Using an iPhone & iPad in Thailand Tips, App Reviews and News for the iPhone and iPad by Richard Barrow

Thai Baht Exchange Rates

Thai FX Rates allows you to check foreign exchanges realtime with commercial banks in Thailand.

If you need to know the exchange rates for banks in Thailand then you might find this free app useful. At present there are seven banks listed and you can find the exchange rate for a number of different currencies. As you might know, the exact exchange rate does vary between banks so this app might save you money if you are exchanging a lot of money. Personally I am not sure if I will use it much but I will keep it on my iPhone just in case. The exchange rate app that I use the most is XE Currency which I find very useful. This is also free.

Download Thai FX Rates for free on iTunes >>>

Bangkok International Motor Show 2011

Two new apps have been released for the 32nd Bangkok International Motor Show. One for the iPhone and the other for the iPad. Both are free. The show is taking place now, 25 March to 5 April 2011 at the Challenger, Impact Muang Thong Thani. The apps give you an introduction and history of the show including posters from the past 32 years. There are also photographs of the cars with a promise of more being uploaded during the ten day show. You will also find instructions and maps on how to reach the venue. Most of the information is in Thai but there is also some English as well.

Check Prices for Commart Thailand 2011

If you live in Bangkok and are interested in computers or gadgets, then you are probably going to visit Commart Thailand 2011 which takes place this week, 17th-20th March. A new useful app for the iPhone and iPad called Commart Thailand has just been released which will help you get the best prices at the event. The app is sorted by category and will then give you a list of stores where you can buy a certain gadget together with a price comparison. There will also be a map to show the stores location. Sounds very useful.

Download for free at iTunes >>>

Thai Railway Timetable

This app for the iPhone is a train timetable for the different lines in Thailand. It will give you a list of trains departing from Bangkok and also ones for the return journey. There are also maps of each line. It is not comprehensive but it certainly has all the main trains that will be of interest to foreign tourists. The app also switches between English and Thai.

Download Thai Railway for free at iTunes >>>

UPDATE: This app is no longer free and is being sold for 99 Cents.

Thai Lottery Results on your iPhone

This iPhone app will prove to be invaluable for anyone that plays the Thai lottery. As well as giving you a full list of winning numbers, it will also check the numbers on any tickets that you have bought. You can enter your own numbers by keyboard or by taking a picture of the ticket. On the day of the lottery, there is also push notification so you will be the first to know the winning results. Lottery (Thai) can be downloaded from iTunes for 99 Cents.

Thai Version of Google’s Places

Thai Going Out is an application for users to look for places to visit in their local area. The points of interest include: shopping, eating out, cinema, sport clubs, and convenience stores.

Thai Going Out is another free iPhone app produced by the team at TrueMove. It is similar in many ways to the app Google Places as it looks for places near where you are on the map. It is sorted into five main categories: shopping, eating out, cinemas, sports clubs and convenience stores. This then has further sub-categories. I tried Convenience Stores and then clicked on 7-Eleven. I was then given a choice of ten stores within a kilometre radius of where I was standing. Clicking on the map button for any of them gave me a map with a route marked out. You can change the search radius to up to 5 kilometres. There is also a choice to see all the stores in your area marked on a map. It seemed very accurate though two of my local restaurants have been closed for a while. There doesn't seem to be an option to report mistakes. Unfortunately for expats, this app is only released as a Thai version.

Download Thai Going Out for free at iTunes >>>

Thai Stock Exchange

For those of you who play the Stock Exchange in Thailand (SET) you might be interested in a new app for the iPhone and iPad called CNSRealtime. It has real time stock information provided by Capital Nomura Securities. There is another free iPhone app called Settrade Streaming which was released in August 2009. It recently had an upgrade. Both of them work in much the same way. As I don't have any experience with the SET I cannot comment on which one is better.

iPhone App for the Famous QBar

To be honest, before last year I had never heard of QBar. It is apparently Bangkok's leading bar and nightclub for the rich and famous. In my defence, I live out in the sticks in Samut Prakan so this bar never stood out from the rest for me. That is, until I started using Twitter less than a year ago. I met someone by the name of Andrew Clark (@qandrew) who is very active on Twitter. Although he sometimes Tweeted about the bar that he co-owns, it was never in your face and he had gained quite a following because of his honesty and sincerity. Myself among them. That was when I first heard the name QBar. After that, I kept seeing the name cropping up on Twitter in various conversations.  Then, a few months later I started to spot advertisements in the Bangkok Post for QBar. What caught my attention though, was it's use of QR Code. This is like a barcode but it contains more information. Basically you scan the QR Code with your smart phone and it will often take you to a website relevant to the advert. Another innovation was their use of 4Square. I believe they were the first bar to make use of this with specials for patrons who checked-in as they arrived using their smartphones.

Now it seems only natural that QBar is one of the first bars/nightclubs to launch their own dedicated app for the iPhone. It is called simply QBar and you can download it for free at iTunes. The app has everything that you would expect to see. It has information about upcoming events, photos and videos of past events, a map to show you where the bar is and also your own location. Links on the homepage take you to their social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook. There is even a link to hear live streaming music from the nightclub together with an archive. A few of the links and pages didn't work for me but as it was only launched today I am sure they will sort it out soon. I still haven't had the chance to go to QBar, but I can tell you that I have definitely heard about it now mainly thanks to their skilful use of social media. QBar is certainly at the top of my list of bars to go and visit the next time that I am in Bangkok.

Purchase QBar for free at iTunes >>>

iStudio (Thailand)

For fans of Apple products and the iStudio this app for the iPhone will be invaluable. As well as telling you the locations of the nearest stores to where you are, there is also information about latest promotions at these stores. One of the tabs tells you about upcoming workshops and you can even reserve a place for the workshop within the app. Information is mainly in Thai but there is also some English as well. I will probably keep this one on my iPhone though without push notification for new promotions I am not sure how useful it will be. I cannot see myself checking it that often.

Download iStuido (Thailand) for free at iTunes >>>

UPDATE: Although this was only released last night, it seems to have already been withdrawn from iTunes. I don't know the reason.

UPDATE: On 7th March the app has returned to iTunes after fixing a "few bugs". Here is the new link.