Brave New World of Apps

It wasn’t love at first sight, but after we spent some time together I was head over heels. I am a middle aged woman, still deeply in love with my husband of almost three decades, but I had fallen in love again. The object of my new affection was sleek, well built, powerful, fast and fun. I had bought an iPhone

Last year, my previous phone - a Blackberry - was faltering, so prior to purchasing a new device I spent a great deal of time researching three smartphone platforms: BlackBerry, Droid and iPhone. Given the fast paced New York way of life coupled with the lack of overlap between my husband’s schedule and mine, I seem to spend more time with my phone than my spouse. The right choice of a new phone was critical.

So many factors to research! - and so unqualified for this task – but I went up the learning curve quickly: screen size, battery life, mega pixels, graphics quality, connectivity, call integrity, etc., not to mention cost and carrier plan specifics. And that’s how I met my iPhone.

When I purchased the phone, the salesperson introduced me to the world of apps. How useful and what fun! Here are a few of my favorites (in no particular order):

• GasBuddy – provides gas prices by price or location

• Flixster – find movie times and locations, view trailers, read reviews, etc…

• iRetouch - photo editing on your phone

• HopStop - provides options/directions for travel between two points within various cities/locations. Great in Manhattan!

• NYC Subway Map

• Sit Or Squat: Bathroom Finder (sponsored by Charmin!) - locates public toilets; provides reviews of cleanliness, etc… Of five stars maximum: 2 ½ or more indicate ‘sit’; fewer than 2 ½ indicate ‘squat’.

• Open Table – make reservations at OpenTable.com restaurants

• Tip Calculator

• Epicurious – great in the supermarket when you need recipes (with a list of ingredients) for dinner, etc.

• Google Translate – like having many foreign language dictionaries at your fingertips

• Merriam -Webster Dictionary

• US Open Tennis – was wonderful for obtaining current scores, match locations, player stats, etc…

• iHandy Flashlight – I never thought I would use this until I went to a very dark restaurant and couldn’t read the menu. Apparently, neither could anyone else because the restaurant was a sea of iPhone flashlights.

My only gripe so far with apps for the iPhone is that I can’t seem to locate a Metro-North schedule for my phone, but this app is available to Droid users. I suppose every couple has a tiff now and then.

Please share your favorite apps!