MobileMe is that one Apple product that even self proclaimed fanboys aren’t sure they need. But every year, when the renewal notice shows up in my inbox, I pay for it. I use a lot of MobileMe services, and am generally happy with it. With the recent revamp of MobileMe Mail web UI, the web client has become a whole lot more useful.
The other day, when the new Calendar beta announcement showed up, I made sure I signed up even before sending out a tweet. It’s on a first come first serve basis, and I didn’t want to waste a second. It took one day for Apple to get their invites ready, so today, I was in.
It’s breathtaking. I know, I’ve seen the UI on the iPad already, but seeing it in a web browser leaves is a whole new feeling. However, where the iPad Calendar uses real world UI like wood and corkboard, the web UI uses brushed metal texture and smooth buttons. It still retains the torn pages, and I’m not complaining. While pixels have got some amazing treatment, the user interface itself is so much more accessible now. The list view is especially useful for getting a broad overview of your tasks without having to navigate through dates.
Some of the new features are centered around sharing. For one, you can so easily share a calendar with family or coworkers. Simply add their email addresses, and they’ll be able to see and edit your calendar right from their calendar app. You can even publicly share a calendar in read-only mode. Event Sharing is a huge feature that’s beautifully implemented. You send invites just by adding email addresses to the event. It will then send them an email with options RSVP. If the address is a MobileMe user, they will see a notification in the title bar, from which they can quickly respond.
Even when invites show up in the recipients’ inboxes, everything is beautifully presented. You can check to see who’s attending the event, including their response.
Another new feature, is the To Do list! Finally, you can see and manage todos right from the WebUI! These todos are synced with desktop iCal, but still no luck on the iPad or iPhone. The web also doesn’t support alarm clock reminders; they should have a least allowed one to set an alarm and have it ring on capable devices. This is of course a very simple to do list that merely complements the calendar. UPDATE: As Jordan notes in the comments, Todos have always been present in the Web UI; my mistake.
Adding events is just as awesome as it was before. Just drag out time blocks on the calendar, and they’re automatically pushed across to your devices. There are little touches in this new app that make a huge difference. Time Zone support means I can add an event “WWDC Keynote” for 9 a.m. Pacific Time, and MobileMe will automatically set that to 9:30 p.m. on my Calendar.
Oddly enough, the new webapp also works in iPad Safari. It carries over some desktop UI like the custom scrollbar, and its layout could be further tweaked, but Apple might be serious about iPad Safari support. The portrait mode hides the calendar listing (though there’s no pop-over to access Calendars in portrait), and adding it to the home screen automatically grabs a calendar icon and then loads it up in full screen. It’s a little sluggish and crashy, and none of the other MobileMe web apps work on the iPad, but it’s a start.
Lastly, the new web UI, combined with the iPad, makes the desktop application look dated and archaic. In fact, the web UI is so much more responsive now that there’s no need to use the desktop calendar for managing tasks. The new calendar supports HTML5 databases for better caching and offline access (though I couldn’t get the latter to work), which makes a huge difference for people with slower connections. This is still very much in beta though, as it doesn’t work on iOS 3 devices, and requires a special CalDAV set up on the iPad (so no Push updates, only fetch). It doesn’t work on Outlook, and requires Snow Leopard with 10.6.4. There’s also no turning back, not unless you’re willing to lose all your data. It deleted a whole day’s worth of demo tasks I added, which I’m guessing is because of some sync issues from my 10.6.3 iMac, so I turned that off. It’s beta.
I think I’m going to make another attempt at using Calendar for my task management. It’s too beautiful to pass up.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
You always could view ToDos http://cl.ly/1bWG
Wow, its amazing
. I can’t afford mobile me, but Apple is surely keeping up with its customers.
Hey Brad, Mobile Me is too awesome not to save up for… If you break down the yearly subscription of $99, it’s around $8.25 per month. So each week, just toss a couple bucks into a jar and by the end of the year you’ll have your Mobile Me money! And if you buy Mobile Me with an Apple device at any Apple store, I think you save $30! So that’s less than six bucks a month — totally worth it, man. I highly recommend it!
Looks like subscriptions are now supported too! It wasn’t previously available in MobileMe web app.
Sure that’s gonna be something better, but better than a real task management, not sure!
PS: What’s the wallpaper your using, it looks beautiful! Thx!
You seem to be confusing a GTD app with a Calendar app. They’re different in the way they’re organised. I myself prefer the GTD style of working, Things especially, but since MM Calendars offer OTA push sync across my devices, I think I’m gonna give the Calendar workflow another chance.
As for the wallpaper, it’s Auroa Aqua by =FateZoom.
Nice review, cant wait to get access to the beta myself!
These relcent updates make MobikeMe look great. One day I’ll probably try it out if Google Apps goes downhill.
I really like your wallpaper (or the parts that I can see)
would be nice to know where it comes from
Sorry, I just saw that a link to that wallpaper was already posted!
Actually the reason why the new MobileMe calendar does not support reminders in the To Do is because iCal does not support synching of reminders to CalDav servers. Seems like whenever you sync To Dos from a CalDav server, iCal will remove the reminders. This does not happen if you use Mozilla Lightning for instance. Apple seems to have issues with To Dos since the very begining. Why they have never included a ToDo app in iPhone or iPad???
Damn, when will I get accepted? It’s been two weeks now since I clicked on that button, and even before any blog posted news about it! Why do I have to wait so long?? How can I accelerate the process Milind? Why did you get accepted so quickly?
I am very excited about this update, but I want to make sure I understand it.
For me, the most important feature is sharing of calendars. My wife and I have calendars for each of us and for each of our two kids. We need to be able to view, edit, delete, and add entries for all four calendars across all devices (Mac OS X, browser, iPhones running iOS 4, and iPads). My understanding is that this will work with the exception of push sync for the iPAd.
We currently use BusyCal and Google Calendars as the syncing engine, but it is difficult to set up and when my wife forgets to log on to her Mac for weeks..well I just spent 1 1/2 hours cleaning up the mess..
This new Web-based UI has made me make the full switch over to mobile me. Thought my whole Web identity has been ran though and archived via GMail – I did this for my Mobile me account and love the one inbox on all my devices.
http://jordanbrock.com/2008/07/15/gmail-and-mobileme-living-together-in-perfect-harmony/
Cheers,
Hayden
Hi,
Do you mean, the new calendar does not sync ota with iPad calendar?
Thanks
Guilherme
It does sync with the iPad.
Very disappointing that alarms can’t be added through MME.com calendar.
I too am bummed that the MM calenders don’t allow for alerts.
Also when was the last time you needed a calender for work, home, calender, etc.? That feature should be embedded within each entry not separate calenders. If I’m at work I want to see what my home schedule is… I don’t want to shuffle between two calenders!!!