Created by: OpenTable.

Out and about and wanting to make a reservation for dinner? OpenTable for the Palm Pre® will do what you need. There are over 10,000 fine dining restaurants available to view, see their menu, read reviews and make reservations, right on your phone. You also can plan ahead and book reservations in another city or country, view restaurants on a map, filter the results by cuisine, price and availability.

Once you launch the app, you can either choose your current location (allowing the app to narrow your choices to your current area) or select a metro area. The next step is to choose the date, time and party size for your meal. Tap ‘Find a Table’ and the next screen shows the results of all of the restaurants in your area or chosen metro area having tables available for your chosen day. Each restaurant listing has location, mileage from your current location, cuisine type, expense rating and available times. Clicking on the restaurant opens up a screen, where you can choose a time, read the menu, and/or read reviews and the description of the restaurant. Tapping a time then sends you to a login screen where you can login to OpenTable, if you’re a user, or skip it if you’re not. If you skip logging in, you are then prompted to enter your details (name, phone & email).

If you are unsatisfied with your first restaurant choice or the description doesn’t float your boat, simply go back and pick another. You can also refine your choice by cuisine and expense rating. There is also a world icon in the lower left hand corner, which allows you to choose a different area in which to find a restaurant.

OpenTable is a great app, especially when traveling and needing to find a place to eat. For those unfamiliar with OpenTable.com, the app is still easy to use because it contains the standard ratings and icons that all restaurant menu and rating sites use. Making a reservation is easy and your confirmation goes right to your email, in case there is a problem at the restaurant.

All in all, OpenTable for the Palm Pre is descriptive, user friendly, free and a great app to have on your phone.

Created by: Handmark, Inc. (US app only)

If you are someone who checks your horoscope every day and wants to do so on the fly, then the Express Horoscopes app for the Palm Pre® is for you. Express Horoscopes provides daily horoscopes for all zodiacal sun signs as well as specific birthday readings, celebrity horoscopes, and daily ratings.

The app is fairly straightforward. The landing page lists all of the zodiac sun signs, with the daily rating of stars next to each sign. Simply tap the sign you wish to read a horoscope for and a new screen pops up with your horoscope. You can email your horoscope by clicking on the paper airplane icon in the lower left hand corner and filling in the email address of your friend. To switch to another sign without going back to the main page, you can easily just tap the left or right arrow icons in the lower right hand corner and slide through to the next sun sign for which you want to read a horoscope.

Changing the date to read your horoscope from yesterday, up to 4 days back, is done by tapping the black bar with the date information at the top of the screen and picking the date you wish to read.

To look at the Birthdays landing page, tap the ‘Birthdays’ portion of the bar at the bottom of the home page for the Express Horoscopes app. You are then given a list of celebrity birthdays for the day as well as a special birthday horoscope.

There are two downsides to this app. First, there are ads in the app, but they are mostly unobtrusive – appearing at the top of the screen. Second, you can’t get your horoscope for the next day, even though most horoscope sites allow you to do that. But, the interface is clean, easy to use and to navigate, and the horoscopes aren’t bad…if you believe in that stuff.

You can download the Express Horoscopes app for the Palm Pre at the App catalog on your phone and it’s free.

Created by MyAppCatalog.com. (US only)

Greeting Card Messages for the Palm Pre® is great for anyone looking to put a special message in a card – birthday, holiday or otherwise – but are at a loss for words. The app will help you create a special message for that special someone. There are over 2500 different card messages in more than 120 categories.

The Greeting Card Messages app opens with a category screen where you can select the category of message you are looking to write. At the very top are the your favorite messages, which you’ve saved in the past. Picking a category sends you to a subcategory menu, where you can narrow down your choices. For example, picking ‘Birthday’ gives you a submenu choice of belated, family, general, friends, holiday birthdays, for kids, love, milestone, pets, religious, and workplace. Tap a subcategory and your Palm Pre instantly has different messages that you can use. If you see one you like, tap on it for more options. You can save it as a favorite, send it via text or send an ecard via email.

