Your Cellphone and Favorite Apps

[ghostmaker650]

I'm sure a lot of the users here have a cellular device. My phone is as much apart of me as my wallet, without it I'm naked! It's an integral part of life's three necessities when daring to venture past the threshold of the front door. Phone, Wallet, Keys.

So what is it? What kind of phone do you have?
Were you able to get a deal of any kind?
What pocket do you keep it in?
Does it really play that important of a role in your life?
If you don't have a phone what's wrong with you? Why don't you have a cellphone?
Is your cellphone "new" or "old"?

Also please recommend some cool, interesting, or useful apps you think are worth checking out if you have a smart phone.


I have a Motorola Droid Razr that I got about four months ago, back when they where fairly new. Got the hook up deal of $200, with a $60 rebate too! Not too bad I'd say
Here are some of the specs:
16 GB internal memory
Dual-Core 1.2GHz , Dual-Channel RAM Processor
4.3-in. screen; Super AMOLED Advanced qHD(540 x 960)
Made with DuPont KEVLAR fiber and scratch-resistant Corning, the screen is Gorilla Glass.
4g LTE
android platform
8 MP camera with 1080p HD video capture, tri-microphone for audio scene selection. And a front facing 1.3 MP camera with 720p HD video capture.
It also has an HDMI Micro port that allows me to hook it up to my TV

It's a great phone, I've had no problems with it so far. Also I've dropped it on concrete and asphalt more than a few times and not a single scratch or scuff.
My phone always has a reserved spot in my right front pant pocket, anywhere else would throw off my equilibrium.

Now to the interesting part, Apps.

The latest app I've been addicted to recently is "Draw Something" It's a game you can play with your facebook chums or find a random partner. But basically it's pictionary on your phone. You each take a turn drawing a picture of the word you choose from a choice of three, there's 900 words in total (on the free version) ranging from things like goldfish to Korea to Adele to panda. The other person watches as you draw the picture and has to try and guess the word. It's turn based and not in real time, so it's a really casual game.

Another app I find really interesting is called "find sex offenders". Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like. It shows your location on a google map and shows the location of all the registered sex offenders in your area as little orange dots, complete with a picture, name, DOB, and address, as well as what their charge was. You'll be shocked by how many little orange dots start popping up around your little avatar picture, they're EVERYWHERE.

 

[emzie]

A Sony xperia x10. Wife and I bought a matching set in July 2010. Mine was decommissioned as a phone this month when it turns out throwing it into a concrete floor is not warranty covered.

Surprisingly, it still works. Just the 3 buttons at the bottom don't, so you have to turn it off to switch tasks. Thinking of setting it up as a security camera.

 

[Mr. Dictator]

iPhone 4 (got it just this year, for half off. Before that, it was a first generation Envy. I move slow through the halls of technology)

Best apps:

Sleep Cycle - Alarm clock that charts your sleep patterns, and wakes you up when you're at your lightest sleep. Bonus points to them for having Gymnopaedie no. 1 as a possible alarm.

Mint - Put your bank accounts in, and see exactly how much money you have, how close to budget you are, and monthly cash flow. Very trusted company as well, so no worries on that end.

Pulse - Basically, build your own magazine. You tell it what to subscribe to, it shows you what you want. Basic, streamlined, and nifty for quick glances at what you want to see.

Downcast - Podcasts directly to the iPhone. Pretty much a godsend.

Tips & Tricks - Pretty much shows you all the neat stuff you can do with the iPhone. Not much to say there, except its very good for new users.

TuneIn Radio - Streaming radio, good selection, good quality. Often shows you what track is on, in real time, depending on whether or not the station is broadcasting that information.

Urbanspoon - Browse restaurants by area, price, and style. I know there's an Eastern European cafe right off a road I travel almost every day.

xkcd - I refuse to explain this.

GasBuddy - Same as Urbanspoon, but with gas. Find the cheapest or the closest. Also, incentives for updating prices.

Tapatalk - Why restrict our thinly veiled animosity for each other to our computers, when you can get on CFC from anywhere?

As for games?

Tiny Wings, for simple brain numbing smiles. You're a bird that slides on hills to fly.

Osmos - Easily addicting and infuriating like nothing I've ever seen (besides a woman). You're an orb. There are other orbs. Eat the smaller ones by moving around. The twist is, to move, you have to expel a small portion of your mass in the other direction. Some levels even take place in orbit and require compensating for that!

Civilization Revolution - So you can still feel like you have a reason to be on these forums.

