006_APPS,APPS,APPS

Like I touched upon in my previous post, there are so many apps out there today. It's hard to figure out which one is the best, the easiest to use, the most interesting, or the most useful. And if you are already using a bunch of them, how are you suppose to keep up with them on a weekly (let alone daily) basis. Everyone has their own busy lives going on, which makes it hard to even get use out of multiple apps in general. But we still use them for everything.

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Let's talk about "Bob" for example. He is a hypothetical college student at Penn State who loves his iPhone, which contains numerous apps. Let's see just how useful all his apps. This will also shed a lot of light on how dependent we have become on technology.


9AM: wakes up to his Alarm app going off (after hitting snooze 3 times since 830 of course).
915AM: turns on his favorite Pandora station to sing along to in the shower.

930AM: checks the Weather Channel app to figure out what to wear to class.
945AM: checks his Mail accounts in hopes to see "class cancelled" before leaving.
10AM: sends a text to a friend in his class.
1015AM: looks through his Facebook and Twitter newsfeeds during his boring biology class.
1115AM: plays Angry Birds or Words with Friends in between classes.
1PM: calls a friend to meet him for lunch.
230PM: uses his converter calculator app during chem lab.
430PM: checks his Gas Buddy app to figure out if the Sheetz or Sunoco currently has cheaper gas before leaving for work.

430PM: also double checks his PNC app to make sure he has enough money for gas and some food for work.

730PM: checks the score of the hockey and basketball games on ScoreCenter.

And that isn't even one full day of the week! Let's admit, most of us would be lost without our phones; not only without the phone and messages apps, but also Facebook, Twitter, Mail, Google Maps, ScoreCenter, Fandango etc.

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You would think that with all of these apps, there would be some other app just to manage them all! This is a point that Dr. C had brought up in a comment on the last blog post. Although there is no app yet that puts apps together in one place to manage and use them easier, there are some phones that make it a bit easier. For example, the iPhone allows you to install, uninstall or manage memory space for all your apps in one place. You can also create "folders" that are displayed as only one app on your screen but can actually contain many apps, such as a folder named "Games" can contain Angry Birds, Solitaire, Words with Friends, Coin Dozer, etc. You can also create multiple side screens off of your home screen and organize them any you want, such as having your most used apps all on one screen or organizing them into categories like sports apps and social apps.


Besides just utilizing your organizational tools you may have on your phone or device, there are supposedly three apps that can combine all of your social networks in one place. I have not tried any of these, but this website provides details and links if you're interested!


Do you have a favorite app that you use all of the time?
How long can you go without your phone and all of its "amenities"?
Does anyone still have a "non-smart" phone?