The iPhone Home Screen of William Couch

I’m fairly specific about the arrangement of apps on my home screen, such that applications that I use most frequently are near the bottom and edges, with the right seeing more frequent use than the left.

I use Calendar sparingly but having the date and day quickly accessible is handy. I should probably just move Contacts off the home screen as I just use Spotlight to search for contacts now, although that’s about all I use Spotlight for. Launching Contacts takes forever on my aging 3G and it’s then an additional tap (to top) to search or scrub on the alpha-slider, and invoking the keyboard can sometimes take an oddly long time. Swiping left on the home screen though, with near instant keyboard invocation and the cursor already in the search field, is just much faster. Maps is one of my favorite apps and I use it often enough that it takes this spot. Messages sits near the top edge as I use it often enough but not that it would be in the Dock or lower on the screen. I like having these four apps together as a bundle of the original apps. The varied colors and patterns sit nicely together.

I find myself in Settings often, whether I’m toggling Airplane Mode, WiFi or brightness. Instapaper is far and away one of my most beloved apps. It has completely changed the way I read content online, and has even set my expectations about reading in general. That said, I really only find myself using this version of the app when I’m idling with just my iPhone, whether on the Metro or elsewhere. Otherwise, I far prefer the experience on iPad. I’m a big fan of Tumblr and enjoy keeping abreast on my Dashboard with the app. However, I seldom post on the go,

~~and the auto-post to Twitter default really needs to go~~

(this has been corrected in the v1.2 update). I’m always interested in seeing the progress and development of the design and functionality of iPhone apps so I keep the App Store front and center to see what’s popular, what’s new, which of my apps have updates, and to perform some self-monitoring on our iPhone apps.

Of the location-based service apps, I’m smitten with Gowalla. I’m really intrigued by its design, exploratory philosophy, and concept of turning that exploration into a game rewarded by goods, both digital and physical. Plus, it’s the service most of the people I care about use, and I’ve definitely had many serendipitous moments where friends were nearby and I met up with them, or I’ve been able to make suggestions to others when they visit some of my favorite places around town.

USA TODAY is here by default to monitor the content and application, but I also personally prefer the Weather tab to any other weather app on iPhone. It’s fast, simple, and gets me what I want to know.

Nearing the left edge is Mail, which I don’t think requires explanation.

Twitter is also a requisite, and like others, I wasn’t a huge fan of the icon change, especially being another blue one, but the app is still irrefutably the best designed Twitter app for iPhone. Though, I am keeping my eye on Iconfactory’s relaunch of Twitterrific with version 3. The simplification they’ve discussed in light of their iPad app has me intrigued.

I’m not a huge fan of foursquare, but enough people I know use it that it’s worth having here. If I lived in New York or San Francisco, I’m sure I’d use it more as I’ve witnessed its utility when visiting those cities.

BeerThere is a mobile web app that my buddy, Nick Nunns, and I are building to log where, when, and what beers we’ve tried. Nick’s a home brewer and we both love craft beer so we thought this would be a fun exercise. It’s a work in progress, so I use this for testing and designing the app and different icon variations. If you’re interested, you can sign up for the beta, coming soon this summer.

First in the Dock is Phone, which I actually use with some frequency. Unlike most, I have little issue with AT&T’s service. In fact, I was happy to move off of Verizon as I get better reception in my apartment with AT&T, which is crucial without a landline. Safari also needs little explanation, it’s excellent and infinitely useful. Things and I have a love/hate relationship. It’s a beautiful app with one of the best icons, but I go through spurts of using it; when I have a lot of items to address and keep track of, it gets heavy use, but on a daily basis, it just sits there. I feel like I’ve spent more money with them than I have actually getting things done, which is silly. I do think I’ll use it more though with the coming OTA sync. Maybe then I can justify purchasing the iPad app.

Finally, iPod holds its original place as I love and listen to music a lot, and this is almost always running when I’m out and about.

Double-clicking the home button invokes the Camera which is why Camera is missing, and if iPod is running, invokes the controls. The rest of my screens are organized by application function, with the second for more web apps and utilities, third for camera and photo editing, fourth for music, remotes, and audio apps, fifth for games (I’m a pretty casual gamer), sixth for errands- and travel-related functions (Gas Cubby, Groceries, etc.), and the rest are kind of leftovers that I infrequently revisit.