iPhone, Android, iPad, or Nexus – what Apps work for you?

Connie is a recruiter who coaches scientists and others on how to find their next career step. Chat with Connie on Google+ | LinkedIn | Facebook

Today’s latte, Google Play. (Photo credit: yukop)

I asked my subscribers (click here if you would like to subscribe to the newsletter) to tell me what they have on their smartphones and tablets. Here are some of the responses:

Andrew de Guttadauro, expert in business development (IP, M&A in the biotech world), said, “Here are the ones that I currently favor:
– Communication: Skype (great for saving money when overseas and a wifi connection is in hand)
– Organization: Evernote & Pocket (I’m a big believer in cloud-based software and these two apps work great in tandem to allow one to clip, tag, organize, and store just about anything that comes across a computer, smart phone, tablet, or other similar device)
– RSS & News Streamers: Reeder, Flipboard, Zite, and Feedly (admittedly, this is overkill, but I’m a news and media junkie and these apps all do a wonderful job of combining my RSS feeds, and other news sources of interest, into organized news channels/feeds that are more pleasing than the underlying RSS engine – Google Reader, in my case)
– Task Management: I favor Wunderlist because, like my other apps, it’s platform-agnostic and cloud-based, so I can access my “to do’s” whenever and however I like or need (Remember the Milk is a good alternative)
– Data and Info Storage: Dropbox is great, but it’s important people realize that it Dropbox isn’t especially secure as the company wants to give users the choice of security/encryption software so it’s important to use 2-step authentication plus “True Crypt” if using Drop Box to store anything even remotely sensitive (here’s a great article on said subject: http://goo.gl/HQxRJ )
– E-mail: I use the native Apple app for Outlook but favor Google’s Gmail app to access the latter service (despite it being from Google, this app could use additional improvements). I also recommend using Xobni if possible, to help sift through Outlook more efficiently.
– News and Sports: ESPN, Huffington Post, The Atlantic
– Travel: Kayak
– Web: Chrome’s my favored browser on all devices
– Shopping: Amazon (via app on iPhone or via browser and website on iPad), Target app
– Dining: Open table, Yelp (applicable in the shopping category as well)
– Social Media: LinkedIn
– Bookmarks: X-Marks
– Media: Amazon streaming, Netflix streaming, Hulu Plus, HBO GO

That pretty much covers the apps. I would recommend to everyone that 2-step authentication should be used on any site where it can be enabled and that separate signups be used on any site where possible (never use Google, Facebook, or LinkedIn username/passwords to access other sites as you’re needlessly exposing yourself to sequential hacking). Finally, I use a password management tool but do not have the app loaded on either smart phone or tablet as it makes me too antsy viz. potential loss of the device. I also don’t have bank or insurance apps loaded on my devices for the same reason and would recommend using such apps only if you don’t keep permanently signed in to either (I’d rather access such info through the added hassle of the web browser instead).

I hope this proves helpful and look forward to hearing what others are using.”

These are available in both Apple and Android. Reeder, True Crypt, Xnobi and X-Marks are Apple-specific.

I recently had to reformat my tablet (I was filling it up just a bit too full) and had to cut back on my apps.
In order of what is on my screen:
LinkedIn
Facebook
Navigation (Google maps)
HootSuite
News & Weather (native Android)
Calendar (native Android)
Contacts (native Android)
Messenger/Messaging/Voice Message
Voice Recorder
Voice Search
Memo
Dropbox
The Ultimate To-Do List (but I’m thinking of changing)
Gmail and my other emails
ThinkFree
Drive
Evernote
SpringPad
Adobe Reader
YouTube
TED
Google Reader (but I will check out Andrew’s suggestions!)
Zinio
Out of Milk (but only for grocery shopping)
GoToMeeting
an alarm clock, a stopwatch, a calculator, a music player
Kindle and Play Books
and my camera and gallery