Our pick of the smartphone apps

Got yourself one of the latest smartphones? Still only using it as a phone? Well, there’s so much more you could get out of your new gadget. KATH KYLE picks some of the top apps to make life easier for over-50s

avatar Posted by on July 24, 2011. Filed under Lifestyle. Posted with the tags:
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Our pick of the smartphone apps

There are thousands of apps (an abbreviation for applications, which are bits of useful software for your phone) and many of them are free. for Android phones and iPhones. Here we take a look at a few of the most useful free – or almost free – apps for Android phones and iPhones.

Android – Blood Pressure Tracker
iPhone – BP Tracker Lite
Do you suffer from High or Low Blood Pressure? These apps will allow you to record your Systolic and Diastolic pressures  for ready reference. Enter your daily or periodic blood pressure readings and view the graphical presentation to monitor your progress.

Android – OnTrack Diabetes
iPhone – Glucose Buddy
These apps aims to help diabetics manage their diabetes by tracking various items such as blood glucose, food, medication, blood pressure, pulse, exercise and weight.

Android – Big Buttons Keyboard Standard
iPhone – Big Finger Keyboard (costs £1.19)
Having trouble focusing on that minuscule keyboard when you’re texting? Try these apps, which will boost the size of the keys. The magnification includes punctuation and number buttons.

Android – Med Minder
iPhone – Pill Tracker Free
These apps  can help you keep track of your medications. They Include dose and prescription reminders, as well as details of all your medication for reference.

Android – MedRecords ToGo
iPhone – Mobile MedRecs
This is a portable medical record on your phone. You can carry your records about with you, which means that in an emergency, medical personnel have immediate access to your vital data. You can include your own identity information as well as your medical history, current medication and contact details for your GP.

Android– BirdsUk (cost £0.59)
iPhone – Birds UK (cost £0.59)
BirdsUK contains information about the habitat, diet, etc for each bird along with a gallery of high quality photos. There are also recordings of the song and/or call for each bird as well as a Wikipedia link to find out more.

Android/iPhone – ShopSavvy barcode scanner
Aim the camera at any product’s barcode, wait for the beep and ShopSavvy will provide you with a list of online and local prices. Ideal for catching all your local bargains.

Android – Ideal Magnifier
iPhone – no Glasses Lite
These apps turn your phone into a portable video magnifier. Perfect for reading the menu when you’ve left your specs at home.

Android – Memory trainer
iPhone – Memory trainer – the brain game
A bit of a mental workout never does any harm and these apps provide exercises to keep the grey matter ticking over nicely. The Android and iPhone apps have different games but both will tax you.

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