The smartphones arrived in the OCRegister newsroom Monday and Tuesday. Here, I collected some memorable moments so far:

Tweet tweet

 Reporter/Editor: "It's asking for my Twitter account. I've always been meaning to join - can I do that on my phone?"

The sound of smartphones

Reporter who already owned an Android: "Oh man, now everyone's phone is gonna sound like mine every time they get an email or a phone call or an alert. I better change my sounds."

Ready to blog

Me: "OK, and here's how you turn the phone on by pressing the top button and then you slide your finger across the screen."

Reporter: "Great. So now how do I get the WordPress app so I can start blogging and approving comments?"

Efficiency

Me: "how's the new phone?"

Reporter: "great!"

Me: "yeah?"

Reporter: "yeah working perfectly, i've never been so efficiaint"

Me: "cool. so what makes you so efficient?"

Reporter: "the email, several times yesterday I thought 'oh, i need to go to my computer and send an email ,'to schedule something for today and i realized i already had the phone with me to do it."

Me: "nice"
Reporter: "also the fb app, i  cjeck it regulary but because i had some downtime while i was waiting for someone to show up, i scrolled thru it and found a story idea."

Me: "awesome"

Reporter: "also the texting is soooooooooooooo much better."

Me: "glad it is working out!"

Checking da email

Me: "how's the new phone?"

Editor: "I actually took the time to kinda learn how to use it......and have it with me now...I like it...thanks"

Me: "nice!"

Me: "what's the best thing so far?"

Editor: "I like that I can check email"

Ring a ding ding

Me: "how's the new phone working out?"

Reporter: "Good, good. I got the Oregon fight song as my ring tone, so I'm happy"

Reporter: "My wife is not, however"Me: "haha"

Me: "why? too much phone time now?"

Reporter: "Doesn't like hearing 'Mighty Oregon' every time the phone rings..."

Here's a list of suggested Android apps for journalists. This list is just the beginning. Please add other apps in the comments section or check out the database built by several people of apps for journalists.

How to download an app? Open the "Android Market" app. Touch on the search icon in the top right corner. Type the name of the app. Touch install and then approve any permissions. The phone will notify you at the top of the screen when the app has been downloaded. Downloaded apps go in the app tray, accessed by touching the icon in the middle, bottom of your screen.

Evernote

With Evernote you can add text, photos and audio directly to the mobile app and access it from other mobile devices, the web or the desktop application. Save notes to specified notebooks for great organization and add as many tags as you like. Includes option to geotag all notes and see them on a map. Incredibly useful.

WordPress

Allows for remote reporting and posting to your WordPress blog.

Twitter

A simple, easy-to-use Twitter app. Make sure to add the widget to your homescreen.

Facebook

A great way for staying connecting at all times.

Fancy Widgets

Add a beautiful clock to your homescreen that displays the time, date and weather. If you're like me and love customizing pay the small cost for Fancy Widgets Pro that lets you customize the skin of the widget.

LastPass

Have files or apps you can only access or use from your desktop computer? That's no problem with LogMeIn. Install the desktop app and mobile app and rock your computer from any location. Premium costs $12 a year.

Dropbox

Make sure to add this to your desktop and phone for the best use. Creates a folder on your desktop. Add files to the folder and they'll be accessible on your phone.

Wunderlist

A simple, syncing and free app for making to-do lists. I like it best for making lists for any practice. Also has a free website that syncs with the app - so you can make the list on your computer and access it on your phone.

Google Voice

Create one phone number and have it ring your desk phone and your mobile phone. Get voicemails transcribed and emailed to you.

Hootsuite

If you use Hootsuite for socializing make sure you also have the app. Includes notifications for mentions by default - perhaps its best feature.

Pandora

Listen to the music you like and other related music for free.

Androidify

Very silly, but fun. Create a little Android icon of yourself - or of family members and colleagues.

Bump

Trade content and contact information by literally bumping phones with another person. Sure, you could send an email but this is so much more cool.

Firefox

Tired of the basic built-in web browser? There are several options, but my favorite is Firefox. Another possibility is Dolphin Mini.

CNN

Great up-to-the-minute news and video and it includes push notifications for breaking news.

Fruit Ninja

Playing a game can reduce stress. In this one, you'll slice fruit with a sword.

QuickOffice

For those Microsoft Office fans who can't get enough of Word, Excel or PowerPoint. Create or open files and then email them back to yourself - or store them in your Dropbox.

Qik or Ustream Broadcaster

Two options for broadcasting live from your phone. Great for covering breaking news situations in the field.

