Apps- Revolutionizing our lives

by Prakash Srinivasan

One of the products of the modern smartphone-tablet age are apps. I was quite ignorant of apps until a year ago when I changed my phone and got a basic Android smartphone. Over the past year I have discovered quite a few apps which are actually very useful and they are a perfect substitute for many things I don’t need to buy (will explain this soon). I will list and shortly explain the apps which have made life better for me, saving me time and money and the cherry on the cake is that all of them are free!

1.       Camscanner: This app is my replacement for a scanner at home. Using this I can scan any document and mail it to the contacts from my smartphone. I was initially skeptical when I installed the app but I was pleasantly surprised by the scan quality. I used the scan for sending my passport scans to a foreign embassy, such was the clarity. This is a must-have for anyone. There are many other scanning apps and I guess they must also be good.

2.      Whatsapp: This is probably the most popular smartphone app. It connects us to our families and friends and we can share docs/photos and even videos using this app. My wife, sent me a few photos of the gift options thro whatsapp (we had planned to buy for someone) and we were able to decide/select the gift even without being together!

3.       Pixlr: This is a very nice photo-editing app with which we can crop photos, add frames, polish them and even add snazzy colourful captions. I know there are many others apps for photo editing and they do an equally good job. So we can click a snap, decorate it and send it off to our family and friends almost instantly through whatsapp.

4.      Viber: This is the Skype for all smartphones, almost as popular as Whatsapp. Few years ago, Skype revolutionized the way we spoke to each other, all that was needed was just an internet connection and calling became free. Viber has used that idea and we can call any of our contacts (provided they also have Viber which almost all have) with a wi-fi connection at home.

5.      
Easy notetaking: Noting down to-do lists with pen/paper is passé and there are a variety of note taking apps suited for all types of notes, checklists/to do’s etc. The prominent ones are Innote, Inkpad, Evernote, Onenote. Moreover we can copy paste the notes from one place to another very easily. I have my address stored in notes to send it through whatsapp or sms when I need to.

I have tried to cover the different types of apps under different categories. The best thing is, though these apps are free, they work flawlessly and simplify our lives.

(Prakash is a student of Swami who completed his B.Com, MBA and PG Diploma in Culture and Philosophy from Sri SathyaSai University. He is a talented singer with the enthusiasm for Swami’s work. Prakash is currently working at HP, Bangalore )