Favorite Mobile Phone Apps

[Norm]

I got the new Apple iphone 4s and am finding there must be like a billion apps out there. Anyone care to share what your favorite apps are?

[okmulch]

One I like the best is the bar code scanner. You can scan most bar codes and then it will give you a prices and places you can find the item. I use it alot for ammo. It finds stores online and local.

[Dakota]

If you like music, check out Pandora.

[MikeON]

Leafsnap - take a picture of a leaf and it returns suggestions as to the identify of the tree.  Must have 3G or Wi-fi for this feature to work.  Also has more conventional browsing of trees with stock photos of leaves and bark.

iBirdPRO - bird identification with songs.

Star Walk - aim the iPhone at the sky and it identifies the constellations you are looking at.

Motion-X GPS and Motion-X GPS Drive - navigation apps

Kayak - travel arrangements.

Soundhound - iPhone listens to a song and returns the name, arist, and lyrics

[clearcut]

I recommend downloading and registering Find My iPhone (free) for anyone with an iDevice. If you lose your phone, you can log into a web page to locate the phone using the GPS or send a message to the phone and make it ring even if the ringer is otherwise turned off. If the phone is stolen, you can remotely wipe the data. SeekDroid is a similar app for Android devices.

Gaia GPS is a Topo Map oriented GPS that allows downloading of a specific area while on WiFi should you be out of 3G range or don't want to take that hit on your data cap. There is a limited free version. Gaia GPS is also available on Android.

Simplenote (free / subscription for no ads) is a great text based notes app that automatically synchronizes with the web, your desktop, and other devices. I keep a shopping list, to do list, don't forget this when ... list, hours for various businesses, address and directions to copy and paste into emails and text messages, part numbers with prices for oil filters, wiper blades, and such to stock up when I notice a sale, and the dimensions of every room, door, and window in my house. Essentially I can now carry all the bits of info that I wish I had with me at one time easily. FlickNote is a free (ad supported) SimpleNote app for Android.

Yelp is good for finding restaurants and businesses when traveling. (Free)

[Patty]

I got a new app yesterday called Runkeeper. It is an app that will monitor your run (or walk, or ski, etc), map your route, number of miles ran, heart rate, etc. But the best part is that someone can remotely monitor your position. I want to do runs and bike rides, but Norm is worried about me being out there alone (we live in the boonies). Another good feature while on vacation, you can still get in your run, and the gps will get you back to your original spot without getting lost. So my plan is to run with the app on so he knows exactly where I am at any given time if necessary.

This should be interesting......going out for a relaxing run, AK47 strapped on my back and the phone in my pocket, I am READY!   

[Woodwalker]

There are thousands out there, just have to shift thru them. I use mine for work and play so apps are varied. In no particular order, Print Magic (wireless printer), Drudge Report, Wikipedia, Craigs Pro, Electric Power(unit converter), Translator, AutoCad WS(open, view, and work in Cad drawings) Convert Units,  WebMD, Pandora, Scan, OnStar Remote Link(starts the truck), several news and weather apps, Wallgreens(refills by scanning pill bottle), MagLight(uses the camera as a magnifier), banking app., FindPhone, PDF.
If you can think of an action, someone has written an App for it.

[jim king]

I had no idea such things were possible.   Here I am still impressed when I can talk on the phone much less all those things.  The first one I had down here was a motorola about half the size of a brick with a pull out antena.  I dont think it even had a memory to store phone numbers and it cost about $800.  Times have changed quickly.

[Holmes]

This should be interesting......going out for a relaxing run, AK47 strapped on my back and the phone in my pocket, I am READY!   

I hope Norm gets the video app. so he can upload right to the forum you out for a relaxing run with the AK47.

[dewwood]

I use Gas Buddy for checking area prices on gas or diesel, also myAltitude which gives your current altitude(great when travelling).

[POSTONLT40HD]

My father-in-law has an app, and I don't know the name of it. However it's too cool.

He can be in a bar, restaurant, elevator or ANYWHERE music is playing. He turns this app on and when his phone hears the music, it will post the artist name and the name of the song. It will also give you the words to the song and the album / CD cover and the year and date the album came out.

