App Review: toodleTasks HD 35
Task management has been a core functionality baked into Palm’s DNA since it's humble beginnings in the early nineties. Certainly for the average Mobile Accomplisher, having some method of organizing a list of to-do items is a must-have feature, arguably as important as calendar, contacts, and e-mail. With the advent of webOS back in 2009, there were definitely a few jeers at the performance of the built-in task manager, but if nothing else, at least it was there. Fast forward to July 1st and the launch of webOS 3.0 on the TouchPad, and even a bare-bones application for managing tasks was nowhere to be found. Fortunately for those of us looking to add a webOS tablet into their daily workflow, an effective remedy quickly became available thanks to the efforts of Prodisoft in creating toodleTasks.
toodleTasks, as the name implies, is a full-featured task management app that synchronizes with Toodledo, a free, web-based task management solution. Just enter your login information for Toodledo into toodleTasks and all your to-do items are pulled down from the cloud.
One of the best things about toodleTasks is it's implementation of the TouchPad's sliding panes paradigm to help you view your tasks in different ways. The leftmost column gives you an extensive array of organizational options, from stratifying by basic methods like folder, priority and due date, to more unique methods like goal, location, and status. The middle column gives you fast access to your list of tasks, with further subfiltering options. For example, you can choose to view your overdue tasks globally from the left pane, then subfilter your tasks in the middle pane by priority. It’s an incredibly powerful tool for analyzing your to-do list, and it’s very accessible thanks to the efficient use of the TouchPad’s ample screen real-estate. Rounding out the 3 pane arrangement is the Task Details panel on the right-hand side. This lets you view detail for any single task, including it’s folder, due date, priority, status, and notes.
toodleTasks has a powerful set of tools for searching and acting on tasks as well. Arranged along the bottom of each pane are somewhat cryptic buttons that allow you to edit tags, add tasks, refresh your view, add an additional level of filtration (e.g., overdue tasks, sorted by priority, for just one folder), mark complete, star, adjust due date, delete, or edit. Conveniently, toodleTasks also allows for multi-select and task searching from within the app, and task addition through Quick Actions so you can be more efficient about getting things done. It takes a little playing around to figure out how to use all the buttons at the bottom, but once you get the hang of it, it’s fairly straightforward.
While toodleTasks is certainly not lacking in terms of features, there are definitely some rough edges within the app. At times there is some lag when trying to check tasks off, and there’s no simple way (like a column of checkboxes in the middle) to quickly go through and mark off tasks as completed one-by-one. Also, as of this writing some features don’t yet work correctly. For example, the upper-right checkbox for marking a task complete isn’t functioning, although tasks can still be checked off using a button on the bottom of the right panel. Fortunately, when I ran into a problem early-on with the app, the developer was quick to respond and very interested in getting user feedback on how to make it function better.
So at the end of the day, even with the arguably minor shortcomings I’ve listed, toodleTasks remains a powerful task management tool. It’s wonderful to see something of this caliber available for the TouchPad right after launch, especially given the lack of a native solution out of the box. If you’re already invested in Toodledo for task management, toodleTasks will probably be a no-brainer to add to your workflow. Even if you’re not, it’s robust set of features and excellent design make it an app worth the $4.99 pricetag. Toodletasks is available now in the app catalog. Check it out and see if it doesn’t help get the job done for you as well.
35 Comments
Guys, your news/articles on the TouchPad are nice, but have you considered starting up a touchpadcentral website? I'm here for Pre news/articles (not much lately), don't own a TouchPad nor have plans to do so, so this information is of no use to me.
Toodledo works great on the Pre. I use it and very much like it. ToDo list are often much more useful than a calendar entry. I want to here about everything to do with webos. I guess they should have called webos central.
fair point! although if you remember that there are as many webos fans that are as eager for every scrap of touchpad news as others (and perhaps you) are for pre-related news, you can probably understand why precentral do this.
personally i'm keen for news on both, so while the touchpad is fresh and new i'm happy to continue to get this much touchpad news :)
if it were at the expense of pre news, though, i might feel differently...
There's no Pre news anyway. We probably won't have any Pre news until November/December.
The only pre related news will be Sprint/Pre just to get people more frustrated.
