Android ApplicationsAll the information you could ever want about Android Applications. Learn about apps and get help with them... all here! New apps can be found and announced in the Applications Announcements forum linked below.
android calendar is a fail compared to integration of decade old PalmOS
Hi,
I've only been an Android user (captivate) for a bit over a month now, but am completely appalled at the poor integration PIM functionality. Since this is a calendar thread here's an example: participants can be added to a calendar event (on web google calendar--i can't see how to do this on built-in android calendar), but location has to be entered separately. When I view the event on android calendar there's no way to tap over to contact details (from which I could make calls or find location and go to map/navigation). I have to tap the menu button, select edit and then i can tap on the button next to location. But I should be able to tap on the participant to go to the contact details to call or map from there.
Other fails:
1. the date picker stinks. When creating an event, if i want to select 3 tuesdays from today (thursday) i've got to do the math in my head (assuming i remember today's date) to select the correct date instead of simply tapping on a date on a calendar view.
2. no irregular repeats
3. lack of configurability of views
4. no saved views
5. limited to no filtering (except by calendar), no keyword
6. lots of wasted space, but that seems to be a function of low resolution touch capability of capacitive screens vs hi-res of resistive screens.
iPhone does better, webOS better yet, but the best was old school PalmOS, especially DateBk... blows my mind that i've got this powerful smartphone with such poor PIM functionality... guess the market is entertainment and gaming
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to fporter For This Useful Post:
Hi,
I've only been an Android user (captivate) for a bit over a month now, but am completely appalled at the poor integration PIM functionality. Since this is a calendar thread here's an example: participants can be added to a calendar event (on web google calendar--i can't see how to do this on built-in android calendar), but location has to be entered separately. When I view the event on android calendar there's no way to tap over to contact details (from which I could make calls or find location and go to map/navigation). I have to tap the menu button, select edit and then i can tap on the button next to location. But I should be able to tap on the participant to go to the contact details to call or map from there.
Other fails:
1. the date picker stinks. When creating an event, if i want to select 3 tuesdays from today (thursday) i've got to do the math in my head (assuming i remember today's date) to select the correct date instead of simply tapping on a date on a calendar view.
2. no irregular repeats
3. lack of configurability of views
4. no saved views
5. limited to no filtering (except by calendar), no keyword
6. lots of wasted space, but that seems to be a function of low resolution touch capability of capacitive screens vs hi-res of resistive screens.
iPhone does better, webOS better yet, but the best was old school PalmOS, especially DateBk... blows my mind that i've got this powerful smartphone with such poor PIM functionality... guess the market is entertainment and gaming
This is indicative of slow corporate adoption. I think as the Android platform gains more ground in the corporate world these features will suddenly tighten up quite a bit!
I've also heard that TouchDown is pretty much the best as far as Exchange sync goes, so you may want to give that a shot if you haven't already.
Have you suggested any of these features to google? You can. You'll have to do some googling since I don't have the links handy but you'll find it.
None of these features should need to be suggested to Google, they only needed to look at a Palm device from 10 years ago! They really didn't do a good job implementing PIMs at all in Android. It is just terrible.
None of these features should need to be suggested to Google, they only needed to look at a Palm device from 10 years ago! They really didn't do a good job implementing PIMs at all in Android. It is just terrible.
Maybe they didn't think those features were necessary in the initial versions? From it's infancy Palm has been a business-oriented device, while Google hasn't. In my experience the Google Calendar has been overall pretty darn sufficient to keep track of business meetings, BNI one-to-ones, personal events like concerts, birthdays, social engagements, etc. I would love the additional features but it's not crippling the usability of the calendar for me.
You could throw a temper tantrum or you could suggest the features.
Last edited by Phateless; September 9th, 2010 at 05:10 PM.
Maybe they didn't think those features were necessary in the initial versions? From it's infancy Palm has been a business-oriented device, while Google hasn't. In my experience the Google Calendar has been overall pretty darn sufficient to keep track of business meetings, BNI one-to-ones, personal events like concerts, birthdays, social engagements, etc. I would love the additional features but it's not crippling the usability of the calendar for me.
You could throw a temper tantrum or you could suggest the features.
It is like making an email app without ability to do attachments. There are basic things even soccer-moms need in their calendar app, not some mystical pro-business features. Persistent reminders to pick the kids up from practice, for example. It is too easy to miss an alarm on the one and only ring. The notifications are in general are really really weak. These aren't business features and are better even on many dumb-phones. Water the garden every three days, stuff like that.
Anyhow, no temper tantrum here, just stating the obvious. No need to throw a tantrum yourself because people state their opinion.
None of these features should need to be suggested to Google, they only needed to look at a Palm device from 10 years ago! They really didn't do a good job implementing PIMs at all in Android. It is just terrible.
