TiPb takes a look at the top 5 best iPhone and iPad apps to help you succeed with your New Year’s resolutions in fitness, finances, organization, dieting, and kicking a bad habit.

2012 is the year you’re going lose weight, get in shape, get your finances in order, quit smoking, and organize your life – and your iPhone and iPad apps are going to help you with your success! There are a plethora of apps out there to choose from, however, so we’ve gathered up a few of our favorites to help you with your New Year’s resolutions.

Weightbot

This Tapbots gem is an oldie, but a goodie. With Weightbot, you can set your weight goal, record your weight, view your BMI, and see your progress on a beautiful graph. The UI is gorgeous and true to Tapbots style and makes use of nice sounds and clicks as you navigate through the app. Tracking your weight is always a chore, but Weightbot will at least turn the actual act of entering your weight a pleasure. Whether you’re happy with with the numbers you’re entering or not – well, that’s up to you.

• $1.99 – App Store link

See also:

• P90X: $4.99 for iPhone – App Store link
• Nike Training Club: Free for iPhone – App Store link

SilverWiz Money

Money – you both love it and hate it. You love getting it; you love spending it, but you hate when it runs dry. This is the year to get your finances in order by setting budgets, tracking your spending, and make smart spending choices. SilverWiz Money is a great app to help in your endeavor.

With SilverWiz, you can see the status of all your accounts (checking, savings, credit cards, cash, etc) and log all of your expenses and credits. Set up reminders to get your bills paid on their due dates, and schedule automatic deposits and transfers. My favorite feature of SilverWiz Money, however, is that it can sync across multiple devices. So, if you share accounts with your spouse, you can both log your spending on your own device, but it updates on all devices. There is also an iPad version, so when it’s time to analyze your reports, you can kick back and use the larger screen.

• $0.99 for iPhone – App Store link
• $4.99 for iPad – App Store link

See also:

• Bills ~ On your table: $3.99 for iPhone – App Store link
• iXpenseIt: $1.99 for iPhone – App Store link

Evernote

Organization – something we all vow to get better at every year. Evernote is here to help. From notes to ideas to snapshots to recordings, put it all into Evernote and watch as it instantly synchronizes from your iPhone to your Mac or Windows desktop. You can also mark specific notes as favorites and text within notes is searchable. Available an an in-app purchase, the Premium Features allow you to add, sync, access, and share files (PDF, Word, Excel, PPT, and more). Get organized, today!

• Free – App Store link

See also:

• Day One (Journal/Diary): $1.99 for iPhone and iPad – App Store link
• Todo:
  • $4.99 for iPhone – App Store link
  • $4.99 for iPad – App Store link

Weight Watchers Mobile

I’m convinced that the Calendar was intentionally created so that the New Year immediately followed a slew of Holidays that make us eat too much food, drink too much booze, and make us fat. If we didn’t have the New Year to motivate us to loose the 20 pounds we gained in less than 2 months, we’d have an even bigger obesity problem. We’ve already taken a look at an app to track our weight loss, but we’re not going to be happy with those numbers without some action – the most effective being a diet change.

Weight Watchers Mobile will provide you with the latest recipes, health news, exercise info, and more. It’s also compatible with Weight Watcher’s PointsPlus program so that you can keep track while on the go. A subscription to Weight Watchers Online will give you over 31,000 food options, meals and recipes and let you see your daily remaining PointsPlus values with notifications.

• Free – App Store link

See also:

• Lose It! Free for iPhone – App Store link
• Epicurious Recipes & Shopping List: Free for iPhone and iPad – App Store link

My Stop Smoking Coach with Allen Carr

Smoking is bad – you know this, but every attempt to quit has ended with you giving up. But this year, you’ll have My Stop Smoking Coach with Allen Carr in your pocket to aid you in your success. The quitting process is never exciting, but this app will add a little fun to your journey with 14 innovative games designed to help you remove all illusions created by the nicotine addiction. It’s not all fun an games, though; your personal coach will give you personalized advices and tips to help you kick your bad habit once and for all.

