Madness

Ever since my first Franklin Planner, I've been a big believer in PIM (Personal Information Management). Boy, was I ever glad to get rid of the paper and go digital with my Palm Pilot. I went through a succession of Palm products, including the Sony Clie and a Treo. When I heard that Palm was giving up on smartphones after the Pre, I was devastated; I had no idea what I would do when my Treo finally broke down.

The decision was forced upon me, shortly after I took my Treo for a swim. (Note to self: ziploc bags aren't waterproof, even three layers deep.) I'd seen Apple's idea of PIM from my wife's iPhone: barely functional, unless you paid for their Mobile Me service, in which case it was tolerable. I decided to go with Android and got a Samsung Galaxy S.

Good lord the AT&T Samsung Captivate sucks. But the hardware itself is a post for another time; right now, I'm considering the Android PIM software independently. I rate it about equal to the iPhone: barely functional. The one big advantage is automatic sync with Google Calendar.

Notes are a big piece of PIM, though. Over the next few weeks, I intend to run several note-taking apps through my personal PIM wringer. The winner will get the coveted "place on my phone" award. And I'll have a record of what made the losers... well, losers.

Let's get to the rules!