Trips at your fingertips

Apps are popular with tourists and help them to adjust quickly to life in the city they are visiting. Kuang Linhua / China Daily

Finding your way around China's capital - and most cities - is easy to do on the go, thanks to many smartphone apps for travelers, Eric Jou reports.

Three years ago Ge Jingwei came to Beijing from Dalian. When she visited Beijing she researched the subway, read maps and checked information online from home base. Fast forward, after two years in England, Ge is back in Beijing. But this time she's armed with a smartphone, a device that provides all the information she wants directly in the palm of her hand. She can get it on the go.

 

Will the idiot box get smarter

Traveling and relocating to a new city is always a challenge, particularly one as big and complicated as Beijing. Over the last few years, smartphone technology has taken off: it's nearly ubiquitous across the city. Smartphone applications are changing the way people travel and communicate, said Frank Yu, CEO of Kwester and a Beijing-based tech industry veteran.

"As a foreigner who doesn't speak Chinese, the travel and language apps are important for me to live," said Yu. "The taxi apps allows me to get to places and the dictionary allows me communicate."

Yu says that he checks his phone for all the necessary information whenever he is out and about the capital. Ge, who works in marketing, says the same, adding that she checks up on where to eat, how to find a taxi and what the weather and air quality is like in Beijing.

Of the countless apps that can be found at iOS and Android app stores, a few stand out for getting around Beijing, and many other Chinese cities. China Daily has gathered a small list of apps that can help any newcomer or old China hand discover and enjoy traveling in the capital.

This list includes weather and environmental status resources, chat applications, translation tools, city and transportation guides.

Language/Translation Tools

The first and arguably one of the most important apps is the language app. Waygo is perhaps our favorite language app at the moment on the iOS platform. Using augmented reality Waygo does instant translations. Originally, version one provided translations for menu items at a restaurant; the new version features a full-on dictionary.

HanPing's English-Chinese dictionary is the pick for Android. While not as technologically powerful as Waygo is, HanPing offers a solid electronic dictionary on the go.

A more Beijing-centric translation tool that many foreign expats swear by is the Beijing Taxi Guide. Unlike Waygo and HanPing, the Beijing Taxi app goes beyond translation tool: It's more a transportation tool. Input a location in English and the app translates it to Chinese to allow communication with taxi drivers.

Both Waygo and HanPing are available as free downloads with optional paid upgrades. Beijing Taxi Guide is available for both platforms for free.

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