In the Washington Post article, “iPhone Apps for the Traveler,” dated May 16, 2010, Ross Arbes, endorses 15 apps for the iPhone using traveler. I will comment on a few of them.
- Maps – Buy a hard copy or print something out from Google or Mapquest or just access the sites on your iPhone. Do we really need an app to replace competent services that are available to us on our web enabled device? Familiarize yourself with where you are going before you get there. It is generally very beneficial.
- Cheap Gas (free) – First of all, cheap gas may be cheap but is is not free. No driving directions to the gas station so what is the point. What is that $1.50 savings per fill up in the wider scheme of things anyhow? Especially if you are out of town.
- ATM Hunter – ATM’s are everywhere…banks, fast food restaurants, convenience stores, gas stations, bars, etc. Now an app for “Money (free)” would be cool.
- Sit or Squat, public toilet finder – Public toilets are everywhere…banks (just kidding), fast food restaurants, convenience stores, gas stations, bars, etc.
- EveryTrail, records route, speed and elevation using iPhone GPS and incorporates photos taken into the route – This presumably requires that you use the camera on your iPhone. God forbid! Give my my Nikon D60 any day. Besides if you can’t remember where you took your pictures then they probably weren’t very good.
- HearPlanet Lite, locates nearby sites and reads articles aloud from Wikipedia and Wikitravel – Get the relevant real Lonely Planet guide and read about it beforehand. Bring the book with you to refine the experience on site. Avoid noise pollution be it by headphone or speaker, especially by speaker.
- Am I Safe (costs $.99), provides crime states for your area and classifies it as safe or not safe – Bam your mugged or dead. If you can’t figure that out by yourself or haven’t researched it in advance then you are effed. Sorry.
- iTranslate, can translate more than 50 languages and voice translations out loud – Sounds pretty good but how do you input the foreign language? Do you have to type it in? Can someone speak the foreign language in and have it output in the desired other foreign language?