Useful apps for those in the busy world of business

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If you work in business, then this article is aimed at you. If you have a busy diary which you need to keep track of, always seem to need to be paying someone, and like to check your stocks and shares from anywhere, at any time, then these three apps will (hopefully) be right up your street.

PayPal

The first app I am going to look at is the PayPal app. If you haven’t heard of PayPal, it is a free online service, which lets you send money to people via simply using an email address. I should point out that there are costs/fees involved, which is how PayPal make their money.

The PayPal app lets you request money, as well as send money. It also shows you your accounts recent activity, so you can keep track of your finances.

The app has a few cool and really useful features, that you should know about. The first cool feature is the ‘Bump’ feature, this feature lets you send or receive money to/from your phone, and someone else’s, simply by bumping/tapping your phones together. Pretty clever?

One of the really useful features I should also mention is the check deposit system. Usually, to deposit a check, you need to go to a bank, pay it in and then wait for it to clear. With the PayPal app, you can do the whole process a lot quicker, simply take a picture of the check and it will deposit it directly into your bank account.

Week Calendar

Nick recently wrote a post about how to climb the mountain to success in online business. A key part of Nick’s article was his ‘effective time management’ section. Nick wrote how you need to plan in advance, and allocate certain activities certain time, whilst not forgetting others.

To help you stick to your business schedule, online or off, the next app is the Week Calendar app. This app is much more advanced than the standard iPhone/iPod calendar, with loads of extra features and helpful tools. Check out the screenshot below to see the apps calendar interface in action.

A screenshot of the Week Calendar app The disadvantage of this app is that it costs £1.49, so you can judge for yourself if the interface and features (like handy drag and drop event tool) are worth the extra money.

City Trading Pro

The final app on my list is called City Index iPhone Trading platform Pro, which gives you access to market data from all over the world. The app is a spread betting app, which means that it enables you to trade on the price movements of thousands of markets, including shares and currencies.

Any good businessman has to take risks, and this app gives you a good way to make money from taking calculated risks. If you think a market value is going to rise then you can buy, and if you think it will fall you can sell. Each market has a sell and buy price – the difference between the two is what is referred to as the spread, hence ‘spread betting’.

To ensure you are always kept in the loop, the app gives you access to the value of shares from a whole host of different companies, currencies, commodities and indices including the FTSE 100, the Dax and the Dow Jones.

The app also lets you can set a stop loss, buy with one or two clicks of your finger, (it is even faster than doing it online!) view your orders, pending, completed and cancelled, create your own ‘watch list’ so that you have super quick access to the data you need, get detailed historical data, and so much more.

Below is a screenshot of the sort of information you get when looking at a firm.

A screenshot of the City Trading Pro appThe charting features on the app are really good, they are very detailed, and if you tip your iPhone on its side, the graph reorientates itself, to give you a clearer view of the data you are viewing.

You may be worrying about security, but there is no need. Probably the most comforting feature of the City Trading Pro app is that you can be confident that all your information and transactions are secure, so there is no need to worry.

Unlike the Week Calendar app above, this app is free, you just need a City Index trading account.

So, there is my list of apps! Feel free to try them out and leave feedback in the comments section, to let us know if you like them as much as me 🙂

Buddycon Plus! Android App Review

Its been some time since I have written an app review, and this time its for the Android fan boys. In this post, I review a simple background and avatar customization app called BuddyCon Plus! Available to download from Google Play for free.

If you are on the lookout for an app to customize your Android mobile handset with avatars, wallpapers etc. there are plethora of them available on Google Play to help you do so. But if you are looking for customization as well as an entertaining live avatars & wallpapers, then try Buddycon Plus. Its free and its fun!

Buddycon Plus! Android app screen

Buddycon Plus is an Android app that allows you to personalize your contacts as adorable and fun avatars. You can either choose your contacts’ faces to create avatars or use the template gallery which contains predefined sets like those of super heroes and more. The BuddyCon settings options allows you to create your contact’s avatar and acts basically like the control panel. Images of your friends can be accessed from the device’s gallery and synced with the app. There is a built-in paint brush which allows you to tweak your images. Once you are satisfied with your work of art, you can activate the wall paper. Your avatars will walk around on your Android device’s screen.

