The way I see it, smartphones are productivity enhancing devices. Sure there are games — quite a few of them actually, some of which could literally eat your time — but there is also a number of apps that will help you better organize your work and life, while at the same time improving your productivity. The way I see it, if some device doesn’t help me be at least a bit more productive then I don’t buy it. Actually it’s the software rather than hardware that makes all the difference.
That said today I want to present you 3 Android apps that I think make me more productive. I know there are other applications out there that can do same thing, it’s just that I’ve found these 3 to work for me. Here they are:
- GTasks – as a Google services junkie, I rely on their simple (yet good enough) task management service, so I was pleased to discover GTasks. It’s a free application that allows you to manage tasks on your Android smartphone and have them in sync with Google Tasks. Furthermore, thanks to the home screen widget support, you can quickly see all your tasks without actually starting the application. If you, however, rely on some other task management service, such as Remember The Milk or Nozbe, you’ll probably want to have their widgets on the home screen, presuming you like that idea.
- Touch Calendar – imagine *real* Google Calendar on your phone. That’s exactly what this handy app brings, enabling you to zoom in and out to get a quick perspective of your upcoming weeks and months. Want to see only one day? No problem, just pinch to zoom-in the day you want. The application is super easy to use and can work with multiple calendars. Moreover, if you grab the paid version, you’ll also get the ever-useful home screen widget.
- Evernote – by now, you’ve probably realized how much I love Evernote. It is <em>the</em> best note-taking app/service. Period. Its Android client has been updated for quite a few times and now supports offline note storage, allowing users to access their notes even when there’s no network signal around. With Evernote’s widget on your home screen, you can quickly take new notes, whether it’s text, image (photo) or video.
I could also include Browser and GMail on the list — since I use them daily — but that’s not the idea here since those two come preloaded with all Android devices.
Anyway I’m eager to hear what you think about this list. Which apps make you more productive while you’re not on computer? Please don’t say Facebook and Twitter, cause those two are rarely used for anything related to productivity. 😉
GTasks (FREE) [Android Market link] – Ad Free Version
Touch Calendar (FREE) [Android Market link] – Premium Version (with widget)
Evernote (FREE) [Android Market link]