We pretty much all love our iPhones, right? And now that I’ve had mine for about a year now (no, I didn’t sing Happy Birthday to my phone, in case you’re wondering), I thought it might be a good time to go over my favorite apps. If you’re like me, you have a lot of apps, but there are some you keep returning to again and again. Here’s my list.

Google for iPhone is at the top of my list. I use the voice search functionality often, and it’s a serious time (and typing) saver. I also have a gmail account (free Google e-mail). In addition, there is a calendar, Google Docs, an RSS reader, and more. My iPhone’s Swiss Army Knife.

AP Mobile is up next. I check the news often, and the AP is my primary source. This app has improved over time, allowing a lot of customization, local news, a technology category (you can imagine I spend some time there) and more.

Clock. This built-in app is one I bet many people overlook, but I’ve come to rely on the alarm clock functionality. I use it a lot since I’ve discovered it — one of the things I like best is that you can set different alarm sounds, the same way you can set ring tones. Instead of the hated buzzing of most alarm clocks, I have it set to graceful bells. It’s a nicer way to wake up.

Recorder. This is a voice-recording app that’s come in handy numerous times. In my day job as a magazine editor, I’ve used it time and again to record phone interviews. The digital clarity is quite good compared to my old, trusty (and revered) Radio Shack microcassette recorder, and since I have a 16GB iPhone, hard drive space to record conversations has never been an issue.

Fieldrunners. I have a number of games on my iPhone, but this is by far the one that has wasted the most of my time. It’s absolutely addicting. Fieldrunners is a tower defense game; you need to stop the baddies from getting through to your base by blocking their way through a series of towers. The towers can be filled with machine guns, missiles, electricity-generating machines, and more. I’m actually not much of a video/computer game guy, but this one keeps me coming back.

Well, there’s five iPhone faves. What are some of yours? Comment below.

As I mentioned before, I’m not much of a computer gamer, except for one title: Microsoft Flight Simulator (FS).  I’m also a private pilot, and there’s one thing about FS that really bugs me; in a landing pattern, you have to push buttons to see around you. What I mean is that to look left, you push a button and see a left view out of the cockpit, and so on. In real-world flying, you look around without pushing buttons, and still have your hands on the throttle and yoke or stick. In FS, you’re pushing buttons to get a view, and it’s terribly distracting, at least for me.

That’s why my next FS-related purchase  will be NaturalPoint’s TrackIR. TrackIR is a device that grabs on to the top of your monitor and tracks your head movements. It then sends that information to the game (it can be any kind of flying or driving computer game). That means when you turn your head right, the game will follow your head movements to the right.

It’s kind of difficult to explain, so it might be best to watch a YouTube video of TrackIR in action to get a better sense of what I’m talking about. For me, this will revolutionize my flight-simming. Takeoffs and landings, in particular, will become much more realistic, and therefore help my real-world flying. Even if you only fly virtually, the TrackIR shouild be at the top of your list of gadgets to enhance your gaming.

A confession: I’m not big into computer games. That strikes some as odd, given that I’m a complete techie and gadget geek, but I’ve never gotten into them. I’ve had a few I’ve enjoyed over the years, but never really played any of them consistently.

Except one: Microsoft Flight Simulator. I’m a private pilot, so I suppose that makes sense. Anyway, on to the gadget. I just got a new joystick to do FS X (the most current version of the game) — the Saitek Aviator.

I’ve used it for a number of flights now, and have enjoyed it greatly. I’ve gone through many joysticks over the years, and this one feels as solid as any of them. That’s an important consideration, as joysticks are often very light weight and slide around easily — too easily — on a desktop. The Saitek, with its heavy, large base, stays in place.

The twisting action of the shaft (which equates to moving the rudders left and right) is nicely responsive. The buttons are well laid-out and easy to reach, including the switches on the side. It has dual throttle levers, which comes in handy when piloting twin-engine aircraft.

I can’t yet speak to the toughness or reliability of the Saitek, as I haven’t used it long enough to wear anything out. I will say, though, that I’m very pleased with the purchase and what it offers for a reasonable price.

It’s coming at last — the iPhone update that brings lots of upgrades for which users have been begging for months or years.

The update, 3.0, is expected to be out this summer. It’s free for iPhone owners, and about $9.95 for iPod Touch owners. The 3.0 upgrade will also work with 2G iPhone owners (the original iPhone); the big update for 2G iPhones is that Bluetooth functionality will be enabled.

On to the improvements. The biggest one — let the trumpets sound! — is copy and paste between applications. It’s something everyone has missed, and a feature that’s been found on other smartphones for some time. Apple officials said that security issues held up copy and paste until now. Copy and paste operations can be undone in a cool way — just shake the phone, and a menu pops up giving various undo options.

