Think of Left Coast Logic’s SmartTime 1.3 as a more powerful and adaptable to-do organizer and scheduler than similar apps and that pretty much sums it up. Where SmartTime really differs from other pocket organizers is in its flexibility to easily organize items on your schedule, prioritize them, accommodate unexpected changes and integrate tasks by simply dragging them. SmarTime also links meeting locations to Google maps, and that’s a pretty cool thing.

You can look at your to-do list in one of three ways: Smartview, Calendar and Focus. Smartview gives you an overview of all the things on your schedule and the tasks and dates associated with each event. Each item is colored coded so it’s easy to see what’s on your schedule and their priority. The Calendar view lists the day’s events, as you would expect. Finally, the Focus view shows you the tasks scheduled for the day and a history of the tasks you’ve completed.

SmartTime is intuitive to use. I was able to suss out how to enter info and to navigate in under a minute. It’s tedious to enter information, and SmartTime attempts to simplify that with icons and other interface enhancements, but that’s more a problem with the small real estate of the iPhone’s screen.

Like all organizers, they aren’t much use unless you have the discipline to use them. Left Coast Logic says that’s where it tops most other apps: by making it easy for your to organize your life the way you live and think, without having to stick to rigid lists, categories and priorities.

Despite SmartTime’s high degree of adaptability and customization, I’ve been spoiled by the plethora of organizers that have long populated desktops and mobile devices, and I would want more from SmartTime before I actually would use it regularly.

For example, SmarttTime does not have an alarm feature to alert you when the time for a meeting or task is near. In addition, SmartTime does not integrate with desktop calendars and I see that as another major weakness. Left Coast Logic says it will correct those failings in a subsequent upgrade, although they don’t specify when that will be.

SmartTime sells for $9.99 currently, which Left Coast Logic says is an introductory price. If you buy it now, you’ll get a free upgrade with the fixes I mentioned. Whether the price will change in the next release, I have no idea, but I think $9.99 is the right price for SmartTime, even with the updates.

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category: Productivity, To Do Lists, Worthwhile Apps