Gadgets: Good Company

As we celebrate the spirit of womanhood on Women's Day, I look at tech that will help women lead a more productive and healthy life. Here are five gadgets and apps that make so much sense for the multi-talented, multi-faceted and multi-tasking you!

Fitness Tracking: You are active throughout the day and even manage to sneak in some time at the gym, but knowing how much you are crunching through makes a world of difference. While fitness trackers come in all shapes and sizes and price points, the one I recommend is the Fitbit Charge 2 (Rs 11,999 on Amazon). It is jam-packed with features that go way beyond basic step tracking — an optical heart rate monitor gives you a 24/7 look at your cardiac activity, and when coupled with the fantastic Fitbit app, gives you the best fitness tracking experience at a reasonably affordable price point! Minor nitpicks? It is not waterproof and lacks built-in GPS for your outdoor runs.

Powered Up: With slimmer phones and slimmer batteries, a power bank is almost as much a necessity these days as the smartphone it powers! But in shedding weight on your phone, are you adding that weight back with a bulky power bank? Try the Xiaomi 10000mAh Mi Power Bank Pro (Rs 1,999) instead. At 12.58mm and with a double anodized matte-finish aluminum case, the power bank fits in just about any bag or pocket, yet delivers enough charge to juice up your iPhone or Android device at least 3-4 times. And with two-way fast charging, it charges your device and recharges itself quickly as well!

List Management: A well-stocked fridge is such a joy, but if you live with someone else who splits groceries duties, be it a spouse, significant other or a roommate, compiling a joint list can be a bit of a hassle. My all-time favorite app for shopping list management — actually just about any list management — is Wunderlist. This list manager lets you organise your to-do and shopping lists and syncs/shares between devices. Remember The Milk is another great app for shared to-do lists, and the app even lets you prioritise lists and send yourself reminders via IM, e-mail and text messages!

Sort Your Wallet: Granted, expense management is a highly individual affair, but if you are looking to exercise some monetary control, tracking your outflows is a great starting point, and the Walnut app comes highly recommended. On Android, the app can track your card spends, split and settle trips, eating out and daily expenses with friends, and remind you of upcoming card and bill payments.

One For Comfort: You have crazy days at work and then follow it up with managing the chaos at home...a massage right before bed would really hit the spot, wouldn't it? If you are looking to splurge on the ultimate creature comfort, pick up the Osim uInfinity Lifestyle Massage chair (Rs 535,000). With a downloadable array of massages — from sports recovery techniques to Tai Tai, from basic daily relief massages to a grand ‘throne massage’ meant for high-stress jobs — and built-in speakers to round off the experience, the uInfinity may just set you back by the cost of a decent hatchback, but is there a price you can put on something this luxurious?