Getting ready to take off for vacation or business travel? Check out these applications for easy ways to enhance your journey.
DK Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides
http://www.mobisystems.com/platform.html?c=16
DK Eyewitness Travel puts out mobile travel guides for some of the most popular European cities. The guides are organized by the 10 best of what to see, buy, do, eat, avoid and more in each city. Maps of the city and public transportation routes are also included. Information about tourist sites like hours, website and telephone numbers are listed. My favorite details were the tips on saving time, money and avoiding the crowds. These mobile travel guides will allow you keep the bulky paper guides at your hotel and walk with a lighter step.
Cost: $29.99
MSPhrase Language Phrasebanks
http://www.mobisystems.com/platform.html?c=20
If you’re traveling to a location where you can’t speak the language, a MSPhrasebank download is probably in order. The phrasebanks are currently available in combinations of English, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese languages. Each Phrasebank contains survival expressions, like “Where is the bathroom?” and “Please speak slower.” Mobile Systems, the company that puts out the software, also has a line of language dictionaries and more complete language programs for Nseries devices. I can already see how much more clearly I’ll be communicating during my next trip abroad.
Cost: 30-day free trial, then $19.99
Mobile Weather
http://www.ubahnstation.net/weather/
In a foreign climate and don’t know what to wear? The Mobile Weather app can give you readings from hundreds of different cities. It posts the current temperature and conditions, wind data, sunrise and sunset times. You can store your favorite cities in a list and toggle back and forth to see the weather your non-traveling friends are dealing with back home. The current version of Mobile Weather only lists the weather for today and tomorrow, but the creators say they may update this in the next iteration. Even when not traveling, I’ve found myself checking it daily before going outdoors.
Cost: Free
Handy Converter
http://nokia-n95-software.epocware.com/Handy_Converter.htm
Handy Converter, from Epoc Software, will let you know just how much money you’re spending in another currency. The currency rates are updated daily and are pulled from the European Central bank. The app also has a tool that allows you to adjust a commission rate, so you can figure out how much money you should be getting back from that aloof attendant at the exchange counter.
Cost: 14-day free trial, costs $12.95
Handy Expense
http://nokia-n95-software.epocware.com/Handy_Expense.html
Traveling for business and need to keep tabs on your expenses? Handy Expense, also from Epoc software, can help you. This app allows you to log various expenses detailing the date, the type of expense, the cost, the currency, method of payment and any other notes about the purchase. The program can then create a variety of expense reports based on the parameters. Reports can also be exported in csv format.
Cost: 14-day free trial, costs $12.95
GeoTip Restaurant Tip Calculator
http://www.gpeters.com/tip/
GeoTip is a simple application that allows you to enter a meal amount and make simple calculations by entering in the desired tax percent and tip percent. It also will calculate the split for the meal if you are eating with a group of people, preventing you and your fellow diners from getting shortchanged. With a name like GeoTip, I was hoping for an app that would give me access to the different tipping customs and tax percentage in varied locations (I have yet to see an application like this). However, I still found it to be useful.
Cost: Free
Shozu
http://www.shozu.com
Want to keep everyone back home up to date with your adventure? Use Shozu to upload pictures and video of your travels to Flickr, Facebook, blip.tv, your blog, email addresses and more. Shozu’s “One-Click” uploading makes posting super easy. There’s also an option of “Zero-Click” uploading if you want every single piece of media captured by your phone uploaded. If you want more content control, you can add descriptions, titles and tags to your media before uploading. Additionally, if your device is GPS-enabled and you’re receiving a signal, you can geotag your photos. Using Shozu is a great way to preserve memories of your travels quickly and easily. Lastly, you can get your friends’ Flickr streams on your phone and keep up with what they’re doing.
There are plenty of other great travel applications available. Many, like location guides and maps applications, are more specific to a particular region or country. What apps have you used when you’ve traveled with your nseries device? What apps would you like to have for traveling that haven’t been developed yet? Share them in the comments section.
Language: English