Here’s my quick review after 6 weeks of using both Text Expander and Alfred as recommended by Back to Work and Jacob Cass..

Alfred

Thank you for speeding up my work flow! Previously if i wanted to open a new application, I would using spotlight (Set to list applications only) but it would take around 30 seconds to load and another 10 to recognize what I’ve actually typed.  There had been times when I wanted to avoid the spinning ball of death and find the application in finder.
There’s also the very handy function of typing “open” and file name to search for the file.
My conclusion: its fast and very effective, i love it!

Text Expander

It took me a little bit of time to get use to how it works and when it’s worth while to set up a shortcut. but now that I have it’s saving me a lot of repetitive typing. So far, I use it mostly for writing things like my email addresses (I have 4), telephone numbers and email sign offs. Extremely handy! I also use it for words I often type wrong or can never remember how to spell.
My conclusion: This needs to be on EVERYTHING! When I’m on my phone or ipad I expect the short cuts to work, but of cause it doesn’t. so please put this on everything!