Some of the messages are funny and some are sweet. There are many options to choose from in each category and, if you are planning on handwriting the message, you can take your top choice and alter it to fit your needs.

It is easy to use and easy to find that special message you are looking for. There is a paid version, Greeting Card Messages Pro, for $0.99, which expands the selections by over 500 and also allows you to save the message to a clipboard – to cut and paste it in anything, anywhere.

If you need to write something nice in a card but don’t know what to say, then this app is for you.

Created by: Yelp.

The Yelp® app for the Palm Pre® is the mobile phone version of the website Yelp.com, which is a review site for all things local to your neighborhood. The reviews are written by other people and cover anything from restaurants and bars, banks, spas to anything automotive (mechanics, detailing, part shops, etc.), doctors, shopping and nightlife. The good news is, the Yelp app for the Palm Pre is very similar to the website version.

Upon launching the app, you are asked to allow Yelp! to locate you in your current location (unless you have your Palm Pre set up to always allow all programs to locate you). Once the phone and the app knows where you are, you can either do a search or pick a category, which then may have subcategories. Picking, for example, auto repair brings up a list of different repair shops in the area, with addresses and rankings. Simply tap the item you want, and an expanded view of the shop appears, complete with reviews and sometimes pictures. You can then map it on Google® maps, share it (text or email) or save it to your contact list to pull it up later. You can also filter the search results, to narrow the options down by price and whether the business is currently open by tapping on the ‘filter’ button at the bottom of the screen.

It is very user friendly and will give you a good list of favorites in your area. There are two things that the website allows that the app does not. The first is that on the website, you can choose your location rather than having the app choose it for you. So, if you are looking for good restaurants for your trip to New York, you can put in New York in the location field on the website and only see results for New York. The Palm Pre app version does not allow you to do this and only gives you reviews near your physical location. The other thing that the app does not do is that you can’t create your own reviews. But, when you are on the fly, all you really want to know is where to get the best tacos anyway, right?

The Yelp! app for the Palm Pre is a great way to find new restaurants, a new hairdresser or a great mechanic and the best part – it’s free!

Created by: Webworks and Applications.

If you’re an amateur bartender or a professional mixologist, you might enjoy using the 5800+ Drinks and Cocktails Free application for the iPhone®. The application claims to have more than 5,800 recipes, and while I haven’t looked at every recipe to confirm this number, the database is certainly quite extensive.

Drinks Free breaks down into five different screens:

• Favorites – The Favorites screen is set up to display popular drinks such as Cosmopolitan, Long Island, Mai Tai, Martini (Dry and Sweet), Pina Colada, Screwdriver, and Strawberry Daiquiri. Should you want to remove any of these drinks from the Favorites list, tap on the drink name and then tap the star in the top right corner. To add any drink in the database to the Favorites screen, tap the star.
• All Drinks – From the All Drinks screen, you can access an alphabetical listing of drinks. Use the search window at the top of the screen to narrow down your search.
• Categories – The Categories screen shows you drink recipes that fall under one or more of eleven different groups, based on ingredients used. Categories include Beer, Cocktail, Cocoa, Coffee/Tea, Homemade Liqueur, Milk/Float/Shake, Ordinary Drink, Other/Unknown, Punch/Party Drink, Shot, and Soft Drink/Soda.
• Ingredients – Probably the best feature of Drinks Free is the Ingredients screen, where you can look up different drinks based on the ingredients you want to use. To select an ingredient, press the plus sign, then scroll through the list to pick the ingredients you have on hand.
• Random Drink – The Random Drink screen pulls up a drink at random from the database.

Found a recipe you just have to share with a friend? You can email the recipe by tapping the Email button at the bottom of the screen. It will pull up a new mail message with the recipe in the body of the email.

There are plenty of different types of beverages listed in Drinks and Cocktails Free, so if you’re looking for something new to try, you’re bound to find it here.