Another upgrade I’ve been waiting for is “landscape mode” for mail, text and notes. It may seem like a small thing, but it’s an important enhancement. Turning the iPhone sideways gives a lot more horizontal screen real estate, and is useful for primarily text-based apps.

There are a number of new built-in applications that will be added, too. They include:

• Phishing protection, to protect you from Websites that try to trick you into giving out private information
• Voice Mail, a digital voice recorder
• Auto-fill for forms. That will save you typing time, as it remembers previous entries and fills them in for you
• An improved Stocks application, that includes a landscape view and news stories

Apple hasn’t yet given more concrete details on a release date for the 3.0 upgrade.

Now this is weird. Siliconera.com is reporting that Sony is working on a way to hook up a remote-control car to the PlayStation Portable (PSP) handheld game console, possibly for a driving game that will use real-world obstacles.

According to the Website, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) has applied for a patent that would use the PSP as an interface that would control the car. Mounted on top of the car is a camera that will beam the video back to the PSP (still with me?) Since you will see what the car is seeing through the camera, you can navigate around stuff in the way.

One ominous note the Siliconera reports from the patent is that “a user may control the car … so as to spy on their friends… then upload the stored video images to a website.” While it sounds fun for a game, it’s not hard to image nasty and even, possibly, illegal uses for this device as well.

There was no word on when this type of system will be available. Given that it’s still in the patent stage, it could be awhile before it hits the streets.

In about 90 minutes as I write this, the next generation Nintendo gaming console goes on sale.

Starting Sunday, April 5, Nintendo unveils the DSi, the successor to the incredibly successful DS Lite (shown at right), which was itself the successor to the console that started it all, the DS.

The Nintendo DS line is the most successful handheld gaming console of all time, way ahead of the Sony Playstation Portable, which has its own loyal cadre of fans, including my son. The DS lacked some features, however, that the newest version claims to have updated.

Some of the improvements include:

• Two cameras: one on the outside body, and one that points at the user when the console is opened
• Slots for storage cards
• A Web browser
• An iPhone-style online shop from which to download games. That, of course, is why the Web browser comes in handy
• The ability to play audio and video (although the audio is AAC only, meaning it doesn’t play iTunes-compatible songs)

Overall, it’s an impressive list of enhancements to an already-strong gaming system.  Nintendo says the DSi will initially come in two colors, blue and black, and carry a list price of $169.99.

Is the console worthy of your money? Not everyone thinks the upgrades are earth-shattering, but it does answer a long list of “gotta-haves” from users. If you don’t have any game system right now, it’s worth trying side-by-side with a PSP and deciding after that type of comparison.

You’ll notice a lot of chatter on this and other PriceGrabber blogs about the iPhone. The reason I write about it is twofold: First, it’s incredibly popular, and its owners (like me) tend to be intensely interested in any news related to it. Yeah, many of us have an unhealthy level of attachment to our devices.

Second, the iPhone is just about the greatest gadget of all time; and since this is a gadget blog, anything related to the iPhone is relevant.

One of the reasons the iPhone is enormously popular is the App Store. Thousands of applications, most of them reasonably priced and many of them free, is what separates the iPhone from the competition.

If you’re a PriceGrabber fan and iPhone owner (or prospective owner), you’ll be interested in a new application coming soon. It’s the PriceGrabber iPhone App. Details aren’t available yet, but you can be sure it’ll help you comparison shop for the best prices to be found on the Web.

Yet another way your iPhone makes your life better. Keep checking PriceGrabber for more information, or provide your e-mail address to be notified immediately of the application’s availability.

OK, my kids love the idea of writing about their gadgets, so here’s another one: 12-year-old Patrick reviews his Sony PlayStation Portable handheld game console.

“I got my PSP in 2006. The first game I ever got was Daxter, one of the best games available for the PSP.

The first time I saw the PSP I thought the analog stick was a speaker. Well, it turns out that it’s not. The PSP is the first portable game system ever to have an analog stick on it. The analog stick is a huge upgrade from the D-pad. It really helps you move around better.

I didn’t expect the graphics to be very good, but I had my hopes. So, I loaded up Daxter; when I saw the in-game graphics, I just said “Wow.”

The graphics for the PSP are incredible. There exactly like the ones on the PlayStation 2 (PS2). I have many games and all of them have wonderful graphics. They look so life-like.

There were two things I wasn’t impressed at all by: The sound, and the brightness of the screen. Even with the sound all the way up it was hard to hear, but thankfully Sony fixed the problem by coming up with a sound enhancer. The screen is so dark there’s almost no way you can play it outside on a sunny day.

