Must Have Apps #1 (a.k.a) Reqall vs Evernote vs. any other to do app
May 12, 2010
A long time ago on this very site, I talked about how great Reqall was as a service. I won’t take that back. As a service it’s great. The one problem I have with it is that I like to organize and categorize and have several projects happening simultaneously and would love to have the option of subcategories. In general, Reqall tries to make things simple, but it falls short in intuitive categorizing. The connectivity, however, is amazing. If they were to reformat the operation, and give the user more control, ala Todoist, for example, we would have a dream app. And it’s doable. But it does not exist, and I don’t have the know-how to make it so.I keep the Reqall app on my iPod Touch, but I think it’s based on nostalgia.
Enter Evernote: I downloaded Evernote on my computer and my iPod as a replacement To Do app. In this, it failed miserably. Fortunately, I found that I could replace Google Notes, Google Docs, and a few other common apps with this one. I can categorize everything, and tag everything. If I wanted to learn a song, I can copy the lyrics and chords, and paste them into a new note, put it in my Music notebook, and tag it with Guitar, To Do, Chords, etc…
Evernote saves pictures, voice notes, PDF files, song files, text, Microsoft office files, and probably more than I have tried out. But I can use it to, as their logo states, “remember everything.” I use it for my short stories, thoughts, reminders, contacts, business cards, note taking, story ideas, song ideas, magic tricks I need to learn, simply everything that I would need to write down, jot down, save for later, or simply remember. And if I properly tag and organize every note, I can easily find anything I need to find.
It is totally worth the download. The one-two-three punch of a desktop interface, iPod/iPhone app, and a web interface means I have nearly unlimited access to remember everything I’d ever need to remember. It is a beautiful thing.
Still, I was at a loss for an actual, checklisted to do app that was quick and easy to use. I am currently using Errands by Yoctoville. Simple, quick, and stylish. I wish I could have subfolders within folders, but for now, as long as I can easily create my own folders, I am happy.
My iPod is quickly turning into my primary internet interface. And my most important app is my To Do app. More Must Have Apps will follow.
Have you checked out Springpad (http://springpadit.com) as an alternative to both Evernote and Errands? Not only do we make it easy to save anything you want to remember; we also provide to-do and other list, reminder and alert features and functionality.
Disclosure – I’m a Springpad co-founder.