I was thinking about it, and the application I use most on the iPhone is Facebook. I have had a Facebook account for over a year, and have played with it online a bit. I love the never ending quizzes, and the getting a request to help save the rainforests through lil green patch. Before the iPhone I couldn't get Facebook on my mobile. I had T-mobile at the time I tried, which wasn't one of the operators officially supported (I still have an outstanding mobile request). When I moved to AT&T I didn't have the time to try to set it up. With the iPhone, it was one of the Free apps I downloaded, and it worked right off.
Since I have gotten the iPhone, I have changed my status multiple times a day, I have followed and commented on my friends' status, and I have uploaded photos. I find myself going to facebook nearly everytime I touch my phone. They are both addictive.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Paying for the iPhone Apps
I just received my first invoice that lists all of the iPhone apps I have downloaded, both those for FREE and those I have paid for. It is a nice summary of what is on my phone. This summary came from iTunes. When I set up iTunes I tied a credit card to the account. So, the way that I am paying for these apps is through the iTunes.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
That time of year - gifts
One of the things on my To Do list was to get the gifts for my family and neighbors purchased and sent/delivered. To keep track of who gets what, and what I needed to buy at the store, I decided to visit the app store to see what I could find to help out in these tasks.
I found several apps when I searched on "gifts". The search returned:
Under the items returned, there were a number of applications (see figure in parenthesis) ranging from free to $12.99. Actually the $12.99 one was iBear Money which is more of a way to control your money flow. I guess some folks have paid for this since there were 9 reviews.
There were applications specifically for an event such as Wedding, Hanukkah, Birthday and Christmas.
Most applications let you set a budget for your gift giving, and tracked how well you were doing and allowed you to send your list via email. Most used the contact list to select who to you wanted to purchase your gift for. Some protected the list with a passcode (good for households with snooping kids ;-), and tracked the number of days left to the event. Some applications allow you to upload photos of the gifts.
Other applications took the stress out of gift giving and provided gift ideas. (Gifter, Gifter Stress Lifter). These were free and tied into merchants such as Sam's Club.
There were applications that also let you keep track of the gifts that you have received (GiftList)
Some of them were not for gifts at all but were games (those under Gift Grab and Christmas Gift Stack)
So which one(s) to choose??? None of the above applications showed up in the Top 25 Lists, nor the Featured Lists, so, I guess it will be to read the descriptions and the reviewes to see what is the best for me.
One unique application I found was Gift Cards (by Trillusion Media). It makes it fast and easy to buy, send and redeem gift cards from your iPhone of iPod Touch. It includes top brands like Barnes & Noble, REI, Macy's, Gap and many more. It lets you send both physical and e-Gift cards from your iPhone. You can personalize with a message, buy now and send up to 30 days later (though this feature is not working at this time), find stores in your area and map directions, store gift cards on your phone for easy access. I will have to try this one out. This one was Free.
One that I downloaded and began to use was Gift Planner (by The Archer Group). It was at the top of the list and had several good reviews. It allowed me to set up a budget for each group (family, work, friends) and then for each person added within the group. I could add gifts with price and then connect the gift to the person. It had a nice looking interface. It was Free.
mGifts (by mSeven Software LLC) had good reviews. It allows you to customize stores you shop at and events you are interested in (bday, Christmas, etc.). You can attach a photo to the give and it gives you a summary view of what you have purchased and what you still need to purchase. This one was $1.99. I downloaded it and will try it out to see if there is any difference for the price.
There were some very nice looking ones like
I found several apps when I searched on "gifts". The search returned:
- gift planner (7)
- giftlist (1)
- gifter (2)
- gift grab (4)
- gifter stress lifter (1)
- gift cards (1)
- geschenkidee (giftidea) (1)
- gift list shopper (3)
- gift lists (54/19) - for some reason the MyWords app to learn a new language for several languages appeared under this category
- christmas gift stack (1)
- christmas gift tracker (1)
- Nice list holiday gift manager (1)
- mgifts - gift list manager (1)
Under the items returned, there were a number of applications (see figure in parenthesis) ranging from free to $12.99. Actually the $12.99 one was iBear Money which is more of a way to control your money flow. I guess some folks have paid for this since there were 9 reviews.
There were applications specifically for an event such as Wedding, Hanukkah, Birthday and Christmas.
Most applications let you set a budget for your gift giving, and tracked how well you were doing and allowed you to send your list via email. Most used the contact list to select who to you wanted to purchase your gift for. Some protected the list with a passcode (good for households with snooping kids ;-), and tracked the number of days left to the event. Some applications allow you to upload photos of the gifts.
Other applications took the stress out of gift giving and provided gift ideas. (Gifter, Gifter Stress Lifter). These were free and tied into merchants such as Sam's Club.
