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calendar apps

M

Mitchi-san

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 15, 2009
1
0
I'm a Navy officer getting ready to start flight school and I have some questions regarding calendar apps. Right now I'm in "A pool", a pool of about 100 Ensigns sitting around doing nothing getting ready to start flight school, but once training starts, I will be very busy and my time will become precious. I wanted to ask, in the opinion of super-savvy mac people, which calendar app is the best? I've used the one that comes with my touch in the past and felt that having everything in my life scheduled made it much easier, but I also felt that the standard calendar app left much to be desired. Also, is there any way to sync iCal or wincal with programs on the iPod touch?

Thanks!
 
I don't have any suggestions on the touch end as I'm using the built in calendar, but on the Mac end I recommend you look into BusyCal and Google Calendar. BusyCal is loaded with networking/sharing features which let you sync your calendar(s) to Google Calendar. Then you can sync your Google Calendar account to your touch for automatic syncing (builtin calendar plus I've seen a few GCal apps in app store).
 
I use Pocket Informant as well. The monthview timebars are awesome.

I also use [app]SaiSuke[/app] with it's superb copy&paste function and the easier to read text in monthview.
 
Gokunama said:
I use Pocket Informant as well. The monthview timebars are awesome.

I also use [app]SaiSuke[/app] with it's superb copy&paste function and the easier to read text in monthview.
Click to expand...


I have a question for you, i use to have Pocket Informant on my windows mobile device and really found it amazing. What i really likes about it is that i was able to put icons for the tasks that needed to be completed, ie; car icon for dropping the car off at the dealership, cake icon for birthday reminders.
This way, when i looked at the calendar in monthly view, i was able to quickly gauge whats going on just by the icons.

Is this icon feature available on the iphone version as well?
 
Not yet, it may be a planned feature though. Pocket Informant is the ultimate event/task manager all-in-one for iPhone, but I've read on the WebIS forums that since Pocket Informant is still relatively new on the iPhone (and the programming quite different for iPhone then other platforms, so it had to be built from the ground up, and couldn't be simply ported), that it doesn't yet have nearly as many features as Pocket Informant on other platforms.

As you may already know, WebIS has an excellent track record, and they've quite regularly updated Pocket Informant on the iPhone, so I'm sure it'll get most of the features that other platforms have already gotten.
 
Pocket Informant on the iPhone is the BEST app that there is. I've been using it since it's release this past March and with each upgrade it is improved exponentially over the previous version. Right now it is the only calendar and task app that I use on the iPhone.

Although it still does not have many of the features that the Windows Mobile version has, many of the features are in the pipeline and being worked on. Keep in mind that the Windows version is 8 or 9 years old now, the iPhone app is just approaching 1 year. Like a previous poster said, it had to be built from the ground up and unlike other apps, they have to deal with the bizaar restraints from Apple, hence the need to sync with Google and Toodledo. It would be great if they could sync directly with Outlook or even used MobileMe to sync with, but Apple doen't allow that.

At first I was hesitant to sync with Google, but now I love it. I can sync Pocket Informant to Google, and Google sync directly with Outlook via GSyncIt and everything s great. I only wish there was an easy way to have PI sync with Outlook tasks, but I'm OK checking off tasks in both apps until something works out.

Another feature of PI I really like is that I can use the Franklin Covey method to prioritize my tasks as opposed to the cumbersome GTD method. I'm just used to Franklin Covey since I have been using their planners since the early 90's. GTD may not be all that bad, but it seems cumbersome with contextx and projects etc when compared to the FC method. Aside from that I use the Franklin Covey Plan Plus add in for Outlook. Hopefully the iPhone version will someday integrate with that like it does on the Windows Mobile version as well.
 
