Former Palm users: What Calendar and ToDo app do you use on Android?

[Vesbon]

So I've used Palm phones for the last 10 years and I'm making the switch to Android soon. The Palm program I use the most (and rely on daily) is DateBk (by Pimlico). I've used DateBk for the last 4 years and love it.

One big reason I'm moving to an Android phone is to push all I can into the "Cloud." That way I can have everywhere access to my information and schedule and it's automatically backed up. So I really don't want to buy DateBk (even if it comes to Android) because it's not really a "Cloud" friendly program.

Is Google Calendar coupled with the free "Remember the Milk" app (or maybe it's $10 for Android users) a good replacement for DateBk?

Thanks,
Vesbon

 

[jimdroid]

I haven't found anything on Android that is as good as DateBk.

I wound up using the google apps - gmail, contacts, google calendar (HTC version, in my case) and GotToDo (syncs with Toodleoo on the web). I'm pretty happy with this arrangement, but I definitely miss Palm PIMs.

Hope you enjoy your Android experience.

jd

 

[brykins]

I'm using the standard PIM apps (calendar and contacts) and syncing with Outlook via HTC Sync instead of syncing with Google cloud. Reason for me is that I can't make do with the limited functionality of the Google contacts and calendar offerings. I am waiting for Funambol to be developed to sync more than contacts OTA.

Having been a Palm and Windows Mobile user before, I remember the likes of Agendus and Pocket Informant and their great week views, etc. I find that "Calendar Pad" by MoaiApps is a great addition to the built in calendar app due to having much better and more customisable views.

 

[odhinn]

Email: Gmail
Contacts: Google
Calendar: Google, plus Android Agenda Widget to get a calendar view displayed on my home screen
Tasks: Astrid + Remember the Milk. Subpar, especially on having a way to see what do I need to get done NOW, but tolerable.
Notes: Note Everything
Passwords: KeePassDroid + Dropbox

I miss my Datebk and Agendus, but this is a survivable setup, and having Pandora, Facebook, Gmail, etc. is a small price to pay.

General aside - be wary of the cloud. Syncing to the cloud is convenient, but services go down, and you don't want your critical data to be dependent on whether you have wireless / wifi service where you are. Store locally, sync to the cloud.

 

[golden ghost]

After using Palm for seven years myself I can say the Android colander and contacts are pathetic. I merged Outlook to my Gmail account and could not search for a company name or a note in contacts. What a joke.
I finally found an app that lets me search for these and it works ok. I also downloaded Astrid for tasks and it works ok. However you can

 

[Vesbon]

After using Palm for seven years myself I can say the Android colander and contacts are pathetic.

Yeah, that's what I was worried about switching from Palm to Android (or any other non-Palm smartphone). Palm did alot of things right, especially when it came to ToDo, Calendars and Contact management. However, I need Gmail, the web, Gmaps, etc.

Honestly, I assumed with all the innovation the iPhone or any Android phone was doing, they'd leave Palm stuff in the dust. That doesn't appear to be the case.

In fact my dad just moved from Palm (DateBk was his favorite app) to a Droid Eris and he was astonished how pathetic the built-in calendar and contact app was. Seems DateBk was really ahead of it's time and no one seems to be able to touch it.

It seems odd to me... Calendar, ToDo and Contacts are such basic apps, I would think there would be loads of good apps.

That said, it sounds like Pimlico (makers of DateBk) are on the verge of releasing something for Android. My hope is that it sync's with Google calender.

Thanks,
Vesbon

 

[brykins]

I use gTasks which syncs to Google.

I don't have a good solution for calendar, but for now I use the standard calendar with CalendarPad to get a month view and week view with appointment descriptions. I can also put a full screen widget of month or week view on home screen (I currently use month widget). It's pretty nice to see what appointments I have over one month without even opening the calendar app.

What I don't like is how slow it is to add or change an event.

Can you do me a favour and see if you have this issue?

I have turned off the "use native day view" so when I click on a day in Calendar Pad it opens in Calendar Pad and not the Android Calendar. However if I then open an event, Calendar Pad automatically puts it back by a day. Eg, I open an event for Sunday and it changes the day to Monday. VERY annoying.

 

[Steve B.]

In fact my dad just moved from Palm (DateBk was his favorite app) to a Droid Eris and he was astonished how pathetic the built-in calendar and contact app was. Seems DateBk was really ahead of it's time and no one seems to be able to touch it.

It seems odd to me... Calendar, ToDo and Contacts are such basic apps, I would think there would be loads of good apps.

That said, it sounds like Pimlico (makers of DateBk) are on the verge of releasing something for Android. My hope is that it sync's with Google calender.

