Many of us have a Tata Sky connection for their TVs. If you are using the HD+ version of the set top box, you can install the Tata Sky Mobile app on your Android devices. And what do you achieve ? For starters, you need not search for your remote. Once you load the app, your mobile screen becomes your full function remote. Whatever you can do on your set top box remote, you can do from your mobile phone ! Channel changing is easier because the Channel icons are visible when you browse through them. Very neat.
Besides, if you are on vacation, or at a different location and you wish to record any of your favourite programs, you can do so from your mobile phone directly. Just ensure that your set top box is powered on, when you are away.
So your mobile phone is now also your remote – what next ?
How I work – 33 – m-indicator
This is also one of my favourites and I often wonder how I survived without it, so far. The key function of this app is that it gives you the Mumbai Train and Bus Time Tables at the tap of a key ! The train time tables are for Western / Central and Harbour lines. So say, if you are at Andheri and are proceeding towards Churchgate, just fire up this app and it will show you all the trains going from Andheri to Churchgate, from the current time onwards. It has also been updated for the Dahanu Services.
For the bus services, you can just enter From and To locations and you can find the bus routes which take you there. Besides, if you enter a bus route no., it will show you the entire route of the bus.
As a bonus, you have the listings for Cinemas / Drama, Picnic Spots around Mumbai, Railway Megablock information, Indian Railways PNR status check, etc.
How I work – 32 – App Launcher + (Auto Organizer)
If you have installed many apps like me, it is always a pain to search for an app. You know it is there, but it is such a bother to flip through the screens to find it.
Applauncher Plus (Auto Organizer) is just what you need. It is an app drawer, that automatically organizes your apps based on Google Play categories e.g. Books, News, Business, Communication, etc. Just allow the app to build the database for a few minutes depending on the number of apps installed, you can even close the app while its building. Once it automatically organizes the Apps, it becomes easy to locate them ! It is so simple.
You can also create your own custom groups, but beware, if you have to reinstal your system for whatever reason, the groupings will vanish and you will have to do it again.
In case you would like to uninstal multiple Apps in a Category, or the entire category, App Launcher + will help you do that in a jiffy !
A great tool for those with a large repository of apps !
How I work – 31 – Viber
Viber is a smart app, which helps you communicate with your contacts for free. All you need is a data or wi-fi connection on your phone. Viber allows you to text, call, and send photos and video messages worldwide for free to over 200 million users who are already registered on it.
Simply put, your phone no. becomes your id, and you do not even have to rebuild your directory. Viber does it for you, by scanning all the phone nos. in your directory and automatically identifying those who are connected to Viber. So, once your no. is registered (there is a simple process for that) you are ready to go !
Viber has excellent sound quality, you can have conferences with upto 40 people at a time, you can share your locations and also send interesting emoticons in your messages. Push notifications guarantee that you never miss a call or message, even when Viber is off.
I did find a minor conflict with my Bluetooth wireless headset, but I will figure it out soon. All in all a great way to communicate especially with your contacts who are overseas !
How I work – 29 – MightyText
Sometimes it is so inconvenient to type message on your phone. And when you are in office, your phone lying next to your computer, how you wish you could type your messages on your computer, instead of your phone. Help is near – download and instal Mighty Text, one of the few Indian made apps that I love to use all the time.
Once you have installed and activated the app, you need to add a browser extension of Mighty Text on Chrome or Firefox. Having done that, all your text messages which come on your phone, will also come on your browser. You can forward or edit the messages and also cut and paste easily from anywhere else. You can also store your messages online for upto 6 months. Your phone directory will be auto-loaded in the Mighty Text directory and you can send messages to multiple recipients and groups.
A new feature, recently added, is that you can auto-load the pictures that you take on the phone, to your browser. Once on your browser, you can share the pics, download them or delete them ! A real time-saver and conveniently efficient !
How I work – 30 – Swiftkey
I don’t think I can work without Swiftkey. It is an app which replaces your normal Android Keyboard with an intelligent keyboard. It learns as you type, helps you correct spelling mistakes, automatically adds words to the dictionary and also predicts your next word. It tracks your own personalize writing style based on whatever you type on the keyboard, your messages, your emails, facebook or twitter and prompts you when you are typing the same thing next time. The new flow feature also lets you slide your fingertip over the keyboard, giving you a different typing experience. It’s inbuilt profile tracker tells me that I have already saved 33,000 keystrokes, corrected 16,000 typos, completed or corrected 6,000 words and predicted 3,000 words since I started using it.
You need to pay a small price for Swiftkey, but for all that it does, I would not mind paying twice as much for it. After all 10 million users in 38 countries, with multi-language support, cannot be wrong !
How I work – 27 – Vybe
If you are in the classroom, riding a bike, or stuck in a meeting and find it inconvenient to take the phone out, you can still know who might be on the other end of the line. Just instal Vybe and create custom vibration patterns for your contacts and know who’s calling or messaging you, without looking at your phone. You can design distinct vibration patterns for your phone calls, text messages and app notifications. You can even create the same vibration for multiple people in a group. e.g. close family, extended family, friends, office colleagues, etc.
It is so simple! Just create a vibration, assign it to a contact and know who’s trying to reach out. To put it simply, just Create, Assign and Feel !
How I work – 28 – TimesCity
TimesCity is the new app from Times of India – the largest English language daily in the world. It features the best of Food & Nightlife, Movies and Events in your city. The app is quick, easy and location-based, with all the relevant information about restaurants, pubs, bars, theatres & movies in addition to real-time events like, music concerts, fairs, exhibitions & food festivals.
You can select any of the listed places, read reviews, look up their addresses and phone numbers, get directions and call them from within the app and even share the contact details with friends. You can also post your reviews and share them via Facebook, Twitter, SMS or email.
The app currently covers following cities – Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bangalore, Goa, Jaipur, Kolkata, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Ahmedabad
How I work – 26 – Keep
Most note takers in Android are heavy with many options. Keep is a very light note keeper by Google. You can quickly make notes and access them from any of your devices. Keep is just so simple and easy to handle. Once you tap on Keep, you can make voice notes or photo notes (with your camera) or even turn your notes into a checklist by adding check boxes. You also have options to color code your notes or just swipe them into an archive, for future reference.
The best part of this handy app is that you can use your notes from anywhere – they are safely stored in the cloud and available on the web at http://drive.google.com/keep
This one is surely for keep !
How I work – 25 – Refdesk
The Internet is the world’s largest library containing millions of books, artifacts, images, documents, maps, etc. There is but one small problem in this library: everything is scattered about on the floor, with growing hordes of confused and bewildered users frantically shifting through the maze, occasionally crying out, “Great Scott, look at what I just found!” Refdesk.com is a website which is a Universal Encyclopedia of sorts. It has numerous sections organized by topics and can become a gateway to your search for knowledge across the world. Google, Yahoo, Bing and YouTube are all at your fingertips. You can search from Wikipedia, Encyclopedias, Dictionaries (including Medical & Legal), Thesaurus, People, News, Driving Directions and a lot more.
Daily Crosswords, Humour, Jokes, Sudoku and much more, can engage a variety of users with myriad interests. Updates on Computer Virus, Health, Science and Technology are also refreshed each day. Since 1995, Refdesk is a free and family-friendly web site that indexes and reviews quality, credible, and current web-based resources.
A true Reference Desk for all your needs !
On-lyneTech 