There were applications that also let you keep track of the gifts that you have received (GiftList)
Some of them were not for gifts at all but were games (those under Gift Grab and Christmas Gift Stack)
So which one(s) to choose??? None of the above applications showed up in the Top 25 Lists, nor the Featured Lists, so, I guess it will be to read the descriptions and the reviewes to see what is the best for me.
One unique application I found was Gift Cards (by Trillusion Media). It makes it fast and easy to buy, send and redeem gift cards from your iPhone of iPod Touch. It includes top brands like Barnes & Noble, REI, Macy's, Gap and many more. It lets you send both physical and e-Gift cards from your iPhone. You can personalize with a message, buy now and send up to 30 days later (though this feature is not working at this time), find stores in your area and map directions, store gift cards on your phone for easy access. I will have to try this one out. This one was Free.
One that I downloaded and began to use was Gift Planner (by The Archer Group). It was at the top of the list and had several good reviews. It allowed me to set up a budget for each group (family, work, friends) and then for each person added within the group. I could add gifts with price and then connect the gift to the person. It had a nice looking interface. It was Free.
mGifts (by mSeven Software LLC) had good reviews. It allows you to customize stores you shop at and events you are interested in (bday, Christmas, etc.). You can attach a photo to the give and it gives you a summary view of what you have purchased and what you still need to purchase. This one was $1.99. I downloaded it and will try it out to see if there is any difference for the price.
There were some very nice looking ones like
- Better Christmas List ($2.99)
- Asking Santa ($2.99)
- Santa's Little Helper ($0.99)
- My Christmas List ($1.99)
- Santa's List, ($1.99)
- Christmas List ($2.99)
- Christmas Shopping ($1.99)
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
About Lists - To Do's
I woke up this morning with my mind racing of all the things I needed to do to prepare for the holidays. I am a big on making lists so that I can see all I need to do, then make a plan. I was reaching for the pen a paper and I thought, hey, I bet there's an iPhone app to make lists.
There were actually 3 that I found when I did a search in the app store for "To Do". Two were Free and one was $0.99. I read the reviews of each and decided to go with ToDo's, which happened to be one of the Free ones. The reviews really did influence me, since it seems that one of them is was to complex for a simple to do list.
I downloaded the app, and went to work putting in my list of things to do. It allows me to assign a low, medium and high priority which it will then display in a different color. There is also an option to sort the items by type, and status of completed or not - when you leave and then come back into the application again (a button to do this within the app would be nice - I guess I'll have to give a suggestion :-). When the application is closed there is a number indicating the number of outstanding items left to do. So far I have completed 4 (out of 14). I still have a way to go and the day is 1/2 over. But at least I am on track to finish the high priority items.
This is an application that I will use to keep me on track, and to save a bit of paper and ink!
There were actually 3 that I found when I did a search in the app store for "To Do". Two were Free and one was $0.99. I read the reviews of each and decided to go with ToDo's, which happened to be one of the Free ones. The reviews really did influence me, since it seems that one of them is was to complex for a simple to do list.
I downloaded the app, and went to work putting in my list of things to do. It allows me to assign a low, medium and high priority which it will then display in a different color. There is also an option to sort the items by type, and status of completed or not - when you leave and then come back into the application again (a button to do this within the app would be nice - I guess I'll have to give a suggestion :-). When the application is closed there is a number indicating the number of outstanding items left to do. So far I have completed 4 (out of 14). I still have a way to go and the day is 1/2 over. But at least I am on track to finish the high priority items.
This is an application that I will use to keep me on track, and to save a bit of paper and ink!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
iPhone can be used to communicate
Today I had my first real experience using the iPhone as my only communication device. I had an early appointment with the eye doctor. I had to drop my son off at school on the way. The roads were icy and my husband was a bit concerned. I accidentally left my other mobile phone at home.
I dropped my son off and proceeded to the eye doctor. As I arrived at my scheduled appointment, I received a phone call from my husband checking the status of the roads and if I was ok. The call came in over the car's handsfree system.
As I proceeded through the eye appointment I received the news that I have very healthy eyes, and I can see well enough to pass a driver's test, but I could see a whole bunch better with glasses. Since I had some money left over in my health spending account, I thought I would go for it. The problem is there were so many choices in frames. I narrowed it down to two, and I just had to get a second opinion. I was able to easily figure out how to take a picture of myself and send it to my husband at home. I didn't need to do any configuration on the phone to do this. Now, the only thing is that I could only send as an email (no MMS), so I was lucky that my husband was near his computer to take a look. I also discovered one other user friendly advantage the SonyEricsson (and most other mobile phones) has over the iPhone when trying to take self portraits, which is that little silver mirror next to the camera lense so that you can make sure you have yourself centered in the picture.
So, now I am just waiting to see how much battery life my phone has with "normal" usage. I have resisted the urge to plug it in to see how long it will last. There is a neat usage meter that right now shows:
Time since last full charge
Usage: 4 Hours, 8 minutes
Standby: 1 Day, 3 Hours
The little battery is just about empty.
