Every once in a while it's fun to share some things that I like, and it seems to be a popular segment in the blog. So here we go.
1. Verizon Wireless. I have been on a roll of good experiences with them in the past few months, so I think they deserve a shout-out. They had already done some good things for me this spring, and then I got out of the recent phone-in-the-laundry debacle with a quite reasonable and positive outcome.
I did not get a free replacement of my laundered phone -- I really would not have expected that -- but the sales rep in the South Burlington store really put on his thinking cap and thought outside the box. (How many more cliches can I come up with here?)
He helped me make -- maybe not a silk purse, but perhaps a nice Egyptian cotton sateen one -- out of a sow's ear.
In the car salesman's vernacular, he "put me in" another HTC Incredible 2, and I did not pay full retail, as I feared I would have to. I think that's a win. At least I am in less psychic pain over the whole fiasco. Though it remains to be seen on actual paper, and though there is a little bit of comparing apples to oranges which makes it a difficult equation, I think I might actually be ahead of the game in the future billing department.
2. SquareTrade. In the same vein, SquareTrade -- a company I only learned about from Cate, of Mamacate fame, after the laundry incident, has been very decent, as well. More than decent -- downright awesome, and I'm impressed, as are PC Magazine, the iPhone App Store, MacWorld, Google, Amazon, and a host of other news outlets and awards agencies who recommend them.
The one caveat is: It's a warranty, not insurance. So it covers malfunctions and accidents (mine does, because I bought accident coverage), but it does not cover theft or loss. That is something to be aware of. But still, I can't speak highly enough about the customer service they gave me. They canceled the warranty I bought "too late, and yet too early" on the ill-fated device, and gave me all my money back. Then they gave me a new warranty on the new device, with a 20% discount. (If you want a referral for a 20% discount, let me know. I can send you one.)
3. Favorite Apps (so far). You knew it would come to this, didn't you? The lady who moved, rather kicking and screaming, into Smartphone World, is now listing her favorite apps in a blog post. But what're ya gonna do? You're here. You have to read.
Here are the apps I never knew existed two weeks ago, but now I figure I can't live without: (These are all for Android, since that is what I have. I don't know nothing about no iPhone apps, and I don't really care, although I'm about to buy an iPhone for Abigail today, and so you can direct your comments to her if you want.)
- Pocket. A place to store all your passwords, account numbers, insurance policies, prescriptions, membership ID's, and other things you want to remember but always forget. Especially since I have worked really really hard to make every password different of late, and I have what seems to be an infinite number of accounts and passwords, my brain was beginning to swim and ... oh, hell, what am I saying? I was drowning, and could never remember ANY of my passwords. Now they are all there on the Droid, easy to access from that little pocket lock icon, and synched and backed up to a Dropbox account which you have to have as an adjunct. This week when my phone was washed? I was sure as hell glad it was all backed up on the Dropbox account, I'll tell ya that.
- Smart Silencer. This one took a bit of work to find. It was something I thought HAD to be invented, and yet nobody seemed to have heard of such a thing. With much diligence (I was about to try to invent it myself and hoped to become a millionaire), I found it. Sure, with all the other apps you can block callers, or you can turn your phone off completely at night if you don't want unknown callers to bug you (this happened to me the other night, which is why this issue reared its ugly head). But that is onerous, to block all those unknown unwanted callers (and how you gonna block someone that's unknown anyway?).
I wanted an app to be able to shut off the phone at night or during a nice nap, and yet allow certain people (e.g. my daughter) to call at any time. This one does it, and more -- if I want even Abigail to be shut out and sent directly to voicemail -- say I'm working and can't be disturbed -- it will do that. I can tell it (and I have) to always be off except for my certain two or three allowed callers from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., for example. It works great and I love it. - Smart App Lock. At first I was using a password for everything on my phone. That got to be a bit annoying. So this app keeps whatever things I choose to be password-protected, protected -- such as email and messages -- but the phone itself can be used without a password.
- Fast Dialer. I thought the Android's system for dialing a call was difficult -- especially compared to the BlackBerry's, and especially since the Android has imported all my 64.3 billion contacts. This dialer makes sense to me, and I like it. Clean, efficient. Rather ridiculous, I say, that one has to get an app for that, but at least it's out there.
