Review:SmartPad

The next calendaring/organization application to review is SmartPad. I’ve actually had it the longest and used it for quite some time. When I reviewed it on the app store, the title of the review was “Best I’ve Found So Far”. It was true then (in June) but not necessarily so now.

What I liked

There is a lot to like in this app. I think they do a much better job of implementing notes for example, than the previous app I reviewed. It’s relatively trivial (a few taps and highlights) to turn bits and pieces of the note into tasks or events, which can be handy if using SmartPad in a meeting.

Other areas of note:

  • Having a tab dedicated to history is quite nice as well; I can easily figure out what I’ve done and when I did it with relative ease.

  • Search exists throughout everything, which would be handy if working with extensive calendars including lots of tasks and notes.

  • The graphics are anything but bland. Things stand out but are still easy on the eyes. It’s easy to distinguish bits of the built in UI from my data (events/notes/task).

  • They score some parts for making the footer navigation slider slightly bigger (although they lose just as many, if not more, for having a footer navigation slider at all).

Probably my favorite feature is the ease in which SmartPad enables you to automatically slip tasks into your day and calendar. They’ll take the working hours you input, and the amount of time you want to dedicate to tasks (say an hour) and then tell you what tasks from your lists to do, based on the amount of time each is scheduled to take. It is really quite a nice feature if you live and breathe by your task lists.

What I Disliked

It is b-u-g-g-y. Going into the settings screen, for example, and then exiting often gives me a blank white screen rather than my calendar. That lasts about 45 seconds and then it completely crashes. And I’m left having to reload whilst crossing my fingers that my data is still there (this is a real life crash occurring as I write this).

This was enough to make me look for something else (and why I had strong hopes for CalPad). It’s sad though that it comes down to this.

It’s not my only issue with SmartPad though. I seriously lament the lack of gesture support. This type of app screams for that on a touch device. Supposedly it’s coming in this app, and I’ll give it another go when it arrives (especially if the crashing stops) but it’s still a black mark on it.

Honestly though, these were my major gripes. Their combination (but primarily the bugginess) caused me to look elsewhere as I said.

Overall, I rated this app a 4 of 5 stars when I originally got it (rated on the appstore). Now, having had it longer and used it quite a bit more, I’d probably drop that down to a 3 of 5. It’s definitely an improvement over CalPad but not quite what I was looking for in the mythical perfect personal organizer app.

Review:CalPad

I’ve been on a constant quest to find some sort of personal organizer to use as a calendar (and if I was lucky, use it to do other things as well). I found many in the App Store, but none of them were overwhelmingly appealing. But, I knew one thing: the calendar that it comes with iOS was ugly and mostly non-functional so it was worth exploring some other options.

One of those options was CalPad. It was initially intriguing in that it incorporated event management, note management and task management into the same app. That’d make syncing easy, right? And eliminate the need for extra apps. Definitely an initial plus making it worth further exploration.

What I Liked

I actually liked quite a bit about it. It’s snappy. It’s straightforward. It seems to do a lot. To get into some more specifics, I’ll start by saying that a multitude of settings gives the air of customization that’s nice in an app like this. I’m a big believer in the notion of developing your process (whatever it is/whatever it might be for) and then finding the tool that fits into that process. You don’t want to do the opposite: find a tool and then force your process into. Lots of customizability hints that perhaps the tool can be made to fit into your process.

Anyways, onto the worthwhile settings here. First, you’ve got the ability to make multiple calendars (so you could have a work, a home and a social life calendar, if you wanted). You are also able to set your general working hours for easy event creation and task delegation. Events and tasks can also be given distinct contexts by which they can be sorted and grouped with (ie, if you are at home, you can look at all tasks with the “home” context and get to working on things). It also syncs with google calendar (for events) and toodledo (for tasks).

As far as the user interface goes, I really like that the month view shows 4 months, and not just 1 (you can though zoom to one).

What I Disliked

All of those “likes” being said, there were numerous dislikes, and these honestly keep CalPad from being my day to day calendar.

For starters, we can look no further than the user interface. It’s so frustrating that so many calendaring apps lack gesture support. Gestures would be perfect and would enrich the app immensely. A little flick of the finger should be all you need to move between days; alas its nowhere near that easy. It’s actually rather clunky, currently, to do something as simple as moving between days. This app, as well as others (including the built in calendar app) use the annoying bar at the bottom of the screen to move between days. It’s impossibly small for someone with big fingers to use; it’s always mixing my days up.

What I’m Neutral About (But Worth Mentioning)

There were several things that are worth pointing out, but that didn’t necessarily greatly impact my final decision of “to use or not to use.” They might be more important to other people though, one way or the other.

The first feature like this that I’ll mention is the list view. It’s a quite nice way to sort out events and tasks in a non-calendar environment but I never found it that useful; it wasn’t a screen I found myself turning to often. Part of this could be that it shares the same “clunkiness” of the rest of the UI; as the app improves I’m sure this will as well. For those driven by their tasks and projects though, this feature could be a big boon.

And a couple of more quick things. One: I Don’t really see the usefulness of notes in the week view. This is just a personal opinion, but I would have liked the option of being able to turn them off. Two: The color scheme just seems bland. There is nothing stand out about it, and I get bored looking at it. Something I’m going to be using day in/day out, I’d like to be sharp and eye catching. Others might really like the blandness though, and as I said, it wasn’t a deciding factor against CalPad.

Final Thoughts

Of the initial apps I tried, I really wanted to like this one the most. I can’t really place why though. It’s customization was appealing (if unfortunately limited in scope). But when all was said and done, it just didn’t flow as I wanted it to. It’s management didn’t really fit my personal process, and that I don’t want to change for a app. A big knock, as well, was that when working with a touch device, I want my interaction to be mostly brief touches: swipes, holds, etc that get things done. Not more menus and lists and settings to check. Your mileage may vary though. If you want something surprisingly robust, this could definitely be an app to check. Because of how it worked for me though, I can’t give it more than 2 out of 5 stars. It is worth noting though that it seems to be actively developed; I look forward to seeing changes down the road and would definitely consider revising that if the program incorporates some of the features that I desire in an app like this.