 

[NedimNapoleon]

Samsung Star, an average touch phone, 4gb microsd card, I dont use alot of applications, it can call, fake call, text, browse the web, play music and thats enough for me.

 

[cardgame]

I have a Samsung Freedom.

My favorite app is the calculator.

 

[Kennigit]

I have a flip open phone. No smart phone/touch screen for me!

speaking of draw something, two friends of mine are playing that with each other and they use friggin words in their drawings. It seems to defeat the purpose of pictionary...

 

[Disgustipated]

Android phone. It's a generic type model for Metro PCS. I think it's called Huwaei or some Korean sounding name.

I did have soundhound app, but I hardly used it. I had to get a replacement phone from my insurance, because I broke my other one. It's the same model, but I think the Android OS version is slightly different because some things work slightly different on this phone. I haven't gotten around to installing any apps for it.

I still don't get what the big deal about apps is. I think it's a scam to make money. I have yet to find an app that is remotely useful. My brain is the best app.

 

[Integral]

I have a BlackBerry. Yeah, I know, join the 21st Century, get on the Android/iOS bandwagon, etc, etc.

Whatever.

I don't have much use for apps, and need to fix that. I'm not optimizing my phone use at all. My must-used features are:
- push email (a godsend - how did I live without it?)
- google reader app
- GPS / google maps
- Internet
- messaging

Oh, and I guess it makes phone calls too.

 

[madviking]

Samsung Galaxy Nexus

Top apps are internet, Facebook, messages, and the UVA bus app.

 

[peter grimes]

Droid (original)
Got it in a 2-for-1 deal that Verizon was nice enough to offer us when my wife left her bag on the roof of the car mad, total out of pocket cost $50 for both.

Apps, in order of use:
Lookout Mobile Security virus/malware scanner, remote lock and wipe, locate phone. Runs in background and is pretty lightweight. Drives me nuts that my wife doesn't use anything like that.
Reddit Is Fun Lite (they just did a massive update and the app is much better now)
Tapatalk (first app I ever payed money for)
Chess.com
TuneInRadio (essential for when I'm waiting for a truck at the lonely warehouse)
LED light (toggles the LED flash to be a flashlight. Nice thing about this is the main screen doesn't have some horrid graphic on it, ruining your night vision.)
Chase (banking, but soon to dump them)
Astro file manager (easily view files and folders, delete, swap between internal and SD memory)
1TapCleaner Free (dumps temp files and caches - really speeds up the OS. Do it once a month)
Animated Knots (only other app I've payed for. Sometimes I need to know how to tie a knot and I don't have a reference. But I always have my phone)

I keep my phone in one of my rear pockets. I don't want to risk a male-genital cancer later in life. I know that there's no evidence of a link (yet), but better safe than sorry.

NB: Verizon Wireless customers - be very careful with 'Visual VoiceMail'. Verizon charges you $36/year to use the app. I through such a fit when I found out they credited our account $72. The sales people did NOT make it clear that it was a recurring fee. Sure, now I have to enter my VM password on the keypad, but that's also a pretty good security feature if my phone ever gets stolen.

Also, I keep the power-bar widget active, so I can decide when and where to turn on Wifi, GPS, Bluetooth, and so on. I get much better battery life than my wife

 

[ghostmaker650]

I have this cheap (it goes for the equivalent of 21 USD now) Samsung phone that can text, call, double as a flashlight (with an actual bulb, not just shining the backlight in the dark), initiate fake calls (never used it in a serious capacity), be used as an alarm clock; has two games I don't play; and has a limited selection of message alert tones and ringtones.

I don't see why I'd want a more advanced phone TBH, the flashlight alone makes it super-useful.

But there's so many more uses you can get out of something you always carry around in your pocket. Like GPS, every smart phone comes with a full fledged GPS navigator free from Google, Plus Google maps and all the uses out of that. And most amazingly you get the internet in your pocket! The freaking internet! I couldn't fit all the uses of the internet in this post if I wanted to, but I'm sure everyone here can appreciate the impact the internet has on everyday life, now It can be accessible to you anywhere at anytime!

I have a flip open phone. No smart phone/touch screen for me!

speaking of draw something, two friends of mine are playing that with each other and they use friggin words in their drawings. It seems to defeat the purpose of pictionary...