Thanks,
Vesbon

Ditto. I'm a 12 year user of assorted Handspring/Treo/Palms and have used Datebook Plus for many of those years. It's a great add-on though I was never able to convert 4 of my co-workers that are Palm users, they were perfectly happy with plain vanilla calender. In truth though, I never made use of many of the DB features - I got it mostly for the expanded calender views, I loved the Template function and miss that on Droid.

That said, a lot of my calender data entry was on the Palm Desktop app, which I used instead of Outlook as I hated Outlook. Thus I find the Google on-line version of Calender superior to Palm Desktop, so as with my experience, it would seem the less features you used in Datebook, or with no Datebook Plus at all,the fewer issues you have with the Google Calender.

Plus I suspect that we are seeing the early versions Google calender and that there might well be improvements and hacks to replicate Outlook (or maybe not), as well as Pimlico seeing a dead end of Palm add-ons now that the Pre and Pizi have abandoned the older PDA calender and desktop for the cloud. One co-worker that went from Treo 600 to Pre uses Google, as example and that leaves Pimlico with no market.

SB

 

[Jsmith8329]

You should check out the Personal Assistant app.

 

[4ofN]

I am also a long time Palm user. I've used a blackberry for a few years (after my treo died) but the overall blackberry usability is awful. The PIM apps (calendar/contact/todo) at least work, but are nowhere near the functionality of a palm.

I'm now looking for something to replace the blackberry and I am looking at android, but it seems that the pim functionality is even worse. I don't understand why none of the new phones even have a todo list. How hard can that be?

I know the OP suggested using the cloud for sync, but I can't do that due to confidentiality issues. I need something to sync locally to my pc.

I've looked at Android, Symbian, iPhone, Blackberry and even windows mobile but nothing comes close to the Palm PIM apps.

Why, why, why? I just want a phone / organizer that is usable.

 

[reinbeau]

4ofN, I hear you. CESD, of Datebk3/4/5/6 fame is working on a program, but it seems to be taking longer than waiting for the official Froyo release....in the meantime, try out Astrid for a todo program, I started using it yesterday and was pleasantly surprised. Contact management is deplorable on Android, I haven't found anything I really like, I'm using aTakePhone right now, it's ok, but not near as good as PhoneMagic was on the Palm. Once you plow through for awhile and really try out many programs from the market you'll find things that you'll like, but syncing with your computer is another matter entirely.

What I've settled on is Titanium Backup on a rooted Captivate for backups. They're stored on the extra SD card. I'm also playing with Android Manager Wifi to get things onto the computer, it's almost working. It really is a wild and woolly world here on Android compared to our tightly integrated Palm world. Someday someone will pull it all together into an organized package, by then we'll have our own systems worked out.

 

[4ofN]

CESD, of Datebk3/4/5/6 fame is working on a program, but it seems to be taking longer than waiting for the official Froyo release....

Reinbeau, when you refer to Froyo, do you mean to imply that Froyo will have better PIM functionality?

 

[pool_shark]

I use default calendar and I've started putting my todo's in the calendar instead of a separate app.
I do miss the numerous amount of very useful apps that palm OS had, especially Chattermail.

 

[reinbeau]

Reinbeau, when you refer to Froyo, do you mean to imply that Froyo will have better PIM functionality?

No, I mean we're all waiting and waiting and waiting for it - as those of us who are familiar with Datebk/Pimlical are waiting for native Android sync....

Android is open, they (the developers) expect you to find your own solutions that work for you. I see their point, but I also see my handheld/phone as a productivity tool, all this searching and stumbling around isn't a very productive use of my time. Fun, but not productive.

 

[andyrubin]

4ofN, I hear you. CESD, of Datebk3/4/5/6 fame is working on a program......

As much as I want this to be true, prove me wrong with something, anything concrete that CESD is working on Datebk for Android. No offense but I've heard and researched about this and never found a single word supporting this claim from the author himself.

To the OP: Check this out...

http://androidforums.com/android-applications/28286-palm-os-android-droid.html

 

[reinbeau]

As much as I want this to be true, prove me wrong with something, anything concrete that CESD is working on Datebk for Android. No offense but I've heard and researched about this and never found a single word supporting this claim from the author himself.

To the OP: Check this out...

http://androidforums.com/android-applications/28286-palm-os-android-droid.html

You obviously don't subscribe to the Pimlical Yahoo group, where he's discussed it many times. He's not out in the open about it because people will be bugging the heck out of him and being a one-man shop, he doesn't have time to deal with it - plus he's unfailingly polite, so he'd feel the need to respond. It is happening, it's just taking time for the gorillas to get the code down.

