Assorted collection of top utility / productivity apps for Android

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.

Showing notes from notebook

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.

Multicolored notes view

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

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.

Available profiles

Scheduler rules list

Rule creation screen

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. 

Onscreen options for Camera

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.

Exposure setting

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:

Other useful utility app:

1. 3G Watchdog: Great app to keep track of your 3G or WiFi data usage