I don't make many phone calls with my new phone. I'm too busy using it for other things. Gowalla, Geocache, Buzz, Listen, Sporty Pal, maps / navigation, and of course FaceBook. Oh yeah, I'll still text you before calling too.
This post is going to explain some of these apps and why I love this phone more every day. If you are bored with that kind of geek talk, then you might as well move on to the next blog you read and come back in a few days.
I told you about Gowalla the other day. I still think its pretty fun to use while I'm out. Right now, the mobile site is the best way for Android phones to access it, but there is an app coming in the next month. I have the beta of the app and it works pretty well but it is still missing some features. A full release app should be out in a few weeks.
Geocaching is something I haven't been too good at doing lately. To really go out and do some good geocaching took planning. First you had to look up the caches you wanted to visit, download each one to the GPS, and then possibly print out notes and hints. Now I have a great little app on the Droid called c:geo. This guy made an app that will search for nearby caches based on my location, display the description, logs, and hints. It will then pull up a radar screen and help you get to the location. After you use your stealthy Geocaching skills, you can log the find within the app. Awesome. Geocaching in town just became easy. If I'm out with the kids I can take a quick look for any nearby caches. No planning needed. Even better, when I get home, I don't have to try and remember to log them. That was done while I was still at the cache. We grabbed a few on Sunday while we were out and it worked perfectly.
Buzz. Google forced Buzz on Gmail users a few weeks back. I've never used Twitter, but I imagine Buzz to be something like it. Short posts that go out to the public. I like using Buzz on Google Maps with my Droid. An icon is placed on the map for every post someone made from that area. It's pretty cool to see what local people are writing about. You can also tag your friends and see what they write, even if they are on the other side of the planet from you. For someone that has never used Twitter, I think Buzz is interesting. It will be better if more people start posting on it. I think that as smart phones start to become more and more common, Buzz has the potential to pick up speed, like Gowalla.
When everyone except for me started buying an iPod I also started hearing about Podcasts. It's like having TiVo for the radio. It also seems to allow anyone that ever wanted a radio show, to have one. Without an iPod I've always ignored anyone talking about Podcasts. Things have changed for me now. I downloaded an app by Google called Listen. I can subscribe to Podcasts, have them auto download, and add them to a queue. This is great and has really cut into my flipping between fourteen stations of blah on the radio as I commute to and from work. Two of my favorite Podcasts are This American Life and Engaget.
Sporty Pal is a cool app that uses GPS to track me as I walk, run, bike, or whatever. For me, it's just walking for now. It tells me how far I have gone, how long it took me, approx how many calories I've burned, and shows a map of my journey. I can also upload it to my account on their site and view a graph of all my work outs and see how far I've walked this month. It's a pretty handy tool and helps motivate me to push a bit harder on my speed.
The Google maps and navigation have worked perfectly on the Droid. I push one button and speak the name of the location I want and the Droid tells me how to get there turn by turn. The voice recognition works perfectly most times, but a few times I had to go back and type it in. It's still better than most GPS units where you have to type in the street address line by line. When I was heading to one of our basketball games this past season, I just spoke into the phone, "Pickens Rec Center", and it got me there no problem. If I do make a wrong turn, it recalculates and gets me back on track.
Finally (for now), I've been using FaceBook more. Yeah, I started out a few months ago really hating FaceBook. I even had most of my "friends" muted. I am happy to say that (almost) everyone has been unmuted and I have been more active in making comments and reading what people have going on. Partly because the Droid makes it so easy. I have seen other friends of mine that pick up a new BlackBerry or other smartphone and suddenly become active when they hardly ever logged onto Facebook before.
This may not have been the most exciting post if you don't have a smart phone, but I just wanted to share a bit of how I've been using my phone for the past few months. It keeps getting better as more and more apps are being developed for the Android platform.
I don't regret my decision to spend the money on the Motorola Droid. I find myself using it in new ways all the time. Hopefully soon, I'll figure out where the button is to make a phone call.
No comments:
Post a Comment