Managing a mobile Lifestyle

Managing a mobile lifestyle

Gone are the days of payphones and slowly even landlines.

We're all connected now - As of October 19th of last year the number of Smartphones in the world topped 1 billion.

Being connected has its advantages and disadvantages, from increased productivity in the workplace, keeping in touch with friends to texting and drive and ignoring family time.

So how do we manage a mobile lifestyle?

Fortunately there’s an app for that – yes I said it, don’t chase me down now.  In all reality there are a number of apps available that can your “mobile life” more manageable, though some of the things such as taking time off from your phone and NOT texting a driving you’ll have to do yourself.

One of the apps that I’ve found useful is Cozi Family Organizer.  It allows you to sync your phone/work calendar with your family calendar, share shopping lists and much more.  It syncs with just about every major email client available, as well as your smartphone calendar. 

The shopping lists are very useful in addition.  I’ve been out shopping, checking things off my list on my phone when my wife adds something from her (phone/tablet/computer) at home – and it instantly updates on my phone.

The price for their gold or premium version is not worth it by opinion, as the features don’t nearly outweigh the cost – however the free ad-driven or even ad-free paid version of the app is definitely worth looking into.  Cozi is available for both i-Phone and Android.

Waze is another interesting app that takes navigation to a new level.  Waze is a social GPS app.  Users of Waze contribute to the map by reporting hazards, police, accidents, red-light cameras and even low gas prices.  In addition to user contributions to map reporting, the application itself monitoring driving speed in order to be able to report areas that are slower and also help navigate you to your destination quicker.  It also has other cute add-on’s such as being able to choose an icon for you (your vehicle), and a point system for awarding users.

Tango is another favorite when it comes to video-conferencing, either for work, or to catch up with family close or far.  In my opinion Tango’s quality surpasses Skype for video quality over a 4g connection.  Not only does it provide high-quality video over a mobile data connection, but it also has a number of other built-in features, such as the ability to leave someone a video message, send video cards and much more.  Tango is available for Android, i-Phone, Windows Phone and your home PC.

I could go on about numerous other apps from Spotify and Pandora, to Pinterest, FourSquare, Yelp, Twitter and others, but that will be for another post.

What’s your favorite mobile app and why?  Let us know.