


Let's talk about phones! Most bloggers are constantly glued to their phones, and I'm no exception. Whether tweeting, instagramming, checking emails, reading blogs, watching youtube videos or, shock horror, actually making a call, my phone is always on hand to ensure I'm up to date with everything. So today I thought I'd talk a little bit about my phone and my favourite apps and accessories.
The phone itself is a
Samsung Galaxy SIII in Blue. At the time I bought it, Asda Direct was the cheapest place so it's definitely worth shopping around to find a good deal! I bought it SIM-free as I was happy with my existing contract (which was no longer available to sign up for) and didn't want to cancel it. My first port of call after my phone arrived was Ebay, to find a phone case. I had the black version of this case for my previous phone, but decided to go for something a bit more colourful this time and ordered an aquamarine glitter case from
this Ebay seller. It makes me think of mermaids, and I love it!
Recently
Phones 4 U sent me a little phone accessories gift set to review, and not only are the products super cute but they're also really useful too. The
Mini Buddy Owl Speaker* is a small, portable speaker which plugs straight into your phone's headphone socket. I was really surprised by how good the sound quality was from such a small speaker, but it's really clear and loud enough to fill the room if you need it to. In the mornings whilst I'm getting ready I like to catch up with my subscriptions on
Youtube, and this speaker is really handy for being able to hear everything nice and clearly. I also sometimes watch
Netflix on my phone in the mornings too (cheeky episode of Dawson's Creek? Why not) so it's great for that too. The speaker is rechargable (there's a USB cable included so you can easily charge it up using your computer) which means there's no need to worry about batteries. The
Owl Headphones* are also really useful for listening to music when I'm out and about, and as they just have a normal headphone jack I can use them with my MP3 player or laptop too. The set also came with an owl-themed protective sock, but my phone is too big to fit in it - I think it's designed for iPhones, but I'll probably use it to store my MP3 player in instead! The speaker and headphone gift sets are available in Phones 4 U stores, as well as online.
So, what about my favourite apps? In addition to the usual culprits (Twitter, Gmail, Instagram, Facebook etc.) there are a few others I use a lot.
Wunderlist is a great listmaking app which I use to keep track of, well, pretty much everything. To-do lists, shopping lists, wishlists, blog posts I need to write, films I want to watch, uni work I have to do... I'm sure you get the idea! You can set due dates for tasks so it's easy to keep track of what needs done when, and you can tick things off as you go so you can feel nice and accomplished once everything is scored out. To keep up to date with my favourite blogs, I like to use the
Bloglovin app. I've been using Bloglovin as my reader of choice for a couple of years now, and being able to use it on my phone is great. If I've got a spare half hour somewhere with nothing to do, I'll have a scroll through my feed and catch up with some blog posts. You can also have a look at the Popular Posts or Top Blogs section if you want to have a look for something new.
As for less useful (but perhaps more entertaining) apps, the background on my phone is from the
Vortex Galaxy app. It's a live wallpaper so it gives the illusion of moving through a rainbow galaxy. LOVE. Another space-themed one,
Google Sky Map is great for amateur stargazing. Just point your phone at the sky and it will tell you exactly what you're looking at. It's great for identifying stars or planets in the sky, and you can also 'time travel' or set a different location to see what the sky looks like elsewhere. I don't have that many games on my phone but I do love
The Sims Free Play which has a surprising amount of things to do considering it's a free game. You can create Sims, send them to work, make friends, and complete challenges just like you can in the original games. The only thing that really annoys me is that you can't queue actions, aarrrggghh!
What accessories and apps do you use?
Gillian x