MyDesk

DESKTOP Productivity app that has a unique view for your documents and photos. $0.99 Dev: Flying Dolphin Studio Version: 1.0

FREE

[EDITORS NOTE: The app has been updated Feb 09th 2010, and is now version 1.5. The icon is much better as seen in the image to the left, features added include photos and live bookmarks, rendered as tablets, as well as folders being password protected. For $0.99 it's worth checking out, if you're still not sure try the lite.]

This productivity app gives your notes an alternative view. It is not a boring list, that so many others have done, but it actually tries to mimic how your documents would be displayed or placed if they were on your actual desk.

GOOD

I like the app because it is trying to do something different. I was excited to try it and there are some great points about it. The way the documents are placed and overlap is nice to view. There are folders that look like real folders where you can store the documents / files.  There are options to change the colours & text of folders as well as the font style.

The idea is that maybe this could be an alternative way to look at your documents, and in some respects it does work nicely. The way that you can open a folder and put in or take out your work is an interesting way to arrange items. Also being able to place things in a certain place based on priority is a great thing about the layout. If I have a document that needs urgent work or that I want to work on first without forgetting, then I only need to move it to the center of my “desk”. Equally if I have a file that I don’t access often or that is more a generic list, then I can move it further to the corners of the desk.

You can select a note you have written and send it to email. Another interesting thing about this app is that when you hold on a document, you can then stretch it. So you can make it longer or wider (or both) so you can really start to customize how they look. Pinch and zoom also works so you can get a good look at the documents before you click them to load.

On the developers site they have listed he following as what will be available soon in the app:

*    photos
*    web live bookmarks shown as tablets
*    folders protected with password
*    send a folder as zip file
*    shake gesture to reorder the desk
*    new flowing-preview search
*    preferences
*    comprehensive help
*    Italian and French localization

They have also said that they are working on Skins, Widgets and Remote access to documents. I hope these are things that get added because it would improve the app a lot. At the moment it is version 1.0 so it’s the first time we see and use it. It isn’t perfect but it is a really good start.

TO IMPROVE

Well, having mentioned all those good points about it, I still did find it a bit awkward – at least initially. I think it is an app that you have to stick with until you understand how it works and how to change it. I took a while to figure out how to change the text on the folders, which seemed a bit more confusing then it needs to be.

Also, although I like the idea of having a desk a lot, I’m not really sure I can get used to it. I like being able to see everything I am working on in a list as boring as that sounds, but it means that I know what I have to do. I think I wasted time ‘navigating’ around my desk just to see what documents I had and what I would work on. I’m not really sure why the desktop seems to run out, and wonder if it is possible to have a larger space.

Lastly a quick mention to the icon for the app, it was just a bit uninspired… to have thought of an alternative way to organize our documents and then just present us with a dull image wasn’t thrilling.

OVERALL

I think it is a great app to try, the lite version works completely except has no folders. It is an alternative interface so I think it’s worth looking at the ways we can make these style of apps better. I liked it for the effort it makes in trying to present us with an alternative. I’m just not sure it’s ready yet, but I will keep trying it with the updates because I think it may be on to something.

Comments are closed.

Additional comments powered by BackType