• $2.99 – App Store link

See also:

• Quitter: Free for iPhone – App Store link
• LIVESTRONG MyQuit Coach: Free for iPhone – App Store link

Your favorite New Year’s Resolution apps?

So there you have them, our top 5 best New Year’s resolution apps for iPhone and iPad. Be sure to check out our other Top 5 picks, our Picks of the Week, and iPhone App and Games Forum for more recommendations, and if we missed any of your favorites leave them in the comments below!

There are hundreds of thousands of iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps for just about everything — so how come the one you need, the one you know just has to be there, is so hard to find? Enter TiPb’s new weekly feature where staff and readers alike sort through the App Store and help you find just the right App for That. This week, Jeremy asks:

Is there an app that would allow me, an iPhone 4 user, and my wife, an Android user, to share a task list? Help!

To see our solution for Jeremy, follow along after the break!

Wunderlist [Free - iTunes link] is a task management app that syncs between iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, and Windows. Syncing is seamless and in the cloud. If you’re concerned about security, Wunderlist has got you covered with SSL 128 bit encryption over HTTPS.

Once you sign up with a free account and download the apps onto your desired devices, you’re ready to start sharing lists – and with push notifications, you’ll never forget what you need to do.

Not only does Wunderlist have great functionality, but it looks good at the same time. You can even choose between different backgrounds to customize the app to fit your personality. Perhaps shopping is a chore, but you’ll love crossing things off your Wunderlist!

Anyone else have any App for That suggestions for Jeremy? Let him — and all of us — know in the comments.

[wunderkinder]

Having trouble finding what you need in the app store? Send us an email to iosapps@tipb.com and let us know what you’re looking for, and we’ll do our best to find you just the right App for That!

Task management apps for iPhone are released into the App Store on almost a daily basis. My iPhone is not only a device I enjoy using in my personal time, it’s instrumental in the way I conduct business and keep myself organized.

Between running my own business, contracting for a few companies, and writing for TiPb, it sometimes becomes a task to remember where I need to be or what I need to be doing. I have yet to find an app that combines all the tools I need but the mix of apps I use do a pretty good job of keeping me sane. Follow along for my top picks and to let us know what yours are as well!

Wunderlist

There are several list and task apps on the App Store and I’ve been through several of them. I recently found Wunderlist and fell in love. Not only is it dead simple and have a beautiful interface, it also allows you to share your lists with others who use the service. Myself and my partners have a shared task list for our business. If I add an event or a meeting, it automatically syncs to their iPhones and iPads as well. Wunderlist also supports push notifications. And the best part? It’s free!

[Free - iTunes Link]

Evernote

I’ve also tried several note taking apps but Evernote still remains my favorite. It’s dead simple to use and has a gorgeous interface. I use it frequently while in meetings or for jotting down notes when I’m consulting with a client. I can e-mail my notes to the people that need them before I even step foot out of the meeting.

Evernote also allows you to add tags and different notebooks. I have tags for home, my business, travel, and everything in between. I don’t have to weed through dates and all my notes if I don’t want to. I can filter all my notes by only the tags I want to see at that exact moment. Evernote is also free but does have a paid subscription if you’d like more monthly storage space. I use Evernote quite frequently and have never ran over my free monthly allotment.

[Free - iTunes Link]

Also check out:

• Top 5 notes apps for iPhone

Due

Due is rather new to the App Store and has quickly earned a spot on the first page of my home screen. I have a bad habit of dismissing reminders and then forgetting that they went off. Due solves this problem for me. I can set repeat reminders and even if I dismiss the push notification, the app will continuously bug me at the intervals I defined until I open the app and actually mark the entry as done.

The overall interface is extremely slick and setting notifications couldn’t be easier. Some task management apps are a pain when entering tasks, but not Due. Heck, you don’t even have to set a reminder title if you don’t want to. You can also tweaks the settings to what you use most commonly. I typically set reminders for about 2 hours later so I have that as my default time. If I need to, I can change that. You can also set repeats and push the reminders back by minutes, hours, or even days in one quick tap.

