Apps

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I start from a point of knowing nothing about gadgets with an "i" at the beginning, just got a mobi and a PC.

The ads tell me that I can get an "app" to do various things. From finding my nearest Starbucks to booking a train ticket.

What I am puzzled about is that they sell this as an advantage but it seems a distinct disadvantage over the internet on my PC as it requires some forethought as to what I will be wanting to do or find out.

For example, I have used my PC to look up an obsure word, book a hotel in France in a particular town, look at the opening times of Monet's garden and any number of other obsure things that I will now not want to do again.

So if I had an i-thing, do I have to somehow find what I want, download some "app" (I assume this is some access program which you may part with money or your ID for) before I can do whatever. If so it sounds a bit rubbish!

As it is I need nothing but my computer to access endless databases and information. What do I need a system that requres me to sign up to that thing first for?

Can someone enlighten me please?
 

rh100

Well-Known Member
Apps for mobiles are as varied as apps for PC's

you can still get the web from the mobile (or smart phone) and navigate to the same pages. How easy it is to read will depend on the phone you have and wether or not the site itself is mobile friendly. For example, the new Cycle Chat forum software that Admin is testing will have a specific layout to look good and useable when logging on from a smart phone.

Cost? My phone contract gives me unlimited access for a fixed monthly fee, most providers gave this option but I understand some have made changes to this recently. So thats the data transfer costs. (think of it like your cable/adsl/broadband cost for home internet). Costs for the apps themselves, some you pay for and some are free, same as with apps for the PC, read reviews or get reccomendations and make your own mind up if you want them or not. Some apps may even require a subscription of some sort, just check what you sign up for when you install it.

I have an Android smart phone, but many people favour the iPhone.

I have apps for viewing the night sky (I point the phone at where I'm looking and it tells me what stars I'm looking at), email, podcast downloader and management, a spirit level!, google maps, bar code scanner to show details of say a DVD and compare prices online, Layar (which overlays what you are physically looking at and points to nearby places of interest, shops etc), Sportypal which tracks my cycling, viewranger for looking at OS maps and plotting routes.

There is loads available, the above is a short list and I haven't paid for any of them (although a couple are demo versions and will need payment if I want to keep them).

edit - some apps are dependant on certain hardware being present, eg the spirit level and google sky map need a gravity thing so it knows which is up/north and south etc, others need a camera built in, and a poor quality one will affect the performance, such as the bar code scanner.
 

PaulSB

Legendary Member
Over The Hill said:
What I am puzzled about is that they sell this as an advantage but it seems a distinct disadvantage over the internet on my PC as it requires some forethought as to what I will be wanting to do or find out.

I have an i-thingy 3GS and have to say it's a marvellous phone. I can easily integrate with Outlook and carry all my contacts, calendar etc. read and send e-mail, it has a large screen and big on screen buttons so at 56 with failing eyesight and stubby fingers it's very simple to use. Plus I can access the web wherever I am and have found that very useful. As a for instance my wife and I visited a very small Lancashire town recently and wondering why it existed, no hints available through buildings etc, were able to look up the history immediately. It made the trip much more interesting. For these uses I find the i-Phone very competent and simple to use.

As for the apps? When I first got the phone I spent a lot of time looking for useful apps. I came to the conclusion it was very difficult to find anything not aimed at folk decades younger than me! However I have found a few which are excellent.

Tapatalk allows one to view sites such as this, if registered and having the right set up, very easily. Far easier to read and use than through a mobile web browser. I'm hoping admin will make CC available this way in future.

MotionX GPS is excellent for recording my cycle routes and has a dinky feature for uploading waypoints as photos on to Facebook. Plan to use this extensively on my hoped for LeJog in about three weeks.

RAC traffic is good but I find the info is a bit hit and miss and the detail small and difficult to read.

Google maps is clearly very useful and Google Earth good fun

Overall I suspect there are many more useful apps for me but there is a problem with finding them. I just don't need to know where the nearest Starbucks is. I do have a lot of sympathy with the view the majority are fairly pointless
 

rh100

Well-Known Member
PaulSB said:
I have an i-thingy 3GS and have to say it's a marvellous phone. I can easily integrate with Outlook and carry all my contacts, calendar etc. read and send e-mail, it has a large screen and big on screen buttons so at 56 with failing eyesight and stubby fingers it's very simple to use. Plus I can access the web wherever I am and have found that very useful. As a for instance my wife and I visited a very small Lancashire town recently and wondering why it existed, no hints available through buildings etc, were able to look up the history immediately. It made the trip much more interesting. For these uses I find the i-Phone very competent and simple to use.

As for the apps? When I first got the phone I spent a lot of time looking for useful apps. I came to the conclusion it was very difficult to find anything not aimed at folk decades younger than me! However I have found a few which are excellent.

Tapatalk allows one to view sites such as this, if registered and having the right set up, very easily. Far easier to read and use than through a mobile web browser. I'm hoping admin will make CC available this way in future.

MotionX GPS is excellent for recording my cycle routes and has a dinky feature for uploading waypoints as photos on to Facebook. Plan to use this extensively on my hoped for LeJog in about three weeks.

RAC traffic is good but I find the info is a bit hit and miss and the detail small and difficult to read.

Google maps is clearly very useful and Google Earth good fun

Overall I suspect there are many more useful apps for me but there is a problem with finding them. I just don't need to know where the nearest Starbucks is. I do have a lot of sympathy with the view the majority are fairly pointless

Tapatalk has been tested on the new forum software Admin is currently working on. I gave it a brief test myself although I only have the demo version of the software, but it seems to work ok for viewing the forum.
 

gb155

Fan Boy No More.
Location
Manchester-Ish
rh100 said:
Tapatalk has been tested on the new forum software Admin is currently working on. I gave it a brief test myself although I only have the demo version of the software, but it seems to work ok for viewing the forum.

Excellent, you say for viewing , what about posting too ?
 

rh100

Well-Known Member
I think so, but the demo version I had on Android only allowed viewing. Have a look at this thread in the Announcements section: https://www.cyclechat.net/

However, the new forums also have a skin specific for mobiles, which on my Android scaled to the screen size so no sideways scrolling required, works quite well.
 

gb155

Fan Boy No More.
Location
Manchester-Ish
rh100 said:
I think so, but the demo version I had on Android only allowed viewing. Have a look at this thread in the Announcements section: https://www.cyclechat.net/

However, the new forums also have a skin specific for mobiles, which on my Android scaled to the screen size so no sideways scrolling required, works quite well.


Ahh right thats cool, thanks man :smile:
 
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