People really will complain about anything on this website any more.
If an article doesn't apply to you don't read it. Until a few weeks ago I didn't have WebOS 2.x so I didn't read the 2.x specific articles and tips.... this is called being a grown up.
Wise, wise words. Wish this maturity was MORE common.
My posting was a suggestion, not a complaint. Based on your childish reply, it sounds like you're the one who needs to grow up. Please feel free to chime in again after your testicles have fully descended.
LOL.
Not sure where I was being childish. Sorry that the incessant complaining around here has gotten hard to distinguish. Since you were posting on an article about something you say have no desire reading, I feel my post was valid.
I will give you 2 pieces of advice though. If you want to make a suggestion (as you called it), top right hand corner of the front page has a "Tip Us" link that will allow you to give site feedback. If that doesn't work for you and you would like to start a discussion about them possibly separating front page content, there is also a site feedback subforum in the forums.
I hope this was helpful and allows you to have your suggestion seen by those that make the decisions around here.
Now THAT was a mature, intelligent response - thank you.
Its ok to have a comment or suggestion but you are kind of crossing the boundary with your language.
I think Precentral is just an outdated name, and it really is more like webOSCentral. Instead, maybe they should have at least 3 twitter accounts, @PreCentral, @webOSCentral, @TouchPadCentral. Then follow whatever you care for.
Unfortunately, HP already has a website hpweboscentral.com that hosts retail webOS training, so that particular path is most likely a non-starter.
Still need one that syncs with Outlook - I can't divorce tasks from my corporate email/calendar environment like this. If they'd add that, it would be killer.
I too am still waiting on an Exchange Solution for task syncing. I will continue to use my Pre² until this is implemented on the tPad in a way such that I will not have to duplicate my tasks by hand.
You can download the MS Outlook Toodledo sync tool here: http://downloads.chromadrake.com/ToodledoSync_1_01_10.msi
Have they not updated Chapura's PocketMirror? I'm still on WebOS 1.4.5, but it works fine here.
Actually Toodledo has a free addin for Microsoft Outlook that syncs tasks both ways. So download the addin from Toodledo for your computer and then download toodleTasks for your touchpad and you'll be sync'd in MS Outlook, in the cloud, and on your Touchpad. It works beautifully.
ToodleTasks shows potential but for me the premier app that syncs with ToodleDo is Done! from Tiger Country. Done! is not an Enyo app yet but it has been modified for full screen on the TPad.
Yes! I have Done! on my Pre and on my TouchPad. So all my mobile devices are PERFECTLY in sync with the web app on my Desktop :)
I'm quite sure an Enyo version of Done! is in the making. Am I right?
This facination of having everything on the cloud is killing me. It's a nice feature to have, but to outright kill the ability to keep ones information personal, private and protected to a sense, is driving me crazy. As much as it seems we are moving forward, it's like we're moving backwards at the same time. I kind of want to go back to the days when I was responsible for my own information and in order for someone to get it, they had to personally violate my space and physically take it from me. With all of the cybercrime going on, who in there right mind wants anyone to have access to their data, I mean, nothing is private anymore.
It wouldn't be so bad if someone at least made it an option, like some of the third party utilities we have on Webos to do Outlook syncing. Matter of fact, that's one of the only things that keeps me on this platform and not going back to my TouchPro 2. I looked into Android and WinPho7 but I didn't like the options with syncing there either. The only other option, as much as I don't want to say it is the Iphone. As much as some people say they don't want to be tethered to itunes, it sorta reminds me of the old Palm desktop which was incredible for PIM. Actually, everything about the old Palm version of protecting your data was unique and far beyond anything anyone had on mobile devices even today. What other platform had the ability to hide certain contacts and not allow them to be seen unless you knew the pin. I mean, there were many other things but that is the one feature i remembered offhand. It's almost like Apple took the desktop sync solution from palm and told them they couldn't use it anymore. Even Active sync, which sometimes had it's own problems, worked really well with keeping information private between just your devices.
I'm done, just had to vent. Maybe i should post this as a thread in the forums and see how much feedback i'll get....LOL!!!
