I picked up my iPhone in April about a month before heading to May seminar and started playing with it to learn the interface and of course make it my own. It didn't take long before I was hooked. In my sad little organized world I have of course organized my iPhone screens. I have screens for everyday tools (main screen), educational, social networking, work related, music and television, food and exercise (finding locations, tips, cooking), games, the hardly ever use but can't delete apps and those I am research for the app project.
I have downloaded 64 apps to date that have allowed me to save and waste time in vast amounts. Some of these have not been worth the time that I sunk into downloading them and others are worth every penny I spent purchasing and downloading them.
My Favorites:
- Amazon Kindle - I think this is the app I clearly spend the most time with. I downloaded all of the books for my classes this summer that I could for the Kindle so that I could have them always at my fingertips. This has worked out well for me, especially the day I had to go to the clinic and wait three hours to get in. I got lots of reading done. I also use this at night since I like to read in bed for a while before drifting off to sleep. I don't have to hold a clunky book and a flashlight anymore in an awkward position so that I can turn pages and not wake up my husband. I just sent the app to display the text in white which make the background black and I am set to read until I start drifting off to sleep.
- Twitteriffic & Facebook - I have bundled these together because I probably spend equal time in each. I think I am drawn to both of them because of the community and connection they provide to things other than what I am doing at the current moment. Through each of these I feel much more in touch with my friends and relatives than I was previously.
- iThoughts - I absolutely loved this app until yesterday. I have been mapping out ideas for my dissertation since May seminar and had a lot of great information flowing together until I must have pushed a wrong button the other night and ended up losing all of the leaves I had created off my main trunk of ideas. I think I still have most of it in my head and can restore it but have yet to do so because I am a bit gun shy. All in all I learned a valuable lesson and will be constantly backing it up once I do reenter the data.
- Notes - I am always typing into the notes app, 28 notes saved to date. There are items to purchase, things to do, thoughts about my dissertation, future projects and things I am reading. Luckily because it takes me a while to delete items this is also were I will find a lot of the data that got wiped out of the iThoughts app.
- Amateur Surgeon - I have to admit I have become addicted to a game. This game has grabbed my attention on more than a couple of occasions when I need a break from reading but am bored and what something to do. I had to recently ban myself from playing it so that I can get more work done.
If I wasn' impressed before (and I was), I certainly am now. To know that you only had your iPhone a month before the May Seminar is impressive, seeing how much you knew about apps by that time. Very cool, and very cool that you can take a class that gives you time to explore more ways to use mobile devices. We do have a great field in TC. I just downloaded Blowfish, and have gotten somewhat addicted. The interaction of the game--simple, you just push and hold on the screen--is something that doesn't work on other phones. Like ET phoning home, I can often be seen with hamburger in one hand and blowing fish up in another. Like you say, though, apps like Kindle are truly powerful. And, they're interactive with other devices. Web 2.0 bookmarking is an amazing concept in itself. In terms of the small footprint in a classroom, we'll see people creating iPod Touch COWs shortly, no doubt, for Kindle. I have never appreciated programs for organizing other than the one I'm using to write in. I don't use Endnote, for instance. Instead, I'd rather just use Word. Maybe that makes me old school, but it words. Notes is good; I use ShopShop for groceries. Notes for me is useful when I have nothing else to use; I was into Jott last year for audio notes. IM+, which costs a little, enables your YahooIM account to stay on while your iPhone sleeps. That's useful, and it interacts with text messaging. Being able to be mobile with office hours in this way is particularly freeing for me. I have broke my iPhone and misplaced it for a few days; really problematic.
ReplyDelete64 apps since April! Wow! That is impressive.
ReplyDeleteI must check out iThoughts. That stinks that you lost part of it. Maybe it is a suggestion to the designers for a tweak? Make it harder to accidentally delete?
I also broke my iPhone for 24 hours, and I almost lost my mind without it! I had no idea how much I had come to rely on it.