Livin' La Vida Mobi

Be yourself, everyone else is taken ~ Oscar Wilde

 

As I mentioned in one of the previous posts that during the last few years, the distinction between mobile and internet, and for that matter, computer, is almost diminished. But since majority of the population of the world is just living on the edge of poverty and where there are still Pentium 1 computers being used, smartphones or tablets are far from a household name. Those of us who still do not own an iPad or a blackberry, can still reap the benefits of modern technology. For example, I own a very basic level phone with an entry level camera and support for Java MIDP and MP3. And I am sure most of you out there will have a similar phone. So how can you best utilize it with some free goodies? The following is my list of applications which are freely available from the websites given at the end, and can make your phone very useful in addition to the basic tasks of making calls and sending SMS. Moreover, these apps work offline, means that once you install these on your device, you do not need a working internet connection to be present. 

Azan

It is a utility which tells you prayer times for hundreds of places around the globe every day of the year. It is especially useful in Ramadhan when one has to observe strict timings for Sehri and Aftari.

City Xplorer

City explorer is like yellowpages of Pakistani cities. You can find address and telephone numbers of all important institutions, markets and places.

Collins English Dictionary

The ultimate English to English dictionary for mobiles. It has hundreds of thousands of words and definition. Also origin of words as well as the time from which the word is incorporated into the English language, is given. For example, did you know that pianoforte is the actual name of what we call piano?

Cricket Companion

If you are a cricket fan and want ball-by-ball commentary with live statistics and match schedules away from TV then this app is for you.

DChoc Café Sudoku

For people like me who are addicted to Sudoku and the daily newspaper is not enough, this ultimate Sudoku challenge is for them. With difficulty levels ranging from Very Easy to the almost mind bogging Evil, you would not ever need any other game.

eBuddy Mobile Messenger

What if you could chat to all your contacts in MSN, Yahoo, Facebook, ICQ and AOL? eBuddy is the answer to your wish. This is a messenger which works smoothly from a mobile.

eFood

Ok, so what does the e631 on your pack of Lays means? Or that E296 on bubble gum? How many times daily we encounter some of the e-numbers on many food items but we simply do not know what all these are about. Now with this handy utility, you can instantly know all this.

gdAcronyms

How many of you know what does BMW stands for? Or what is that ETA thing in my download manager? Thankfully, you can find almost any acronym with this small app.

Mobile Solar System

How many moons does Jupiter have? Or can you name the two moons of Mars? Well, with this app you can answer any question about all the planets of our Solar System. (They have not updated and Pluto is still included in the list of the Planets, but you already knew it).

Mobile World Fact Book

What is the population of Vatican City (Holy See)? Or can you name all the emirates of the UAE? This app contains almost any information about all the countries of the world!

Modern Periodic Table

Want to know the melting point of Sodium? Or atomic weight of Chlorine? A great utility for students of chemistry and anyone who has to work with chemicals.

Opera Mini

The clear winner browser for mobiles. With tab-browsing, password saving option, bookmarks and chrome-like appearance, this browser is a must for anybody who wants to surf internet on the go. The interesting part is that it reprocess the webpages on its dedicated servers and display the final page on your mobile which means that you save up to 80% on data charges. The other important point is that it can open almost any page on the internet unlike the native phone browsers which crashes frequently upon browsing heavy pages.

Quran Reader Pro

With English translation and explanations of some of the verses, you can recite the Holy Quran at any time anywhere.

Sahih Bukhari Pro

With the full 93 books containing thousands of Hadiths, you can have it as a reference or can read it daily to learn about Islam.

Scientific Calculator

Many different types of calculators are present with all those trigonometery and all the stuff you need to do your physics or math assignment.

Sidralis

With Summer in progress and continuous power outages (in Pakistan), one has to stay outdoors most part of the night. So you can always look up to the sky and enhance your knowledge about all the constellations and stars and planets with this utility. Programmed to update the planetary and starts position in real time, you can always know where to look for a particular star or planet or even moon.

Websites: from where these applications are freely available.

www.mobiles24.com

www.cxpakistan.com

www.gsmdev.com

www.mobile9.com

www.getjar.com

I hope you people will find some of these apps very useful for you depending on your needs and usage.  

P.S: You can use your camera phone as a document scanner! And download different podcasts as well as audio dramas and enjoy. Or perhaps you can download your favourite novel and read it on your mobile. I am sure you people will enjoy this experience.