What's On Our Mobile Expert's Phone Screen?

When you’ve reviewed hundreds of phones, from the latest glass-clad flagships that cost half a month’s salary to the less-spectacular phones you can buy with loose change, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that what makes a smartphone useful is not just the hardware: The apps you use matter just as much.

- Ajay Kumar

As a mobile analyst at PCMag, I’ve refined the process of setting up phones and installing apps to an art form. I can start benchmark-testing the average smartphone in a matter of minutes. But my daily carry, the Samsung Galaxy S9, requires a bit more thought about what shows up on my home screen. Here are some of the apps I rely on.

Audible

I don’t have time to read. OK, that’s not completely true; I could certainly find the time if I wanted to, but reading is still hard to fit into my schedule. Audible is a lifesaver for me as a book lover (and aspiring fantasy writer), because it lets me listen to audio books while I’m commuting, doing laundry, working out, washing dishes, and filling outspreadsheets—essentially, it turns all the dead time in my day into entertainment time. A testament to Audible’s awesomeness is my listening time: I clocked over64 hours in the month of October, which equals four weighty tomes I’d never have read otherwise.

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