First up is the Wooo Button. Talk about useless! This little free app works by providing you with a button called “Wooo!” When said button is pressed, it elicits an exuberant sound that, while can only be described as “Wooo!” is really so much more than that. Think I’m being overly dramatic? Think again. This button provides a wooo unlike any other wooo, and we’ll leave it at that.

Another useless but fun app is LOLCats. You’ve probably heard of the site, LOLCats that includes pictures of kitties in funny situations with oftentimes barely legible captions. Now, you can have it right on your phone. 

LOLCats works by feeding you images from Flickr that contain the tags “lol cats” or “lol cat.” Once the app loads up, all you have to do is swipe through the photos and enjoy! 

Now, would I recommend you download these apps? Since they’re free, sure, why not? And if you enjoy wasting time as much as I do, then go right ahead. But if you’re looking for something with a little more functionality or um, a purpose, then look elsewhere.

There’s nothing fancy here–just two free apps that turn your screen into a flashlight so you don’t have to go fumbling around in your purse for your keys. It can also help you unlock the door at night. Basically, both apps work like flashlights. Pretty self-explanatory, yeah? 

But there are a few notable features worth mentioning. The Flashlight app opens as a blank, white screen. If you press the “i” for more information, you can set the screen to a strobe-light effect. I don’t know how useful that would be, but fun, nonetheless. 

myLite, on the other hand, offers up a bit more. While it also opens as a blank screen, if you tap it, you can change the color of the screen by means of sliders. Plus, if you press the “Show Effects” button, a drop down menu appears from which you can select a variety of flashing color settings. Everything from “Police Car” to “Rock Concert” is included, the latter of which is a lighter flame. 

So, when you need a flashlight, you can always put your iPhone to work on double duty. And though the extra features are cool, they’re really pretty much useless. Flashlight apps are cool and all, but I have to wonder, wouldn’t just turning on your phone in the dark suffice?

Granted, there are many other apps out there like this–Yelp, Nearby, urbanspoon, just to name a few. But I think iWant is interesting because it’s attempting to give you information on all major business types. Pretty bold, don’t you think? 

The interface is very neat and easy to use. The icons are representative of the categories. You can organize the search results by distance of rating, plus a five-star system (powered by yelp) helps you keep tabs on what’s good and what’s better left avoided. If you have the yelp app, you can read reviews on places you find in iWant through yelp. Pretty cool synchronization, there. 

Plus, when you want to see where something is, you just click on the map icon in the lower right hand corner. 

All in all, I like this app. But it doesn’t offer anything extra. But something has to be said for an app that lives up to what it claims to do. I have to respect that.

Palringo is an application that syncs up with your instant messaging accounts and lets you send text and picture instant messages over the iPhone. The real bonus here is you don’t rack up SMS charges–it goes over your EDGE/3G/WiFi networks. 

Now, I like this app. It’s pretty neat with a nice interface that’s easy to navigate. I only have one qualm, but it’s a doozy. 

Even though you can send picture messages, they don’t immediately pop up on your friend’s screen. Instead, they are sent a link to the picture and they have to click on it to see your picture. Ehh, not exactly picture messaging, now is it? Why not just e-mail or use Flickr? Kind of defeats the whole purpose and convenience of built-in picture messaging if you ask me. 

One cool thing is that you can take a picture right this second and it will send in the IM. But then again, you could always take a picture and e-mail it right this second, too. (As a bonus, you can see a frightening image of me demonstrating this feature below the fold. 

So, I guess what I’m saying is that this attempt at convenience certainly is appreciated, but it’s not quite there yet. Built in MMS would do the trick, but that would mean more charges from AT&T and who wants that?