QuickAdvice: Week Calendar - Your Week At A Glance
Week Calendar ($1.99) by Wasabi Apps is an app that allows you to quickly take a glance at your week.
The problem with a lot of calendar apps is that you start off with the month view. I know this because I've gone through more calendar apps than I should have. But when we look at our calendars, don't we mainly just need to see one thing - our week?
Most calendar apps will start off with the month view. Then you'll have to tap around a bit to get to just the week. Not with Week Calendar. This app does one thing best - gives you immediate access to your week ahead, without the need for unnecessary taps.
The app launches pretty quickly on an iPhone 4 with 4.1. Be warned though - the app draws data from the native Calendar.app, so if you don't have your Google Calendar set up via Exchange, then you will have to do that first before the app will work for you. If you're a MobileMe user, then I would assume that it would already be up and running for you if everything is set up correctly.
The first thing you will see upon launch is just your week. Even the week number is displayed up at the top with the month. The days of the week are lined up horizontally along the top of the screen with the times on the left. Any events will show up in colored blocks in the appropriate time slots. The colors here are drawn directly from the Calendar.app, but there is one neat little feature - you can customize the color of an event if you aren't pleased with it.
However, changing the color of an event seems to duplicate it - I noticed two of the same event on Google Calendar's web interface. So be warned when doing this - don't change your mind on colors too much, you'll have to clean up your calendar after. There is an option in the Settings to change the default color though, if you need this.
Need to add a new event? Just tap the Add New button and you'll be given a screen that is very much like the one seen in Calendar.app, so you should have no problem with filling this out with the information that you need.
If you double tap on a date in the week view, you can view the day's schedule, which I found to be a pretty nifty way to do this. Want to go back to the week view? Just double tap again - it's like magic!
When you tap on an event to view it, a smooth pop up box will appear that gives you the name of the event, location, and time; if its a repeated event, a neat little recycle icon appears in the corner. A blue arrow will take you to the event information screen, in which you can view any additional information (this is the same information in Calendar.app). Any changes can be made here as well.
You have the ability to copy events or delete them by tapping the icon that normally resembles the 'Share' option in most other apps. Now events that you select will be marked with the 'marching ant' border line and the Copy Event or Delete button will be available. Keep in mind you can also delete events normally by tapping them and then hitting the trash can icon.
The gear icon will take you to Calendars and Settings. The Calendars option lets you choose what calendars the app will display. Settings will have to be accessed with the button on the Calendars screen since they are both under the gear button.
There are a plethora of settings to help you tweak the app to your needs, including Calendar, Layout, Behaviour, and Default Values. Customized calendar colors can also be set here. Have feedback for the developers on how to improve the app? You can send them a message from the Settings screen too.
This app is a pleasant and welcome experience from the other calendar apps out there. You get straight to the point - your week and day. The layout is intuitive and nice to look at, and the app is just overall easy-to-use. If you have to get a calendar app, then get this one - it's leaps and bounds better than the native Calendar of which it pulls the data from.