Reader

Several apps sync with your Google Reader account, but the Google-made app is the fastest.

ReadItLater

Want to read something on your computer later? Install the Firefox ReadItLater plugin and download this app to quickly bookmark and then later read web content.

SiteCatalyst

Addicted to Omniture? Now you can browse it on the go. Works off of your available dashboards - so create a nice dashboard on the computer and you can access it at any time.

Sype

Skype with other people - making phone or video calls via the web connection.

Yelp

Hungry after your late-night council meeting? Find good food open now with the Yelp app.

Suggestions from other people on the main database.

Scanner Radio

More than 2,300 live police and fire scanners and weather radios from around the world. According to the developer, “You could have the app alert you when any scanner in the directory has more than 500 listeners, or, you could have it alert you when scanners you choose (such as those in your area) have more than, say, 50 listeners.”

TapeMachine

A graphical sound editor and recorder for Android smartphones.

Qik

An excellent way to broadcast live from breaking news, very fast. New features are added frequently and the quality of the video continues to improve. But a word of warning: Be sure to keep an eye on your battery life! Qik drains batteries very fast.

Photoshop Express

As the quality of the cameras on Android phones continues to improve (the new DROID X has an 8 megapixel camera), it’s essential to have access to photo editing software on the go. Photoshop Express for Android lets you crop, tone and add a few fun filters and borders to your pictures. While it’s no substitute for Photoshop CS5, Photoshop Express is a great tool to use before sharing your mobile picture on your blog or Twitter.

VoiceTask

Forget your voice recorder at home? No worries, because VoiceTask is a free and easy-to-use voice recording app. VoiceTask users can enter their e-mail address in the app’s settings page and receive an e-mailed MP3 recording. Remember, the recordings will sound like a phone conversation, since you’re using the microphone from a phone. But for casual, transcription purposes, VoiceTask definitely will work well.

Dragon Dictation

This is a voice recognition application that will capture what you speak in text. The text can thence emailed or copied into another application. It’s a fast way to write a story while on the move.

Foursquare

This social location app (recently adopted by the Wall Street Journal) is a way to share location information and short messages to Foursquare, Twitter, and Facebook friends when you arrive to the scene.

As I prepare for the newsroom to go full-smartphone, I'm trying to find a good chat system.

Please jump in with your ideas in the comments section!

Currently, our newsroom uses an old instant messaging that only works on desktop computers, logged in by VPN that we cannot add on smartphones.

Here's what we're looking for in a system:

• Dead simple user interface
• Available for desktops and mobile devices (iPhone and Android - an iPad app would be nice, but those users could potentially use the iPhone app or the desktop website)
• Login is dead simple and requires no more than a name and email address
• Users can chat one-on-one (in groups is also nice, but not necessary)
• Users can send text and photos (sending videos and current location would be nice, but are not necessary)
• Photos and text sent can be easily copied or saved to the mobile device or desktop
• Dead simple to find other users
• Fast chatting speeds - almost no lag

Here's what we've tried or thought about already:

Kik
Pros: Very simple to create an account. Very simple to find other users. Easy to chat. Very quick push time. Chatting is one-on-one.

Cons: You can send photos, but they cannot be downloaded or copied to the mobile device. No desktop website or app.

Beluga Pods

Pros: Has a desktop website. Very fast chat speeds. You can download or copy content sent back and forth. Automatically sends the location with each post (when you send, not the original geotag for the created content).

Cons: Chatting is in pods and it seems easy to accidentally add other people to the same pod - making one-on-one simple comunication difficult - could get clogged up. Requires a Facebook account to connect. Automatically adding the user's location to every message can turn a work-only chat network creates privacy problems. Potential: Beluga Pods was recently acquired by Facebook - meaning the service could be dramatically changed or killed in the acquisition process.

Google Talk

Pros: Continued service is more likely with a Google product than with a startup, though still not guaranteed. Users who already use Google Talk can just use that service without learning a new system. Integrate nicely on iPhones, Androids and desktops.

Cons: Not easy to find other users - unless you have them in your Google contacts. Requires a Google account. Would link personal Google accounts to the work chat network. 

Please jump in with your ideas in the comments section!

After 14 months of working to get smartphones in the newsroom, the phones arrive Monday at the OCRegister.

Below is what I wrote, along with the help of some reporters, photographers and editors.

The note includes why we chose the G2 (actually we turned out with the option of the myTouch3G for free, or employees can pay $50 to upgrade and buy the G2) and why we feel smartphones are important for a newsroom. Keep in mind that this was written in August 2010.

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