008296-61.html
• http://techexposures.com/2010/01/top-10-ipod-iphone-apps-must-have-february-2010/
• http://www.technoprimer.com/2010/03/10-free-must-have-iphone-apps.html

The Apple iPhone 4 - Now With Multitasking!

The Find My iPhone App in the App Store will help you track down your lost or stolen iPhone even if it's already missing.

Have you lost your iPhone or are you worried it was stolen?

For most cell phone owners unless you were proactive and installed tracking software on the phone prior to it going MIA, you were pretty much SOL (apparently, it’s use as many acronyms as possible day – LOL – okay, I’m done, promise).

However, since you have an iPhone, you’re different and there is a solution available to you to track a stolen iPhone.  Apple just added the “Find My iPhone” App to the App Store.

So let’s talk about how it works and what it costs.

The “Find my iPhone” App is an app you install from another iOS device – a friend’s iPhone, your iPad or even an iPod Touch will do the trick (since obviously, you don’t have your iPhone to install it on).

Or if you have Mac OS X Lion on your computer, you can use this feature too – it won’t work with older version of OS X though.

If you’re without friends and don’t have any other iOS devices, go visit Starbucks or any upscale bar – you’ll find plenty of iPhones and iPads there and maybe you can beg and plead them to let you use their phone to find yours.   Heck, these days you probably could just go to McDonalds and find someone.

***Update***  This feature is now integrated into all iOS 5 devices.  In other words, if you have an up to date iPhone (or iPad), this feature is already installed on your iPhone.

 

It used to require a MobileMe membership, but as long as you use iCloud, you’re all set and don’t have to pay for anything – the app is free.

Once the app is installed, you can remotely login to you phone, track it to find out where it is, lock it down so no personal data can be accessed, and should it become clear you’re not likely to get it back, remotely wipe all the data.  To be able to remotely wipe data is a big deal as far as I’m concerned since I have a ton of personal information on my phone and you probably do too.

It can also play a sound at full volume even if you’re ringer is set to silent.  That’s tremendously helpful if you’ve simply misplaced your iPhone in your house or apt and just need it to make noise so you can find it.  They need to make an app like this for my car keys too

So there you have it, if you’ve lost your iPhone and don’t have any tracking software already installed, there’s still hope.  Just install Find My iPhone and start tracking.

If the phone has been turned off, you can have it email you in the event someone turns it back on.  (The software obviously can’t be installed on a phone that is dead or has been turned off).  And lastly this app won’t work if the SIM card has been removed.  A sophisticated thief will do this, but many times they don’t because they don’t know how.

Good Luck and Happy Finding!