If you’ve followed this blog, you know I love to write posts about apps. That’s probably because I get a lot of questions from people about my favorite apps, or which apps are the best for attorneys. The problem is, it’s really hard to pinpoint the “everyone should have these apps” apps, because apps keep changing. That said, I’m going to follow up this post of five free apps to try, with this one, which in my opinion, represents the five essential Android apps for lawyers – law or not.
ezPDF Reader ($2.99)
I used to believe that RepliGo Reader was the bomb-diggity PDF reading app for Android. Brothers and sisters, I have seen the light. I still like RepliGo Reader, but ezPDF Reader handles a few more things, such as annotations, better.
Evernote (free)
Every lawyer techno-geek has extolled the virtues of using Evernote in your law practice. I’m not going to rehash or affirm the praises. My love from Evernote comes from the ability to save stuff non-law related. It’s easy to grab, track, and change or notate. I’m especially fond of keeping a journal about my family, and it’s stored in Evernote’s cyberspace. Now there’s something you probably didn’t know about me.
Dropbox (free)
Would you please get a Dropbox account already? It’s easy to sign up, and free. Here’s a link. Dropbox literally creates the office away from the office. Upload and sync. Done.
Waze (free)
Trust me, you’ll love it. Plus, it’s fun to try to accumulate points and become the “Waze King” in your region.
Fastcase (free)
Don’t thank me now, thank me later when you’re in court, need a case, and you can whip one out from your Android device because you’re using the free way to search for cases, statutes, or other laws.
Pandora (free/subscription)
Music personalized to your flavor, commercial-free (paid subscription). Need I say more? Oh, you like Spotify better? Yeah, it’s cool too.
OfficeSuite Professional 6 ($14.99)
Sure, there’s a hefty price tag, and sure, you can do everything with your free reader, but trust me, you’ll want this app to view, edit, and create Word, Excel or PowerPoint files. How good is OfficeSuite Professional 6? The other Android apps ask it for help reading their MS Office documents.
LogMeIn ($29.99) or PocketCloud Remote RDP ($14.99)
These two battled months ago, with no clear winner. When I asked a techno-geek non-lawyer friend which app he liked, he said PocketCloud. Me, I paid the $29, so I’m sticking with LogMeIn.
Handy Scanner ($3.99)
Need to create a PDF from a picture on your camera? Here you go. You’re welcome.
SwiftKey 3 (phone or tablet) ($3.99 each)
I’ve wished Android’s key recognition was just a bit better. Well, now it is. Use SwiftKey’s built-in training features to grab information from Facebook, SMS, Google, or Twitter to improve your recognition.
And there you go. Have fun. Don’t spend too much money. Did I miss one of your favorites? Let me know.
If you’re interested in more apps, check out this post, this post, or this one.
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