Det smarte ved Smartphones

Det smarte ved en smartphone

Niels Jørgen Thøgersen

Mange snakker om dem. Men det er ikke alle, der ved, hvad de er. Så hvad er en smartphone? Det er kort fortalt en sammensmeltning mellem en mobiltelefon og en lommecomputer. Med andre ord et teknisk ”kræ”, der kan stort set ligeså meget, som din bærbare laptop kan.   Og så kan du have den i lommen – eller endnu bedre: i en særlig pung, der er fæstet på dit bælte.

Og smartphones er ikke bare kommet for at blive. De udvikler sig med lynets hast. Og det varer ikke længe, inden der sælges flere af dem end af  bærbare compurere og af almindelige mobiltelefoner.  Samtidig er det heldigvis også sådan med dem – ligesom med det meste andet tekniske udstyr af den slags – at de hele tiden bliver bedre og bedre og samtidig billigere. Tænk om det var sådan med andre ting i verden J

Hvad kan en smartphone ?  Det korte svar er, at de kan stort set alt, hvad der har med kommunikation at gøre. Her er bare nogle af de ting, som man let og elegant kan bruge dem til:

Samtaler, sms og mms, e-mails, søgning på Internettet, fotografering og sending eller uploading af fotos med det samme, det samme med videooptagelse,  finde vej med indbygget GPS, følge nyheder i medierne, synkronisere dine adresselister og kalendere med din computer, læse e-Bøger, slå op i elektroniske leksika, oversætte til og fra ca. 50 sprog med Google Translate, bruges som båndoptager, læse og ”fodre” dine sociale netværk såsom Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr og Picasa.

Du har sikkert hørt om apps ?  Det betyder applications – små programmer, som du meget let kan downloade enten fra Android Market eller fra Apple Market – afhængig af hvilken smartphone, du har.  Der er flere hundrede tusinder af dem, og de fleste er gratis. Nye kommer til hver eneste dag.  Og hver app giver simpelt hen nye funktioner for din smartphone.

Hvis du vil vide mere om både smartphones i almindelighed og om de apps, som jeg f.eks. bruger, så kan du læse om det på min hjemmeside her:

http://www.niels-jorgen-thogersen.dk/33454410  

Er du helt forpustet? Det behøver du ikke være. Og hvis du tænker, at du da slet ikke har brug for alle disse ting, ja så er det selvfølgelig også fint. Du bruger dem, du har lyst til og brug for. Men lur mig, om du ikke hen ad vejen lige vil prøve et par nye funktioner af og til.

Det der for mig er det afgørende er FRIHEDEN.  Friheden til at kunne alt hvor som helst – og når som helst. Ikke være afhængig af tid og sted, når man vil kommunikere. Og så at kunne gøre det med ét apparat og ikke behøver at ”bule sine lommer ud” med alskens isenkram til fruens idelige ærgrelser L

Nu stiller du så 10.000 € spørgsmålet: Hvilken smartphone skal man købe?  Der er mange på markedet. Og der kommer hele tiden flere til.

Inden jeg svarer, vil jeg gerne komme med den personlige bekendelse, at jeg principielt ikke kan li’ Apple og deres lukkede systemer.  Jeg er for åbenhed og adgang for alle og for alles kreativitet. Og det giver systemet Android.  Derfor ligger mit hjerteblod helt klart i deres kurv.

Jeg har selv en Nexus One smartphone fra Google. Den er allerede ”gammel”, dvs. et års tid. Dens tvillingesøster – og på visse punkter bedre – hedder HTC Desire.  Den er fantastisk. Og ny på samme stamme er Samsungs ( og Googles ) Nexus S.  Den er også aldeles glimrende.

En af de nyeste på denne Android-stamme er LG Optimus 2X. Den skulle være helt fantastisk.

Nu skal der naturligvis også være retfærdighed til. iPhonen kunne ikke sælges i millioner af eksemplarer, hvis den ikke var super god. Det ER den. Og den kan også alle de filurligheder, jeg nævnte ovenfor.  Så hvis du kan leve med Apple’s closed shop princip, så er det med garanti et glimrende køb.

Niels Jørgen Thøgersen   16 02 2011

kimbrer@gmail.com   

Smartphones med Android

F A C T   S H E E T

1. Android is a new mobile operating system developed by Google. It is an open system ( unlike Apple’s systems ), which means that any producer, any programmer, any developer, any customer is free to develop applications ( “apps” ) which run with Android.  It is already the most sold mobile operating system in the world.

2. More and more smartphones use the Android operating system, such as Nexus One, Nexus S, Samsung, HTC, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and many others

3. Android is very easy to handle – very user friendly, very straightforward

4. Smartphones can link to the outside world through GSM networks ( 3 G and others), by wireless WiFi and by Bluetooth connections.  If you are in a WiFi area and you have access to it the GSM link will stop automatically and you only use WiFi ( often for free ).