Please get off the fanboy crack. Pocket Informant is junk. It offers nothing ical doesn't, except limited color. Alarms don't work reliably and its todo section is horribly lacking. It is just a simple straight up and down to do list. It does not let you categorize by true projects or contexts, something critical to any to do application. Also, the push alarms in the to do part do not work. PI has interfered with the alarms on ical and now they don't work and alarms on PI is hit or miss. I realize you have to have a cell signal for push alarms to work, but that is not the problem. I 'm in a 5 bar 3G area and they simply don't work.
 
stockscalper said:
Please get off the fanboy crack. Pocket Informant is junk. It offers nothing ical doesn't, except limited color. Alarms don't work reliably and its todo section is horribly lacking. It is just a simple straight up and down to do list. It does not let you categorize by true projects or contexts, something critical to any to do application. Also, the push alarms in the to do part do not work. PI has interfered with the alarms on ical and now they don't work and alarms on PI is hit or miss. I realize you have to have a cell signal for push alarms to work, but that is not the problem. I 'm in a 5 bar 3G area and they simply don't work.
Click to expand...

Sorry it's not working for you - i don't use alarms, nor the todo's that often, but i live by my calendar.

iCal on the Touch is a basic piece of garbage. Useless for doing any type of scheduling....

I require a week view. And gasp, shoot me for wanting to maybe see start and stop times for events in a list view.

But hey, i guess if you child doesn't have 3 therapy appointments a week, and seeing 4 doctors at the current time, you *might* not be able to appreciate the need for useable views.

in my opinion, apple should be embarrassed that THAT is what they shipped with a device. My first palm product 8 years ago was better - and that was before i switched to Datebk. They should also be shot for locking other apps out of the calendar, and requiring a data connection for alarms/push.

Oh but wait, someone will pipe up - the iPhone/Touch is NOT a PDA....

Maybe there could be better - but hey, anything is better than iCal on the Touch.
 
I always thought the bars indicated the cell phone signal strength, and not the 3G strength. I've had bars but no Internet signal, so I'm pretty sure I'm correct.

Push Notifications for all my apps have been unreliable. I heard from one developer that it was due to an Apple glitch, and that Apple was working on an update.

The iCal for me wasn't terribly usable. There was no way to back it up on my old PC (calendar sync just up and left a month after I got the iPhone), and MobileMe is expensive just as back up. There's no todo list, and being able to see events and todos is just so much more convenient.

The Timebars in monthview are a big help in seeing my schedule for certain days and planning lessons for me classes.

Ideally, Apple would allow developers to use the same notification system that the iPhone iCal uses. Apple's innovative but weird though.
 
stockscalper said:
Please get off the fanboy crack. Pocket Informant is junk. It offers nothing ical doesn't, except limited color. Alarms don't work reliably and its todo section is horribly lacking. It is just a simple straight up and down to do list. It does not let you categorize by true projects or contexts, something critical to any to do application. Also, the push alarms in the to do part do not work. PI has interfered with the alarms on ical and now they don't work and alarms on PI is hit or miss. I realize you have to have a cell signal for push alarms to work, but that is not the problem. I 'm in a 5 bar 3G area and they simply don't work.
Click to expand...

It is not "fanboy crack" that I like Pocket Informant. Pocket Informant is the type of calendar application that Apple should have built into the iPhone from the beginning. In addition how can they design a "smartphone" without a basic task application. I guess they figured everyone would be listening to music and playing games that the usefullness of a calendar and task list never made it to their task list.

I have not had any issues at all with push alarms in my area at all. I always set the alarms to go off 1 hour prior to the event and one hour before an important event both the alarm from Pocket Informant and the built in calendar got off.
 
I'm not saying Apples calendar app is a great app, it's not. But I don't see that PI is any better. Like many others I used Datebk on a Palm and loved it. To me PI is an unfinished app. As far as push alarms go I have Appigo's ToDo and they've worked 100%. ToDo is a model for GTD apps and if PI is serious about a to do app they should take a look at it or Things.
 