What do you mean nothing is private.I don't even know who you are and I could care less about your information. My information is protected enough for me, I am not storing missile launch codes. I just do not need a huge amount of security for my to do list, maintenance list and customer request list. If you do hack it please go and take care of some of the things on the list, in fact don't hack it I will openly send you all my emails and to do list about 2gigs of information. I use the cloud to make my life a little easier and I do this without fear. If data is important to me I will back it up locally and on the internet. What I am saying is no one cares about my data. That does not mean I am going to post my credit card information openly on the internet. Your ego is getting the better part of you if you think anyone cares about your to do list. I mean unless you are someone famous or important and in that case I retract the ego statement.
In fact, there is an entity that cares: Google. If you read the fine print on any of the Terms and Conditions for Google services, they are scanning, perusing, dissecting and cataloguing every morsel of your persona so they can charge bigger bucks for advertisers to target you quite precisely. All your gmail, your gTasks, web searches, translations, calendar items, the news you read, the videos you watch, items you buy through Google Shopping, where you go with your Google-enabled phone (how do you think they provide the Traffic readings on Google Maps?), what you house looks like, what web traffic they picked up from your router while photographing your house, etc, etc.
The sad thing? Like you, I continue to relinquish my privacy because their services are so dang good, I can't picture life without them. What have we done? (steps down from soapbox...whew!)
@Kinard
I don't know where my ego fits into what I was saying at all, nor do I understand your comment about needing to be famous or important to have a need to keep information private. I believe no individual is more important than another but that's besides the point.
I, like a lot of business users, especially in IT, use there smartphones much like PDA's back in the day. Everyday I write notes, memos and create tasks for basic functions that I may have to perform when away from my computer. Usually those notes are input into Outlook and then synced to my device prior to going to an offsite location. At times there's a need to write notes in your portable device that includes secure info, whether it be account numbers, serial/license numbers, passwords..etc. I don't believe, that info should be on the cloud. Maybe that should have been noted in my previous post but I thought thats what I was inferring to.
I will say, upon further reading the other comments. I'm glad there is an option that allows some sort of local sync and will look into this as another solution to install on my phone.
Bo -- feel free to reach out via the forums or PM if you have any questions or concerns re: PIM sync. There are a bunch of us out there (most of us are PalmOS converts) running WebOS who have found working solutions for lots of different PIM scenarios.
@alacrify @LA6507
Agree native sync with Exchange would be nice, but there is a workaround using Toodledo as a proxy.
1. Setup Toodledo account on web (using any email account, doesn't need to be Exchange).
2. Download "chromatic dragon" Toodledo sync tool onto your PC where you have Outlook installed. Enter your Toodledo account details. You are now sync'ing between your Outlook (note, the PC client, not the Exchange server) to Toodledo.
3. Then install toodleTasks HD onto your TouchPad and enter your Toodledo account details again. Now sync'ing between your TouchPad and Toodledo.
It's a bit of a kludge, but it works. I've been using it for a while on my Pre2 with Done!, and I bought toodleTasks HD yesterday and that appears to be working also.
Good luck.
Intersting that their web site has no mention of a WebOs or touchpad version, unless I am missing it.
Did you visit http://www.prodisoft.ch? There are screenshots of the app as well as a description of its functionality.
Bo -- you're not alone. Honestly, if it wasn't for Chapura Pocket Mirror on WebOS, I would still be using my Palm T|X.
For now, I've reluctantly 'given up' on my principles to some extent and use Google Calendar for some of my data.
As I see it, the last vanguard of 'Business-PIM' left in the industry is RIM -- which isn't saying much as their implementation was pretty junior compared to Palm OS / Hotsync.
----
That said -- Cloud, local or otherwise, I still see there being a real need to have bi-directional sync between a handheld and desktop for all four PIM functions (Calendar, Tasks, Contacts & Notes). For example:
WebOS -- Cloud -- Outlook
This should be doable with or without MS Exchange.
On that note, it's good to hear Toodledo has an Outlook Sync client, but, unless I'm mistaken, it's days are numbered:
"The ToodledoSync application is no being longer supported. Please consider the following alternative products: ..." ( http://www.chromadrake.com/ChromaticDragon/Default.aspx )
Sorry HP: I've tried to justify a Touchpad (it looks like a fun toy), but, I just can't:
- Won't run all my PIM data in a synchronized fastion with Outlook (ie: through the cloud, via Chapura or otherwise)
- Won't let me preview my Digital photos via SD Card
- Won't let me read eBooks yet (I live in Canada)
- etc.... perhaps I just don't understand the true purpose of the device?
