What do you do with your smartphone?

drwho9437 · 09-01-2012, 11:50 PM

I got a smart phone a few years ago now, mostly because I wanted to develop bluetooth remote controls for embedded systems with it.

I also wanted to not have to have a phone and a iPod in my pocket. I hate not having actual buttons on my phone though to cue music and am shocked that no one has good solutions but actually having to see the screen for this, but I digress...

I use it (and it is useful particularly when traveling) mostly for email. Some maps and internet, and of course to listen to music.

What killer things am I missing? My phone seems to do this fine yet everyone is seemingly fixated on the every new model, what uses are pushing what is needed with these devices other than games or trying to replace a laptop (neither of which interest me personally).

What application(s) do you use the most? (gmail for me).

Phokus · 09-01-2012, 11:59 PM

Google Navigation, aCar (my car's maintenance app), web browsing/email. Starting to use Google Now more. Also yelp and evernote.

Kanalua · 09-02-2012, 04:09 AM

Mobile Entertainment: Video, music, radio (I Heart Radio), KSL gameday (BYU sports)
eReader: Aldiko
Mobile Communications: Work Email, skype, GTalk, Google Voice, Gmail, Calendar synced with wife, work and church (HUGE deal).
Social Networking: Tweakdeck (facebook, twitter), G+,
Camera: Instagram

RockinZ28 · 09-02-2012, 04:28 AM

Check traffic before going anywhere, GPS navigation, work/personal email, get in on slickdeals while at work before they expire, Pandora, mlb.tv, some games, decent camera and 1080p video, calendar sync, my alarm clock & watch, search for nearby restaurants in unfamiliar areas, code scanner/live reader for OBDII on my car with bluetooth adapter, and the occasional phone call.

Big thing is free WiFi tether with unlimited Verizon LTE to my tablet or laptop. What my phone can't do, they can.

Necrolezbeast · 09-02-2012, 04:47 AM

Maps, Chinese dictionary, synchronized calendar so I can keep track of online homework, groove ip to call the family free from WiFi (while living in China), occasionally some games, on the go browsing, etc.

I don't use mobile data because I'm around WiFi nearly everywhere I go. But I'm happy to say that I still get enough use out of it to justify the cost.

Qbah · 09-02-2012, 04:52 AM

Flipboard for news all the time.
Spotify for music.
Alarm and reminders.
GPS (Navigon).
Flashlight, turn on/off PC, banking.
Facebook a bit. IM.
Email a bit too.
SMS/calling (

)

WelshBloke · 09-02-2012, 05:17 AM

GPS nav (copilot and google nav)
Email
Web
General phone stuff
News (Google currents, cant get on with flipboard at all)
TV (BBC iPlayer FTW)
Music
Podcasts (pocketcasts)
Neffing on ATF (tapatalk)
Shopping (ebay,amazon, groceries)
Banking
Photos/video (have kids and granny likes pictures)

Probably lots more that I cant remember

Chocu1a · 09-02-2012, 06:21 AM

games,
navigation,
music,
social networking,
watching tv shows (crackle, xfinity player),
banking on the go,
organization(evernote),
mobile calendar,
photos/video,
email,
web-browsing my fav. sites & forums(currents, flipboard, tapatalk)
shopping(craigslist, ebay, amazon)

3chordcharlie · 09-02-2012, 09:30 AM

phone calls
email
sms/IM
more email
more phone calls
maps/gps
more phone calls
read newspaper
calendar
tapatalk
flashlight;-)
emergency web-browser

edit - this is why I'm still a BB user.

God Mode · 09-02-2012, 10:28 AM

Only browsing and netflix. I have no other games or 3rd party apps on my phones.

After fresh restoring most of my phones, I found that almost all of the games and apps I used had ridiculous permissions/auto start and drained my battery much quicker. I don't feel like messing with a startup manager and all that.

notposting · 09-02-2012, 10:40 AM

Phone calls
Contact info
Emails...3 accounts for me, 2 of which (Hotmail/Gmail have some sub emails going to them)
Emails...3 accounts for my wife, if she gets anything important I let her know.
Calendar syncing...my calendar, wife's calendar, and her sister's calendar.
Web browsing
Text messaging
MS Office / Skydrive access
Flashlight
Facebook/Twitter
Mapping/Local search
Dictionary/Unit conversion/Calculator/etc reference

Oh yeah, in general, smoking iPhone's and Android's on any sort of searching, mapping, identifying music, using speech recognition, etc.

shortylickens · 09-02-2012, 10:52 AM

Calender and to do list for college stuff. Email (when possible, schools Live Mail doesnt work on any of my phones). Taking photos of assholes in the parking lot and uploading to the interwebs.

WelshBloke · 09-02-2012, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shortylickens

Calender and to do list for college stuff. Email (when possible, schools Live Mail doesnt work on any of my phones). Taking photos of assholes in the parking lot and uploading to the interwebs.

