The above is a photo of an automated text message I got when I landed in Bangkok. (Free pie at a Bangkok Burger King?!) Unfortunately, my phone failed about 4 days later, so I’m not going to be able to provide much of a follow up for these apps. I’m not sure what happened to it- it was working one minute, and about 350 degrees the next. It never came on again after that. I lost a few pictures and video from the trip, which I am sad about, but luckily had plenty of other devices on which to capture the trip.

My experience trying these apps was limited, therefore, but I’ll give my impression nonetheless.

Skype: Tried the calling feature a couple of times using wifi from Kanchanaburi. It never connected. Could have used this several times if it had actually worked. Didn’t get a chance to try it in multiple locations.

Convertbot: Missed this app the most. Tip: add all currencies for any country you are traveling through before you leave. That way, if you are in an airport taking a connecting flight, you won’t need wifi to get the current conversion rate for the country you are in.

ReadItLater: The notes I had saved were missed, but I managed without. I still think this is a good method for finding previously saved trip info – though I do remember that searching was a bit tricky at first.

Wifi Track: I tried to use this, but it didn’t work as I believed it should have. It never notified me of networks when I tried that feature, and required so much fussing that you might as well use the built in wifi detection.

uTalk Thai: I had played with this several times before landing. It would have been a helpful reference, and several times I wished I could look up a pronunciation for a word or phrase that I knew was in there.

I never had the chance to use the BoA app or Pano before the phone bricked. Thanks Apple for quickly and simply giving me a replacement.