[$4.99 - iTunes Link]

Droplr

There are many times that I want to share an image or a file with multiple people. This is where droplr has really come in handy. I can upload an image via the app and then e-mail the shortened link to as many people as I’d like. I can also tweet it or copy the link within the app as well. I especially love that they have a free Mac client as well. The iPhone and Mac version will also sync back and forth with each other. This is very convenient for when I’m taking pictures or screenshots on my iPhone that I need on my Mac. I don’t have to e-mail them to myself any longer. I can simply upload them via droplr and pick them up in droplr on my Mac.

[$3.99 - iTunes Link]

ToDo by Appigo

Although Wunderlist is now my daily task management app, ToDo by Appigo will never lose its spot on my iPhone. While it may not be as easy to use, it’s an extremely powerful task management app. I use it now for detailed projects that have separate deadlines and that have to be done in parts. If we are working on a web design project, I may want to set different completion dates on a project timeline. This is where ToDo really shines. I can organize a project in any way I like. I can mark individual parts of a project done and set reminders on the other parts.

ToDo is worth every penny if you need a very detail oriented task app. They’ve also just announced a Mac version with sync as well. So if that’s what you’ve been looking for, look no further.

[$4.99 - iTunes Link]

Your top task apps?

Although, there are the top five task management apps that fit my lifestyle, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t other great ones floating around out there. Be sure to check out our Picks of the Week and iPhone App and Games Forum for more recommendations, and if we missed any of your favorites, leave them in the comments below!

Every day, TiPb gets flooded with announcements for new and updated iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps and games. So every day we pick just a few of the most interesting, the most notable, and simply the most awesome to share with you!

• Place Clock: An improved and extended alternative to the built in alarm function in the iPhone. It provides all the same functions as the clock application but adds place based location alarms and extended snooze options. [$0.99 - iTunes link]

• NewsTweet Reader: Brings web feeds and Twitter mashed up in a fresh Scandinavian design. Read your favorite news feeds & blogs in style or simply follow the latest news by creating your own Twitter feeds based on keywords of interest. Now free! [Free -iTunes link]

• Pocket Legends: A ground-breaking and unique Mobile MMORPG where you will join millions of players from around the world. Cooperate to undertake wild adventures in creepy dungeons, frigid mountain peaks, and steamy swamps! [Free, with in-app purchases - iTunes link]

• iSSH – SSH / VNC Console: Now with TextExpander support in terminal, cut and paste does not interfere with pie menu, and URLs are allowed to span lines. [$9.99 - iTunes link]

• Todo: Now with compatibility with the new Todo for Mac Beta! [$4.99, iPhone -iTunes link] [$4.99, iPad - iTunes link]

Any other big apps or game releases or updates today? If you pick any of these up, let us know what you think!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

This week, we have chosen apps that will help us keep our new year’s resolutions. To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Alli’s Pick: WorldMate Gold

Stranded in NJ between Christmas and New Years, my New Year’s resolution is to never travel without WorldMate. It kept me far more informed as to gate changes and flight cancellations than my airline did, and was way more helpful in finding alternate flights, and hotel arrangements.

If you travel, WorldMate is a must. It is jampacked with essential travel aids. Email your itinerary from the airline or travel agent to your WorldMate account, and all your terminal/gate/connection details are at your fingertips. You can book a hotel right from inside the app, find out the weather at your destination or current location, calculate tips, convert currency, or book a limo. It even tells you who lives near your trip, so if you get stranded you know who to call for help. WorldMate – don’t leave home without it!

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Ally’s Pick: Evernote

If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to become more organized, Evernote is a must. I’ve been using Evernote for almost 2 years in conjunction with ToDo by Appigo. I’ve managed to stay organized and on top of things whether it’s work, development timelines, or simple things like groceries and shopping. While programs like ToDo can be used for projects and time sensitive affairs, Evernote is by far my favorite tool for free form note taking and remembering everyday things.