- Alarm Clock Plus. Comes on automatically when I plug my phone in at night, which I think is quite charming to be so smart like that. You cute little Android app, you. I love the look, and it speaks the time to me when it goes off.
- Contact Analyzer 2. An early annoyance re the Android: All of my contacts from gmail, from Facebook, from my old email accounts, from my BlackBerry every single person who had ever commented on my blog, every business contact -- and probably more that I've forgotten now -- were all imported, which meant in many instances they were doubled, tripled, quadrupled, quintupled. Some things in this "smart" modern world are just a tad over the top. I thought I was going to go INSANE. Until I found Contact Analyzer. And then my life was all clean and organized again. Sort of.
- Juice Defender. I'm annoyed that this is a necessity. What it really does is turns everything (most everything) off so that honestly, the Android is not really an Android a lot of the time. All those wonderful things they tell you that the Android is automatically synching and automatically doing in the background as selling points for a smartphone? Well, here's the reality: If you actually USE them, your battery life is absolute shite. So this app is smart, and it really is amazing at how it saves your battery life. However, it comes with a downside: My emails, for example, are only allowed to come in in batches every 15 minutes (or whatever setting I choose to set it at). So it's possible that you might send me an email and I won't get it until 15 minutes later. That might not seem like a big deal, but since it was absolutely instantaneous with the BlackBerry, this seems like a bit of a BIG, HUGE step back. And sometimes -- admittedly not often, but still -- 15 minutes is literally too late for me to receive that particular email and be able to respond to its message. But if it's a choice between that and my battery only lasting half a day, the choice is obvious. Irksome, but obvious.
Anyhoo. I was going to talk about some other, more mundane -- or perhaps more fun -- things such as my recent realization that I only like face and hair and skin products in tubs, not tubes or bottles, and the awesome new running undies I bought that I love so much, but that seems like too sharp a departure from all this tech talk for today. So we'll save pomades and panties for another day.
Do you have any favorite apps that you think I can't live without?
Thanks for the list of apps -- I'll go check 'em out. I got an HTC Thunderbolt a week ago and got an extended battery -- if there is one for the Incredible 2, you might want to look into it. It makes a HUGE difference in battery life. A couple of apps I like -- Parcels, which lets you enter tracking numbers from a bunch of different delivery services and will check them all for you. Also, a new one -- SnapToMe -- automatically sends a photo taken with the phone camera directly to your email address (you set that up in the settings in advance) without saving it in the gallery.
Posted by: Wendy | Friday, July 01, 2011 at 07:15 AM
No apps here. I haz a DumbPhone.
Posted by: gayle | Friday, July 01, 2011 at 07:44 AM
I am leaning towards SquareTrade for my iphone, so yeah, please send me a referral. Thanks.
Posted by: mary lou | Friday, July 01, 2011 at 09:42 AM
I replaced my dumb phone (the cheapest Nokia phone available - didn't even have a color screen) and got an Android phone back in January and love love love it. My favorite apps:
Tweetdeck: Replaces the Facebook and Twitter apps for me, can follow both and post to one or both easily. I also use the desktop app and with an account you can sync between the two.
ExerTime: A timer with C25K intervals. You can listen to your own music and it'll notify you when to walk/jog. Previously I used C25K podcasts.
OI File Manager: A Windows Explorer/Finder type app.
Other than the native Google apps, Remember the Milk, and Kindle, those are the ones I use most and would recommend.
Posted by: Linda | Friday, July 01, 2011 at 10:29 AM
Apropos of nothing in your current post, but one that you posted last summer: I was reading Invention & Technology magazine (Fall 2010) and there was an article about Birdseye's invention of techniques to freeze vegetables. One paragraph read (in part), "A boost in quality came when Diehl and Magoon found that successful quick freezing of vegetables required the prior application of heat. Destructive enzymatic action known as autolysis, which leads to unpleasant flavors, occurs even at subfreezing temperatures, but it can be forestalled if vegetables are briefly scalded before freezing."
