Anyone who has any interest in Apple, or watches their keynotes will know there are now more than 140,000 apps in the app store. With that in mind I thought I’d list some of my favorites. (They are not in any specific order.)

1) My O2: (not available in the US)

Sometimes an app isn’t great because it’s flashy, or because it’s super cool, but purely because it’s incredibly useful. In the US, AT&T currently has the exclusive on the iPhone; in the UK it was O2. However in November, the exclusivity expired. Since then, pretty much every major network has started stocking Apple’s magical mobile.

This app was made by O2 for its customers to be able to check their allowances and calling plan information at anytime. You can check how many minutes and texts are left, how long is left on your contract, how much your bill is and when you pay it. It even has a section for getting help with your iPhone.

2) iCollect Movies:

I’m quite anal when it comes to organizing my DVD collection. I like to know where every movie is, if someone’s borrowing it from me, and I like to know it’s in its correct place on my bookshelf. To give you some sort of an idea of how it was before this app, every DVD was placed in alphabetical order in the shelf, and if someone did borrow it, I always made a note so I knew who had it. This saves DVDs from going missing, and saves time when searching for one.

iCollect movies is an app that utilizes the camera on your iPhone as a barcode scanner to scan DVDs or Blu-Ray discs into its database on your phone. (These aren’t the only two formats supported either. There are seven format options, including Betamax, VHS and Laser-Disc.) Once the movie is in your phone, you can rate it out of 5 stars, note who you may have lent it to, make a record of when you last watched it and get the link to IMDB.com and Rotten Tomatoes page. You can also choose how the list is ordered and even what shows in the “movie cell.” It’s a fantastic app, and a steal at $2.99.

(link to the iTunes page here)

3) Plants vs. Zombies

This is my favorite time killer out of all the paid apps downloaded so far. Possibly the most addictive and time consuming, I often drain a whole battery in one session, completely forgetting the time. This game is a horticultural strategy game involving mild plant violence and the undead. The basic goal is to defend your property against an oncoming hoard of zombies who would love to eat your brains.

For a full review click here.

(link to iTunes page here)

4) Ebay Mobile

Another practical and simple offering, Ebay mobile does exactly what you’d expect from it. Once you’ve put in your account details, you can search, bid, watch, sell and monitor everything you’re involved with on Ebay. One really useful tool is the push notifications, which remind you when the items you’re bidding on are due to end, when you’ve won, etc.

(link to iTunes page here)

5) Cleartune – Chromatic Tuner

Gone are the days where you have to splash out a wad of cash on a decent chromatic tuner. Chromatic tuners can cost anywhere from $25 upwards, but not anymore. This app costs a cent short of $4, and is pretty accurate. You can alter the tuner to understand what instrument you are using, and can even change the A4 calibration from 440hz to whatever is standard where you are. There’s also a feature to change the transposition to suit you. Personally I only use it to tune my guitar, but it can be used for practically any instrument.

(link to iTunes page here)