Gadget Reviews, Product News, Electronic Gadgets

So you have an iPhone. You like to consider yourself part of the modern internet connected world. But can you send an email while learning English? Or do your expenses and record a podcast? Only the best app users truly can. Getting quicker with your iPhone isn't difficult, nor is pushing more productivity tasks through it particularly tough. 

But where to start? Below is a list of choice cuts from the app store that we believe to be the most useful apps out there for productivity. So get reading, get downloading and get faster. 

Super-simple to use, this app brings a little bit of fun to the whole process of learning; rather than delving too deeply into the intricacies of the English language it aims to bring a run-down of some common phrasal verbs. This focus on phrasal verbs should allow for their practical application in a variety of scenarios; something that is addressed in this app. On loading up the Dynamite English Lessons, you're confronted with four sections at the bottom, including Settings, Dictionary, and the one we're interested in, Categories.

These categories are split into sub-headings which include Leisure, Travel, Dating and the like. Tapping through will then start your process of learning, bringing up sentences with the verbal phrases missing; it's then your job to fill them in via two multiple choice scroll wheels at the bottom. As you complete more phrases from the various categories, phrases will be added to the dictionary section; so there's a real incentive to keep going. Complete them all, and you'll also be rewarded with an X Rated category - just how saucy it is remains to be seen. 

iTunes: Link

Price: £0.69

Rating: 4/5

The beauty with ExpenseMagic is that it turns what is a boring process into a simple one. You simply snap pictures of your receipts, tickets or anything else you want the boss to cough up for and it does the work for you. Not by using image tracking tech like we've seen in apps like Evernote or Business Card Reader, but by having "trained bookkeepers" do all the work for you. Tthey will even work out the VAT details for you. Your receipts get processed within a few hours.

The app itself is free, and allows you to bring in other elements such as attaching a receipt to a diary event from your calendar, but for every 20 receipts you want processed, you'll need to cough up £2.99. You'll get 5 for free when you start. If you're overseas on business the app will use the GPS function of your iPhone to see where you are and adjust the currency and you can even choose to have all your expenses put into one single claim form that can be automatically emailed to your employer once a month. 

iTunes: Link

Price: Free

Rating: 4/5

The idea behind this simple but effective app is to connect mobile workers to the nearest places to some work done. Anyone who works remotely will know, only too well, the panic that sets in when dashing around the streets from coffee to pub in desperate search of Wi-Fi so that you can get on with some graft. That's where WorkSnug Pro comes in. All you need to do is point the camera in front of you and the app will overlay a series of GPS-tagged pointers to tell you where the nearest work-friendly places are, whether that's coffee shops, pubs or libraries.

All listed locations have been rated for their atmosphere, noise levels, power points, Wi-Fi and - crucially - the quality of the coffee. You can add your own reviews for the places you visit so that it becomes a network that's updated by the community that uses it. It even includes an integrated decibel meter so that you can take your own readings to add to your review. 

iTunes: Link

Price: Free

Rating: 5/5

Mint.com is all about your money - it’s a service which aggregates all your online bank accounts into one manageable place. Instead of having to log in to four different company systems, you enter all your details on set up and leave Mint to do the work for you each time you want to take a peep. It’ll deal with your savings, credit cards, mortgages and anything else you’ve got and put all of them and their transactions into one online statement. And, like all the best things on thenternet, it’s free.

The service uses bank level security and will also warn you if it suspects fraudulent activity on any of your accounts, but it doesn’t stop there. If you want to be super organised, you can create a budget. That’s because the website can categorise and display exactly what kinds of things you spend your cash on. So, it’ll let you know just how much you waste on expensive take out coffee. Off the back of that, you can make a new cash flow plan for yourself and the service will even make suggestions of where you can cut down your expenses as well. 

iTunes: Link

Price: Free

Rating: 5/5

Evernote is a simple enough idea. It’s a cloud-based filing system for notes. It’s a giant, searchable, back pocket with dividers. The phone, pad or desktop app - however you want to use it - allows you to take notes as pictures, written notes, audio notes or you can just upload a file. You give each one a title as you do so and you’re welcome to tag them too. Once you’re done, you hit upload and off they go into the cloud as if you’ve just attached a magical helium ballon. That’s probably how they’d show it in an advert, anyway.

