Making your workflow mobile and ready on-the-go will improve your efficiency, your work and your lifestyle. Being tethered to an office or even a home office can feel suffocating eventually, being able to pick up your laptop and leave or pull out a tablet and still accomplish the same work will make you feel liberated

Mobilizing Your Data

The most important part of your on the go lifestyle is making your data mobilized by uploading it the cloud. The cloud is classified as data stored on a server that can be accessed in real time, at any time. Google, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft all offer these kind of services that sync data between your desktop, laptop and mobile device. Here’s the 4 best services any mobile warrior will love

Dropbox is one of the best (free) tools at your disposal for syncing data. You’ll be able to sync files between your laptop, phone, desktop and any other device in between.

Google Docs takes the traditional word editor and sticks it in the cloud. Documents, presentations and spreadsheets are all editable, instantly saved and accessible anywhere from the cloud.

Log Me In lets you log in to your computer to retrieve a presentation or document you may have forgotten. You can even control your computer from the web interface, shut it down to save power and provide on the go tech support.

Basecamp lets you work in a team and coordinate projects. It’s a very clean project manager and will let you visualize your tasks and accomplishments in so many different ways.

Point 2: Maximizing Your Mobile Gear

Now that your data is in the cloud and accessible wherever you are, it’s time to choose your mobile armory. If you’re still using a desktop, consider buying a tablet or Netbook as a second device. The most important thing to keep in mind; is this device suitable for my needs, will it sync with my data and will these Apps work for me? Buying a tablet like an iPad or an Android smartphone requires you to conform to its user interface and almost bond with it. If you aren’t personally happy with it and it can’t perform to your needs, consider purchasing a Netbook and using Web Apps instead.

Point 3: Finding The Right Spot To Setup

The Coffee shop is the paradise of mobile freelancers, on the go businessmen, and quite certainly, you. It has everything, free Wi-Fi, great coffee and comfy seats. Finding the right Coffee shop or even work area isn’t as easy, you may deal with overcrowding or worse; no power.

A new service called Coffee And Wifi will help you find a coffee house that has free Wi-Fi for you to use while you enjoy your latte. Public libraries typically offer a quiet environment, power and occasionally free WiFi. However, being cooped up inside defeats the purpose of being a mobile freelancer. What I like to do, and what can spice up your freelance work, is choosing a random spot to work in. This could be a park, comfortable area in a mall, parts of the beach, anything that doesn’t have you in one spot for more than a few days.

The mobile office is easier than ever to create. Cloud services make your data accessible anywhere; devices can reach in to the cloud and improve your workflow.

Tweetdeck

iTunes Link

Tweetdeck is one of the best Twitter clients for the iPad. It brings the full experience of the desktop App and syncs with the accompanying iPhone App. Tweetdeck still maintains the clean interface many have come to love when using the App; it transitions extremely well on to the iPad and accommodates either portrait or landscape modes with ease.

Tweetdeck gives you a plethora of options when it comes to Tweeting. The interface allows you to Geotag your Tweet (taking advantage of either the GPS or Wi-Fi connection in the iPad), insert links and pictures and give you easy access to Twitter users you’ve replied to recently. One of Tweetdecks highlights is its support for multiple Twitter accounts. Scrolling through columns and browsing through replies is one of the main reasons I really like Tweetdeck for the iPad. It allows me to stay in touch with everyone I’ve interacted with across the Twitter-sphere. It’s clean and elegant interface really compliment the iPad.

Instapaper

iTunes Link

Instapaper is a great utility for Bloggers. We all come across the need to save content for future reading and Instapaper fills that need. It’s a simple App that works in conduction with the web site to save content and import it to read at a later date. Content is automatically downloaded as soon as you bookmark something using either the desktop App or bookmarklet in your browser.

Instapaper’s UI puts the focus on your material by bringing it up front and center; you can alternate between light and dark backgrounds for reading and adjust tex size or the font No matter what you bookmark, only the content you want to see will be shown.

I like Instapaper for its function. The ability to save content and revisit it when I’m ready to write about it helps my Blogging workflow greatly. I’ll often come across new items that I don’t need to act on right now but will need to later on. Instapaper for the iPad compliments any Blogger or writer’s content gathering workflow

Evernote

iTunes Link

I like using Evernote as my project HQ; ideas I need for projects I’m not working on, potential designs and whatnot often go here. Evernote for the iPad will likely be the epicenter for all your creative potential like it is for me.

It’s incredibly easy to sort and search your notes by criteria or tags. Notes, clippings and what not can be easily sorted. If you tag your content using the GPS, it can be plotted on a map in case you have something location specific or want to know where most of your creativity activity takes place.
Audio and pictures can be easily inserted in to any note which truly makes Evernote your creation HQ.

Evernote will help any Blogger during the content creation process. Ideas can be quickly jotted down and expanded upon then synced to your commuter or iPhone. I’ve used it for massive projects spanning dozens of Blog posts related to one topic or helping draft chapters for a small book. Evernote works and it’s available on the iPad.

