I use AbleMath for a calculator. It has all the standard functions, you can put a long string of items with parentheses for calculation, and you can scroll up to see earlier calculations. I don't carry my TI-86 much anymore.
The compass is also a good feature. There is also a flashlight app which I find useful.
These are all for field work. I almost never use the iphone in the office except to play games on slow days.
Thanks jgailla, will check out AbleMath. Haha... yes, my primary use for my iphone and tablet is for games too, trying to see if there are better ways to put them "to work".
I don't use tablets or smartphones - my regular pc and laptop meet my needs - but I would think you could look up pdf's of documents, standards, catalogs, tables etc to save you the time of actually finding the hardcopy and looking it up.
Dropbox - Take photos in the field from your phone, they sync to dropbox almost immediately allowing people in the office to see what you see. All files can be accessed from there for review or transfer.
Adobe - Lets you create a PDF from a photo, then you can add comments, sketches, etc.
Hilti Anchors - Good library of post installed anchors. This is the only one that I use at my desk in lieu of my PC.
Brother "iPrint & Scan" has come in handy on a couple of occasions.
It can easily connect to Brother brand wireless printers, and print from the phone, which is kind of cool, or scan to the phone from a multifunction printer, which is impressive for saving and/or sending copies of documents.
I wish it worked with other brands of printers, or that other mfgr's wireless printer apps worked as well.
Evernote is probably the most useful app I have ever used. Somebody actually just recommended Trello to me ~15 min ago. It appears to be good for projects and I'm going to investigate its use later today.
Evernote is the best though and it syncs between my office/home/mobile/tablet.
I'm an RPN logic guy, so I have an HP41C app on my phone. GREAT!
Another useful one is "Converter". All sorts of conversion factors that I can never remember.
Thank you guys for your suggestions, these are very helpful. I guess the tablet is still more useful used in conjunction with the desktop, but without the PC/laptop I'll probably go back to playing games, haha.
I use the whole "smart tools" collection routinely in the field. Especially the smart ruler, compass, protractor, and bubble level. I also use "Steel Shapes" frequently to confirm beam sizes in the field. I second the New Millenium apps for joists.
Beyond that, I use the flashlight and calculator apps routinely but have used several and have no preference.
PE, SE
Eastern United States
"If a builder builds a house for someone, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built falls in and kills its owner, then that builder shall be put to death!"
~Code of Hammurabi
MyScript is cute, but just not that useful for doing anything serious. If your finger can write, it can push simulated RPN calculator buttons. Moreover, MyScript doesn't really have that much functionality, and the recognition/conversion seems to be on its own timeline, without any way to change it. That means you could be in the middle of entering and expression, and wind up inserting the tailend of the expression into arbitrary places in the rest of the equation that got converted.
When I have to use my phone as a calculator, I want something that's reliable/repeatable, so RPN Calculator is my choice. Most of the emulators suffer from trying to fit something that was designed for a different form factor into a smartphone screen, and it generally doesn't get pulled off.
TTFN
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I agree with you that it is not that great for anything too serious or complex. If that is an issue, I would not recommend anything on a mobile phone ;-)
It suits some of the tasks I want to perform, it may (or may not) suit others too.
