I see someone asking about an app on here.
It might be useful to discuss apps that make life in CHN/KMG easier.
What are your favourite apps?
What do they do?
Why do you like them?
Pros/cons?
etc.
As someone who has yet to join the smartphone revolution, it would be useful to know what I am missing.
Other may benefit from learning about an app then have not heard of yet.
That's a good suggestion. I will soon buy a smartphone. Probably the Galaxy note 2. What good apps do you guys use to learn of get better with your Chinese?
Best app in China is obviously translators. Hanping pro on Android is great, Pleco and Google Translate both also excellent.
Voice recorders for Chinese classes/language exchange also a must...
Google maps - for finding out where you are/going
Google tracks/runtastic or others for tracking a run/bike ride whatever
Navigation apps for when you are in a car
Facebook/QQ/Skype for keeping in touch with friends/family (free as opposed to SMS, just pay for data)
List apps for recording groceries/short sound files/whatever
Thats before I get to entertainment apps...
Blobbles has a good list, I use most of them.
Also:
Adobe Reader, AccuWeather, Documents to Go, Kindle, Chrome, AK Notepad, Calendar, Offline Dictionaries, Gmail, Swype, and several Chinese related apps.
News: CNN, Drudge, FT. Fox, Al Jazeera, WSJ
What a good flashcard marker? (free of course).
ILoveBus(我爱公交车) - Great for finding out which bus to take.
Viber / LINE - Similar to Skype, but better (IMO)
English Chinese Dictionary (BRAVOLOL) - Obviously a dictionary (with English/Pinyin/Chinese input)
All available on Google Play for free.
Slightly off topic, but clearly related issue. Someone mentioned data.
How data hungry are these apps?
What are peoples bills like?
@Liumingke1234, Pleco has a flashcard maker.
@tigertiger, I use about 100mb per month (i think it's 30rmb), but that's mostly for Google Maps, otherwise I'd probably only be using 20mb.
Pleco needs to download a package on installation. I do it on wifi. Then it's all off-line use.
Google Translate uses 5mb max per month (more if I use the photo feature)
News & Weather feeds - 2mb
When reading news or browsing, you can disable image loading to save bandwidth.
@Liumingke1234 - AnkiDroid is also good for flashcards. It has many pre-made shared decks that you can download so you don't need to worry about making your own (assuming you have an Android phone).
I second what everyone says here, but would add a few more apps.
WhatsApp: free international texing to other iphone/androids over wifi, or super cheap with data.
HeyWire: same as above, but can text back and forth with non-smart phones in the USA and Canada. It will provide a free USA number for people in the USA to text you at local rates.
My Data Manager: gives you detailed breakdown of wifi and data usage for each app
Data On-Off: Single click button to turn your data on or off to save money.
gStrings: guitar tuner, awesome if you play
Google Sky: hold your phone up to the stars (might have to get out of town for this one) and it tells you the celestial information. Fun!
SMS Backup and Restore: backs up your text messages
Dropbox: online data storage