5. The on-line Android Market offers you  about 200.000 apps ( free or at a very low cost ). Most of them are developed by Android users. All of them are offering very smart and practical functions.  Every day you can follow the JUST IN and see new apps available

6. In addition to be a small and very powerful computer a smartphone is, of course, also a normal mobile phone. Also with sms / mms functions

7. SKYPE is a programme you can download to an Android phone and call for free or very cheaply, if you have a Skype account

8. An Android smartphone can synchronise  your Contact Lists in your mail programme ( f.ex. in Gmail ) automatically. When you update your contacts in your computer they are also updated in your phone. And vice versa. A very smart and practical function

9. The Calendar can synchronise automatically in the same way, f.ex. with Google Calendar

10. A built-in GPS function will show you on a map where you are – and also where you want to go to.  This function also helps different programmes to show you interesting news from the area you are in  ( hotels, restaurants, tourist hot spots, WiFi hotspots, etc. )

11. Google Earth , Google Maps and Google Street Views exist in free Android versions and function perfectly

12. Most smartphones have a very performing built-in Camera  with millions of pixels. You can take photos anywhere – and send them by e-mail immediately, if you want to J

13. The camera can also take Videos, if you have a reasonably big SD card in your phone.

14. They also have a Voice Recorder. You can use it as a normal recorder. Or for Podcasts, which you can send off rightaway

15. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn all have free Android apps – giving you direct access to your social networks. You can read your incoming information and suggestions. And you can very easily send your own at any time from anywhere. Including photos.

16. Google Translate  also has a free Android app – making it easy for you to translate anything from and to about 50 different languages. For free.

17. Gdocs is a free Google service, where you can upload any document for free and read it from any computer. Also from your Android smartphone. You can decide that only YOU will have access to those documents. Or let others have access to read or even edit some of the documents. This is a smart way of carrying your most important documents with you everywhere

18. You can have free information about the weather through a free Android app. From DMI, through “The Weather Channel” or others. It gives you by the hour and several days ahead a very precise forecast of how the weather will be

19. Converters of any kind are also free Android apps. Currencies, measurements of any kind, etc.

20. Free Dictionaries can be downloaded and easily used

21. KINDLE – the electronic book reader from Amazon – has a free Android app. If you have a Kindle/Amazon account and buy or get free books for it, you can also read them on your smartphone. This is also the case for the newspapers and magazines you subscribe to for your Kindle. Anywhere. Any time. For free.

22. Google Search function is, of course, also available

23. Photo galleries like Picasa and others have free Android apps.

24. Mobile browsers are also available.

25. Last but not least: LOTS of free NEWS SERVICES are at your disposal.  Like the app “Danmark Aviser” with 27 different media. Like BBC News. Like “Belgian Newspapers”. Like “Le Journaux en Francais”. Like ”Deutsche Zeitungen”. Like “DR Nyheder”. Like ”TV 2 Nyhederne”.  Be up-to-date about anything you want to know – anywhere.

26. And many, many more interesting and exciting Android apps. Ready for direct and free download directly from your smartphone.

Niels Jørgen Thøgersen

e-mail:  kimbrer@gmail.com

CON AMORE 

YOUR EUROPEAN CONNECTION

NEXUS ONE: Gratis programmes

NEXUS ONE er Google's nye smartphone. Den er alletiders. Her er en oversigt over mange af de gratis programmes, som man meget let kan downloade directe til telefonnen og bruge med det samme:

N E X U S   O N E

Overview of Free Apps

10001 Cocktails:   Search for a drink

·        A to Z  ( 16.000 drinks )

·        Browse  ( by drink type )

·        Search ( write name and search the website )

·        My Drink  ( my favorites to be saved from the lists )

Adobe Reader  ( for Android )

·        Recently viewed

·        PDF files

Amazon MP3:    ( on-line purchase of songs and music from Amazon )

·        Search Amazon MP3

·        Bestselling Albums

·        Bestselling Songs ( you can hear bits of them before you buy )

·        Browse by Genre

Antivirus:

·        For scanning of packages

·        For scanning of settings

·        For scanning of contents

·        For scanning of media

App Engine News:   All the news from the Google App Engine

·        Home

·        News

·        Twitter

·        Media

·        More…

BAC Calc:    Estimated Blood Alcohol Content

                      You type:    

             *   Body weight

·        Number of drinks

·        Hours passed

·        Male or female

                       And your estimated blood alcohol content is shown

BBC News:

·        Feeds

·        Headlines   ( updated all the time )

Betrains:    Uptodate time tables for Belgian trains   ( searchable )

Birthday quotes:    Lots of interesting quotations ( for free use )

Browser  ( for Android ):     Google

Business Cards:

·        With your built-in camera you can scan any business card

·        Then give it a name / tag

·        And very easily find it again later

Calculator:    With all necessary functions

Calendar:   ( automatically synchronised with your Google Calendar on your

                      computer )

·        Can show Day, Week, Month, Agenda

·        You can directly enter events into the Calendar

Calendar Pad:    Shows also your calendar – month or week

Caller Name:

·        Identifies unknown callers in case they have a phone entry

·        Works in many countries such as Denmark, Belgium, germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, the US, etc.

