Mobile App Picks from the PRXperts
Emily posted on Tuesday, April 19th, 2011 | Blog, PRX, PRX Projects, Tech
We’re pretty into our phones over here at PRX. And that’s as it should be, I suppose, as many of us spend our days conceiving, coding and promoting mobile apps for public radio.
A couple months ago Radio Diaries producer Joe Richman — equipped with his first-ever iPhone — asked me what PRX’s favorite apps are. I put the question to my colleagues, and return with the following list of our favorite mobile apps.
First, meet our team of mobile app enthusiasts:
| Matt | John | Robert | Rekha | Jake | Chris | Farski | Kerri | Roman | Jones |
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Our big list of favorite apps:
| App | Recommended by | Description | Device |
| Ad Hoc Helper App | Matt | The Ad Hoc Helper allows developers to create a special version of their apps that can be run on anyone’s iPhone outside of the normal AppStore channels. | iPhone |
| Amazon Kindle | John | Kindle books on your phone including thousands of free books. | Android |
| Amazon.com | Robert | iPhone | |
| Android API Browser |
Chris | Not amazing as an app, but the first android app on the market written 100% in Ruby. | Android |
| AnyStop | Robert | Real-time MBTA bus schedules. | Android |
| Audible | John | “This free app features the most comprehensive audiobook experience ever, including Wi-Fi delivery of your Audible.com library.” | Android |
| Beluga & GroupMe |
Farski | Group texting, even with feature phones. Maybe the best thing ever. |
iPhone |
| Bloom | Jake, Robert | “Part instrument, part composition and part artwork, Bloom’s innovative controls allow anyone to create elaborate patterns and unique melodies by simply tapping the screen.” | iPhone |
| Boston Bus Map |
Robert | Real-time MBTA bus schedules. | Android |
| Camera (on the device) | Matt, Kerri | iPhone | |
| Catch The Bus | Matt, Rekha |
More GPS-driven MBTA bus schedules. I love/Hate this one. – Matt I feel the same way about it on Android – Rekha |
iPhone, Android |
| Chirp! for iPhone |
Rekha | Look up birds from any region and play their songs. John (hubby) and I use it to freak out birds from other regions. |
iPhone |
| Clock/Stopwatch (on the device) | Robert | iPhone | |
| Congress for Android |
Chris | Indispensable. One reason to be on Android. – Chris Track elected officials’ activities, read the latest bills and laws… |
Android |
| Cut The Rope | Robert | A game that’s easy to start and hard to finish. | iPhone |
| doubleTwist AirSync |
Chris | Keep your music synced without ever plugging in. | Android |
| Dropbox | Farski | Instant Cloud for photos and files. |
iPhone |
| Epicurious | Rekha, Kerri | Great recipes, and it generates a shopping list for you. |
iPhone |
| Enjoy Sudoku |
Robert | Has the best Sudoku hint system. | iPhone |
| FIP for iPhone |
Rekha | Amazing Paris radio station – every song is a winner. |
iPhone |
| Kerri, Rekha | Socializing without all that nasty human interaction. |
iPhone, Android | |
| Flash Player 10.2 |
Chris | Browse the whole web. | Android |
| FlightView | John | Real time flight info. |
Android |
| Genius Scan |
Jake, Kerri | Genius Scan turns your iPhone into a pocket scanner, enabling you to quickly scan documents on the go and email the scans as JPEG or PDF. | iPhone |
| GeoDefense |
Roman | Space shooter game. |
iPhone |
| Gigstar – Music Guide |
Chris | There *are* shows you don’t know you’re missing. | Android |
| Google Latitude |
Farski | Share your location with friends. |
iPhone |
| Google Maps (on the device) | Kerri, Chris, Rekha | The BEST google maps experience ever is the one on Android. Same deal for GMail. – Chris I don’t know, I think Google Maps are more usable on iPhone, strangely. – Rekha |
iPhone, Android |
| Google Voice |
