Thursday, February 12, 2009

The One iPhone App You Must Own

Computer programs aren't perfect. When they launch and later quit, they sometimes leave little traces of themselves behind. These memory fragments eventually pile up and start slowing things down. Restarting forces everything to clear out of town and reinitializes the memory "from scratch," so to speak. While this works, it isn't always desirable, since everything you were working on will have to be re-loaded.

Computers have had software programs that tend to these matters for years, but what about the iPhone? Yes, your iPhone is a computer and if you have ever noticed it running sluggishly, or find apps quitting unexpectedly, you can bet memory is getting tight.

Fortunately, there is now an application from IntelligentMobiles that addresses the problem. "Memory and System Info" displays the Free Memory, Used Memory, and Disk Capacity (both free and total) of your iPhone and lets you free up any unused memory that is fragmented. It also lists all the processes currently running on your iPhone.

I think this app is indispensable for anyone who has a lot of information on their iPhone. If you have ever had to force-restart your iPhone, or even just shut it off and turn it on again because it was acting strange, this app will be a real time saver for you.

Memory and System Info shows up on the iPhone as "system Info" and is available from the iTunes App Store for 99 cents.
Advising a developer on how to effectively use Social Networking without alienating people.