UPDATE: Here it is! Google is listening and they have now tied up Tasks with Calendar.
By now, many of us know that Gmail Tasks is now available on the iPhone and G1. An interesting competitive analysis was done of the most commonly used “to-do” tool – Paper.
Paper has a number of popular features:
- Easy editing. Cross out with pen and write something new.
- Works offline. You can read paper even when your PC is not connected to the internet.
- Mobile. Fold paper and stick in pocket.
- Instant boot up. Just pull paper out of pocket — don’t have to wait for it to load.
However, paper does have some limitations:
- Limited availability. You don’t always have a pad of paper with you to write new things.
- Not ubiquitous. If you leave a piece of paper in one pair of jeans, you can’t access it from the other jeans you’re currently wearing.
- Difficult to organize. Eventually turns into a giant mess on your desk.
I am a big fan of mobile productivity and couldn’t agree more with this. And, the most compelling reason is that the phone makes all your data (emails, to-do’s, calendar, notes) portable and available on demand, on the go.
However, I would love to see more inter-operability between Tasks and Google’s other productivity apps, in particular Google Calendar. Tying up Tasks with Calendar will make for a more comprehensive productivity application, with ability to easily add emails as tasks and even get reminders through SMS. That should give users a more complete scheduling and GTD (Getting Things Done) application. The icing on the cake would be if Google voice-enables Tasks, giving users the ability to add Tasks and Reminders using voice. Just like ReQall (which is my current favorite reminder app).
UPDATE: Google Blogoscoped is reporting that a user has spotted the “Tasks” feature in his Google Calendar. Looks like someone is listening!
