Useful Applications for Smartphone? 80
merlinbasenji asks: "I've recently purchased an Audiovox SMT5600 Smartphone for Cingular, and I'm looking for suggestions for good applications like: calendars, browsers, games, email client, etc. Anyone have a favorite, or had a bad experience with specific applications?"
Don't use the phone program (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Don't use the phone program (Score:1)
Re:Smart-Ass Set Theory (Score:2)
Oh, I see. I just read Slashdot, and assumed he'd be interested in the same things as the rest of us. Now where'd those custom smileys go...
Pacman (Score:2)
Re:Pacman (Score:1)
My cost on this bad boy... (Score:5, Funny)
And this is totally OT, but...
I managed to snag a new one of these for $20 and a three hour conversation with Cingular, because they were trying to sell me a Star Wars sound-injector (lots of demand, I guess, for sounding like you're friends with Chewbacca) with the prefurb I was ordering (they would add it to my basket after I verified my order without any notification they were doing so, and that pissed me off). Anyway, I worked my way up the ladder to the resolutions department.
Me: There is no chance I will use this device. Let me order the prefurb without sending me the $40 Chewbacca toy.
Cingular/ATT: I can't sell you the prefurb without sending that item. But you can return it!
Me: I'd like to do that, preemptively.
CATT: Oh, you'll have to send it back to us once we ship it out.
Me:
CATT: Sir?
Me: Seriously, you're going to cost yourself greater than $20 to sell me a $20 refurb phone, and waste man hours handling a return?
CATT: It's how the bundle works, sir.
Me: I'd feel morally reprehensible doing business with you if you're that stupid. I'll buy a Sprint phone.
CATT: No, no no! Tell you what, I'll send you a NEW one for the same price, so you don't have to return the Star Wars thingie.
Me:
CATT: Sir?
Me: Nevermind, I can do business with idiots. Thanks. Send it on.
Video encoder (Score:1)
For encoding, there's a great prog called "pocket-DVD Studio". It will grab a DVD or File, and DIVX it. It works fast-@1hr per dvd. Most movies are ~200MB. It'll crop letterboxes, allow you to pick the output resolution/bitrate/audio, and tell you the final file-size before it even starts. afaik, nothing else does the trick. Stay away from pocketdivxencoder-It's corrupted a few of my files.
Re:Video encoder (Score:1)
Coverage? (Score:1, Offtopic)
Problem is that the only providers with decent coverage in some areas of the United States *cough* Verizon *cough* insist on locking all phones on their network such that they run only applications purchased from the provider's overpriced store, and you can't test applications on phones connected to their network unless you are an established company.
Weird (Score:2)
As another poster suggested, TCPMP is GREAT. I use it on my Treo, and I've heard the PocketPC version (for the original poster) is also excellent.
Also in the category of "stuff you can do with a huge memory card", look into either Mapopolis or TomTom plus a Bluetooth GPS receiver. Like TCPMP, there are both PocketPC and PalmOS versions. TomTom seems to be getting more popular these days than Mapopolis.
Unfortunately, one of
Get It Never (Score:1)
Every single one of the apps listed above was installed to my Treo 650 without paying Verizon a single cent.
Then what's all this I've been reading about "Get It Now" and "Get Around Get It Now"?
Re:Get It Never (Score:2)
Re:Get It Never (Score:2)
Counter Spamming (Score:1)
Re:Counter Spamming (Score:2)
You *can* wait until they start saying "hello? hello?" and make up some BS line about him being somewhere else, but that would involve effort.
Dave
Re:Counter Spamming (Score:2)
Re:Counter Spamming (Score:1)
In some places companies can charge you via your phone account, so that it will show up on your next phone bill.
Essentials "for a busy professional" (Score:5, Informative)
some more... (Score:2)
* Torch - simple program that turns screen on full brightness with white background so you can use it as a torch. Assign a speeddial to it. Free.
* Autokeylock - does what it says, also gives you handy clock display screensaver. Free.
* Citytime pocket alarms - easier to use than the dreadful inbuilt alarm, allows different alarms for different days of the week
* One great feature that's built in is aut
Dictionary (Score:1)
If you want some more ideas: http://www.getjar.com/ [getjar.com]
Password Management (Score:5, Informative)
Highly recommended.
Re:Password Management (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Password Management (Score:1)
Re:Password Management (Score:2)
But hey, what do I know - steal my phone and try and crack my password.
This topic is like a nightmare exam (Score:1, Funny)
There's 10 minutes left to go, and your sheet of paper is empty and you've organised your pens and pencils neatly on the desk. A bit of paper has a drawing of a smartphone, but it doesn't look very intelligent to you.
Then, it hits you!
Yes!
