Where Blackberry was once the dominant force in the business world, Android is now the most popular platform for Enterprise users and business travelers. A big reason for that comes down to software. Aside from the fact that Android handsets offer greater diversity of choice in terms of hardware, there’s simply far more software for business travelers on Android. Here are half a dozen apps to make business travel a bit more stress-free.
ALOQA
Roughly translated, ALOQA is a near-acronym for “always be a local”. It’s basically your insider’s guide to any locale in the country, giving you the edge over other out-of-towners when it comes to finding the best places to eat, shop, park, and more. Nothing beats having a personal guide to the city you happen to find yourself in when you’re traveling. Failing that, ALOQA is the next best thing.
Waze
Being in a strange city is fun and exciting on a vacation, but it’s usually a serious headache when you’re trying to rush from one meeting to the next in unfamiliar territory. Waze is a crowdsourced navigation application that relies on the GPS-based reports provided by other users to give you a heads up on traffic snarls, accidents, delays, and more when you’re trying to get around town.
TripIt
A dedicated itinerary planner and scheduler is a must for the busy traveler who doesn’t have time to mentally keep track of flights and hotel bookings. TripIt is easily one of the most well-respected and popular travel plan apps on the Android Market. It allows users to compile confirmation E-mails from airlines and hotels into one convenient travel schedule, which makes keeping tabs on all your travel-related information simple and straight-forward.
Expensify
Nobody likes to do their own accounting and invoicing, but it’s something that needs to be done sooner or later. Expensify makes creating expense reports about as painless as possible. It allows you to scan in receipts, invoices, bills of sale, and any other expense-related document so that it can be tabulated and added up later. Whether you’re figuring out gas costs or incidentals, Expensify has got you covered.
Talk to Me
We’re all well-aware of how flat the global economic playing field has become in recent years. One consequence of this internationalization of business even here at home is that you’re more likely to run into non-English speakers. Talk to Me is an amazing speech-to-speech app that comes in handy in the US or abroad for translating conversations from one language to another quickly and reliably.
Box
Online file lockers and cloud storage apps like Dropbox are a handy way to share files and keep copies of important or unimportant documents for easy access later on. Box is quickly becoming the most popular way to share files and store data in the cloud on Android handsets. This app gives you 5 GB of free online storage, and makes remote sharing much, much easier.
Social media apps that are for fun or for socializing get most of the press in the tech world. That’s all well and good, but you also need business applications to maximize productivity and prioritize your work day. For the business traveler who’s constantly on the go, the apps detailed above are your best bet for making business trips as hassle-free and seamless as possible.
Thanks for the reviews. I am always on the lookout for apps to use while I travel. I had not heard of waze, but I am checking it out now.
Hey, Brian. Thanks for your comment. How did Waze work out for you?
You guys are making me look bad. I have an android smartphone. HTC Sensation. But other than the Rainbow Unicorn Attack app I only use it to make phone calls.
There’s no shame in that.
I have been really enjoying the apps that Android has been able to provide me with to make my business trips easier. TripIt and Expensify are two that have been indispensible during my frequent work travels for Dish. Both are terrific examples of apps that any traveler should have on his phone. When I need to free some stress I use my Dish Remote Access app on my Android since it gives me unlimited access to my programming and DVR content at home. It’s made such a difference in making business travel more stress-free.
Absolutely!