(no subject)

[brigdh]

I have my first smartphone! :D I know, I know, I'm way behind everyone else. So far I've gotten really into Words with Friends (my username is Brigdh1, if anyone wants to play), even though I think the peak popularity of that was several years ago. I also have set up an instagram, noparagraph, where so far I have posted all of one photo (of my cat. Of course. It's the internet!).

So, people with more experience of smartphones than me (ie: everyone), tell me what your favorite apps are, or other cool things I should do with my new toy. I have an Android, if it matters.

Comments

[call-me-ishmael.livejournal.com]

Apps:
Robot Unicorn Attack (there's a 1 and a 2, 1 is ~$1 and 2 is free but has ads) You cannot deny a game with that name. It's mindless quick fun.
If you do podcasts, I like BeyondPod. Once the trial is up it only lets you download 1 episode at a time but that's a minor quibble for a useful program.
App Cache Cleaner can be useful if you get bulky programs that leave a lot of temp files for a quick tidy-up.
If your library does audiobook downloads I really like Overdrive. I've upped how many books I get through a lot from audiobooks. OneClickDigital is clunkier but workable.
If you haven't noticed it already take a look at your widgets--things you can drag and drop onto your "desktop" pages as shortcuts. Very handy.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you! These all look really useful, and I didn't have any of them.

[call-me-ishmael.livejournal.com]

Oh I also really like dropbox. You can set it up so it automatically backs up every picture you take (just remember to delete both the copies on dropbox AND the copies on your phone to completely get rid of something). It makes for a useful workaround if you run into problems transferring files from your computer to your phone, too.
I know there are other cloud programs if that one doesn't work for you.

And should you desire to do Goodreads it can scan barcodes via your camera to look them up. You can bulk-add books you own /ones to read/etc by scanning them all in a row and telling it to put them all in the same shelf. But Goodreads is owned by Amazon and that sucks.

My friends like EverNote but I've never had need of it.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Oh, that Goodreads app sounds awesome! Formerly when I've seen a book I wanted to remember, I texted the title to myself or took a photo of the cover, but this sounds much more useful.

The others are great too! I already have a dropbox, but hadn't realized it worked on the phone too.

[hamsterwoman]

I have no useful experience because I still don't have a smartphone -- so mainly just commenting to say you were not the last holdout ;)

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Hee! I think I might have continued to hold out, but I needed a new phone (my old one's battery was having problems) and there basically were no non-smartphones for sale. People keep saying that soon I will be unable to live without it, but I'm still uncertain how I feel.

[hamsterwoman]

People keep saying that soon I will be unable to live without it

That's what I'm afraid of (and experience of friends whom I remember getting their first smartphones seems to bear this out), which is why I've been holding out. But it's good to know I may not have a choice next time I have to get a new phone! (I love my little faux-berry texting phone from Pantech, but it is over 3 years old at this point... at some point something's going to break, and the battery is already not as great as it was when I first got it...)

But I hope yours proves fun and non-shackling! :)

[egelantier.livejournal.com]

yaaaay, welcome to the smartphone world! i've resisted for years, and now i can't live without it.

apps:
- viber allows for free chatting and calling (!) with our viber contacts, no matter where they are - i use it to talk to my mom past exorbitant intercity fees, it's very neat.
- whatsapp, same but chatting only.
- manga rock - for reading manga on your phone, very neat and allows you to search a shitton of archives. you can get one download slot (so one manga per time) for free and pay a bit extra for unlimited slots and no ads (which i actually did, it was that nifty).
- go weather ex, a pretty weather add with interactive wallpapers (snow outside? snow in your phone too).
- 7 minutes (a strict voice directing you on very intense 7m workout. i admit mostly it's in my phone to stare me into feeling guilty, BUT STILL).
- duolingo - language learning practice, very very useful.
- moves - records how much you walk (bicycle, run, etc.) during the day, and your route.
- sleepbot - keeps track of your sleeping patterns, sleep debt, etc.

games:
- megapolis, a city-building app (veeeery slow without in-game purchases, but kinda meditative, come find me :D)
- pottery - a lovely relaxing app allowing you to create pots and vases on the pottery circle. no really.
- jewels saga - the most addictive bejeweled clone ever.
- choice of the deathless - craft sequence verse choose-your-own-adventure game, written by gladstone himself, om nom. free demo, paid game.
- adventurequest dragons - just, like. don't do that.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Awesome, thank you! :D These all sound great and totally useful.

[silverflight8.livejournal.com]

A lot of my apps kind of depend on what you you're interested in.

For an ereader, I like MoonReader (I have the free version, which does have ads.) It's easy to customize and it looks pretty nice. No complaints.

I track my sleep using SleepBot but I think it asks a lot of permissions and I'm wondering if I should ditch it, but I've been using it for probably two years now.

Er. I don't have all that many apps, really. I have a compass because when I walk out of a subway station I have NO idea where I am (unless I know the area). Erm. When I traveled I had offline dictionaries to help me translate signs (they're quite basic - one word for one word, no whole-sentence processing, not useful for speaking to someone, but terribly useful if you can't read the signs or your menu). I just got the starbucks app because I got a few gift cards; you add in the gift cards to an account and you don't need to carry the physical card - you can use your phone.

Um. I also have some more stuff specific to me (eg I have an archery tracker which is great - it's called Archery Companion and you can record your points, a pitch pipe because occasionally I want to know what the exact pitch of middle C is). You can search on the app store and see if there's anything useful there!

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'd been thinking about getting an ereader in particular.

And yeah, I know what you mean. I'm not sure I'll actually end up using all that many apps (for instance, I have a Nook so I don't really need to read anything on my phone; I have an ipod so I don't need to listen to anything on my phone, etc), but I wanted to know what options were out there. I'm still figuring out everything about how I want to relate to a smartphone, really (do I want a fancy case? do I want to keep lots of files on it? how often should I recharge it? etc).

[yan-tan-tether.livejournal.com]

If you like podcasts I recommend Podcast Addict for subscribing and listening to them. A flashlight app is a useful thing to have (particularly if the light in your stairs doesn't work 50% of the time, like mine.)

I don't know if you're a languages person at all, but if so I recommend the Oxford dictionary apps. I have the French and Spanish ones, and it's massively handy not having to carry around a dictionary when I'm reading something in those languages. I use WhatsApp a lot for texting friends overseas. And games-wise, Dragon Fly! is stupidly addictive.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Thank you! These look really helpful, and the dictionary is a great idea. I'm just sad that there's so few language learning apps for the language I'm working on (Hindi). I want little games and stickers too! :D