HootSuite
HootSuite does a great job of allowing you to manage multiple twitter accounts, schedule tweets, view messages, mentions and statistics and even making synchronised updates between twitter and facebook. The HootSuite Lite app makes this service mobile and everything tweet related can be accessed on your android phone. It makes it easy for you too: one swipe across the screen brings up your current tweet stream, while another one down the way allows you to switch accounts. The menu handles everything else, from statistics to settings, and you can rest assured that your Twitter profiles will never be neglected again.
Foursquare
No longer exclusive to iPhone users, the location based foursquare app for Android makes stalking a breeze as you ‘check in’ at everywhere from TGI Fridays to your local supermarket. You can even create a location profile for your own house – just don’t freak out when strangers check in.
Time limited offers are available from a few (mostly American) companies offering discounts and freebies to new or loyal customers, and every check in gets you one step closer to getting a badge to proudly display on your profile, such as the ‘Crunked’ badge which awards an enthusiastic pub crawl. Depending on where you visit, the mayor badge is most coveted, crowning the person with most visits to any venue.
ScanLife Barcode Reader
Using your camera to scan barcodes and save the information yielded from them, this app gives your fingers a rest as it launches downloads after just one scan and saves website information for later – so there is no need to slave over those pesky search engines or type in long URLs. You can even go to the apps website to create your own barcodes that you can put on your social networks for your friends to scan.
Springpad
Ever find something cool on the internet, only to find that when you go to show your friends it has disappeared in to the black hole of the internet, never to be seen again…..no matter how much googling you do? Well that could soon be a thing of the past with the Android Springpad app, on which you can take notes, bookmark website, save pictures and make your information public so your friends can see. All in one place!
Layar
This app delves into the world of augmented reality, which means that whatever your phone camera is pointing at is enhanced with useful (and sometimes not so useful) information. Luckily the Layer app is useful. By using the phone compass and GPS, Layer can reveal a wealth of information on the area your camera is pointing at – from nearby landmarks and local history to tips on how to get a taxi. This is more effective in big cities where lots of information has been added, but it is sure to roll out across more regions soon. For now it is a perfect way to see the sights in major cities – using your phone as a tour guide packed with local knowledge.
What We Think
From discounts to timesavers and tips, all of these apps are life enhancing – which only goes to show how far mobile technology has come in the last few years. There’s a lot of opportunity for businesses to make things easier for their customers and direct them to their products and services. And I think once I get my hands on Layer I won’t be able to stop pointing the camera at random areas of Glasgow, which could allow for a business to pop up and tell me all about their great offers in the area. Let’s just hope I don’t get pulled up for taking pictures of strangers……. – Fiona
