Daily Routine Review

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Daily Routine Review

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Daily Routine Review

By Phillip Levin on August 24th, 2011
Our Rating:

:: FUNKY BUT CONFUSING
iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad

This one favors looks over functionality, unfortunately.

Developer: Jaysen Marais
Price: $2.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Device Reviewed On: iPhone

iPhone Integration Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
User Interface Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Re-use Value Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 3.17 out of 5 stars

For those looking to better organize their life, Daily Routine offers the hope of being able to do just that.

The app, designed by Jaysen Marais, features a funky-looking interface – a mish mash of colors that morph as users scroll through the app – doesn’t attempt the same-old, boring, Excel-esque approach to productivity that so many other apps on the App Store do. Within seconds, its obvious that its designer wanted the process of using the app to be one that’s fun and enjoyable.

Daily Routine allows users to create their own “routines” – or a time-slot-based schedule of tasks for the day. Creating a task is as straightforward as specifying a time slot for it and creating a name for each activity (such as “work” or “go to store”). But the app allows room for plenty more customization. Users can choose from a huge list of icons to represent that routine, change each routine’s color, set notification reminders and even e-mail a PDF version of the routine to themselves.

There’s also a calendar feature, enabling users to assign routines to specific days. They can even set up pattern-based calendars. For example, users can create a routine that repeats only on weekends, a routine for weekdays and so on. Definitely a useful feature.

There’s one big problem with Daily Routine, though, and it goes back to that funky-looking interface. While it’s eye-catching and the use of colors and geometry make the experience an eye-pleasing one, the mechanics of the interface aren’t as functional. The interface is just kind of confusing and takes time to learn. It’s not intuitive, and at times, it just feels overly complicated. For an app that’s purpose lies in productivity, this kind of shortcoming is nothing short of a crime, truly.

While I love the look and feel of Daily Routine and many of its features are useful, its steep price — $2.99 is just a bit too much for this kind of app – makes it a difficult app to easily and broadly recommend across the board. Depending on user’s needs, it may be worth the cost of admission. But for many, the price probably won’t be worth the product – one that offers useful features marred by a visually-appealing but clumsy and far-from-intuitive interface.