Haven’t ever done a ‘what’s on your phone post’, so here’s what’s on mine… What’s on yours?
Anything really, really good I’m missing? (I’ve got quite a few sitting in iTunes that I’ve tried and don’t use, and a few of these on screen will be headed that way soon…)
I can’t wait to try out some of the apps, have played with a few of those already but not seen the sleepmakers. Are they supposed to sing you a lullaby and lull you gently to sleep? Is Touch Life the SL app?
I think it will take me a few months to catch up though! I keep having a little look in the apps store but could waste so much time, and money I guess, I am waiting to get the essentials sorted out before I start to play with the fun bits. Too many questions – sorry 
I want to put music on mine – apparently the iPhone can charge through my ipod link in the sound system in the car, so if I am charging the phone it will have to play music for me. Does the ipod app facilitate that? Does it take play lists from iTunes or do you make it a music library of its own?
Is Instapaper a note taking app? If not is there one that you know of I can’t imagine coping without one.
Now mine is actually on its way I am quite excited
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Caro,
The SleepMaker apps are collections of real sounds from nature – you can put them on a countdown to automatically turn off and I use them on flights to send me off to sleep. TouchLife is the basic iPhone client for SL.
I use the ‘manage music manually’ option on the iPhone in iTunes and simply copy over what I want to listen to. So I’m not much of a playlist expert. I usually go for an album rather than a playlist.
Instapaper allows you read webpages offline, and works with a Firefox plugin called ‘Read It Later’. When you find an article you want to read later you mark it in Firefox and then synch with Instapaper on the iPhone.
Feel free with the questions…
Gavin
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Thank you
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Most visually attractive post I’ve seen for some time. Have instantly made a note of some of these apps. I’m surprised you have facebook on the phone, I thought you didn’t “do” facebook.Is “Things” a to-do list maker? I have a similar one but for some reason was not disciplined enough to write them onto my app, still opting for a computer printout or back of an envelope style.
You don’t have any of those “useless but funny or cool” apps do you? Like beer drinking or fart or stuff like that.
What are your top used apps btw?
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Lindsay,
Things is a GTD app and synchs with the main app on my Macbook and really does help keep me organised. Facebook is there for accepting friend requests but otherwise is little used.
Most used are the Converter when travelling, LinkedIn, Tweetie, Feeds, and Dopplr. For amusement Backgammon and a number of the music apps.
Haven’t found a need for artificial farts yet…
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You didn’t write a lot of words, but it looks like I’ll be spending the most time on this post seeing which of these apps I can try. Since the husband and I share the Iphone, we have tons of apps! He uses the sleep apps and has tons of games and a virtual piano player. I have 2 free apps I didn’t see on yours that I love. One is Dragon Dictation which is a speech to text app. I also like Stanza, because there are a great number of free ebooks and it’s really easy to read them on the Iphone with this app. Maybe we can Bump each other at ISTEK? You’re the first one I’ve met who has this app.
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I forgot to add Pic Translator which does a great job of translating from pictures, signs, manuals, and so forth.
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Shell,
I shall look forward to bumping in Harrogate. I had Stanza for a while but never got round to reading anything, so it’s sitting in iTunes, all negletced…
I’m on the train, with my dongle!
Gavin
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Hiya Gavin, some interesting ones there. Have you got a fav / most used app?
You don’t seem to have Wunder Radio on there though which is my most used (internet streaming radio) app.
It’s the quickest and easiest way to get my morning’s fix of “The Today Programme.”
Oh, and of course, you’ll be wanting to plug it into a decent speaker with all the travelling you do. I got the excellent, golf-ball-sized X-Mini for my birthday the other day and I’m seriously impressed with it.
Seth
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A retweet this morning from @barbsaka alerted me to this interesting info: “More users will access internet via mobile devices than desktop PCs in 5 yrs” http://bit.ly/4ves1v
Given how any people have iPhones or similar, this has huge implications for language learning, and for alternative means of content delivery. I’m currently investigating apps to help me learn French, and will report back once I’ve done some work on this!
I know that you are currently investigating this very area, and perhaps will treat us to a blog post on the topic soon?
Nicky
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Just thought of another app that might be of use to you Gavin – I recently got Metro, it’s an app that accesses journeyplanners for metro/underground/rail systems of major cities. I found it useful in Paris and Rome. The interface isn’t the best, but it’s a free one. Perhaps an idea for all the travelling that you do?
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Seth, Nicky, Lindsay…
Sorry for the delay – I’m inbetween meetings in Canterbury and London and only getting a little access each day.
Looking forward to checking out the Wunder Radio and Metro apps as soon asI get home on Thursday. For portable speakers I use this Altec Lansing one: http://tinyurl.com/y85rdvp
Looking forward to hearing about the French apps. I have a cheap Russian phrase book for the iPhone called SpeakEasyRU (as far as I remember) – the obvious advantage over an old-style phrase book is it’s seaarchable and you can listen to any of the content. At a push you could just play the sentence to a listener…
So much to do, so little time…
Gavin
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I haven’t got one of those fancy schmancy things! Boo hoo!
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Anna,
Your life is incomplete… please get one as soon as possible…
Gavin
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Hi Gavin, I have got my iphone up and running with several essential and several fun apps on it as you may imagine! It was great to download John Davitt’s RAG – Random Activity Generator. I have seen him use this on several occasions and have been subjected to it a few times as well. Often in his sessions he gets people to go into groups. He shakes the RAG on his iphone which gives two responses; an activity and how to present it e.g. “do Rugby Union” as “an album cover design” (straight from my iphone!) He sets each group one of the tasks to do with whatever technologies they have in their pockets, more often than not it is phones and cameras. After about 30 minutes he shares the results. It is good fun and usually amazes people with what can be achieved in a few minutes work with small but powerful technology. Now that I have got it I will try and use it as a warm up in the right situations – it is worth a look!
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Carol,
Thanks for the suggestion – I’ll take a look later today when my email is under control. Not sure I’d have the guts to use it in a session, though…. it’s the sort of thing that sometimes grabs me and sometimes doesn’t and I think it needs absolute conviction to bring it off
Gavin
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Words fail me – I didn’t know where to start with my new machine. And the screen capture too
Totally brill. Thank you …mille fois merci
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Avec plaisir!
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Great post! I had an iPhone for two days but there wasn’t enough service in my small town. Boo. Here are some apps for language learners. Times sure are changing! Watching a demo of the Spanish app here at TESOL in Boston as I type. : http://www.redriverpress.com/apps.php
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