Calorie Counter:

·        Search  ( enter name of food )

·        Barcode scan:  scan food and read the calories in them

·        Quick pick:

-         Foods

-         Restaurant and chains

-         Popular brands

-         Supermarket brands

·        My Counter:

-         Food diary

-         Exercise Diary

-         Diet Calendar

-         Weight tracker

-         Sync

Camera:   ( 6 mill. Pixels )

·        Zoom

·        Flash mode

·        White balance

·        Store location

·        Focus mode

·        Exposure

·        Gallery  ( of taken photos )

Car Home:

·        Navigate

·        Phone

·        Voice search

·        Contacts  ( all your contacts on the phone )

·        Music

·        Maps

·        Settings

·        Automatic

Clock:

·        Time

·        Add alarm

COL

·        To write in reminders ( for wake-up, telephone calls, parking, clean-up

Compass:

·        Shown in different forms ( analog, digital, antique, or GPS )

·        Ientifies your exact location

·        Shows your altitude above sea level

·        Indicates your speed

Contacts: ( automatically synchronised with your Gmail contacts )

·        All your contacts in alphabetical order

·        Search button

·        Add new contacts

·        Display options

·        Accounts and sync settings

·        Import/Export

ConveyThis.com:

·        Free translator with pronunciation

·        From lots of languages to lots of languages

·        From Text to Speech

Currency converter

Dictionary.com  ( English )

Dolphin Browser   ( mobile browser for Android )

Earth  ( Google Earth ):      Find your location. Navigate. Discover the world J

Electricity Calendar:  

·        Meter Cost Calculator

·        Appliance Wattage

E-mail:   Configures e-mails from most accounts for mobile use

Engadget:   Latest news about gadgets and new technology

Evernote:    Turns your Android phone into an extension of your brain. It makes

                     You remember and recall anything that happened in your life.  

                     From notes to ideas to recording. Watch it all instantaneously

Facebook for Android:  Synchronizes automatically with your personal FB

                                        account.  You can see news, contact friends, everything.

Fetch It:     Phone finder. When you have lost your mobile phone in your home

                   And it is on vibrate or silent, then send a sms with the message

                   Fetch It.  It will then turn on a ringer with maximum volume

File Manager:  It allows you to browse your SD Card, create folders, copy,

                          move, delete, rename, zip and unzip files, launch applications

                          according to file type

Flickr Droid:   A fully-featured Flickr app. Browse your photos, favourite

                         collections, sets and contacts. Edit comments, save images,

                         upload saved photos, take photos on the fly and upload

Food Finder:   Get turn-by-turn directions to the nearest restaurant of your

                          choice. Shows you where to eat locally

Free My Text:  Why pay for sms messages ?!  Send and receive sms messages

                          to and from all your friends on the “Free My Text” netowork

                          for FREE

Fring:               Free mobile video calls – 1st ever on Android

Gallary:            All your photos

GDocs:             GDocs is a simple notepad that can view, edit and synchronize

                         documents from your Google Docs accounts. Can also import/

                         export and send documents

Glympse:         An easy way to safely share your location in real time. No sign-up

                         needed. Just send a Glympse to anyone via e-mail, sms, Facebook

                         or Twitter   

Googles:          Google’s Goggles is a visual search app. Instead of using words,

                         take a picture of an object with your camera phone. Goggle tries

                         to recognize the object and returns the result. Can also translate

                         English, French, Italian, German and Spanish words

Google Mail:   Your Gmail account on-line for direct use

Google Maps:  All functions of Google Maps ( such as location, navigation,

                          search by voice, traffic, street view, latitude, Google Buzz, etc. )

Google Sky Map:   It turns your Android powered mobile phone into a window

                                On the night sky

Google Translate:  Can translate instantly texts between 50 languages ( incl.

                                dictionary results, text-to-speech, voice input, etc. )

GPS Alarm:    It always checks your location. When you come into a place which

                         Is saved in the data, the GPS Alarm will be acticated

GPS Status:     Displays your GPS and sensor data: Position and signal strength

                         of satellites, GPS accuracy, speed, acceleration, etc. Includes

                         also a compass.   Mark your location and navigate back later.

gReader:         An unofficial Google Reader for Android. Reads all your RSS

                        feeds in one place with Google Reader. Keeping up-to-date with

                        your favourite websites is as easy as checking your e-mails

( to be continued )

Niels Jørgen Thøgersen

Mine egne bedste APPS for Android

F A C T   S H E E T

A

Anti virus app:

Remember to download the free anti-virus app. And remember also to update it, when you are reminded by your smartphone that Updates are available

B

BBC News:

All the latest news from BBC. Not only the headlines, but the full text.

