Recently two friends were talking about smart phones. One friend said to the other friend, “Well, it’s not like anyone uses all the stuff on the phones.” The first friend said, “Uh, yeah, Rich uses everything on his IPhone and then some.”
It’s true. So long I was in exile from the IPhone just because it was only offered on one network, and that network doesn’t cover where I live so well. Sad but true. But when the IPhone came to another network….oh yeah, watch out!
What’s so great about the IPhone? Plenty. It has replaced my notebook (pen & paper style). Appointments go in and are synced with the office machine and home machine. I’ve setup a new portfolio gallery that I use the IPhone to display to potential clients. And beyond the basic stuff that comes with it, I’ve added a lot more. Apps, ya know!
What are my new super favorite apps? Well, here’s a list of what I’ve been digging.
- Easy Release: Talk about a cool model release app. This thing does it all quickly and simply. No paper model releases in my backpack any more!
- Square: After several months of testing I’ve decided. I’m dumping my old credit card processing company. Fees, fees, fees. Square takes a percentage of each transaction and that’s it. Plus they process American Express transactions faster than my current company and no extra bump in percentage like my current company.
- Red Laser: Recently a friend added a QR code to their sales fliers. They knew I had an IPhone, so they’d asked me to scan the QR code to see if it worked. At the time I didn’t have a QR code reader, so I couldn’t (some tech junkie….). After scouring the App Store I found Red Laser. Gotta say, it works great on QR codes, bar codes, & more. Very cool app!
- Light Meter: Last weekend found me doing a quick photo shoot in the Dells for friends. The night before the shoot while reading Terry White’s site I came across Light Meter for the IPhone. Very very cool! I used it during the shoot and guess what? Worked great. You can lock some settings and have it recommend others. I locked my ISO to 50, and my shutter speed to 1/160th of a second to see what aperture it would suggest. Working from there I then had a great feel on settings for slight underexposures with my speed lites. Very cool.
- Facebook: I use FB to goof around with friends, but mostly to promote my business. I am a self promoter to be sure! The FB app on the IPhone rocks. Period.
- Splice: Not only does the IPhone shoot fantastic video, but you can edit too. That’s where Splice comes in. I’ve used it many times while in the Vermillion Cliffs to create quick YouTube videos from my road trips. You can add title pages, still images, video, and audio tracks, put them all together, and export to a final video file.
- Dragon Dictation: Speech to text? Yup, works well! And it’s free!
Want to learn about the best apps out there? Then you need to pop over to Terry White’s Best Apps site. He’s got them all. The latest app that I’m trying out on his referral? Sylights. Check it out. I’m still trying it out and deciding if I really need it, or if it’s a gee whiz app. We’ll see. 🙂