ListPro (Custom Lists) type application?

[pwjone1]

ListManager seems to work fine for me, and has the ability to add items via VOICE. So far it is the best I have found.

Which List Manager? Seem to be at least 2::

• Noodles - List Manager
• Advanced List Manager

And other associated Apps that show up in the market place.

If it's noodles, then yes, I have to say that's good. Not sure it's the best, and it's certainly not ListPro. But I've not tried Advanced List Manager.

I'm going to sort of answer my own question. I downloaded and installed Advanced List Manager, from the Google Marketplace, and so far at least, I've not been able to get it to work at all (Moto Droid, Android 2.0). So presumably that was not the variant being recommended.

[pwjone1]

This is a mini-review of Upvise Personal (the free version in Android Marketplace), version 2.8.0

Upvise Personal

Upvise has all sorts of versions, but the one I'm trying out here is Upvise Personal. The Upvise web site is:

Upvise - Mobile On-Demand software, sync, collaboration, CRM for Small Businesses

and you can see from there that it has all sorts of versions for various phones, plus a web (cloud) type area for synchronization. This is kind of handy, in that it lets you back up your phone data, and/or edit it on the web. Upvise has more functionality to some degree than a list manager, but it can handle:

* Contacts
* Notebooks
* Shopping Lists
* Wikipedia
* Read RSS news

Now, Contacts, because of Google/Android/gMail, is kind of superfluous, so I'm mostly going to ignore it. Notebooks is probably mildly useful, and being able to sync with the cloud is helpful, but I'm not going to bother reviewing those here, there are various notebook applications. Similarly for Wikipedia and RSS, lots of Apps for that. Since I'm mostly in this thread focusing on Lists, using ListPro as the standard, I'll review the Shopping Lists function. I should note, in terms of Lists, there is a Pro version of Upvise, that also includes:

* Task Lists
* Projects
* Sales
* Ideas
* Work Orders
* Expenses
* Forms

The Pro version, however, is $49/year/user, which seems a tad on the high side, at least if what you're looking for is a good list manager. It's a shame the Task Lists is pro version only, but I suppose they have a business model, and getting people to sign up for the $49/year is how they make money. Nothing wrong with that, you'll have to decide though if that sort of investment makes sense. They have a 30 day free trial of the Pro version, to help you decide. But the Pro version features seem more to me oriented towards a business, not individuals.

There is a video of the Shopping List function, not Android, but....



It's without sound, but it shows you the basics.

Once you've downloaded upvise personal, you should probably create a personal account. They're free. Then you end up at a screen that looks like:



(with credit to Androlib @ Upvise Personal v2.8.0 Application for Android | Lifestyle)

You pick, obviously enough, Shoppling Lists, and then you end up in a screen that is very similar to the video. You create a list, then add items to buy to it. Each item can have:

* Item name
* Quantity
* Unit (g(ram), kg, lb, oz, other...)
* Price

You can categorize the items, that's all pretty much custom, I liked that, not needed some of the time, but handy when you do.

And another key feature is that you can enter a description. When I shop for things, and I'm doing it on price, I definitely like a free text field that allows me to enter store+price. This, however, doesn't look entirely free text, I couldn't get new lines to take, so part but not all of the way to what it needs to be for this purpose.

The web (cloud) based interface, via a web-browser, is a nice-to-have, lets you bulk enter items, and so forth. There's a sync function that's in Upvise, keeps the two talking, I liked that. It is automatic, does add at times a second or two, but say versus Super Lists, you don't have to think, Did I upload or download yet? The web variant uses a filter model, rather than a hierarchy, but it's easy enough to get used to, works. The descriptions there seem to be multiple line, which is goodness. I did run into one anomaly on the web version of upvise, when I unchecked something, it disappeared from the filtered list (it still showed on the total list), that's kind of counter to what I'm used to, bit of negative logic, but the check is to buy something, you uncheck it when you've bought it. The web variant has import and export capability, .csv, which is another nice-to-have.

The Android App keeps track of the items to buy total counts, for each list and overall. Kind of a nice feature.



Pros:

• Easy to use
• Keeps track of totals
• Filter (one level) for tasks
• Automatically sorts
• Supports (Syncrhonizes) a web account, so you can share with PCs, backup, etc. (Big +)
• Has fields for Quantity (#, units), extended description field, categories, etc.

Cons:

• List Hierarchy effectively one level (although does have categories), but no folders of folders equivalent
• Sort is a little too automatic (would be nice to control more with a button, sometimes, on checklists, you don't want them sorted.
• No Priority (although you could use Category, High/Medium/Low)
• While does a decent job as a shopping list, no tailoring of fields for an item, what you get, is what you get
• Seems a bit buggy on the lists something is on, restoring the list, etc.
• No Task list in the base (free) offering

To summarize then, Upvise isn't bad, takes maybe a bit of getting used to (the negative logic on the checkboxes, for example), UI is OK, and the synchronization with the web is a definite plus (and works well), but functionally it lacks some features as versus the competition (priorities, etc.) and visually it's a bit behind things like LiveList, Noodles. There's definitely more functions in Upvise than I've covered here, and the Cloud implementation is very powerful, but as just a List Manager, it's a bit behind the competition, and here and there I hit bugs. Not a bad shopping list, if that's all you end up using it for, though, but definitely not competitive with ListPro. Worth consideration because of the Cloud implementation.

