Using smart phones without apps - I think its a very unlikely scenario. Here in this blog, I just wanted to share some first-hand info about some of the useful mobile apps that can come handy in completing the day to day activities, both personal and professional.
Anyway, this is my experience and this can very well vary with others depending on their need and choice. An apt example could be FB. I have never installed an FB app in my phone. Because, I am not an FB person. Whenever I want to check, I better do it in a laptop. However, its evident that most of the smart-phone users in the world have FB in their phones. Please see my top 10 list below - :). This list also depends on the country of residence. Some of the apps can be available in US and not in India. My blog here is specific to India.
1. Whatsapp - No doubt, information exchange was never so easy. Video, audio, image or text, everything can be shared so quickly and easily that, this is a must in your phone. Also, creating groups and sharing at once with a large number of people is another super cool feature. Whatsapp call also, but is it working flawless as of now?
2. Google maps - Hmm.. not sure if the default iPhone Maps app works correctly, especially in India. Also, there might be other default map apps for Windows and Android but none can be matched with Google Maps. It works like charm. Its kind of lifesaver and a must in the phone. Yeah, but don't forget to add a bit of commonsense while using Google Maps. If the map says to turn right and you see a pond there, don't just drive yourself into the pond !!!
3. Cloud storage ( Dropbox, Google Drive, Box or MS One Drive) - I am a victim of laptop hard drive crashes, hard drive thefts and humanly errors like forgetting the stored location of a doc or a photo. The result is always painful, sometimes very painful. The solution to all these is storing your photos, docs etc in the cloud. Hence keeping an cloud storage app in your phone with an auto-sync on is a must. Guys, but remember if you have turned on auto-sync you have to be very careful in setting it up properly. There are lot of physical security issues. I will write separately on this.
4. Any music app (Gaana, Saavan, Jukebox or Hotstar) - If you are storing 100s of songs in your smartphone, please be aware that you are not using your smartphone smartly. You are unnecessary wasting the storage space. Any music app can be installed, as per your choice. Music app is a necessity, as, at some point of time we need to hear some songs to cool ourselves off. Yeah one thing that can cost us here is the mobile data. But you can use it in office wifi. This is an informed choice you have to make as how many songs you want to store and how long to use the music app, especially when your data is being eaten up.
5. Any video call app (Skype or Webex) - It depends how much you use these. It also depends on your office culture. Whether they use Webex and Skype much for meetings or not. Generally people use this a lot for personal as well as professional needs. Hence this app is kind of a necessity and gives flexibility to attend meetings while you are away from your desk. I have given interviews through Skype using my phone while I was roaming around in the streets. Well, yes!
6. Notepad app (Evernote or MS One Note) - This is particularly needed if you are into lot of meetings and are finding it difficult managing the action items and minutes. These apps are designed to address this and they offer a lot of features. In the mobile world Evernote is kind of ruling now but I never found it easy to use. So I depend on MS One Note, even though One Note offers less features in the mobile app. On a side note, MS One Note is a wonderful tool. However, its the most underestimated. I am sure most of you have never used it. Just start using it in your laptop and explore the features you will surely be in love with it. Stop using notepads and words in taking notes and minutes.
7. RSS Feeder (Feedly or anything similar) - We follow many sites everyday to check news, tech updates, sports updates, follow blogs etc. Invariably people install the news channel app itself or check it in the mobile browser. I think this is not the right way. Instead we can configure the rss feeds of all those sites in a rss feeder website and use that rss feeder app. This way it becomes easy to track all the updates coming through your favorite (news, tech, sports) sites.
8. Mindmap app (SimpleMind+ or anything similar) - As you all know mind map is the best way to organize thoughts and ideas. Wherever you are if you have any idea coming to your mind the first thing is to note it down somewhere. Be it in a paper or in a mobile phone. If you have this app in your phone you can straight away organize your ideas, rather than just writing it down in sentences and then thinking over it again and putting it in a logical manner. I think this kind of app is very helpful and a must.
9. Scanner apps (Cam scanner or similar) - This comes handy when you have to send any doc to someone over email or you have to keep a soft copy of any doc. Yes, there is an alternative way which is, just take a photo and store/send it. However, photo is not an great option for this because of the size in the first place. Additionally, scanner apps give plenty of other features like directly uploading to cloud or emailing etc which make those apps just irresistible in the smartphones.
10. Photo editors and games - All work and no play, makes Jack कृष्णा (Krishna, an common Indian name instead of Jack) a dull boy. Bit of fun guys :) Oh yes, we need those couple of games to which we are absolutely hooked up. Just for taking pressure off we can turn those games on and play for 15 min. Side by side we can make some photo editing for fun and send those in whats app. Howz the idea.
Ok, so here the top 10 list ends. As I have said, this is personal choice and based upon the need. No list is right or wrong. Do share your list. :)
