Leading Mobile Tools for Professional Users

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The life of the professional is only getting busier and more challenging. The right mobile tools, both downloads and hardware, help you run your life more efficiently. Gerry Blackwell reports.

Do you remember what it was like to run a business before the Internet, before mobile phones and before you could carry your business in your pocket? In this mobile era, those days seem positively quaint.

Of course it helps to have the right tool for the right job when you’re on the road, and in this case we’ve got 10. You can debate our picks if you like — go ahead — but we think you’ll have a tough time beating this line-up of essential products and services for on-the-go pros.

Motorola Droid

A smartphone is arguably the essential mobile business tool. If you don’t want to follow the i-crowd, consider the Droid ($200). It has everything you need to connect and communicate: blazing 3G speed on Verizon’s EVDO Rev A network, Wi-Fi (b/g), GPS, Bluetooth and a 5-megapixel camera. You can input data using the Droid’s touchscreen, or type on the slide-out QWERTY keyboard (the world’s thinnest, according to Motorola).

This smartphone runs on Google’s Android 2.0 mobile operating system and integrates popular Google apps out of the box — including online synchronization with Gmail and Calendar, and GPS-powered turn-by-turn directions with Google Maps. (For the corporate minded, Droid also supports Microsoft Exchange.)

The processor (a 550 mHz Arm Cortex A8) is powerful enough to run multiple applications simultaneously. Droid comes with 16GB on a microSD card but supports up to 32GB, and its multimedia is state of the art — video capture and playback up to 720×480 pixels. International roaming? Oops, for that you’ll need a GSM-based carrier. Dare we mention the i-word?

Plantronics Discovery 975

For safe, hands-free, on-the-go communication a Bluetooth headset is another essential piece of gear. The Discovery 975 ($130), from market leader Plantronics, is new and top notch. It’s also the most elegantly minimalist we’ve seen, with a gel earbud speaker, invisible clip and a thin, straight mic boom.

Read the rest at Small Business Computing.