Set up Hotmail to forward everything to your Gmail.

xSauronx · 09-02-2012, 12:06 PM

gmail
work email
calendar/appointments/reminders
to do lists (gtasks)
gtalk
contact management (contact sync with gmail is fantastic)
gps (contact sync from gmail...is fantastic for this)
maps/local search
news reading
very minor youtube/news video watching
onenote reading/editing (handy to have one note as a reference on the phone)
skydrive access
road traffic updates (waze!)
mobile hotspot (handy for work sometimes)
light web browsing
pandora
amazon shopping and price checking
flashlight
camera
twitter
unifired remote (pc touch remote)
minor office document viewing
kindle reading (usually as a reference, not for extended periods)
weather
document scanning (cam scanner. i really hate paper)

so...pretty much anything i can. i try and make heavy use of the thing. very helpful at work (field tech for an IT company) and fairly useful for all the other things.

drwho9437 · 09-02-2012, 12:47 PM

Conclusion, I'm not missing anything. With the exception of video or games there isn't much need for power in this list.

wirednuts · 09-02-2012, 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drwho9437

Conclusion, I'm not missing anything. With the exception of video or games there isn't much need for power in this list.

lolz yeah you asked for killer apps, and not just the normal stuff people do... and everyone chimed in with all the normal shtuff

for me, having an android phone means i can use voip calling seamlessly with my regular phone calls. saves talk minutes and if youre on wifi you dont have to worry about bad reception.

also, if you have a phone with hdmi, you can watch netflix/amazon on a big screen tv. not only is it handy for when you at a friends who doesnt have netflix, its also a power sipping way to do it. my htpc takes a good 75w to run netflix. my phone is 1w at worst

also, you can now buy remote car starter packages that are compatible with android. meaning you install the kit in your car like any remote start, but you also get an app where you can control everything from your phone. even track where your car is at via gps like a cheap lojack! i plan on doing this next fall.

but i do understand where youre coming from. i too keep trying to think of new things i can do with my phone. my utopia idea is to put a phone in every room of the house on the wall, next to the light switch. use the usb port to control a i/o device that has multiple contact switches, so i can control things like lighting, sound and even window blinds. add temp sensors and whatnot... the idea would be to make a smart home using cheap android phones and basic electronic circuity. everything would be controlled and monitored through a website to use from a pc or even another android phone. someday, maybe, start a business doing it. i know i can do the hardware side of things without blinking, but the software at least for me, would be daunting.

wirednuts · 09-02-2012, 02:09 PM

ps- i didnt even get that you wanted to know what you might need a faster phone for. in that sense, youre right. nothing. thats why atom netbooks and zacate processors are still selling well... they might be slow but they still do everything you need. its also why desktop pc's are vanishing. people just dont need that much speed and would rather have something small.

RockinZ28 · 09-02-2012, 02:09 PM

Bigger/higher res display, much faster hardware and software, better camera, and better battery life are big reasons I upgrade about once per year.

Sure my last phone can do most of what my S3 can, but man it is excruciating using it because it's just so much slower in every aspect.

The S3 actually meets what I've been wanting for years though, so maybe it will last longer.

BassBomb · 09-02-2012, 02:11 PM

Texting
Email (gmail)
Phone
Internet when out of the house (or away from my PC) to google a stores hours, address, look up a product, etc...
Games
Music rarely if I don't have my iPod around

wirednuts · 09-02-2012, 02:30 PM

guys he is asking why he needs a faster/better phone! not what everyone does with theirs like the title suggests.

Zaap · 09-02-2012, 02:31 PM

Most people don't require a 'killer app' as justification to upgrade their phones.

My new phone does everything for me faster than my old one did, on a larger display that provides a more pleasant experience, using better hardware (cameras, CPU, 4G LTE, etc.) with more storage, running a later/better version of Android. In the end, it saves me time doing most things, and is more satisfying. Worth it for those reasons alone.

It's pretty much the same reasons to upgrade a smartphone as you'd upgrade a desktop PC, a laptop, or anything else. You can't always just use the same ol' stuff forever if you want a current user-experience.

zerocool84 · 09-02-2012, 02:38 PM

The same reason people get newer/faster computers or cars, they do the same thing just better, faster, easier, more efficient. A new HTC One X does everything faster than my Nexus S, plus has longer battery life, better display, play the newest games, better camera for photos and video, faster Internet, etc etc.

WelshBloke · 09-02-2012, 03:05 PM

I've just upgraded to an S3 from an S2. I wouldn't say it does most things faster, everything was pretty fast before. All my apps work identically.

What I have got is a much better display and a new toy to play with.

drwho9437 · 09-03-2012, 02:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zaap

Most people don't require a 'killer app' as justification to upgrade their phones.

My new phone does everything for me faster than my old one did, on a larger display that provides a more pleasant experience, using better hardware (cameras, CPU, 4G LTE, etc.) with more storage, running a later/better version of Android. In the end, it saves me time doing most things, and is more satisfying. Worth it for those reasons alone.

It's pretty much the same reasons to upgrade a smartphone as you'd upgrade a desktop PC, a laptop, or anything else. You can't always just use the same ol' stuff forever if you want a current user-experience.

In the late 90s very early 00s upgrades for computers were compelling every 18 months and there was use for the power. Since PIII hit the GHz limit the compelling nature has gone way down as a result I don't upgrade my computer often I just moved on from a Core Duo laptop this year. I buy lower mid-range hardware now PC wise.

I think that is true for a lot of places and we will see a slow down in smart phone sales too particularly if the subsidy model dies.

wirednuts · 09-03-2012, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drwho9437

In the late 90s very early 00s upgrades for computers were compelling every 18 months and there was use for the power. Since PIII hit the GHz limit the compelling nature has gone way down as a result I don't upgrade my computer often I just moved on from a Core Duo laptop this year. I buy lower mid-range hardware now PC wise.

I think that is true for a lot of places and we will see a slow down in smart phone sales too particularly if the subsidy model dies.

i think its already happening. i too never buy high end pc hardware anymore. its just a waste of electricity and money.

and why buy a galaxy sIII for $500 when i can find a used exhibit II for $75? the price difference is gigantic yet both phones do most the same thing.