A blunt
SSH - What about mToken? (Score:2)
I can't vouch for it, and I haven't used it yet. (How's that for a review?) So mostly I'm wondering if anybody else has tried it before I drop $50 on it.
http://choung.net/mToken/ [choung.net]
There are a few free ones out there (how's the putty port?) but this one seems to be pretty full featured. I really would like to be able to use keys and have some sort of bookmark capability.
Re:SSH - What about mToken? (Score:2)
Re:SSH - What about mToken? (Score:2)
Re:SSH - What about mToken? (Score:3, Informative)
I have to say, in general, the offerings are pretty disappointing. PocketPutty can't save sessions, so you're typing in a lot of the same information every time you want to connect. Also, I didn't see an immediately obvious way to send ESC events (for example).
mToken is pretty nice, though pricey. "Scripting" is completely unintuitive, but if you work at it, I understand you can get single-button CTRL-A events sent (for use with Screen). It suppor
What about midpssh? (Score:2)
Re:SSH - What about mToken? (Score:2)
Re:SSH - What about mToken? (Score:2)
WiFi VoIP transition (Score:2)
For me, that's going to be the big factor in the next phone upgrade -- multiple protocols beyond the cell network.
Of course, for most people this is going to start off as being a useless application, but I can see huge things ahead for the first phones that have this ability (and the software
Re:WiFi VoIP transition -- UMA (Score:1)
Apps on my treo... (Score:3, Interesting)
tcpmp - plays movies
ptunes - mp3s and such
audible.com's player for ebooks
plucker for free ebooks
eatwatch so I don't swell up
chatter - best email client
tomtom navigator - don't leave home without the gps fob...
verichat for chatting
fileprog - a better file browser
an unzip utility so I can download from the web
my subway/train schedule
card export - turns the phone into a usb mass-storage device
LJP - a nintendo emulator (also gameboy and sega and tgfx etc)
niggle - a free scrabble emulator
I guess that's it.
Re:Apps on my treo... (Score:1)
http://www.conduits.com/ce/apps/copilot.asp [conduits.com]
Re:Apps on my treo... (Score:2)
Some of the apps I cited will work on both at least, but I do think it's a bit funny that handhelds have enough power to emulate other handhelds now.
I wonder if the PPC phone the guy got has enough oomph to emulate a palm running LJP emulating a nintendo...
Re:Information! (Score:2)
It doesn't matter what the device is, it's just such a relief that finally I've got access to SOME sort of device that can act as a neural "prosthesis" to overcome my total lack of organization. It used to require serious organization just to get all the devices to work together, so there might be a benefit, but it was totally offset by the cost.
Now I have a phone that I love with a passion. Hooray for smartphones!
Jabber Messenger for Smartphones (Score:3, Informative)
If you had bought the sidekick... (Score:5, Funny)
A few of my favorites (Score:3, Informative)
Opera for Smartphones
RJShortcut
NewsBreak (RSS Reader)
SmartIRC
RepliGo
Smartione (not a typo)
Re:A few of my favorites (Score:2)
My wish list (Score:5, Funny)
Re:My wish list (Score:2)
You may be modded funny but some of those are good ideas!
The accuracy of a voice based lie detector would be questionable (and probably depend on just how powerful a computer the phone is), but you could even train it to people you talk to regularly ("view their past lies and near-lies and mark what was a lie and what wasn't). Video phones could add another level of accuracy with the equivalent increase in required power to take advantage of it.
To make the interest simulator really good might take some
Re:My wish list (Score:1)
Most useful app of all (Score:2)
A scripting language, Hecl (Score:3, Interesting)
The Hecl Programming Language: http://www.hecl.org/ [hecl.org]
It's an open source scripting language that's compact enough to run on cell phones. If you're the adventurous/hacker type, it's still in the early stages of development, but is far along enough to write real apps, such as this shopping list system:
http://www.dedasys.com/shopping_list/ [dedasys.com]
It's a great time to get involved in the project because it's in its early stages, and there is a lot of fun to be had!
Things smartphones don't do. (Score:4, Insightful)
* Answering machine. Who needs voice mail on the provider side? Your phone probably has memory onboard + expansion slot memory. It has enough brains to record voice memos, do voice dialing, and play MP3s as ringtones. How hard is this to implement? Plus there's no monthly fee!
* Time-of-day call ignore. Are you in a meeting for a certain time? Have lectures or classes? Doctors appointment? Your phone should automatically go into a silent mode (and kick over to the answering machine). Why let yourself be the point of failure?
* Selective disturb. Studying, working on a project, or otherwise engaged, but don't want to drop off the face of the earth? Make it so that only certain call groups can contact you, just in case.
* Privacy mode. Automatically reject calls from caller-id blocked numbers or long-distance (based on an area code list) numbers, or from people in certain groups.
* Smart synchronization with Palm or WinCE PDAs. Most smart phones have bluetooth, but so far I have yet to find a way to sychronize the smartphone with the PDA in any useful way. Don't we have vcards and other standards for this?
