HERE ARE 7
MUST-DOWNLOAD APPS FOR YOUR NEW SMARTPHONE
HAVE
A NEW DEVICE TO LOAD UP WITH APPS? HERE ARE SOME OF THE BEST, NOT-SO-OBVIOUS
DOWNLOADS.
So, you
just unboxed a brand new smartphone. Merry Christmas,
lucky! Whether you’re a first-time smartphone owner (say goodbye to your
attention span) or a migrant to a new platform, a freshly opened phone is an
exciting new frontier. With millions of apps available, this little gadget will
undoubtedly become an indispensable part of your day-to-day life. But where to start?
The
first apps anyone crams onto a new phone are pretty obvious: what are the
services, social networks and games you already use? Most people go straight
for Facebook (and
its various offshoots, like Instagram and WhatsApp), YouTube,Snapchat, Netflix, Pandora, and
the like. But there are millions of developers around the world toiling away on
inventive and useful mobile apps that aren’t necessarily household names.
Often, they creep up the top charts in the app stores, but not always.
Here’s
a field guide to some of the less obvious, but still must-download apps for
your shiny and deeply addictive new device.
Facebook. Twitter.
Instagram. Snapchat. Of course you’re going to scurry through the app store and
and nab the most popular social networking apps first. But once you’ve done
that, go ahead and download Periscope. It
may not be as much of as household name as Twitter, its parent company, but the
live broadcasting video app is already having an impact. Periscope is used by over 10
million people to view live broadcasts of breaking news events or the
microwaving of macaroni and cheese. Launched by Twitter in
March 2015, Periscope has raised
concerns about piracy andsparked debates about the ethics of
live-streaming as tragedy unfolds. Most of the videos are
much more mundane than that. But there’s something fascinating about getting a
little real-time window into somebody else’s world, and then having that window
shut after 24 hours (that’s when Periscope videos disappear). Even if you’re
not ready to live-stream your Christmas dinner to the world, go ahead and
download Periscope to see what kind of random, weird, potentially riveting
stuff is happening around the world right now.
It may
have taken over a decade, but podcasts are officially all the rage. Thanks to
the rise of Serial and other hits, the once-geeky mass medium
is something you can chat about with the whole family during the holidays. But
first, you need to spend the afternoon binge listening. There are a bunch of
podcasting apps out there, including ones that come pre-installed on many
devices. Stitcher has been around for a few years now, but it’s still hard to
beat. Its design encourages discovery and listening without the user getting
lost in choices (or distracted from driving, for that matter). Playlists,
offline listening, and a priceless "listen
later" button make collecting and hearing your favorite podcasts easier
than most other apps allow. (Overcast is another widely recommended
podcasting app, although unlike Stitcher, it’s only available for iOS)
Here’s
a sentence I didn’t envision saying when I bought my first smartphone in
2008: Man, the app this newspaper company built is really awesome. But
alas, here I am—and I mean it. There are countless apps that let you read the
news and other articles on your phone (I still jump between Flipboard, Feedly,
Longform, and Instapaper on the regular), but NYT Now is
special. It takes the venerable brand and journalism of the nation’s
"paper of record" and puts it in a well-designed, smartly curated,
and easily digestible app that feels like it came from a stealthy startup. NYT
Now is respectful of your time, offering bullet point summaries and reading
time estimates beneath headlines. At the same time, it offers opportunities to
delve into longform articles and read select pieces from other publishers,
curated by the app’s editorial team. Somehow, NYT Now scratches both the itch
to skim the news on the subway and dive deep on the sofa.
(iOS only)
Despite
being introduced nearly 30 years ago, the GIF (particularly the animated
variety) is just now becoming a mainstay of modern communication. GIFs fill
Tumblr, illustrate major news events on Twitter, and enhance our one-on-one
communication via chat or IM. The team at Giphy is obviously well aware of just
how indispensable these little animations have become in online life. That’s
why the newest version of
their Giphy Cam app makes it even easier to create, edit, and
share GIFs. The app lets you select from a range of effects filters and
superimposed graphics and text. Unlike the previous version of Giphy Cam, this
one lets you grab images and videos from your phone's camera roll, so you can
make GIFs out of just about anything. More than just a holiday time waster,
Giphy Cam will help you delight and entertain your friends and loved
ones.
(iOS only)
One of
the best apps to land on iOS this year is Workflow, a tool for automating tasksbetween
the various apps on your phone. If you’re familiar with IFTTT (whose app,
unlike Workflow,
is available for Android
too), you get the idea: You can define a series of actions in a
simple, drag-and-drop interface and enable different services to talk to each
other and unlock new possibilities.
Popular
workflows include the ability to automatically pull up Google Maps directions
for the next event on your calendar, tweet the song you’re listening to (or
instantly find the lyrics online), or turn Live Photos and videos into GIFs.
Workflow doesn’t have quite as many options as IFTTT (or "recipes" as
that service calls them), but its interface is foolproof and its tight
integration with iOS is a big plus.
The
weather on the East Coast has been freakishly warm and rainy this holiday
season. In fact, another drizzle is about to start in a few minutes. How do I
know? I found out the same way I find out about missed calls, Slack mentions,
Tinder matches, and horrifying current events: I got a push notification.
Thanks to Dark Sky, the
innovative weather app, I can get real-time notifications about changes in the
conditions outside. Dark Sky takes the standard day-by-day (and hour-by-hour)
weather forecasts up a notch with sleek, minimal elegance, subtle animations,
and maps showing precipitation and temperatures shift around the globe.
But
what makes Dark Sky the best weather app I’ve ever used is its timeliness. In
addition to what the day (and subsequent days) are going to look like outside,
Dark Sky spells out for users what is going to happen in the next several
minutes.
Your
new smartphone can have the most advanced camera specs out there, but that
doesn’t mean your photos will all magically turn out looking frame-worthy. Even
the best shots could benefit from a quick tune-up before you Instagram them.
Afterlight is one of countless photo-editing apps available for Android and
iOS, but having taken many of them for a spin, I find I keep returning to this
one (VSCO Cam is a
close second). Afterlight offers all of the standard photo-editing options
(adjusting clarity, saturation, contrast, brightness, shadows and the like),
but packs them into a pleasant, intuitive interface and layers on
Instagram-style filters and retro effects that recall the light leaks and artsy
discoloration of film photography. You can also crop, add borders, and layer on
other images to mimic multiple exposure photos.
BY JOHN PAUL TITLOW
http://www.fastcompany.com/3054975/elasticity/here-are-7-must-download-apps-for-your-new-smartphone?utm_source=mailchimp&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=fast-company-daily-newsletter&position=2&partner=newsletter&campaign_date=12282015
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