Apps Of The Week: 5 Free Ways To Improve Productivity

From The Week of Jan. 5

Mobile devices are never far from reach, and apps are a critical part of professional life. Each day the CRN Test Center scans the world's app stores looking for the most useful apps for enhancing productivity, improving communication and filling an unusual need. Here's a synopsis of last week's apps, with links to the full reviews.

Google Inbox

Google has rethought the way people process email. Google Inbox is the company's redesigned email client for Android, Chrome and iOS, and it will instill fear in some, delight in others and in the end will improve productivity.

VPN Defender

Device security doesn't have to cost money, Web browsing doesn't have to be public and websites don't have to be blocked. VPN Defender makes all that a reality in exchange for anonymously collecting info on host-device downloads.

PDF Scanner

For people doing any amount of document capture using a smartphone, Mobile Systems' Quick PDF Scanner is the only app we've seen that not only crops, but also corrects the perspective of scanned images and does so automatically and accurately. And it's free.

Dingaling

Most apps that offer free Wi-Fi calling expect something in return. Dingaling does not. The free VoIP app for Android and iOS includes minutes that are renewed automatically each month and it works not just in the U.S. and Canada but in dozens of other countries as well.

Photoshop Express

It's not the full desktop version, but Adobe gives away hundreds of image-editing effects in Photoshop Express, a free app for Android and iOS that far exceeds most capabilities currently offered on those devices.