uTrack

Have you checked out uTrack for the BlackBerry PlayBook yet? Those who seek a task/project management tool may find this application will stick with you. I say this because it offers an interestingly familiar way to manage projects and its corresponding details. Memo pads are used many different ways in an office (home offices as well); quick reminders, messages and office pranks (kick me) are just a few applications. Perhaps at your company you have a boardroom with a huge whiteboard that is littered with these, each representing a task for a much larger project. You move them around as you decide on which ones are more of a priority, or as items get processed. It’s a simple representation on project tracking and management that helps everyone see what needs to be done. The white board becomes the go to wall for what needs to be accomplished, until it meets its demise thanks to a careless member of the cleaning staff. uTrack lets you track the same thing, minus the paper cuts.

With your PlayBook in hand, open up uTrack application. A wallpaper resembling a lined notepad holds your current project. Tapping on it brings you to a wall filled with virtual post its; the wall is divided into four categories – To Do, In Progress, Verify and Done. Within each of these categories is where you will be posting your notes/tasks. At first glance, you will only see the subject of the task, but by tapping on a task, you can see any additional notes you may have entered. When viewing or creating a note, you can assign a colour which you can set any meaning to, such as urgency or type of task or who is the owner of that task.

uTrack Project List
uTrack task list

Moving the notes between categories, or up and down within the same category, is as simple as pressing and dragging. So as you review your work, this effortless management will require less attention, enabling you to focus on getting the work done. If you are within a wall you’ll also notice three buttons at the bottom, allowing you to clear all tasks off of a wall, change the name of the wall or delete the wall itself.

uTrack edit note

Now the lite (free) version of uTrack allows you to make use of only 1 virtual wall and manage up to 10 notes at a time. Recently, Tenpearls released a Pro version of uTrack, which brings you support for:

  • Up to 10 projects
  • 3 walls per project
  • 50 tasks for each wall

That is a lot of notes to manage! To be honest, I wouldn’t know what to do if I had to manage those in the real world. Oh, wait, yes I do; I’d file them in the trash bin. The notes only support text input, which is a bit unfortunate. I would like to be able to attach images or sketch/jot down quick visual ideas as well. Maybe that’s something to think about for a future update. Both versions of uTrack, Pro for $4.99 and uTrack Lite, can be picked up from BlackBerry App World.

More information/download uTrack Lite for the BlackBerry PlayBook
More information/download uTrack Pro for the BlackBerry PlayBook

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