- Listening to music on the iPod and Pandora.
- Checking email.
- Surfing the web.
- Checking Facebook or Twitter.
- Playing games.
- Taking pictures.
- Taking video.
Listening to the Radio
Yes, listening to the radio on the iPhone is far superior to listening to the radio on...well, the radio. Why is it superior? First of all, it's digital, and you can get much clearer listening anywhere you have internet access (even over Edge). This makes all the difference indoors where it is often hard to get a traditional radio signal. Second, you can listen to any station that streams it's broadcast over the internet (which is nearly every radio station anymore). This means that you can listen to stations all over the US and even many foreign stations. I can even listen to my uncle when he is on the air on KWND in Springfield, Missouri.
I often at lunch on a weekday will walk around the lakes near my office listening to talk Radio. I also will do this sometimes when mowing the grass.
I recommend TuneIn Radio as the primary radio-listening app. It uses the RadioTime directory, and if you set up a RadioTime account on the website it will keep your favorite stations or shows in sync between the website and the app. There is another app you have to get if you want to listen to any Clear Channel Radio stations. Clear Channel doesn't allow their stations to be listed in RadioTime for mobile devices so you have to use their free app (called iHeartRadio) to listen to a specific Clear Channel Radio station (such as WERC here in Birmingham).
Ambient Sounds
Not much beats ambient nature sounds (a soft rain, a thunderstorm, surf hitting a beach, a gurgling stream, birds singing in the distance, etc.) for relaxing, either to calm you down and help you focus or to help you sleep. There are dedicated devices for the bedroom that play these sounds that are limited to what they come with and that you can spend a lot of money on...or you can buy an app like Ambience for $2.99. Ambience has a huge selection of free sounds. If you are listening via headphones or simply want a really high quality ambient loop, I recommend NatureSpace Holographic Audio.
Of course if you are going to go to sleep to ambient sounds (or music, for that matter), I suggest you get a clock radio that docks your iPhone that sounds really good. I tested a number of them out and found that those made by iHome tended to sound the best. This was a purchase I made that is well worth it and very versatile. (I can listen to music, radio, ambient sounds, podcasts, or anything that my iPhone can play, all while charging the phone.)
Refilling Prescriptions
The Walgreens app is by far the simplest and quickest way to refill prescriptions.
Checking the Weather
Using an iPhone app, such as The Weather Channel Max (or even the free version) is the fastest way to check the weather, including hour by hour forecasts, the radar, etc. There are a number of good weather apps out there and which one you like the best is a matter of personal taste. You can even track hurricanes with an app called...Hurricane.
Keeping Up with Sports
You could use the browser to keep up with sports but that's far inferior to using a dedicated app such as Sportacular (my favorite) or ESPN ScoreCenter. These allow you to set your favorite teams for easy lookup of scores and set alerts for scores of teams or games you want to keep track of. For example, I received an alert when the U.S. scored against Algeria in the World Cup the other day.
Navigating
It's nice to have a GPS with you at all time, whether the built-in Google Maps, or when driving alone, a turn-by-turn GPS such as Navigon. Tom Tom and others make turn-by-turn GPSs but Navigon is highly acclaimed. When I found myself driving a rental car back to the airport unexpectedly on a business trip, having a GPS was very helpful. I happened to catch Navigon MyRegion on sale for $15, far less than I could buy the cheapest dedicated GPS.
To Do Lists
Calendars are an obvious choice but we often don't think of keeping a to-do list electronically. I do my To Do list entirely electronically because I may leave without the needed paper list and a paper list won't alert you to tasks you need to do so that you don't forget. I use and recommend Appigo Todo. But I don't stop there. It's far easier to enter your to-do list on a full keyboard if you are sitting at a computer so I also use Toodledo, which is a web-based service that Todo syncs with.
Keeping Passwords and Other Personal Information
In 2010, we all have too many logins with passwords, kid's Social Security numbers, and other sensitive information that we need to keep up with. It's impossible to memorize all of these. There are a lot of insecure ways to record these, such as writing them on a sheet of paper and keeping that in your wallet. (That's definitely not recommended.) There are a number of password managers out there that encrypt your information and hide it behind a single password or passcode that you can remember. I chose SplashID for its flexibility and the fact that it syncs to the Mac (or PC). I have also heard that 1Password is good.
Getting to Backed Up Files
If you don't have some kind of offsite backup, you are asking to lose information. I use Carbonite to back up my Macbook Pro. Carbonite has an iPhone app that allows you to get to your files (such as documents), view them, an even email them. Because Carbonite backs up your files immediately, it's a simple way to have access to all your files on the go.
Using Skype
Need to call someone who uses Skype, maybe in another country. (I have a lot of missionary friends.) There is a Skype app for the iPhone. Right now it does voice and instant messaging but it is rumored to be doing video in the future.
Instant Messaging
This is a good alternative to text messaging if you use it anyway, whether Google Talk, AOL Instant Messager, Yahoo! Messager, or whatever, there are apps that will do all of these. I use Beejive.
Other Advice
These are just some of the ways I use my iPhone. There are others that I use apps for such as looking up movie times, finding a restaurant, looking up a business or residential phone number, checking the news, keeping a packing list, finding a recipe, scanning UPC codes to get comparison prices, etc.
If you have Gmail, I highly recommend you use Google Sync. With it you can get push email (like what made the BlackBerry famous), push Calendar, and push Contacts. In fact if you add a calendar entry on Google Calendar, it shows up on your phone shortly thereafter (without you having to do anything). The reverse is also true. This also works with your Gmail contacts. Enter someone's information in one place and it get's "pushed" to the other without your intervention. (It's sort of like the free version of MobileMe.)
By the way, if you don't have Gmail, I highly suggest it. The spam filtering (amazingly good), large storage capacity, and powerful, easy searching make it probably the best out there. And do you really want to have your email address tied to your employer or your Internet Service Provider (e.g., AT&T or Charter) when either of those could change?
1 comment:
Thanks for the post!! I know the possibilities of my new phone are endless, and that I have no idea of what most of them are. Can you do a weekly series?? :)
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