Pros: Huge database of drinks. Ingredients feature allows you to look up drinks based on what you have on hand.
Cons: Won’t let you search by drink type. Categories can be somewhat confusing. Application may time out when selecting more than two ingredients on the Ingredients screen.
What I’d Like to See in Next Version: Ability to look up non-alcoholic drinks easily.

Created by: Yowza!!

As most folks already know, store coupons only work when you remember to take them with you. While several major retailers have created iPhone® applications to pass along coupons to their customers, not every store has. That’s where Yowza!! Mobile Couponss, a location-based coupon provider created specifically for the iPhone, comes in.

To have Yowza!! show you coupons where you’re located, tap the Nearby icon. Once the application has pinpointed your location, it pulls up retailers and restaurants within a 1 mile, 5 mile, or 15 mile radius that have coupons available. Tap the store to see what the special offers and/or coupons are—sometimes there may be more than one coupon in the system. If there’s more than one location for the retailer, select the location you want to view available discounts. When you go to redeem the coupon, simply open the application and show the applicable discount code or coupon to the cashier or server.

Not sure where the store is? Press the map icon and the iPhone’s Maps application will show you the location. Want to call the store? Tap the phone button and the number will pull up, giving you the option to call the store or cancel.

The Search tool allows you to look for discounts in a particular city or zip code, which can come in handy if the navigation tool isn’t accurately picking up your location. Save the discounts you’re most interested in to Favorites by tapping the star at the top right of the screen.

Want to keep track of how much money you’ve saved using Yowza!!? After you’ve used the coupon, press Track Savings to enter the amount of money you’ve saved. From the main screen you can tap on Savings to see how much money you saved over the course of a day, week, month or for all time.

All in all, Yowza!! is a brilliant concept to help people save some cash as well as help businesses retain customers.

Pros: Great concept, easy to use. Can track how much money was saved using the application.
Cons: Yowza is still building up a roster of businesses offering coupons so in some areas you may not find very many coupons.

Carrying around a keychain loaded down with club cards? Or maybe your wallet is stuffed full of cards for grocery stores, pharmacies, office supply and other chain stores. “If only I could use one card for everything!” you cry. But wait! As the iPhone® TV ads say, “There’s an app for that”—and it’s CardStar.

Adding a club card is very easy. Tap the + button to enter the Add Card screen, then you select a merchant. CardStar breaks them down into 7 categories: Drug Store, Entertainment, Grocery, Gym, Retail, Library and Travel. To scroll through the entire list, press (All Merchants). After you’ve selected the merchant, press Save. You’re then taken back to the Add Card screen to enter your membership number. Press Save, then Done.

Can’t find one of your club cards on the list? No worries—just select Other from the list (hint: it’s at the very end of the full merchant list) and enter the card number. In the Display Settings section, enter the name of the retailer in the Title field. I had to do this with one of my club cards, and the only thing the resulting entry lacks is the store’s logo above the barcode—the store name still appears in the gray title bar.

Even if the retailer’s barcode scanner can’t read it from your iPhone, they can still enter the number from CardStar. I tried it for the first time at Petco and the cashier couldn’t get it to work—apparently the iPhone’s screen protectors can make it hard for the laser to penetrate. While that was a minor letdown, I’ve seen cashiers struggle with barcodes on the plastic club cards themselves.

Pros: Great concept. Large database of stores. Barcode and numbers are clearly shown on the screen. For longer barcodes, CardStar lets you know to rotate the phone to get the full barcode for scanning. Easy to add codes for stores not listed.
Cons: Some scanners may not be able to read the barcode if you’re using a screen protector or if your touchscreen is dirty.

Are you addicted to eBay® or just like to shop and sell things? Then you should definitely get the eBay Mobile application for the iPhone®.

This app gives you access to one of the biggest online marketplaces, with just a few taps, wherever you happen to be.

