The only way is app

If you don’t have a mobile phone, then I don’t know where you’ve been living for the past five years. Not only do most people have one, but, save for forgetful theatre-goers who leave their phone on, only to have it interrupt Swan Lake with their tinny version of the Imperial March, we have all embraced this new, portable technology.

With the advent of smartphones, manufacturers have combined portability with the ever-expanding reach of the internet. Never again will e-mails from altruistic Nigerian lottery winners – or more important e-mails for that matter – have to wait until a computer is accessed.

Of course, user experience has improved too. Gone are the days when you would spend hours engrossed in playing Snake (which for those lucky enough to be too young to remember, involved a row of pixels chasing a solitary pixel across a tiny, black and white screen) or feeling terribly accomplished because you mastered the speed dial function. Voice commands, touch screens and an unparalleled level of connectivity are the order of the day.

Then there is the ever-expanding app universe. True, the extent of app use among many is limited solely to throwing livid red, yellow and blue birds at sniggering pigs. However, many others have discovered and are now plundering a gold mine of cheap or even free apps that are revolutionising the way we work and play.

Applications are no new horse to the computing stables and have been bundled with our desktops for years. Applications allow users to carry out one or more functions, ranging from something as basic as a calculator or as complicated as apps used to decode genes, monitor radioactivity or predict the weather.

Computers today come bundled with several applications, right out of the box, though how many of them are useful or at the very least, not an annoyance is debatable. Applications can be downloaded legally online against payment, though many computer savvy users spend significant amounts of time ‘cracking’ software and disseminating their coding to others for free.

Mac users are familiar with Apple’s App Store which allows the purchase of applications without the need for setup CDs. The role of applications is the processing of information with the aim of producing output, whether virtual or real.

The birth of smartphones and, later, tablets was followed by a huge surge in app development. While many comparisons can be made to the applications available on computers, the portability of smartphones adds a new dimension to the world of apps. Sure there was room for the average word processor or music player but the smartphone user differs significantly from the computer user and this is reflected in the type and sheer amount of apps available.

At first, smartphones were used mostly by business-minded folks, keen on keeping a close watch on their e-mails. Now, every spotty teenager, overworked mum and even a few cool grandparents use smartphones for a variety of different reasons.

But what connects all these users?

Ease of use is one major factor that the most popular apps can boast. A simple, intuitive interface and a clear set of functions is crucial because there is nothing more off-putting in an application than feeling as though breaking into Fort Knox would be easier than even the most basic of tasks.

Because the majority of people in the western world own and regularly use a computer, smartphone compatibility with computers is essential. Whether for backing up documents or e-mails or simply transferring files back and forth, app developers have to keep in mind the communication between phones and computers.

Finally, the intended use of the app needs to be considered. However, this is hardly a limiting factor as a vast amount of applications exist, from the useful to the utterly mindless, including music composition apps, diet apps to keep track of calorie intake and exercise, word processing, social media, news apps as well as countless game apps. There are even apps for cats (although this one is so far limited to the iPad which, one might argue, is simply a smartphone on steroids). The point is that even if an app contributes very little to productivity or in fact detracts from it, people will use it and pay for it.

So how do apps help hard-working professionals in their work? Three smartphone users give their take on a few applications they tested and review their impact, positive and negative, on their productivity.

Ms Agius is interested in all things technological and blogs at www.eweandme.blogspot.com.