Convenience on any platform: How Springpad got me to love organization

By / / Android Apps
I love the idea of organization. I started off every year of school since sixth grade with a glossy new planner and a plethora of eagerness and good intention (read: I never opened them after September). I’ve fallen victim to many a good marketing ploy guaranteeing organized closets and a “hassle free” life. Cleaning and following plans has always felt like a hassle .And that’s the beauty of Springpad. You don’t have to clean, and there is no plan! Well that is unless you decide to have a plan, then you’d better be prepared to meet a suite of utilities and features that will keep that plan at the forefront of your mind and the tips of your fingers until you complete it with authority, or give up and admit it was someone else’s fault. With its crisp, clean and modern design, simultaneous options to be as simple or complex as you want, and wonderful cross-platform and integrated abilities, Springpad will henceforth be my Go-To organizing utility.
I discovered Springpad first as an Android app featured on the front page of the Google Android marketplace. When registering for an account at the website, I realized I had only seen the outside layers of the iceberg lettuce. Scrolling about a two-thirds of the way down the home page for Springpad reveals that you can get to it on pretty much every device you use to access the internet (Unless you have a WindowsPhone or BlackBerry you anti-conformist, or sensible-consumer, you)

Here you’ll see my Springpad desktop. The desktop is customizable, so I chose the classy wood floor design. On the desktop you add your different categories of stuff, notes and ideas. Or you can choose to see all of your stuff in one list. Also, you’ll find a search bar, some more ways to integrate Springpad with your life, and the ability to set alerts, which can be delivered by email, or handled by your Android or iOS phone. From the screenshot you can see that I like to keep track of my groceries, and work tasks, but I also have a category for those wonderful little creative ideas that I just know I’ll get around to turning into the next big thing one day, I like to say they’re items, “In potentia.” Springpad has even got me logging my gas mileage at every fill up. I really just enjoy organizing my organizables with Springpad.

As mentioned, Springpad is available for Android, Iphone, and Ipad as well as from your web browser. There is a free app for both operating systems. I use it daily on my HTC Evo 4g Android phone. My favorite part about the Android version is the included SpringPad Widget (pictured above). In the larger, full-featured widget, you’ve got access to buttons for quick access to adding new notes, snapping pictures, scanning barcodes, or using location search. You can also scroll through your most recent additions or hit the springpad button to launch you into the full app. Additionally, there is a voice recording feature I use with my android phone that I don’t see available in the Iphone version. However that may be because I am reviewing this app on my iPod touch, and it is very possible that feature is included on apps running on the iPhone.

The App for iphone and ipod touch is essentially identical, except that the upper right-hand corner of the bar features a settings option, which is located on Android by pressing the menu button on your phone. Apart from the obvious lack of a widget, the iOS app is the same as its android counterpart, but I’m sure the iPad version is awesome because all iPad apps are awesome. Both versions give you almost all of the functionality of the web app, and any updates or additions you add to any one of the versions will show up in all of the others almost instantaneously. It’s like being able to “let mommy take care of it” from wherever you are.
If this sounds like a lot, don’t get discouraged. Even if someone were to install Springpad in only one location, and use it to only keep track of the simplest part of their lives, they’d love it and find it useful too. I started using Springpad only to keep track what I did all day at work: I’d complete a task, then add it to the list, and not the other way around for some very dumb reason. The point is, the app is so clean and pretty, and their design is so self-explanatory, that it is an absolute pleasure to use on any medium for any purpose. I really like trying out different notepad, organization, and task-list utilities and apps (much like shiny new organizers I looked forward to each year in school) and I’ve been through close to a dozen, but this one really takes the cake, and reminds you to pick one up on the way home.
Exit mobile version