The 10 Most Fun And Useful Mobile Apps From The Daily App
Don't Call The Fun Police
For those in the tech industry, it's easy to forget that mobile devices are not strictly for business. There are countless mobile apps available to help you organize your social life, ease the pain of travel, improve your exercise routine or enhance your television time. And while the apps we review in our Daily App Blog are often aimed at accomplishing tasks on the business-side of life, that doesn't mean we shy away fun. Here's a look at 10 mobile apps that are either entertaining, useful, or both.
Peel For Android, iOS
Interested in turning your smartphone or tablet into a universal home theater remote that learns your television preferences and presents recommended shows in a personalized grid? Peel, a free app from Peel Technologies, does just that.
When coupled with its hardware, the Peel solution can change TV channels and controls devices such as the cable box, DVR, DVD, Blu-ray and even Apple TV.
The latest version of Peel, Peel 2.0.4 for iOS, is compatible with iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch devices running iOS 4.0 and higher. Samsung also offers a version of Peel it calls Smart Remote that controls its Web-connected televisions and media players.
PhotoShop Touch For Android
It's been an awkward foray into the tablet space for Adobe. Apple has mostly shunned its software and while RIM has embraced its applications for the Blackberry Playbook, the market has been giving a cold shoulder to Playbook. In turn, Adobe has taken aggressive measures to get Photoshop on Android-based tablets with its Photoshop Touch app.
A $9.99 download from the Android Market, think of Photoshop Touch as less of a "lite" version of Photoshop than a robust, very functional version of the application for the Android platform.
With Photoshop Touch, you’ll be able to take any photo – either from the Web, the cloud, an email or your own photos taken on the device itself – and handle the basic layering and editing functions that you’d get from the full-blown version. The app can also sync with your Photoshop application on a laptop or desktop via Adobe’s Creative Cloud.
Instagram for iPhone
Available as a free download from the Apple iTunes App Store, the popularity of Instagram for iPhone has been soaring in the past several months, largely due to the 8 MP camera on-board the iPhone 4S. The ability to instantly integrate Instagram with Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Tumblr and other social media accounts certainly hasn't hurt as well.
The app allows for instant editing and transformation of iPhone photos from color to black-and-white, as well as to provide '70s-era Kodak Instamatic and Polaroid-quality grainy color images as well.
HIIT Interval Timer
If fitness is your thing, HIIT Interval Timer is a free tool that stands out from the several available exercise apps as it offers audible, as well as visual, cues. A free app for Android users, HIIT Interval Timer lets you create your own workout sets with a custom number of rounds, each with a different length. Each interval can have a set number of warning ticks, plus an alarm when it's time to change, and another when you're done.
Sling Player For Android, Kindle
If fitness isn't your thing, SlingPlayer for Android can certainly facilitate a lazy Sunday. SlingPlayer works with the SlingBox from IP-based television pioneer Sling Media and offers clients for Android smartphones and tablets, BlackBerry, iPhone/iPad, Mac OS X, Windows, Web browsers and other platforms. Once connected to a SlingBox, the SlingPlayer displays high definition picture and sound from as many as three separate devices, including cable and satellite set-top boxes, DVRs, home security systems, and Blu-ray and DVD players.
It's a bit pricey as most apps go, listing at $29.95, but the picture and sound quality from the SlingPlayer Android are almost too good to believe.
WiFi Finder For Android, iOS
WiFi hotspots let us send and receive calls and texts without using minutes as well as surf the Web free of data-plan restrictions. So when looking for a hotspot finder, it's usually important for users to find a free app. WiFi Finder is available in the Play Android (Market) and Apple's App Store for iPhone and iPad. And like all good things, WiFi Finder is free.
This tool displays a map of the surrounding area with colored arrows indicating known WiFi hotspots that are free. Drilling into an arrow displays the venue address and phone number, WiFi signal strength, SSID name and so on. Users of the tool can submit additional site information; the company boasts more than 145,000 free locations across the globe.
Visionboard for iPad
A $1.99 download from the Apple iTunes App Store, Visionboard for iPad separates itself from the never-ending productivity apps for iOS by taking graphical organization capabilities to the next level. Visionboard is presented as a digital cork board, where you’re permitted to post "sticky note"-like reminders as well as more in-depth goal-trackers that you can pin to the cork board and tap to update and track your progress.
Developed and sold as a "lifestyle" app, Visionboard can also be quite the business tool. The same model and features that allow you to put up visual goal-trackers for weight loss or bank savings accounts can also be used to track progress toward a work project, sales goal or product development.
WorldMate For Android
A popular traveling app for Blackberry and iPhone users, WorldMate is now helping Android users plan and book trips while providing updates on flight information, rental cars, hotels, weather and other travel information.
Released in February, WorldMate 5.0.22 now provides hotel price alerts, performs express bookings and communicates with Facebook to share credentials and update trip status. A $5 gold version adds alerts of flight delays, cancellations and gate changes for more than 350 airlines and provides synchronization with Google and Outlook calendars.
Max MP's Power Amp
When Ice Cream Sandwich came along, the music player included with every Android OS install was stripped of the ability to easily delete media files from within the app. While it's tough to complain about the free app, it is nice to be able to delete old songs and podcasts without having to go in to the file system.
Power Amp from Max MP plays everything Android's free player does, including mp3 and mp4/m4a, ogg, wma, wav, aiff and more, while providing crossfade, gapless playback, dynamic queuing, balance control, support for lyrics and cover-art animation features. Oh, and it enables you to directly delete files.
Power Amp also supports m3u and other play list file types, direct screen unlock and can disable the pause/resume feature when connecting headphones or a Bluetooth device.
PageOnce Money & Bills
Money & Bills from PageOnce is perfect for anyone who uses their Android device to pay bills. Money & Bills provides a simple, secure interface for paying bills from thousands of vendors and financial institutions. Once linked to a bank account, it can provide bill-pay alerts and reminders, minimum and maximum payment info and account balances.
Money & Bills is available as a free download in the Play Android (Market), although a small monthly fee might apply for some services. Versions are also available for Blackberry, iPhone, iPad and Windows Phone. The app works with hundreds of banks, credit unions and credit card companies, supports an unlimited number of accounts, and can be used to display account statements, monitor bank and credit card account activity, and detect fraud in real-time.