iPhone/iPod Touch Productivity With Google Applications

Posted on January 28, 2010 by LJ

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I’m now a few months into the Grand iPod Touch experiment, and I’m settling into my new system. I’ve discovered workable solutions (for me) to the fundamentals of a productivity system. Here is what I’m using to date:

Calendar

I’ve set up the Touch to sync with my Google Calendar. Since I also have my Google calendar sync with my Palm desktop (I will NOT use Outlook!), I have a three point entry to one repository. I can enter data in the Palm desktop, right into Google calendar, or on the Touch, and it appears on the other two. I like this flexibility because I have access no matter where I am.

Tasks

I am still using Remember The Milk (pro) to manage my tasks. I have a three point entry here as well; I can enter through the web interface, the Touch app, or by sending email.

I particularly like the email access because I can forward emails I need to take action on and have them appear in my task list, with all details attached.

I have also worked out a way to push everything from Bonsai to RTM via Excel and email that allows me to simplify my project planning.

Email

For a long time I was using the native Touch email application to get into my Gmail. It caused some difficulty because it didn’t really move messages to the Trash when I deleted them, so I was doing a lot of cleanup. I found the Google Gmail mobile site, though, and switched. (This runs through the Safari application on the Touch).

This application gives me full access to all the features of Gmail in a well-designed screen.

I actually have to be connected via Wifi to use this, but this is of little matter. For those rare times when I want to send and email and don’t have a Wifi connection, I can still use the native app.

Contacts

Google Contacts are a subset of email, and I use the native Touch application to manage them. My contacts, like my calendar, sync from my Palm desktop, so I have a copy in three places. Using Google Contacts also gives me the ability to auto-add people I have emailed. This had been a problem in my previous systems.

Notes

I don’t keep too much reference material on my portable devices – just useful information I may need on the go, like equipment modes, birthdays and clothing sizes. Since I wanted multiple points of entry on this as well, I chose Awesome Note for its ability to sync to Google Docs.

The sync process on this is manual, but since this information hardly ever changes it suits me well.

I’m always on the lookout for other productivity improvements using the Touch. I’m evaluating a few other applications right now, but the system seems to be working pretty well using Google applications.

Does anyone have any must-have iPod Touch/iPhone productivity applications?

Photo by Yodel Anecdotal

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