New to iPhone - necessary apps? For riding?

[Dan K]

OK, smashed my Blackberry over the weekend, told T-Mobile to piss off, signed up with sprint and bought a new iPhone.  

Still getting used to it.  Battery life blows compared to the top of the line blackberry I destroyed, but I'm getting used to it.

What apps, particularly, motorcycle apps, do you find necessary?  I haven't really discovered the advantages of this thing yet, and figure it's in the utility of certain apps, so I'm looking for some suggestions.

Kind of missing my blackberry, but I'm getting there...

- Dan

[miles]

What is it you want to do? Waste time?  Doodle Jump and Angry Birds. Read ebooks? Kindle app. Road navigation? Mapquest. Entertainment? Moviefone, IMDB, shazam, pandora, slacker.

[Rincewind]

Do you have a bluetooth headset in your helmet?  The most important riding related apps for me are:

iPod music
Maps and Mapquest for audible directions
GreatestRoad and Best Biking Roads
Triumph Configurator which also finds Triumph dealers
The Weather Channel and Accuweather
Peak.ar for mountain identification
Cycletrader and eBay Motors
Google Places
Bike Bandit
iConvert - but Siri will do that now if you have a 4S
Flashlight
New Ducati app
Bike Baron
Tapatalk to get on STN

Also the RAM cradles work well.

[MrMoto]

iExit http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iexit-interstate-exit-guide/id401746066?mt=8
MotionX GPShttp://itunes.apple.com/us/app/motionx-gps/id299949744?mt=8

[miles]

+1 on the iExit.

[Dan K]

Didn't you yell at us on The Pace because we talked about this stuff...?  

I gave you guys shit about the focus on local stuff, like local dealerships and stores and roads and what not.

I may have given you guys some shit about non-motorcycle related apps like four square and other online social type stuff, but I'm looking for motorcycle related apps, like voice directions that break over streaming music, dashboards that give you speedometers, and other BIKE related stuff... not social media crap.  

So   right back to ya!  (And sorry I haven't given you any good content lately....maybe some talk about night riding? Different headlight quality on stock bikes? Accessory lights? That could cover a good half hour and if you do it, I'll give you some input on my recently purchased and mounted (but not wired) $18 driving lights from Walmart to cover the areas Triumph doesn't think Sprint riders need to see when in anything resembling a lean, like, the road.)

- Dan

[rabbott5]

I like MyRadar for weather on the go.  Faster than the weather channel.  No fuss.  Can easily add or remove what info you need on the map.  I'll use the weather channel during a meal break just to see if the forcast has changed.  I think I'm going to have to get iExit, that looks very useful.

[Dan K]

ooh. I like this.

Skype? We're taking next week (Thanksgiving week) off, but are back the following with the holiday guide, then the week after is back to normal content.

Sure, it's about time I show up on the Pace, considering I suggested we get public with either a book or some compilation (which turned out to be your podcast) with all of your bike knowledge way back during our hondashadow.net days.

I can go off on how Triumph missed this one detail and all of the potential fixes...I'm well researched and would have to include a shout out to a guru on Triuphrat.net.  Wow, I'm part internet geek, aren't I.  

[cbsnbiker]

Hmmm. I'm toying with getting an iphone. This thread will be a good starting point for me as well.

[loadedmind]

+1 on the Motion X GPS - allows you to track where you rode.  

To add to the list, I have a pilot friend that checks a few different places for weather prior to his trips (commercial airline pilot) and he uses AeroWeather and Intellicast.  There's no app for Intellicast that I'm aware of so I just browsed to the site with my cached settings, then told Safari to "Add to Homescreen" which makes its own icon, then drug the icon into the weather folder on the iPhone.  So now the weather folder has AccuWeather, the default weather app, Weather Channel, WeatherEye (not so bueno), AeroWeather and Intellicast.  

Since I have just the iPhone 4, sans the "S", I also installed VLingo and Dragon Dictation & Dragon Search.  It's not near as good as Siri, but at least it helps some.  

When I get to a new town, I use UrbanSpoon with the "Use My Location" feature and let it suggest some good restaurants or just ask a local while filling up.  Those are about all the apps I use that are motorcycle-related.

[Zixxerpilot]

I've switched from iPhone to Android, but I can recall a few. Yelp is pretty much a staple if you travel. Great ability to find local food joints, and as we know, Eat to ride, ride to eat!!

A good GPS app. Unfortunately, the built-in Gmaps app SUCKS on the iPhone 4, and has no turn by turn nav. I paid out the nose for one of the big ones, Magellan maybe? I think there are much cheaper options.

Tapatalk is s main app for me across platforms.

[hankd]

Motion X GPS for sure...

Gasbag is good for tracking your gas mileage.

Where is good for finding just about anything.

[bubba zanetti]

Thanks for the tip on Motion X GPS it is working well for me.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Dan K]

Map Quest GPS app was great for me during my two days on a Harley in Florida.  Used ear buds for tunes and when I needed to get back to the family, plugged in the address and it broke thru the music and told me where to turn with lots of advance notice, including to prepare to turn right (i.e., get you in the correct lane).  Thumbs up.

- Dan