Evernote also has Mac and PC software you can use as well. We now keep all grocery lists and home tasks in Evernote. I use it to save pics of bar codes when I’m price shopping as well. I have over 50 tags in Evernote and I can filter my notes by tag. Chad and I are hardcore supporters of Evernote for a reason. It’s simplistic, powerful, and syncs seamlessly across many platforms.

Evernote is free but you have the option to add additional monthly storage for an additional fee as well. I’ve always done just fine with the free version.

[Free - iTunes Link]

Andrew’s pick: Weightbot

Weighbot is the perfect daily weight tracker for those looking to lose a few extra pounds for their New Years resolution! The design of the app is superb, with input mechanisms that come natural to the user and a top-notch UI scheme — something you’d expect from Tapbots, the team behind Weighbot and other iOS releases like Convertbot and Pastebot. If you’ve ever used other Tapbots apps, you’ll feel right at home when using Weightbot.

With Weightbot you can do cool things like check your BMI as you enter your weight on a daily basis or view your weight history on a graph by rotating your iPhone, and there are a ton of options. What I love best about Weightbot is the backup/restore system they have in place, where If you ever need to restore your iPhone or iPod Touch and don’t restore from a backup in iTunes, there’s no need to worry about losing any of your history. So if you’re trying to shed a few pounds for the new year — or even a few inches — then Weightbot is the app to help you achieve your goal. Go grab it now!

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

Brian’s pick: Bills ~ On Your Table

Bills ~ On Your Table is the perfect app to get your finances on the right track and keep track of all your bills for 2011. It supports all 170 currencies, supports auto payments, and has a lock to protect your information along with many other features. It is perfect for bills such as car payments, mortgages, credit cards and many more types of bills. It will help you keep track of what is due and when so you won’t miss a payment and it will help keep your credit and finances in tact!

[$3.99 - iTunes Link]

Chris O’s pick: RunKeeper Pro

At the start of every New Year, I always have “Get Fit”, top of my list of resolutions! This year I mean it and thankfully there is an app for that. RunKeeper Pro is a great app that will let you log all your running efforts and many other activities too. It is automated by utilizing your iPhone’s inbuilt GPS. The app also allows you to upload your run data to an online service where you can view your run routes and all the statistics that you could ever need. With this app I can set some goals and start my fitness resolution off on the right track in 2011. Even better, the app is free until the end of January 2011, it is usually $9.99.

[Free - iTunes-Link]

Chris V’s pick: Lose It!

Lose It! is a nice weight loss/diet tracking app that has a nice set of robust features. A nice database of foods (both restaurants and name brand food) along with a tool for inputing your own foods is included. Exercise tracking allows you to keep track of additional caloric burning. One really nice feature is that you can join up with friends to share you weight loss progress and status, since dieting and losing weight is always easier when you are doing it with someone.

Other features include a weekly log, options for choosing specific nutrients to track, adjusting your goals, even putting on recipes and creating dropping lists based on your diet choices. The app makes it just about as easy as possible – now I just need to get off my lazy ass and do it myself!

[Free - iTunes link]

Leanna’s pick: Baby Geek

One of my resolutions for the new year is to be more organized, which means it’s time to start keeping better track of my daughter’s health habits. Baby Geek will help me do just that.

Baby Geek is a universal iPhone and iPad application that helps parents keep track of when their children eat, sleep, and get their diaper changed. You can also record the weight, height, and head circumference measurements of your child and view progress charts as well as see what percentiles your baby falls into. In addition, Baby Geek has a check off list of developmental milestones and much more.

There is no way I’m disciplined enough to keep track of all this with pen and paper, but with the help of Baby Geek, my daughter’s pediatrician may finally not be a little disappointed in me at her next appointment.

