ForumsGetting Things Done®Finally got my iPhone and Toodleo App.


Finally got my iPhone and Toodleo App.
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Proximo

Posted: Oct 30, 2009
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I was planning on getting my iPhone when my contract ran out several weeks ago.

I just got tied up with things and had higher priorities to think about.

Picked it up today during lunch and the FIRST App. I purchased or downloaded to my iPhone was Toodledo.

Now it's time for me to learn what I can and can't do with Toodledo iPhone App.

Wish me luck and be prepared for questions. :-)
David

Posted: Oct 30, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
Posted by Proximo:


Wish me luck and be prepared for questions. :-)


By tonight, we'll be asking YOU questions!
Noah.Ratzan

Posted: Dec 06, 2009
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Proximo - I read your GTD setup for Toodledo and liked it. I'm too tired right now to decide how I'd customize it, but I'm looking forward to getting my very recently created lists onto Toodledo - (I just did the initial collection and processing two weeks ago).

I also have an iPhone and was using Appigo's ToDo before, but given Toodledo's web-based capabilities, I plan on using Toodledo. Anyway, I'm very interested in seeing your run-down and review of Toodledo's iPhone capabilities and weaknesses. Thanks again for the GTD post from August, and the videos too. Post soon!

-NCR
Proximo

Posted: Dec 07, 2009
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@Noah.Ratzan,

I am glad you found something useful from my GTD setup.

Many users have more time on the iPhone app. than I do, but I have been using it every day since I purchased it over 1 month ago or so.

Everything works OK in the iPhone app but there are many features that are missing between the app and the site. This is a given since you would not expect an iPhone app to provide every single feature or capability of the web site, but the things I find broken trouble me.

Some examples are:

When I create a task with a future start date. I add the Star and choose to hide future task. This allows the task to show up with a Star on the start day and showing up on my Starred list.

On the iPhone app the future task are also hidden but the number of task with stars reflects all the task that are hidden as well as visible. This is frustrating because I can't tell by looking at my iPhone app, how many task I have to get done on that day.

Projects are a mess on the iPhone app, forcing you to scroll too many times to the right and then you have to dig for the sub-task information.

Custom search is not available on the iPhone app which is one of the most used features I have on the site. This allows me to do some serious filtering of my task which I can't see on the iPhone.

Some inconsistent behavior is also found in the iPhone app.

I can go on, but my point is this. The iPhone app works but has a lot of missing features that prevent it from being as useful as it could be.

It seems that everything I would want on the home page from a GTD perspective is buried under the many options you must choose.

I hate drilling down into folders to access my list. Todo shows your folders as list on the home page which is very nice.

I hate drilling down to my due date section just to see what is due today. This should be on the home page.

The Hotlist is basically useless.

Projects are difficult to manage and work with.

Overall I can use it just fine, but I made it a habit to do only certain things with the iPhone app in order to live with it entirely.
Greg

Posted: Dec 18, 2009
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Has anyone tried the "Action Lists" app for the iphone that integrates with Toodledo.com?
Proximo

Posted: Dec 21, 2009
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@Greg,

I have not tried "Action Lists"

Would like to hear of someone who has and get a mini review if possible.
cjuzda

Posted: Dec 23, 2009
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Proximo - It's interesting ot read your views on the iphone app, I (and there are others) prefer the iphone app to the web app. Nothing's perfect but the iphone app performs very well on that platform.

Why do you think the Hotlist is useless? If one of your complaints is that you can't see your Due Today items, you could set the Hotlist to show only Due Today items (Plus Top priority, which is easy to filter out mentally or just forgo). Even so, I don't think 2 taps with your finger instead of 1 tap really constitutes a tough "drill down". You could always set Due Dates as your start up screen as well. Naturally there is always room for improvement but you very seldom see an iphone app that closely resembles a fairly complex desktop app and is still usable. I think the 2 complement each other quite nicely.
Maximillia007

Posted: Dec 23, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
Can anyone offer a suggestion to sync Outlook tasks to iPhone tasks using GTD principles? My current path is Outlook to Toodledo to iPhone. The Toodledo to iPhone leg syncs well; the Outlook to Toodledo leg not so well.

I have to admit, I am relatively new to GTD. I can't believe it has taken me this long to start using this excellent work flow for handling tasks!

