The inPhonite Migration: Update
Posted on | January 4, 2009 at 4:26 pm | 6 Comments
It’s been awhile since I’ve written something in this series, detailing how I’m migrating from my Palm T|X PDA to my iPhone. The goal is to not carry both around with me at all times. As of today, I have basically achieved my goal and am now using the iPhone for the last major application I was still using the PDA for. But I don’t want to go into details on that quite yet, since I want a few days of using it to make sure that it fits my needs completely and doesn’t have any buried gotchas. So here’s just a general update on the migration.
In previous entries, I have detailed how I have migrated Contacts and Calendar info (both now syncing with Outlook on my PC desktop). Unfortunately, for some stupid reason, the iPhone does not also sync Tasks and Notes with Outlook. So if you want to have syncable notes or tasks, you have to use other applications. For Notes, I use Evernote (detailed in this entry), and for Tasks, I currently use Toodledo. Both Evernote and Toodledo do not sync the iPhone with a PC, but they do both sync with websites that you can access from a desktop, so that’s the next best thing as long as you don’t mind your personal data being out on a third-party website somewhere. (There is an Evernote Windows desktop client, but it doesn’t sync directly with the iPhone as of yet.)
As I’ve mentioned before, I feel the loss of DateBk6 the deepest. I was really dependent on that application on the Palm PDA. There are no third-party or built-in apps on the iPhone to come even close to its functionality, which really surprises me. The built-in calendar app on the iPhone is barely usable. The developers of DateBk6 are coming out with a Windows desktop calendar application called Pimlical that includes all the DateBk6 functionality and then some, but they still don’t know if there will be an iPhone client for it like there will be for other mobile devices. But I keep hoping.
Anyway, here’s a list of the major applications I use on the Palm followed by the “equivalent” I’m using on the iPhone.
Calendar: iPhone Calendar app
Contacts: iPhone Contacts app
Memos: Evernote
Tasks: Toodledo
ListPro (CD/DVD lists): Nothing yet, though the developer is promising an iPhone ListPro Reader soon, so I’ll probably wait for that.
eReader: eReader/Stanza.
SplashShopper: GroceryIQ
InfoSafe Plus: SplashID
Pocket Quicken: Nothing
I’ll go into more detail on these in subsequent entries.
Yes, I know it’s a little weird that I’m using GroceryIQ instead of SplashShopper, since there’s an iPhone version of SplashShopper that actually syncs with a PC desktop (and I’m using their iPhone version of SplashID), but you know how that goes. And it’s also kind of strange I’m using SplashID instead of eWallet, since eWallet is from the same people who do ListPro, but there you go. I love to mix it up! I have my reasons, which I’ll go into.
Latre.
Pet Peeve of the Day: One of my complaints about Evernote in my original analysis was that the note data was not cached locally to the iPhone. A subsequent update rectified that by including a “favorites” feature, where you could designate some notes as favorites and then they would be always available on the iPhone whether you were in contact with the Evernote server or not. Great idea, but it doesn’t always work in practice. There were many times while doing my Christmas shopping where I was in stores where my cell phone network access was blocked or iffy, and Evernote still tried to connect with the server before displaying a “favorites” note, like it was trying to get the latest version of the note or something. Since I was using Evernote to store the Christmas lists for my family, this was extremely vexing. In some cases, it wouldn’t display the note at all.
Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “how to get rid of crabs”. (Predictably, I see this one a lot.)
Videogame(s) Played Since Last Blog Entry: None!
Comments
6 Responses to “The inPhonite Migration: Update”
January 4th, 2009 @ 5:22 pm
I’ll be a complete pronghead and suggest that since you are a computer programmer you could get the SDK for iPhone and solve all your (and the world’s) problems :p
January 4th, 2009 @ 5:28 pm
But then wouldn’t I have to buy a Mac too? I’m pretty sure there’s no iPhone SDK for Windows.
January 5th, 2009 @ 4:25 pm
That should hardly be a stopping point for a true iPhone phanatic . . .
Seriously though, you are right. It only occured to me after I hit Submit for my witty little jab. I just took a quick peek over in Macland and it looks like it would be no small task for Apple to make a Wintel version. It seems the iPhone SDK is just some sort of extension to their greater SDK; thus, a rather large cliff exists.
That actually kind of blows since whatever can be said Mac vs PC, there are certainly a lot more PC hackers around. PCs are still the box of choice for most code jockies.
January 5th, 2009 @ 8:16 pm
I will be checking into your fav apps soon. I am currently having too much fun trying to defeat Bonsai Blast which is much harder that previous Marble Poppers I have played (like Zuma).
I happen to have a Mac sitting next to me right now. Will the SDK run on older Power Macs do you suppose?
January 6th, 2009 @ 9:55 am
I will be checking into your fav apps soon.
The PDA function-replicating apps aren’t necessarily my “favorite ones” – I haven’t gone into much detail about what else is on my iPhone. But then again, there’s not much. I don’t believe a phone should be used for such things as “fun” and “games”. That’s what DSs and PSPs are for.
I happen to have a Mac sitting next to me right now. Will the SDK run on older Power Macs do you suppose?
Well, if it does, please whip up a new calendar/contacts/tasks/notes app for me, will ya?
January 6th, 2009 @ 12:31 pm
Please remember that I have been a Mom and not a programmer for 13 years now. Don’t hold your breath while I try to learn a whole new … well, everything is new since I did any work.