Not wanting to get beaten half to death ....

Bechet

Bechet

Joined
Saturday January 28, 2012
Location
Southampton
...... by a group of angry young Mums, I thought it best to ask here before going along to the playground and asking the kids. Besides which, they only know kids' stuff.

Being pretty much ignorant of what tablets are best used for and noticing that my learning curve with a new Asus Transformer is shallowing, I need input. What do you use your tablet/smart phone for and can you name the apps you use?

I have email and surfing sorted, movies, tv, radio. So I',m looking for fun apps, serious apps, informative ones.
 
One of the main sources of info on apps that I download are the 1/4ly app magazines that are published . Most are published in the UK so costs and info relate to £'s and UK available sites. They have them for both the iPhone and the android.
I usually just go to the local Barnes and Nobel, buy a coffee, find the magazines and take out the phone. Nice thing is that they have free wifi and you can download right there if you find anything interesting.
 
Barnes and Noble is Waterstones over here - but I don't think they are clever enough to provide wifi. However .......... the magazine rack at Smith's will provide!
 
people tend to use tablets to watch films etc when traveling, have you tried using a laptop on a plane its not very comfortable.


have a look at the playstore

you can select the category then organise them by popularity.
 
See for me this is where the ipad stands out just based on your first paragraph. I don't want a learning curve but can remotely access my mac or media collection using one app. Instant and easy.
 
mattyb240 brilliantly pointless Apple plug well done!
If I'm brutally honest I mainly use mine for social media, light web surfing, and email. I've got a Nexus 7 though so the small screen doesn't lend itself to extended web use.
The other things? Guardian (Cryptic only for me) crossword one month sub for less than £2.
Solitaire Free Pack for general time wasting,
Evernote for linking notes, web pages etc
TeamViewer for remote desktop to work or home.
Sketchbook Express for doodling etc
Kindle app for reading (if I don't have the Kindle with me), Ebay app for ebaying, Adobe for pdf's.
 
Count I would argue pointless but you're entitled to your opinion. Again it was not meant as a plug, I never said it was better.

But Carl has said he's getting over the learning curve, the whole idea of a tablet is that it's easy and convenient. My point was that now that he's got basics an then where to go from there?

At least with the App Store it's as easy or complex as you want. I'm also a great lover of the nexus range. I just don't like tablets that try to act as though they are you're computer. It's not why anyone should buy one.
 
mattyb240 said:
I don't want a learning curve .......
Click to expand...

That right there makes you a completely different animal to me. I love learning every day.

Count of Undolpho said:
If I'm brutally honest ....
Click to expand...

Superb list, Count - from which I shall take several. Many thanks.

hunnymonster said:
What do you *want* to do with it though - for example it would be pointless for me to suggest WordStorm if you hate word games...
Click to expand...

Spot on! I hate word games.

I guess what I'm after is for members to post lists of their favourite apps/usages. I just plain don't know what is available, seem to lack the imagination to think of something and discover if it's available. I want to pick brains and plagiarise.
 
Carl I feel perhaps I haven't put myself across as eloquently as I would like. I love to learn, but in my eyes it's not what a tablet should be about. Each to there own as long as you're enjoying it!

As for apps, some type of office suite(I really like drop box compatability too)? I really like plex as media app as its multi platform and means you can access anything anywhere.

Oh and 1password great at storing passwords in a relatively safe environment as well as a password generator.
 
@mattyb240 it was the "See for me this is where the ipad stands out" that made me see it as a plug.

@Bechet45 ES File Explorer is also worth a look as is Swype Beta as a touch keyboard.
 
Count of Undolpho said:
@mattyb240 it was the "See for me this is where the ipad stands out" that made me see it as a plug.
Click to expand...

Nope just an opinion ;)

Is swype the keyboard app? I've heard a lot about it but not had a chance to play with it. (Edit, didnt read the last line fully)
 
mattyb240 said:
I love to learn, but in my eyes it's not what a tablet should be about.
Click to expand...

If you go back several paces/months/years to when you first opened your first tablet/smartphone and then forward a few usage hours, you will be about where I am now. What was your learning curve like at that stage?
 
When I get home I'll post a list of everything I use a lot on my Transformer, but here are the main ones:

Opera Mobile (browser)
Chrome (browser; would probably use this all the time if I weren't used to Opera)
Plume (twitter)
Kaiten (email; not free, but excellent)
Astrid (tasks/to-do/shopping/reminders etc)
Evernote (notes, archiving etc)
Quickpic (gallery, I like it better than the stock one)

Then the Google team: gmail, maps, Drive, Docs, etc.

And Lookout. Install that for sure.

Flixster for movie times. The Kindle app, of course. ezPDF for viewing, well, PDFs.

Swype for keyboarding, it's amazing.

And Tapatalk for, well, this.

Nothing else but games that I can think of off hand.
 
aCalendar is vastly superior to the default calendar, IMO, on either phone or tablet.

I also have Smooth Calendar as a homescreen widget, just showing my next four or five appointments.

I have a ton of apps for writing with fingertip or stylus (for doing mathematics), but I don't actually use them as much as I thought I might. I'll never go truly paperless, I suspect.

Various bits and pieces - I have an app to pay my utilities bills and submit meter readings, for example (from my supplier).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom