Executive Assistant
by Toni McQuilken
May 13, 2011 11:00 AM –
Install
Executive Assistant. Executive Assistant provides an all-in-one interface for quickly reviewing your: Email: any combination of GMail, Google Apps, or POP/IMAP accounts. Exchange too if you use the K-9 email app; Text messages: both native and Google Voice, including pop-up and reply options; Missed calls: return calls directly from the app; Calendar events (including Exchange & Facebook if supported by your phone); Tasks: Astrid, Got To Do, GTasks by Dato, or ToDo Task Manager (lite or pro); Google Reader; Twitter timeline; Facebook news.
Price: Free, $6.99
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- A quick way to get at-a-glance information
- Very customizable for a variety of information types, as well as ways to access them
Cons
- While email will sync with Gmail and K9 Mail, if you use the stock email client, it doesn’t see the account and requires you to download an add-on and re-add the account to the phone
- The lock-screen mode is occasionally a bit buggy when an alarm is going off at the same time
- You have to set up default programs within the app for opening things – it doesn’t automatically use the Facebook app to open Facebook posts, for example, you have to manually set it up
Features:
Executive Assistant is an app that brings together all of your information in one place, for accessing at a glance. You can configure it to pull from a wide variety of sources, such as Twitter, Facebook, your RSS feeds, and it will pull your email, SMS messages and missed calls as well.
There are three ways to use the app – as a lock screen replacement, as a widget, or by opening the app itself. I personally think the lock screen mode is the most useful, since it allows you to see all your information without even needing to go into the phone. The drawback is that anyone else who picks up your phone can also see that information. It also is occasionally buggy when it comes to trying to snooze an alarm.
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Executive Assistant Main
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Executive Assistant Widget
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Executive Assistant Reader
Usefulness:
If you’re looking for an app to pull all your information into one place for taking in at a glance, then this is the app for you. The free version is ad-supported, and the paid version has no ads.
Ease of Use:
It’s actually very easy to set up and get running. My only real complaint was that with email, I wanted to add a POP3 account that I use occasionally as a test. Unfortunately, unless you specifically use K9, you’ll have to download Executive Assistant’s plug in and configure your email a second time.
Frequently Used:
If you’re looking for this kind of at-a-glance information, odds are good you’re the kind of person who will be checking it all day every day.
Interface:
The interface is very clean, and you can customize it to suit your needs. I really like that the developer has gone out of the way to give you several ways to access the information, giving you even more power over how you’ll use the app.