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Productivity
Task management is one of the most saturated app categories on most mobile devices. But in this era of seamless sync and multi-device access, just being a good mobile app doesn’t cut it anymore. Fortunately, the choice in that category is not too slim either.
For more than a few years now, I’ve been a fan of Remember The Milk as my go-to app for managing tasks. After waiting patiently for some meaningful updates, a half-decent web interface and a Windows client, I decided to look for options and came across Todoist, a very old favorite. It was a fledgling app when I had looked at it a few years ago, but I was pleasantly surprised to see it all grown up into a solid contender for the best multi-platform todo app solution.
What followed was a couple months of consistent use on the web, desktop and mobile, a growing respect for how seamless the app works across platforms and a perfectly justified yearly subscription to their premium plan. With a super-snappy web interface that works seamlessly when online or offline, a fully functional Windows app and an actively in-development Android version, the app takes care of all my accessibility needs. But how does the Android app stack up against the seriously tough competition? Let’s find out.
Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone had their own personal assistant? They could keep track of your daily schedule, look stuff up for you, and, in a perfect world, even run out to grab a cup of coffee for you. Maluuba is the Android version of a personal assistant and it can do pretty much anything a real personal assistant can do, except maybe the coffee.
Ever since Apple embraced its own voice assistant Siri, there have been several “Siri alternatives” released in the Play Store. Finding a good one though has been quite difficult, until Maluuba entered the scene as worthy contender. Like Siri, it falls under the ”voice assistant” category, because it has the ability to listen to your voice and respond accordingly. Maluuba’s website breaks down the app’s ability into three categories: search, organize, and connect. Having used it extensively for several months, I will take a detailed look at each of these aspects.
It’s no secret that I love Evernote, the world’s favorite cross-platform note-taking tool — I use it on every device I own and even urge friends to try the app by installing it on theirs. Last year, the company behind it acquired Skitch, an image annotation and editing tool, and integrated it with Evernote to enable you to add visual information with your thoughts and ideas into your notebooks.
So what’s Skitch all about? How well does it work? And how does it look on larger devices? We’ll answer these questions and more as we get clever, creative and more productive with this phone and tablet-friendly app.
As a student I’m always taking notes on the go thanks to a small notepad and pen that I keep with me almost all the time. The problem is that you can always forget your notepad or your pen could run out of ink. However, one thing that you never forget is your smartphone.
A great number of applications on the Play Store can act as your notepad, but there’s one that caught my eye. Catch Notes is a great way to create, manage and share notes. Not only that, but Catch is designed for collaborative note talking – perfect for any small project you might be cooking up with your friends and colleagues.
It’s National Novel Writing Month once again, time to challenge yourself to write 50000 words in 30 days, no easy feat! But with your Android device by your side, you can keep working on your novel or non-fiction book anywhere and anytime. Throughout this week, we’ll share our best apps, thoughts, and tips to help you achieve that writing goal.
One of the most important aspects of writing – especially long form writing like reports, stories, novels, etc. – is the organization and structuring of content. A lot of people use long lists and sub-lists but unfortunately, for a lot of visually inclined people like myself, this gets ugly and out of control very quickly. I can’t get myself to make any sense of content until I can spatially organize everything for an at-a-glance overview.
One of the best ways to do this is to create mind maps. To quote Wikipedia, “A mind map is a diagram used to visually outline information”. I’ve been creating mind maps for years now, for everything from organizing my financial details to preparing project plans and even content outlines for blog posts like this one. The excellent open source app Freemind was my weapon of choice and has stuck with me, not the least for lack of alternatives. Many online and offline mind mapping apps were available, but none seemed to do the job well enough. So when Mindjet, one of the better commercial desktop mind mapping apps out there, released their Android version for free, I was excited.
Dozens of apps on the Play Store offer multiple features for managing tasks and goals, whether you want to lose weight or write a book. However, only a few are targeted towards a specific kind of task management — one that lets you focus on completing goals rather than organizing them. Action Method is a simple project management app that lets you track your projects and see them into completion by listing action steps. Here’s how it can help you towards whatever goal you’re trying to accomplish.
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In a fast-paced world, it is essential to have a top-notch organization tool for every project you’re involved in. There is no better tool that meets this requirement for groups and individuals alike than Trello. Maybe you’re with a group of people and need a way to completely organize all the assignments required to complete a project, or maybe you’re an individual with ideas constantly swarming around their head like me. No matter who you are or who you work with, Trello should be an essential part of your organization strategy.
I find I often need to write something down quickly: a business idea, a quick to-do list, or something personal to remember later. Since I always have my smartphone with me, it makes sense to use that to keep notes, but unfortunately I find most note-taking apps frustrating to use compared to desktop or web apps.
AK Notepad is a good all-round app that suits my needs. It’s not exactly feature-rich, but it is versatile and simple to use. Here’s why I like it.
Everyone has appointments and events that need to be remembered – whether it’s a case of remembering an appointment at the doctor, or that you need to pay a bill – and your Android device is a perfect tool for keeping track of things.
Whether you have a tablet or a phone, it’s likely that you have it with your most, if not all, of the time, and unlike a traditional paper diary, it’s something that you take care to ensure you don’t lose. Jorte Calendar is a powerful personal organizer app that replaces whatever stock calendar tool was provided with your device.
I have been a big fan of Basecamp from 37signals for years now. I think it’s the best project management system; easy to use, you don’t need to log in to use it (thanks to email integration), and it has some great features. Plus it’s mobile! Well…it was until they upgraded to Basecamp Next, which got a new API and a new design that doesn’t have a mobile friendly interface. This was a big bummer for me. Luckily, Everest came to the rescue.
