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The Free Droid Apps have me Hooked December 10, 2009

Posted by carolhagen in communication, Construction Industry - Software, Document Imaging.
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6 comments

Ok, I had told everyone that I was waiting to buy it, but like a kid waiting for Christmas, my techie side got the best of me.  In an earlier post I noted app faves for Blackberry and iPhone.  Now I have to give you my Droid list. 

Google Navigator with Voice Search – for Hands free navigation (Garmin-like GPS with voice recognition) – Found my way to appointments in Tucson with no glitches the day after I purchased.  Since it’s Google its updates are simple and the app is Free on the Droid.

Voice Recorder – up to 2 hours of record time, when you’re driving and have something you need to remember or you have a complex meeting discussion for reference, record it then drop it into your Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system.

Pixelpipe Lite – for sharing stuff, and sending it to EverNote or an ECM system.

Swift – for those that need to Twitter, it’s  better than TwitDroid unless you want geo locations annotation.   There’s an app called Google Maps for Twitdroid for that.

Bizkit – for tracking expenses on the road, meetings, events and finding my nearest contacts.

BabelDroid – to translate from English to Spanish, German, Italian or French using voice recognition – will eventually offer call an interpreter.  It works well for phrases and comes in handy here in Arizona with construction personnel in the field.

Congress – to find your legislator based upon your current location, by state, or zip. Being able to email or call them immediately is handy. 

Google Goggles – it’s easy and fun to aim your camera and know what you are looking at.  Great for landmarks, artwork, etc.

Google OCR – good for printed text that you need to edit.

Google Sky Maps – for you wanna be astronomers.

National Anthem – for when someone wants to have it played and there are no musicians or singers volunteering.

Trapster – for reminding you of where all those photo radar cameras are on the highways and intersections (they are everywhere in Tempe, I-10, SR 51, etc in Arizona).

I realize that like the iPhone, the Droid will create a few hurdles for the IT department (that I hope to address in an upcoming blog post) since they have Blackberry Enterprise Server already deployed and now the owner wants the latest toy (again).  Let me know if I should add any other apps to my “free” list.  I will be trying out the paid stuff over the holidays and focus on construction and business related apps in a future post.

IPhone Contender for Verizon Customers October 19, 2009

Posted by carolhagen in Construction Industry - Software, iPhone.
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Verizon Wireless just started an advertising campaign with the new Droid phone.   I was convinced I was switching to AT&T until this announcement and their slick sales pitch that aims squarely at the iPhone.  

The Droid is based upon the Android 2.0 operating system and is a Motorola and Google collaborative effort.   It’s not the first Android based smartphone so you can read about the players in the space from PCWorld .  As Techcrunch so eloquently put it “Verizon Droid is the Real Deal,” so I am now waiting to decide until after the release date of October 30th  for a new smartphone purchase.  With features like 5.o megapixel photos, a Qwerty keyboard, the ability to run simultaneous Apps, widgets and open development this could be the answer for the iPhone or not.  With 10,000 apps touted, I’ll let you know.