Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Assorted collection of top utility / productivity apps for Android

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With this post I am starting a series, in which I will be listing some of the well-known utility / productivity apps for both smartphone and tablet which I have personally used and realized its value.

Evernote

Evernote is essentially a note keeping app. It is simply the best app for this purpose and does its work brilliantly. Using this app one can take text notes, record voice memo or take pictures which can then be stored as a note. To better organize and categorize the notes it provides option to create multiple notebooks.

Evernote: Showing notes from notebook
Showing notes from notebook


Evernote: main menu
Evernote menu
The saved notes get synced to all the devices you use, so no need to worry about backing up and restoring or losing the notes if you change the device.


How much it costs you: Not a single penny.

Google Keep

Starting from Android 4.0.3, Google has a new note keeping app named as 'Google Keep'. Google Keep is quite similar to Evernote, though currently it is not as mature and feature rich product as the latter. Google keep essentially allows you to create text notes, voice memos or snap a picture. There is a cool option to create notes in different colors.

Google Keep: Multicolored notes view
Multicolored notes view


Google keep: Individual note
Individual note
While using Google Keep I found that it is quite a light weight app and it does not take much time to understand its settings and options. The saved notes get synced to all of your connected devices through the Google account.


Google Keep: settings menu
Google Keep settings
How much it costs you: Not a single penny.

For HTC Desire S


Profile Scheduler

I used to face this issue with my phone as, usually when I am in office I keep my phone on silent mode (ringer off, vibe on) and then forget to switch it back to normal again. It results in me missing many phone calls and frustration to the caller. Profile Scheduler comes handy in such situations.

As the name suggests this little but useful app schedules your phone’s profiles based on the time. For example, if you are usually in office between Monday and Friday at 9AM to 6PM you can instruct this app to schedule the silent mode profile and anytime other than that schedule the normal profile. 

To facilitate this, Profile Scheduler allows configuring ‘Rules’. In the rule definition you can add the conditions as at what time to activate which profile etc. This is just not limited to the ringer volume setting but you can basically add conditions for many more functionality as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, screen timeout etc.

Profile Scheduler: Available profiles
Available profiles
Profile Scheduler: rules listing
Scheduler rules list


Profile Scheduler: creating rules
Rule creation screen

Profile Scheduler: Editing profile settings
Editing profile settings
If needed, you can anytime override the active rule just by selecting any desired profile. This will deactivate the rule until you again select the rule to activate it back. Profile scheduler app also provides two widgets to show quick information about the active profile.

How much it costs you: Not a single penny.

For Nexus 7


Camera Starter

By now, I guess we all know that Nexus 7 has just the 1.2 MP front-facing camera for video conferencing and strangely there is no built-in app comes with Android to activate this camera for clicking self-portraits. But no need to worry, there are camera apps available on Play Store for activating the Nexus 7 front camera, and ‘Camera Starter’ is one of the best app. 


Camera Starter: On screen options
Onscreen options for Camera

Camera Starter: various camera modes
Showing various camera modes 
Not a full-fledged camera app with extensive options, the interface of Camera Starter is very simple and intuitive. As you launch the app, the camera gets activated and there are options visible on screen to select the various camera modes. There are few more options as; you can set the exposure, light, location, picture size settings for still and video camera.


Camera Starter: exposure setting
Exposure setting


Camera Starter: More options
More options
How much it costs you: Not a single penny.

If you are aware of and using apps which are similar to or better than the apps I mentioned here, please make use of the comments section and spread the word :).

See also:

4 comments:

  1. Nice and handy information Pawan...Keep posting...

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    1. Thanks Neel123 for the kind words.
      Sure, my aim is to post about the apps / games for Android which I have personally used or played and I feel are the best in its category. Keep watching this space :).

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  2. Good resources of apps that are meant for the productivity purpose. Mean while I wanna recommend one more tool that also contributes to the productivity in terms of the work level. I am a dedicated user of the tool as I always believe in smart work and process oriented work. So as to achieve the success in terms of the work structure the tool that I have been using is the cloud based task management tools from Replicon (http://www.replicon.com/olp/task-management-software.aspx) which makes a significant contribution in the work structure for the betterment of the business.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for visiting this blog Stephie. Also, thanks for sharing information about the task management tools by Replicon. I visited their website and I can see Replicon has some great products to offer including the mobile app for time tracking.

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