Hands On With Taskly for the iPhone

Alright, I admit it, I’m one of those people who like to make lists. Yes, I’m a list maker. To-do lists, pro/con lists, lists of ingredients, you name it, if it can come in a list form then I’ll write it out. That’s probably one of the reasons I’ve tried several of the to-do list apps available for the iPhone, and continue to try new ones when they come out. And I’m glad I tried Taskly from developer Patrick Otten.

There are a hoard of task manager apps for the iPhone out there, and I dare say, aside from one or two must have games, the task manager is probably one of the first things a new iPhone user searches for. No, I don’t have any hard data to back that up so don’t quote me on that, I’m really just basing it on my own inherently limited experience. All of these apps basically perform the same function, which is allow you to make a checkable list of things you deem important enough to remember, and stuff you probably should try to get done in a timely fashion. They don’t call them to-do lists for nothing you know!

I’m not going to go over the standard features of a task manager app here, if you’re reading this then I’d say there’s a pretty good chance you’re already familiar with the basics and actually have a pretty good idea of the features you’d like to see in the ‘perfect’ to do list app.

Woah, there Jamie, I think I hear what you’re saying…are you claiming Taskly is the ‘perfect’ to do list app for the iPhone? In short, no. But I am saying it’s a very well put together app with tons of features, a sleek look, and it’s super easy to use.

Adding tasks in Taskly is a breeze, and you have a couple of choices when doing so. You can either add tasks really fast, or really, really fast. Taskly is all about organization, and as such, offers a level of hierarchies with which to organize task lists. Not only does Taskly offer master lists of task types, such as Personal tasks, or Work Tasks, but it also gives you the ability to break things down further into sublists and categories. A more complete description of all this can be found in the FAQ section Taskly’s blog, found here.

Taskly also gives you the option to rank tasks according to priority which I’ve always felt was a nice touch to any task manager app, as it gives me just one more level of control over what gets done first. There’s a calendar view which can give you a quick glance at the coming month, and if you click on a particular day, you’ll be able to see all the task items that are due that day at the bottom of the screen.

All in all, Taskly has been, for me, one of the more fulfilling task manager app experiences I’ve had, though it’s difficult to put my finger on any one feature or characteristic. It doesn’t seem to be able to recognize the context of quickly added tasks such as ReQall can, but with the other flexibility and features built in to Taskly, it’s sure to rise to the top of the stack of to-do list apps already out there. At $2.99 Taskly [iTunes link] is not a bad deal at all, and definitely worth a look if you haven’t found the task manager app for you just yet.