This just blew my mind.

[DouginUtah]

According to MikeON (reply #3), it is Soundhound.

[terrifictimbersllc]

Angry Birds (99c edition).  TV Guide (free).  Accuweather. Fandango (movies). Also radio station apps to listen to your favorite talk show hosts when your local radio stations don't know how to select programs.  p.s. if you have a choice of free or 99 cents the latter can be a bargain to avoid advertising pop-ups.

[okmulch]

Postonlt40hd  one of those apps is shazzam that will tell you the music.

[Bibbyman]

I was just happy to find FreeCell.   

[Bibbyman]

I need good apps to find and read books on public domain.


Also. Movies on public domain. I found one but it just has a big long list and not much that I care to watch.

[Ironwood]

Love VZ navigator, gets me around even if lost in NYC walking out of a subway station, let alone in the truck/trailer looking for the easiest route to a shop. Details down to the smallest detail.

 Basic weather channel is good to see whats about to hit.

 It is my office in my pocket, email, pics, text to customers (it aint just for teens senseless use), and all in the plam of my hand, AWSOME.

 Only thing is just this year I now need READING glasses to see the screen.

 Ironwood


 Ironwood

[Bandmill Bandit]

How do you pick a favorite?

There so many useful apps that it is hard to say that any one is preferred over another for me.

I have a few apps that I find very useful in my sawmill business.

2 come from Bear Creek Lumber, 1 called Tree Book by Sarofax and my favorite of the forestry apps so far is one called Wood Calculators by Darren Gates.

Still looking for a very comprehensive one for identifying trees and lumber of Western Canada. 

These are all I-phone versions and are in the I Tunes store.   

[clearcut]

Bibbyman, there is a free app called Free Books that categorizes and helps you search for books in the public domain.

Your public library may offer free electronic books to "check out" and download. Some use the Kindle app or OverDrive media. Many have audio books.

Youtube.com/movies has full length movies to stream.

Mediafly and Crackle also stream movies.

[wesdor]

I like Evernote.  It lets you keep notes "in the cloud" and they are available from phone, desktop or laptop.

Bibbyman if you can read PDF or ebook format check out project Gutenberg.  Most of the books are "classics" - read old, but there are still lots of good books to read and they are all FREE.

[Jeff]

If there is anyone out there that is running an android phone with a minimum of version 1.6 and would like to try the beta version of the Forestry Forum App, let me know. 

[Woodwalker]

No Iphone app?

[Jeff]

If there is anyone out there that is running an android phone with a minimum of version 1.6 and would like to try the beta version of the Forestry Forum App, let me know. 

[John Mc]

Has anyone used an iPhone app called "Clinometer - level and slope finder" by Peter Breitling?

I'm looking for something to measure the slope of woods roads and trails in either % grade or in degrees. This one looks as though it will do it. I'm just wondering if anyone has used it.

[clearcut]

I have used Clinometer as a level and bubble level, but never to measure the grade of a road. It works fine as a level. To measure grade I suspect you would have to sight along the body of the phone.

A better application might be Theodolite. It uses the camera to sight along the slope rather than trying to sight along the body of the phone. Both a free and paid version are available. Different phone models can access different features.

GeoCam is a similar app on Android. Free and paid versions available.

[cowtipper]

If there is anyone out there that is running an android phone with a minimum of version 1.6 and would like to try the beta version of the Forestry Forum App, let me know. 

Yep... let me know what info you need

[Dan_Shade]

i have andriod 2.1, Jeff, what do you need?

[Jeff]

If you guys want to try it, simply point your phone to
http://www.forestryforum.com/forum.apk

It is basically a shortcut to the forum, but has a couple other bells and whistles. A countdown to the pigroast, it has gps capabilities to use the pigroast finder, a screen that will give you directions to the pigroast from where ever you are at, and also a forum trivia quiz.

 I've started the next version that will be built on 2.2 because I'm not satisfied with the first one. Of course I never will be.  


If you do use it, let me know how it goes so I have feedback data for the next version.

[Jeff]

No Iphone app?