Browser:

Several browsers are available as free apps: Dolphin browser, Dolphin browser HS, Opera mini, etc.  In this way you can easily read texts on the internet.

C

Calendar:

An app also gives you a Calendar, which you can read and write into. You can arrange that it is automatically synchronised with your Google Calendar on your computer.

Camera:

Your smartphone has a built-in camera, which can take photos and small videos. When you have taken it you can immediately save it to the Gallary.

The Camera can also be used for other functions such barcode scanning and monitoring of your heart beat.

Contacts:

Your list of contacts is directly accessible via your app.  You can easily arrange that the list is automatically synchronised with your Gmail contact list. You can insert photos of each of your contacts. If you write the address of your contacts in the list and you have GPS installed on your smartphone you can by a simple click in your contact list see where the address is on a Google map.   And when one of your contacts call you their name ( and photo ) will automatically appear on the screen of your smartphone.

D

Danmarks Aviser:

A collection of the websites of 32 Danish newspapers, incl. The most important ones like Jyllands-Posten, Politiken, Berlingske, Information, BT, Ekstrabladet, Danmarks Radio and TV2.  Through two clicks you can follow all the latest news in each of them

Droidin:

With this app you have direct access to your social network LinkedIn. Anywhere.

E

ENDOMONDO Fitness trainer:

This free app helps you to monitor your running, walking, cycling, etc. Real time GPS based tracking of time, distance, speed and calories.

EURONEWS LIVE:

You can live see and listen to the ongoing programme on EURONEWS.  Very new app.

F

Facebook:

You can have direct access to your Facebook account, read your messages, send new messages, etc.

G

Gallery:

A photo album where all the photos you either take with the camera or you download are stored.  The small videos you record with your built-in camera are also stored here.

You can directly from the Gallery share your each of your photos and videos by sending them to one of many places such as Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Picasa, Evernote, Dropbox, etc.

Gmail:

If you have a Gmail account you can read your mails and send them directly from your smartphone.  At the same time the list of Contacts on your smartphone is automatically synchronised with your Contact list in Gmail.

Google Books:

This app gives you direct access to about 3 million free books at the Google electronic bookstore

Google Search:

The Google app makes it very easy to use the Google search engine at any time

H

I

iRecord:

With the free app called iRecord you can use your smartphone as a voice recorder. And when you have finished recording your short message, greetings or questions you can immediately send them via Gmail, Bluetooth, Dropbox or Evernote

J

K

Kindle:

This free app makes it possible for you to read all your books, newspapers and magazines on your e-book reader Kindle from Amazon ( if you have one ).  No extra costs. Available everywhere.

L

M

Maps:

Google maps are freely available as an app.  You can see your own location or search any other location anywhere in the world.  In your Contact list you can by a simple click see on the map, where your Contact is living or working, if you have written the address into the list.

Market:

Fra denne app kan man downloade op til 200.000 apps om alt muligt. De fleste gratis ( modsat iPhone ).  Og de, der koster noget, er yderst billige. Download er nem og lynhurtig. Husk at overføre så mange som muligt til dit SD-card på smartphonen – af pladshensyn.

N

O

P

Q

R

S

SKYPE:

You can also downlo ad a free SKYPE app, which makes it possible to use your SKYPE account directly from your smartphone.   This service also includes video Skyping on most smartphones.

T

Translate:

Google Translate is available as a free app. It makes it possible for you to machine translate any word, expression or text to and from 72 different languages

Twitter:

A Twitter app gives you direct access to your Twitter account. You can read as well as send your twits.

U

V

W

Weather Channel:

This app gives you access to the weather right now, over the next 36 hours and in the next 10 days anywhere in the world.  You can search by location. And you can make a list of up to 12 favourite locations, which it at any time is very easy to check.  The locasions available in this service are very precise.

WiFinder:

The WiFinder app can help you find available WiFi areas. 

World Newspapers:

With this app you have free access to thousands of newspapers from all over the world ( in chapters Most Popular, By Continent, By Country, Web News, Magazines, Videos )

Y

YouTube:

The free video sharing service YouTube is also available as an app.  You can use your YouTube account directly, also for sending videos you just recorded with your smartphone

Z

Niels Jørgen Thøgersen

e-mail:  kimbrer@gmail.com

July 26, 2011   

CON AMORE 

YOUR EUROPEAN CONNECTION