There are many wonderful things about the changes to our phones that smartphone technology has given us. We can surf the web, check our Facebook accounts, play games, listen to music and all sorts of other amazing things, all on something that fits into our palm.
Understandable enough, many bosses would see these sorts of activities as an unwanted distraction that reduces productivity. It doesn’t need to be this way though, and by reading on you’ll find out how some workers are making themselves even more productive than usual with the help of their palm-sized guardian angels!
1. Evernote
The great thing about this app, available on all main smartphone platforms, is its simplicity and how, by being so simple, it can greatly aid your ability to perform work tasks. In short, Evernote allows you to synchronise and centralise all of the notes and data you record, so that you can access them across multiple devices. This means that a task-list you wrote at home over breakfast on your desktop is available to you via smartphone at work, and vice versa. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the app is free too!
2. Swype
The concept of this Android App might be a little strange to get your head around at first, but basically the premise of Swype is to greatly increase the speed you put words into your smartphone. By drawing a line across the keyboard on your phone, you can write sentences with continuous fluid motion, and if you practice enough you’ll find yourself leaving the typists in the dust. Better still, you can get the edge of this program for less than a dollar.
3. Audionote
For those who love to cut out all the excess waffle and rambling that takes up so many staff and project meetings, the Apple/Android app Audionote is the perfect ticket! The app works by recording the sounds around you at the tap of a button, and allows you to draw pictures or write notes onscreen at certain points in the recording. This way, when you play back the recording, you can use your pictures as mental placeholders by selecting them and having the audio jump to what was being said while you were drawing or writing. At five and a half dollars, it’s a little more expensive than some other apps, but if you want to cut down on extraneous info then its really worth getting.
4. Tempo Smart Calendar
Back to the free range of handy apps, this charming Apple app should be considered by anyone with a hectic work or social life. Acting like a digitised secretary, the Tempo Smart Calendar reminds you about events, sources emails relevant to functions as they come closer to happening, and even offers you views of the linkedin profiles of people who will be attending- so you can work in a property viewer with an agency like Goodman Australia around an all-important staff meeting with ease!
5. Google Drive
Of course, perhaps the jewel in the crown of all work-apps, the Google Drive app is something that all workers should be familiar with, and that all businesses should have! The app functions as an amazing system that allows all computers in an office environment to be linked up to the same sets of documents and files- and of course, with Google+ accounts, employees can access the files from places outside of work too! This way review of projects can be done very quickly, and everyone is in the loop and able to access the work relevant to them without difficulty or delay. And, of course, it’s another freebie, so there’s little sense in not shacking your office up with Google Drive ASAP!
About the Author: Sharon McKinnon is an a commerce student at UNSW, who has an interest in the relationship between business efficiency and new technologies in the workplace.
Cover photo credit: Jan Persiel
