The smartphone market is as competitive as ever and the enthusiasts representing each camp are at each other’s throats. But you know what? We’re not so different since we all love our gadgets, smartphones, and apps. But all too often, we find ourselves focusing on our differences rather than our similarities. As it turns out, many mobile apps are available across most of the popular smartphone platforms. Whether you’re rocking a Droid, BlackBerry or an iPhone, we can find some common ground.
Defining What We Mean By “All Platforms”
Each smartphone operating system has its share of exclusive applications. There may be something you can find for a Nokia that you can’t find for a BlackBerry or something exclusive on the iPhone for the time being. That’s to be expected.
In this article, we’ll take a look at a few applications that are available for all (or at least most) of the popular smartphone platforms. This includes iOS (iPhone), BlackBerry, and Android, as well as Symbian and Windows Mobile. There are some smaller contingents out there, like Samsung’s bada OS or a Linux-based OS, but we’ll put those aside for now so that we may serve the greater good.
Endomondo Sports Tracker
I first learned about this application during the Nokia N97 mini tour. After getting home, I found the Endomondo app in the Ovi Store for my Nokia E71 which is a smartphone running the Symbian OS.
In short, this is a GPS-based fitness tracker and it is completely free to use. Launching the app on your phone, you choose the activity (hiking, biking, skiing, etc.) and it’ll track your progress via GPS. You can even activate the Audio Coach and Peptalk features; this will remind you of your progress every once in a while. Your exercise data is then automatically uploaded to the Endomondo website (also free) for later review. It gives distance traveled, time, and GPS data with Google Maps.
The mobile app is available for just about every platform, including some non-smartphones as well.
Waze for Foursquare, Maps, and Traffic Information
Want something a little more social in nature? Then you might want to try Waze. It’s still a GPS-based application, but it provides you with real-time traffic information based on the movement patterns of other Waze users. This currently includes other iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile, and Symbian OS users with a BETA app available for the BlackBerry.
Using the “wisdom of the crowd,” you can know exactly where there is a traffic jam and even get pictures of the fender benders that are causing the backup on the highway. Encounter a map that is out of date? You can update that for Waze too, even tracking out a road that isn’t yet in the system. In addition to this “social mapping” capability, Waze also appears to have some Foursquare integration to boot. Since there isn’t a native Foursquare application for Symbian users, Waze is a good alternative.
Prefer something a little more conventional? There is a mobile version of Google Maps available for nearly every smartphone platform too. While Android and BlackBerry does lead in terms of app functionality, it does support the iPhone of course as well as Windows Mobile and Symbian OS. The data is reasonably up to date and it can provide directions too. Social aspects like Buzz and MyLocation are also supported across platforms.
Unfortunately, not all platforms have access to the turn-by-turn navigation with Google Maps. At least, not yet. You’ll also need to have an active data or WiFi connection to get the maps downloaded to you on the fly.
eBuddy Instant Messenger Client
Want to stay connected with all your friends online? Instead of downloading and running separate applications for each of the different protocols, access them all with the eBuddy client. I originally thought that this instant messenger application was only available on the Apple iPhone, but it turns out that there are versions for most other platforms too.
Supported platforms include Android as well as many Symbian OS handsets. It even supports some “dumb phones” and funny enough, has support for the Nintendo DS and PSP plus other devices. Unfortunately, there is no native app for BlackBerry folks. That’s not surprising since BB OS has most of these apps included natively. There is even a browser based client.
With eBuddy, you can chat over MSN, Yahoo, AIM, GTalk, Facebook, MySpace, and even ICQ. Does anyone even use ICQ anymore? Or MySpace, for that matter?
Opera Mini and Opera Mobile
Some sort of web browser is pre-installed on every smartphone. There’s the BlackBerry Browser for the RIM crew, Safari for the iPhone crowd, and so forth. However, these default browsers can sometimes leave a lot to be desired.
While not as robust as the Opera Unite experience, Opera Mini and Opera Mobile provide good alternatives for surfing the web on the go. On my Nokia, for instance, the Symbian browser boots me to mobile sites, while Opera Mini will load the “full” HTML site by default. Same with the BlackBerrry Edition. And yes, iPhone users now have Opera as an alternative browser as well too.
Check the device list to see if there is a version of Opera Mini or Opera Mobile for your chosen smartphone.
Snaptu Social Media and Web Desktop
Social media is huge and it’s just more convenient when you can cull all of that information into one location. It’s also nice when you have an attractive interface. Snaptu (mostly) achieves both these goals.
With this single application, you can update your Facebook wall, tweet to your Twitter account, read up on your RSS feeds, view Flickr photos, and check the weather. It is missing some features though, like the ability to post pictures to Twitter. Hopefully a revision will add this seemingly standard functionality as the concept does sound like a good idea.
While the app is advertised as able to work on all platforms, there are some notable exceptions. For example, it’s not available for the iPhone, since it’s designed to mimic the iOS home screen layout. While Android isn’t supported officially, there is an Android workaround to create an appropriate APK file though.
What Other Smartphone Apps Do You Like?
Apps are huge. They are what make smartphones so great and they’re popping up in other places too. Better still, regardless of the smartphone platform you choose, you’ll have a great selection of apps to download and try.
Whether it be Android Market, BlackBerry App World, Ovi Store, or the iTunes App Store, there’s always something new and exciting to install. And now we can all just get along with one another, since all of us have some of the same great apps to use.
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