"At Vlingo we unlock access to wireless data services. As the inventor of the mobile phone ""voice user interface,"" Vlingo delivers a voice interface and technology that allows users to instantly access services and content on their device. These services include the ability send text and email messages, call contacts, search the Web, update your Facebook or Twitter status and much more by just speaking into their phone. "

"I downloaded this a couple months ago and just got around to trying it. It's another WOW app. Vlingo is a voice recognition app that uses your voice to initiate a variety of functions. Similar to the Google voice app for searching and the built-in iPhone voice recognition for making a call or picking something to play from you iPod app, Vlingo combines starting a search, making a phone call, map lookups, Twitter updates, or Facebook updates into a single app.

 

I tested it against the Google voice app and it did a better job of voice recognition. I had great results in all my tests which included everything but the Facebook update. Vlingo apparently learns and gets better at voice recognition the more you use it.

 

One test I did was to speak a mathematical problem, '16000 times 60 times 60 times 24 divide by 8 times 30' and got the answer, 5,184,000,000 back in about 10 seconds. By the way that's the amount of bandwidth in bytes used to stream a 16k audio stream for a full month. I also used it to speak a message that I then copied and pasted into an email.

 

Good help, nice support web site, and a logical interface make this a keeper. Did I mention it's FREE.

 

I'd love to see them add a feature that would all speech to SMS. "

"Pocket Universe is the ideal astronomy program for those keen to learn about the night sky. The unique display is generated dynamically depending on your location and time, and then rendered in 3D for a super fast response - flick the sky and it spins around you. With Motion Tracking, the image will change as you hold the iPhone or iPod Touch up in front of you, making it easy to match what you see on the screen to the real sky. With the iPhone 3GS's built-in compass, you can point the iPhone to any spot in the sky and instantly see what you are observing. Use the ""Show Me"" option to guide you to objects - it's never been easier to learn about the night sky. "

"I was just surfing the app store and came across this. I've always been an astronomy fan and am very impressed with this app. When I first tried it I was amazed at what it did. Full of info on astronomy including news and a breakdown of what's available for viewing in tonight's sky.  The 'Motion Tracking' is truly impressive. It makes you realize how aware the iPhone is of your position on the planet. Hold the iPhone up to the sky and the Planetarium view changes to match your view. Names of stars, planets, constellations, and Messier objects are displayed. Move the iPhone to position the crosshair on an object and the name and brightness magnitude is displayed.

 

It's been cloudy here in east central Florida and the waxing gibbous moon has been very bright, but my country view did allow me to test it on a few bright nighttime objects. VERY COOL! I showed to a few of my aerospace engineer coworkers and a couple had to download it on the spot. Even the 'I don't need no stinking iPhone' holdouts had to say WOW!

 

Lots of information on the night sky, decent built-in help, a nice support web site, and even a built-in constellation quiz make this a great learning tool.

 

This app, a pair of decent binoculars and you'll be on your way to a great time viewing and learning the cosmos. Kudos to the developer."

"Scanner Pro transforms iPhone into portable scanner in your pocket. It lets you scan multipage documents, send them by email and even upload to MobileMe iDisk or any other WebDAV enabled server. You can also transfer scanned document to desktop computer over Wi-Fi and transform it into editable MS Word file with OCR tool of your choice. Scanner Pro easily handles situations when you have printed document that should be send by email and there is no scanner nearby. The application incorporates special algorithms that enhance image quality to make it as readable as possible. With Scanner Pro you can: Scan Multipage Documents Scanner Pro can handle any type of document ranging from simple one page letters to multipage agreements. Make Industry Standard PDF Files All scanned document are produced as industry standard PDF files. Protect Documents With Password Scanner Pro allows you to set password for PDF files you create. Only people who know the password will be able to open the document. Transfer Documents to Mac and PC Mount Scanner Pro as a shared network drive over Wi-Fi network to any computer and copy scanned PDF files from iPhone. No additional software is required. Send Scans by E-mail Just scan any document you want and tap send button. Yes, it's that simple. Preview Documents Before Sending Built-in viewer allows to preview your scans exactly the same as they will look on desktop computer. Upload Scans to Online File Storages MobileMe iDisk Other WebDAV compatible online storages (including box.net and Humyo)"

ScannerPro was a strong contender in this round of testing. It offeres good quality scans and a wide variety of storage and access options. Contrast, brightness, color/grayscale, and undo/redo controls allow you to fine tune the scans to meet your needs. Storage options include on the iPhone as a PDF, uploading to an Evernote account, uploading to iDisk (or other WebDAV server), and sync to your PC by activating the built-in server. The user interface is intuitive and the app has good built-in help.

"JotNot for the iPhone is a standalone application that allows you to use your iPhone as a document digitizer. You can use JotNot to process your images of whiteboards, receipts, and notes, making them easier to read, print, and share with others. JotNot will save your original picture and an enhanced version into your photo library. All the processing occurs on your iPhone itself so sensitive or confidential information never leaves your control."

JotNot has a nice selection of preset scan configurations for receipts, documents, whiteboards, light text, and photography that optimize the scans. You also have the option to manually adjust several parameters that affect the scan quality. JotNot did very good job of scanning a color document, such as an magazine ad or flyer, to a black-on-white PDF. JotNot’s scan quality was at the top of the list for the apps I tested that offered in-app processing. It doesn’t store the converted PDF in the app, but offers several ways to transfer the file. You can send by email, transfer to an Evernote account, or transfer to your PC by activating the built-in WiFi server. In-app help was OK and the web site offered decent support also. A top contender.

"It's a digital scanner and fax in your pocket! Your phone is suddenly a business center – scan, print and fax wherever you go. Scan documents to turn them into digital files you can store, share, and fax."

"Several of the business card scanners I’ll discuss later offere an OCR feature. ScanR Business Center was the only ‘document scanner’ that offered OCR. An online account is required and is part of the $22.99 app price. The account is labeled ‘iPhone Permanent’ and indicates unlimited pages and 100 Faxes. They also offer a ‘ScanR Pro’ account for $4.99 per month or $29.90 per year that provides unlimited scans and no ads. This was a little confusing because I didn’t see any ads on my test scans and the iPhone Permanent account already indicates unlimited pages. The app doesn’t offer a lot of image adjustments on the phone, but the resulting scan quality is good. You can view your scanned documents on their site, automatically receive them by email, or share them with someone else online. You can also send an SMS with a link to the online version of your document. One nice feature is the ability to have a document sent to a fax machine, thereby offering a way to print from the iPhone while traveling. Scanned images are converted and saved to your account on their site as PDF, a photo JPG of the original, JPG of the converted document, and a plain text file of the OCR’d contents of the document. On the site you can do a text search and all documents that contain that text will be displayed. Web site support is strong with good FAQ style help. A very high-end app targeted at business users who need to capture, access, and share documents on the go. "