I wrote a post the other day, about smart phones - you can find it here: Smart phones for real estate
In the very first comment, Deborah states "I am "old fshioned" I guess...", I was chewing on that, because the went on to talk about using the phone to look up mls, and as an e-key... Hmm, that doesn't sound old fashioned to me.
However, it does tie in with a trend I see sometimes - which is having great computing power, but not using it.
So lets forget the snap dragon processors and see what I can do on the street in Vintage Hills, Temecula, to actually get my money's worth out of the phone...
For one thing, we need to get a dataplan going, most carriers are $30/month (At&t has a $25, BUT, that is limited data, and I recommend going with the more data), ok, sign up and get that squared away.
Now that you have data available, lets look at what we can do:
- Email, ok, this would be the original crackberry item - I do recommend that you block time, and only reply if needed on your phone, otherwise, you'll be heads down in the field.
- Maps (find your way)
- GPS (better ways to find your way)
- Search MLS (I have stood in front a few listings and looked up info/access data on the fly)
- Google maps. This one to me, is one of the things that are now setting Android apart from iPhones - big time. Google maps is free and will give you turn by turn navigation from your current location to a location of your choice, you can type, look up a contact or just tap and address in your browser and the option to navigate shows up.
- Social Media (Ya, you are on Fb, Twitter, Foursquare - A LOT), side note here - one of the few sites that I am unable to input into is AR, I don't know why, but the input screens do not mesh with the mobile browsers for some reason - it annoys me - but you guys are probably happy that I don't make as many spelling errors...
- Video feeds... Remember shooting video of a house and then uploading to youtube? Right, how about downloading Qik, walk through the property as the stream is fed live to your site where you client can watch it as you walk around? Hmm, would that be helpful for a relo client from out of state?
- Web site inquiries, yes, they expect a fast turn around, now it is even easier.
- Scheduling, use your calendard, heaven forbid, sync it with your desktop...
- Oh, this one is good... Since Android is a Google OS, imagine how the integration between Google apps and your phone now works - yes Gmail is there, so is the calender, tasks, contacts, google docs... Just to name a few. And if you use OUtlook to schedule, remeber that you can download a google calendar updater so your g calendar now has your outlook on it - and hence it has it on your phone.
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