So here is my quick recap of apps I used this week for this site.
WordPress for Android: The current version sucks. Right now it seems to be several upgrades behind the current version for the iPhone. The two biggest setbacks for me was A: the command bar is still lacking, B. Sentences would oftentimes come out with early carriage returns, C. Oftentimes, if I wanted to jump to another field (title, etc.), it would often not allow me to freely scroll. I ended up having to flip my phone to landscape to get it to scroll high enough to see the next field (or use their “Next” button to get there).
Would I use the WordPress app for posting articles to my site? Yes. But only for quick posts. Anything longer than a few sentences and a link and I will use a computer. That is not entirely due to the WordPress app. It is just not a fast way to post if you have a lot of info to present.
Best combo apps for Facebook/Twitter: Opera browser and Hootsuite.
I’ve been using it all week and I have to say I that this is the most I have tweeted in months. It has always been a bit of a challenge for me to manage both my Facebook page and Twitter stream at the same time. But these apps really make it super easy. The Opera browser is fast and allows me to quickly share anything to Hootsuite (currently the program I use to manage Twitter and Facebook). Not going back to the way I used to do it.
New kid on the block: Google Currents
This app is DOPE! This is the best newsreader I have downloaded in a long time. Google just released it last evening and I have loved it ever since. The layout makes all of your favorite streams look almost like a magazine that you can thumb through by just swiping your finger. Anything you find interesting can easily be shared through all of your social media channels. Check it out.
Photoshop
I just pulled this one because I knew it had the ability to crop one of the pictures I used this week. Yes, there are plenty of other image editing apps out there, but come on man, it’s Photoshop. Great app.
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I am in the middle of downloading a few photo apps. I am going to challenge myself over the weekend to really use this phone as my exclusive camera. Will post my pics to either my Flickr account, Tumblr account or both. By the way, Instagram is coming to Android. Just another way for you to tell your story through imagery.
Practicing what I have been preaching this week.
In the past, I ventured into building my own app from scratch. But after a few weeks of dusting off some of my “just enough to be dangerous” software skills, I gave up. I then started looking for some free app builders online, but the end result looked very crappy.
Last night I found iBuildApp and so far I am liking what I see. Not exactly what I had in mind, but it offers a lot of customizations and some very good templates. I will let y’all know how my first app turns out.
This first app week here on Blackinformant.com may have been a bit clunky (at least I feel that way), but hopefully some of you were encouraged enough to stop being bystandards in this gold rush and carving out your piece of the pie.
