App and coming
Some mobile apps can be addicting, but we filtered seven apps to help you be productive this school year.
We constantly go online throughout the day without even noticing how much time we’ve wasted scrolling through our Facebook timelines or stalking our frenemies on Instagram. While our phones tend to allow us to be unproductive, we can still turn things around. To help do that, we’ve rounded up seven apps that will increase your productivity and assist you just in time for classes. From an app that lets you sketch out your ideas to one that helps you manage your time, these helpful tools will definitely make you spend more time on your phone… doing schoolwork, for a change.
Wunderlist
One of the essentials for time management is setting a to-do list. Wunderlist takes your to-do lists to the next level with features that allow you to organize and schedule tasks, set due dates and reminders, share your lists, and work collaboratively with anyone, which makes it easier to get things done. It makes you more productive from anywhere, as it instantly syncs with your phone, tablet, smart watch and computer. No need to worry about forgetting a task or deadline.
Paper
Bulky notebooks are out. When you need to jot down your notes fast, your “Paper” is ready. Paper by Fifty Three is a notebook system app that combines sketching and writing. It retains the experience of writing on real paper on your phone screen, which brings back the analogue feel and traditional way of taking notes that other apps lack. It’s your go-to app perfect for organizing your checklists, general note-taking, photo annotations, and creating sharp diagrams, charts or graphs. Don’t forget to save your work! Remember that it can be exported into PDF, Keynote or Powerpoint formats.
WPS Office
If you want to avoid downloading separate apps for Microsoft Office Suite of programs (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) and save space, WPS Office is another option for a mobile office suite. WPS Office allows you to view, edit and create almost any document type. It’s an all-in-one app fully compatible with Google Docs and Microsoft Office’s file formats such as .doc, .ppt, and .xls. You can easily edit your presentation without your laptop anymore and you can even work while you’re on the road. It also allows you to share and save your documents online through Google Drive, Dropbox, and other cloud support services.
Google Drive
There’s probably been a time when you forgot to bring your USB or hard drive to school, or perhaps a file you need to transfer is too large and won’t fit in the storage capacity anymore. With Google drive, you no longer need your USB or hard drive to access your files. You don’t have to worry about the storage capacity (Google Drive gives free 15GB storage), and you can finally access your files everywhere from any device. Google Drive is a cloud storage tool that allows users to easily upload, download or share files.
Aren’t we all guilty of liking or retweeting articles on Twitter or saving pages on Facebook that we actually haven’t read yet? We do this for the sake of remembering to read it later, but we usually end up forgetting it. Or have you ever wasted too much time reading articles when you should be doing something else? We can now put these all in your “Pocket” for future reading. Pocket allows us to save articles, pictures and videos ready for our offline reading or viewing later. Just remember to actually read it and not fill up your queue too much.
EasyBib
It’s probably the last stage we all detest when writing an essay — writing bibliographies. Tracking down sources doesn’t have to be frustrating, though; we don’t have to get worked up remembering the format for APA or MLA. EasyBib helps you generate citations and bibliographies by just entering a book or journal article title, or typing the website URL, or even just scanning the book barcode. You can easily switch to different formats such as MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard, and other 7,000 citation styles. All that is left to do is to copy it and you’re done.
iTunes U
If you need more source material for one of your classes — or if you’re just unusually curious about your subject matter — there’s now an application that gives users free educational material from top universities and colleges worldwide, including Ivy Leagues resource libraries. iTunes University offers a wide variety of content, including books, audio and video lectures. It serves as a digital instructor with over 600,000 courses available. Your dream of studying in a prestigious university is just a click away with this app.