[MontyMo]

The good news is that the makers of ListPro are starting to develop for Android.

From their web site:

We have started making online applications that will support your Motorola Droid. You can sign up for a chance to join the beta of the eWallet Web Companion today to view your wallet files securely from your device - all you need is an internet connection.

Technical Support - Product Compatibility Information

I used eWallet on my HP iPaq and like it.
IF ListPro becomes available I will give it a try. Right now I am using Note Everything Pro

[jsh1120]

pwjone1,

Thanks for the review. I enjoy your contributions. I find they're always worth reading.

P.S. I should note in this context that NoteEverything (with its list management features in the "Pro" (paid) version) now provides integration with Google Docs.

[pwjone1]

pwjone1,

Thanks for the review. I enjoy your contributions. I find they're always worth reading.

P.S. I should note in this context that NoteEverything (with its list management features in the "Pro" (paid) version) now provides integration with Google Docs.

Good to know.

One thing I'm kind of looking for, a little more seriously, is something that integrates well with Google Tasks. I've pinned the mobile web site, and that works, but is a bit of a kludge (especially considering where Android came from), and played with the Apps, but something a little more full functioned would be nice.

[pwjone1]

The good news is that the makers of ListPro are starting to develop for Android.

From their web site:

We have started making online applications that will support your Motorola Droid. You can sign up for a chance to join the beta of the eWallet Web Companion today to view your wallet files securely from your device - all you need is an internet connection.

Technical Support - Product Compatibility Information

I used eWallet on my HP iPaq and like it.
IF ListPro becomes available I will give it a try. Right now I am using Note Everything Pro

I played with eWallet viewer, it's not bad for a first shot, but they don't have any real mobile-to-PC synchronization going yet, and I found some bugs, unfortunately even with the other direction. But still early.

[pwjone1]

The good news is that the makers of ListPro are starting to develop for Android.

From their web site:

We have started making online applications that will support your Motorola Droid. You can sign up for a chance to join the beta of the eWallet Web Companion today to view your wallet files securely from your device - all you need is an internet connection.

Technical Support - Product Compatibility Information

I used eWallet on my HP iPaq and like it.
IF ListPro becomes available I will give it a try. Right now I am using Note Everything Pro

I played with eWallet viewer, it's not bad for a first shot, but they don't have any real mobile-to-PC synchronization going yet, and I found some bugs, unfortunately even with the other direction. But still early.

Still playing with the eWallet viewer, there was an update. Visually it's fine, better than a lot of the Apps, and the recent update seems to have fixed some of the synchronization problems. It still has a bug if you leave it up and it time-locks, doesn't always come out of that right, which you can overcome by killing it, restarting. But mostly it's working. Problem is, of course, that it's still just a viewer, you cannot update on the Droid. So you have to make all of your updates on a PC, then download.

[kronhead]

Here's another suggestion - take a look at my post at SplashData's forum about SplashID, and post a message in support:

SplashID ----> general database / list manager program

If you are not familiar with it, SplashID is a secure information manager for passwords, credit card info, etc. It runs on multiple phones and syncs with desktops. And it is already closer to a general list manager than most of the products out there. It has multiple fields that you can name whatever you want, it has sorting, it has a text field for notes, it syncs ...

I am about to start using it as is, using what they call Category as the list name, which also allows different field names. But I have suggested they take the code, make a few changes, and release a new product. All it needs is a few field types (date/time, numeric), and a way to separate this from my password data, so I can use it without a password.

Check it out.
Dan

[skowronek]

+1 for me. Never imagined it would be so difficult to make the move from Windows Mobile to Android.

Incidentally, KeepPass for Android is a "somewhat" comparable replacement for eWallet.

[Bob on Nexus]

Thank you for all your research. You have saved me a LOT of time in searching for a ListPro replacement.

I started using ourGroceries for all my shopping lists after changing from Windows Mobile (ListPro) to Android. The nicest feature is that multiple people can access the same list and it synchronizes in real time. So my wife can add items to a list from her phone and when I stop at the store, they appear on my phone. When I buy something, I cross it off the list, and that synchs back to my wife's phone. But it is only really useful (to me) for shopping lists. I still need ListPro for my information management and task management system.

I am using remember the milk with Astrid Tasks to synch to it. But it is cumbursome in my opinion. The UI is not as intuative or flexible as ListPro, but you can set up groupings of tasks and priority. And you have a backup since it synchs. But it is really only for tasks... not information organization. I used ListPro for both.