The problem with iphone, is that everything is proprietary. You can develop outside of apple, but to compile, the software needed will only run on a mac, then once you have it compiled, you must use apple to publish, and to publish you have to buy a developers license. If and when I get to a version for android that I think is respectable enough to move forward with, then I'll do something for iphone.  The other thing about iphone is they own 30% of anything you make. If you give it away, you still have to pay the $99 developers license to be able to publish to the istore (And they have to approve every submission first) and if you decide you want to sell the app, they take 30% off the top.

[John Mc]

Is the $99 to Apple for a developers license a one-time thing, or annual?

[John Mc]

I have used Clinometer as a level and bubble level, but never to measure the grade of a road. It works fine as a level. To measure grade I suspect you would have to sight along the body of the phone.

I saw someone doing that (sighting along the long edge of the phone), which is why I started asking here. It seemed to work well for him, but the app he had only measured in degrees, no % option.

A better application might be Theodolite. It uses the camera to sight along the slope rather than trying to sight along the body of the phone. Both a free and paid version are available. Different phone models can access different features.

I'm not sure that using the camera would be easier... if you are looking up along the road, it seems as though you'd have some error depending on how well you've got the target centered in the frame.  Or do you look at the slope from the side and tilt the camera till the road looks level in the camera view?

[Jeff]

Is the $99 to Apple for a developers license a one-time thing, or annual?

Yearly.

http://developer.apple.com/programs/ios/

[John Mc]

Is the $99 to Apple for a developers license a one-time thing, or annual?

Yearly.

Bummer. If it were a one-time charge, it wouldn't take many of us iPhone users ptiching in a few $ to pay for your license.

Which reminds me... it's been a while since I made a contribution to FF. I tend to forget about it since it's at the bottom of the sponsor list at the left.  Time to get off my butt.

John Mc

[Jeff]

It's not the license so much as the need for a mac computer to compile on and submit from. Once I get this next version done, Warbird is going to talk to one of his buds to see if he can compile it for me. What I'm not clear on at this point though, is if I can take the compiled data and submit it via my pc, or if it has to go via a mac. If it has to go via a mac computer, the licensing issue could get mucky having someone else do it.

[clearcut]

Since there is a free version (Theodolite Free),  try it out.

It works very much like a handheld clinometer. You sight the first point, read the angle, then sight the second point, and read its angle. The pro version ($3.99) has an A-B calculator that does the calculation for you. The pro version will also record data, and allows you to set units as % or degrees. Theodolite has a 2 axis inclinometer so you can view the road from the side and tilt it until the slope matches.

Clinometer switches from degrees to percent to 1/12 (rise over run) and it's only $.99. Clinometer HD is free for the iPad.

[John Mc]

It's not the license so much as the need for a mac computer to compile on and submit from. Once I get this next version done, Warbird is going to talk to one of his buds to see if he can compile it for me. What I'm not clear on at this point though, is if I can take the compiled data and submit it via my pc, or if it has to go via a mac. If it has to go via a mac computer, the licensing issue could get mucky having someone else do it.

If it has to be submitted from a Mac, I would assume someone could still log on as you (assuming you are willing to provide them with your user name and password). I can't imagine they tie a developer to submitting from only one computer.

[estiers]

I reccommend Flashlight.  You can turn your phone's flash into a flashlight, which is helpful in surprisingly many instances.

[Jeff]

I can't imagine they tie a developer to submitting from only one computer.

No, but the submission process may have to be done via the compilation program, I'm not sure of that yet, but if that is so, the Xcode program only runs on Mac.  http://developer.apple.com/xcode/ 

It's a conundrum (STWS) as I can't get a look at how it works without a mac.

[John Mc]

I'm dated on most of this stuff. I taught myself BASIC when I was 13 or 14. Took some courses on programming in Pascal and "C". Did a bit of simple programming in whatever used to be Microsoft's macro language for Excell and Access (Visual Basic??). But haven't poked around in that stuff for years.  What is Xcode like?

John Mc

[Jeff]

I don't know. I don't have a mac.

For Android dev on P.C. I'm using Eclipse & Android SDK  Java environment.