iTunes: Link

Price: Free

Rating: 5/5

Documents to Go (DTG) is a, quite frankly, brilliant office suite that will turn your iPad into a rich office-based machine, without clogging up your precious hard-drive space with files. Because, although you can store documents locally on your iPad's memory, DTG works best when you bring in the cloud - and that's why it's worth forking out for the premium version.DTG is compatible with Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files and you'll also be able to view images, iWork files and PDFs as well.

With Word, Excel and PowerPoint you can edit files and there are all the formatting options that you could possibly wish for, you simply have to scroll through them on the toolbar at the bottom. Holding your finger down on a button gives you a text explanation of what it will do, so you don't need to guess. Packed to the rafters with handy features, Documents to Go is a fantastic app and we highly recommend it. Less than £12 is a bargain for what you get with the premium version, although there is a version without cloud support for just £6.99. 

iTunes: Link

Price: £11.99

Rating: 4/5

This one should help anyone who suffers from a lack of organisational skills as it's a simple way to plan and visualise your day - say a big hello to Diacarta. This very neat planner is designed to enable the user to visualise his or her day by choosing icons that match with the things you'll be doing. You basically start off with a clock to which you can add said icons, thereby creating a handy at-a-glance reminder. Here you can see the initial clock face, your day a blank slate ready to be filled with exciting and interesting things. By tapping on the + tab you can add a variety of different icons, which number around 50 and you can also add notes to each one or just enter text if none of the symbols matches your activity.

It's also possible to swiftly set up future events with the calendar and everything seems to work as it should. In our play we found it all very straight forward, although it isn't perfect as there doesn't appear to be the ability to import from you existing calendars. That said, it is quite possible that particular functionality could come at a later date. 

iTunes: Link

Price: 69p

Rating: 3/5

Applying for a university place is a rite of passage all graduates have to go through. The UCAS system can be a little confusing, and as it is not renowned as being one of life's more pleasant experiences this iPhone app is here to help. Features of the app include an at-a-glance view of your choices along with a comprehensive FAQ section. There's also a description of key dates outlining the UCAS application cycle so you know what to do and by when. Applicants can track all their UCAS applications, with a detailed view of each choice including course details, start dates and of course most crucially, conditions and replies.

This free to download app will also enable you to see which universities have rejected you, before you go into that must-try-harder-pot that is clearing. Finally, security-wise, UCAS promises that your info is held securely and can only be accessed by entering your personal ID, username and password. 

iTunes: Link

Price: Free

Rating: 5/5

Sure its name has been written in a world seemingly devoid of grammr but hey, if it makes things smartr then we are all for it. The app launched on Android back in 2011 and continues to grow in popularity. The iPhone launch however is what really matters here. Existing in either a free to use or paid for form, Xobni intelligently amalgamates all your contacts into one place. 

Smartr by Xobni from Smartr & Xobni on Vimeo.

The paid-for version of the app, which costs $7.99 per month, can scan and add any new contacts made through email inboxes to your phone. The BlackBerry version for example managed to bump us all the way up to a staggering 6000 contacts virtually instantaneously. Saves you keeping a lengthy email history on your phone, should you need to go fishing for a phone number or someone's details.

iTunes: Link

Price: Free

Rating: 4/5

Don't have an iPhone 4S yet? Desperate to constantly question your smartphone for useless information? Evi might be the thing for you. Pegged as a serious rival to Apple's current offerings, it is apparently capable of recognising speech and natural language and coming back with correct search results. 

The best thing about Evi however is that it fills a rather significant hole in Siri's UK functionality. It can use maps and locations to find out about local businesses. The app can integrate with the likes of Yelp, Google Places, Parkopedia and TopTable, making it a highly formidable location tool. The speech recognition is also top notch and easily on a par with what Apple manages.

iTunes: Link

Price: Free

Rating: 4/5