Hi

I've just purchased a new shiny smart phone, my first one. Does anyone have any recommendations of useful apps to download?

In particular i'd like one to view microsoft office documents / pdfs if such an app exists?

Thanks

What type of smartphone is it - iPhone or Android?

Well firstly there's a separate forum for mobiles. (Don't worry though, the mods will just move this thread).

I'm guessing you don't have an iphone (How do you tell someone has an iphone? They tell you)

But that leaves Android, Windows phone or Blackberry, or possibly one or two others.

The system you use will determine what apps you can use - you can't use Windows apps or iphone apps on Android, or vice versa.

If you are on Android, I really like Hullomail which offers nice user-friendly visual voicemail - no more "press 1 to listen, 2 to delete" all done on your phone screen."
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...saging.android

You can view pdfs with Acrobat Reader:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...m.adobe.reader

And you can view MS office docs with Officesuite, amongst others
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...systems.office

If on Android I find UK Stops great for getting bus times; AppBrain is quite good for discovering new apps, Stitcher is good for podcasts, TuneIn Radio for online radio, SoundHound is great for identifying music you might hear while out. The app I actually use most is Sleep Fader which helps you sleep. :sleep:

what is the difference between an iphone and an android and what are smart phones as compared to dumb phones? just asking for some modern day education lol

Well the main difference is that smartphones allow the use of apps, which can change and expand what they can do (not just games, but everything from photo editing to managing your finances). Basically they become mini-computers.

the diplomatic difference between iphone and android is that iphones are made by Apple and Apple alone. Any manufacturer can make a phone and put Android on it, such as Samsung, HTE, LG, Sony Ericsson,etc. Similar to how Apple Macs run Mac OS and most other PCs run Windows. I'm sure there will be fans on both sides quite happy to point out the subjective pros and cons of the two....it's quite an emotive issue!

... but more importantly the main similarity is that neither is to be trusted with the privacy of your personal information.

of course that's just another opinion in a sea of opinions.

There's only two??

ok thanks so no real difference apart from futuristic labels

so basically if u put your life on these phones it can be there for anyone to see lol, i will stick to royal mail, phone and fax and my ancient normal paper filing system ha

i-phone is awesome
angry birds and a tattoo app plus e-bay and amazon are all I can recall at present

There are others but these are the biggest platforms. iPhone is Apple's phone system.

Android is an operating system that runs on lots of smartphones. All the new HTC 'One' series use Android, Samsung's Galaxy series, Sony's Xperia series etc etc.

not really, no. But whatever you're comfortable with

Umm, no.
This post though should give you an idea of the potential of a superphone (the tag I would give to the high end 'smartphone' devices)

Soz, its android.

Thanks, the bus app is great.

And another question.

My phone ' Samsung galaxy ace plus' has an option in settings called remote controls, which says you can lock / track /wipe data remotely. I've selected this option (which i assume is good for if your phone gets nicked) but it doesn't tell me HOW to lock / track / wipe data remotely !!!

Any ideas?

Thanks

And another please

I have the option of moving downloaded apps to the SD card rather than the phones memory? is there any point in doing this until the phones memory is full ??

Thanks

There's nothing to compel you, though if you do nothing, you will eventually get a symbol up telling you that you have low memory, so you will need to do something then. If you get a large update to an app, it may not install if there is insufficient space.
Some apps can't be moved and even the ones you do move will still occupy space on the phone.

There's a webpage here: http://www.samsungdive.com/DiveMain.do but needs a login. I guess you can login with your details and find out more.

you may as well do it,

you'll only end up doing it later

the london 2012 app is surprisingly good. covers the games, the cultural events and the torch relay.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...don2012.joinin

Download Apps2SD. It will notify you when an app can be moved to the SD card. You may need to get in the habit of doing this but I think your phone may have plentiful internal app storage.