I am not a very organized person so the calendar functions haven't really pushed many buttons with me.
BUT, I am a long time Palm guy who went to an iPhone who then went to a Droid.
When I "upgraded" to an iPhone it was back when they were a pretty rare sight and everyone asked me how I liked it. I always said "Almost as good as my Treo 650 in many ways, and better than a my Treo 650 in only a couple of ways..."
Palm (particularly the Treo device) was WAY ahead of the game in my opinion. I was watching full length DVD's on my 650 in 2002 for instance. (yes, small screen, very useful on long flights though where my laptop battery wouldn't have a prayer)
To say that the Android market is about games etc.. is not accurate however, there are many utility tools and I/O based Apps that far surpass the iPhone or the Palm devices. And like another poster said above, more and more companies are jumping into Android and more serious business-grade Apps will follow.
A big part of the problem in my opinion is that searching the Market is one of the worst internet related experiences I endure these days. I am a HUGE fan of Android OS and I adopted Google when they were 1 month old and never looked back. How the hell can Google be associated with something where you cannot search or find anything conveniently? It baffles me.
About once a week I find a truly amazing App on the Market that EVERYONE should know about and I find them totally by chance.
If it was not for this forum (and investing way, stupid amounts of time in educating myself) I would not be utilizing my device at 10% of its capabilities.
Anyway, you fellow Palm guys, please post when you find calendar Apps or other Apps that you feel really hit the sweet spot.
It is like making an email app without ability to do attachments. There are basic things even soccer-moms need in their calendar app, not some mystical pro-business features. Persistent reminders to pick the kids up from practice, for example. It is too easy to miss an alarm on the one and only ring. The notifications are in general are really really weak. These aren't business features and are better even on many dumb-phones. Water the garden every three days, stuff like that.
Anyhow, no temper tantrum here, just stating the obvious. No need to throw a tantrum yourself because people state their opinion.
I understand your point but the I don't think stock calendar lacks anything as basic as attachments would be to email, EXCEPT for a snooze for the calendar notifications. I wholeheartedly agree with you that that is pretty F-ing annoying.
Repeating alarms are pretty darn basic. Repeating events and search functionality is pretty basic. Default calendar choice would be pretty basic. A date picker that is reasonably useful is pretty basic None of these would be really very hard to implement at all.
Last edited by braj; September 9th, 2010 at 06:47 PM.
Are there any calendar apps out there that allow you to choose your alert type (music, ringtone)?
The stock one with the Captivate and even with Launcher Pro Plus do not allow this - I cant hear the default at all. Currently using Gtasks which is not much but it works, hoped for better.
Gemini lets you pick your own ringtone, and unlike the default it allows you to use ones you have created in another app, ie Ringdroid, so you can pick something nice and loud and long so you can actually hear them. I use Nudnik that gives you repeating ringtones and much better snooze functionality. I think right now that is the best solution.
Gemini lets you pick your own ringtone, and unlike the default it allows you to use ones you have created in another app, ie Ringdroid, so you can pick something nice and loud and long so you can actually hear them. I use Nudnik that gives you repeating ringtones and much better snooze functionality. I think right now that is the best solution.
I will take a look @ Gemini - I appreciate it... As long as I can set my own tone I am happy..
Yeah I used Agendus on the Palm for since before it was Agendus (Action Names!) it was great but buggy as hell sometimes, I stuck with it till the end of my Palm life I don't think I need something so feature (and bug) rich though, but something in that direction would be nice. It was getting project management stuff and the kitchen sink in the end, the only thing they didn't work on was stability.
I use my calender mainly as a to-do list. I wasn't terribly happy with the stock calender either but I'm reasonably content using it combined with the QuickCalenderWidget. It's compact and clear and acts like an agenda for me.
Calwidget is fine for me. Looks fine as well. A bit annoyed that it cuts off part of the calendar if you have a large one.
This is indicative of slow corporate adoption. I think as the Android platform gains more ground in the corporate world these features will suddenly tighten up quite a bit!
I've also heard that TouchDown is pretty much the best as far as Exchange sync goes, so you may want to give that a shot if you haven't already.
Have you suggested any of these features to google? You can. You'll have to do some googling since I don't have the links handy but you'll find it.
Hope so. Have heard the author of DateBk is coming out with android app.
Don't use exchange. Just google. Although this and privacy concerns are starting to make me think twice.
While I was googling about android calendar apps i found plenty of suggestions already on the google forums.
Maybe they didn't think those features were necessary in the initial versions? From it's infancy Palm has been a business-oriented device, while Google hasn't. In my experience the Google Calendar has been overall pretty darn sufficient to keep track of business meetings, BNI one-to-ones, personal events like concerts, birthdays, social engagements, etc. I would love the additional features but it's not crippling the usability of the calendar for me.
You could throw a temper tantrum or you could suggest the features.