Much like Proximo, I recently purchased an iPhone which I love. My goal is to be able to sync my Outlook tasks with my iPhone tasks. Since my company does not support iPhones, I am trying it on my own.

I have been experimenting with both WebIS Pocket Informant and Appigo ToDo. Both have some really nice features, but Pocket Informant seems to have features I like better linked to GTD such as a simple selection from home screen to review the Projects list, a Context selection, etc. (it's features map very well to OmniFocus). Pocket Informant seems to sync with little issue to Toodledo.

I have also been experimenting with the NetCentric Getting Things Done Outlook Add-In. Since the majority of my "stuff" comes in from Outlook email, this add-in really seems to help me manage the hundreds of emails I get with the associated action items.

I have downloaded the Chromatic Dragon Toodledo Sync Application to sync Outlook tasks to Toodledo. The mappings in this allow "Map Outlook Categories to Toodledo Folders" or "Map Outlook Categories to Toodledo Contexts". The NetCentric add-in uses the Outlook Categories for the Context. It sets projects up as sub-tasks. Therefore, I chose "Map Outlook Categories to Toodledo Contexts" which works fine. However, there is no link to the Projects.

Has anyone tried to sync Outlook set up for GTD to a GTD iPhone app?


This message was edited Dec 23, 2009.
Aiyash

Posted: Jan 17, 2010
Score: 0 Reference
Extremely interested in responses to last post. I have netcentrics add-in and toodledo on iPhone, the project/context/folder issue is confusing me too.

Searched endlessly on net but can't find a defacto way of configuring it, could anyone spare the time to walk me/us through this please? Or is there simply no working solution at this time?
Proximo

Posted: Jan 18, 2010
Score: 0 Reference
Posted by cjuzda:
Proximo - It's interesting ot read your views on the iphone app, I (and there are others) prefer the iphone app to the web app. Nothing's perfect but the iphone app performs very well on that platform.

Why do you think the Hotlist is useless? If one of your complaints is that you can't see your Due Today items, you could set the Hotlist to show only Due Today items (Plus Top priority, which is easy to filter out mentally or just forgo). Even so, I don't think 2 taps with your finger instead of 1 tap really constitutes a tough "drill down". You could always set Due Dates as your start up screen as well. Naturally there is always room for improvement but you very seldom see an iphone app that closely resembles a fairly complex desktop app and is still usable. I think the 2 complement each other quite nicely.


@cjuzda,

I agree that you can't expect an iPhone app to be organized the same way as a full blow Web Application. My only problem with the "Hot List" is that Toodledo does not offer enough triggers to customize what I feel is Hot. I would love to have Stared task on there for example.

Because of this I don't use Hot List, but my overall complaint goes way beyond this issue. The layout of the iPhone app simply has to many areas where you have to drill down to get where you want to be.

Clicking on a Project, I must scroll down and click again to see the sub-task or steps required for the project. I should be able to click on a Project and see the steps immediately, front and center.

Same goes with the details.

I still agree with you on the difference between an iPhone app when compared to the site, but I would like to see some Ease of Use changes to the UI.
Mallozzi

Posted: Jan 18, 2010
Score: 0 Reference
Appigo ToDo does projects much better - it basically adds it's own container. It's frustrating me though that I have to use 2-3 applications on the iPhone to work efficiently.

This message was edited Jan 18, 2010.
davidholliday

Posted: Jan 18, 2010
Score: 0 Reference
Yes, Appigo Todo does do projects better. I also much
prefer the general UI to the Toodledo app.

The killer for me with Appigo is that it doesn't sync either the
star or status fields from Toodledo website.

Frustrating how so many systems come close to being really good, but never get that last bit!
cjuzda

Posted: Jan 18, 2010
Score: 0 Reference
I agree that more customization of the Hotlist would be very nice to have. For example, I would like to be able to remove the Top Priority category items from the Hotlist (as an option). As far as projects go, to me the drill down is not a big problem for me but I can understand your point - With iphone apps, it's always a trade off between ease of use in terms of having enough empty space on the screen to easily select items with a big fat finger vs getting more information on the screen. Maybe the new islate will be the answer!

Chris

Posted by Proximo:
Posted by cjuzda:
Proximo - It's interesting ot read your views on the iphone app, I (and there are others) prefer the iphone app to the web app. Nothing's perfect but the iphone app performs very well on that platform.

