So what’s the best task manager on the iPhone then? We’ve reviewed so many if them (most of which we don’t even write about), and developers are showing no signs of slowing down. It’s hard to decide which one’s the best, even in the same category. Each of these offer some great new ways to interact with and manage your tasks, and there’s more showing up every day. Managing tasks would require a stable platform, something you’re comfortable with, something that’s permanent. Using ten different applications over the span of a few months is not nearly as idea. I’ve stuck to using Things for over two years now. I do exclusively use other task managers while reviewing them, but for I quickly come trotting back to Things. Things isn’t what my ideal task manager is though, and looking through the app store, none of them are. I’m hoping putting it down in words will help me understand what it is I want.

Ideally, a great task manager should make access to your tasks ubiquitous. Whether you have your iPhone, or your Mac, or are stuck using a Windows PC with an internet connection, your tasks should be accessible. What I’m searching for, is the Simplenote of task managers. Unfortunately, none of these offer that at the moment; at least not with a decent user interface and workflow. I had laid my hopes on MobileMe, but Apple has so far shown no interest in improving what they introduced two years ago. It’s a shame really, they really had something going.

One of the task managers which moves your tasks around—albeit using third party backend— is TouchTodo. It syncs with Google Calendar, which in turn can be made to sync with iCal on your Mac, as well as the Calendar app on your iPhone. The sync is seamless, and you have access to tasks everywhere—even offline push alerts on your iPhone using the built in Calendar app. The problem with this however, is since they’re using a web service they can’t control, it leads to a lot of quirky behaviour. You can create projects within the app, but they aren’t synced as such with the web. If you don’t add a due date, it doesn’t sync. Besides each application in this loop looks different and feeds different from the other, leading to a less than optimal experience.

Things offers Wifi sync, but no over-the-air sync so if you forgot to sync up in the morning, you don’t have your latest data with you. OmniFocus can in addition to Wifi, sync using MobileMe or a WebDAV server, but no access from the browser. It’s fine for most users who don’t absolutely need to have tasks in the browser, but that shouldn’t be the case. There are times when you’re stuck using a PC or someone else’s Mac, and the browser is the only thing that’s constant across any platform. Cultured Code is working on over-the-air sync for Things, and I suspect they’re taking this long because they’re busy building a Things web application + backend service with push notifications, social network integration, cool-new-features-I-haven’t-thought-of; I could be way wrong. Remember the Milk is one popular service that offers a great web and iPhone experience, but nothing on the desktop—you have to make do with Fluid web app (I could be wrong on this). Again, most users are most comfortable with this varied functionality, and for good reason; they’re very good apps. But not good enough.

Then there’s TaskPaper with SimpleText backend, which offers iPhone, desktop, and web access, all based on a very open file format—plaintext. The SimpleText folder is open for any application to take advantage on the Mac, so you can even have your tasks edited using Notational Velocity instead of using TaskPaper. There is however no API access I’m aware of even public API access that allows other developers to pull that data into their own apps. I don’t think it’s ready yet, but if there’s a task manager headed in the right direction, it’s TaskPaper with SimpleText.ws integration.

Mostly, it’s these data islands like 2Do, Dunnit, Today Todo (and so many others) that I’m not so enthused about. On the one hand they’re simple, meant for small ad-hoc lists, sport great innovative user interfaces with some neat features. It’s hard not to recommend polished apps, really. But on the other hand, your data is locked into this one application on this one device. You can’t move to a different application without manually re-entering all those tasks. That they don’t sync with the cloud is a fact that will soon bite a lot of these apps. Yes, I’m talking about the iPad. Imagine trying to use one of these data islands on both the iPhone and iPad. Even Wifi-sync using the Mac as middle ground will feel clunky and primitive. I know Gruber and Friends don’t like the word ‘cloud’, but that’s exactly what this workflow should feel like. A backend service that you don’t have to deal with, while your data is moved across wirelessly across devices. This has been perfectly executed by Simplenote and Notational Velocity. Your data is local, belongs to you, and can be backed up however you wish, yet it’s available wherever you go.

I still haven’t found the perfect task manager, and am sticking to Things and my whiteboard for now. TaskPaper looks good, and I can see myself switching over soon. While I have done a lot of searching and testing, it’s very well possible I’ve missed out on something perfect. I’m hoping you’ll educate me if you knew about it.