Useful Everyday Apps for your Android

Do you have an Android phone, what apps do you use? In this article I will share the apps, I use on a daily basis.

There are so many apps on the Google Play Store so it is hard to know what app will give you the best support during your working day. We all have slightly different needs, in general, there are a few apps that everyone should have on the mobile phone.

I start my day by reading the News and the most useful app to read the news, that I’m interested in is:

Flipboard

Flipboard is great, it’s a single place to keep up on the news, follow topics you care about and share stories, videos, and photos that influence you.

You choose what topics you are interested in following, and if you + articles Flipboard create your personal magazine.

Flipboard has a lot of great features:

•  Collect stories you love into your own magazine. Tap the “+” button on any story, select ‘create a magazine’ and collect favourite stories, images or videos.
• Manage all your magazines in a convenient dashboard at https://editor.flipboard.com/
• Read The Daily Edition to quickly check the news you need for your day, with stories hand-picked by our editorial staff.
• Go to your Flipboard to check what’s happening now. Use the home button on the phone (or Cover Stories on tablets) to see highlights across everything you’re following.
• Enjoy Flipboard in 24 localized editions—for Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latin America, Malaysia, Netherlands, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey, U.S., U.K., U.S. Latino.
• On tablets, explore hundreds of staff picks in the Content Guide (tap the red ribbon at the top), including must-read magazines and blogs, gorgeous photography and special curated sections devoted to the news of the day and other interests.
• Use the Flipboard widget for quick access on your Android device.
• Add content from the web to your Flipboard magazines through the bookmarklet at share.flipboard.com.

Google Drive

I use Google Drive to manage and create business files, Google Drive puts all my files in the cloud so I can reach them from any smartphone, tablet, or computer. Files in Drive – like your videos, photos, and documents – are backed up safely so you can’t lose them. Once there, you can easily invite others to view, edit, or leave comments on any of your files or folders.

With Drive, you can:

• Safely store your files and access them from anywhere.
• Search for files by name and content.
• Easily share files and folders with others.
• Quickly view your content.
• Set access levels for who can view, comment, or edit.
• Quickly access recent files.
• See file details and activity.
• Enable viewing of files offline.
• Use your device camera to scan in paper documents.
• Access pictures and videos from Google Photos.

Chrome Browser

I use the chrome browser on my desktop as well as on my mobile, by being logged into Google, I can share my bookmarks between the different devices.

I find Chrome Browser to be fast, you can also use tab sync to pick up where you left off on your other devices, search by voice, and save up to 50% of data usage while browsing.

• Sync Across Devices – seamlessly access and open tabs and bookmarks from your laptop, phone or tablet
• Save Data – reduce mobile data usage by up to 50% while browsing
• Faster Browsing – choose from search results that instantly appear as you type and quickly access previously visited pages
• Voice Search – use the magic of Google voice search to find answers on-the-go without typing
• Translate – easily read webpages in any language
• Intuitive Gestures – open as many tabs as your heart desires and quickly flip through them by swiping from side to side on the toolbar
• Privacy – use Incognito mode to browse without saving your history

Google Translate

This is the most useful app for me, I live in a country where I do not speak the local language very well. I use Google Translate to translate my messages, official documents that I scan and translate. By downloading a language pack you can use the app without an internet connection.

Features:

• Translate between 103 languages by typing
• Tap to Translate: Copy text in any app and your translation pops up
• Offline: Translate 52 languages when you have no Internet
• Instant camera translation: Use your camera to translate text instantly in 29 languages
• Camera Mode: Take pictures of text for higher-quality translations in 37 languages
• Conversation Mode: Two-way instant speech translation in 32 languages
• Handwriting: Draw characters instead of using the keyboard in 93 languages
• Phrasebook: Star and save translations for future reference in any language

Asana

I run all my projects using Asana, it helps me track my team’s work. I can manage tasks and projects.

Key features:

Quickly Update & Add Your Work on the GO

• Create tasks, to-dos, reminders, and requests from anywhere in the app (or from your home screen, with the widget)
• Create projects to organize your tasks
• Add due dates, assignees, followers, details, and files to your tasks
• Comment on tasks from anywhere

Track All of Your Work

• View and organize your task list every time you open Asana
• See your Favorites and your full list of teams and projects
• Add tasks to projects to break down your work
• Swipe to quickly complete tasks and notify your team that your work is finished
• Search across all of your work to find the info you need quickly
• Add your My Tasks or project lists to your home screen, with the Asana widget

Communicate in Asana

• Use conversations to make announcements to your team, ask a question in a project, or comment on a single task
• Get notifications in Inbox about only the projects, tasks, and conversations you’re following
• Send a teammate a quick reply with a heart or a comment directly from Inbox

Free Unlimited Usage

• Add tasks, projects, comments, conversations, and attachments for free—for teams up to 15 people
• Track your work on Android, even when you’re offline.

Google Photo

This is the photo app that I use and organize my photos, has a lot of cool features. Anytime I take a photo or a video it will be uploaded to Google Drive.

Some of the features are:

• Free Unlimted Storage – Back up unlimited photos and videos for free in High Quality. Access them from any device and photos.google.com – your photos are safe, secure, and private to you.
• Free up Space – Never worry about running out of space on your phone again. Photos that are safely backed up can be removed from your device’s storage in just a tap.
• Visual Search – Your photos are now searchable by the people, places and things in them – no tagging required.
• Bring Photos to Life – Get automatically created movies, collages, animations, panoramas, and more from your photos. Or easily create them yourself.
• Easy Editing – Use intuitive and powerful editing tools to enhance your photos and bring them to life. Adjust lighting, contrast, colour, and vignette, or pick from 14 innovative photo filters to make your pictures look great in one tap.
• Smart Automatic Albums – Tell better stories, without the work. Automatically get a new album with just your best shots after an event or trip, then invite others to add their photos.
• Send Photos In Seconds – Don’t waste data texting and emailing photos. Instantly share photos with any contact, email, or phone number, right from the app.
• Rediscover – It’s easier than ever to relive your memories. Get collages of photos you took a year ago on this day – perfect for #tbt.
• Cast – View your photos and videos on your TV with Chromecast support.

Google Keep

This is my favorite app to take notes like what I need to buy in the supermarket or remind me to follow up on payments. I even have a reminder for my anniversaries. I can speak a voice memo on the go and have it automatically transcribed. You can use it for many things.

Capture what’s on your mind

• Add notes, lists, and photos to Google Keep. Pressed for time? Record a voice memo and Keep will transcribe it so you can find it later.

Share ideas with friends and family

• Easily plan that surprise party by sharing your Keep notes with others and collaborating on them in real-time.
  Find what you need, fast
• Color and add labels to code notes to quickly organize and get on with your life. If you need to find something you saved, a simple search will turn it up.

Always within reach

• Keep works on your phone, tablet, computer, and Android wearables. Everything you add syncs across all of your devices so your thoughts are always with you.

These are my main apps together with the phone function and email app that came with my phone. I can do almost everything required with this minimum number of apps.

What are your favorite apps?