Once upon a time, all of the basic features that we use a smartphone for were previously handled by the standard PDA, and before that, pen and paper. I used to carry the FranklinCovey planner system with me, where I faithfully checked off my task list as I completed them. FranklinCovey has done well to embrace the digital age, and now they have a Task app in Apple’s App Store – FCmobilelife can be found here for $5.99.

Given there seems to be as many task and to-do apps as there are fart apps, how well does FranklinCovey’s FCmobilelife Tasks hold up? Will it help you prioritize and get things done? Read on for a quick review!

Under The Hood

FCmobilelife uses the proven FranklinCovey methodology for creating tasks and prioritizing them in a way that will increase efficiency in getting things done. It takes advantage of the easy-to-use iPhone interface by delivering an attractive interface for managing your personal and business tasks.

Like the FranklinCovey paper version before it, FCmobilelife allows you to input a task and rank it using the ABC-123 system of prioritization, but this is just scratching the surface of it’s capability. You can also add notes to your tasks to really flesh them out and give them more detail, if needed. The app provides a means of tracking due dates of tasks, assigning categories, and create recurring tasks using the Complete-and-Forward feature.

The use of spoken tasks and managing attachments really beef up this app, and to make things easier, you can simply drag and drop a task to instantly reposition it for a higher or lower priority based on your changing priorities. The beauty of this app is that it’s as powerful or simple as you want it to be. If you want to simply create a to-do list each day and check them off as you go, then it’s easy as pie to set up your tasks. If, on the other hand, you want to add attachments (photos), voice record your task, add due dates and categorize your tasks, you have everything you need in this app to be a power user.

FCmobilelife is quite polished and easy to use, but there are a couple minor problems I have with this app. First, it can be a bit sluggish when changing to different views and, most notably, when scrolling through a list. The animated transitions are nice from screen to screen, but I’d like to see it happen with a bit more speed. Also, if you want a simple to-do app without the prioritization, this app is not the best for that kind of simplicity. It would be nice if there were either a 4th view for a bare-bones to-do list, or an option to disable the minimum two-step process of entering tasks when using the Master list view.

A Quick Run-Through

Before dropping down your $5.99 for this app, take a look at the demo video that FranklinCovey has put together on YouTube. It gives you a nice walk-through of this app so you can get a good sense of it’s capabilities.

To summarize the video, FCmobilelife has several views to choose from: Today, Plan, and Master views. The Today view gives you a look at current due tasks in order of priority – A (vital), B (important), and C (optional) tasks. Under each priority, the tasks are further prioritized by numbering 1, 2, 3 and so on. The Plan view presents a list of tasks also sorted by priority, but condenses your task list into an easier view for all your items. The Master list view are tasks that have not been designated a due date or priority. This view is great for entering tasks on the fly that you want to return to and prioritize later.

All past due items can be moved forward to the next day with the press of a button. If you wish to sort your tasks differently, then just press the “Sort” button at the top left and then drag items to a higher or lower priority, or even delete them. When creating a task, you can name it and assign a priority and due date. Spoken tasks are also great when you don’t have the means or time for entering text. Completed tasks are automatically archived for you by date, so you can always go back and view your accomplishments.

Conclusion

FCmobilelife is a great app for those looking for a fairly simple way of managing tasks or the power user who is steeped in FranklinCovey’s culture and methodology for prioritization. The interface is polished and the features are powerful. The need for a little more snappiness and the lack of a bare-bones task creation option is just enough to prevent me from awarding a 5-star rating, but I can definitely recommend 4 stars. Give the demo video a look – if you want a solid task manager, then $5.99 isn’t much to pay for a winner like FCmobilelife.

Pros

• Packed with features
• Simple, polished user interface
• Voice tasks
• Filtering mechanism and recurring tasks
• Photo attachments

Cons

• Sluggish list scrolling and transitions
• No “bare-bones” way to create simple to-do’s

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

App Review: FCmobilelife Tasks by FranklinCovey for iPhone

[Video note: Interesting to see the Google iPhone in the video above is missing the iTunes and App Store icons... and the YouTube App (YouTube being, you know, owned by Google). Google Mobile App got a prime spot though!]

Still catching up on the Google news, and this one is more confusing to us then most. A while back we mentioned — regretfully — that Google had stopped offering their iPhone optimized version of iGoogle because, to be blunt, they wanted to offer every handset a similar experience and few other handsets could match the quality of the iPhone version.

Now, however, Google has announced that while they aren’t bringing the iGoogle page back, they are adding an iPhone optimized version of their bare-bones Gmail Tasks WebApp:

starting today, you can manage your task list from your iPhone or Android device, and access it from any xhtml enabled phone. (Mine’s always with me, in whichever jeans I’m wearing.) Just go to gmail.com/tasks from your phone’s browser and log in. If you already use the version of Tasks in Gmail Labs, you’ll see the same task list that’s always in sync. We focused on making it super easy and fast to update your Gmail task list — you can add new tasks and check off completed ones, no matter where you are (like in a meeting or at the grocery store) even when you’re in the bathroom.

