MetaChat - App love

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31 May 2010

App love →[More:]Because I'm a cheap bastard, these are all free.

Google Mobile - Some of you may yawn and say, "It's just Google." I invite them to imagine that my iPhone and I have traveled back in time to find you in 1982. [The young 'uns can substitute 1992 if they like.] I hold up my device and speak the beautiful words "chicken wings" into it. The device, already knowing where I am, then displays a map of my location with nearby chicken wing restaurants marked upon it. With a touch of my fingers, I can read what other diners have said about them. Or display overhead satellite imagery of the buildings. I promise you that your 1982/1992 self, upon witnessing such a display, would abase yourself before such technological majesty.

Wikipanion - Mrs. B. and I were watching one of our food shows yesterday when they mentioned romesco sauce. "What's that?" she wondered. In a few seconds - about the time it took for Trinity to learn how to fly a helicopter in The Matrix - I knew. It then occurred me to me that as recently as ten years ago, this app would make me not only the best informed man in the world, but the best informed man in human history.

Planets - This shows all kinds of neat astronomy geek stuff. But it would have a permanent place on my iPhone just for this. [You watch it rotate, of course.]

Particle Zoo - Makes subatomic particles as understandable as they'll ever be - which is to say, not very. Still, it's adorable.

Zen Bound Lite - The first gaming experience of any kind deserving of the adjective "exquisite".

Soundrop - So simple, so absorbing, so beautiful...

Frotz - Lets you play any Inform-language interactive fiction. Comes pre-installed with Zork I and many of the greatest titles in the genre. Easy downloading of dozens of other titles from the IFDb - with only slightly less easy importing of any of the hundreds of others. And if you want to play any of the other Infocom classics like Leather Goddesses of Phobos, they can be found if you know where to look.

MyReef 3D Aquarium Lite - Very relaxing. And nostalgic in an After Dark sort of way.

Screen Cleaner - Got to keep your screen clean.

post by: Joe Beese at: 07:01 | 8 comments

I only use a couple of Android apps, mostly just use the built-in browser, chat client, pod-cast client and mail client. Most of the Google applications work through the browser and don't need a native app. Even facebook works better through the browsing using the mobile site than the crappy native app that always seems to be broken.

posted by octothorpe 31 May | 12:46

I prefer Articles to Wikipanion, but it does cost 1.99 I believe.

Even facebook works better through the browsing using the mobile site than the crappy native app that always seems to be broken.

Strange. The iPhone facebook app is much better than the mobile app, and it never crashes on me. Then again, I've found very few 'browser' applications that work as well as a native app. Google mail is okay, but it's not as smooth as the mail app.

posted by justgary 31 May | 18:10

So either the iPhone has better apps or Android has a better browser. Or both.

posted by octothorpe 31 May | 19:44

Oh, and does anyone pay for apps? I've bought one in six months of having a Droid and haven't felt like I'm missing anything. What is out there that's worth paying for?

posted by octothorpe 31 May | 19:51

Worth paying for in my opinion: Jewellust (better than Bejeweled, totally addictive) and a flickr uploader.

Good free ones: Google sky map, Where (tells you where to find grocery stores, restaurants, etc nearby with ratings and reviews), AK Notepad (you can write notes and have them set to alarms too, my grocery list is on as a note and I can always refer back to it)

posted by rmless2 31 May | 21:16

Ooh, good post... That Soundrop is awesome! I am going to try all the suggestions. I love my iPhone... never thought I'd say that about a phone, but it's so much more...

posted by Savannah 01 June | 01:03

Further to the above, posted in bed last night from Ida, the iPhone, I love these apps:

Doodlejump (game) (paid, worth it)
CBC Radio
Koi Pond
WhiteNoise (lite version) great for falling asleep at home, or for making the co-worker's radio "go away".
Nightstand clock

I've got Office2 on there, too, and actually created a spreadsheet on Ida, so I was pleased.

"Just Light" is good enough to assist in nocturnal dog-dropping pickup, as well, for that last outing of the night, when it's dark...

posted by Savannah 01 June | 08:33

I love the 1982 thought exercise.

I often think of how my greenscreen/8088/accoustic-coupler-using* former self would freak at being shown a telephone playing a film on its tiny colour touchscreen.

I'm going to try out this talking-to-the-google thing, but I find it hard to imagine that I'll be happy inflicting voice recognition on myself. I know I hate it enough when my bank does it to me...

*OK OK, in 1982 I was just using school's Apple ][, but you get what I mean..

posted by pompomtom 01 June | 20:52

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