Smartphones and tablets have already revolutionized our lives – allowing us to shop on the go, apply for jobs, take and send photos and video clips, email from the beach, and instantly access maps as and when we need them.
A recent British survey found that we spend roughly 23 days a year looking at our phones. They really are a part of our lives, so it makes sense to try to use them to improve our productivity – rather than letting them hold us back from getting things done.
New apps are being developed all the time, and many of them can be used to make everyday life more manageable. Here are a few that could make your working day run more smoothly:
Genius Scan
http://www.thegrizzlylabs.com/genius-scan-android/
This is the go-to app for scanning, and users say it is easy to use compared with others on the market. This one does exactly what is needed and then gets out of the way so you can attend to your work. The Save-in-Another-App feature allows you to send the file you have scanned to any of the cloud-based storage systems you use. The scans are then available on your desktop/laptop when you want to use them later.
Evernote
http://evernote.com/evernote/
Evernote makes it possible to keep everything in sync across all the devices and computers you use. This means it’s easier for you to remember things – from meeting notes to diary dates – using your computer, phone, tablet, and the Web.
At work, you can research more efficiently because you’re able to collect information from anywhere and keep it in a single place – text notes, web pages, documents, and photos will all be at your fingertips. You can also share notes and collaborate on projects with colleagues.
Cal
http://www.any.do/cal
This brings calendar management into the 21st century. Earlier this year, popular task management app Any.do launched Cal as a sister app to help iPhone owners better manage their day. Android owners will benefit in the near future. Cal has been designed to complement the Any.do app with deep integration. The app is free and has a clean design, and it’s easy to navigate between views.
You can easily manage this digital calendar by swiping to view seamlessly, by month, week, or day. The display allows for time gaps between appointments to help you plan your day, make lists, and add reminders.
GateGuru
http://gateguruapp.com/
If business travel is part of your working life, then don’t leave home without GateGuru, a clever app recently acquired by TripAdvisor. This free app helps you navigate airport terminals, anticipate wait times, find the best airport food, and travel with greater confidence. It’s a useful app for seeing what Wi-Fi is available at various airports, where the nearest cash point is, and what the weather is doing, which could help you anticipate flight delays. You’ll also find it useful for checkpoint wait times. GateGuru integrates with Tripit and Kayak for flight details, as well as Foursquare, Twitter, and Facebook for sharing. So far 150 airports are covered, and this is being built upon with user-generated content. This is a free app for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone.
SwiftKey
http://www.swiftkey.net/en/
This app is all about improving your productivity if you often type on a phone or tablet. The company that developed SwiftKey boasts that their language model can sometimes let you dash off whole sentences without typing – amazing stuff! SwiftKey 3 understands how words work together, providing corrections and predictions more accurately than other keyboards. Very sloppy typing will magically make sense, even if you miss the spaces, and SwiftKey 3 also predicts next words and learns the words and phrases you regularly use. You can also customize it with your Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, or blogs. SwiftKey is one of the bestselling Android apps in the world. In 2012, it spent more days as Google Play’s No. 1 paid download than any other app.
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