After waiting (rather impatiently), I finally have an iPhone! My home computer, laptop, and mp3 player are all white Apple products, and it had been killing me that my cell phone was a clunky black first-generation Droid. Two weeks ago my phone upgrade was finally available, so I used the money I got back from my state tax return and purchased a shiny white iPhone 4S. Now everything matches! And syncs properly! I'm one happy girl.
Since getting my new phone I've been downloading all sorts of things from the App Store, since so many apps are only available on the iPhone platform. It's weird how some companies wouldn't (or for some reason couldn't) create the same app for the Android system. I actually had a list of all the things I wanted but was not able to download on my old phone, ready and waiting for my upgrade. Below are my favorite (non-gaming) apps so far.
5. Instagram
I had been checking periodically to see when this would be available, and was so excited to finally be able to use it on my new iPhone - then they released the Android version the same weekend as I turned off my Droid. Figures. I love being able to take/edit/share photos so quickly; it's great to be able to share things I'm seeing or experiencing almost instantly. And now it's owned by Facebook, so we'll see how that goes...
4. WhatTheFont
As a graphic designer, I use MyFont.com's
What the Font! tool all the time. I even have it pinned to my bookmarks bar next to the link to iStock, that's how often I use it at work. Often we'll get low-res logos and need to replicate them larger, and
What the Font! is a super easy way to identify a font when you don't recognize it or know its name. With the iPhone app you can take a picture, run it through the program, and it will tell you the closest font. How sweet is that??
3. Flipboard
I actually discovered this app in an iPad commercial - it was one of the apps loaded on the home screen in the ad. It had a great looking logo (I totally judge apps by logo/user interface) so I looked it up to see what it did. Turns out that Flipboard is basically an RSS reader - it delivers news and updates to your phone either from sources you frequent (such as popular blogs or online magazines) or from a variety of sources on a specific topic (like technology, book reviews, or celebrity gossip). It's easy to use and gives you a quick visual overview of everything that is happening in your sphere of interest.
2. SoundHound
I've been using SoundHound for a couple of years on my Droid, and it's one of the few apps that I carried over to the new operating system. It's a music recognition app that you turn on while a song is playing to find out the title and artist. There are other apps that do the same thing but I've always had good luck with SoundHound, with the exception of one locally-based band whose song always came up as some obscure song by The Bangles. Plus it features a giant "start recording" button that is really easy to hit while going 70 on the highway (don't tell my mom I do that). I often use its bookmarking tool to remember songs I want to download later.
1. Evernote
This is one of the best apps ever created, probably in my top 3 after mobile banking and
DropBox (that was a LIFESAVER during college - if you don't have it go sign up now!). It's a cloud-type service that lets you save web clippings, photos, and text (for free!) to reference later. What's awesome about this is that you can access it from anywhere - your phone, your desktop computer, or online using any computer. So I can type a grocery list and have it on my phone, or make a note while waiting in line at the bank and have it saved to my laptop, or even save photos and information in a note and collaborate with another Evernote user. I use it to store things I want to post to Pinterest, keep lists of books I am looking for, and keep ideas for future blog posts (yes, there is a whole list of Top 5 ideas!). You can even tag your notes and search them by keyword or category. The possibilities are endless - they already make Evernote Hello (a way to remember people you meet), Evernote Food (for recipes, food photos and restaurant locations), and Evernote Peek (a flashcard app that utilizes the iPad smart cover), but you can use the app for just about anything.
What app do you use often? Anything I need to be downloading?
