Category: Cell Phone Talk
Hey guys, I should be getting my iPhone 4S later this week. I've been thinking about apps that would be useful to go on it such as GPS, Money identifier, barcode scanner, OCR, Etc. I was wondering what you guys use. Also, if you feel that I've overlooked anything, feel free to suggest other apps as well. I would've posted this in the iPod/iPhone apps, but my question would've been 150 posts down the line or so. Thanks a lot.:)
def should get viz wiz, around me, color identifier, word popper is fun, so is smack me. i have tons just trying to think of the top few i use. of course face book, twitteriffic, dragon dictate, . a cool one, if your blind will need assistance... but it's called pimp my name. it's a wall paper thingy. you use one or two names and lots of cute designs to go with them. I know i'm a girlie girl. lol i like cute wal papers. hehehe
I know I'm going to shell out 60 bucks for navigon. I hear it works pretty well, but I won't be doing that right away. For those of you who have tried more than 1 app, could you explain what you liked or didn't. For example, if you've used more than one OCR app, what were the differences? I know that sometimes the most expensive apps aren't always the way to go so.... post on. Basically, I'm trying to get the most important apps first like barcode scanner, money identifier, GPS, OCR apps, Etc., but I don't want to spend tons of money on apps that might or might not work.
Just checked out Viz Wiz, and it does look like a neat app. Thanks.:)
For a money identifier, go with Looktel money reader. It's $2, but far superior to the free money reader produced by the U.S. treasury. Totally worth it. It's the best 2 bucks I've spent in the app store. If you use Bookshare, the Bookshare Read2go app is sweet. $20, but again, it's money well spent. I've used my Bookshare subscription a lot more since the app came out. It's so convenient to just download books directly to my iPod and start reading.
I don't have a bookshare account, but my friend who has one and who has an iPod touch has had problems with it. I'm not exactly sure what those problems were, but I've read recently that she quit using it. Thanks for the posts so far. They've been helpful.
You mean problems with the Bookshare app? Tell you friend to update it and try again. The original release was buggy and had issues. They fixed most of it recently with an update and it works great now. I almost gave up on it before the update, but I use it constantly now.
I'll tell her. I've thought about getting bookshare myself so if I do, I'll definitely get the app.
OCR is hit and miss with iPhone 4, but perhaps the better optics in the 4S will help that. I have Prismo, and have had limited success with it.
If you don't travel a lot outside of your state you can get a version of Navigon for your specific region for $30. They sell ones for the east coast, west coast, midwest, and probably a few others.
that is true, you could purchase your region and add additional regions as you need them, but if you evaluate your traveling, I think you will find that you will need two regions at least. This means that it would be cheaper to by the whole US set then just one or two regions.
I'll be buying the full US version. It comes in East region, West and middle regions. Since I don't know where I'm going to land in the future, I'll just cover my bases.
I use the voice recorder app, the texting app, and some others. too.
As for Navigon that's probably what I'll end up doing since I never know where i'll end up. Hoping I can stay here but you never know.
Thanks everybody for their advice and opinions. Right now, I haven't bought any apps yet, but I do plan on getting viz wiz, navigon, the in tell money reader, around me, and maybe a couple more. We'll see.
sounds like your tool chest of apps is pretty well stocked with everything necessary for day to day life.
good apps, hmm, it depends on what your hobbies and what you like to do with the phone. i have about 100+ apps, and they are consider good apps for me.
if you are a book worm like me, check IBooks, Audidle, daisy worm and so on. my favourite of it all is IBooks!!! can't believe how accessible the app is, and how i can able to read an ebook just like anyone else without having any extra bits and pieces beside voiceover. :)
For radio, try Tune in radio, you can access to at least 4000 radio stations around the world. And also IBlink Radio. It got quite a comprehendsive of blind resources, podcasts, and some blind community radio too.
If you do use Skype, Skype for iphone is something that you must get. I can't believe now i can have skype confrence at work on the go.
