Another GTD Contender - Openloopz

There was a slight setback in my GTD life this week. NirvanaHQ have decided to pull the pin on their current Android app direction. They will be looking at developing a new Android app from scratch and it may be a couple of months before we see anything. That means I am left with a second version of the beta. It is functional but as you would expect, buggy.

That means that the 2nd place prize winner is back in my focus once again. I haven't written about Openloopz but I have to say, this little app is quite the cracker!

OpenLoopz, IMHO tick's just about all of the boxes, and the ones it doesn't are being developed.

1. Firstly, it is a very pure implementation of GTD, complete with what I consider to be the Holy Grail on an Android platform, auto next action.
2. Secondly, it is a smooth, bug free, fast light app. It is a pleasure to use. Seriously, you should check it out. If only the majority of Android apps were both as smooth and aesthetically pleasing.
3. OpenLoopz also has a handy little geo location dimension to it. If you tag geographical contexts (like @Home and @Work as opposed to @Computer etc) your list of active tasks will be based upon your location. Very very handy, certainly for someone like me.

The reason why it doesn't have a five star rating from me (and indeed the reason I am still hobbling along with Nirvana HQ instead of OpenLoopz) is that:

1. The big drawback is that it is a hack to make work across multiple devices. There is a backup function, but there is no simple cloud sync option just yet. The developer is working on this as we speak and I look forward to seeing what it will look like.
2. Another smaller pet peeve of mine is the ability to look at a list of tasks by context. I have not been able to figure out how to do this just yet. What I mean is the ability to flick to @Agenda-Team Meeting and get a list of all the tasks I have added to that context quickly. (This was the reason why MLO is in third place, see my previous posts for more info on that handy little app.)

So in my mind, it is a race. NirvanaHQ are working on their Android app to supplement their first class web based GTD system, whilst OpenLoopz has a brilliant Android app but are now working on the back end. A race to the middle. Good luck to the both of them.

Watch this space.