OmniFocus

Developer: Omni Group
Price: $19.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0.2

OmniFocus was a very hotly anticipated application when it was announced just before the WWDC Keynote this year. With features that include syncing to it's Mac OSX counterpart and location based functionality, it looked to be a must have application.

OmniFocus is, at it's heart, a Getting Things Done task management application. GTD is a method of time management developed by David Allen that focuses on quickly gathering things that need to be done and executing on the things that you can, where you are, without bogging down in larger details.

From the start it's obvious that this application was designed to take advantage of the features of the iPhone without exposing the design issues that some developers have with this type of device. The design is clean, easy to use, and fast even for rather large data sets.

When you first run the application it will ask if you wish to start with a new local data set or sync with a server. Even if you don't have OmniFocus for the desktop, it's a good idea to sync with a server to keep a good backup due to what seems to be the inevitable iPhone OS restore. For syncing you have the option of WebDAV or using Mobile Me iDisk. Check out the FAQ for more details on syncing. One note -- you will need the latest sneaky peak version of OmniFocus if you are planning on syncing with the desktop.

OmniFocus has done some interesting things with location services. Some of the things you can do include showing your grocery list by default when you are near your grocery and showing your work tasks when you are at work. This works fairly well and is easy to set up just by associating a location with a context.

The iPhone version also adds a couple options to item creation. You can add photos or record voice notes to an item. This is useful on the phone where you don't necessarily want to type out a description of something and can just quickly take a picture to remind you of the details.

Overall OmniFocus for the iPhone OS is a fantastic application and very well designed and programmed. If you are a desktop OmniFocus user this is an easy decision for you. If you are not, this might be a tougher decision. There are a few other task management applications out there for the iPhone OS, but none have the depth of features of this application.