If you use messenger, try IM+, i've used things like Immo Messenger, Pay Tell and so on, i found that IM+ still the better of all.
I'm interested to get the ReadToGo app myself. anyone know if it works outside of US? and yes, i do have bookshare international account. just in case that is the question.
hope this help
If you don't have light perception, you should get Light Detector. It emits a noise that gets higher or lower in pitch to show how much illumination there is in a room and where the light source is, if any. I only recently got it so haven't played around with it much yet, but the first time I used it I discovered that my last visitor had forgotten to turn off an overhead light in the main room of my apartment.
face book twitter. skipe. hey tell.
you should get Skype twitter, toon in radio, light sector, around me and things like that
What's Light Sector? anyone know of any other accessible apps? to use Viswhis, does VO need to be off?
no it doesn't have to be turned off to use viz wiz.
hey tell is a grate app for staying in touch, its also cross platform. Navigon is grate for confused taxi drivers :)
whilst I'm sure we can all recommend loads of stuff, equally, just explore the app store, there's loads of very accessible apps out there. for me, quick news, sky news etc are a must. also stuff like BBC iPlayer or equivlent for watching TV. wouldn't bother getting dragon as you've all ready got a 4S with Siri for all that jaz. upgraded to a 4S 3 weeks ago, and love it. let us know how it goes
Color ID free is a good free option for color identification. iBlackjack hd is now accessible with vo and is $.99. Dropbox can be handy to have, as can dropvox, d,r,o,p,v,o,x, which let's you record voicenotes and then puts them in a folder in your dropbox. For radio, I use the npr app, pandora, and slacker for now. Skype and iBooks are great apps! There are others I use and plan to try out, but, those are my pics for now.
wow guess I know where I will be headed soon. Just got my iPhone Thursday and have had a great time
I use Pandora and TuneIn Radio, and I recently got Slacker. I've heard good things about iBlink Radio too; I'll have to check it out.
hey someone said something about a sleep machine app so I downloaded it but it seems inaccessible, can anyone give me tips? thanks
Ok, here's my must have list of apps (I've had an iPhone 4 GSM for about a month now...):
Navigation: Navigon USA (Paid, $60)
Visual Search/Barcode Scanner/Currency Identifier: OMoby (Free)
Radio: Pandora, Shoutcast (all Free)
Music Tagging: Shazam (Free/Paid, $6)
Social Networking: Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, AudioBoo (all Free)
Voice Chat: Skype, HeyTel, Voxer, Zello (all Free)
Transit Info: OneBusAway (Seattle specific) (Free)
Banking: Bank of America Mobile Banking (if you use that bank) (Free)
Google Voice: Talkatone (Free)
News: KOMO News (Seattle specific) (Free)
Jailbreak Apps: Cydia (requires jailbreaking your iDevice) (Free)
Keep in mind this list is what I've got on my phone, but most of these I'd recommend to others.
Okay so if you listen to radio with aps will it take up your internet gb? I figure it will but wasn't sure.
If you listen to pandora on 3G, then yes, it will.
TuneIn Radio and Slacker will use your data, too; however, if you get one of the paid versions of Slacker, you can cache your favorite stations so that you can listen offline.
or, you could use wi-fi (which doesn't charge you for internet useage).
If you use TuneIn Radio, it's definitely better to be in an area where you can use WiFi if possible, because it apparently uses up quite a lot of data. I have WiFi at home, which is mainly where I stream Slacker and TuneIn Radio (and Pandora, when I had it) anyway, so I don't really know how much data each radio app uses.
If you're constrained by a limited data plan, I strongly recommend as was suggested using a wireless connection as much as you can. Even the stations that cash stuff for you to listen offline will require quite a bit of your limited gigs to download and make ready the things that it intends to cash and play for you.
I use a wireless connection on my phone pretty much all the time save for the times I'm not actually at home to conserve what I have, since I got the lowest data plan possible. That's all I really need since I do have a home internet connection and don't tend to check stuff on the net a lot when I'm not at home.