Thursday, June 5, 2014

23 Mobile Things: Thing 23

Evaluate 23 Mobile Things

I'm really glad I did this. I can't say it changed my life or anything, but I found some really useful apps and feel much more familiar with my smartphone now. I don't see myself using a huge number of the apps I tried, but there are certainly some. I'm saddened that Springpad is shutting down next month. I'm glad someone tweeted about it on the main 23 Mobile Things page, as I don't sign into Springpad all that often, and I would have hated to lose what I do have there. I really don't like Evernote nearly as well - it's not anywhere near as versatile as Springpad, but it'll hold the information until I don't need it anymore. Why does it always feel like the things I like are the ones that go away?

I think my main reason for not using many of these apps is the limits under which they operate. For example, QuickOffice is the palest shadow of the real thing. Since most of my Word, Excel and PowerPoint work is for work, I just do it with the full versions. Almost any other time I need to create documents, I'm home, and, again, use the full version. It's too hard on a phone - I might feel differently about a tablet. And I'm used to the full versions and feel these fall really flat in comparison. I wasn't all that wild about the photo editing software, either, but I must admit that may be user ineptitude.

I'm probably not the best audience for this kind of project, as I consciously choose to not be engaged online all the time. I'm online enough, and don't want all my free time sucked  up by my phone. I'd far rather interact with real people. I don't have Facebook on my phone, even though I'm a reasonably active user. I'm going to own my phone, not the other way around. I also don't want all my social media apps connected to each other - I protect my privacy more than that.

That said, I probably will continue to use Flipboard, and I absolutely will use the app that locks my mail and messaging behind another layer of security. I'll continue to use my library app, and likely some of the connecting to community apps. I think this program has mostly expanded my knowledge of what my phone can really do! I feel more confident in trying things. But I remain cautious in what I download to my phone. There's too much dangerous stuff out there to download everything under the sun. I'd try something similar again. My recommendation would be to not get stuck on 23 things. I'm not sure why that number, but I think making yourselves stick to it is an artificial limit that can mean you include things not necessarily worth including, or not that different from other things.

My one sentence summary?

You'll never know what you can do until you try!

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