iPhone Applications

If you're one of the millions of iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS owners who have updated to iOS 4.3, you may have found the battery on your device drains noticeably faster that it did before. This isn't the first time Apple firmware updates have changed battery consumption, but luckily there seems to be an easy way to improve the situation.

Ping has been cited by Pocket-lint as a possible culprit on the iPad, iPod touch and iPhones running iOS 4.3. The software runs Apple's iTunes-based social networking service, which makes it possible to connect with friends and get related music recommendations. For those who use the service this battery fix won't help, but if you don't find Ping useful then you can turn it off.

Now iPhone owners have another way to join Android users in a video chat. Qik Video Connect Plus has been released on iTunes for $2.99. A free version is in the works and is currently being reviewed by Apple. For those who are not familiar with Qik, the app offers an alternative to FaceTime and has been pre-installed on many Android devices.

Besides real-time video calling, Qik offers a variety of other features. Video mail messages can be sent to friends, and live video can be broadcast on the web for your contacts to watch live. The plus version of Qik includes real-time video effects, syncing with the camera roll and support for HD video.

The iPhone has mishandled another time change as clocks across the continent were set forward one hour this weekend to mark the beginning of Daylight Savings Time (DST). Reports have surfaced on Apple forums, Twitter and other venues of frustrated iPhone owners missing appointments and experiencing strange behavior on their devices.

The DST bugs run the gamut from iPhone clocks jumping backward instead of forward by one hour, alarms going off an hour early, and phones switching to DST properly but later in the day undoing the change. Apple has not announced an official reason for the clock problems, but they are easily fixed.

Those looking for a Babel Fish can now have the next best thing on their iPhones. Today Google released the iOS version of its Translate app. This mobile powerhouse will translate between more than 50 different languages. What's more, Google Translate listens to spoken sentences in 15 different languages and spits out a written translation.

Text in 23 languages can also be spoken aloud by your iPhone with the press of a button. The app also features a zoom capability that makes the translated text large on your screen to show another person what you're trying to say. Speaking words into the app is as simple as pressing the microphone button, while entering text with the keyboard is also possible.