Much to my dismay, I have become one of those annoying people who are dependent – okay, addicted – to their smartphones. For years, I made fun of my “Crackberry” friends, but now I am one of them, although for a number of reasons, Android is my smartphone of choice.
Only a few months ago, my phone was a simple LG EnV3. I could make phone calls and text my husband and kids. That was it. Very basic. But then…May 2011. I was due for a phone upgrade. There was a Mother’s Day special…from that weekend, I was hooked.
All joking aside, as the co-owner of a writing and editorial services business I realized that regardless of how much I liked my basic cell phone, it wasn’t going to cut it anymore, and I would need to make the smartphone leap. If it was all about e-mail, I would have gone with the Blackberry. But I chose an Android because it seemed to have more of the features that I would need to access certain things quickly. I knew that beyond e-mail, I would need to quickly access and view web pages as well as documents at any given moment. Plus, my husband, a technophile who is not fond of the iPhone, already used an Android, so it made sense for me as well.
Even though my experience with my Android hasn’t been completely trouble-free (particularly when I had to switch from a Samsung Galaxy S to a Motorola Droid after a software glitch), I am still quite satisfied with my Droid. (In my experience, the Droid is superior to the Galaxy S when it comes to calls and battery life.)
But even beyond phone calls, e-mails, viewing documents and web browsing, I’ve discovered a number of apps that are particularly useful for writers, freelancers, small business owners or any combination of the three. Plus I’m accumulating a list of interesting looking apps that I’d like to test drive when I have the time.
In case Santa brings you an Android phone or tablet, here are some of the apps that I’ve found to be most useful:
- Evernote – for ideas, notes, photos, anything you want to save. On my laptop too.
- Color Note – great for a quick note or reminder. Can place them on your home page.
- CamCard and CamScanner – The first is a business card reader that can add the person’s information into your phone. A bit tricky but still a time saver. CamScanner scans documents and can convert them to a pdf.
- K-9 Mail – much better than the default e-mail on my Droid. I like the fact that I can access all of my accounts from one screen. Plus it’s free.
- Out of Milk – my preferred grocery shopping app.
- Seesmic and HootSuite – More useful than the regular Twitter app.
- Get It Done – This is based on David Allen’s Getting Things Done book/system, which is widely recommended for freelance writers. Promising, although I am still getting the hang of it. Also on my laptop.
There are several other apps that I’ve read about that I’m planning to try. These include:
- Thinking Space – a mind mapping app.
- Droid Room – for saving plain text files.
- Time Tracker – for tracking time spent on projects and generating time sheets.
In the meantime, I am still searching for a good project tracking app for PC and Android, similar to Manymoon, which is not available for Android. If anyone has any other recommendations, please let us know.
A View From the Room 