Best free iPhone apps

Being seen with one of the hottest gadgets of 2008 isn't enough. You need to be able to prove it is better than the rest. CheckTubes tests the speed of data transfers from the network carrier to your gorgeous iPhone and maps the speeds and your location using Google Maps.

The name says it all — a remote control for iTunes on your computer or your Apple TV box. Remote connects using Wi-Fi and controls your playlists from afar. We tested Remote with a PC (gasp!) and found we could navigate iTunes faster from the iPhone than we could using the sluggish PC interface.

Like the desktop version? The iPhone app is even cooler because it can pinpoint your current location and "tilt" your view as you tilt your phone.

Similar to Track ID found on Sony Ericsson phones, Shazam identifies songs based on a recording it makes of a 30-second clip of the track that it sends to a database. After you discover the name of the song, you can buy it from iTunes or watch the clip on YouTube if it's available.

Maybe this is a personal prejudice — there is also a Myspace app for those that way inclined. Unlike most pared back mobile versions of Facebook, the version for the iPhone gives you nearly complete control over your profile. View friends' profiles and photos, chat with them online, update elements of your profile and even turn the iPhone's camera on and take a new pic for your blog.

Twitter apps are a dime-a-dozen on the App store, but our pick of the freebies is Twitterific. Its darker colour palette is sexy and it features everything you'll need to keep your friends up-to-date on what's for lunch.

An e-book reader that gives the classics a 21st century flare. With access to a huge collection of material and a clean, clear interface featuring dynamically adjustable fonts, reading a novel using your iPhone seems entirely possible. In the database we found 1984 by George Orwell and Tolstoy's War and Peace, and that's just scratching the surface. Stanza can also read PDFs, HTML and Word documents.

In the future, it seems, learning a second language will be all but unnecessary. iTranslate can translate blocks of text between about 40 recognised languages displaying the results on screen or inserting them in a new email.

The new iPhone 3G S may have auto-focus baked into the new 3-megapixel camera, but for the rest of us using the older 3G model there's Darkroom. This app adds a spirit-level-like tool to the camera and waits until your hand is still before taking the pic. The results are often sharper than you could expect using the iPhone's standard camera tool.

This is a favourite of ours from Java platforms. Tower Bloxx is that perfect mix of strategy and speed that works so well in iPhone games. Build the tallest buildings and conquer the city block.