Please don't make assumptions and dismiss other users just to defend Google. I was a long time PalmOS user and it was all personal use. Having the calendar links to contacts and locations (as well as other useability features) with ease of use as a design philosophy was key to using a PDA efficiently. The android calendar is definitely a step backwards comparing features and capabilities.
If I posted to google forums I'd be singing with the ignored choir. If you searched google forums you would see as I have that many other users find these features to be desireable. How long has android been out? 2+ years? They're long over due and its likely that 3rd party will supply the functionality first.
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to fporter For This Useful Post:
I wonder if others have seen this problem ... My biggest complaint with HTC calendar widget is the alarms/reminders. I sync with Exchange and use "all day" events regularly. I turn reminders off on all day events ... *** but HTC calendar still reminds me!!*** and guess when?? ... **at midnight!!**
I can't turn all alarms off since my job requires me to be on-call for other notifications.
I agree with others - I miss my Palm calendar. It was/is the best.
Please speak-up if you have any suggested full replacements for default calendar ... I have not seen any here yet that seem good.
Try Gemini, right now it is the best of a bad lot. Maybe it will write to the DB properly, it sounds like HTC version isn't. I don't have any experience with the widget, but is it really what is creating the alarms? Did you try another widget instead? What does Google Cal on the web say about the event?
Hope so. Have heard the author of DateBk is coming out with android app.
Don't use exchange. Just google. Although this and privacy concerns are starting to make me think twice.
While I was googling about android calendar apps i found plenty of suggestions already on the google forums.
Wow, would love to see a DateBk app for Android!
Quote:
Originally Posted by fporter
Please don't make assumptions and dismiss other users just to defend Google. I was a long time PalmOS user and it was all personal use. Having the calendar links to contacts and locations (as well as other useability features) with ease of use as a design philosophy was key to using a PDA efficiently. The android calendar is definitely a step backwards comparing features and capabilities.
If I posted to google forums I'd be singing with the ignored choir. If you searched google forums you would see as I have that many other users find these features to be desireable. How long has android been out? 2+ years? They're long over due and its likely that 3rd party will supply the functionality first.
Don't get me wrong I'm not saying it's perfect, just that it works ok for me. As options with increased functionality arrive I will be more than stoked to try them! I agree, having different areas of the phone link to each other does seem obvious and I look forward to seeing these features in action.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Koxx
I just introduced the new Weekly view in Pure grid calendar
If you have any remark, let me know... this new view type is currently in beta (currently, events overlapping is not managed).
Scrollable to see multiple weeks
This looks beautiful, I might have to give it a try!
Hi everyone. I've got a new(-ish) alternative calendar app to suggest: Touch Calendar.
It's a bit different from other apps because instead of having multiple views and screens the idea is that there's just one screen, that you can scroll around and zoom in and out of, to make browsing a calendar as easy as using Google Maps.
It's in beta at the moment but is fully functional (except for on the X10 and X10 mini, which can't open events from the app) - it's on the market as Touch Calendar Beta.
Hi everyone. I've got a new(-ish) alternative calendar app to suggest: Touch Calendar.
It's a bit different from other apps because instead of having multiple views and screens the idea is that there's just one screen, that you can scroll around and zoom in and out of, to make browsing a calendar as easy as using Google Maps.
It's in beta at the moment but is fully functional (except for on the X10 and X10 mini, which can't open events from the app) - it's on the market as Touch Calendar Beta.
QFT, I usually like transparency, but this app works great and looks really beautiful IMHO. I discovered it a few days after I bought Pure Grid, P.G. is good but I just like how Jorte looks. I use Jorte + Smooth Calendar for my single day view.
Hi everyone. I've got a new(-ish) alternative calendar app to suggest: Touch Calendar.
It's a bit different from other apps because instead of having multiple views and screens the idea is that there's just one screen, that you can scroll around and zoom in and out of, to make browsing a calendar as easy as using Google Maps.
It's in beta at the moment but is fully functional (except for on the X10 and X10 mini, which can't open events from the app) - it's on the market as Touch Calendar Beta.
i love jorte, using it on desire. Been trying to sync it with a google calendar but I just cannot get it to work. I have it set as google calendar in jorte, in my desire settings i have background data and auto sync set. both have the correct google calendar info to sync to.
very stuck, any idea what else to do, or what i've done wrong?????
hi guys,im pretty new at android and I need a good calendar which showes me the appointments the date and clock on the homescreen.
So I have donwloaded agenda widget with gtasks,BUT it doesnt show the clock of the appointment.I dont want to root my phone,because of warranty and since I live in sweden I dont have the option to pay for apps which sucks.So I need an calendar app which gives me info about when the appointment is and several appointments on that date and that it has 1week showing in homescreen.Ive tried several apps,smooth calendar,but that one took to much space just for 1day.
hi guys,im pretty new at android and I need a good calendar which showes me the appointments the date and clock on the homescreen.
