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Cape Town - With the holidays around the corner, smartphones are invaluable in helping to plan and have a lower stress holiday.
Whether you're planning a getaway to Parys or Paris over the weekend, apps make smartphones perfectly useful as holiday companions.
Check out our top apps to help with your holiday travelling adventures:
Here Maps
There's nothing more than getting lost in a foreign environment and Here Maps is guaranteed to come to the rescue. Initially only available for Nokia smartphones, the app is now also available on Android and iOS and offers this key feature: Offline navigation that costs you nothing in data charges.
Just download the maps for your area and away you go.
XE Currency Converter
Not sure what to pay for that tourist cup? XE Currency Converter on Android or iOS is one of the best known apps that does an instant conversion. It's top feature is storing rates so you can run conversions offline, but beware that you may not have the latest information.
On Windows, you may want to check out Currency Converter which does the job with low drama.
Offline navigation is a key feature of Here Maps with directions in Here Drive. (Duncan Alfreds, Fin24)
Booking.com
Once you get to that lovely hideaway town, you'll need to stay somewhere - and no, the whole family doesn't like camping. Booking.com tracks well-appointed establishments that won't break the bank. Book your stay straight from the app even at short notice.
The top feature is multiple search tools to zero in on the ideal place to stay, and works brilliantly even if you want to stay in your own city so you can vanish from freeloader family over the holidays.
Mango Airlines
Internationally, airline booking apps have a level of sophistication that SA is working toward. The winner in airline local booking is Mango because you can easily book a flight.
There are a number of flight checker apps that are nothing more than a web version build into an app, but SkyScanner is the best of the rest because it searches flights and allows you to book via the airline website or phone. SkyScanner is also neat in the way you can conduct searches.
TuneIn Radio
When you're tired of those same Top 40 songs on your playlist, streaming radio at least provides a way to improvise the music you listen to.
With TuneIn Radio on Android you can listen to a selection of international radio stations for hours of road trip entertainment.
If you're on Windows, give MixRadio is whirl. It not only plays your own music; but you can also pick artists and the software automatically mixes similar music for a themed road trip.
The best feature is also offline play.
However, if you truly want to listen to radio (like in 1992) most smartphones have the functionality built in with the caveat that the earphone works as an antenna. It's great for avoiding needy types at the airport, but not so great with your family.
Mango allows booking of flights on your smartphone. (Duncan Alfreds, Fin24)
Daily Expenses
When you're on holiday, your expenses can often reach (unintended) stratospheric levels. But an app called Daily Expenses keeps track of your spend in categories, by card, or by date.
You can also set a budget and can instantly see if you're going over and, more importantly, see what category is costing you the most cash.
Uber
While the company has had its share of bad press, evidence suggests that Uber is finding success with travellers tired of being taken by high taxi rates.
In Cape Town, Uber rates are around half of radio taxi rates for trips and drivers prompt, engaging and efficient.
Native apps
Most modern smartphones come equipped with applications like make a trip memorable.
Try using your built-in camera filters to take interesting pictures of the landscape.
Samsung has a number of modes including a soft portrait picture tool that allows soap TV quality images. Also, try the panoramic function of your iPhone, HTC or LG phone to capture landmarks in a way that will wow your friends.
If you're shooting video, your Sony gives a unique perspective under water or experiment with AR effects that add animated scenery to your content.
With the thousands of apps available on the major platforms, you will no doubt find overlaps in functionality.
What's your favourite travel app? Let us know
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