Call me Lazy...Can an iPhone replace my dead Palm m505

W

Will Wyatt

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I know I could spend 2-4 hours searching the Connect site for my answer but just posting the question is soooo much easier.

My Palm m505 died this week, god rest its soul. I'd shoe-horned most all my GTD stuff into Palm's clunky and non-intuitive software using David's suggestions for same and made it work pretty well.

I'm told by the folks at Palm that a Tungsten E2 would replace the m505 but I'm really lusting after an iPhone. Does the iPhone have an equivalent level of PIM/PDA software on board in addition to all the other cool things it can do? I'm on an iMac at home and plan to get a MacBookAir for travel and taking to the office which is a Windows world. I'm not yet using any of the productivity software on the iMac such as iCal, but would love to.

I need a new phone anyway, (the old one is a truly antique Nokia). So, rather than spend 200 bucks on the Tungsten and maybe the same on a new phone, would I be able to get both functions on the iPhone?

Thanks.

Will
 
Iphone will do Calendar and Contacts without problem.

Your problem will be Tasks and Memos.

For memos there is no sync at this time and there is no even a task app on the iphone, but you can go to Remember The Milk and solve that problem super fast.

Good luck
 
That's what I was afraid of.

Tasks and Memos is the big part of the system for me.

A Calendar I can buy for a couple of bucks or use that part of my paper planner. Too hard to use the little bitty screen on the Palm (or iPhone too for that matter) for anything but a day-at-a-time view anyway.

And what's a phone good for if it can't keep track of contacts?

Anybody else? Is there a Palm version for the iPhone yet?

WW
 
I think there is no future for PDA's that aren't phones. There is not that much of a future for Palm Treos, but they are currently viable if you want a phone+pda. I moved from a Palm T/X that was having problems to an iPhone, and I would not go back. Currently, the iPhone is a poor choice for someone who wants the basic four PIM functions to work out of the box. However, with ubiquitous email and internet, it is straightforward to have everything you need. I have reference material in email (which is how it mostly comes to me anyway), and I use a web application for lists. I can recommend either Toodledo or Remember the Milk. There is a useful article on using gmail for GTD on the davidco web site

http://www.davidco.com/coaches_corner/Kelly_Forrister/article78.html

While I no longer use this technique for next actions, I do use it for reference material. I expect there will be many native iPhone apps by mid-summer, and perhaps a new iPhone by then.
 
I am using an iPhone for GTD with a combination of toodledo and Omnifocus. There is a very nice apple script that will sync the two. A native iPhone Omnifocus application is planned once the 2.0 iPhone sw is released in late June.

You can also use the contacts as notes approach to move data back and forth, but it will not work well in terms of next actions and contexts. For that, I would go with a web application such as toodledo.

I have used Palms and Blackberrys extensively, and am very satisfied with the overall user experience of the iPhone. You won't be disappointed.
 
I'm a little confused: Omnifocus AND Toodledo?

thr61;57218 said:
...snip... iPhone for GTD with a combination of toodledo and Omnifocus. ...snip... .
Click to expand...

I'm not familiar with either program but a quick, (perhaps too quick) glance at their websites shows them to do pretty much the same thing. Why are you using both?

I've spent many hours shoe-horning my GTD stuff onto the Palm OS and don't want to lose that time investment, but I sure would like something better. For example, the search function on the Palm OS really stinks. I'd really love it to be as simple as the search function on iTunes.

Also, I've got as much stored in the Memos section of the Palm OS as I do in Tasks. Will that data transfer over to either of these programs "unaltered"?

Keep the suggestions comin'; this is good stuff.

Thanks,

Will

PS: With what my time is even minimally worth, I should have gotten the Palm Tungsten a couple of weeks ago and just been ready to toss it when I upgraded to the iPhone but the real issue is having to enter data multiple times and also having to take the time to learn more systems and software than I really need to.
 
I primarily use omnifocus as my gtf application. It does a superb job of organizing next actions, contexts, etc. It also can be linked directly to Entourage using apple script and so emails can be "sent" to the omnifocus inbox with a keyboard shortcut.

Toodledo is web-based only. I use it, via a browser, on my iPhone. Again, using a script, I am able to synch it with Omnifocus. This means I have access to all of my NA and contexts no matter where I am. I can also add tasks etc. via Toodledo and then have it synch back to my iPhone.

I hope this makes sense.
 
Be aware that until the native iPhone app's come out in mid year all the third-party applications that run are web based so need the internet or they won't run and you won't see you data. So when you can't get internet, eg in flight, you will be restricted to listening to music!

Hopefully come mid year Omnifocus is going to revolutionise the iPhone for GTDers.

Personally I have found the Palm TX great but I have wifi at home, work, and a lot of it around town so that was an essential for me.

Michael

Edit: Actually I might not be right about not having your data. Some of the people posting here seem to suggest you can take it with you. I haven't kept up with iPhone carefully as they are not available yet down under.
 
Memos on iPhone

I store my memos as contacts and so they are available via both phone and desktop. Also, while it is true third party apps are web-based (although I did jailbreak my phone and am running third party apps local), calendar, contacts, and downloaded email are all available without a data connection.

You can also use onepassword to do this -- it is a mac-based password keeper that has a memo feature and synchs via safari.
 
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