A couple of months ago I received an email from a reader who had just received a smart phone as a gift. She wanted to know what apps I recommended for scrapbookers. In this post, I’ll share some of my favorite choices for mobile memory keepers (with a bias towards the iPhone).
My Top 3
Camera – I have several fancy and fun apps for creative photography (CameraBag, Hipstamatic, Pocketbooth, Pro HDR, Plastic Bullet, PictureShow, ShakeItPhoto), but what I use 95% of the time is the regular camera. I can create fun effects later on my laptop, if I want to do that. Some of these apps don’t save you a clean copy and I like to keep my options open.
HootSuite – I use this Twitter app more than any other app on my phone, perhaps even more than the native Mail client. Twitter can be distracting during the work day, so I hop on often during moments of downtime to connect with other scrapbookers.
MobileRSS – It took me a while to convince myself it was OK to let another app talk to my beloved Google Reader. Reader is browser-based whereas MobileRSS brings you the same blog-browsing experience in app form. Keep up with your favorite scrapbook blogs in one place!
More Good Picks
I don’t use these nearly as often as the others, but they are definitely solid selections.
Bazzill – Paper scrapbookers will love this app’s ability to color match photos and supplies from other lines with over 500 colors of cardstock.
PayPal – Digital scrapbookers will especially appreciate the ability to keep an eye on your PayPal balance from anyone, so you can plan for that next shopping spree.
Facebook – I mostly use HootSuite to post to Facebook, but when I’m looking for a close-to-native experience on my mobile device, I will pop into the Facebook app.
EverNote – No other app helps you collect mundane pieces of information of life in such a simple and organized way. Yes, there are better apps for journaling (curious which ones you like), but EverNote is the standard for putting your brain into the cloud.
One thing to notice, I did not select any of the several apps designed for actual scrapbooking on your smart phone. (I’m a bit of a minimalist afterall.) To me, these devices are great ways to document stories, snap photos and keep in touch with the community, but they are not meant for true scrapbooking. Do you agree? How do you use your smart phone for scrapbooking?
I don’t have a SmartPhone, but I do have an iPod Touch. I love an app called Momento … keeps track of all of my twitter and FB statuses. It also keeps track of posts that I put on my blog.
I use Momento too. My Facebook and Twitter status updates feed to there and I can also type in updates directly (especially good for little things my kids say or things I want to remember but don’t necessarily want to publish publicly). It is nicely designed too. It is great for anyone doing a 365 project where you want to remember a little bit about each day.
I can never finish a project or layout in one sitting and I always need to clean off the area I am working at because it is either my kitchen counter or my kitchen table. I was always forgetting where I placed photos, embellishments etc on my pages when I puled the project out again in a few days or weeks (or months!)
Now I snap a quick photo of the project with my Blackberry before I put it all away
I did our Christmas collage using my blackberry’s camera-laid out the collage after Halloween, didn’t glue anything down (in case I took some good pictures around Thanksgiving) and recreated the collage in minutes by looking at the photo I snapped with my phone.
Saved time and avoided my annual headache of arranging and rearranging the 11×14 holiday letter collage we do each year.
(EverNote is also a great tool)
I’ve done that too with paper layouts or other projects. It helps too when you think you have the design ‘just right’ but you want to try something totally different before committing to glue.
Well, I have a Droid, which always seems to be slighted in app discussions :(. I love it, though, and take pics with it aaaalll the time! The 5mp camera actually takes decent shots. I also use Evernote a lot, and a sticky-note app called “ColorNote” for quick lists and notes that I know I won’t need later in Evernote. I recently started using “Android Flickr” to upload my P365 photos (I’m doing it mostly on my phone this year) to Flickr, and so far it’s been working well. I also use Hootsuite and LOVE it, and I use NewsRob to access my Google Reader – it works great and handles web sites well too.
I just got a droid and love being connected. I mostly check my gmail and facebook. However after reading about this I started on twitter–but I don’t get how to use it at all. Please do a tut on this! Angry birds! I confess and bookdroid.
Jenn-ok I signed up for the newsletter to get the twitter 101 guide, HOWEVER I go t a guide to placing advertising? on the same site though…I’ll take a break and it will sort itself out right?
I let Candy know in an email that my free mailing list for small businesses (found at createmoremedia.com) has a free Twitter 101 guide that comes with it. You can also find out a lot just buy Googling “Twitter basics” or “Twitter 101”.
I have the meetup.com app and I can keep up with clubs in my area that like to do scrapbooking like me and see when they meet and I RSVP through the app and then upload my photos from the event afterwards straight from my iphone.
I love doing swaps and trades at our meetups, I get things I normally wouldn’t have bought at the store that way.