I have had my new cellphone for about a month now. I’m still trying to figure a lot of it out: I’ve lost count of the times I’ve texted something unintelligible thanks to autotype; I’ve hung up on/accidentally dialed numerous times; and, I still haven’t quite figured out how to use the GPS think on there.
Despite the growing pains that come with a new high technology device I’m learning quite a bit. I’ve even noted that just about everything I need a computer for I can also do on the phone. I looked at my start menu and the programs I used most and then compared them to the applications I can get (and already have) on my smartphone. It’s pretty much one for one here.
First, I should that the internet has made a lot of this possible. So many of the things we used to need computers for can now be done through the internet: word processing, presentation making, spreadsheets, email, etc. We used to need separate pieces of software for all of this and now all you need is a web browser. On the smartphone all you need is 3G and a data plan…
Web Browsing: I use either Firefox or Chrome on the PC. You can find Firefox for smart phone here and chances are the browser that came with your android phone is based on Chrome.
Word Processing: I use LibreOffice, an open source alternative to Microsoft’s Office. I have QuickOffice and GoogleDocs on the phone. Both work fine, Google Docs is better only because it syncs with my Google account. These are work for spreadsheets and slide presentations.
File Storage: The hard drive serves this purpose admirably… My smartphone came with 8 gigabytes of memory but why fill that up with files when I can use Dropbox on everything and keep it all in one place, on-line? Dropbox is great. Regardless of where I am if I need access to a file, image, video, etc. I make sure it is in my dropbox file and I have it.
Blogging: I don’t use any software for blogging; I do everything in-browser with WordPress. I now also use it on my phone to blog when I feel the need to do that right now!
Chat: Pidgin is my universal IM client. It’s open source and it supports every chat I can think of: IRC; G Chat; Yahoo; AIM; MSN; and a bunch more I’ve never heard of or used. On the smartphone I use eBuddy for chatting and AndChat for IRC.
Social Media: Facebook and Twitter dominate the social media environment so it shouldn’t come as any surprise that both of them have numerous official and unofficial apps for smartphones. They’re probably already installed on your smartphone.
Image manipulation: I don’t know how to use Photoshop or GIMP. The most I’ve ever was Microsoft’s built image modifier (it removes red eye, rotates, crops, etc.) or Paint. I have Paint.NET just in case… Smartphones now come with pretty good digital cameras, I think the one on mine is 8 or 10 megapixels, if you’re not looking for an SLR, this is all you’re ever going to need from a digital camera. The generic camera app on my phone works great for things like red eye and such. For fancier things I just use vignette.
Music: This is the big one for a lot of people. Weirdly, I don’t use my phone for music (though there are plenty of apps just for that). I have an old Ipod Mini that works great and it never got used either. Rarely, I’ll want to listen to podcasts and for that I find that Google Listen works fine.
It’s getting to the point where if I didn’t need a computer for fancy, hi-tech vidja games I wouldn’t even own one. Also the battery on this phone sucks at holding a charge…
If you’ve got a smartphone what apps do you use all the time, and/or replace things you used to only do on your computer?
PS – If you’re looking for a good way to manage all your apps, I use appbrain. It manages all my apps as well as monitors them for updates, etc.
My main apps:
Notes: Simple note taking app that makes it easier to have info on hand that I don’t always need and have a hard time remembering when I do.
The Weather Channel: Nice to get alerts when flood conditions are looming.
Snesoid: Super Nintendo Emulator that helps prevent my bus rides from being crushingly boring.
Skype Mobile: IM of choice, also allows me to call people I only talk through on Skype.
Aldiko: E-Book reader that also has access to a huge library of public domain stuff through the app itself without having to hunt stuff down online. Going through a bunch of Lovecraft stuff right now.
Pokédroid: Pokédex app for the droid because I am a grown man that still plays pokémon…What?
Never heard of Listen before – that’s way cool.
Usually, I use the phone for reading blogs (Google reader), checking Facebook/Twitter, watching the occasional TED talk (an effective app is seriously needed). I don’t do ward processing, but do use Adobe Reader a lot for PDFs. Once Google Music gets going, I’ll be all over that, as I do use the music app for workouts and to get focused during lab bench work. Now, if Hulu and Netflix get apps made, I will never again but accessible, so let’s hope that waits a bit, haha.