QuickAdvice: Summit Is A Slick And Cheap Way To Access Basecamp From Your iPhone
Summit - Basecamp for iPhone ($3.99) by Andy Smart is a slick new Basecamp app exclusively for your iPhone or iPod Touch.
Those that use Basecamp, I'm sure that you're always on the lookout for a new app that makes it easier to use it from your device, right? Then Summit is a good choice - let's go into why.
The first thing you may notice is the beautiful design of the user interface. All of the graphics in Summit are optimized for the iPhone 4 Retina display, so every pixel looks beautiful.
There are two ways to log in to Basecamp with Summit - the Standard [Basecamp] Account or with OpenID. The OpenID method requires a Basecamp API token, rather than just a username and password like the standard account. Once you log in, you'll see your account listed. Select it and the real fun begins.
The next screen will start off with the Dashboard, which lists the most recent items that have been going on in your project. The bottom menu bar has three tabs: Dashboard, Projects, and My To-dos. The Projects tab will show you all of your current projects in the account, and the last is just for viewing any unfinished tasks that are currently assigned to you.
Selecting an item in the Dashboard and My To-dos section will let you view the item and any comments that were posted on it. You can add your own comments as well, if need be.
The real meat of the app is in the Projects tab. There are three sections in the Projects tab: To-do Lists, Messages, and Milestones. In the To-do List view, you'll see all the current lists in the project along with the number of open tasks (blue) and the total tasks (gray). It's a simple way of seeing what still needs to be done. Need a new to-do list? Summit allows new ones to be created straight from this screen.
Select a list and you'll see all tasks (uncompleted first and then those that are completed), along with who it was assigned to, and any comments. There's a large check box to check off if something is done. New tasks can be added with the new button in the top right. Simply type in the text, assign it to someone (if needed), and then hit Save. It will appear in the list after the refresh.
On to the Messages tab, which will display any available messages from other people in the project. Unread messages will be indicated with a glowing blue dot, while read messages will have an empty circle. These messages can be viewed and even commented on. If you need to create a message, Summit has you covered on that too!
The Milestones section will allow you to view past milestones and, if you have permission for, create new milestones. You can see who accomplished or completed the milestone, and post comments.
The swipe-to-delete feature is found uniformly throughout the app in the areas that allow it. Just be careful and don't delete anything you shouldn't delete, since it's so easy.
Summit is beautiful and easy to use, but it isn't without some flaws. I found that profile images don't appear, which sometimes you rely on to differentiate people. Some messy HTML code can be seen in some comments--this needs to be fixed ASAP. You also won't be able to reassign or move a to-do item once you create it--you'll have to create a new one. There is also no access to file repositories--so forget about those images or whatever you have in those, you won't be able to ge to them. Oh, and there is no landscape orientation support.
An even bigger let-down is the fact that there isn't a Search function. Search is absolutely necessary in a mobile Basecamp app, and hopefully the developers will address this major flaw in an update.
So far, Summit is decent. It's one of the cheaper Basecamp apps available, and can only get better. At this time, I would recommend it if you just need basic Basecamp abilities like those I mentioned, but if you are one of those users that need more, I think keeping an eye on it until more features are added is a better option.
