Need A New GTD System? You Could Get Productive With Next!
Next! ($19.99) by LefTurn Labs is a powerful GTD manager for your iPad.
Are simple to-do lists not enough for you? Then the GTD system may be what you're looking for, but maybe you want one that looks good and appealing as you use it? Then let's take a look at Next!.
Next! is a beautiful looking GTD app. The first thing you should notice is the gorgeous interface, and the unique swipe interface to navigate between different areas of the GTD system.
The swipe navigation menu allows you to swipe left, up, down, and right, and there is a center view. Projects is left, Goals is up, Actions is right, and References is down. The center view is to view an active project.
When you create a Project, simply name it and hit Done to add it to your list. Tapping a selected project will take you to the center view, where you can start adding actions and view them, along with any goals and references. Projects can be given a priority rating as well, out of three stars.
The Goals screen is similar to the Projects, though these are mostly for tracking your progress towards something. But the layout is just like the Projects screen.
Any Actions that you have added will appear to the right in the Actions view. You can sort them out by Next, Scheduled, Someday, All, and Inbox. The list of Actions will all have check boxes to mark as complete, and any set due dates will appear on the right. It's a nice way to see everything important and upcoming at a glance.
The References screen allows you to create notes and add images and attach them with any actions you may need. Other documents can also be imported into Next! from other apps, such as Mail.
Tasks can be emailed as a list and archived, and tags can be attached when necessary. Everything is searchable as well, which makes finding things a lot easier.
Next! features a unique interface that may take a bit of time to get used to since it is not like anything else I've seen before. Additional settings include the ability to change the background image, show navigation overlay on swipe, and display help at start (useful for your first few times).
The only drawback with Next! is that there are sometimes too many taps to do something, like creating a text note. Those that like to have a sync option via WiFi or OTA cloud with a desktop or web app will be sorely disappointed that there is no such option with Next!. Perhaps in the future the developers can implement a kind of backup/sync option, but until then, you're out of luck if that's a deal breaker for you.
Next! is decent in it's current stage, but still needs some work to make the experience great. For $20, it's a bit pricey even though it has some good features, but missing critical ones.
Definitely worth keeping an eye on though.
