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Interesting that there are no calendar alternatives.
- Thread starter mcdj
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1Password is considered a web browser alternative...even though all it uses is WebView.
Really, there can't be a true web browser alt because you cannot call plugins. But you can use webview...which is the same as using safari...
As for calendars...I suppose no one has done it because they wouldn't be able to do alarms unless they setup their own server and release it with push.
I think it's simply a matter of demand. The built in web browser is already great and the calendar is good enough, so most developers are going to opt to make apps that don't exist at all and probably will have more demand and take less effort to make.
Safari is great, when it's not feeling all crashy, and the calendar app is more than enough for me. I just figured by now old Palmsters and Winmo peeps would be clamoring for a way to make their calendar look like someone spilled a packet of rainbow sprinkles on the DNA genome. 
the ever popular and awesome pocket informant for windows mobile is being ported to the iphone:
http://www.pocketinformant.com/products_info.php?p_id=pocketinformant_iphone
hopefully it will be just as great as its windows mobile cousin
http://www.pocketinformant.com/products_info.php?p_id=pocketinformant_iphone
hopefully it will be just as great as its windows mobile cousin
I'm looking forward to PockerInformant as the calendar is one of the poorest parts of the Phone. There again, no-one else has got it right either, since the Psion 5.
Couldn't agree more about the problems with creating a complex calendar with the available iPhone/Touch software. For me it's the deciding factor as to when I purchase the Touch. Therefore am still a palm (TX) user UGH!!!! and find that an app called DateBk 6 allows me the ability to create the kind of daily/weekly/monthly business and personal calendar that I require. Wrote to Pimlico Software producer of DateBk and received a cryptic reply that it would be at least October before it might become available...if at all...for the iPhone/Touch.
Would be interested to see if anyone reading this might be a DateBk user and feel the same way about this software. If so, let Pimlico know your feelings!
Would be interested to see if anyone reading this might be a DateBk user and feel the same way about this software. If so, let Pimlico know your feelings!
I started using DateBk more than 10 years ago, and it was one of the main reasons I was sorry to give up my Palm OS device when I switched to the iPhone. One of the major challenges in porting it would be desktop integration, since Pimlico has never done that piece.
the only thing i miss with ical is the ability to see individual appointments across different days while in month view.
pocket informant looks pretty promising, but it better be a pretty big improvement over ical for $20....
pocket informant looks pretty promising, but it better be a pretty big improvement over ical for $20....
I'm with you concerning DateBk...I passed on the first iPhone because I didn't want to give up DateBk. I've also emailed the authors at Pimlico Software inquiring as to their plans, if any, to provide an app for the iPhone. The current calendar provided with the iPhone lacks so much in particular the "week(s)" view that DateBk offers. I'm glad to hear they've indicated at least some potential effort to make their award winning product available on the iPhone. It would be a "knock out" app. Keep your fingers crossed!
Speaking as a developer, a calendar app is a LOT of work. Especially when people expect syncing with the desktop - you have to either support both Windows and Mac or cut off half your users. And yeah, until the server-alert upgrades happen in September, there are things that just can't be done, and then it'll suck because the developer will have to write server software and run the server. Probably the same reason we don't have any email apps that fix the problems with the built-in one (filtering, ability to create new mailboxes on the phone itself...)
I suppose this is a selfish request but I could probabley live with the iPhone calendar function if it would include a week/2 week view like DateBk. Essentially it would replace my old Month at a Glance paper calendar just as DateBk did in my Visor and then Treo. Would it be that hard to provide that type of "calendar view?"
I'm just after views (especially a month view) that have event icons and event text. The iPhone screen is easily high enough resolution to handle it. I hate having to switch between loads of different views.
Handling birthdays properly (with age display) would also be good
Handling birthdays properly (with age display) would also be good
PI for the iPhone/touch would be great. Yet, I would be happy with just a weekly view in the standard calendar app. I don't understand why you only have the Daily and Monthly option.
Even the Monthly option doesn't allow you to differentiate between your various calendars (Home, Work, Business etc.). You have to select the date to see what's going on that day. PI would allow you to see these differences in the Monthly view - which I find important.
Even the Monthly option doesn't allow you to differentiate between your various calendars (Home, Work, Business etc.). You have to select the date to see what's going on that day. PI would allow you to see these differences in the Monthly view - which I find important.
I'd just like to be able to sync Google Calendars (which now has my Outlook calendar from work) to the iPhone without having to jump through extra hoops, and without having to sync thru iTunes. Why is this so difficult?
Using a Mac?
MobileMe will do this. You can sync google calendars with iCal, and MobileMe syncs iCal with the iPhone over the air.
I don't know if you consider this "extra hoops," but once you get it set up it will all sync automatically, all over the cellular data connection, no matter where you are.
I guess paying $100 a year for MobileMe is also a hoop.
Plus I don't have a Mac.I'd just like to be able to sync Google Calendars (which now has my Outlook calendar from work) to the iPhone without having to jump through extra hoops, and without having to sync thru iTunes. Why is this so difficult?
I second this, I hate to plug in my ipod just so iCal syncs.. All we need is sync over wifi which is very easy to do but apple won't release that ability since they want to sell you the holy mobileme.