Thing 3 Utilizing Utilities

I've been using Red Laser for some time now, and have found it pretty handy. Occasionally, there won't be much info on something I'm looking at, and often it recommends that the best price is on Amazon, which is to be expected. I was looking for a new landline for our home recently, and scanned one that I was interested in. Red Laser let me know that another store about a mile away had a much better deal, so off I went.  We'll use it grocery shopping sometimes - a "sale" isn't always such a good deal

I also played around with Goggles. I will play with it some more, but it does have interesting possibilities.  I scanned the book I was reading (Salvation on the Small Screen - Nadia Bolz-Weber) and it gave me info on the book, where I could get it, and library information.  This could be useful to reserve a book I see when I'm out and about, since I tend to just take a picture and look for it later.  I'll try it next time I'm at the museum and see how it works.

I can see where the Wifi Finder could be handy, and I'll recommend it to my husband, since he travels alot for work. My phone is pretty good about finding networks near me, but it could be handy to plan ahead for wifi access. 

One app I use a lot for work is called Mini Piano. I work with the music collections, and will often plunk out a melody to test whether I'm sight reading something correctly. ;)  Yesterday (and part of today) there was an annoying whine/sound that was driving us nuts. A colleague and I guessed that it was the pitch G, and testing it on the app confirmed it. That was enough to make him realize he really should get a smart phone. :) 

Another app I've been using since I got an Android phone is Ringo Pro. I liked being able to set different tones for text messages (I could do that on the Blackberry) and missed not being able to do it. I use Ringo for both call tones and text tones - I go into the app and set the tone so I can tell who a text (or call) is from.  And, of course, half the fun is FINDING the ringtones, and deciding who to assign it to. My sister in law is a dolphin - my husband finds that one annoying, but I always hear it!

I use SwiftKey for my texting - I like the keyboard and function better than Swype or the native keyboard. I wouldn't mind if there were more than three suggestions for words, though.  Sometimes my typos are so interesting it finally just gives up and essentially says "I don't know what the heck you're trying to say."  But for the most part it works quite well.