Guest Post: this is a guest post from regular commenter Israel Torres.

I spend hours a day staring at my iPhone checking out the latest and greatest apps that suit my needs or simply take my fancy.

This is no simple task when using the iPhone, it’s usually simpler to browse on websites that are attuned to what is being released on a daily basis. However when I have time to kill & I’m not near a laptop or workstation (eg: like when traveling with someone or waiting for something somewhere) and I know it is going to be a while I then focus my attention to my iPhone and start searching for apps.

I first start by checking to see if any of my existing apps need updating. Usually after I unlock my iPhone a little number indicator shows on my apps icon how many apps have updated and need to sync up with my iPhone so the copy on my iPhone is updated too. For example I notice that in Updates there is a number 1 (after manually checking for updates) and Keyvisuals Peanut Butter Jelly Time! has version 2.0 released as of 1/2/09.

If there are multiple updates I can click on Update All to update more than one app but personally I like to see what changes have been made before installing it. For example Peanut Butter Jelly Time! has New & Improved Graphics, Animation, Sound, Accelerometer sensivity and creation credits. It is a free app so I click the blue icon labeled FREE and it turns green to INSTALL. I’m prompted for my Apple iTunes password for my iPhone and the “Loading… / Installing…” progress bar indicates that the App PBJTime is being updated. I start up the App and right away notice that they’ve also added advertisements (not metioned in their update changelog). This app is more of a fun app to show friends and be silly when things get too quiet but really nothing else useful.

So now let’s say I want to delete an app from my iPhone. I just hold any icon until they all start shaking & a little X appears. Click the “x” above the app the app icon. (ED: Note, if you want to rearrange your icons simply hold & drag an icon after they start shaking) I am prompted with the delete function, then I am prompted to rate the app before deleting. I always try to rate/comment the apps that I’ve installed so I rated it. Once I’m done cleaning up my apps I simply hit the ‘home’ button & the apps lock into place again.

Sometimes App updates change and people prefer them to stay with the features they had than use the newer one. A good tactic that a lot of the app users use is to change their rating in the app and make a comment as to why they changed the rating either from say 4 stars to 1 star or vice-versa. With enough of these the author will usually listen to their userbase and make the change for the better, otherwise it usually gets deleted and ranked down which no one really wants. The best method for this tactic is to use postive constructive comments instead of just saying “change it back – it sucks now” or “deleted biotch”.

The great thing about iPhone Apps is that if someone makes one that doesn’t suit someone’s personal needs (read:sucks) someone else can make a better one if they don’t like what’s out there.

Which I intend to do myself as soon as I get a Mac.