I have been a user of the Pocket Informant calendar app since I started using Windows-based PDAs back in the mists of time. It was only when I had a mental aberration and started using Nokia phones and more or less ditched my old HP Jordana that I stopped using PI and, when I regained my faculties and went Android, Pocket Informant was the first app that I bought. Because PI only synchronised with the Toodledo task manager I ditched Remember The Milk and struggled to use the two together but it wasn’t a happy app marriage and divorce loomed large on the horizon.
Getting Things Done – Or Not
As I have written elsewhere with the Any.Do review Toodledo was too complex for my relatively simple lifestyle. By trying to attempt to achieve a Getting Things Done strategy I actually ended up stopping doing any task management because creating a single task took too long; with Any.Do task creation is quick, simple and relevant. So now I had kicked Toodledo into touch did I really need Pocket Informant? As much as I admire Alec Kac as a developer the Android PI was a little quirky compared to its Windows Mobile sibling.
I started looking around at alternatives, rejected most and stumbled over Business Calendar, downloaded the free version and within a matter of hours coughed up the cash for the full version. Why?
One of the key reasons for adopting Business Calendar was its syncing with Google Calendar. I have three calendars – one for work, a personal one and another to attempt to bring my wife kicking and screaming into the 21st Century after buying her a Samsung Galaxy smartphone. These are colour coded on my desktop calendar and these colours are mirrored in Business Calendar. It’s a small point but it makes using the app more visual and in my book I have always said that a lot of people will use a program or service if it has a good looking GUI even if the service/program itself is crap.
Multiple Views
Another strong plus point is that in week view you can quickly and simply change the number of days viewed by adjusting a slider at the bottom of the page. Another plus point is that when you add guests to your event, if that person is in your contacts list the email address will; be automatically entered.
As well as week view Business Calendar has the option of today, agenda and month view. In month view you have the choice of Google Calendar coloured bars being shown or the event in text. In agenda there is no colour ID, just straight forward text, time, location, etc.
Entering events is pretty standard but Business Calendar does keep track of events, locations etc so if you have a list of regularly repeated meetings, dates etc it will auto fill that section, quite a time saver.
As you would expect the app is very configurable and comes with a collection of widgets; if you want to be widgetised you will need to keep the app in the phone memory and not transfer it to your SD card.
Business Calendar Feature List
- smooth scroll- and zoomable multi-day view, free configurable from 1 to 14 days, with graphical and textual presentation
- also month, agenda, day and event view
- month view can easily be switched between timeline bars and event titles, a popup window gives you a quick overview of the events of the selected day
- intuitive new handling option: you just have to move your finger over some days of interest in month view to open them in the multi-day view
- favorite-calendar bar to quickly fade in and out different calendars
- search function
- fast day overview when adding a new event
- many options for recurrent events (e.g. to add a recurrent event that takes place every other week on Tuesday and Thursday)
- configurable widgets in different sizes for month, week, agenda and day view
context-sensitive help system to optimize your work with Business Calendar - drag&drop functionality in multi-day view to quickly move and copy events (only paid version)
- option to link a contact to an event (only paid version)
individually configurable font sizes for the different components of the app and the widgets (only paid version) - option to select calendars for each widget individually (only paid version)
- history list and auto-complete option for event titles and locations (only paid version)
- own reminders with additional options (only paid version, free version uses the reminders of the stock calendar application)
So, although in the past I have preferred a unified calendar and task management system I feel that with Any.Do and Business Calendar I have two superb apps that make a dual strategy not only workable but fast, flexible and fun.