I dropped my son off and proceeded to the eye doctor. As I arrived at my scheduled appointment, I received a phone call from my husband checking the status of the roads and if I was ok. The call came in over the car's handsfree system.
As I proceeded through the eye appointment I received the news that I have very healthy eyes, and I can see well enough to pass a driver's test, but I could see a whole bunch better with glasses. Since I had some money left over in my health spending account, I thought I would go for it. The problem is there were so many choices in frames. I narrowed it down to two, and I just had to get a second opinion. I was able to easily figure out how to take a picture of myself and send it to my husband at home. I didn't need to do any configuration on the phone to do this. Now, the only thing is that I could only send as an email (no MMS), so I was lucky that my husband was near his computer to take a look. I also discovered one other user friendly advantage the SonyEricsson (and most other mobile phones) has over the iPhone when trying to take self portraits, which is that little silver mirror next to the camera lense so that you can make sure you have yourself centered in the picture.
So, now I am just waiting to see how much battery life my phone has with "normal" usage. I have resisted the urge to plug it in to see how long it will last. There is a neat usage meter that right now shows:
Time since last full charge
Usage: 4 Hours, 8 minutes
Standby: 1 Day, 3 Hours
The little battery is just about empty.
Monday, December 15, 2008
What iPhone app would I be willing to spend money on?
Ok, so I've downloaded several Free iPhone applications. But is there anything out there that I would be willing to pay for? The answer is yes. I did find a couple of applications that I thought would make my life easier.
The first application I purchased was something similar to what I had purchased a few years ago for my Visor. It was a Shopping application where you can create an electronic shopping list and then check the items off as you go. The neat thing is that you can group your items on the list by aisle, so you are not running around the store looking for things. The application also tallies the cost of your shopping basked, so you know what you are in store for. There were a number of applications I looked at in the category. The one that I settled for was Shopper. It had the best reviews. I paid $0.99.
The second application I purchased was Gesture Dial. It was touted at "The fastest speed dial for the iPhone yet!" I bought this one because it was really cool. It allows you to use a gesture (shape) to either call or SMS one of your contacts. It does work quite well to dial 1 handed while busy doing something else ;-) . I don't know how often I will use this after the newness wears off, but it is still really cool. I paid $1.99.
Another dialing application I purchased was Smart Dial for which I also paid $1.99. There are so many different dialing applications, but this one had good reviewes, and is neat. When you open the application it brings up a phone keypad. Then you start typing in the first or last name of the person in your contacts you want to call using the keypad. As you type in the name, matches from within your contacts are shown then you can click to call.
Note: My husband informed me that the Ericsson/SonyEricsson phones have had this feature since the T28. I tried it on my W850, and sure enough it worked. It does not work on the standard iPhone dial function, so something that Ericsson has is more user friendly than the iPhone :-)
I am sure this list will grow as time goes on since the available applications changes on a daily basis.
The first application I purchased was something similar to what I had purchased a few years ago for my Visor. It was a Shopping application where you can create an electronic shopping list and then check the items off as you go. The neat thing is that you can group your items on the list by aisle, so you are not running around the store looking for things. The application also tallies the cost of your shopping basked, so you know what you are in store for. There were a number of applications I looked at in the category. The one that I settled for was Shopper. It had the best reviews. I paid $0.99.
The second application I purchased was Gesture Dial. It was touted at "The fastest speed dial for the iPhone yet!" I bought this one because it was really cool. It allows you to use a gesture (shape) to either call or SMS one of your contacts. It does work quite well to dial 1 handed while busy doing something else ;-) . I don't know how often I will use this after the newness wears off, but it is still really cool. I paid $1.99.
Another dialing application I purchased was Smart Dial for which I also paid $1.99. There are so many different dialing applications, but this one had good reviewes, and is neat. When you open the application it brings up a phone keypad. Then you start typing in the first or last name of the person in your contacts you want to call using the keypad. As you type in the name, matches from within your contacts are shown then you can click to call.
Note: My husband informed me that the Ericsson/SonyEricsson phones have had this feature since the T28. I tried it on my W850, and sure enough it worked. It does not work on the standard iPhone dial function, so something that Ericsson has is more user friendly than the iPhone :-)
I am sure this list will grow as time goes on since the available applications changes on a daily basis.
Passing time with the iPhone
I had to go into Walmart and return two items. I throught that there shouldn't be too long of a line during the middle of the day on a Monday. Well, I got to the customer service and saw there were 10 people in front of me. I thought ugh. However, I took out the iPhone and checked my eamil and browsed a couple of web sites. In no time, it was my turn. I don't know how much time it took, and it doesn't matter. I was otherwise occupied. It was so easy to kill time with an iPhone app. I am sure that holiday stress would go down if everyone had a way to occupy themselves in otherwise trying situations.
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