Inconsistent but potentially appreciated. But will Tasks on the iPhone be the glory of Gmail email, or the fail of Gmail contacts? Anyone tried this out yet? Let us know how it works for you!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Google Taketh iPhone iGoogle… but Giveth Gmail Tasks?

[This is a TiPb AT WORK App vs. App Review! Last week, it was the Instant Messenger Showdown, with BeeJiveIM squeaking out the victory. But which blog commenter won a copy of the winning IM App? mr. Hi-Definition Congratulations!

This week, the TiPb iPhone Forums voted on their favorite Task/To Do Apps, we took the top two, and now they're going head-to-head. But wait -- there's more! One of the forum voters has already won a copy of the winning App... Congrats coreymol! Want another chance to win? COMMENT BELOW! and make sure you leave a valid email address in the comment form -- it won't be made public, but it will be used to contact you if you win! Check out the full contest details, then grab your iPhone and get ready to get things done -- the TiPb AT WORK Task/Do To Showdown is on!]

I use my iPhone all the time. At work or play, it completes me. I have a few gripes (no sense beating the cut/copy/paste dead horse) – there are some glaring omissions that make it difficult for people to take the iPhone seriously for business or just everyday productivity.

Some kind of sync-able task or to-do list is such a basic feature, and fortunately, the advent of 3rd party apps have made it possible for developers to provide a plethora of apps to remedy this deficiency. The two apps that you folks in the forum picked for this TiPb AT WORK smackdown is Things and Appigo’s Todo. Users have given them both a 4-star rating in the App Store and, quite honestly, it’s a VERY close call to me.

Which of these two get-er-done apps are the best? How do they stack up? Read on!

First Impressions

Things, available in the App Store for $9.99, is a task app that promotes it’s simplicity to use and offers a time-based and priority-based approach. The interface is clean and easy to use, with customization for creating specific task lists. A desktop sync app is also available as a separate download from the main site. The simplicity of the interface and layout of tasks by order of priority and project is very appealing at first glance.

Appigo’s Todo is also sold for $9.99 in the App Store and has a simple interface that allows for the creation of task lists and setting priority of importance and due dates for tasks. Rather than provide a desktop syncing app separately, Todo will sync online with either ToodleDo or Remember The Milk, both of which are popular web apps for the iPhone.

The Same, But Different

Both Things and Todo offer similar functionality in giving you the ability to manage tasks/to-do’s on your iPhone. They both have ways to sync your tasks in a location other than your iPhone. They both allow creation of multiple task lists. Both have an “In-Box” to hold hastily created tasks that you can add detail in the future, like categorization, priority, scheduling, and notes. Both have a nice, easy, and clean interface. There are differences though, and the differences just might give one an edge over the other, but this “edge” may also just boil down to personal taste.

Things

Things is the task app that gives you a timeline/priority approach to managing your tasks. First, you have your Today items – obviously, the items that need to be done today and not tomorrow! These are tasks that you have entered to be completed for the day or are scheduled tasks that have become due. The Next list contains single to-do items and also action steps from active projects. These are the tasks you will do as soon as you can get to them. If the Today items give you a up-close look at your tasks, the Next list is taking a step back and seeing things from the 100 foot view.

Scheduled items are things you will do in the future. These are tasks you will begin at a later date, and as the date arrives, they will show up in your Today view. This may be like looking at your tasks from the 1,000 foot level.

The Someday box is where you place the things you want to do someday, no specific date required. Store your dreams here, if you want. It is like the 10,000 foot view of your tasks – no pressure, just a place to capture your ideas for more shaping and molding.

Things makes it easy to move tasks from one box to another. Then, as you complete tasks, they will appear in your Logbook so you can review the completed items later.

A nice touch is the “+” icon located at the bottom left of each screen. This app wants to make sure that adding tasks at any time is easy and straight-forward. Just hit that “+” icon no matter what you are doing and you can enter a quick task that will sit in your Inbox until you can give it more specificity later. Cool!

Right now, you can download a functioning desktop app that allows you to wirelessly sync your tasks between your iPhone and Things. In the future, this desktop app will be on the pricey side: $39.99 for those that register before the official release, and $49.99 for the johnny-come-latelys. However, if you are a big-time to-do/task person, this is a good investment. You will have a stand-alone app on your desktop that is married to the app on your iPhone so you can both backup your tasks as well as enter them easily from your desktop.

Appigo’s Todo

Todo takes a different approach to syncing. Rather than a desktop app and the additional expense that goes with it, their app syncs online with both Toodledo and Remember The Milk, two popular web apps. The upside to this is that these apps are free and are available to you anywhere you have an internet connection. The bad news is you need an internet connection or you aren’t syncing, period.

