App Store Wars

At the moment the three big players in the mobile operating system game are Android, Apple and yes, BlackBerry. As much of a setback as RIM may have had to deal with, recently, due to the whole outage bit, it’s quite doubtful that you may have switched over so quickly. So with these three systems in mind, we put together a list of apps with a budget of Rs.2,000 for each OS.

We’ve covered specific categories that include Productivity, Media, Games, Photography and Odd, but Fun. We’ve had our team of reviewers choose apps based on their own personal usage i.e. whatever OS they’ve been using the longest, and provide a list of apps for each we think you should have. We’ve included only paid versions of apps and none others that are free.

Let's start off with the ever loved Apple iOS. Although, there might be a total of four handsets in all, the iPhone is by far one of the most popular handset the world over. Not that this is any new information, but the reason being the rather seamless functioning of the OS. It's smooth, fluid and the apps designed for the system are neat and visually, quite a treat.

Angry Birds: Rs. 50
One year later, you can't ask to justify an Angry Birds purchase, anymore. It's a must have for every iOS device. Smash those birds into those pigs, and appreciate your value for money every time the app updates to release new levels.

Angry Birds Rio: Rs. 50
So you can either dish out your next 50 bucks on the Mighty Eagle in the regular Angry Birds game or you can spend on Rio. Why would I buy Rio? Because of the epic boss fights. They're a little different from the regular gameplay, but they still involved tossing birds at other birds. Plus, if you've seen the film, you can get a little nostalgic about it.

Fling birds. In Brazil. Win win.

Whatsapp: Rs. 50
The one platform that Whatsapp charges money for. Of course, all your friends who aren't on iOS, have the app and refuse to communicate with you on SMS. Shell out the 50 bucks for the app and make them buy you a drink. You win in the end.

Color Splash: Rs. 50
Now, Hipstamatic might be the 'it' photography app for many people, but frankly, those same effects can be added as post production on any photo by a variety of free apps. Color Splash is innovative and intuitive. You can change a picture to black and white and selectively colour in elements. And frankly, my favourite post production effect to add before I upload to Instagram.

Choose what you want to colour in

Voice Actions: Rs. 250
Sometimes (read often), you'll be driving and just then you get a message that you have to reply to or you need to call someone without looking down at your phone. Voice Actions acts as a voice-enabled assistant who will not only place your calls, but also 'type' your messages as you speak them. It makes the world a safer place to live in.

Dictionary.com: Rs. 150
If you're like me and you have to look up most new things, including words, that come your way, Dictionary.com is a good app to have. It comes with both, a dictionary and a thesaurus function, and is powered by the website of the same name. Plus, it's cheaper than buying a pocket dictionary, which you lose in no time.

GarageBand: Rs. 250
I'm a fan of playing around with sounds and since the music editing app recently launched for the iPhone, why wouldn't I buy it. With SoundCloud out there, it's become easier to record my musings, as well as tinker with various instruments and get the music out there. Except when my voice gets involved.

Play multiple instruments on your iPhone

Reeder: Rs. 250
Reeder is an RSS application which syncs with your Google Reader account (which is required to use this app). The app also allows you to send articles to Instapaper and ReadItLater. What's nice is the developer keeps up with updates from both Google and iOS. So when iOS 5 came out, Reeder got an update that took advantage of the new landscape.