So I have donwloaded agenda widget with gtasks,BUT it doesnt show the clock of the appointment.I dont want to root my phone,because of warranty and since I live in sweden I dont have the option to pay for apps which sucks.So I need an calendar app which gives me info about when the appointment is and several appointments on that date and that it has 1week showing in homescreen.Ive tried several apps,smooth calendar,but that one took to much space just for 1day.
help is much appreciated.
The stock android calendar widget has been perfect for me.
Hi everyone. I've got a new(-ish) alternative calendar app to suggest: Touch Calendar.
It's a bit different from other apps because instead of having multiple views and screens the idea is that there's just one screen, that you can scroll around and zoom in and out of, to make browsing a calendar as easy as using Google Maps.
It's in beta at the moment but is fully functional (except for on the X10 and X10 mini, which can't open events from the app) - it's on the market as Touch Calendar Beta.
... In my experience the Google Calendar has been overall pretty darn sufficient to keep track of business meetings, BNI one-to-ones, personal events like concerts, birthdays, social engagements, etc. ...
Forgive me if I am mistaken about how Google Calendar works, but don't you need to have an internet connection to make/view appointments on Google Calendar?
Doesn't the calendar reside online?
I need a calendar that resides on my phone all the time so I can refer to it *without* an internet connection.
Forgive me if I am mistaken about how Google Calendar works, but don't you need to have an internet connection to make/view appointments on Google Calendar?
Doesn't the calendar reside online?
I need a calendar that resides on my phone all the time so I can refer to it *without* an internet connection.
TIA
The main google calendar resides on the internet but the phone downloads all the info and stores it locally, if that makes sense? So if you don't have a connection and you use the phone itself to create and edit all of your appointments, this shouldn't be a problem.
Last edited by Phateless; September 14th, 2010 at 06:45 PM.
Long-press on your home screen.
Choose WIDGETS.
Choose CALENDAR.
Done.
oye,that one.tried the original 1 before and it was confusing and shitty,for me tho.
and the calendar app cant be synced with gmail so,since I dont have gmail account and I dont really using it.
Device(s): Samsung Captivate, 2.3.3, Serendipity VII
Thanks: 174
Thanked 210 Times in 164 Posts
Quote:
Originally Posted by fporter
Hope so. Have heard the author of DateBk is coming out with android app.
Hopefully this will be soon. CESD, the developer of Datebk6 and Pimlical, is reported to have a Droid and given his silence on various lists, seems to be hard at work on Pimlical (Datebk6's future) for the Android market. Datebk6 is a dealbreaker for me, the only reason I purchased the Captivate was because this Pimlical program is supposedly imminent. My complicated schedule just can't be 'simpled' down to any of these other calender/scheduler apps.
__________________
Ann, Palm refugee, learning to grok Android. Perhaps your answer is in the CapFAQ Excellent video tutorials, watch and learn!! Now on Serendipity VII, click link to learn more Did you read the first post in the thread?
I tried the Touch Calendar Beta,but it doesnt have the option to been selected as a widget on the homescreen,just a shortcut.anony chance it will be like that?
I tried the Touch Calendar Beta,but it doesnt have the option to been selected as a widget on the homescreen,just a shortcut.anony chance it will be like that?
I'd like to add a widget to Touch Calendar, but it would have to be different to the main app because widgets generally don't allow scrolling, whereas Touch Calendar is all about scrolling. So it'll be difficult to keep the concept for the app in a widget.
just downloaded this calendar app based on reviews, etc. When I follow instructions and try to display on phone it tells me there is not enough room on my home page - even with the smallest size 2x2. Is there something else that I need to do. The goal is to enhance (colors, font) the phone calendar which I sync to my Google calendar. Thanks
I've tried Agenda Widget and Jorte and the original calendar, along with each of the gtask apps, and none of them do everything I want reliably.
Jorte looks good in its monthly and weekly views, and does allow you to sync with google tasks, but I've found that synching unreliable. For example, I keep seeing one of the tasks I've already completed. I don't see it in either gtasks or google calendar. If that were working, I'd be tempted to use it with the regular calendar widget (so I can call up an individual day, though I may decide that the agenda view is sufficient.)
Agenda Widget works pretty well, and does sync with each of the gtask apps. Maybe I'll go back to that, but I was attracted by the look of Jorte, and what appeared to be its ability to include google tasks.
I'm also a former Treo user who is surprised that its old calendar worked so much better -- just didn't sync with google calendar.
I keep checking to see if someone solves this, and until then will be forcing these various apps to work well enough that I don't miss any meetings.
anyone know how to make Agenda Widget have a clear/transparent background. It is black and I want it to just be the writing on top of my wallpaper. can't figure it out
.
and 