Rene’s pick: Todo

I’m remarkably disorganized for someone who’s life demands so much organization. Maybe it’s a form of rebellion, maybe it’s a cry for help, maybe it’s just my desire to impose chaos on the world around me, but my usual method for getting things done is to wait for crisis than do whatever is screaming loudest for whomever is screaming loudest. But my brain is getting softer, time is going faster, and things that need doing just won’t stop needing being done. Enter Todo.

There are lots of task management apps for iPhone and iPad and I’ve tried — and neglected to use — almost all of them. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses but most of the top ones provide all the key functionality you’ll need. My resolution is to pick one and use it. Right now Appigo’s Todo is on sale for $0.99. In a world of $10-$30 task managers, that’s a steal. (Really, I feel like I need to put a few extra bucks in an envelop and mail it to them!)

If you want to better manage your time and tasks in 2011, check it Todo.

[$0.99 on sale - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so jump into the comments and let us know which apps will help you keep your new year’s resolutions!

ToDo for iPhone by Appigo has long been one of my favorite productivity apps.  I’ve been desperately waiting to see this app updated mainly with support for local notifications.  The fact that you’d have to open the app in order to update the badge was somewhat irritating.  It’s part of the reason I switched back to Evernote.

Not only does ToDo now support local notifications, it’s been updated with complete multitasking support as well as high resolution graphics for the iPhone 4 and iPod Touch 4th gen.  It also supports password protection and adding multiple alerts for tasks.  I’ve noticed the app overall is a lot more responsive as well.

Anyone here a die hard ToDo user? And if you use something else, let us know why. This update tempting anyone to give ToDo a try for the first time?

[iTunes Link]

By now you probably know that I am big into productivity apps and I am always looking for the next big thing. I use a lot of task management apps on the iPad, and there are some great ones for sure. However, I have just come across the ultimate task management app for your iPad; OmniFocus. This is, without a doubt the best app for utilizing David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” (GTD) methodology. What makes this app stand out so much are three things: good design, Forecast and Review. But, I am probably getting ahead of myself. Let’s start at the beginning. Note, a lot of the features I am going to discuss are not unique to OmniFocus, but I think it is fair to describe them so you know what is contained in GTD and can get a better grasp for how it is used. For this review I literally rebuilt my tasks in the app form scratch except for the made-up Inbox screenshot below. I had to do that since I am already organized

Gather your stuff

Organize

On the OmiFocus sidebar located on the right of the screen in landscape or the overlap menu in portrait contains the link for creating projects. Once you tap it, you are presented with a screen that displays what projects you have. If you don’t have any, tap the plus sign in the top right. A project can have a few different types: Sequential, Parallel and Single. Sequential means that the project you are about to start follows the typical finish-start task relationship in project management. So, back to my previous painting the house example, you must finish buying the paint before you start to paint the house. Parallel means that the tasks do not have to have a specific order. For example, I have bills due this month, it doesn’t matter when I pay them as long as they are paid by the 30th. Last we have Single. Single is used if there really is a single task to your project, or, how  I use it, a general grouping of unrelated tasks that fall under a bigger more general umbrella like “Personal” or “Work”. Hmm, let’s talk about those bigger umbrellas now.

Once you have projects outlined you can group them together into logical areas of your life. Tap the plus button in the top left and choose folder. Some examples of my folders include: Personal, TiPb and a couple of work-related folders- that’s it. Every project, every task in my life can be put into projects within these folders.

Now, to maximize your time completing tasks within your projects, you can use what are called Contexts. Think of a context as a way to virtually group your tasks into a place or method of communicating. For example, I have an errands context I assign to tasks that I need to do while I am out shopping. I have an email context for when, if I am doing email, I can get those specific tasks completed and so on. But what is the best part about contexts in OmniFocus? You can create location- based contexts! For example, I create a location context for Starbucks (where I do most of my writing). I assign that context to tasks I need to get done when I am at Starbucks. When I arrive, I tap on that context and using the iPad’s location services, it finds my location and tell me relevant tasks that I have selected that need to be done in this location. Another example might be creating a context for different office locations at work. I need to speak to certain people at a location. I assign that location context to a task and OmniFocus only shows me contexts for that location.

