Your mobile
office

Get real work done on your smartphone.

By Joe Hutsko

If you’re a smartphone owner, you may already think of your ever-present gadget as your number one business partner. Besides sending and receiving email and text messages (not to mention making and answering phone calls, of course), smartphones equipped with a video-conferencing feature (such as FaceTime on iPhone, or Skype on both iPhone and Android) let you meet virtually face-to-face with clients without spending money on travel by plane, train or automobile.

Add a handful of business-savvy office apps and hardware add-ons, and suddenly your smartphone is capable of getting real work done on the go—so much so, you can leave your notebook computer at home.

Besides creating, editing and presenting office documents, spreadsheets and presentations, your smartphone also can tackle other business-related things you typically did in your home office or at an office services store, such as printing, copying and faxing signed documents, minus the bulky machines, inconvenience and expense.

The following is a selection of handy iPhone and Android apps and hardware add-ons for getting real work done with your smartphone while you are on the go.

Handy Apps

Managing “to do’s” (tomorrow.do; free for iPhone and Android; $1.99 for iPhone HD version)

Those who like getting stuff done—or at least keeping track of the stuff they need to get done—will love the super-simple approach of Do It (Tomorrow), which beautifully mimics a real to-do notepad. Know you won’t get to a certain task on your list today? No problem—just tap the arrow to send it off to tomorrow’s page (which is where any other tasks you don’t complete automatically wind up at the stroke of midnight). What’s more, Android users can access their to-do book from any Web browser on the tomorrow.do Web page—a handy feature that iPhone users can also tap into, providing they’re willing to pay $1.99 for the Do It (Tomorrow) HD version of the app. The upshot: The HD app also works on iPads in case you’re toting one of those as well.

Organizing travel (tripit.com; iPhone and Android; free)

Tap in to TripIt, and say goodbye to juggling the ins and outs of travel details and flights, lodging and car reservations. This handy app pulls all of your travel details into a single itinerary that you can sync with tripit.com for easy access from the palm of your hand or the nearest Web browser.

Tracking expenses (expensify.com; Android and iPhone; free)

Get a handle on your expenses with Expensify, which lets you record payouts for everything from coffee with clients, to the mileage you racked up getting to that meeting. An export feature lets you move your captured expenses to QuickBooks, and spending and analysis tools help you monitor and adjust your spending, accordingly. One expense you won’t have to shell out? Expensify itself, which is free for single-user purposes.

Staying current (www. entrepreneur.com/mobile; iPhone and Android; free)

Read every new issue of Entrepreneur for free—and go beyond the printed page with interactive features, including exclusive app-only content, video, slideshows and up-to-the-minute newsfeeds. Archive, bookmark and search for subjects you care about, and share those subjects with others with just a few taps.

Capturing spoken words and notes (Dragon Dictation; iPhone; free)

When you are mobile, let your voice do the typing instead of your fingers. Capturing and converting your spoken words into text is a built-in feature on recent and new Android phones, but not iPhones. For iPhones, there’s Dragon Dictation, which is generally lauded as the best and most accurate voice to text conversion app.

Taking notes (Evernote; Android and iPhone; free)

My favorite note taking app, Evernote, lets you capture voice notes and just about any other kind of note you can think of, including text, hand written, photo, email, PDF and Web page notes. Your notes automatically sync in the "cloud," which means they’re always up to date no matter how you access them—be it on your smartphone, the Evernote app on your PC or Mac, or by logging in to the Evernote website.

The apps and basic service (which grants you a few thousand notes a month) are free. Upgrade to the premium plan for $5 a month (or $45 a year) for more features like faster uploads and video notes.

Add a handful of business- savvy office apps and hardware add-ons, and suddenly your smartphone is capable of getting real work done on the go—so much so, you can leave your notebook computer at home.

Joe Hutsko

Working away from the office ($10 to $17 for QuickOffice and Documents To Go for Android and iPhone; $9.99 each for iWork for iPhone; free for Google Docs for Android and iPhone)

The two best-selling, pocket-sized office suites for smartphones are QuickOffice and Documents To Go. Both are available for iPhone and Android phones, and both let you view, create and edit Microsoft Office Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations. iPhone users can also consider Apple’s individual iWork apps: Pages, Numbers and Keynote.

Gmail users can view, create and edit documents and spreadsheets on the go for free, thanks to smartphone apps and cloud-based sync services provided by Google. For iPhone users, download the free "Google" app—or just open docs.google.com in Safari to get to your docs that way. Android owners can do the same, or download Google’s free "Docs" app from the Android Marketplace for an even better on-the-go office docs and spreadsheets experience.

Syncing and storing files (DropBox, Box.net and SugarSync; Android and iPhone; free, with option to upgrade for a fee)

To keep your office docs (and other files) in sync between your smartphone and computer anywhere in the world, sign up for free or for-a-fee cloud-based file sync and storage services, such as DropBox, Box.net or SugarSync.

Giving presentations ($.99 for Keynote Remote for iPhone)

If giving presentations is part of your shtick, 99 cents can buy you the Keynote Remote app to control Keynote presentations running on a Mac computer, iPhone or iPad that is plugged into the projector. Search "remote control" in the Android Marketplace to turn up a slew of free remote control apps for controlling PowerPoint presentations (and other apps) with your Android smartphone.

Handling PDF documents ($1.99 for EZPDF Reader for Android; $2.99 for Sign-and-Send for iPhone)

Viewing, filling in, signing and sending PDF documents is a cinch with EZPDF Reader and Sign-and-Send.

Tip: Need to sign and send back a printed document you’ve received? Sign on the dotted line as usual, then take a snapshot of the document and email the photo file to the sender instead of faxing, sending the document in the mail or using a delivery service.

Helpful hardware add-ons

Full-size keyboards ($70 for Apple’s Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard; $70 for Logitec’s Tablet Keyboard)

Connect your iPhone or Android smartphone to a full-size Bluetooth wireless keyboard, and say goodbye to tapping out email replies or typing long documents with your thumbs. What’s more, Apple’s Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard and Logitec’s Tablet Keyboard each offer special shortcut keys for doing things like cutting, copying and pasting text or other information, saving you from having to lift your fingers from the keyboard to tap the screen to perform those touchy-feely commands.

Credit card reader ( www.squareup.com; app free to download; 2.75 percent fee per swipe)

If your business involves in-person or on-site services, you can attach the Square credit card reader to your smartphone and download the app to process credit and debit card payments at the time services are rendered, which sure beats invoicing then waiting to get paid.

Battery booster packs ($50 to $80 for battery boosting case by Incipio)

Using your smartphone to get serious work done can have a seriously draining effect on how long your gizmo’s battery charge lasts. If your smartphone’s charge is pooping out before the workday is done, consider purchasing a battery boosting case by Incipio, which can double or even triple your iPhone or Android phone’s staying power.

Joe Hutsko’s stories about gadgets, gear and high-tech entertainment have
appeared in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Newsweek, Wired, Engadget.com, TechCrunch.com, Salon.com and others. His books include Green Gadgets For Dummies, iPhone For Dummies All-in-One, Macs For Dummies All-in-One and The Deal: A Novel of Silicon Valley.