 

[donallen]

You obviously don't subscribe to the Pimlical Yahoo group, where he's discussed it many times. He's not out in the open about it because people will be bugging the heck out of him and being a one-man shop, he doesn't have time to deal with it - plus he's unfailingly polite, so he'd feel the need to respond. It is happening, it's just taking time for the gorillas to get the code down.

Wonderful.

For those who don't understand this, CE Stuart Dewar, the author of Datebk6 for the Palm, as well as the new Pimlical application, runs Gorilla Haven, using his profits from sales of his superb software to take care of his animals. He's a brilliant programmer and, from what I can tell, a fine human being. I believe that the new program, Pimlical, is written in Java, so fairly easy to port, modulo bugs in the various Java runtimes. I know that he's interested in Android, so I'd suggest keeping your eye on his website (Pimlico Software home page). I, too, ran my life for years with a Palm and with his software, and I'm looking forward to having a version that runs on my Motorola XT720.

 

[andyrubin]

You obviously don't subscribe to the Pimlical Yahoo group, where he's discussed it many times. He's not out in the open about it because people will be bugging the heck out of him and being a one-man shop, he doesn't have time to deal with it - plus he's unfailingly polite, so he'd feel the need to respond. It is happening, it's just taking time for the gorillas to get the code down.

Thanks for the pointer. I subscribed to the Yahoo! group. Some people seem to be very certain that he's working on one. I couldn't find the posts that he's discussed it through, any pointer?

The sooner CESD manages to get the Android version out, the sooner the GH (http://www.gorilla-haven.org/) can be completed. Considering the now much larger size of smartphone markets and the lack of a good calendar app. I'm sure people are willing to pay for one, the problem is that there isn't one.

P.S. That's why I hate Yahoo! Groups, it's a walled garden. The information isn't even available to web crawlers and on search engines.

 

[reinbeau]

Andy, I can't stand Yahoo, I read it via Gmane, in Thunderbird. Offers threading, too, another feature Yahoo desperately lacks. Search his posts and you'll find his references.

 

[Jethro10]

Pocket Informant, the Palm app, is in testing for android

Welcome to WebIS.net - Pocket Informant for Android

Jeff

 

[andyrubin]

Andy, I can't stand Yahoo, I read it via Gmane, in Thunderbird. Offers threading, too, another feature Yahoo desperately lacks. Search his posts and you'll find his references.

Noted with thanks. Guess I should just learn to be patient then.

Ooops... I just remember that I have bought Missing Sync, which uses its own calendar database rather than the default one... Aiya...

 

[Benjie]

Such great advise - store locally, store to the cloud - which is what I have started doing. For 2 days I depended on the cloud and gosh, I was disappointed.

I use a 7 year user of Datebook and as I moved from Palm to Windows, I really missed it. We speak of the Windows applications, but none of them held a candle to Datebook. I have just learned to work with what comes with the device and to be frank, though it does not have the bells and whistles, it really does handle the tasks.

As for CSD, as another user stated, he is a 1-man shop and the work/support provided places him along with a few others at the top of the list. Excellent in everything he does and provides.

Email: Gmail
Contacts: Google
Calendar: Google, plus Android Agenda Widget to get a calendar view displayed on my home screen
Tasks: Astrid + Remember the Milk. Subpar, especially on having a way to see what do I need to get done NOW, but tolerable.
Notes: Note Everything
Passwords: KeePassDroid + Dropbox

I miss my Datebk and Agendus, but this is a survivable setup, and having Pandora, Facebook, Gmail, etc. is a small price to pay.

General aside - be wary of the cloud. Syncing to the cloud is convenient, but services go down, and you don't want your critical data to be dependent on whether you have wireless / wifi service where you are. Store locally, sync to the cloud.

 

[Benjie]

I tried PI on my Touch Pro 2 and found it slowed the device down a lot durings its initiation. Nice interface, but really slow.

Pocket Informant, the Palm app, is in testing for android

Welcome to WebIS.net - Pocket Informant for Android

Jeff

 

[Benjie]

Mark's application Chattermail was the email program others wanted to be. Leaving Palm and moving on made me realize even more that if there were 2 programs that I depended so heavily on, Chattermail was one of them. When I moved on, HanDBase was all ready there and the closest to Chattermail was FlexMail and though it worked well on my Touch Pro, it had issues on my Touch Pro 2.

On the Evo, I recently began using K9, which also has issues, but it works.

I use default calendar and I've started putting my todo's in the calendar instead of a separate app.
I do miss the numerous amount of very useful apps that palm OS had, especially Chattermail.

 

[andyrubin]

I missed Chatter as well but K-9 has more or less made up for it.

A comparable calendar app is still missing.

Voice recording is another.