Apologies for asking something slightly off-topic but has anyone with iPhone/iPod Touch come across an app that would match the sophistication of DateBk6 calendar on Palm? Actually it wouldn't even have to be as sophisticated, as long as it is able to:
- set appointments by the minute (e.g. from 9:37am to 11:52am);
- change the colour of the text and highlight the text in various colours;
- mark appointments as "done" (toggle done or strikethrough);
- provide some unobtrusive alarms for reminders;
- have icons for various categories of tasks;
I'm getting a bit tired of logging around both my Palm TX and my iPod Touch, and DateBk6 is one of the last apps that tethers me to my Palm... Thanks.

I was in the same boat a few years ago when I tried to replace my Sony Clie with an iPod Touch. I still have both, but I am primarily relying on an iPad2 and my Motorola Droid phone. It may not meet all of your needs, but the combination that I have found to be most useful, especially on the iPad2 but still possible on the iPod Touch is Pocket Informant and Toodledo. PI will sync with Google Calendar and it also syncs with Toodledo. Toodledo also has natve iPhone and iPad apps that are reasonably well designed. There are other programs available, and they may better meet your your criteria, but these apps are well supported, and that is important to me.

One new app that I have not yet tried, but looks interesting, is the calendar from Readdle. Unfortunately, I have not spent any significant amount of time reviewing it.

Let us know what you decide.

--Ken

Thank you Ken for the suggestions, they look interesting. I have also tried MLO which I really like on the desktop but the iPod version is disappointing and the syncing is cumbersome, plus I don't want to pay for their cloud service.

You are quite welcome, and welcome to the club! While I have been a bit disappointed with Google's support for Calendar, I recommended the other two programs because I find their syncing to work reasonably well under normal circumstances. And while Toodledo has a paid subscription in addition to its free version, it is extremely affordable. I have been spending the better part of the last two years trying to build a calendar and task management system that it multi-platform and cloud-synced, and this has caused me fits on several occasions. On the one hand, I am using a PC, and Android phone and an iOS tablet. Two years ago, I had a sony Clie and a PC. So, as hardware and software changes seem to be somewhat of a given for the time being, this strategy seems to make sense. On the other hadn, the software for my iPad2 seems a bit more developed, and I am wondering if I am better served in the short run by putting all of my eggs in one basket, the iPad2, and dealing with hardware or software changes down the road. The problem with this approach is that my iPad2 is only wifi, and it is not always with me like my phone. If youa re going to rely on the cloud for syncing, then it seems to me that you need to be connected to it, and not just on occasion. Looking back, its interesting to see that I have gone from being hardware dependent, to being program and internet-connection dependent. so, am I really more productive, or am I confusing spending my time maintaining and migrating infromation for being productive? I am not sure that I want to answer that question! ;)

--Ken

I'm not on iOS or Mac, but I've been using Google Calendar as the sync hub for my devices (Android and PC) for quite some time with no problems. Is there a particular issue that you've encountered?

Ken wrote:

You are quite welcome, and welcome to the club! While I have been a bit disappointed
with Google's support for Calendar, I recommended the other two programs because I
find their syncing to work reasonably well under normal circumstances.

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

I'm not on iOS or Mac, but I've been using Google Calendar as the sync hub for my devices
(Android and PC) for quite some time with no problems. Is there a particular issue that
you've encountered?

Hi Alexander,

My problems have been mostly related to recurring events, advance notifications for recurring events, and some general syncing issues with various native and Pocket Informant calendar clients on iPod Touch, iPad and Android devices.

For example, past recurring events that were deleted were showing up in Pocket Informant on my iPad2. They believe that this was an issue for people who opened up Google+ accounts, but they were not certain why. The issue is supposed to be resolved in the next software release.