This application uses a streamlined interface that is bright, easy to use and fast. eBay members can search, bid, and check their activity on the go. Buyers can sneak in that last-minute bid on a hard-to-find item, sellers can check on their sales, and everyone can act on time-sensitive information on the spot without a computer.

eBay Mobile has all the features you use on their web based site. So enjoy some online shopping on the run!

Have you, like me, went into a store and found something you really “need”?

This has happened to me quite often. But I always wonder if it would be cheaper to buy the product online. I usually buy the product and check the internet stores when I get home. The same thing happens almost every time; it is cheaper online.

I found this new iPhone® application that really solves this problem. The app is called Amazon Mobile.

What is great is that every item on Amazon is available to browse, compare, and purchase. I can even read up on customer reviews before I purchase. So when I got to the store and use this app to compare prices, I now usually end up ordering it online while I’m in the store. These comparisons have saved me hundreds of dollars.

So try it out! It’s free.

Are you a person that likes coupons? Then you should definitely get the Coupon Sherpa application for the iPhone®.

Now you no longer have to buy coupon books or search the internet for the right coupons for you.

Coupon Sherpa does the dirty work of looking through coupons on the Internet and bringing them to you. This is a program filled with coupons. To make it even easier for you, you can make lists with your favorite stores and can also e-mail the coupons to your friends. The coupons can also be scanned by optical scanners, right from your phone.

This application is free and you definitely will be able to save some money with these great coupons.

Do you have a pet or maybe two? Then this is the ultimate organizer for all of your pets and their information!

Take some lovely pictures of your beloved pet and store them in the picture gallery and then show some great photos of your pet to others and take new ones with your iPhone® camera.

Do you have a problem with remembering your pets ID, birthday, microchip and breed? Problem solved. Now you can save all of this information in the Pet Notebook.

Sometimes it could be smart to have all your information in one place so be smart and enter your pets veterinary in the notebook and you can easily call them and get driving directions from Google Maps.

After a visit to the veterinary, your pet may need some medications, and these you can also easily keep track of in the Pet Notebook.

Make your and your pet’s life easier with this application.

You can buy it for $2.99.

Do you have a problem with choosing what you are going to make for dinner or lunch? Then you should try out iFood Assistant, which is an application from Kraft® that gives you recipes and food ideas for over 7,000 meals. This is a very smart and fun application and it even helps you with cooking. The application makes everyday cooking easier and you don’t have to spend half an hour to figure out what to make for dinner.

iFood Assistant gives you simple and delicious food ideas, anytime and anywhere you go. All of the 7,000 recipes offer you a video demonstration on how to cook the meal you have chosen. If you need to make a quick meal, you can choose one of the smart 1-2-3 recipes. If you have a particular idea of what you’re looking for, the search function is available and you can browse and select by ingredient, meal type, prep time, and other options. If you don’t know what to cook, you can just roll the dice with the Recipe of the Day.

If you turn the phone to the horizontal view, the recipes switch to index card mode and show you one step in the process on each “card.” When you have chosen your meal of the day, you can add items to your shopping list from recipes, as well as store favorites into an online recipe box. You can also comment and/or review comments on each recipe. Now you can start to enjoy cooking!

You might wonder what fashion has to do with an iPhone®. Stop wondering and just read!

This is actually the first fashion app I found and it happened to be my favorite designer. The Chanel iPhone application puts the latest fashions in the palm of your hand. It is smart and includes a store locater that will call the store and map your trip to their door to stock up on the latest designs. When I opened the Chanel app for the first time, it really impressed me. The graphics are great and slick—very Chanel. It opens up to a pretty cool lens flare shooting around their logo and then drops you off on the home page. A black background, white text and nice color photos make this app very appealing to the eye.

You can get news, photos, videos, and product information from one of the biggest names in fashion. You can watch fashion shows, see the latest offerings from the Chanel line, access an RSS feed of Chanel’s news, and get store locations.

So far, Chanel is the only fashion company to release an app like this. You can find the Chanel application from the iTunes App store under the lifestyle category. The Chanel application is available for free.