Today Apple posted their Best of 2012 lists, including Best Apps of 2012. This is an excellent guide to apps that you should consider for your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Selected as iPhone App of the Year is Action Movie FX, which lets you add special effects to your videos such as death rays, car crashes, and missile strikes. Runner-Up is Figure, which has an intuitive interface that lets you easily create music on your device. Selected as iPhone Game of the Year is Rayman Jungle Run, a platform game with stunning graphics that they describe as "charming, intuitive, and deep." Runner-Up is Letterpress - Word, a combination of word game and territory-based strategy game.
In addition to these top awards, Apple offers up listings of Best iPhone apps in 11 categories -- but not your usual categories. They include the Best Disruptive Services: apps that offer new ways of how you travel, buy products, and use mobile payments. Another fresh category is Intuitive Touch — apps that use new forms of gestures and unusual ways of interacting with content. Other categories include Casual Games, New Ways to Play (new types of games), Photo & Video Magic, several more categories of games, Discover with Friends (apps that let you connect with friends), and Hidden Gems: Apps.
On the iPad side of things, the Editor's Choice for App of the Year is Paper by FiftyThree, which replicates the experience of pen and paper and lets you easily jot notes and make sketches. Runner-Up is again Action Movie FX, the winner of the top award for iPhone. Best Game of the Year is The Room, a puzzle game, and Runner-Up is Waking Mars, an adventure game that lets you explore Mars, cultivate ecosystems, and unlock the secrets of a lost civilization.
Seven of the best iPad app categories are the same as the iPhone Best of the Year, but the remaining four are different. They include Best of Newsstand, Sous Chef, Post-PC Creation (apps that replicate functions of desktop software), and Lifelong Learning (excellent education apps).
In addition to apps, Apple's Best of 2012 offers up top choices in music, movies, TV shows, books, and podcasts.
It's well worth your time to hop on over to the iTunes Store and do a little browsing of the Best of 2012.
