A Quick Way to Get the Best iPhone Apps

The beauty of Apple's iPhone is that it is much more than a cell phone. In fact, making calls is likely the second or third most popular use of the gadget given all the other fun and productive things you can do with the smartphone.

But searching and finding the ways to enjoy the device can be tough given that there are 65,000 applications now in the Apple iTunes iPhone storefront, and very few users have the time or patience to cull through such a list to find the latest and greatest.

One publisher, though, is providing a way to enjoy some of the best applications with just a little reading or a few clicks.

As Miami Herald writer Gregg Ellman reports today, publishing titan O'Reilly Media now offers both a book and new Web site that provides insight on the greatest iPhone apps in play.

Called the "Best iPhone Apps: The Site for Discriminating Downloaders," the $19.99 tome serves up 200 potential programs ranging from work and play user needs. The author, Josh Clark, reportedly tested each one.

Clark's most cherished application, according to the newspaper, is Instapaper, which lets users store Web content in an easy and simple way. The basic software is free or users can pony up $5 for a feature-enriched version.

Also on Clark's top 10 list are Twitterrific, for users of micro-blog Twitter, ATM Hunter and the Shopping List application.

If you can't get your hands on the book, you can check out the accompanying Web site O'Reilly's developed for the book. There are several useful sections, including an archive of best applications and an interactive site feature for iPhone lovers to duke it out over their favorite software.

Photo courtesy of Apple