Multiple task lists and projects are also available on Todo. You can create repeating tasks, prioritize tasks, and also create tasks quickly that are placed in your Inbox for adding detail later. You can view all important tasks by setting the filter to “All Lists” so you can knock out those urgent tasks no matter what category they are in or project the are a part of.

Another very useful feature offered in Todo is the linking of tasks to contacts and websites. If you need to call someone or send them an email, you can do some right from a task. You can also share tasks by sending them via email. This adds a very useful dimension to your task list when you can link straight to a contact for a call, email, or visiting a related web site.

And The Winner Is….

Both Appigo’s Todo and Things are excellent choices to manage your tasks. They bear several similarities and are available for the same price. The winner is really …. you! In my opinion, you can’t go wrong with either app and so it’s really up to your personal tastes. The desktop syncing app for Things is a little pricey, but for some of you it may be worth it to have local syncing that isn’t dependent on having an internet connection. For others, spending another $39.99 or $49.99 is NOT a good deal when you can have online syncing for free with Appigo’s Todo.

If you need multiple task lists, projects, an Inbox for lighting-fast task entry, and task prioritization, then it’s hard to choose. The differences reside in the syncing methods and some personal touches in customization (using custom strike-throughs in Todo or the prioritizing method in Things, for instance).

Since I get to choose, my personal favorite is Things because it gives me the option of syncing with a desktop app, which I find more convenient than using a web app. Things also seems a little simpler and straight-forward to me, something I really value in a task manager. I like that I can be very specific with urgent items or just dump ideas for later thought in the “someday” bin. But like I said before, regardless of which app YOU choose, they are both winners.

Things Rating:

Appigo’s Todo Rating:

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb AT WORK To Do/Task List Showdown: Things vs Appigo Todo

Although the current iPhone does many things, it does fall short in some glaring ways.  Managing tasks, for example, has been discussed both in forums and in TiPB podcasts.  Perhaps Apple refuses to provide a means of managing tasks because they believe an iPhone user will have little time left for anything else in life other than surfing the web on Safari, watching movies and listening to tunes in iPod, Google Mapping, etc.?  Speculation for this exclusion may abound, but fortunately, we’ve got you covered with this week’s Tip.

If you haven’t been checking out the new Web Apps lately, then you may have missed a little gem called Getting Tasks Done!, available here!  Read more about managing your tasks on the iPhone following the break!

Getting Tasks Done!, by Volodymyr Sergeyev, is one way that you can manage your tasks (’to-do list’, if you will) on your iPhone.  With the ability to accept unlimited tasks and projects, you can probably list more things that you need to do than you can get done!  To get started, just go to the site and set up an account for free.  Once you have an account set up, you can login and start tasking!

Some great features are included in this web app:  sharing tasks with family, friends and co-workers; archiving of tasks and projects; accessible 24/7 via the internet; even a daily motivational quote or phrase to inspire you to get your tasks done!

One of the criticisms of web apps are the requirement of having an internet connection; no connection, no app.  This is one reason why resident apps are more appealing to many — if you have juice on your iPhone, you can use the app.  However, Getting Tasks Done! will also work offline.  If you don’t have an internet connection, you can still work on your tasks offline and they will sync with the server when you are online again.  Sweet!

As you can see on the left here, you can “Add task”, “Archive” your completed tasks, “Work offline”, “Hot tasks”, and even “Share tasks” with others.

Once you’ve completed a task, just check the box and move on to the next one.  I always find the checking-of-the-box part to be very rewarding because it gives me a sense of accomplishment.  There are few things better than completing a task, checking the box, and getting back to some Safari surfing, YouTube’ing and iPod’ing!

Check out Getting Tasks Done! and start getting things done!  

That’s it for this week’s Tip.  If you have a tip of your own that you would like to share with the rest of us, please leave a Comment or you can email me at: brian.hart@phonedifferent.com.

Disclaimer:  Tip o’ the Week makes no guarantee, express or implied, that any tip found herein will be new or particularly useful to the reader (and now that you have a Tip about a good task manager for your iPhone, we certainly can’t guarantee you’ll get things done.  Just remember this: Nothing makes you more productive than the last minute.  Try that out on your boss!).

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Tip o’ the Week: Tasks on iPhone!

iPhone hacker extraordinaire Erica Sadun was poking around the calendar database on her iPhone and found some encouraging tables:

CREATE TABLE Task (ROWID INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT, summary TEXT, priority INTEGER, duedate INTEGER, completiondate INTEGER, calendar_id INTEGER);. – - (TUAW)

Full support for Tasks/ToDos is a basic feature and one that may be holding back many business users from fully embracing the iPhone. Here’s to hoping that we’ll see a 1.2 update very soon with full support not only for native apps, but a brand new ToDo app as well. Viva la February!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

ToDos to finally come to iPhone …Eventually