The problem with not receiving advance notifications is a long-standing issue with Google, and they have acknowledged it. It appears that advance notifications, in this case e-mail, do not always get sent. This would explain why I missed a few birthdays earlier this year. :(

The last issue is related to how far back you can sync back a calendar on a mobile device. Using Google sync, you used to be limited to the past 90 days. I am not certain if this is still true because the only new device that I have recently set up was the iPad2, and I was using Pocket Informant's sync. All in all, as much as I like Google products, I think that their calendar and sync software needs a lot of work. Even though it is convenient, it is a bit too fragile for my tastes, especially in comparison to DateBk.

--Ken

Ken,

Before I switched to Android, I used GooSync http://www.goosync.com/ with my Nokia phone and was very happy with it.

Your use of the calendar seems more sophisticated than mine, i.e. I don't rely so much on recurring events and don't use notifications at all --I've got enough mail already- so I can't vouch for its suitability for your needs, but GooSync does appear more advanced than Google's own services.

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

Ken,

Before I switched to Android, I used GooSync http://www.goosync.com/ with my
Nokia phone and was very happy with it.

Your use of the calendar seems more
sophisticated than mine, i.e. I don't rely so much on recurring events and don't use
notifications at all --I've got enough mail already- so I can't vouch for its
suitability for your needs, but GooSync does appear more advanced than Google's own
services.

Alexander,

I initially tried GooSync when I purchased my iPod Touch several years ago, but then ended up using another sync program (the name of which escapes me at the moment). Pocket Informant, however, uses their own sync with Google in iOS, and it has been working reasonably well. I do live in my calendar and task list programs, but all of the devices that I use seem to be a bit lacking with respect to these two applications when I compare them with DateBk. In looking back, I would have to say that Ecco and DateBk were my two favorite pieces of productivity software.

--Ken

A very quick update. I finally got around to syncing up my Toodledo Pro account with Pocket Informant on my iPad2. It feels a bit like a reincarnation of DateBk on iOS! I am hopoing that this will be the BBD (Bigger and Better Deal) that might lure me away from that pen and paper I have grown to carry around in my pocket during my "times of technological transition". its not perfect, but its possibly the best for my needs (to date), and it is quite affordable.

--Ken

Ken,

I've been looking into Pocket Informant for both the iPad and iPod, but customer feedback seems to be very negative for the last several months. Considering how expensive it is (2 x GBP8.99) the average customer rating of 3 stars out of 5 is not very encouraging... From the customer comments it looks like a business that is imploding!

Dr Andus wrote:

Ken,

I've been looking into Pocket Informant for both the iPad and iPod, but
customer feedback seems to be very negative for the last several months. Considering
how expensive it is (2 x GBP8.99) the average customer rating of 3 stars out of 5 is not
very encouraging... From the customer comments it looks like a business that is
imploding!

That is very different from my experiences with them over the past two years, and I recently had a direct experience with their tech support staff that was quite good. They followed through on my support ticket and actually spent time with my problem. I try not to judge apps just on their reviews alone, as there are many people who are all too quick to write off an app that they cannot understand. I know there are pieces of software that have received bad reviews elsewhere that folks here really like. I would suggest that you read through their support forum and blog to get a better idea about the folks at PI. They have been supporting versions of PI on many platforms over the past few years, and while they may not be perfect, they do work hard, and they are very transparent with their customers.

--Ken

Thanks Ken, that's encouraging. I'll check out their forum and blog then.

Some days I think that Google is its own worst enemy. I was using Calendar last night to update some events. I know that Google does not allow partial word searches in G-Mail or Calendar, so I typed the whole word. Now, it returned some of my entries, but not all of them. Flip into advanced search, and give it a limited date range, and up come the events. The logic behind this astounds me. For a copmany that is run by engineers, you would think that their products, while perhaps a bit lacking in elegance, would at least work as expected. It is a bit puzzling that a Google product has problems with search features. I cannot wait until there is a viable calendar alternative to Google's that syncs up with mobile devices.

--Ken

I have now more or less transitioned from Datebk6 on Palm to Pocket Informant and Toodledo on the iPad/iPod. One feature I miss though is the ability in Datebk to tick off appointments as "done." Are there any iPad/iPod apps that can do that?