We’re halfway through 2014, Google has just wrapped up its annual I/O developers’ conference in San Francisco, and a long Fourth of July holiday is behind us.
So now seems like a fitting time to look at some of the best Android productivity apps of the year. Some are brand new, others are not -- though usefulness is the real point of these apps, not how fresh out of the oven they are. But all are worth downloading and trying out.
Yahoo Aviate
I never would have thought something from Yahoo would improve the overall experience with my Android phone, but Yahoo Aviate -- which just came out of beta and is available in Google Play -- pulls it off.
Android Work: What IT pros need to know
Aviate is an Android launcher that Yahoo acquired in January. Android launchers basically make it easier for users to access apps and features from their devices. I know, this sounds overwhelming, but the right launcher can really improve your smartphone experience.
And Aviate likely will be the right launcher for many Android users, especially those who tire of the cumbersome displays and features on phones that have been altered by manufacturers under their license agreement with Google.
Aviate excels at organizing your apps in a logical manner. As you can see from the screenshot, it groups apps by category, so my productivity apps (Dropbox, Google Drive, Evernote, etc.) are all in one place at the top of the screen, instead of being interspersed in alphabetical order or by frequency of use.
Below that are categories for entertainment, music, social and transit apps. Users kick off the set-up process by selecting their 10 most important apps (which will be featured on the Aviate home screen) as well as five important apps categories. After that, Aviate takes over.
Even better -- and I’ve only just begun to use this feature -- Aviate will feed users contextual information throughout the day, beginning when they wake up and the app automatically shows them how long they’ve slept (not sure how it does that, to be honest), along with the day’s news and weather. During work hours, Aviate will present a screen with productivity apps, event listings, and directions to the user’s home. Aviate also will automatically give users on the road the latest local traffic conditions and directions back home.
As with any apps that provide a new interface, users can get lost in Aviate’s many swipe screens, and I somehow the screen with the 10 most-important apps I chose was altered so that I was getting apps grouped in categories. Then the apps wouldn’t work when I tapped them. It turns out that I had taken a screenshot of screen listing apps by groups. I just had to hold down the screenshot and swipe it into the trash bin.
My big concern with Aviate was how (and if) it would play nice with Google Now, which I rely on heavily throughout the day, especially on my smartphone. The good news is that Google Now works seamlessly with Aviate. This is particularly important given the latest update to Google Search, which includes a function that allows users to voice-activate Google Now from any screen (and not just when the Google Now widget (and microphone) is visible.
In the week or so that I’ve used Aviate, it’s made my phone easier to navigate and use. I recommend giving it a try. You can always uninstall it or revert to your phone’s old look by accessing Aviate’s settings and tapping “Show previous homescreen.”
Contacts+
I’ve been using Contacts+ for about a year and it’s one of the most useful apps on my phone.
Just as Aviate organizes your apps by categories, Contacts+ organizes the wide variety of real people for whom you have email addresses, phone numbers and social media accounts.
Tap on a name in your Contacts+ directory and you are presented with numerous options for contacting that person, including text, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and even telephone. If you have an address for your contact, you can even tap the Google Maps icon and get directions to them.
Lumosity
Our fast-paced digital world doesn’t suffer fuzzy thinkers kindly, so it behooves working professionals to stay on top of their game. And while there are plenty of fitness apps out there to help keep your body in shape, this Lumosity app from Lumos Labs provides workouts for your brain.
We’re not talking Candy Crush and Angry Birds here, people. Lumosity was developed by neuroscientists to help improve users’ memory, attention, mental flexibility and speed, and problem solving.
The app tailors its mental challenges to whatever the user would like to work on. Under “memory,” users can choose training that would allow them to lose fewer objects, remember people’s names, learn new subjects quickly, or keep track of multiple ideas. Choices under “attention” are to avoid distractions, concentrate better, improve productivity and precision, or focus longer on important tasks. There also are four options under mental flexibility, speed and problem solving, but you get the general idea.
As for the games themselves, they’re light on bling but heavy on challenge. For example, the goal of the “Speed Match” game is to improve a user’s “initial identification and analysis of incoming sensory input” by having users indicate whether a shape that pops up on their screen is identical to the previous shape.
Granted, there are no egg-stealing pigs to bombard, but all apps have their shortcomings.
Lumosity will run users through about five mental exercises before declaring their training over for the day, which is a good reminder to use your sharpened brain for the challenges of real life.
Smart Voice Recorder
There are a lot of voice recorder apps for Android, but I like Smart Voice Recorder by Smartmob Development. I keep the app icon on my homescreen for easy access when I need to record a thought, an interview or a conference session.
Smart Voice Recorder has a very simple user interface and a “silence skipper” option, so dead time isn’t recorded. Once you’ve recorded something and saved it, you can rename the file, set it as a ringtone, notification or alarm, and share it via Dropbox, Evernote, Google Drive, Gmail, email and text.
That’s pretty much all that Smart Voice Recorder does, but it does those things well.
Mobile Backup & Restore
Some apps are valuable because users rely on them daily. Others are valuable even if they are hardly ever used -- because they help prevent disaster.
Trend Micro’s Mobile Backup & Restore falls into the latter category. This free Android app makes copies of whatever you ask it to and keeps them in the cloud until you need them.
This backup app requires you to create an account after download. Once you do, you can choose what the back up from the following categories: Contacts, Calendar, Call History, Text History, Photos, Music, and Videos.
Backup and Restore offers only 50MB of free online storage space, so I use it for smaller text and contact files. For $19.99 a year, you can get 5GB of storage space.
You can set Backup and Restore to automatically back up designated files on a daily or weekly basis, as well as transfer files to another device.
0 comments:
Post a Comment