In the past half-dozen years, I think I’ve tried more task manager apps than smartphones; and I’ve tried dozens of phones. I’ve long wanted to use Google Tasks, since all of my online activities are Google-centric, but the company has never fully invested time and effort into making Tasks a robust solution. Third-party mobile apps have tried to leverage Google Tasks and one, Any.DO, is a very solid piece of free software for Android devices.
The first thing you’ll likely notice about Any.DO is h0w much it doesn’t look like an Android app. To my eyes, the look and feel of the software is something I’d expect to see on iOS: polished, refined, simple and effective. It supports speech-to-text input by using Android’s native speech recognition engine. You can drag tasks to different days or swipe across a task to mark it as complete. And shaking your handset clears all of those completed tasks. I actually enjoy using this app to manage tasks; something I can’t say about any other that I’ve tried.
var galleryData = [{“title”:”any.do-1″,”caption”:””,”thumbnail”:”http:\/\/gigaom2.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/12\/any-do-1.jpeg?w=48&h=48&crop=1″}, {“title”:”any.do-5″,”caption”:””,”thumbnail”:”http:\/\/gigaom2.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/12\/any-do-5.jpeg?w=48&h=48&crop=1″}, {“title”:”any.do-2″,”caption”:””,”thumbnail”:”http:\/\/gigaom2.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/12\/any-do-2.jpeg?w=48&h=48&crop=1″}, {“title”:”any.do-3″,”caption”:””,”thumbnail”:”http:\/\/gigaom2.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/12\/any-do-3.jpeg?w=48&h=48&crop=1″}, {“title”:”any.do-4″,”caption”:””,”thumbnail”:”http:\/\/gigaom2.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/12\/any-do-4.jpeg?w=48&h=48&crop=1″}];
any.do-1
Usability is excellent, but if a task manager can’t effectively manage tasks, then it’s not very good. Fortunately, Any.DO has nearly all of the tools and features needed to keep me productive. You can create folders to help organize tasks, set reminders and sort by date, priority or folder. Any task can have a detailed note for further explanation. Tasks can even be shared with friends or team members. The app also supports two widgets for viewing tasks or to quickly add new tasks.
If I had to pick on Any.DO, I’d say the Google Task synchronization is the area I’d hit. The feature works perfectly fine and the app supports multiple Google accounts but you can’t pair a task with an account. That means all of the tasks are synchronized with one account or the other in my case, as I have two Google accounts. The sync function is currently manual as well, so you have to remember to hit the sync button in the app. Maybe I should create a recurring task reminder for that?
Regardless of the minor shortcomings, Any.DO has become my current task manager on Android. There are versions in the works for iOS and the web, but for now, this is an Android-only solution. It’s rare to see a third-party developer focus on Android first and iOS second, but there’s no loss in app quality because of that decision. It won’t work for everyone’s task methodology, but I highly recommend that Android users give this one a try, even if you don’t use Google Tasks. Why? The company says it plans to support task synchronization with Todo, Remember the Milk, Springpad, Microsoft Exchange, and many other platforms in the future.
Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.
- Connected world: the consumer technology revolution
- Siri: Say hello to the coming “invisible interface”
- NewNet Q3: Facebook remakes headlines in social media