Sony has come out with the PSP slim, which is lighter, but still had some issues. With the new release of the PSP 3000, all the issues are fixed.

The battery life is very long; on one charge; it’s run for about 1 ½ days. The fact that you can store music, pics, videos, watch movies also impressed me.

I wish they would put a camera ability in there so you could take pictures. With the newest update you can get the PlayStation store, which you can get loads of demos from. You can also download games directly to your PSP. Online play isn’t very good, because you can only go online if you have Wi-Fi near you.

Overall, the PSP is a wonderful system. If you’re looking at handheld game systems, you should definitely get this instead of the Nintendo DS or Wii or something.”

Thanks, Patrick!

Somebody was asking me about the main differences between the iPhone and iPod Touch the other day, and I thought it might be a good idea to put that information in blog form for those of you facing a similar dilemma.

The first thing most folks want to know about is price. The Touch (shown at right) offers three different capacities: the 8GB for $229, the $16GB for $299, and the 32GB for $399. There are only two models of the iPhone offered: the $199 8GB, and the $299 16GB.

As for features, the one key difference is that the iPhone is a (duh) phone! The Touch is not a phone, although it has most of the other offerings of the iPhone, including an iPod music player; applications via Apples AppStore; and the ability to watch videos and manage photos.

The Touch, overall, offers less functionality. For instance, data can only be retrieved via a wi-fi network, not through a cell network. What this means is that you have to be in an area that has a wi-fi connection available, like a coffee shop or home network, to be able to wirelessly download songs, videos or applications via the iTunes store. With an iPhone, you can download information anywhere you can use your phone; this is a big advantage over the Touch, in my opinion. Although more and more places are offering wi-fi, it’s not found anywhere near as often as a cellphone signal.

Another thing the iPhone (shown at left) has that the Touch doesn’t have is external speakers. To hear audio on the Touch, you need to use headphones. That can be limiting if, for instance, you want to watch a video or listen to a game’s audio with a friend, or you just don’t have your headphones with you.

The Touch also lacks a camera. While the iPhone’s camera isn’t a knockout, it’s still serviceable, and great for getting impromptu snaps. It’s odd to me that the Touch doesn’t have a camera, even though it has photo management software.

As for the iPhone’s downside, there’s really only a couple that jump to mind: First, you have to have a $30/month data plan with the iPhone, and it’s not optional. It doesn’t cost you anything extra to use your Touch. That can be a deal-breaker for many.

The other downside, at least for those in the U.S., is that iPhones, as sold, work only on the AT&T network. I say “as sold” because iPhones can be hacked and used on other carrier networks. Hacking them has its own issues however, in that it voids your warranty, so if you need to return your phone, you’re out of luck.

In all, the iPhone comes out ahead in most ways over the Touch. That doesn’t mean the Touch is a bad gadget; quite the contrary, it’s a fabulous device. But in comparison with the iPhone, it doesn’t measure up quite as well.

On the other hand, you may not be in the market for a phone right now, or don’t want to switch providers. For those folks, along with the budget-conscious who don’t want to shell out an additional $30 per month, the Touch is a home run.

Many people complain about Microsoft’s dominance in the desktop operating system market. There are only a few choices beyond Windows XP or Vista — namely, Mac from Apple (there is Linux for the uber-geek crowd, but tech mortals still mostly avoid it).

Well, the exact opposite situation exists in the music player world — there’s iPod from Apple, and everyone else. That includes Microsoft, which makes the Zune MP3 player. Zune is Microsoft’s “iPod” killer. Fat chance of that, of course, but Microsoft is putting a lot of effort into the Zune, to make it at least a viable alternative.

And it is that. The latest update is 3.0, and includes a bunch of new features. There are new capacity players, including 16GB and 120GB devices. But two of my favorite improvements are to Zune Pass and the FM player.

Zune Pass costs $14.95 per month. For that flat fee, you get to download unlimited songs and use them on up to three computers and three players. Until now, however, you didn’t get to keep them; merely use them — if you let your subscription lapse, you lost your songs. Under the new plan, you get to keep up to 10 songs per month for good. That means Zune Pass effectively costs $4.95 per month. It’s a heckuva deal.

The other neat new feature has to do with the FM tuner. Let’s say you’re listening to the radio, and hear a song you like. You can select the song in Zune, and the next time you sync with your computer, it will be ready for you to buy. If you have wi-fi access, you can buy it immediately and download it to Zune. Pretty nifty.

Overall, the Zune is a worthy MP3 player. It may not have the “cool” factor of the iPod, but it’s worth considering, and has some features lacking in Apple’s player.