At this point things might start to sound a little overwhelming. I mean, you have a billion tasks with a million projects, even with contexts and due dates, how do you keep it all in order? That is where OmniFocus really shines. Where other task management apps end, the power of OmniFocus really shows it’s stuff.

First, you can filter your projects and tasks by seeing only what is the very next action (task) in each project to be completed, see what tasks are available across projects (even items that are on Hold, more on that in a minute), what active tasks are remaining and all of your tasks. You can easily focus on specific projects by tapping and holding on the title. It magically makes the other projects go away so you can focus on the project or task at hand. Using the same method, you can quickly expand all or collapse all to make viewing even easier.

Forecast and Reviews

Review allows you to literally review your projects on a weekly basis. You can change this interval to another time, but I think one week works well. This is so incredibly useful. It acts like a reminder, but without nagging. You can review your project, add tasks, adjust due dates and more knowing that in a week, it will be time to review these projects again. Of course this is something you should be doing anyway, but building it into the app was pure genius.  You can do more than just marking  a project complete. You can change the status of the project to Active (which is the default), On Hold (if you don’t know when you will complete it or need more information), Completed (Yeah, it’s done. Think if it like you are archiving the completed project) and Dropped (Canceled).

Syncing and conclusion

I did not cover every aspect of OmniFocus here (yes, there is more…) but I think you have a good indication of what it does and how well it does it. Oh, and did I mention it’s pretty with a cool app icon? Those are great bonuses, but this is clearly leaps and bounds ahead of what else is out there and our patience for this app release has truly been rewarded; thanks OmniFocus. It would be nice if there was a lite version of this app as the $39.99 price might be too steep from some. However, if you use the GTD methodology, then you are probably already hooked.

[$39.99- iTunes Link]

Pros

• Beautiful, intuitive design
• Workflow to add tasks is painless
• Multiple organization options
• Different sync options

Cons

• Expensive
• No way to sync to the web via a website (like Toodledo)
• No lite version is available for users to try before buying

Boyd Timothy and Calvin Gaisford from Appigo show off Todo on the iPad, its features and how using the iPad is different from using the iPhone. And, of course, tell TiPb what they think of iOS 4 and iPhone 4.

(It’s possible they like it a lot.)

Video after the break!

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Steve Jobs offers a world of freedom, on cycles and hidden meanings, Walmart getting iPad, MobileMe mail beta, Adobe hearts Apple, top 5 iPad cases, Fieldrunners, Todo vs. Things, Plants vs. Zombies, and more. Listen in!

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Appigo has just released Todo for iPad, and like Apple themselves, they’ve used the larger canvas for a more real-world inspired interface. Binders, pages, and pockets, oh my! For fans of Appigo Todo for iPhone, rest assured all your favorite features are here, they’re just bigger than ever before. Appigo Todo for iPad currently on sale for $4.99 so if you’ve been waiting for it, jump on it now. [iTunes link]

All the features come fully loaded:

• Sync with iCal (Wi-Fi required)
• Sync with Outlook (Wi-Fi and Outlook 2003 or newer required)
• Sync with Toodledo.com
• Task reminder alerts (Wi-Fi or cellular data network required)
• Projects and Checklists (subtasks)
• Full Landscape Support
• Notes on tasks with clickable phone numbers and URLs
• Manage multiple tasks at once with multi-select
• Full Calendar View for choosing Due Dates
• Drag and Drop sorting
• Contact, Email, SMS, Phone integration
• Full Task Searching including notes
• GTD support with Contexts and Tags
• Repeating Tasks
• Quick Add Task Entry
• Task Sharing via Email (Import back into Todo)
• Customizable App Badge
• TextExpander touch snippet expansion support (SmileOnMyMac, LLC)

The great folks at Appigo have also been kind enough to give us a couple promo codes to pass on to you, so if you want in, leave a comment below telling us what’s on top of your iPad to do list. Make sure to use a real email address, it won’t be made public but we’ll need it to send you a promo code. Also, promo codes still require a US iTunes account (Apple’s rules, not ours).

