There's gotta be an app that does it all!

seeker

Mon, Sep 26 2016, 1:32 am

Seriously, I miss my Palm Pilot days. Why is it that with all the technological sophistication these days, the new apps just don't seem to do it as well?

I currently have an android phone but I looked for THE app when I used an ipad as well. My phone is a samsung so I have both the Samsung apps (calendar, notes, etc) as well as the Google ones. I do not like them! I do not find them easy to use! I do not find they integrate well within each suite! Last time I tried iOS was still "getting there." Improving but not easy to use and doing everything just yet.

For example, I'm looking at Google calendar. I created several reminders in that app. I want to view them. I CAN'T find an option to just see a list of reminders! And the reminders need to have a date, I think. I know it's a calendar, but why can't I just have an integrated task/reminder list where time-based reminders are optional and the rest just stick around for whenever I want to read them?

And WHY can't I seem to add categories to events/tasks? I have four family members with different schedules and appointments and everything and I would like to see them all on the same calendar while differentiating between them. I'd like to know at a glance where we overlap and stuff. If my Palm Pilot could handle that ten years ago then why can't Google calendar cooperate? I'm actually on the desktop website for google calendar now and I see I can create new calendars, which I guess could be one for each family member, but my phone is on the same google account and I can't find any option to do that within the phone. I want to be able to operate within the phone. I'M ANNOYED.

My Palm Pilot could categorize, color code, prioritize, and due-date tasks AND then show them to me within the calendar at appropriate places and times. And it was so intuitive that I never had to read tutorials, look up tips online, or play around for more than a minute or so to figure out what to do.

Then there's the notes. I've tried both Samsung and Google (Keep) as well as Evernote. I WANT FOLDERS AND SUB-FOLDERS. Why can't I get folders and sub-folders? I don't really want to start with google drive because I have too much going on there already, I'd rather be able to create an evernote notebook for work and then just have separate sections inside the notebook... I like the way Keep and Evernote work (not samsung notes, sorry) but the lack of folders is a real killer. I can't function like that. Also, evernote is now telling me I need to subscribe in order to view my notes offline. No folders, no money, sorry.

Someone help me out, I feel so inept. And nostalgic.

Basically I would really like a paper planner, but on my phone, and a really good one.

seeker

Mon, Sep 26 2016, 10:29 pm

Haha so gratifying to receive hugs for this, I thought it was the most random kvetchy post! And Bluebird I am feeling the sisterhood... realize that now that the iphone has been around for about a decade, nothing will ever be as cool as the Palm Pilot was to us. Now it's all just variations on a theme. But Palm Pilots came out even before regular cell phones were much of a thing. When they grew color screens, cameras, and SD cards, OMG WOW!!!! Our kids are going to be a lot harder to impress...

Thanks for the app suggestions. Will look into them.

Meanwhile, I figured out how to access my other Google calendars on my phone. I think you can still only create new calendars on the computer, though. And I can't seem to change the category of events I already created. And it seems the only way to categorize then is to create the event in the correct calendar because INEXPLICABLY I don't see a tagging/labeling option in calendar (though Keep has tags... only, annoyingly, they don't have colors. You have to assign colors and labels separately. Besides the lack of folders, which labels could ALMOST start to try to compensate for.)

PS, you can have a repeating event but you don't seem to be able to copy/paste events. Like if you're going to a lecture series that has the same title, people, and location but at three different days and times, that's not a neat repeat so your only choice is really to create three separate events. I think iOS had gotten that by the time I switched. iOS also had an option to block off time for travel in your schedule, while still leaving the actual event scheduled for its real time. Why doesn't Google do that?

I'm also confused about the goals in Google calendar. Looked like such a neat feature at first - you tell it a goal, like do yoga three times a week for 20 minutes in the evenings, and it will fit it in around your schedule. Only it didn't. When I added events, the goals stayed. And they also scheduled three goals at the same time. How am I supposed to shower from 7-7:15 when I'm preparing work from 7-7:30 on the same day? Then I tried to make it all work out better by blocking off times for my kids bedtime, but it just left them in the same place. So now I'm pursuing three goals at once while also putting my kids to bed. Either a useless feature or I am doing it wrong.

But that's already demanding, I guess. The ability to tag and color code events, or to view reminders or make a list of tasks not attached to specific dates, this should really be super easy. If you can make Google and its entire suite of apps, then you aren't dumb. So I really don't get it.

cbsp

Thu, Sep 29 2016, 10:26 am

I'm not overawed by Google either. I share some of your frustrations as well. (I only started with a smartphone in '14, before that I was exclusively relying on Outlook's calendar)

There's a calendar widget that lists just your upcoming events. It's scrollable.

There's also a task list upper left hand corner (where it probably says Sept '16) - drop down to last item. I wish it would grab upcoming events but it doesn't.

I'm guessing you know you can change how much real estate the calendar takes up vs. the event list...

I also set many reminders (12 hours before, 2 days before, etc)

I despise that there's no copy paste. So I just create repeating events and then manipulate each subsequent event independently.

Also, I have the Hebdate app and downloaded the Hebrew dates/events for Google calendar (I think from hebcal) so I don't have to worry about accidentally scheduling on a yontif.