Posts Tagged ‘apps’

Being relatively new to the Android Market I have been busy downloading all manner of apps for both personal amusement and apps that I feel could help me in practical ways. I have here compiled a short list of my top 5 apps that I have downloaded so far and a little bit about each one.

	1. Google Goggles I have blogged about this app previously before. I honestly am amazed at how accuratley this app works. It essentially allows you to take a photo of anything, although it works best with objects that have a picture, logo or something of that nature for it to scan. It then basically searches the web based on the image you took. Id say 9 out of 10 times it produces an accurate result. It’s both entertaining and highly useful. You could be in a situation where you see a photo of something and want to know what the origin of it is or how you can buy it – take a quick photo with Google Goggles and hay presto you know everything about it in a matter of seconds!
	2. Netflix App Being a movie buff I was blown away by this app. Theres nothing like watching a movie in bed on a lazy sunday morning and what easier way to do that than to simply stream a full length movie through your android phone with the Netflix app. I was apprehensive that the playback would be patchy, but I have not suffered any major buffering/lag on the playback. Netflix offers a whole host of original TV and films of all genres, the only drawback is that you must be a netflix member to enjoy this app.
	3. Crackle In the same vein of the previously mentioned netflix app comes this similar app for the website Crackle. The difference with this app is that you do not need any kind of special membership to watch a variety of full length movies, TV shows as well as original productions and short films made for the crackle website. You will need to make sure you download the flash player to watch the movies which is a nice touch from the android over the apple iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. This app is a must have and can entertain you for hours on end.
	4. WordPress Being a web designer I have come to love wordpress and consider it my first choice for building client websites on because of its easy to use interface and intuitive dashboard that makes it easy for clients with little or no web knowledge to quickly and easily upload content to their very own site. This app just makes that process a whole lot cooler. It allows you to log into your wordpress site and make blog postings on the fly and directly upload them via your phone. Its amazing to think that you can take a high resolution photo and be sharing it with the world on your personal website all within seconds thanks to this well crafted app.
	5. Facebook This is a fairly obvious app to include on a list such as this. As most people who read this will have a facebook account you can imagine how convenient this makes communicating with friends and family all over the world. Being a Scottish born American citizen who has many family members and friends back in the UK this is an awesome app to use for keeping up to date with all the goings on within your networks. It helps to make the world a smaller place and keeps people in touch like never before. I would also highly recommend the Google+ app. I think time will tell which way I go as they are both very similar in the way they function.

After looking through various documentation, I have concluded that I am going to try my hand at iPhone App development when Flash CS5 is released. Seems like the best way to create an app within the windows environment without breaking any of the rules set out by apple, and this way it will run on non jailbroken phones and devices. Have a look at the following video which I found quite helpful in understanding how to get to grips with some of the basics.

I have recently delved into the world of mobile web apps. I am doing research for my job on mobile marketing and app development. Having said that I have been downloading apps like crazy over the past week or 2 and here I would like to share my top 5 list.

1. Pandora Internet Radio
I was blown away to find this app. Nothing inspires me to work like a good song playing on the radio. The difference with Pandora is that it learns what songs you like to hear based on your initial choices. It is (for me at least) very accurate in suggesting a new song to listen to. You can create countless radio stations that cater to your individual tastes. You can also add variety to your stations by selecting more artists that Pandora will then use a template for what you like. And the best thing is – its FREE!

2. Google Earth
I have always loved exploring Google Earth on my computer, but now being able to explore the world in 3D on the go is a new level of coolness. I am surprised at how well the iPhone handles the graphics, rendering maps in high resolution within seconds of zooming in on an area. Its entertaining as well as being actually very handy for figuring out a the best route to take to a place of interest.

3. Flickr
Being an avid photographer, I was glad to learn that the photo sharing site Flickr was available. I can now check up on my own photo stream as well as my know immediately when any of my contacts have added new material to their own respective streams. I can instantly comment on photos I find interesting as well as respond to feedback left on my own stream. This app is a must for anyone that loves photography and new technology.

4. Flixster
I am a self professed movie buff, having watched movies my entire life I have amassed a staggering amount of useless but humorous movie quotes and trivia that are on permanent standby in the back of my mind. Flixster keep you up to date with the newest releases at the box office as well as keeping you informed of upcoming DVD releases. Also, you can search its vast database of movies from the past and watch trailers for many movies (which I love to do). You can also browse whats playing at cinemas in your local area and even bookmark favorite theaters that you can instantly check out at the touch of a button. You can also view trailers of upcoming movies (up to almost a year down the line). If you love movies, then Flixster is the app for you.

5. Twitterrific
Twitterrific as you might guess is an app that keeps you in constant contact with your twitter account. You can find out what your friends are doing instantly, as well as search tweets in your area. Its the perfect way to use Twitter to its full potential as the quickfire nature of micro blogging is often difficult to keep up with if you aren’t able to make posts as and when you need to.

Honorable mention – Flashlight.
This sounds like a stupid app, but essentially what it does is fill your display screen with a bright white light (this is actually changeable to different colors etc). After downloading this I was in my basement looking for something in a dark corner that the light didn’t reach to. I then remembered that i had just downloaded this app and tried it out. It worked great and I found what I was searching for within a few seconds. For that reason I feel it deserves a mention here. It could come in handy for situations such as walking into a dark movie theater when you would normally be stumbling your way into your seat. Cool idea and it serves its purpose very well.