Along with adding your art to the images, BuddyCon also allows you to dress them up, create varieties of call-screen backgrounds and make your avatars interact on the home screen. There are options available to make your communication easy too. When you tap on any of the avatars, options like Email, Speed dial, Gtalk, Play a Game appear on the screen in a single touch. These options act as a single point of contact available with all communication modes to interact with your buddies.

To sum it up, Buddycon Plus! offers you an exciting process of personalization. It guarantees an amazing experience and a whole lot of fun which you can share with your friends.

Buddycon Plus! is available for free to download in Google Play and requires an Android version of 2.2 and above.

SD10 Bluetooth Stereo Headset – Review

Previously I have reviewed the Pocket Boom, a cool little device which can turn virtually any device into a speaker. Recently the same people asked if I wanted to review a SoundWear SD10 Bluetooth Stereo Headset, so here I go!

Please note, like with the Pocket Boom Review, all the opinions in this article are mine, and are completely honest – I am not being paid to write this review.

The SoundWear SD10 Bluetooth Stereo Headset is a device which provides wireless headphones, which can synchronise with almost any Bluetooth device. This means that when you are out and about, you can take calls, and listen to music, without the limits of wires.

SoundWear SD10 Bluetooth Headset in packaging

Ergonomics

The headset very cleverly folds away quite neatly, which does mean that they can fit into your pocket without much of a problem, meaning they are portable, like you need them to be.


SoundWear SD10 Bluetooth Headset folded away

The headphones when they are folded up would fit in your pocket

So, are the headphones comfortable to wear? My answer would be it depends who you are. I have tried them on, and I have got other members of the team and some of my friends to try them on, and the responses you get are mixed. Some people have no trouble whatsoever, the headset fits snugly onto their head, and are very comfortable to ware. Other people have tried them on, and they do fit, they are just a bit more awkward. Maybe that’s something you might want to consider – especially as they are not retractable/adjustable.

Ease of Use

Like with the Pocket Boom, if you don’t read the instructions, you aren’t going anywhere very fast! Read what the small A5 (ish) sheet of paper tells you, and things become pretty simple.

With some phones you need to fiddle with some settings either with Bluetooth, or on audio tracks to get them to work properly with calls and music, but it does work!

Sound Quality

Obviously one of the most important things with all headphones is the sound quality. You can get the most amazing headset, but if it has poor sound quality, then there is little point to it.

So what about the quality of the audio stream produced by the SD10 Bluetooth headset? Well it is actually very good! The headphones fit very snugly around your ears, reducing any noise interference, and the audio quality is very respectable.

Obviously noise cancelling headphones, or recording studio ones would be better, but the quality is very respectable, especially as it is coming from a wireless stream. For the average music listener, I don’t think there is any need to worry about poor sound quality.

Instructions

The headphones do come with instructions, which are clear, and just require a small amount of common sense and logic to use. They are helpful, but could contain a little more info – possibly room for an FAQ’s section.

The SoundWear SD10 Bluetooth Headset packaging, instructions USB cable and headphones

The headset, along with packaging, instructions and USB lead

Power

From what I have seen of the headset, it seems to last a reasonable amount of time between charges. You don’t start listening to a tune, and then a call comes in, by which time the headset has given up and is needing a charge. The battery life seems to be pretty good, so no need to worry about that.

The issue I have with power is the way you charge the headset – via USB. You can only charge it via USB, and there is no alternative, no batteries you can replace etc. This can be a little inconvenient, especially as it doesn’t come with a USB plug adaptor, but I am sure it will work okay with the one I use for my iPod, or the one I use for my camera. Don’t take my word for that, I wouldn’t want to blow your headset – if you have one or are getting one!

Value for Money?

Here comes the killer question: is the SoundWear SD10 Bluetooth Stereo Headset value for money? I try to evaluate every product I review using value for money, so it is a good test. The headset retails at £24.99, which is reasonable, but I think it depends what you need it for. If you are going to be making calls wireless and listening to music, go for it. If you just want to listen to music (like me) then I am not so sure. There are different headphones more suited to music listeners, but this set does give you the added bonus of being able to make calls.

SoundWear SD10 Bluetooth HeadphonesInterested in buying a set, or just want to read a bit more? Check out the SoundWear SD10 Bluetooth Stereo Headset on Mobile Fun’s website.

As I said at the beginning of the article, this product has been sent to Technology Bloggers to review. Our thanks to Mobile Fun who provided us with the headset.