What's in your smartphone?

Can you believe the Apple iPhone was released in 2007, five whole years ago?  How time flies! In 2007 I had a pink clamshell phone, and I thought it was the coolest, cutest thing ever.  Today, even my kids wouldn't be caught dead with that phone.  Heck, even my 3 year-old niece wouldn't want that phone.  She'd probably throw it away, thinking it was a fake toy phone, and ask for  a real one, with a colored screen that does things when you touch it.

I got my first web-enabled phone (a Samsung Reclaim) in 2009, and my first smartphone in 2010.  I honestly can't imagine life without one anymore!  I've had my current phone (and HTC EVO 4G) for just over a year now; it wasn't the most hi-tech phone when I got it to begin with, and a year later, it's even more outdated. It does feel clunky and sluggish, and I'm ready for a new one.  Unfortunately, I won't be eligible to get a new one (at least not without paying full price for the phone) for another 6 months or so -- but I'm not frothing at the bit, so I'll wait.


Even though I'm six months away from a new phone, I already know which apps are going to be on it.  Here's a list of apps on my Android smartphone that are worth the space they take up:


Needs  No Explanation, a.k.a My Must-Have Apps

• Mail
• Gmail
• Facebook
• Hootsuite
• Pinterest
• Instagram
• Google Maps
• Internet browser

Utilities

• File Manager (I need to be able to visualize all the files on my phone, move them around, delete them, etc.. Yes, I'm a Windows person and I don't think I'll ever change).

• WiFi File Transfer Pro (eliminates the need for a USB cable when I want to transfer files between my phone and my laptop)

• SmoothSync for Yahoo! Calendar (I use still use Yahoo! Calendar to manage everyone's schedule so I needed a way to sync the calendar on my phone with Alfie's, my personal and my blogging Yahoo! Calendar)

• Inkpad (I wanted a simple, bare bones note-taking app, not unlike Notepad on my laptop)

• Canon Easy PhotoPrint (I have a Canon wireless printer/scanner, and this app lets me scan and print from my phone)

• Blogger (I don't use it to compose posts, but if Alfie notices a typo on my latest blog post and I happen to be out of the house, I can fix my mistake no matter where I am!)

• Google Drive (So many people and organizations store and share docs on Google Drive -- our soccer team game schedules, school volunteer schedules, blogger programs, etc... -- so I like being able to access my Google Drive from my phone) 

• Google Goggles (I don't use it much, but I think it's cool, so it stays)

Travel

• The Weather Channel (so I can decide whether to pack a sweater or a bathing suit on our next vacation)

• Disney Memories (Super useful app when you're at Disney park! It has tons of information on the parks, but if you've been to the parks before, the 3 most useful features are the ability to check wait times, FastPass return times, and make dining reservations)

Photo and video

• Skype (I downloaded this over the summer, so I could video chat with Alfie while he was in the US and I was in the UK)

• YouTube (so I can upload videos taken with my phone to my YouTube channel, before I forget and they stay on my phone forever)

• Diptic (so I can create pretty collages and post them to Instagram)

• Adobe Photoshop Express (I rarely use it now that I have Instagram -- and I wish PicMonkey made a mobile app so I could download that instead -- but I keep it just in case one of my photos really needs some help)

Music

• MP3 Ringtone Maker (because I wanted Train's Hey Soul Sister to be my ringtone)

• Scary Ringtones (because everyone needs a maniacal laughter ringtone for Halloween)

• Amazon MP3 (so I can buy songs on Amazon and download them directly onto my phone)

• Shazam (My memory is terrible, and I can never remember the names of songs)

• Pandora (I love listening to Pandora and discovering new music)

Games and fun

• Yahoo! Movies (because I can never remember any movie showtimes when I look them up on my laptop)

• Disney Mobile Magic (I'm a sucker for themed photos, especially ones with Disney frames and stickers.  I install it whenever we visit Disneyland)

• Quiz US States (This really helped The Pea learn her capitals and state abbreviations when she was in 4th grade)

• Angry Birds (I think this was the first app I actually paid to get!)

• Fruit Ninja (the only game I ever play on my phone)

• Plants vs. Zombies (The most money I've ever shelled out for an app was for this app -- $2.99 for Android AND $6.99 so we could have it on the iPad as well.  And it's totally worth it, because all 3 kids still play it regularly.  I can't get rid of it because the kids don't want their scores erased)