Smartphones Review

Smartphones offer the features you need to manage the myriad details of your life whether that includes scheduling business meetings, tracking your family’s schedule, reading email, or surfing the web. The line between business smartphones and the more consumer-oriented multimedia phones is becoming blurrier with every new smartphone that’s announced.

Why Buy a Smartphone?

As a busy person, you know the importance of staying a step ahead of your clients and your family. You probably know the feeling of being tied to your desk or home so as not to miss that important email or phone call and to maintain convenient access to essential data—proposals, schedules, contact information, business news or the stock market. However, thousands have newfound freedom using PDA-style smartphones designed for business (and fun). These cellular devices trace their roots back to the personal digital assistant or PDA. Originally used as businessperson’s right hand to track important client information, project statuses, and task lists, these devices have evolved into an everyman’s (and woman’s) tool.

These cellular devices are much more than just cell phones; they provide instant access to the web. Whether you’re researching news to predict the stock market or looking for the perfect golf course on the weekend, you’ll find it on the net.

Many of these devices allow you to sync with your desktop computer. This means you can store, view, and work on documents directly on your handheld. You can also receive and respond to emails as they arrive in your inbox on your home computer with real-time push email.

These produces can also serve as multimedia devices, so your entertainment goes with you. They can store and display pictures and videos of friends and family and even entire feature-length movies. Most can take pictures and capture video, but the most common multimedia function is the ability to play MP3s—sit back, relax, and enjoy your favorite tunes while traveling or during breaks.

Another perk of using one of these devices is the fairly recent development of third-party applications (or apps). These apps range from those geared toward hardworking business tasks to entertaining games and everything in between. With thousands of apps available to download in a range of prices, there’s sure to be something that will appeal.

In this site, you'll find articles on smartphones, comprehensive reviews and a side-by-side comparison that will help you make an informed decision on which smartphone is right for you. At TopTenREVIEWS We Do the Research So You Don’t Have To.™

What to Look for in a Smartphone for Business

In the past, business people were easily identifiable—they carried large briefcases, binder planners and perhaps a brick cell phone. The scene has changed and so has the way we conduct life and business. One of these devices stores important data and documents, offers a calendar planner, provides instant access to the internet and email and keeps you in touch with clients, coworkers, friends and family – anytime and anywhere.

Below are the criteria TopTenREVIEWS used to evaluate these cellular devices.

Design
Size and weight, along with screen size and resolution, make a difference in the display and handling of these devices.

Multimedia
The best business cell phones have at least a 2 megapixel camera with zoom features and the ability to play and record audio and video. These cell phones act as life management devices and include organizational features like calendars and task lists. Most sync with home computers allowing for document viewing and editing.

Call Features/Quality
The foundation of business is communication, and these product's first function is as a cellular phone. These devices for business should include all typical cell phone features including speakerphone, three-way calling, voice dialing, call waiting, etc.

Memory/Storage
The most practical products are compact, include good input and display options, and enough battery life to last through a full day’s work and beyond.

Additional Features
Many cellular devices include practical tools like calculators, map applications and GPS. Some have the ability to support third-party or browser-based programs that can perform a variety of specific functions. Third-party apps are becoming a key component, allowing the user to customize their phones to support their lifestyles.

Gadget today | Apollo HQ Review (Project and Contact Management)

If you’ve ever had to manage lots of tasks at once, or do any team management, you’ll be able to appreciate how difficult it is to stay organised with so many things happening at the same time.

In the past, I’ve tried out project management tools such as Basecamp, but I never fully appreciated the features it had on offer, and found the interface frustrating at the best of times.

Given the chance to look at a brand new project management system on offer, called Apollo HQ, I jumped at the chance, and hoped that my problems were finally solved. After a quick look at some of the features and the interface, I had high expectations. Did it disappoint, or live up to everything it promised? Let’s take a look!

Overview

Once you’ve signed up to Apollo, the first screen that you are presented with when you log in is your Overview screen. From here, you can see all of the tasks that you have to complete, along with the date that they are due by.

This includes personal tasks, which are private to you, as well as other tasks which can be viewed by your co-workers. Also shown here are your upcoming calendar appointments for the day; more on that later on.

My Tasks

The ‘My Tasks’ area of Apollo is the area where I spend most of my time, and it gives you a view of every task that you are responsible. This includes your personal tasks, project tasks, and customer tasks also.

The tasks here are listed in the order in which they are due, so the task that needs completing as soon as possible is listed first, and the ones that can wait are further down the bottom. On the right hand side of the tasks pane, you can choose which task sections to show, depending on what you wish to see.

Calendar and Projects

The calendar section in Apollo is incredibly well designed, in fact throughout the whole system you feel like you’re using a desktop app rather than a web app. Anyone who has ever used iCal on the Mac will feel right at home here, as the calendar has a very iCal-like feel to it.

There is support for multiple calendars, and adding an event couldn’t be much simpler either, with a direct link at the top of the calendar allowing you to do just that. Similarly, if you have any active projects, then you can easily view task lists, milestones, and overviews for that project to help you become as efficient as you possibly can be.

Final Thoughts

With a fantastic, integrated system, Apollo HQ may just be the best project management system that I’ve ever used. The user interface blows the competition away, including Basecamp, which can’t hold a candle to Apollo’s interface. This is made even more impressive by the fact that all this is in fact squeezed in to a web application, even though it truly does feel like a desktop application.

I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Apollo HQ to anyone looking for a project management system, and you can sign up yourself at the Apollo website.