WordPress

iTunes Link

The final App, and one I’m most excited to talk about is WordPress for the iPad. I cut my Blogging teeth on the iPhone and have loved using WP’s iPhone App. When an iPad version was released, I was ecstatic to start writing and for good reason; the App is one of the best Blogging tools for the iPad. If you’re using those other content management systems, this iOS App may sway you.

Our blog at Digital Eye runs on WordPress and I’ve written this entire post using the App. It’s multi-pane interface creates a straight forward experience; you select which Blog you want to write for, in my case the Digital Eye Blog and I can create a new post. When creating or editing a new post, I can insert a photo or load a quick preview of my work. One of the biggest advantages of using a native App versus accessing the web interface is the ability to cache your content. The iPad has the tendency to flush its cache of pages in Safari; this could destroy all of your work in WordPress if you don’t save.

If WordPress if your CMS of choice, this App should be one of the first installed on your iPad.

If you’re worried about your fingers becoming sore from the device’s on screen keyboard, you’ll be happy to know that it doesn’t put too much strain on your fingers. You’ll become well adjust to the iPad’s predictive text features and it’s different keyboard orientations. I referee the landscape orientation but I’ well acquainted with its portrait orientation mode. If you’re a Blogger trying to work an iPad in to your workflow, let us know how you’re doing it and what Apps you’re using.

Other additions in this update include the ability to view and write on the walls of events, and a new width for the photos you upload: 720px. There’s also a series of bug fixes in the release. You can download the app on iTunes here.

While its iPhone app impresses, however, Facebook is still notably without an iPad app. Its Android app, meanwhile, is somewhat lackluster.

Mobile advertising network AdMob has released its metrics report for March 2010, taking a closer look at Google’s Android OS and its increasing share of the mobile market. The report also reveals that the Motorola Droid is the leading Android handset.

The number of Android devices available as of March 2010 is vastly greater than the number available just seven months ago. AdMob notes in its report that in September 2009, two devices — the HTC Dream (or G1) and the HTC Magic (the myTouch 3G) — accounted for 96% of all Android traffic. As of March 2010, 11 different devices accounted for 96% of Android traffic.

Check out this chart, which shows which Android devices are generating the largest amount of traffic:

The Motorola Droid is the big winner, responsible for 32% of Android traffic in March 2010. Conversely, the Google Nexus One only generated 2% of Android traffic. Looking at the full data from AdMob’s report, it’s clear that although the operating system has really only made waves in the U.S., the Droid is the undisputed Android champion overall. To us, this speaks volumes about the power of Verizon’s network.

iPhone Still Leading the Pack

However, it’s important to note that even though the iPhone is still the smartphone and mobile device leader (even if you add up all other handsets collectively based on OS, iPhone is still in the lead), breakout successes on other platforms could easily change things.

Android OS Fragmentation?

This presents some hurdles for application developers who need to either make OS-specific versions or ensure backward compatibility across all major OS versions.

AdMob’s report shows that Android use is split across the three major releases of the platform: Android 1.5, Android 1.6 and Android 2.0/2.1. Android 1.5 has 38% marketshare — which makes sense, considering it is what most of the older Android devices still run — Android 2.0/2.1 has 35% of the market and Android 1.6 has 26%.

The problem for end-users is that the version of the OS you receive is largely dependent on the manufacturer of your phone and its relationship with your wireless carrier. Verizon Droid owners got Android 2.1 in the middle of last month, a relatively short wait for version upgrades. However, it’s not clear how long updates will take for the Droid or any other Android handset not manufactured in partnership with Google.

According to Engadget’s source, the phone will initially be available by “invitation only.”  It looks like Google will be deciding who gets invites (hey, Google, call me), but the specifications also indicate that T-Mobile will be able to sell the phone directly to the customers in the future.

The Breakdown

- 512MB RAM, 512MB ROM, included 4GB microSD card, expandable to 32GB

- 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and mechanical autofocus

- 3.7″ WVGA AMOLED screen — in other words, as big as the Droid and brighter

- Worldwide GSM/EDGE, but 3G only on T-Mobile in the US (supports 2100, 1700 and 900 frequencies, meaning Europe should be covered)

- 1GHz Qualcomm chip — if accurate, that would make the Nexus One one of the fastest — if not the fastest — smartphones on the market.

- Wi-Fi A/B//G/N

- Bluetooth 2.1

- GPS

- Accelerometer

The specs look solid, the phone matches or beats every competing Android phone on the market (aside from having no physical keyboard) and also compares quite favorably to the iPhone (faster processor, nicer screen, wireless-N).

The only caveat for potential U.S. buyers is that, barring some sort of firmware upgrade (assuming the 1900 band is just disabled), this phone will only work in 3G in T-Mobile’s network.  If you live in a large city, that might not be a problem, but T-Mobile does have the smallest 3G footprint of any of the major U.S. wireless carriers.

For international users, this is really enticing, because the phone should be compatible with all UMTS bands in Europe, Asia, South America and Australia/New Zealand.

Now all we need is a solid release date and a price.  My friends are ready to buy this sight-unseen.  What about you?  android, Google, nexus oneWhat do you think of the Nexus One?