* Smart synchronization with a PC. Even just a stupid Windows client + some documentation would be fine. I can write something that'll let my Linux desktop sync if it's documented! This could be as simple as dumping the data from the internal memory to the expansion memory in a parsable format, and then restoring it the same way -- the PC could have a program to read the memory card and deal with the data.
* Some kind of automation system. I have run across lots of little situations where I need to do something to a lot of contacts (move them into a group, delete duplicates, etc), and have found there's no batch interface. You have to deal with everything one click at a time.
All of this stuff is pretty simple to do, and would elevate a smartphone from a fancy phone with a colour display and better ringtones. No Symbian OS phone I know supports time-based silencing, call ignore lists, answering machine, selective disturb, or sychronizes well. You can fake some of that with custom ring tones, but that's a hack.
The most disapointing feature of mobile phones are the SDKs; you can't write this stuff if you want to, in many cases (and the Java support is terrible). Why make something programable if the only thing it'll do is load the code that shipped with it?
Re:Things smartphones don't do. (Score:2)
Here is a list of things that any phone more advanced than a Nokia 5160 could concievably do (especially with Symbian or other smart phone OSes), but which don't ship from the manufucturer, and are thus relegated to half-written, poorly integrated shareware apps that don't work on different smart phones running the same OS:
* Answering machine. Who needs voice mail on the provider side? Your phone probably has memory onboard + expansion slot memory. It has enough brains to record voice memos,
Re:Things smartphones don't do. (Score:2)
Voicemail is included as a part of every phone plan I've ever seen. Most importantly, having the answering machine in the phone is Just Plan Stupid. What if the phone is turned off or in an area where coverage is blocked? I would
Symbian based answering machine (Score:2)
Replies missing the point. (Score:3, Informative)
1) Voicemail's not free for everyone. There is no real security in having voicemail (or any private data) on your service provider's equipment, either, as the recent Google vs. DOJ should show. Why shouldn't my phone do it, regardless of what the providers offer?
2) These are obvious features; once you go beyond a simple phone that just does DTMF based on a keypad, you would think this would beco
Re:Replies missing the point. (Score:2)
Many phones do have built-in answering machines, even antique non-smartphones like the LG VX4000. They record into the same memory used for voice memos.
Re:Things smartphones don't do. (Score:1)
* Time-of-day call ignore. Are you in a meeting for a certain time? Have lectures or classes? Doctors appointment? Your phone should automatically go into a silent mode (and kick over to the answering machine). Why let yourself be the point of failure?
The SMT5600 has a Meeting mode where it will switch in and out of silent mode based on there being a meeting on the calendar.
Re:Things smartphones don't do. (Score:2)
Good idea, except what if your phone can't get a signal, or runs out of battery life, or is just plain off? This is something I'd prefer a dedicated "Always On" provider to handle for me.
Time-of-day call ignore
Now this is something I agree with. It could intergrate with the calendar/appointment functionality most phones have already. You could also (optionally) have a special response that the caller - "I'm in class now, but I'll be finished by 5. Leave a message or call back then."
Smar
There's only one (Score:2)
mini.opera.com (Score:1)
Wireless access devices? (Score:1)
What I'd like to find out is if there are any phones/devices out there that will hop on wireless networks (esp Free as in beer) to get out to the web? I want to be able to surf/check email/IM etc. and of course I want to avoid paying outrageous sums of money to said phone companies. Does this make sense?
Google Local. (Score:2)
Google Local rocks. The only thing I wish is that it would interface with the phones GPS.
My list (Score:1)
Reposted with formatting` (Score:2, Insightful)
I have that exact phone and have been very happy with it. Here are the 3rd-party apps I use:
- Smart Database Viewer, because it doesn't come with Pocket Excel
- Smartphonenotes - notes that synch with Outlook notes
- Pocket DVD-Studio for ripping DVDs to smartphone-usable format. There's also Mobile Media Maker that's cheaper but has fewer options and can only do smartphone output, not Pocket PC.
- gStart - Start menu replacement
- Total Commander - file explorer with actual features (contra
On my Windows Mobile 2003SE I use: (Score:1)
- CAB Installer [windowscenet.de]: you can select where install programs
- GSPlayer [vector.co.jp]: Simply audio player for Pocket PC
- Mozilla Minimo [mozilla.org]: web browser
- Opera for windows mobile [opera.com]: web browser
- TCPMP [corecodec.org]: media player
- Total Commander [ghisler.com]: file manager
- Vbar [vieka.com]: task manager
- WiFiFoFum2 [memphistw.org]: the best WiFi scanner and war driving software for Pocket PC
- PocketPuTTY [duxy.net]: ssh access
-
I will suggest also a daily visit
The use I got out of a smartphone (Score:2)