Out of Milk a 3-in-1 List Creator Productivity Application
by Paul Wilks
Jul 13, 2011 8:44 AM –
Install
Out of Milk (Lists and More) is a useful productivity application that essentially performs three tasks. Firstly it is an effective shopping list creator that includes a barcode scanner. It is also allows you to create lists of pantry items, allowing you to have a complete itinerary of what you have in your cupboards. Lastly it is also a cool to-do list generator. An all around comprehensively useful app that helps you keep tabs not only on your stock of food but also an bona fide task list creator too.
Price: Free, $4.99
Tested on: HTC Desire HD
Content Rating: Everyone
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- Three great features; lists, itemized lists and to-do lists.
- Included barcode scanner which auto-lists the items you scan.
- If barcode scanner fails to recognize item you can manually enter it and the app will remember it the next time you scan the same item.
- Quick and easy to use and generate food lists.
- Cool notebook style user interface.
- Ability to create new lists; add notes and continually edit as needed.
- Good task manager app which comes with lots of features.
- Able to enter items via typing, scanning or voice.
- Full version comes with widgets, backup, web support and sharing options.
Cons
- $4.99 is quite steep for a “to-do” list app, but Out of Milk Pro used to be a monthly subscription service, so this is one-off payment is far cheaper than it was previously.
Features:
Out of Milk is an inventory, shopping list management and to-do list generator all in one. It’s essentially 3 applications in 1, so we should look at these separately.
Now, I’m not wholly bothered what food I have in my cupboards as long as it doesn’t run out but some people obviously want to keep a much closer eye on their food consumption and be able to avoid running out of essentials. I imagine for someone with a big family this kind of application would help no end in managing your supplies! Important perhaps too for people who do a lot of home cooking/baking and who want to keep tabs on what they have in there stores. Using this element of the application is simple; start a new list of items- for example the app comes with a default list of spices- and either add the items you have to the list or barcode scan them for easy and accurate entry. Anyone perhaps working professionally in a kitchen would probably benefit hugely from this kind of function, and I would fathom a guess there are not many applications that do this on the Android Market.
So, you scan the contents of your pantry (literally) and realize you have some shopping to do. No problem, you can generate and manage comprehensive lists of items you might need. A great feature here is to create additional lists, so for example if you’re organizing a party or special occasion, you can create a list especially for that, separate say, to your main weekly shopping list. Again you can use the barcode scanner, so as packets go into the bin, or you notice you are running low on an item, scan it into your shopping list for easier recall. Let’s be honest, we’ve all been to a store and completely forgotten what we need, or perhaps we’ve written a scrappy list only to forget something altogether… it happens. However, by carefully using this app, those scrappy pieces of paper that will eventually clog your pockets anyway can be a thing of the past. There is additional features here which helps you manage how much items cost and calculates sales tax, etc. Again, essential and helpful for people managing a food budget.
I originally used Out of Milk for the to-do list creator. While it lacks the widget of say Astrid, it looks cool, had a quite a natural contemporary feel to the user interface. Ultimately, it is easy to create tasks and manage your productivity. There are lots of options in there too, you can set reminders for tasks and add notes to remind you what needs to be done. Like the other applications within Out of Milk, you can create separate lists. So, if you have a host of things to complete in order to arrange this party, you can keep these away from work or college tasks. The whole experience is very intuitive and simple to use. I would imagine the last thing you want is a productivity app that is tricky to use to takes ages to add tasks to- who needs that??
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Out of Milk – To-do list.
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Out of Milk – Created party list.
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Out of Milk – You can move tasks to change priority.
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Out of Milk – Shopping list entries.
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Out of Milk – Pantry lists.
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Out of Milk – Lists can be created individually.
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Out of Milk – Lists can be separate.
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Out of Milk – Set reminders.
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Out of Milk – Creat new lists.
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Out of Milk – Add notes and extra details.
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Out of Milk – Main menu
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Out of Milk – Pro log-in screen.
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Out of Milk – Preferences.
Usefulness:
The 3-in-1 functionality is incredibly useful and full of features. Great for someone managing their levels of food at college, someone with a family that needs to keep track of consumption so as not to run out of essentials or, as I considered in the process of writing this review, perhaps superb for someone who works professionally in a kitchen and need to manage stock levels.
This aside, the to-do list feature alone is very useful and aids productivity.
Ease of Use:
Like I have mentioned, productivity apps need to be easy to use, if they are not they merely waste more of your time! Out of Milks is very simple to use, and adding a task or an item of shopping to your lists on the fly is simple, straightforward and intuitive.
Frequently Used:
You could easily be using this every day for scanning needed shopping items and creating to-do lists for yourself.
Interface:
The interface is a smooth attempt at making the app look like a busy notebook, ripped pages, coffee cup stains and yellowing paper makes this look like a chef’s journal. This might not be for everyone, as it looks a little tatty. The web interface for Pro users looks smarter, it might be nice for the developers to add a few different themes.
Tags:
Android App,
Android Apps,
AndroidTapp.com App Review,
Barcode Scanner,
Out of Milk,
Productivity,
Shopping,
tasks,
To-do,
To-Do Lists
Categorised in: Productivity, Shopping
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