More screenshots after the break!

Live from Macworld 2010, Leanna and Rene talk with Calvin Gaisford and Boyd Timothy of Appigo about Todo [$9.99 - iTunes link] for the iPhone, and their plans for the iPad.

Watch along and let us know what you think!

UPDATE: The awesome folks at Appigo were kind enough to pass along ten (10) Todo promo codes for our TiPb readers. If you want one, just jump over to the TiPb App Forums and let us know what features you’d like to see in the next version of Todo — for iPhone or iPad!

Note: Promo Codes can only be redeemed in the US App Store (Apple’s rule, not ours). They also expire, so if you get one, redeem it ASAP! Contest starts now and ends Wednesday, March 3 at 12pm PST. Good luck!

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

Over the last few weeks, one of our all-star forum reviewers, msbaylor, has been putting a massive amount of iPhone To-Do apps through their paces: Things, Appigo’s ToDo, Toodledo, Done, Zenbe Lists, Ultimate ToDos, and Firetask. Well now he’s to-done, and you can check out his colossal review roundup on our forums (along with screenshots and videos aplenty!)

On behalf of everyone seeking that holy grail of To-Do nirvana, we can’t thank Matt enough for going to all this trouble. Here’s what he wanted, but read it quick so you can get to the good stuff!

• Sync (not at additional cost)
• Sleek/non-confusing interface
• sub-tasks
• due-date
• priority

This is really exciting news for anyone looking for this type of syncing. Personally, I have moved beyond Apple’s todo’s and use Toodledo for my task purposes and Appigo’s Todo just happens to do over-the-air syncing for free with that site; even on EDGE. However, if you still use iCal’s todo feature, this just might be your killer app!

If you are a Windows user, Appigo says they are working on a Windows/Outlook syncing tool as well.

(Via TUAW)

Recently our friends at sister site TreoCentral pointed us to this snippet: Apple was seriously interested in purchasing Palm back in 1997.  This is interesting for all sorts of reasons, but chief amongst them for me is this: Had the deal gone through, we might have seen the iPhone not only come to market earlier, but possibly seen it prevent other smartphone manufacturers (like RIM) from being able to compete.  It’s an interesting ‘what could have been’ scenario: just as Apple was killing off their Newton line, it would pick up the Palm Pilot and add functionality to it at presumably a more rapid pace than Palm did.

It’s also notable that even back in 1997, the powers-that-be in Apple recognized that they would need to transition from a strictly-computer company to a consumer products company:

A perhaps little known fact: in the Summer of 1997, Steve Jobs called Eric Benhamou, 3Com’s CEO (the company owned Palm). “Give me the Palm and come and join my Board of Directors. Only Apple can make Palm a true consumer brand.” Nothing happened. Apple’s foray into the product segment had to wait ten more years.

Of course, neither Apple nor Palm were in a position to really get things moving quickly at that time.  Palm would have to wait until their first (of many) convoluted ownership shakeups sorted itself out and Apple itself was still in the midst of redefining itself for the Steve Jobs era. The parallels between Palm now and Apple then are also fun to think about — both in dire need of a turnaround, both written off by much of the industry, and both have/had Jon Rubinstein playing a key role in revitalizing hardware.

I could go on and on playing “What If?” but instead there’s something else that this little snippet brings to mind: Palm got something right with the original Palm Pilot way back in 1997 and I really wish Apple would take a closer look at that 1997 tech.

Read on to find out what Palm got right way back in the mid to late 90s.

Pitting the PalmPilot against the Newton was (and is) an interesting exercise. The Newton clearly had aims to become the next major computing platform (the iPhone has similar aims and better chances), it was powerful, networked, and generally ambitious. The PalmPilot: it had aims to replace your organizer and that’s about it. It was a simpler device because Palm recognized that it would need to be pocketable and (relatively) inexpensive.