Prepare to be bored to death. I must have watched dozens of these. This kid sounds to be about 12.

[redbeard]

Got the app installed and I have some more reading to do to pass the triva quiz. I think I got half of the answers. I only have a year in so not bad. The main thing is it gives me direct link to forum. I like it Jeff good job and thanks.

[Norm]

Does anyone know of a comparison shopper app that uses the camera as a barcode scanner to tell you what other stores have the product price listed as?

[okmulch]

The one I have is just called barcode scanner. It gives you online options along with local store options.

[Dana]

Norm, I use RedLaser it works o.k. There are a lot of items it won't price out though.

[Norm]

Thanks guys. 

[beenthere]

Just heard of the wake-up alarm app.
http://lifehacker.com/5441045/sleep-cycle-analyzes-your-sleep-patterns-for-a-better-wake+up

From a fellow who says it works great, put the iphone under the mattress and it analyzes the sleeping pattern. When near awake and restless (not in a deep sleep) during a preset period, the alarm goes off. A more gentle wake-up apparently.

Anyone tried it?

[D Hagens]

 I have an app that turns your screen in to a beer glass. It fills it up with beer and you tilt the phone back like your drinking a beer and it lookis like you really are!

[Woodwalker]

Honest Officer, all I've had are two screen shots

[John Mc]

I have an app that turns your screen in to a beer glass. It fills it up with beer and you tilt the phone back like your drinking a beer and it lookis like you really are!

What's the name of that app? I've got a friend who definitely needs it (He just built a mug of beer out of lego.)

[D Hagens]

I have an app that turns your screen in to a beer glass. It fills it up with beer and you tilt the phone back like your drinking a beer and it lookis like you really are!

What's the name of that app? I've got a friend who definitely needs it (He just built a mug of beer out of lego.)

 It's called ibeer free, very cool app and it's funny sitting in public and drinking a beer out of your phone
 Also for the wife have her try free mood scanner it works well

[Dave VH]

what's the best app for tree identification on an android?  anybody found anything good?

and Jeff, I'll try the ff on my android also

[Bibbyman]

Where can I get a free TV app?

I want to watch Roy Underwood Woodwright on PBS.

[Bandmill Bandit]

Just heard of the wake-up alarm app.
http://lifehacker.com/5441045/sleep-cycle-analyzes-your-sleep-patterns-for-a-better-wake+up

From a fellow who says it works great, put the iphone under the mattress and it analyzes the sleeping pattern. When near awake and restless (not in a deep sleep) during a preset period, the alarm goes off. A more gentle wake-up apparently.

Anyone tried it?

Yup used it for about 6 months. Learned how my sleep cycles work now i dont need an alarm at all un less i dont get to bed between 930 and 1030. that screws up my cycle and then i need an alarm for a few days.

[D Hagens]

Where can I get a free TV app?

I want to watch Roy Underwood Woodwright on PBS.

 Bibby, there's a free tv/movie app that has all the older movies and tv shows.
 I'm on a ferry on my way home from the islands and my connection is intermittent.
 When I get back to the office I'll post a direct link for you.

[Jeff]

If there is anyone out there that is running an android phone with a minimum of version 1.6 and would like to try the beta version of the Forestry Forum App, let me know. 

New Forestry Forum Andriod App Version.  This is for android 2.2 and up. It may work with older versions. Not sure.

I recommend uninstalling the old one if you have it installed, then installing this version, and let me know how it goes.

http://www.forestryforum.com/forumonefive.apk

[DeepWoods]

Bibbyman, there is an app for iPads that will get you Roy Underwoods show on PBS.  There are currently 14 episodes available for downloading.  Just do a search for PBS in The apps store.  Most of the PBS shows are available for download.  I could not find an app for the iPhone for PBS. 

[redbeard]

I been using Handyman Calculator and very pleased with the board feet multiplier  it calculates quanity and price also. Has all the tool box calculations also.

[Norm]

For the folks that are fishing fools like me there's a new app out there from Navionics for lake charts. The android one doesn't get great reviews but the one for the Iphone is supposed to be pretty good. As soon as it warms up enough to try it out I'll give a report.