Memorial Day is here, and as we honor those men and women who have died in military service, we also celebrate the unofficial kickoff of summer. We’re taking it easy for the day here at Phandroid, kicking back with a few brews and downing grilled meats of all varieties, but it would be irresponsible of us not to leave you with a list of our favorite apps for insuring an awesome day no matter what you are doing. We now present to you our Top Apps for an Awesome Memorial Day.
Kevin’s Picks
Epicurious Recipes
No Memorial Day cookout could be complete without a tantalizing spread of food, but why stick to boring hot dogs and burgers when you can kick up the flavor with one of 28,000 recipes found in the Epicurious Recipe app. How about Beer Simmered Grilled Sausage? Or Chipotle Lime Grilled Chicken? Don’t forget some Key Lime Pie Cheesecake. If you’re looking for a little bit of mixology, Epicurious covers your cocktails too.
The Weather Channel
The last thing anyone wants is for a sudden storm to put a damper on your cookout, so a good weather app is a must have if you don’t want to get caught off guard by mother nature. The Weather Channel recently updated their app for Android, and the improvements have made it better than ever for checking whether those passing clouds are bringing rain or if there are bright skies ahead. If you are traveling to visit friends or family, set multiple location widgets to follow conditions at home and at your destination.
ScoreMobile
ScoreMobile is one of the most popular mobile apps for tracking your favorite sports teams in real time, and their recently released app for Android has quickly become a favorite of mine. While it lacks the ability to set notifications, the easy to use UI and fairly deep (though sometimes not intuitive) functionality make it a breeze for catching up on scores. See a game you’d like to attend in the future? You can add it directly to your Google calendar. Of course, you’re worried about your cookout now, so while you sports nuts tend to the grill you won’t have to worry about missing a beat in any of the games going on tomorrow.
Trapster
Memorial Day is one of the busiest travel weekends of the year, and we all want our drives to go as safely and smoothly as possible. Of course, stepped up traffic means stepped up patrols from the five-oh. Trapster will let you see all of the reported speed traps and checkpoints along your route allowing you to plan ahead to avoid any delays. There is nothing good about a nice new $75 ticket hanging over your festivities.
Slacker Radio
It wouldn’t be a party without music, but you need the perfect playlist. Slacker Radio not only gives you access to all the tunes you need, but you won’t even have to spend a single minute putting together a mix. Just pick a song and let Slacker do the work. I’d probably go with something from the Beach Boys as a proper kick off to the summer, but maybe something else is more your style.
Quentyn’s Picks
Google Sky Map
As corny as an idea it may be, you’d be surprised at how fun it is to sit under the stars on a summer night after a day of good eating and socializing. With Google Sky Map, finding those trickier constellations has never been easier and it’d be a great conversation piece after you fail to make everyone laugh at your joke (at least you thought it was funny in your head, right?).
Drinkspiration by Absolut
While the ease of sticking your hand into a pool of ice and pulling out a random beer screams convenience, there’s nothing like getting some interesting cocktails mixed to serve to your guests (assuming you’re hosting a cookout or party, of course). With Drinkspiration, you get a nicely-sized catalog of drink recipes right on your phone. The app only suggests drinks that are made with Absolut-branded Vodka, though, but barring any Absolut-exclusive flavor differences, I can’t imagine you wouldn’t be able to substitute your favorite brand. (Note: you need to be 21-years of age or older to use this app.)
Facebook
Let’s face it: everyone wishes they could hang out at more than one cookout at a time this Memorial Day. Unfortunately, we’re nothing but mere humans and we haven’t mastered the science of molecular duplicaiton (yet). You can still keep up with your other friends and see what they’re up to today, though, by checking out their Facebook profiles. Conversely, don’t forget to update your friends on what’s going on at your get-together with some nice photo galleries. Just make sure you don’t include those pictures of uncle Charlie skinny dipping in the pool, for the sake of everyone you care about.
Loopt
If keeping up with your friends and family on Facebook weren’t enough, then you and your friends can use Loopt to pinpoint where all of the fun is going down. Send an invitation to your shindig just by updating your Loopt location and telling people to stop on by (they’ll know exactly where you are so there’s no need to send your address to everyone that wants to chow down on some freshly grilled chicken). You’ll get extra credit if you show up to your ex’s barbecue and utilize Loopt how it was meant to be utilized: stalking.
iTriage Mobile Health
Whether someone’s gotten a bad case of heartburn from eating too much or they’ve had a stroke, iTriage should be on your must have list this Memorial Day (and any day, for that matter). You should always hope for the best, but it never hurts to be prepared in case someone needs medical attention at a gathering and there aren’t any licensed doctors or registered nurses around to give their professional input. iTriage helps you diagnose and – if possible – treat whatever ailments has claimed the good health of your friends and family. It’ll even help you find the best clinics and doctors in your area based on what type of illness you’re looking at.
What do you guys think? Surely you have a few apps of your own loaded up that you mustn’t go without this Memorial Day. We’d love for you to share what you’ll be using on your Android devices to make sure your day goes by smoothly. If you’d be so kind as to divulge us with your suggestions in the comment section below, we’d love to add some of those apps to our digital Android-enabled Swiss army knives. Have a great Memorial Day!
