Friday, August 21, 2009

Smartphones - an information tool. Howzat?

There are times when I think I could be using my smartphone more effectively. One of the most useful aspects of any smartphone/PDA is the ability to keep lists of important (or what one day might turn out to be useful or important) information.

However, when I look at the "notes" that I keep, a lot of them are a bit dull, and I find myself wondering what exactly might be useful to keep.

Well tonight I've just found another use for my notes tools. As a cricketer (of sorts) every summer I find myself wending my way around the roads and valleys of south east Wales trying to find cricket grounds that I know I've been to before, but can't quite remember how to get there again.

The League we play in has an online club directory, which includes instructions on how to get to each ground. For a lucky few, there are postcoded addresses to their grounds, so a quick SatNav setup and we're off. But most of the places I play are large expanses of council owned fields, with no discernable postcode, and instructions like "turn left after the chip shop just down from the rugby club and go down the hill for 3/4 mile until you come to a big tree on the right" sort of thing!

But a quick grab of the directions of the club directory site into ToodleDo/Notes, or Evernote, means those directions will be forever available through a quick search on my smartphone.

OK, I could just print the instructions off, but I'd lose them or get them muddy or spill beer on them. All possible, but unlikely scenarios with my iPhone.

As an aside, I still prefer Appigo's straightforward but very effective "Notebook" app to Evernote, but have used both here as I'm sure Evernote will grow on me.

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