Back then, at least, the PalmPilot won out — and one lesson that Apple clearly took from that was the simplicity and pocketability trump power in handheld devices. That’s not to say that the iPhone isn’t powerful (it is), but Apple has taken a strategy of unveiling that power bit-by-bit as they’re ready to do so. First and foremost, Apple focused on nailing down the core functionality and a consistent UI.

The PalmPilot was a compelling device for many many people for several years (and continues to be some a smaller group). In the form the the PalmOS Treo and the Central, the PalmOS continues to be a useful, though simple, OS for millions. What about the PalmOS was so compelling then and remains compelling now. I could point to a few things, but for most I think it was simply the ability to create and sync the “Four Pillars of PIM.”

The what now? The Four Pillars of PIM are the 4 applications that were given separate buttons on the original PalmPilot. They were the essential core things you would want to do with a pocket organizer. You’d want to be able to enter data both on your computer and on the device itself and have that data seamlessly sync. The Four Pillars of PIM:

• Calendar
• Contacts
• Memos
• ToDo

On all of these applications on the PalmOS, you can create new entries incredibly quickly and you can enter your data on the desktop and sync it over. You can probably tell where I’m going with this, but I’ll come out and say it anyway: the iPhone only gets 2 of the four. Contacts and Calendar sync seamlessly (and now wirelessly!), but Notes on the iPhone lives in its own little world and ToDo/Tasks is nowhere to be seen.

Now, I understand that both of these gaps can be filled with 3rd party applications on the iPhone, but those apps require you to sign up for some 3rd party’s website and then further find ways to sync or access your data there. What should happen is that these last two Pillars should sync over — either through iTunes, Exchange, or MobileMe. Exchange, you might note, fully supports syncing both ToDo and Memos. It does so with Windows Mobile, in fact, just fine.

What’s especially frustrating is that there have been signs that we’d see support for these features. Over a year ago we reported on a warning error that popped up in Mail’s Notes feature. Here, take a gander for yourself:

“Rich text notes may not be editable on iPhone and other devices.” If you are using a Mac with 10.5, you can go create that error yourself right now.

What’s more, when Apple updated OS X’s Mail.app client back then they not only added notes but they also integrated ToDos. Whereas previously they had only lived in the Calendar Application, now they were in Mail. In short, Apple seemed to be setting up Mail.app to have similar functionality to Microsoft’s Exchange email client. The implication was that they’d be able to sync all four Pillars of PIM on both platforms. The reality is that something is keeping Apple from finishing off these features that they clearly have started.

I wish I could say I knew what’s stopping them. I suspect that Apple’s more concerned with other issues (like getting push notifications worked out) that they believe are more important than Notes and ToDo.

I’m happy that in addition to the Four Pillars of PIM our devices now have other, equally essential features like Push Email, SMS, Web browsing, and Telephony (the Four Pillars of COM, if you will). I’m equally happy that syncing PIM information is moving to wireless push instead of tethering and manually syncing. All this pleases me and overall we’re obviously much much better off now than we were a decade ago. Still…

People used to talk about the “Zen of Palm.” It was 1 part minimizing taps, 1 part removing features that weren’t necessary, 1 part speed, 1 part intuitive UI, and, well, a lot more. Nowadays people refer to “iPhone-Likeness” in a very similar way. But part of the “Zen of Palm” is that they recognized what the four most important organizer functions were and made those functions seamless, easy, and immediate. Having to sort though 3rd party apps, pick one, then try to re-work your current set of notes and ToDos to fit with some new system is definitely not “iPhone-Like.” It’s janky, and Apple needs to fix it ASAP.

In other words, yes, I’m already looking forward to iPhone OS 2.3.

One last bit: the PalmPilot also had a feature that’s sorely lacking on the iPhone and, in fact, on most non-PalmOS devices: decent device-wide search capabilities. One field that searched through the databases of every core app and many 3rd party apps. If the PalmPilot was able to do this, you’d like to think the iPhone could.