Mobile technology

I am writing this in Jamaica, whilst lying on a lounger by the pool. I mention that not to make you jealous but to highlight I am away from home. One thing that has become essential when away from home is reliable technology. We all rely on technology so much that if it fails we have a situation.

Whilst flying over I used my iPod to listen to a couple of times but when I got to the hotel, my iPod was out of charge so I thought I would recharge it. Sadly it locked and says I need to login to itune to unlock it. I cannot open/unlock it to connect to the local WiFi network so have to rely on an alternative. In this case Google Play Music on which I have a range of music stored. It works perfectly as long as there is a WiFi network and it is easier to access my music as I am not limited to a few Gigabyte's.

Whilst here, I also took up the opportunity to use Google hangouts to call home and speak to the kids. I have never been more impressed with the quality of the call. I just did a nice call as I had not tried the network out to see if it would do  video but will give it a go later. After relying on Skype which constantly drops calls and has a lag between talking it was refreshing to uses VOIP app and have appear real time. So far I have to take my hat off to Google producing two valuable apps that do what you want, when you want in a way you want.

My most used Android apps

The smartphone is an evolving phenomenon and apps come and go. We can install and uninstall apps at a whim, which makes the ones that you keep, special. 

I have different apps on my phone to my tablet as both are used for different things.  I should state I am not a gamer and therefore do not have the latest games rather I have apps that work for me in the way I want them to work.

1)   Pocket

My favourite app has to be Pocket as it allows me to store critical web pages and tag the page for reviewing later. I used to use Evernote for this but I prefer the simplicity of Pocket. I can access Pocket from all my devices including the PC and Chrome users have their own Pocket app as do Firefox Users.  It’s basically a superior bookmark facility which far outweighs the bookmarking of Chrome.

2)   Google Play Music

I must admit I was a bit of a sceptic when this first came out but now I find it invaluable to stream music via Bluetooth to a range of devices in the house.  I can store my latest music in the cloud to access via wireless at any time. I have even purchased a Bluetooth receiver for older devices to allow me to play music on them wirelessly.  Although with my iPod I am bound to iTunes, which I hate, Google Music and Google Play Music are my friends and allow me to effortlessly synch music between devices.

3)   Google Keep

I hate notes. I am always jotting things down and forgetting where I wrote it down. Keep is simple and solves the problem.  Note things down in Keep and they are safe and stored in the cloud. I can access them on any device and I use Keep more and more for starting things such as articles.

4)   Gmail or Inbox

I use email everyday and get a lot. Gmail and Inbox enable me to wade through the mire of emails and make some rational order to them. I am currently still evaluation Inbox and have that and Gmail on my phone as Inbox has fewer features but is good for ordering and sorting emails into Google arbitrary categories.  That said I also need to flag some emails as important and ensure they are stored with that tag for a long time. The snooze feature on Inbox just doesn’t cut it.

5)   Multipost

This is an essential app for those with an investment in social media. It allows posts to be shared to other social Medias. Hence a post, I make can be sent to Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus, Facebook , and any other social media outlet I wish to use. The simplicity of it is what I love and the fact it can post to LinkedIn as well as other social media. It is ad laden after each post you are presented with an ad to ignore, but this is a small price to pay for such as simple and great app.

6)   Tresorit

Everyone should be benefiting from the use of a good cloud provider, and I use Dropbox, OneDrive Box, pCloud and Copy amongst a number of other great providers, but I use Tresorit for work folders that I need kept safe and secure. It has a end-to-end security built in and offers a $50,000 to anyone who can hack their system. This to me is exactly what I need for sensitive files which are work related. I can also be used freely on up to three devices so my core devices have it installed. It also has a computer programme for those who work mainly on a computer.

7)   Press

Although my favourite RSS reader is GReader which I have been using for a few years now, I have recently found that it slows my phone down too much and takes a few too many resources, so I have turned to Press for my phone. Press is s simple RSS reader which has a surprising amount of power, offering a range of views and methods to access your feeds.  As feed readers go it is worth the small cost. I still use GReader on my tablet but on the phone it is Press all the time.