The smartphone has become the centerpiece of many students' digital lives. Yes, it can be a distraction(,), but it is also an incredible tool that can transform classroom learning and late-night studying. Professors and students are starting to explore what the smartphone can contribute to learning-and there is a whole host of apps  to help that process along. There are also plenty of apps to help students with the less academic parts of college life. To download any of these apps, search the iTunes App Store or Android Market. iOS apps are built for Apple's mobile platform and can run on the iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. Skype Cost: Free Platform: Android, BlackBerry, iOS More and more smartphones now ship with front-facing cameras that make them great video chat tools. There are several competitors here ---- including Apple's FaceTime ----but Skype is still the best cross-platform tool for keeping in touch with faraway friends and family. Users on either end can be on a computer, smartphone. Grades 2 Cost: Free Platform: iOS This app is a sophisticated tool for calculating grades. Students can use it to figure out what grade they'll need on a test to achieve their target grade and also keeps track of overall GPA, weighted by each class's credit count. Students can also enter due dates for assignments as reminders. The app is free and supported by ads, but users can pay $1 inside the app to turn them off. Snoozerr Recordings Cost: 99 cents Platform: iOS This is a great tool for logging long lecture classes or smaller study sessions . It records audio and pairs that with time-stamped pictures that the student takes of presentations--- say, equations on a blackboard----or of his or her own notes. When the student wants to review, he or she can use the pictures as a visual guide to what the instructor was saying and replay that section. TED Cost: Free Platform: iOS This app is great for the student in everyone. It compiles video from hundreds of presentations at technology, entertainment and design----a conference that features short speeches focused on new ways of thinking. Presenters often speak about technology, social good or education and challenge societal norms. It's a great way to spend an hour or so hearing from some of the world's leading minds for free. All of the videos are also available at www.ted.com. AroundMe Cost: Free Platform: Android and iOS This app uses a smartphone's GPS to find nearby locations by category such as banks, gas stations, bars, coffee shops, restaurants and supermarkets---- all the college staples . Many college students use Grades 2 mainly for   _  .
chatting calculating hearing speeches recording lectures