The Productive Life: Android Apps and Widgets to Help You Get Things Done | Tips & Tricks

Staying productive day in and day out can be an exercise in futility. There are so many things to stay on top of and so many meetings and deadlines to keep track of that it really can leave anyone feeling put upon and lost.

The good news is that with today’s smartphones and mobile devices, there are tons of apps created with productivity in mind. Developers know as well as you do that keep up with everything is tough, so they’ve designed apps that can keep you informed and up-to-date on everything that you need to accomplish today, tomorrow and next week. Here are a few good ones to help make your days a little less stressful.

Evernote

Evernote is hands down one of the most essential applications for keeping track of all of the documents you have floating around in the cloud. And this isn’t just for work; it’s for everything.

If you really want to take advantage of Evernote, you can — and should — use it as a file folder for everything. This means you can store recipes, reference materials, copies of documents you may need to recall at a moment’s notice, photographs. Any type of document you can think of, Evernote can store and fetch for you whenever you need it.

Even though you’ll have to pay a few bucks for the full version, the free version has nearly everything you need to get organized and stay productive.

Weather Live Free

Many people have careers that take them outdoors on most days, and nothing is worse that not being prepared for the weather.

This Android weather app is a great way to stay on top of the weather and know what tomorrow — and the next week — will bring. Weather Live has all of the essential information: temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, sunrise/sunset. It also comes equipped with a seven-day forecast so you will know ahead of time what to expect, and an up-to-the-minute radar that shows the fronts moving in and out of your area.

The best part is you don’t even have to open the app: it comes with a widget that you can set to your home screen, so all of the information you need is right there when you need it.

Habitica

Ever wish being productive could be more fun? With Habitat, it can be.

By using gamification, this app has turned being productive into a kind of Role Playing game, where you’re the main character who “levels up” every time you complete certain tasks that you set for yourself. If you fail to meet those tasks, you lose health points. It’s like playing World of Warcraft, but instead of wasting time, you’ll be making your life easier and more productive. If you’re looking for a fun way to get organized, you’ll be hard-pressed finding a better app.

Let today’s apps help you stay productive so you can finish everything you need to do, every day.

About the author: Joe Howells adores technology and writes about, sharing how-to tips, reviews and so much more around the web in his articles.