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Useful Applications for Smartphone?
merlinbasenji asks: "I've recently purchased an Audiovox SMT5600 Smartphone for Cingular, and I'm looking for suggestions for good applications like: calendars, browsers, games, email client, etc. Anyone have a favorite, or had a bad experience with specific applications?"
Problem is that the only providers with decent coverage in some areas of the United States *cough* Verizon *cough* insist on locking all phones on their network such that they run only applications purchased from the provider's overpriced store, and you can't test applications on phones connected to their network unless you are an established company.
I love my Nokia N70. I want to marry it and have its babies.
I can dial up for weather reports. Being dressed uncomfortably is a thing of the past! This is great, but it's got an FM radio built in, so I can usually get a weather report every half hour on ABC News Radio instead. (Note that Newsradio bothers everyone in my family, so just putting the radio on is not always an option.)
I can use it during school or anywhere for internet, so I never have to be without information. Of course, not every website is well laid-out for a mobile device, but this is the next big thing.
It can receive email appointments from my email account, so that I don't have to get to a computer to receive an invitation to a meeting, date or whatever, and also it can automatically reject any appointment that clashes with a lecture or tutorial. This is SOOOOOOO convenient! Who wants to spend time on all that administrative stuff? Who can keep track of it anyway?? Not me!
With a press of a button I can decide whether to divert calls to voicemail or an answering service. So during lectures I can receive messages as sms (so I can receive them without lifting a phone to my ear and I know if something urgent comes in), but out and about, I get them as voice (and can keep my eyes and hands free while I take them in).
I can record my own ringtone. I know this seems a bit gimmicky, but I like that my ringtone is totally subtle and totally unique.
I can hook it up to a wireless keyboard. Who wants to lug about a laptop computer to write on? Do you know you can get laser-projected wireless keyboards now? They're about the size of a chocolate bar or another very small phone, instead of a huge device bulging in one's handbag.
Plus it has a videophone AND a very good camera in the back. And it syncs to my computer (actually, I haven't done that yet, but I know it CAN be done). As a parent, I NEED a camera, voice recorder, etc handy!
And the to-do list!
If you get one good programme, get a good to-do list, with all sorts of ways to arrange and display the to-dos.
And the other add-on I haven't mentioned is the bluetooth headset. You don't have a big range, so you need your phone in your pocket (good reason to swap to khakis from jeans) but you can do things without getting the wire caught up.
This is the first time I've had my whole life in a device. I didn't think it was going to be possible. I thought I was going to have to become a gargoyle with devices all over me. Phone, PDA, etc. But it only comes with a small MMC - you have to offload at the end of each day or get a really big one. It doesn't have a wearable screen, but with voice commands, you can keep your hands and eyes free almost all of the time!
(I predict voice interaction to be the next really big thing with computers. Think about Star Trek. If they want to look at info, they go to a screen, but they spend a lot of the episode, just barking commands to the computer which responds with a sounded acknowlegement. Hands AND eyes free!)
I love my phone!
*#*#*#*#*#******* I love peanut butter sandwiches!
excuse generator, like baby crying, doorbell, etc.
check the Sound Cheater