I admittedly us words in my drawings to help people along, a lot of people do, many people are playing on their phones, and you draw with your finger, it gets very difficult to draw the small detailed things that will make or brake the understanding of a drawing, so you label some things. Also sometimes you get a word that just can't be drawn with a picture, so you use words only. For instance I've had the word Beyonce, no way I can draw Beyonce, and there's nothing to draw that's easily identifiable to her, so I just simply write, "Jay-Z+??" then I draw a heart around it, people get it every time.

Android phone. It's a generic type model for Metro PCS. I think it's called Huwaei or some Korean sounding name.

Metro and that phone are the exact reason I switched to Verizon and got a Razr

That was the first "smart" phone I had, but that phone is the dumbest of the smart. I've wanted to throw that thing against the wall so many times, the thing was just so frustratingly laggy, and texting was a nightmare. It felt like windows 7 installed on a computer from 2001. Plus I would get the worst reception with that phone and dropped calls, I know Metro played some part in that, but the previous Metro phone I had was never that bad. So I finally said screw it and went to Verizon for their service and the Razr. Never looked back.

I keep my phone in one of my rear pockets. I don't want to risk a male-genital cancer later in life. I know that there's no evidence of a link (yet), but better safe than sorry.

But but but... Now you'll get butt cancer

Also, I keep the power-bar widget active, so I can decide when and where to turn on Wifi, GPS, Bluetooth, and so on. I get much better battery life than my wife

Indeed, there's a lot you can do to optimize your smart phone, a concept that goes right over my sisters head.
I have the power-bar widget on my home screen as well, I have the Android Assistant widget active which allows me to quickly kill unnecessary processes and release memory. I also have the My Verison Data widget active, which shows how much data I've used so far.

A few other great Apps that I use:
My Verison, Everything I can do at a Verizon store I can do from my phone. I can view, change, and manage every aspect of my plan, view and pay my bill, view and control phone usage of all phones on the plan (3 days into the billing cycle my sister is already at 666 text messages), If I wanted I could restrict her phone usage from my phone, make it so she can't text

Netflix, What's there to say? It's Netflix on your phone!

Police Scanner, If you're ever bored.

Navigation, Free GPS navigator.

Pandora, Internet Radio, choose by genres, artists, and/or songs and it creates a custom station for you, you can pause and skip songs. Highly recommended

 

[ShahJahanII]

Samsung Galaxy SII
Cut the Rope and Slacker Radio for me.

 

[Verarde]

LG Cosmos with a 2 GB MicroSD card for the various sounds and ringtones that I plan on putting on my phone someday. I use the calculator often.

 

[Mr. Dictator]

I get much better battery life than my wife

And how long does your wife's battery last?

 

[azzaman333]

My phone is a Motorola Razr, so it doesn't do apps.

However, for my app-ing purposes, my iPod Touch does the job as long as there's wifi. Apps I typically use are the web browser, facebook, draw something, solitaire, sudoku and metlink (melbourne public transport timetables).

 

[Zelig]

HTC HD7.

It's good.

I have a bunch of apps installed, but don't regularly use any of them.

edit: Actually, I have an app for tracking blood pressure that I use weekly when I buy groceries, which is probably my most regularly-used app.

Since I started recording, I've had highs of 150/82 and 71 bpm and lows of 113/49 and 51 bpm.

 

[kochman]

Samsung Galaxy Nexus... information at your fingertips is pretty awesome.

Apps:
Astro (interface, access folders/hd)
Audiogalaxy (remote control of my computer's music library)
Compass
Drudgereport
Easy MP3 Downloader and Music Junk
FB
Flashlight
Gallery Lock (a lockable folder, different password)
gStrings (guitar tuning app)
IMDB
Kayak (travel app)
Merriam-Webster
Pandora
Poweramp
Spotify (music on demand and free)
Weather Channel
Translate
Words with Friends (Scrabble)

 

[warpus]

I have a dumbphone with a slide-out keyboard. I use it to talk to people and that's pretty much it. It's a Samsung something or other.

I considered getting a smartphone, but I'm already addicted to the internet - I don't need it following me everywhere.. When I'm not at home at work I'm FREE from the internets and I like it that way

 

[NetGear]

Galaxy Nexus

Some apps not mentioned yet I find useful.
Google Goggle
Adaway
Shazam/soundhound
Moboplayer
Utorrent remote

 

[Quackers]

Blackberry

Emails can be sent to my phone, very useful feature.
Full on keyboard, with nice tactile buttons you can push down - feels so much better then a touch screen.
The interface is pretty bare bones but it is easy to do things.