Thing 6 Documents

I used Cloud On and typed a few test documents. I don't know that I'd use it that much; I prefer a regular keyboard for typing and a larger screen for viewing. I might keep it on my tablet, though.  I already have a dropbox account that I don't use much (I just never think of it lol) and found it very easy to save and retrieve from there.  Emailing was easy enough, as well.  But the size of the screen is an issue for me - so I doubt that I'd use it on my phone. I might use it on my tablet, which is usually at home....so...if I was at home, I could just use one of the laptops. ;) 

My husband has Quick Office on his Note 3, and he does use it sometimes for work. Maybe if I get a Note 3 for Christmas next year, I might use this type of app more "on the go."

I am not amused

Thing 5 Notes

I had downloaded, tried, and uninstalled Springpad some time ago, but I reinstalled it for this thing. It had kept my old notebooks, the few that I had, which was nice.  There is a "newer" feature, following other notebooks. I followed one:  Real Simple's No Guilt Bookclub. I'm thinking this is trying to be in competition/an alternative to Pinterest, maybe. To be honest, I'm not sure how useful that is to me, since I already use Pinterest and Houzz occasionally, when I think of them. ;)  Springpad could be useful if someone wanted everything in the same place, perhaps.

I've been using Evernote to make note of things to remember - running shoes to look for, books to remember, etc. So far, I do prefer Evernote - a cleaner interface, for one thing. I can just make a new note, and put what I want in there.  It quickly syncs back and forth, and I can set reminders for myself if I want.  It doesn't seem to have as much "functionality" as Springpad, but I don't see myself using a lot of what Springpad has, so Evernote is a better fit for me.  

I had tried Remember The Milk before when we did the previous "things" so didn't go back and use that one again. 

Keeping up? Thing 4

I installed the Flipboard App. Didn't hate it, but didn't love it much, either. I still prefer using an RSS reader - bloglines works fine to get feeds from blogs I want to read.  I don't always check in on it everyday, and I find the list format more convenient.   I just choose the posts I'm interested in reading. I tend to read work related blogs at work, so I wouldn't use my phone for that, anyway. 

The flippy part of Flipboard was kind of neat, but I wasn't able to find much of interest to set up magazines. If it were easier to find things I'm interested in using Flipboard, it would be more useful to me.

Back to thing 3, the more I play with Google Goggles, the less useful it is for me. It didn't recognize a purse, laundry basket, or even a cat. I can use other apps as a barcode scanner, so I most likely won't use it much. 

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.

Mobile Thing 2

I have an Evo LTE phone, and an Acer Iconia A500. (No, I'm not an Apple girl.)  For this thing, I just concentrated on my phone, since I tend to use it more throughout the day. I didn't find too much that I wasn't already using, but there are a few things I did explore and will probably play with a little more.

The camera has different settings to use when taking a picture; I hadn't been aware of the HDR mode.  This basically takes two photos, one with flash, one without, and combines the best of each into one composite. I did notice you have to hold very still for this to work - that, or your subject does.  (I will have to inform my cats about this. I'm sure they'll cooperate.)  I will most likely play with that some more to find the tweaks I can do to it.  Similarly, there are effects that can be added to photos in the gallery as well, although I doubt that I would use them very much.   I had forgotten the trick of tapping what I want to focus on, so I'll use that more often.

I had also forgotten  some other things: for instance, about the two finger swipe, which, in the contacts list, allows me to scroll by letter, or in the photo gallery, by date.  I can also silence the ringing phone by turning it down upon its face. Very handy.

I've also started using the voice dictation for texts more often - it's been quite accurate so far. It's handy to use that when my hands are full!

Even More Things!

The timing for this is pretty good - I was planning to start blogging again, family tree stuff and other things. This is a good incentive to get myself going again. 

I use my phone and tablet quite a lot, but it will be fun to see what other apps and uses I may be missing.  I also shared the site with my husband, since he just got a "smarter" phone for work.