I have featured several home-grown iPhone apps before, and this time, I am featuring updated or new applications. Whilst definitely in no particular order, the first app is Enjoy Philippines, a previously featured app, but was updated with new features, most notably, the in-app database updates.

This feature can update the list of establishments that provide discounts and special treats to Enjoy card members, without updating the application. In addition, a new news feed has been integrated to keep you updated on new promos, events, etc, happening within your area - yes, it knows where you are (if you give it access, of course).

From the creator of Enjoy Philippines, Giro AppSolutions, zPhone is like a turbo-charged phone application for the iPhone. zPhone integrates a T9 keyboard function, similar to those found in non-smartphones, that interfaces with the Contacts database for rapid searching.

You can also use the T9 keyboard to dial a phone number. One feature that zPhone provides is group SMS - although this is not done within the app, it requires a helper app that is only available on Cydia, meaning, you need to jailbreak your iPhone to be able to use this feature. Whilst Enjoy Philippines is a free app (but you need to be a member to avail of the discounts and promos), zPhone is not free (though there is a lite version that is free).

iManila is the Philippines’ Yellow Pages iPhone application! Whilst the Yellow Pages require no introduction, then there is no need to tell you how useful this app is, too. In addition to interfacing with the Yellow Pages, iManila also provides local movie listings.

This is, so far, the only application that can give you screening times of movies at different cinemas in the metro. Now, if only there is a way to reserve seats and tickets from within the app. :)

Also from MangoCode, the creator of iManila, comes Lasang Pinoy. From the name of the app, you can probably guess that it is about food and recipes. Though the name of the app is Filipino, the recipes aren’t exclusively pinoy. Basically, it is an application that allows you to add & manage your favourite recipes, download new ones from within the app, share recipes with friends and even give ratings to your or your friends’ recipes.

All of these, apart from downloading and sharing recipes, can be done without internet connection, unlike applications like Epicurious. However, I wish that there is a way to create a shopping list from recipes that you selected. This will definitely make it easier  when buying the ingredients.

So there you have it, a couple of home-grown iPhone applications. MangoCode has graciously provided me with free promo codes for their applications, which aren’t free, btw. If you are interested, send a tweet mentioning @rom and hashtag #lasangpinoy or #imanila. Only one promo per person please.