This week our assignment was articles on mobile computing. Let me start by telling you I recently upgraded to a smart phone from A.T.T., a free one from Sharp. It came with the minimum in directions. In setting it up without directions, which are available on the internet I might add, I made a small mistake. I’m one of those people who start setting things up and then reach for the directions only if there is a problem.
It seemed very basic (the set-up). I moved my contacts and photos to the ATT Cloud, and then downloaded them on my new sim card. Played with the camera and gallery options. And here’s where I made my mistake (note: I haven’t corrected it yet)…I named the phone administrator: “Me” – not my name, just “Me”. So when I send a text, it comes from…you guessed it, Me. Hopefully you will recognize my phone number. So it’s not too much of a problem – yet.
Then there’s the world of apps. Free ones aren’t really free – are they? They consume power, data, and even if you are not using them – some of them are still active in your background. I still haven’t learned to plug my phone in every day, so I’m constantly almost out of battery and have to shut it down completely.
Until I discovered the app Task Killer. The icon looks like a little alien bug, but it does the trick. After playing with a few apps, installing and then uninstalling them, I feel like I have a basic set-up that I can use. Google Maps, Adobe Reader, ATT Code Scanner, ATT Navigator, Fox6Now, Google Search, UWM Mobile, Spider Solitaire (not an angry bird fan), Twitter, and Youtube. Oh… and YPMobile.
And this “old mother” stumbled upon the capability to do a google search by voice. I don’t consider it useful but it does impress my mother.
With all the apps available a smart phone can be a recreational internet browser, similar to an IPad. I especially enjoy the little extra “easter eggs” on some q codes (ATT code scanner app).
I noticed WordPress is available on many types of mobile units – even Android. I may check it out. Future posts might be made while I’m in the checkout line at the grocery store. 🙂
Sprague Family Research 