Pity I can't use my $50 rebate against the Pre3.
There's my rant for a rainy Thursday.
Riz - thanks for paying attention to the PIM world. The product might not meet my exact needs: but, still interesting & appreciated all the same.
cmahy - glad to do it. With PIM being such an essential component of professional life on a smartphone, and historically such a strong suit of Palm's, I was surprised at the lack of a task manager whatsoever from the TouchPad. I have to say, it's definitely a tradeoff having work-related tasks on the cloud, sitting on a free task management site. I've taken some precaution in what the nature of my data in the cloud is, and try to be good about managing it's security.
That said, I'm running on Exchange for my work-related calendar/email, so I don't have the additional challenges of trying to get manage sync with a standalone desktop.
I will say that the benefits in terms of ease of use and assurance of data preservation have outweighed the costs in my book. Surely most of us have had to take a "trip to the Doctor," and watching my device repopulate so much of my info without ever having plugged in is pretty remarkable.
If you're able to migrate to a cloud-based solution like toodledo, I'd do it. Using an exchange tool to get your stuff up to toodledo and back down removes the native security benefit anyway, so once it's up there, why not go all-in?
Regarding pictures, I've had a catastrophic drive crash once. It's the worst. Since then, I've moved all my photos to Flickr on a Pro account, and I couldn't be happier. I'm not very good about deleting, so I mass upload my shots then move the best ones into different sets.
With that in mind, Flickr Mundo is an excellent TouchPad friendly tool for viewing your shots once they're up there. It's not previewing on an SD card, but with storage sizes the way they are today, perhaps there's less need to do that than there used to be?
to your other point, hopefully apps like Kindle will make their way north in time.
Thanks for commenting (everyone!).
Riz -- thanks again for the additional helpful information. I'm in one of those odd situations where my Tasks are all hosted on an Exchange server, but, I don't have an ActiveSync conduit available. From what I understand about ActiveSync -- Tasks & Notes aren't covered anyway (so, I use Pocketmirror).
I 100% agree re: the side-benefits of the cloud. When traveling, I find my Google Calendar to be much more convenient vs. my Exchange / Pocketmirror'ed one. Perhaps one of these days *somebody* will propose a true PIM-Cloud solution (Calendar, Tasks, Contacts & Notes which can be mobile-synced AND desktop synced automatically (in the background) to all standard PIM tools --> with the cloud remaining as the master copy) and I'll be happy to jump on board with both feet.
As for the photos -- the use I had in-mind was traveling with a Camera and a Touchpad (no laptop). Aside from something with an SD Reader, I have no way of viewing my pictures other than on my Camera's physical display screen. Even without a physical hardware SD reader, USB-support of an external reader would be fine by me (but, is not currently supported).
Is it just me or is there absolutely noting of interest going on with WebOS lately?
These articles are just really vanilla lately... I guess no news is bad news.
Personally, I attribute this to apathy. I know I'm enjoying P|C and the whole WebOS user-experience much less now than I did last year.
I should point-out: this is NOT a knock on the P|C Staff or the blog-posts.
Last Year:
============
-My Pre+ was current & relevant
-New Software was being developed & reviewed that I could run
-Homebrew was still fairly active for WebOS 1.4.5 then.
-etc...
Now:
====
-My Pre+ is essentially 'frozen in time'. Although I still think it's great, I no longer look forward to hearing about new Patch updates or software I might want to try --> little effort remains relevant for WebOS 1.x
-WebOS 2.x Devices are slightly better-off, but, only slightly
-Touchpad & WebOS 3.x is currently the focus.
Issue: not everyone here wants or needs a Tablet (not to mention the affordability part of it). Until the Pre3 comes out AND the whole Enyo/Pre3 morass is dealt with, there's going to be a lot of crickets chirping in WebOS land.
How right you are. It must suck to be a P|C writer for the moment. I have the Pre - and I really do like it. I wish I like Android or Iphone, but I don't.
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