Using a smartphone as .... a smartphone

I've had a "real" smartphone since August 2010 in the form of the epic HTC Legend, which I never really used as a smartphone. It was mostly a casual gaming device and a way to manage contacts / gmail / social media - not exactly pushing the smartphone barriers.

Roll on 3 years and I've gone from the Legend to the superb Samsung Galaxy S3, which I've had for a year now - which until recently was still only a contact / lite email / social media / camera / morning alarm device.

Now I've started using it for more than that. I'm using it for recording my daily commute as there are scammers out there causing accidents and claiming on insurance or people crashing into you and claiming you are at fault (as a friend recently found out and is still fighting against this!). I've caught some people doing really stupid stuff on the road, not kept the videos or put them online because that isn't what I'm recording my journeys for.

I've also got Microsoft's Office Mobile installed which is good, I've had Polaris office which comes with the S3 and its supports DropBox but not Sky Drive. Office Mobile supports Sky Drive storage which is essential for me as I have tonnes of information and files stored on it. While I do use Dropbox, Skydrive is my primary cloud storage.

I've got a SIP login which I've setup on my S3 to make calls while on site if needed, we provide VoIP solutions so makes sense we use it in this way, it also saves putting in a mobile expense claim! The only problem is when clients have no wireless or strict outbound firewall rules, it obviously prevents this service from working unless we open the appropriate ports. Its great because my mobile is now an extension my colleagues can easily reach me on while on site and if I need to work from home I don't need to take one of the Cisco desk phones. Android can handle SIP by default, so no additional Apps need be installed. 

I've installed Lync, however not got it too work just yet. I need our DNS setup which I'll sort when I'm back from holiday and the manual settings don't work or refuses my credentials from reason.

I've also been using it for the fitness apps, to track my progress and running route's. Speaking of which, I need to start doing again...


Combined with everything else I use it for, it's now an ultraphone - not just a smartphone.

EDIT: It seems the new lines did not come out properly, I had wrote this article on an Acer Iconia B1 using Google's Blogger app. It appeared fine on the tablet itself in the Blogger app, but not in Chrome when reviewing the article.