Why do you think the Hotlist is useless? If one of your complaints is that you can't see your Due Today items, you could set the Hotlist to show only Due Today items (Plus Top priority, which is easy to filter out mentally or just forgo). Even so, I don't think 2 taps with your finger instead of 1 tap really constitutes a tough "drill down". You could always set Due Dates as your start up screen as well. Naturally there is always room for improvement but you very seldom see an iphone app that closely resembles a fairly complex desktop app and is still usable. I think the 2 complement each other quite nicely.


@cjuzda,

I agree that you can't expect an iPhone app to be organized the same way as a full blow Web Application. My only problem with the "Hot List" is that Toodledo does not offer enough triggers to customize what I feel is Hot. I would love to have Stared task on there for example.

Because of this I don't use Hot List, but my overall complaint goes way beyond this issue. The layout of the iPhone app simply has to many areas where you have to drill down to get where you want to be.

Clicking on a Project, I must scroll down and click again to see the sub-task or steps required for the project. I should be able to click on a Project and see the steps immediately, front and center.

Same goes with the details.

I still agree with you on the difference between an iPhone app when compared to the site, but I would like to see some Ease of Use changes to the UI.
Proximo

Posted: Jan 19, 2010
Score: 0 Reference
@cjuzda,

I would love to see something done on the iSlate or whatever Apple comes out with if anything at all. :-)

Nothing like hoping on a gadget that is not official yet.

The only problem I see is that Toodledo, as great as it is, will never be a true GTD solution because it's open design prevents it from doing many things better.

Toodledo will continue to be a highly customizable productivity app that can work for many people, but those looking for something simpler and work with the GTD Method would always be left disappointed.
PeterW 

Posted: Jan 25, 2010
Score: 0 Reference
Posted by Proximo:
It seems that everything I would want on the home page from a GTD perspective is buried under the many options you must choose.

I hate drilling down into folders to access my list. Todo shows your folders as list on the home page which is very nice.


Hi Proximo,

I've been using Appigo Todo for a few months but just purchased Toodledo for iPhone to compare.

You can set the Start Page setting so that it opens the Folders list when the app is launched. This makes it look like Appigo's opening screen.

Nonetheless I still prefer Appigo's interface and way of working. I find the lists in Toodledo somewhat difficult to read.

Cheers,
Peter.
Dave

Posted: Feb 01, 2010
Score: 0 Reference
I am receiving my first Ipod Touch tomorrow and looking forward to having Toodledo on it. I have heard great things about Todo but was wondering if anyone here has used Pocket Informant by Webis? I have been using PI on WinMo for a long time now and my wife uses PI on her Blackberry. Anyone able to offer a comparison between Todo and PI? Thanks
davidholliday

Posted: Feb 01, 2010
Score: 0 Reference
@Dave, I have Pocket Informant on my iPhone and I use it all the time instead of the default calendar.

I don't use it for my tasks because the current version doesn't support sub-tasks. When I sync with Toodledo, where I use sub-tasks a lot, the result is a mess.

The good news is that the next version of PI is supposed to bring sub-task support. No word on when this will be ready.
Dave

Posted: Feb 01, 2010
Score: 0 Reference
@davidholliday Gotcha, that makes sense. What are you currently using for your tasks then?
PeterW 

Posted: Feb 01, 2010
Score: 0 Reference
I have used PI on a WM device in the past. From what I can see, the iPhone version is not as feature rich yet and the show-stopper for me is that it does not sync with Exchange or the default calendar (apparently Apple doesn't allow the latter yet).
David

Posted: Feb 02, 2010
Score: 0 Reference
I use PI AND the TD app. I usually add new tasks on TD (it's a bit faster) and use PI to see everything for the day. Plus, getting a matching badge count helps me make sure everything is synced and up to date.

Although I'm a pro user, I'm putting sub-tasks in the notes section (online). I haven't found the best way to identity next actions with sub-task so I use this for now. In both apps, sub-tasks were a mess so until these update, this is the best solution for me. (I work in front of the computer mostly.)

It does require me to review projects more often and more carefully, to identity NA's, which I then either star or make into their own tasks.

David (seem to be a lot of Davids here!)


This message was edited Feb 02, 2010.
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