Eletelphony
Dec. 26th, 2014 11:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thanateSo my old extremely stupid phone started mysteriously turning itself off some months ago, which in the context of a toddler and no home phone seemed like a problem. And while I wasn't really mentally ready for the smartphone age, I also didn't want to commit to another two years of stupid phone. Which has resulted in my acquisition of an iphone 5s, as this was the smallest (mostly) contract-funded option available through Credo Mobile. Without the case I got for it, it even stays in the back pocket of my jeans when I use the toilet. (with it, not so consistently. Boo.)
Grauwulf says that for someone who was so anti-smartphone I spend a lot of time looking at it. I said that was *why* I didn't want one: they're addictive little things, and I am generally supposed to be paying attention to the Megatherium, not my pocket-computer. (I have this thing in my pocket, and it's supposed to be interesting.)
I find that mostly what I do with a mini-computer 2000 times the size of my first laptop is check the weather constantly, and take pictures of my child. Now I have to figure out how to get those pictures back off the phone-- I am hoping that it'll play nice with my computer even though I deleted iphoto years ago for being stupid and annoying, but haven't tried yet.
So far my app acquisitions include a couple games, Merlin Bird ID (which plays bird sounds!), pinterest, a dictionary, a couple craft store coupon apps, a metronome/tuner, and vTree (tree id).
Have you the internets anything you use and love? Or do you know how to delete the stupid stock market app?
Things I think I want include something like the running from zombies game only without zombies and maybe running towards rather than away, a good recipe & shopping list app, or particularly good early learning (alphabet, numbers, suchlike) games for the Megatherium once she turns two. (we're still trying to avoid formal screen time until then, despite the difficulty of explaining to certain relatives that actually this child is ready for picture books but not movies without criticizing the way her cousins are being raised.)
Grauwulf says that for someone who was so anti-smartphone I spend a lot of time looking at it. I said that was *why* I didn't want one: they're addictive little things, and I am generally supposed to be paying attention to the Megatherium, not my pocket-computer. (I have this thing in my pocket, and it's supposed to be interesting.)
I find that mostly what I do with a mini-computer 2000 times the size of my first laptop is check the weather constantly, and take pictures of my child. Now I have to figure out how to get those pictures back off the phone-- I am hoping that it'll play nice with my computer even though I deleted iphoto years ago for being stupid and annoying, but haven't tried yet.
So far my app acquisitions include a couple games, Merlin Bird ID (which plays bird sounds!), pinterest, a dictionary, a couple craft store coupon apps, a metronome/tuner, and vTree (tree id).
Have you the internets anything you use and love? Or do you know how to delete the stupid stock market app?
Things I think I want include something like the running from zombies game only without zombies and maybe running towards rather than away, a good recipe & shopping list app, or particularly good early learning (alphabet, numbers, suchlike) games for the Megatherium once she turns two. (we're still trying to avoid formal screen time until then, despite the difficulty of explaining to certain relatives that actually this child is ready for picture books but not movies without criticizing the way her cousins are being raised.)
ooh, a subject on which i am qualified to bloviate!
Date: 2014-12-26 06:22 pm (UTC)Stocks: undeletable, at least without some amount of hackery with which I am not entirely comfortable. I've created a Junk folder on the third page and stick all the apps I never use in there.
Getting photos from iThing to OSX: the trick is an OSX app you've probably never used called Image Capture. Connect the phone, open Image Capture, and you should be able to drag and drop photos from the phone to wherever. (Definitely works with OSX Mavericks and iOS 7/iPhone 4s.)
I am told that Paprika is the best recipe app there is. I'm using one called HandyCookBook which is old and not updated, because I am lazy.
Nonobvious things I use all the time: Check The Weather, a weather app that I quite like. Wikipanion, a Wikipedia frontend. Vesper, a note app that I use to hold random story ideas / fragments. iBooks, which is inexplicably not preinstalled. USB Disk Pro, which turns your iThing into a thumb drive.
I've gotten some mileage out of The Sweet Setup, a site whose modus operandi is to pick a category of app and review most of the major contenders.
Re: ooh, a subject on which i am qualified to bloviate!
Date: 2014-12-26 07:37 pm (UTC)I am regretting not upgrading to Mavericks while I had the chance. Boo. (Have not yet bitten on yosemite, though the only thing worse than deciding to upgrade to stupid is finding out that the free period has expired & I have to pay for it.) My fist problem, however, appears to be connecting the phone at all. Will investigate further.
I have iBooks pre-installed, but put that in the folder of things I don't anticipate using much. (The non-back-lit e-reader works better visually, also toddler minding.)
Review sites sound useful; reducing the great hordes of options helps. Thanks!
Re: ooh, a subject on which i am qualified to bloviate!
Date: 2014-12-28 06:06 pm (UTC)Stupid "we know better than you do what you want" era of apple. :(
Oh, that reminds me: turning off iOS ad tracking is more complex than it needs to be.
Also, I don't know if Find My iPhone is automatically installed these days or not, but if it isn't that's a good thing to have.
Also also, I am told that with iOS 8, 1Password now plays much better with other apps, so that's recommended.
Game/entertainment-wise: Andrew Plotkin (Zarf) is having a bit of a sale: buy Hadean Lands and get his other two IF games for free, or buy Meanwhile (a choose-your-own-adventure comic book with a fantastic iOS implementation) for two bucks. And Bastion (action-adventure with a decent plot and great music & voice acting) and King of Dragon Pass (sort of Civilization crossed with Choose Your Own Adventure in a very well-thought-out Iron Age fantasy world) are on sale.
Enjoy!
no subject
Date: 2014-12-27 08:09 am (UTC)I like Fliq for random notes and lists and I have Grid as my calendar because I hate the notes/calendar apps that come with the phone.
I think there are other I want to tell you about, but I broke my phone today so I can't look at it to tell you.
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Date: 2014-12-28 12:57 am (UTC)Star Walk is one I like a lot but rarely get to use, it being overcast here most of the time. It's a star map that aligns to your location and the given date/time. That plus the gyroscope functionality means that you can get it set up, turn it on, and spin in a circle and what you see on the map will be what you're actually looking at.
Moon Rise is one I use because I'm always curious what phase the moon is currently in and this tells me. It also gives me sunrise/set times and what days the full/half/quarters will fall on. I wish it would integrate with my calendar, but Apple doesn't believe in cross polinating apps. Bah.
no subject
Date: 2014-12-28 02:21 am (UTC)Star walk sounds lovely (tho ditto on the lots of use, given that we don't spend a lot of time out of range of streetlights & the glow of Baltimore in the distance)
thanks. :)
no subject
Date: 2014-12-28 08:14 pm (UTC)Fair warning (should have mentioned this earlier): I suspect it eats a lot of data.