Well I use PI too and think it's invaluable. Push alarms work fine for me and I like its use of GTD todos. I have it syncing to iCal, via Google for the moment, though they are working on a direct syncing option. As far as I'm concerned it's the calendar app Apple should have had on the iPhone in the first place.
 
PocketInformant is excellent and gets even better in each release.

Anyone who doesn't see why it is better than the dire Apple version really don't use a calendar.
 
stockscalper said:
ToDo is a model for GTD apps and if PI is serious about a to do app they should take a look at it or Things.
Click to expand...

ToDo from Appigo is an excellent app. I have used it from the time I got my iPhone in July 2008 until I started using Pocket Informant full time for tasks which was after they released version 1.1 this past August or September. ToDo is excellent and something Apple should have built into the iPhone in the first place.

I don't use the overly cumbersome GTD method of task management, I use the Franklin Covey method and Pocket Informant is one of the few apps on the iPhone that allow you to use that method over GTD.
 
ScottNWDW said:
ToDo from Appigo is an excellent app. I have used it from the time I got my iPhone in July 2008 until I started using Pocket Informant full time for tasks which was after they released version 1.1 this past August or September. ToDo is excellent and something Apple should have built into the iPhone in the first place.

I don't use the overly cumbersome GTD method of task management, I use the Franklin Covey method and Pocket Informant is one of the few apps on the iPhone that allow you to use that method over GTD.
Click to expand...

But if you work with projects and need subtasks, as I do, then the simplistic to do in PI won't cut it. It wouldn't take much tweaking to make this a great app. Unfortunately, the developer doesn't seem interested in listening to user requests. Their forum is full of complaints from other users complaining about the same problems I'm experiencing and the developer keeps replying denying that there are any problems with the app. I'm removing it from my iPhone and asking for a refund.
 
stockscalper said:
But if you work with projects and need subtasks, as I do, then the simplistic to do in PI won't cut it. It wouldn't take much tweaking to make this a great app. Unfortunately, the developer doesn't seem interested in listening to user requests. Their forum is full of complaints from other users complaining about the same problems I'm experiencing and the developer keeps replying denying that there are any problems with the app. I'm removing it from my iPhone and asking for a refund.
Click to expand...

PI is a calendaring app with GTD based task management. It is not a Project Mgt tool. Further it is hardly simplistic and the dev does listen to users. It is however still in its infancy, compared with the WM version, and has a long way to go. Compared with the inbuilt app and other offerings in the store, it is quite simply leaps and bounds ahead of the rest. IMHO you are being a little harsh. Good luck with your refund application.
 
stockscalper said:
But if you work with projects and need subtasks, as I do, then the simplistic to do in PI won't cut it. It wouldn't take much tweaking to make this a great app. Unfortunately, the developer doesn't seem interested in listening to user requests. Their forum is full of complaints from other users complaining about the same problems I'm experiencing and the developer keeps replying denying that there are any problems with the app. I'm removing it from my iPhone and asking for a refund.
Click to expand...

The OP was looking for a CALENDAR application, NOT a task/project app. PI fills that need.

The iCal "thing" that Apple ships on the iPhone/Touch is horrid. Period. For anyone that needs a CALENDAR, it quickly becomes obvious how lacking it is.

On the flip side, since you don't like PI, perhaps you should hire someone to write a version for you. :D
 
I've never heard anyone give negative feedback on the webIS developer before. This is a first.

Of course there are going to be a lot of complaints and feature requests on the forum. People who are satisfied with an app generally aren't starting threads, and it seems the most vocal and hardest to satisfy that are creating the threads half the time in any developers forum (especially productivity app forums).

A calendar and task app all in one is a huge undertaking, with tons of room for bugs. The developer has done more than a decent job of hunting down and finding bugs, adding new useful functions, etc. There will always be a few bugs that get through though.

Subtasks are coming to PI. He's been busy trying to get a reliable PI-Outlook sync going. I get the idea that most of the features people are asking for will get added at some point.
 
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