In the last post I covered all of the apps that come pre-installed. This time I'll be covering applications that I downloaded from the App Store. These range in price from free to $9.99.
Cost: Free. I can keep track of all my bank accounts with one glance so I will know when I start to run out of money.
Cost: $4.99. Allows me to keep track of my day to day spending. I can set up different categories such as lodging, transportation and food. And then I can see reports on how much we've spent so far.
Cost: Free. Keeps me up-to-date on the current exchange rate.
Cost: $9.99. The usefulness of this one should be painfully obvious. The bonus is it not only shows you what the phrase is, it speaks it aloud for you so you can here the proper pronunciation.
Cost: $4.99. Allows me to upload PDFs and other files to my iPhone. I can keep handy maps to the various Rick Steves' walking tours, hotel reservation confirmations, and train schedules.
I know there are a lot of reports out there right now about people experiencing problems with their iPhones, but I haven't had any of these issues. Mine works perfectly.
Labels: iPhone, travel planning
Is the iPhone the greatest travel accessory ever? I'm pretty convinced it is thanks to the
iTunes App Store. There is an application to cover just about all your travel logistic needs. Here are the ones I think will be particularly helpful and how I plan to use them both before and during our trip to Italy.
I'll start with the built in applications and in another post I'll cover ones I've gotten from the App Store (both free and purchased).
Maps
I plug in the address of our hotels and bookmark them for later referal, then I take a screen shot of the maps and organize them into their own photo album (to take a screen shot hold down the home button and then press the power button). When I need to see where we're staying I can call up the Photos application and voila! Now if only I could access my customized
Google Maps and view all of my bookmarked locations at once it would truly be perfect.
Contacts
In Contacts I've entered all of the phone numbers and addresses of the hotels where we'll be staying and organized them into a separate group. I've done the same thing with emergency contact numbers, like credit cards, banks and our pet sitters.
Calendar
In Calendar, I've entered our itenerary including flight and train information, and which hotels we're staying in on which days. Plus any reservations we have for tourist attractions (like the Last Supper in Milan, and the Uffizi and Acadamy in Florence).
Safari and Mail
The usefulness of these will depend on the prevalence of free WiFi, but lots of hotels include that so I should be able to check email, and post to the blog on a fairly regular basis without having to hunt down and pay for an internet cafe.
iPod
This one is really self explanatory. But I will say I don't know how anyone survived a transatlantic flight before iPods existed.
That's all for now, check back later for part 2.
Labels: gadgets, iPhone, italy
