Smartphone applications offer expatriates a great way to navigate a new country. If you’re looking to find your way around, locate an ideal restaurant for dinner or learn the local language in Hong Kong then this selection of applications may be just what you need to make settling into Hong Kong life just that little bit easier.
Dining Out
Platform: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later.
Price: Free
OpenRice is Hong Kong’s most popular online dining guide and their iPhone app offers expatriates an opportunity to search restaurant listings and read customer reviews for the majority of restaurants in Hong Kong.
Travel and tourism
Hong Kong Traffic Conditions Lite
Platform: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later
Price: Lite version is free, full version costs 0.99 USD.
Hong Kong Traffic Conditions provides real-time snapshots of the current traffic conditions in areas throughout Hong Kong and can help you to avoid traffic jams and find the quickest way to your destination.
Platform: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later
Price: Free
A great app that features a comprehensive map of Hong Kong that can allow expatriates to explore the city and locate all the visitor hot spots. The app also presents a number of different walking tours that provide descriptions of some of the best sightseeing routes on Hong Kong Island and Kowloon.
Platform: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later.
Price: Free
Hong Kong 720º is an application that was produced by the Hong Kong Tourist Board. It is great for expatriates who are new to the city because it provides comprehensive information about all the tourist attractions on offer and allows users to virtually explore each location before visiting in person.
Platform: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later
Price: $1.99
Another great app for expatriates who are new to Hong Kong, the Explore Hong Kong MTR map is a handy mobile application that contains an up-to-date map of all the underground transport lines on the MTR and contains a handy route planner, showing you exactly how to get from A-B.
Platform: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later
Price: Free
The Hong Kong Post application provides full functionality for expatriates to trace the delivery status of their postal items, calculate the appropriate postage for mailing an item anywhere in the world and locate post offices throughout the SAR. It is available in English and Chinese.
Language
Platform: Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), and iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later.
Price: Free
This is a great application for reading and understanding Chinese characters. The application shows the native readings of Cantonese immediately by representing Chinese characters with Roman (Latin) alphabets.
Platform: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later.
Price: $5.99 USD
A great app that promises to help you to learn to speak Cantonese just like a native Hong Kong-er. The application provides a combination of visual clues coupled with the voice of native speakers to help you to learn and retain thousands of Cantonese words. There are also opportunities to test your progress with fun quizzes and games.