Since you mentioned that you were forgoing the blanching step in your vegetable storage, I thought you'd be interested in the reason for it.
Sorry there isn't an App for this.
Posted by: lynn | Friday, July 01, 2011 at 10:58 AM
I have an iPod touch and while I do use a few apps, the ones I keep coming back to are the Diet and Exercise App, which I love and the Gym Boss timer app. Those are both pretty handy when I'm being a good doobie and working out regularly.
Posted by: Seanna Lea | Friday, July 01, 2011 at 11:03 AM
I will be getting a new phone in the coming weeks but am having a difficult time justifying a smartphone and it's monthly fee.
Posted by: jill | Friday, July 01, 2011 at 12:14 PM
Thank you! I was REALLY on the fence about a smart phone because I didn't really "need" one, either. I don't even use my phone all that much. But I love it. One way I justified the expense was to NOT get a separate flip video camera and iPod and Garmin -- I "wanted" all of those things, but wasn't sure I'd really use them. I get them all on my Android and always have them with me (as long as I have my phone) -- and I have been using them! I am thrilled that the camera/video worked in the UK, even though I didn't have phone service there.
Posted by: Vicki | Friday, July 01, 2011 at 12:43 PM
Oh, Norma -- now I have no choice, between the running and today's post, but to see you as ====
Technobuff!
Have a good weekend.
Posted by: Joannah | Friday, July 01, 2011 at 01:10 PM
I'm not smart enough to own a smart phone, but my daughter has an Iphone, and she loves it. What's important for a 23 year old and for me are worlds apart. She has an app that turns her Iphone into a flashlight, or a strobe (in case of?) Isn't that why she has a phone, so she can call someone, if she has car trouble?
Another app she loves is her calorie manager. She tells them what she's eaten so far, and the phone tells her how many more calories she's allowed, or something like that.
I'm impressed by your tech wizard skills!
Posted by: Jan | Friday, July 01, 2011 at 02:24 PM
With an Android phone, you need to get the Advance Task KIller app (free at market) and use it frequently. Android phones will run all kinds of stuff that you didn't even use and THAT is the big battery killer. If I remember to "kill" apps several times a day or right after I use it for something, my battery will last all day.
Posted by: jodi morgan | Friday, July 01, 2011 at 04:01 PM
This one may be more Abigail's speed than yours, but I admit that I love Shazaam Encore -- if you are somewhere where you vaguely recognize, but can't for the life of you ID a song, or you love the song but don't know what it is, this app will use the microphone to listen and ID the song for you. Frivolous, I know, but it keeps me from spending a whole day wracking my brain for what it was/what it sounded like. =)
Posted by: Bri | Friday, July 01, 2011 at 07:19 PM
What, no knitting apps???
Posted by: Linda | Friday, July 01, 2011 at 10:38 PM
Let's not forget Angry Birds! Even for non-game people, it's a lot of fun.
My most useful app is, embarrassingly enough, is called My Days, and tracks my cycle. For those of us who aren't that regular, or are regular but have a crap memory, it's nice to be able to check when your period is due. (It also has all sorts of features for someone trying to get pregnant too, but I'm using it for the opposite reason!)
Posted by: Amelia | Saturday, July 02, 2011 at 08:15 AM
I thought about Advanced Task Killer, but read that the app drains more battery than the apps it's killing!
My faves so far: Beyond Pod, My Fitness Pal, RepliGoReader (stores pdf knitting patterns, interactive), Vignette (photo app) and I just downloaded Pocket Yoga yesterday and it looks pretty good. Also, Amazon's App Store so you can see what the daily free app is.
Glad you got a new phone!
Posted by: elizabeth | Wednesday, July 06, 2011 at 05:31 PM
Thought of another app: Caffeine. It keeps your phone from timing out without having to change your settings, you can just turn caffeine on and off as you need it.
Also, this post on the HTC Thunderbolt forums really helped extend my battery life:
http://www.thunderboltforums.com/forum/htc-thunderbolt-faqs/440-battery-drain-tricks-suggestions.html
Posted by: elizabeth | Thursday, July 07, 2011 at 12:47 PM