The iPhone Home Screen of Dave Caolo

When you add an app to your iPhone, the audition process has only begun. The apps that get used most frequently eventually migrate to the first page for quick access. The most beloved among those chosen few are clustered towards the center of the screen where they’re easiest to reach. As a righty, the far left hand column is the most difficult to reach (I have short thumbs), so the least-often used among the front page apps are placed there.

I’ve been using an iPhone since launch day in the US, and I’ve always kept the bottom row empty. Otherwise it’s just too crowded.

On my iPhone’s home screen, the apps I have are:

Messages: For years I failed to see the point of text messages. I mean, it’s a phone. Sending a text message with a phone seemed like sitting at a desk with a typewriter, lifting the whole thing up in the air, dipping it into an ink well and using it to write on a sheet of paper.

Then I learned how efficient it is to send a message that doesn’t warrant a phone call. “En route to gymnastics pickup.” “Will call at 6:00.” “Under something heavy. Please send paramedics.” I’m a convert.

Calendar: As a happy MobileMe customer, I sync iCal across my two computers, my wife’s iPod and my own iPhone. It does exactly what I need it to do reliably and I’ve found no reason to replace it.

Photos and camera: These apps are indispensable for me. I take photos of the typical things like my kids, pets and local scenery, but these apps are so much more useful than that. I shoot phone numbers and business cards. My location in Boston parking garages. Gift ideas. While waiting for a sandwich I once shot a two-page article in a magazine for later reading. Having a tiny camera in your pocket at all times is tremendously handy and goes far beyond snapshots with a little thought.

Outside: We spend a lot of time outdoors. Geocaching, swimming at the beach, hiking and otherwise distracting the kids. It’s great to get information like the UV index (should we pack sun block?), predicted amount of precipitation, sunset time and so on. Plus, it looks so darn good. If only they’d add a high and low tide chart, it’d be perfect.

Maps: Of all the available apps, Maps is the most like magic. I’ve used it to find coffee shops, get travel directions (both on foot and in the car), look up phone numbers and more. Before traveling, I bookmark points of interest so I’ll have them ready to go before I even arrive. I love it.

Birdhouse: When Birdhouse was introduced, I thought it was a practical joke. Twitter for writers? Surely they’re putting me on. But now I get it. Twitter demands brevity, and brevity requires creativity. It often takes effort to convey a thought in 140 characters, and Birdhouse allows me to capture the idea while I’ve got it and save it for further refining. Plus, one-liners like “Now is the printer of my discontent” don’t just happen.

Twitterrific: I’ve tried nearly every iPhone Twitter client there is, and Twitterrific has come out on top. It’s beautiful, handles multiple accounts and does what I want in a way that I enjoy.

Daylite: From blogging at TUAW to supporting Mac-friendly businesses here on Cape Cod to managing a family of five, there’s a lot to keep track of. Daylite is the project management solution that works for me. I’ve got Daylite Server running on an old G4 iMac which syncs to my MacBook Pro and iPhone. It’s tremendous to be miles away from home with access to all of my projects, actions, files and more.

Billings Touch: When out on support calls, it’s so very handy to start a new timed project right where I stand. Plus, it’s fun to see those little bar graphs climb as I earn more. Finally, Wi-Fi sync with the desktop version on my MacBook Pro “just works.”

WriteRoom: WriteRoom is a part of a solution that starts on my MacBook Pro. I’m using Notational Velocity to create and store notes and bits of text, which SimpleText then syncs with WriteRoom. This combination has been tremendously useful. I can take notes at a meeting with either my computer or iPhone and know that both will be kept in sync. Notational Velocity has such powerful search features that finding exactly what I want is incredibly easy, just as it is with WriteRoom. The combination of these three apps is irreplaceable.

Trip Cubby: My work requires that I keep track of mileage, which Trip Cubby makes simple. Previously I used a pen and paper which I often lost or left in the house when I needed it. Trip Cubby lets me track every inch I drive, backs up to App Cubby and lets me export all of my data to a .csv file. I wouldn’t want to track mileage without it.

In the dock I’ve got Phone (the app I use the least, actually), Mail, Safari and iPod. Of those four, Mail and iPod see near constant use.