First smartphone

[HejiraHenry]

Seems silly that I waited so long, but I'll take possession of my first IPhone on Monday.
I'd open to suggestions on the first 5 apps you'd install after getting a new phone.
Not looking for games, but for productivity tools.

 

[Bradley Guire]

Don't sweat it. I didn't get my first smartphone until December, also an iPhone.

PlainText and DropBox were the first two I got. They're free and the easiest way to store simple text files on a server that can be used on any platform (Windows, Mac OS X, iOS, Android). But PlainText really is plain text, so no formatting, no bold, no italics.

Adobe has a free Acrobat app for reading PDFs, which comes in handy.

If you want to sync your bookmarks but don't have a Mac computer to sync Safari OS X with Safari iOS, there's a Google Chrome browser. Set up a gmail account, and it keeps bookmarks updated no matter if you're on the smartphone or a computer. If you do this much, get Google Maps. Sign in with the gmail account, and you can keep bookmarked map locations, etc. There's also a gmail app, but Apple Mail is fine as it is.

Weather Channel has a lot more info than the Apple Weather app. Free.

Ookla has an app called SpeedTest, which lets you check your connection speed (doesn't matter if you're on wifi or wireless data). Also free.

 

[The Big Ragu]

One app I use a lot: Evernote. ... Fantastic for keeping lists, notes, etc. It syncs up with your computers, so you always have your latest versions wherever you are.

 

[Songbird]

Re: synching. If you use gmail and take a lot of photos, sync it to your phone. Every photo I take is automatically backed up to my G+ cloud. Photos and videos take up a ton of space and you're going to have to delete them every so often to make more room for more. It would stink if you had to start deleting photos and videos in the middle of a big event without having backed them up.

 

[mustangj17]

I use the Google search app daily. It lets me jump to my google drive quickly and actually search. ESPN scorecenter app is good too because I can keep track of the teams I want from my phone. You can also set up alerts to get final scores from your favorite team's games. Of course, sometimes they chime in with an alert about Manchester United or some **** I don't care about.

My banking apps and PayPal come in handy as well as Yelp.com when I am traveling and looking for food.

Also, I'm a social media junkie so I have Facebook, Twitter, SnapChat, Vine and Insstagramw hich I use daily. Also have YouTube for videos when I need to quickly pull something up.

 

[TigerVols]

One app I use a lot: Evernote. ... Fantastic for keeping lists, notes, etc. It syncs up with your computers, so you always have your latest versions wherever you are.

+1

Make Evernote you close friend and you'll never be a ****up again.

Also, if you are into weather, DarkSky is the bomb -- alerts you when rain is approaching, has concise radar and other details.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Evernote is great... Inkpad is also great...

 

[trifectarich]

I've been trying to buy my first smartphone for a couple of weeks; everyone's got a scam; buying a car is 1000 percent easier.

 

[Football_Bat]

I got my first BlackBerry in 2005 when they were just catching on. It was so cool to be able to sit anywhere and surf. I even filed stories with it, although the thumb-typing was slow as hell.

Of course, technology moved on and soon I was behind again. Now I have an iPhone 5s which I love, and when I need to, I use my laptop via the phone's personal hot spot. It takes great photos and videos and I run my e-mail through it, which I couldn't do with the two BlackBerrys before it.

 

[User 1019]

weather alert is great. You can customize locations and types of weather warnings/watches, etc.

New weather.com upgrade is great. Candy Crush is a must. Facebook, too.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

I've been trying to buy my first smartphone for a couple of weeks; everyone's got a scam; buying a car is 1000 percent easier.

My advice: go online with the carriers (Verizon, T-Mobile, whatever else serves your area well) and look at the rates. Figure out who has a deal that best fits your needs. For me it was T-Mobile, but your mileage may vary.

Then, go to the actual store for that company, NOT an "authorized seller." The company stores are infinitely better and have much less of a used car sales approach. It can be tricky to tell which is which -- there's a T-Mobile seller near me that isn't really a T-Mobile, and the only indicator you get is a small plaque on the wall behind the counter -- but go to the real one and talk to the people there. It makes a huge difference, at least in my experience.

 

[HejiraHenry]

FYI: Picked up an IPhone 5S about three weeks ago.

Very cool, but let's face it, smartphones may be smart but they're not very good phones.

 

[EStreetJoe]

I've become anti-Facebook app.
Look at the permissions - you're giving it permission to access any text message you send via your phone. Those messages are none of Facebook's damn business.
I also hated the fact that anytime I took a picture with the phone it would ask do you want to post this to Facebook? It's none of Facebook's damn business when I take a picture and I'll choose on my own what pictures I want to upload and when, I don't need an app asking me with every camera click "do you want to upload this?"

 

[Dyno]

I've become anti-Facebook app.
Look at the permissions - you're giving it permission to access any text message you send via your phone. Those messages are none of Facebook's damn business.
I also hated the fact that anytime I took a picture with the phone it would ask do you want to post this to Facebook? It's none of Facebook's damn business when I take a picture and I'll choose on my own what pictures I want to upload and when, I don't need an app asking me with every camera click "do you want to upload this?"

That doesn't happen for me. I'm pretty sure you can change the settings so that the FB app doesn't have access to your photos.

 

[maberger]

evernote, dropbox and google maps are indispensable
weather and FAAwait if you travel a lot
Uber if it's available near you

 

[Football_Bat]

The mobile version of Google Maps is much better than the laptop version for me. Of course, the browsers on our work laptops are mostly ****.

 

[lakefront]

I am getting my first smartphone, bumping this thread for info. I am on ATT with the family, someone said I should get an unlocked phone then bring it to ATT for sim card. Partly to avoid apps from ATT that can not be removed. I have not even decided between apple or android. If I pick android there are a ton of phones to pick from. It is overwhelming. I still plan to use my laptop for things like quicken, SJ, Quickbooks. I want the phone for info on the go type of things. I want it to remind me of non routine events. I want to be able to text more of a response than "ok". (flip phone)

 

[Moderator1]

I just got an iPhone8 with a ton of storage for all my granddaughter pictures. I've never much understood the complaints about iPhones. I love this damn thing.

My son got the X but that was a lot more expensive. He loves it.

 

[User 149557]

I’ve had good success with the app Photoscan. If I don’t have a quality scanner available and need to get a photo from a printed source to the website quickly, it will find the edges of the photo and allow quick edits.

 

[TigerVols]

I just got an iPhone8 with a ton of storage for all my granddaughter pictures. I've never much understood the complaints about iPhones. I love this damn thing.

My son got the X but that was a lot more expensive. He loves it.

The no-headphone jack is a dealbreaker for me.