Smartphone Wars

[GaryMayo]

Originally Posted by svHannabel

Alright, ios geek-time, so be prepared...

This one is only partly true. Multitasking in ios doesn't slow down the performance of the foreground app or drain battery life unnecessarily. Double-clicking the Home button displays a list of recently used apps. These apps are not necessarily actively in use, open, or taking up system resources.

Essentially, only GPS, audio, and syncing apps run in the background and potentially use resources.

What you are saying is on some level true, in that Apple does not bother to teach people how to close these programs.

When you load a program, one question your iPhone often times pops up, is share your location with app (or something close to that)

Clicking yes, means the app will have more power to serve the needs of the app user, or so it might seem. So six months after you gave permission for the app to share information about you, that app is still running and acquiring and distributing info. Really? It would seem so.

Regularly, close all apps. Just good policy.

[Sandero]

I am curious as to the apps people are using...

I can't even conceive of what they might be.... I used no more than half dozen such as train schedule, metric/conversion, weather, navionics (haven't used yet) occasional traffic and map... I don't play games... I do read a few forum based web sites.

Am I missing something?

[Cormorant]

It's funny how we compare and at times belittle these devices that just a decade or two ago would have seemed like absolute magic. IPhone or Android -- they're both pretty damn sweet!

As for apps, a few of my faves are:
MX Mariner
Navionics (backup for MX)
Backcountry Navigator (topo maps for hiking)
GPS Essentials (basic lat/long/speed etc
Astroid (sunrise/set/moonrise/planet rise and set)
Tide Chart (tides for any location you choose)
Weatherbug
Windfinder
Smart Compass (turns your phone into a hand bearing compass)
Star Chart
Google Sky Map
Skyvi (voice activated texting -- handy when you're working or driving)
Flashlight (uses the LED camera flash to turn your phone into a flashlight)
Easy Voice Recorder (record anything . . .)
Moon + Reader -- great e-reader app
Smart AudioBook Player (excellent for listening to free Librivox recordings, like Moby Dick, or Heart of Darkness. . . .)
Mobo Player -- watch movies on your phone (having ripped them with Handbrake)

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by defjef

I am curious as to the apps people are using...

I can't even conceive of what they might be.... I used no more than half dozen such as train schedule, metric/conversion, weather, navionics (haven't used yet) occasional traffic and map... I don't play games... I do read a few forum based web sites.

Am I missing something?

You're kidding, right?

CNN, BBC News, Wall Street Journal, NPR, Al Jazerra, Washington Post, Bloomberg, Weather Channel, Radio NOAA, Weather Underground, Intellicast for Boating, Cruising Form, TripAdvisor, Amazon, eBay, 4 Thai language apps, Google Earth, Facebook, Twitter, Google, Skype, ESPN, Starbucks, iBooks, wikiHow, Howjsay, ShraplTide, Wind Meter, iNavX, AyeTides, MarineTraffic, Navionics (US East), Navionics (Australasia), Compass, Nav Rules, Grog Knots, ... well, you get the idea.

[Factor]

Originally Posted by keepondancin

Question for Factor, how do you put PDF's into iTunes? .

A couple of ways - one is putting them into iphoto - see here for a link in youtube

Via IPHOTO

Short story there is you just open the pdf in preview, choose print , choose pdf box and select print to iphoto. In I photo put it in an album or folder that is selected for synching in itunes to the phone. Its then available in the photos on the phone.

Another is by setting up an option in the PDF area - see here for video tutorial

Add Option to PDF Dialog Box

Short story is you make a new option for the PDF area called save pdf to itunes or similar and then when you open a pdf and then go to print then go to pdf, there is an option for save pdf to itunes and then it comes up in the books area.

Third way is as described hereIn Ibooks
In this way you work inside Itunes itself.

Hope that helps.

[GaryMayo]

Originally Posted by defjef

I am curious as to the apps people are using...

I can't even conceive of what they might be.... I used no more than half dozen such as train schedule, metric/conversion, weather, navionics (haven't used yet) occasional traffic and map... I don't play games... I do read a few forum based web sites.

Am I missing something?

Most of my apps are photography.

Blending art with photos is more fun for me than photography alone.

The dog treat shows a scanning program where it shows who has the best price on an item. If this were a $500 camera, the potential savings is a great service. The phone camera scans the barcode and you instantly see prices on your item all over town and places like Amazon.

I have a temp app that tells me the temperature every 15 minutes. I have a wind app and so many more I forget them till I need them.

[GaryMayo]

Some of the apps are so awful, I hate myself afterwords. lol

$.99 iTunes Wobble Premium for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store

$1.35 Android https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...wobble.premium

[GaryMayo]

Interesting to note, the giggle gif was made on my iPhone, but in this forum, gifs do not play back on an iPhone. Just sits still.

I bet on an android phone, it plays back properly.

iPhones tend to not play graphics if Apple is not making a buck on it.

[GaryMayo]

Try printing an image directly from an iPhone to a wireless printer. It takes three geek squad VW's in your driveway to pull off that function.

Is it easy to print from an android?

[ahnutts!]

Originally Posted by Doodles

I've always used the iPhone

Happy eighth birthday!

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by GaryMayo

The phone camera scans the barcode and you instantly see prices on your item all over town and places like Amazon.


.

But maybe not the store you are standing in at the time.

See post 23

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by ahnutts!

Happy eighth birthday!

Thanks, it's been a great ride so far.

[MikeinLA]

I have a business which keeps me on the road around L.A. most days. I find the Blackberry Bold to be perfect for phoning, texting and email. For anything else I carry an IPad and a portable WiFi hotspot in my car. I use GoToMyPC to retrieve things from my home computer files and when a customer is late I fire up the Slingbox app and watch TV. Phone screens are just too small to be worthwhile IMO. My kid, however, had to have an IPhone because it's a toy and that's what kids like.

Mike

[chef2sail]

I have an iPad2 and love it as far as tablets go. It streams movies when I'm in an airport waiting for flights. Doubles as my book library for reading. Is my backup for my modern chart plotter. Basically replaced me carrying my laptop except where I need to do work documents. I'd rather have an old fashioned computer keyboard with word, excell and PowerPoint.. For p,ease traveling the I pad is great.

I have a work supplied Blackberry which I o like or work e mails and documents. Also has push to talk feature for connecting me with my 64 managers evilly. Only thing Blackberry is good at is documents and the hard keyboard.

I have an android personal phone. HTC One. Larger screen than I5. Has voice activated commands. Many of the apps charged on I tunes are free for the droid. Light, thin, and more modern looking and hand fitting than I phones. It has expandable memory also. One thing I don't like about it is its the first phone I have had where you cannot replace the battery to take an extra one which I phone can't do anyway.

Dave

[GaryMayo]

My better half went with me tonight to look at phones. I admit I like large stuff. A V8 motorcycle, 550 pickup and a 32 ketch on a 1800 acre lake shows I do stuff overboard.

Liking stuff big as me looking at tablet phones. One has a 5" screen, android. Maybe no more iPhones. I have been happy with my I phone but the larger screen and the much more open environment of an android phone is sucking me in.

We both use our phones more for you tube, Internet, email, texting than talking on the phone.

I think the thing that makes me like the LG Intuition (size) is going to make the phone a marketing flop. I don't think people will run out and get that phone, which means accessories are not going to be made for it, like waterproof cases. . I like the lifeproof case, but doubt they will offer it for a niche cellphone.