Friday, July 03, 2009
The search for a great task manager iPhone app...
(Oh no, not another iPhone Task manager/To Do/Notes/Lists app article) Yeah, I know there are a lot of these things out there and on the app store, and there are different things/features that work or appeal to different users. So I'm going to say outright my criteria so that if you happen to be looking for something like this, it might be useful to you.
Main Criteria:
#1. Collapsible.
#2. Fast loading.
#3. Cost efficient. (ok-ok, this means it has to be cheap)
#4. online sync/backup.
As a quick background, I wanted an app that could organize my thoughts, plans, ideas, To-dos, reminders, etc. So a simple notes or list app wouldn't do. And So,...I searched the app store....
THE APPS: Notes, To Do, TooDoo, To Do's, To-Do's, Simplist, iDoLite, Tasks, Notebook, QuickMemo, NotepadSync, Fliq Notes, Fliq Tasks, EasyTask, Evernote, reQall, ZeptoLiner, Life Balance, Mindmapper (and these are the only ones I can remember).
COLLAPSIBLE. I find that a good feature for my needs is the ability to fold/unfold entries to manage clutter. An easy enough feature, but you don't see this often on iPhone apps (maybe due to its minimalist design philosophy). Makes me want to think if I should go into iPhone apps development. Anyways, I used TreNotes on my previous phone (O2) and I already forgot what I used on my Palm.
Life Balance has a collapsible feature but has an entirely different concept on the overall product. Which is good, but not exactly what I need ($19.99), at least for now.
Mindmapper would be overkill.
Zeptoliner (the free version) is a text based "idea processor" (so they say). It has good collapsible features and it has a Windows feel to it, which is kinda off. It's like a windows mobile app on an iPhone (I miss the undo feature though). And compared to a well designed iPhone app, you could say that it's clunky. You could easily get more unorganized especially when you're in a hurry.
For the rest, almost all of the apps mentioned above have essentially the basic list-details functionality and not the collapsible type.
FAST LOADING. Nothing beats the built-in Notes app in terms of loading speed (no surprise there). But sometimes you'll definitely feel they've overdone it. How so?? It does always load fast, but sometimes after loading you still can't do anything. You can't type or select notes right away (lag time, or maybe it's just my iphone).
Normally, smaller apps are the ones that loads faster. Like To Do (52.7kb), To Do's (84.8kb), Outliner (216.4kb), TooDoo (157.6kb), To-Do's (96.6kb). And I really hate bloatware! (Sorry, I can't resist)
I especially liked the To Do app by Erica Sadun in terms of speed, but the app does has saving issues. (Sorry Erica if there are already an updates for this by now).
COST EFFICIENT. This one is easy to determime, just follow the money! ;> Some apps that are free have more features than those that aren't. And when you get used to the app store, you'll realize that it's worth your time checking out the free ones first.
ONLINE SYNC/BACKUP. If you have important data, of course you have to secure it and have a backup. Security for now is just a minor issue for me and the backup just have to be off the phone and easily accessible. But, an online backup would be so convenient.
Notebook,NotepadSync,Fliq Notes/Tasks,EverNote has sync capabilities.
So actually, after the first batch of evaluating all those apps, I was not able to find the right app for my needs. So the next step was to do a more in-depth search, especially with those paid apps. And I waited a few days and searched again.
Enter CarbonFin Outliner....I found this little gem of an app from a blog somewhere. It passes all my criteria and was actually the first app that I really wanted to pay for off the app store. And now, it's always on my icon dock together with my phone, SMS, Safari & iPod apps.
So the lesson learned here boys and girls,...nah just playin'. So as I've said before if you happen to have those criteria, keep these in mind.
HTH y'all!!
gs