iPhone Applications

I keep trying to think of a scenario where I would want to park my car while standing next to it. I guess an automatic parking app could come in handy for tight fits that offer little door room. 9to5Mac discovered a video of auto-parts supplier Valeo parking a car using nothing but an iPhone.

At the end of the video, a Valeo representative stands outside a Volkswagen Sharan and parks it using an iPhone (:55 mark). The Automatic Park4U system doesn't control steering, that's left to several sensors that can parallel park with just 22 inches of clearance.

Apple plans to release iOS 5 sometime this fall, with over 200 new features and improvements. Although an iOS 5 release date has not been announced, several of the upcoming firmware improvements have been described in detail. Many of these features already exist and can be installed on your iPhone now. Why wait to get the most out of your mobile device?

Some of these additions require a jailbroken iPhone, but now thanks to JailbreakMe jailbreaking your iPhone is as simple as visiting a website in Safari. There are many useful apps available that will bring iOS 5 features to your phone for a few dollars or completely free of charge. Here's a list of 15 different iOS 5 features you can get right now using the Apple App Store or Cydia:

Apple promises to help organize your life into a series of to-do lists with the Reminders feature coming this fall in iOS 5. Integration with the mobile operating system on your iPhone or iPad sounds great, but if you don't want to wait for iOS 5 you can have this functionality right now.

There are two popular apps available on the Apple App Store that can be installed free and will help you use your iOS device to create reminders and task lists today. Both apps are found in the Productivity section of the App Store. First we'll discuss Wunderlist, which has companion apps for desktop computers and even a web app that syncs with your lists.

Unlike many of the iOS 5 features you can get right now, enhancing your camera app or editing photos directly on your iPhone does not require jailbreaking your device. There are two applications that can be installed from the Apple App Store that provide the functionality of iOS 5 Camera and Photo app improvements and more.

First we'll start with taking pictures and recommend the Camera+ app for $0.99. Not only will Camera+ take better photos than the stock Camera app, it adds features that are not even included in iOS 5. Open the app and you'll see grid lines that help compose the shot and a simple zoom slider on the right.

Apple has announced improvements and better functionality in the iOS 5 version of Safari mobile web browser. Did you know you can have all of these features and more without even jailbreaking your iPhone? Two apps get rave reviews and already incorporate the changes coming to iOS 5 later this fall and more. We'll start with the one of the best replacements for Safari, the Atomic Web Browser.

This app is only $0.99 in the Apple App Store, but it packs a punch when it comes to web browsing features you're used to seeing on the desktop. Tabbed browsing is only the beginning. Atomic has a private browsing mode, colored themes, custom gestures and full screen browsing to start.