I have a Mac, an iPhone, and a Moleskine Calendar.
Well actually, the Moleskine calendar was my girlfriend’s idea for me to start organizing myself… and it worked, for a short while.
I’m one of those people that just can’t stick to one way. I’ve read and used tons of material on improving productivity and making the whole experience a little bit more fun, but it just didn’t work out for me in the long run. I would try an App – quit an App in a matter of days, simply because It wouldn’t stick. I couldn’t be consistent with it.
With Fantastical, I have a new experience to share…
What’s Special About Fantastical?
Fantastical is equipped with a nifty feature that recognizes natural language, and translates it into Calendar terms, thus making an otherwise many-step process to add an event, a walk in the park.
Highlighting used for the purpose of understanding how Fantastical takes natural language and fills in the appropriate fields.
Fantastical is accessible by either clicking on the Menu-Bar icon on the top-right corner of your mac, or by hitting the already-assigned key-stroke (which is editable of course for the sake of convenience).
You can also add an event by bringing up the Fantastical Menu and double-clicking on the date you wish to add an event on.
Double-Click on the Date to add an event without having to specify the date in “Natural” language.
Invite Participants: Check!
When you plan a meeting or activity, and you add the name of a contact in Fantastical, it will recognize that a contact has been used, give you the option to specify which one it is (in case you use a name which exists numerous times in your Address Book – like “John”), and allow you to invite the contact to the appointment without having to exit the App. Great!
Little Details
There are several little features you can enjoy in Fantastical…
Simply enough, clicking on an event, or hovering over a date, display different kinds of information:
Clicking on an Event reveals all relevant information.
Alternatively, you can Mouse-Over a Date and get relevant information on the whole date’s itinerary.
Pros
- Spectacular UI
- Natural Language Recognition (Probably the most important feature that sets it apart from the competition)
- Very good iCal and Address Book Integration
- Automatically Syncs with Google Calendar.
- Shiny Price Tag ($14.99) – some argue that the Looks(UI) may not be worth the price.
- Competitors are pricing at much lower prices $2.99 for QuickCal
- Does not support To-Do entries.