Farski | Phone service with cheap international rates, and helps organize your calls and texts. |
iPhone |
| Hipstamatic |
Jones | Take photos with an analog feel. |
iPhone |
| Huffington Post |
Rekha | As much for the decent UI as for the content. Not a lot of great news apps on Android yet. |
Android |
| IMDB | Kerri | Movie information. |
iPhone |
| Inception | Jake | Also from RJDJ, this app plays music based on the ambiet information it receives through the phone’s mic. |
iPhone |
| InstantWatcher |
Robert | Great for finding good Netflix instant streaming movies. | iPhone |
| Itsy Bitsy Spider |
Jake | “Award-winning Childrens’ app.” |
iPhone |
| KCRW Radio | John | Live stream and on demand. |
Android |
| Library Books |
Robert | Alerts when your books are due. | iPhone |
| Mapquest |
Farski | Free turn-by-turn navigation and driving directions. | iPhone |
| Melodica |
Jake | “Melodica is a revolutionary music application that mixes lights and sounds in a unique way, allowing anyone to compose music intuitively creating amazing visual effects just with the tips of your fingers.” | iPhone |
| Mobile Mouse | Matt | Remote trackpad. |
iPhone |
| Mobile Safari (on the device) | Matt, Robert | iPhone | |
| MotionX GPS |
Farski | Tracks your path and gives you a bunch of extra data. Great for cycling. |
iPhone |
| NASA |
Farski | Explore space through videos, images and more. |
iPhone |
| NPR News for Android NPR News for iPhone |
John, Kerri | Android, iPhone | |
| NPR Music |
Farski, Kerri | First listens, interviews with artists, and good lists and mixes | iPhone |
| NYTimes | John, Kerri | Android | |
| Netflix | Matt, Robert, Kerri, Farski | Instantly watch TV shows & movies streaming from Netflix. | iPhone |
| Notes (on the device) | Robert | iPhone | |
| Osmos | Jake, Robert | “Asteroids meets a lava-lamp.” | iPhone |
| Pandora | Matt, Robert, Kerri, Jones, Farski | Personalized radio streams. |
iPhone |
| Papa Sangre | Jake | A video game without the video. |
iPhone |
| Public Radio Player for iPhone |
Rekha | From PRX! Find your favorite public radio stations and shows, streaming and On-Demand. |
iPhone |
| RDIO | Chris, Robert | Mounds of music for $10/month. – Robert | Android |
| RJDJ | Roman, Robert | Reactive music, the next step in the evolution of music. I did a story about it a couple years back. http://bit.ly/e274XK. – Roman | iPhone |
| Remodium | Farski | Allows you to remotely access Adium on your Mac. | iPhone |
| Shazam | Kerri | Discover new music through your friends. |
iPhone |
| SoundHound |
Robert | Read lyrics while using Pandora or RDIO. | Android |
| Soundcloud | Jones | Record, listen and share your sounds on the go. | iPhone |
| Speedtest | Matt | Measure the network speed of your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. | iPhone |
| Square Up | Matt | Reads credit cards. |
iPhone |
| SynchStep | Robert | Automatically finds music to match your pace. | iPhone |
| TestFlight | Matt | Beta testing on the fly. |
iPhone |
| The Weather Channel |
Robert | The weather! |
iPhone |
| This American Life | Kerri, Robert | Developed by yours truly! |
iPhone |
| Tiny Wings | Roman, Farski | Move over angry birds. |
iPhone |
| Trace | Robert | Free, and my 8 year old son enjoys it. | iPhone |
| Matt, Kerri, Rekha | iPhone, Android | ||
| Unblock Me |
Jake | A puzzle-ey block game. |
iPhone |
| WeatherBug | John | Get the weather. |
Android |
| WhiteNoise | Matt | Ambient sounds for sleeping. |
iPhone |
| Yelp | Jones, Rekha | Restaurant and other business reviews. Monocle on the iPhone is pretty cool. |
iPhone, Android |
1 Comment to Mobile App Picks from the PRXperts
[...] some app recommendations? PRX staff developed this delightfully eclectic list of top-notch downloads. comments: 0 » tags: Alan Melson, apps, iMA, Integrated Media [...]
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