One of the best uses of iPhone is that of a GTD device. I use it often and frequently as a place to keep lists of things to do. Before Jailbreak, I could use only the notes feature of iPhone for keeping lists, but now, I have two apps that keep me Notes happy! The first one is a little program called "ShopList" by some one named FSaint who posts his development of this app at
http://mazinger.cs.yale.edu/iphone-apps/zips/ShopList.zip
Best way to load this is to go to the sources and add the above url in the Installer app of the jailbroken iPhone. Be sure to include the full url and the app will install itself.
My opinion, this is a top notch app. Although its designed to be a shopping list, I use it mainly as a list generator. The app allows you to create different lists. So I have a list for "Sprycel Speakers Update", and another for "Brand Planning". Its two line interface is very useful. I use the top line to describe the main task, and the second line to describe it in detail. When you create a task, it saves under "Need" category. Once I am done with the task, I simply check if off, and the task rolls down to "Have" category.
There are a couple things about this app that I like. First, I like its simplicity. Its an app to make a list, nothing more, nothing less. Sometimes its better to have a simple app rather than one with a lot of bells and whistles, to keep the app from distracting one from its main purpose. The second thing I like about this app is the fact that although its a "Shopping List" app, it does allow you to keep any other kinds of lists.
However, I would change a few things. First the two categories - if its possible, it would be nice to have these categories be customizable. Instead of "Need" it would be nice to have the ability to call it - "Things to Do", or have the ability to change the "Have" to 'Done". Second, it would be nice to be able to move the tasks up and down in terms of priority, so that I can have the most important task at the top. I don't need any other bells and whistles to make this app more useful.
The second app I have used a lot is the "Mobile Todo List" from the folks at include7, a Switzerland based outfit. This app is also installed through the installer on a jailbroken phone.
I will be honest, before I came across Shoplist, I started using MobileToDoList2, and actually I liked it quite a bit in the begining. The interface is not too different from the ShopList interface, but this app is a tad more sophisticated. For instance the MTDL2 has the ability to multiple levels of lists, create priority and even set alarms! The app promises to hide the task after a certain number of days, and even auto order the list.
But there in lies the problem with this little app. Although its feature rich, over time I got weary of all the inputting that needs to be done to just generate a list of tasks! While initially I loved the idea of multiple levels of lists, in the end I came away convinced that I don't really need multiple levels. I would much rather have separate lists of tasks than have multiple levels. No doubt, others will disagree, but in my opinion, this app tries to do too many things for too many people.
There are other problems too. For instance, the prioritization doesn't seem to work all the time. Some times it prioritizes, and other times it doesn't. And I think it has something to do with the tasks that are over due, but its not so obvious to trouble shoot this problem. Another point, some times the tasks refuse to 'die'! In other words, some times the task that has been completed continues to show beyond the time period you would like it to.
MobileToDoList2 has a lot of promise, but I think its trying to do too much and this is making the app a bit more difficult to use. My preference is for an app that is somewhere in between ShopList and MobileToDoList2. And to the best of my knowledge, none out there is working on this happy medium.
Labels: iPhone, MobileToDoList2, ShopList
