Peter Wells
Twitter: @peterwells. Co-founder of Reckoner and co-host of the Reckoner podcast.
First thing you’ll notice is I get no mobile reception at my desk at work. Second thing is I’m still using an iPhone 5, I still prefer the smaller screen, and I’m hoping for an iPhone 6c with a smaller screen. Or better yet, for an iPhone model like the Sony Z3 Compact, which fits a 4.7“ screen into a similar sized case of an iPhone 5 - thanks to a smaller ”chin and forehead" on that hardware. I really love the Sony line-up in the sense that smaller does not mean less features, it just means smaller. I’d love it if Apple embraced this idea.
As for my home screen, I try my best to group icons based on type as well as colour. When an app changes it’s icon, or a new app like Google Calendar replaces Fantastical, I can spend a week re-arranging my homescreen until everything feels ‘right’.
On an Android phone I fill the hard-to-reach top area of my homescreen with a clock widget, but because this isn’t an option on iOS, the top row is for apps I rarely use. Phone and Messages are almost never launched these days, so they’re in the hardest to reach spots. I read Feedly every day, but typically on my iPad rather than my iPhone. And Google Maps is great for driving, but I rarely drive, so it’s just filling up space too.
The next row is for apps I actually use frequently. We’ve recently started using Slack at work, and I absolutely love it - it’s so flexible and polished. We’re using it for group announcements, and as an iMessage replacement for small teams, etc. Pocket Casts is my go to podcasting app. I’ve tried them all, but Pocket Casts has the best mix of simple design and power features for me. Plus, I carry an Android phone with me for work, so I need a cross-platform podcasting app.
Pocket is still my favourite ‘read later’ service. I really only use it to collect stories for the Reckoner Podcast, and Pocket is the best I’ve found for glancing and copying out saved links to a Google Doc.
Spotify is my current music streaming service, but that’s subject to change. I really dont like any streaming service yet - I’d love soemthing that combines the music locker of Google Music with the Smart Playlists of iTunes with the ease of sharing of Spotify with the Music Genome of Pandora. Oh well. Until then, Spotify seems to have the best mix.
Next row, Foursquare. I still use and love Foursquare - it’s got much more traction than Yelp in Australia. I still check-in to Swarm too, although that seems to be far less popular than it was when check-ins lived in Foursqaure. Next There is the best, fastest public trasnport app I’ve ever used. If Next There supports your city - purchase it now. This is the only app I miss on Android these days.
Do Camera is there to create a kind of roll-your-own Evernote, along with Simplenote on the bottom row. As much as I’ve tried to love Evernote, I find it far too busy for my needs, and the sync is far too slow. So instead I keep all notes in Simplenote, with Do Camera sending all photos and screen shots I need to Dropbox. I love that Do Camera does not save to the Camera Roll.
Next, my most hated icon that houses my favourite time waster. Goddamn it Instagram, your icon looks like a balloon beside the rest of my home screen. Look , I get it, I think Apple went to far with their icon redesigns in iOS 7 too, but it’s time to move on. Still, I love the service, so Insta gets to stay.
I’m suprised how often I need to jump into my settings app, but there we are. The built in Camera app still has the best HDR functionality, so it stays too. And Wunderlist remains my favourite to-do app, that works on Mac, Windows, iOS and Android. I’ve tried every to-do, but keep coming back to Wunderlist.
I keep my work and home email separated with the help of Outlook and Inbox, so that I don’t stress about work out of hours. Facebook is a necessary evil, and Paper (which has the worst type of “flat icon”) remains the cleanest way of experiencing it.
Tweetbot remains my favourite Twitter application on iOS - but not my favourite Twitter app. That honour goes to Fenix, an Android app that is as beautiful as Tweetbot, but adopts newer features (like the new quoted tweets feature) much faster than the iOS king.
Google Calendar has finally supplanted Fantastical as my favourite iOS Calendar. Fantastical fought off many fine apps, but Google Calendar is near perfect in Schedule view.
Safari. I hated that icon the day we saw those iOS 7 mockups on 9to5 Mac, and I continue to hate that icon. Goddamn it’s awful. Still, the best iOS browser.
And finally, Telegram - a service I wish was as popular as WhatsApp - I find it to be the best of the thousands of messenging services out there. It has great security, lightning fast sync, a fantastic web and native Mac app - but no one uses it. Oh well.
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