Any.do app Review

There are plenty of To-do list apps available for the iPhone and Android and there are a ton of sites giving advice to people how to use them. While To-do list apps help keep track of the things you need to, they’re all extensive and the task of adding things to do is often time-consuming. Any.do hopes to be an Android app with a difference. 

User interface design

The user interface and the way the app functions is what makes it stand out in a crowd hundreds of other personal information manager and to-do list apps. Unlike most other Android apps, Any.do comes with a fresh new user interface. When you first run the app, there’s a walkthrough that explains some of the features of the app. 

Very easy-to-understand tutorial

All of the screens slide from side to side, something that Windows Phone7 apps do.  There isn’t much you can customize with Any.do, except for the basic colour schemes. Any.do comes in a black and white colour scheme. The aim it appears, is to keep the app as simple as possible, while providing features without scattering them over the interface leaving the user confused. All the buttons and menus are tastefully designed, so they look fresh and different from the default Android elements that you’re used to seeing.

Features

While the interface is minimalistic, there are a bunch of features that Any.do has to offer. Voice input, for example is present in the task entry textbox, like with many other Android-based apps. It’s the way one adds tasks to their list that makes it unique. Instead of manually entering the task and setting the reminder time or deadline for it, you simply drag it into a section for 'task to be done today, tomorrow, this week or later'. 

Sorting of tasks, and auto-backing up of the task list

Even the entry that you make is auto-predicted. So, for example, if you need to call someone tomorrow, it picks up entries from your phonebook as you type. You can add tasks to folders and also notes as you would on any other To-do list app. The fact that it supports Google Tasks makes entry even simpler. Assuming that you’re using Gmail at work, you also have a Tasks widget, which you can use to make entries. Those entries automatically end up on Any.do. All you need to do is slide them into one of those deadline periods.

Marking tasks as completed is also as intuitive as the other tasks. You simply slide an item to the right to mark them as done. To re-add a task slide it to the left.  To clear all completed tasks, simply shake the phone. You have the option to disable the feature, if you don’t want to lose your completed tasks list. 

The alternative white theme

Clicking on a task brings up a range of options. For example, a task can be marked as high priority by clicking on the priority button. There are no multiple degrees of priority, though. The reminder and deadline setting window also looks very neat with its bright colours. Entering dates and time is fun and quick.

The app sets back-ups automatically as you use it. There are no options to set the refresh rate for syncing with Google Tasks, so if you’re adding tasks all the time, you might find some delay between the item being added to your device. Accessibility of the app on the phone is improved by the widget. Unlike other to-do apps, this one has a larger widget that lets you mark tasks as completed. The smaller of the two available widgets doesn't.

Performance

At 3.4MB in size, the installer on the Android Market weighs quite a bit for a To-do app. You’d expect an app that has these many features and a interface that looks this pretty to overburden your phone. Surprisingly enough, it’s light and easy to run, even on an outdated Motorola Milestone. It does not affect the performance of the rest of your phone.

Verdict

Any.do is available for Android, as of now, but iOS and a web app version are going to be out soon as well. It’s free to use, makes adding tasks simpler than it is with the other To-do lists. It’s free, so it’s definitely worth a shot. If you’re someone who doesn’t micro-manage tasks to a minute level, you’ll find that you’ll be using this app for a long time.