Ten ‘MUST-HAVE’ Apps

How time flies.. My journey with mobile phone (literally J ) began in ’97 when I was in Singapore.  That time, the popular term was cellular phone.  It was a simple Nokia phone, nevertheless I used to treat it as a prized possession! Changed few more Nokia devices before moving to Blackberry, and the BB love-affair continued for 7-8 long years before the sleek iPhone captured my attention.. finally !

In the meantime, the convergence of IT with telecom industry was happening, ICT became the buzzword. Mundane mobile phone became smart phone & then came millions of apps promising us to make smarter J

And believe me, I took quite some time (call it neophobia, which plainly means fear of learning new things J )  before venturing into the wonderland of Apps!  And considering there are still thousands of people (or could be millions) who don’t know whom to ask or who think ‘what-is-the-big-deal’, here are ten Apps which sure will change your life .. for better, ..just like I discovered!  So, here we go..

1.       Contact Snap –  Assuming you’re in the corporate world for 10+ years, you would have accumulated at least 100 business cards of various contacts. And if you’re in sales, you know how difficult it becomes to manage business card album & find out the right contact when needed. This app lets you scan the business card, it gets stored as a contact with all the necessary info right from phone numbers, email id to office address without any efforts.

2.       CamScanner  - Many a times, we have a need of scanning documents (certificates / ids / license , medical report etc). This software provided provides a much better quality scan, than compared to taking just picture of the document. It also enables you to email the scanned document & related stuff

3.       SportsTracker – So you’re worried about your new year resolution related to weighty matter or cholesterol? This app will help you in achieving that. It lets you record your walking / jogging, shows entire path in a map, maximum speed, total distance covered in walking/jogging, time taken & calories burnt. It saves each walk/run as a workout record so you can see the progress over the days.

4.       MoneyControl -  This is a good app (by CNBC, TV18) I’ve been using since long. It not only gives the stock portfolio overview, day’s gain etc. but also rich analysis of any scrip listed on BSE/NSE.

5.       Currency – This simple but useful app quickly tells you the conversion rate from Dollar or Euro  (or for that matter, any currency) to any other currency. Typically when we’re working on the proposals involving global clients, this app comes handy (or, when you want to valuate your holdings parked in foreign banks J )

6.       Google maps – You need to use it to believe it!  Going from point A to point B was never easier! My friend from US was amazed seeing me using it in Chennai! May it be Chennai or Chicago (or Chechnya), it works like a charm.  A great tool for us men who are somehow hesitant asking driving directions to strangers!

7.       Quora – You always had some question (anything under and beyond the Sun, from humanities to literature to sports to management to sciences etc. etc.) but never knew whom to ask; right? Well, google is there, but Quora does a far better job. The quality of answers is pretty good. You can save some questions/answers & can again read when you have time. Whatever your question may be, chances are someone had already asked it & someone had answered it too!

8.       Dictionary – Comes handy especially when you work in media, content prep, ad agency or when you just have the flair for writing & are looking for that good word ..! Quick test –what is insouciant :-?

9.       Saavn – For the Bollywood music buffs a great app. Has all genres from duets to sad songs to gazals to dance numbers..

10.   Zomato – If you’re one who is a heavy business traveller (or leisure traveller), this app would tell you the great eating places in the town. Lists restaurants neatly under various categories, like seaside, late night eats, Sunday brunches etc.  So you know where to pamper your taste-buds..!

And then there are the usual social media Apps (FB/WA/Instagram/Twitter) & some other hugely popular apps like YouTube & Skype which everybody is aware of, so I didn’t include them here. 

My simple criteria was, the novelty factor, does it boost productivity & is it a free app J

‘Appy Times are here to stay!  Join the bandwagon!!

Disclaimer – I don’t have any stakes in any of the organizations (owner/developer of aforementioned Apps). And how I wish ..J