Thing 6 is document creation and editing, and I tried out Quickoffice. It's not something I see myself using much, if ever. On a tablet it would make a little more sense, but creating documents on an iPod or phone is a hassle. The screen and keyboard are tiny, and I have to type with one hand while holding the device in the other hand. I can't imagine any circumstance in which I need /want to create a document but the only computer available to me to do it on is my iPod.
Having said that, how is Quickoffice as a product? I looked through the example documents before creating anything, to get an idea of what it can do, and it seemed serviceable, nothing fancy. There are a row of buttons at the bottom of the screen to allow basic editing options--different fonts and type size, bold/italic/underline, paragraph formatting, spellcheck, search-and-replace, word count, undo/redo, printing options. Basic, useful stuff. However, I found that when I actually started typing in a new document, those buttons were not there. If I tapped "Done" and the keyboard went away, then the buttons appeared...as long as I had the iPod in vertical, portrait orientation. In landscape, the buttons simply weren't there. And I type in landscape, because it makes the keyboard slightly bigger and I hit fewer wrong keys.
How big a drawback is this? Hard to say. I can't access the buttons anyway without hitting Done and making the keyboard go away, and there's no reason to keep it in landscape if I'm not using the keyboard. But it is one more step separating the typing from the editing. The editing works fine once I was able to get to it. I tried formatting my paragraphs, spell-checked, and did a word count. Documents can be stored in the cloud (Google Drive), so they don't take up space on the device.
On the whole, I'd say that Quickoffice is a bit cumbersome but functional. If I absolutely had to create a document on my iPod, this app would allow me to do that, but there are better means, on larger computers with real keyboards, available to me.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Thursday, February 6, 2014
23 mobile things: thing 4
I skipped over thing 4 at first, because my initial experience was not entirely useful. I downloaded Flipboard to my iPod touch, and found that it did not function as I expected. The welcome screen contained nothing but the login for existing accounts, and a prompt to create an account. I was not able to flip past the welcome screen, which online tutorials said should be possible. It simply wouldn't flip. I can only assume that on an older device running iOS 5, you have to create an account to use flipboard. I choose not to do this, because I read their privacy policy and I don't care for it.
So flipboard is out. Zite is also out, because it requires iOS 7. So I did some research of my own to find another RSS app that will work on my device, and decided on a combination of products: I set up Feedly on my computer at home, and installed Newsify on my iPod to sync with it.
So far I am happy with my choice. Feedly allows me to search for content by specific url or by subject. It provides a list of common subjects of interest, but when I entered one that was not on their list (science) it provided a list of appropriate websites just as it does with the more common ones. Content can be organized on the page in several different ways (list, magazine, cards, etc). I currently have it set to magazine. When I add a new source, it prompts me to give it a label, and then groups all feeds with the same label into folders.
Newsify syncs with feedly whenever I open it while connected to the internet. I can choose to display my feeds in the app either as a list or magazine. The home page displays my folders, as well as All Items, Unread Items, and Starred Items (I haven't starred anything yet), with numbers by each one giving the total unread items. Once I go into a folder, there is a settings button that allows me to mark all as read if I want.
On the whole, I think that this setup is equivalent to the app choices given on the 23mobilethings website. I hope this counts as a completed thing. I think it is a challenge to do these things on an older device. I'm doing more of my own research to choose which app to use, even on the things where I've used one of the suggested apps, which makes it an even greater learning experience. In any case, I'm very happy with feedly/newsify.
So flipboard is out. Zite is also out, because it requires iOS 7. So I did some research of my own to find another RSS app that will work on my device, and decided on a combination of products: I set up Feedly on my computer at home, and installed Newsify on my iPod to sync with it.
So far I am happy with my choice. Feedly allows me to search for content by specific url or by subject. It provides a list of common subjects of interest, but when I entered one that was not on their list (science) it provided a list of appropriate websites just as it does with the more common ones. Content can be organized on the page in several different ways (list, magazine, cards, etc). I currently have it set to magazine. When I add a new source, it prompts me to give it a label, and then groups all feeds with the same label into folders.
Newsify syncs with feedly whenever I open it while connected to the internet. I can choose to display my feeds in the app either as a list or magazine. The home page displays my folders, as well as All Items, Unread Items, and Starred Items (I haven't starred anything yet), with numbers by each one giving the total unread items. Once I go into a folder, there is a settings button that allows me to mark all as read if I want.
On the whole, I think that this setup is equivalent to the app choices given on the 23mobilethings website. I hope this counts as a completed thing. I think it is a challenge to do these things on an older device. I'm doing more of my own research to choose which app to use, even on the things where I've used one of the suggested apps, which makes it an even greater learning experience. In any case, I'm very happy with feedly/newsify.
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
23 mobile things: thing 5
For thing 5, I'm trying Remember the milk. I've added a couple of tasks, deleted one, marked one complete, and added a note. I've poked around in the settings and read some of the help topics, to get a better idea what things the app can do, and how to make it do them. I've enabled tags as a default field, but haven't changed the settings otherwise so far.
It seems like a good tool. There are extra features, like push notifications, that are only available if you upgrade to the pro version, but I think the free version is fine. You can view your tasks in various calendars if you want (Apple calendar, Google calendar, your device's calendar).
It's fairly easy to use. The first screen you see when you open it has a lot of icons that aren't explained, but just going through them and tapping each one reveals their function if the pictures used aren't enough. I like it.
It seems like a good tool. There are extra features, like push notifications, that are only available if you upgrade to the pro version, but I think the free version is fine. You can view your tasks in various calendars if you want (Apple calendar, Google calendar, your device's calendar).
It's fairly easy to use. The first screen you see when you open it has a lot of icons that aren't explained, but just going through them and tapping each one reveals their function if the pictures used aren't enough. I like it.
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