LostInTechnology

Three Android Apps That Will Boost Your Productivity

Posted on 21. Jan, 2010 by Chris.Smith in Software

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With the recent purchase of my new Motorola DROID and the recent onslaught of crazy school assignments, work projects, and personal obligations, I have begun to figure out the greatest work-flow while out and about with my phone. The best part is that these apps work with any Android handset.

Using these apps has helped me get more done, and I think that it will help you as well.

1. Locale

I swear that this app should just be included with every Android phone.

Do you always forget to mute your phone during a meeting, class, alone-time-with partner, whatever? With Locale you can set certain criteria, like an event on your calendar, GPS location, time, battery percentage, or any combination of these and give these criteria each their own specific phone settings. It sounds way more confusing than it is.

For example, say you have an event on your calendar where you can’t be disturbed by your phone ringing. With Locale, you can set that event or series of events as a criteria and then set your phone to silent during that event. As soon as that important event hits, your phone will automatically silence itself. When the criteria or event is over, your phone goes back to your predefined standard settings. Extremely useful and time saving.

2. Remember the Milk

If you haven’t heard of this application I suggest that you go to Remember the Milk, sign-up for a free account, and get started managing your life’s tasks. If you have heard of and used this application on your desktop, you know how useful it is, and with Android’s version of RTM, you get everything you would expect from the desktop version. It really is one of the better Android applications and is very complete.

You can set certain categories for tasks, set due dates, add tags, add locations where the tasks need to be done, and view by week, month, day, or whatever else. If you have an RTM pro account, you can also sync your tasks from the web app to the Android app and vice versa.

3. AK Notepad

This was one of the first Android applications that I ever downloaded. It seems like something that should be included in any modern smartphone OS. Seriously, it doesn’t seem that hard or “outside of the box” to include something that holds so much value.

Anyways, AK Notepad is an excellent application that does notepad tasks very well. You can create new notes, take notes, rename the title of the note, and share the notes via Twitter, Facebook, GMail, text message, and any other third party Android application that has some sort of sharing feature (I have Seesmic and it works with that). You can also set a reminder for a note if need be. AK Notepad is simple but nails every aspect one would need in a simple note-taking application.

Conclusion

These by no means are the only applications in the Android Market that do these tasks, aside from Locale, but they are apps that seem to do the job well. So, if 2010 is your year to “get things done” and you own an Android based smartphone, then these are 3 excellent applications to get your well on your way.

About the blogger: Chris Smith is a guy who obsesses over mobile technology and the cloud. If he isn’t posting at MobileTechMob then he is probably reading about mobile technology and the cloud, playing with his puppies, hanging out with his girlfriend, doing schoolwork, or working.  He updates his Twitter here and likes to be emailed here. He is an MIS student at Penn State Behrend so he sort of knows what he is talking about.

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Tags: android, apps, location, organization, productivity, task management