Not long ago, I pretty much jumped into Cloud computing and never looked back.  While I still like Outlook 2007, I found it was starting to run slower on my Vista machine; and I could only access my calendar from one location.  Since the majority of my day is spent using computers other than my home laptop, this was beginning to become an unworkable situation. So, I switched my calendar to Google Calendar.  I am a huge fan of the Google applications, and this was a fantastic way to track my schedule from anywhere.   Now, it does not matter if I am at home, travelling with my Wind, at work, or even at a friend’s house – I can check it, and add new items from anywhere.

Of course, the inevitable problem soon arose.  How do I close the loop and sync my Google calendar with my mobile device?  I quickly found several solutions for Windows Mobile, but when I got my iPod Touch, I found all of the same problems recurring.  And none of the solutions I had found for Windows Mobile were available.  Until, that is, I discovered Saisuke. 

Saisuke, obviously, is a calendar application for your iPhone or iPod Touch.  Due to the limitations of the platform (other applications cannot access the native calendar database), it cannot sync to your normal iPhone Calendar. I am not a fan of iCal (right), so this was not a real problem for me.

The first thing you are going to want to do is point Saisuke to your Google Calendar.  Do this under the settings icon on your iPhone.  Just enter the email account and password you use to access Google Calendar.  That’s it.  Open Saisuke, hit sync, and it will find all of the calendars which are accessed by your account.   You can even decide whether your information will sync from Google calendar to your iPhone, iPhone to Google calendar, or both.

I was also pretty impressed to find that all of the views you might expect from a calendar program are included in Saisuke.  The widest view of your schedule comes from the year view.  This is a single at-a-glance view of the entire year, divided by months.  You won’t be able to see any specific information about your schedule in this view, but it will help you planning your schedule from several months in advance.  Tap any month to expand to month view.

So, let’s take a look at month view.  As you can see, the screen is divided into two sections.  On top is your calendar for the month.  In each box, a small blurb shows each event for the day.  The nice thing here is that each event is color coded by category.  So, with a quick glance, you can get a snapshot of your upcoming schedule.  Tap any day, and the section underneath the calendar will show additional details for each event. 

Tap on any event to open it and view the full details.

For me, however, the full month view never quite cut it.  I always found it to be a little too cluttered to be useful.  For real usability, I have always preferred week view.  I have to admit, however, that I was a little disappointed by the week view in Saisuke.  Unlike many programs offered on other platforms, Saisuke does not center on the current date.  instead, you get a static view of the week.  It always starts on Sunday and ends on Saturday, with six equal boxes arranged in two columns.  Five of these boxes contain the days Sunday through Thursday.  the last box contains Friday and Saturday.  Most programs handle this view by highlighting the selected day.  The current day is typically contained in a large box across the top.  The next six days are arranged in two columns beneath it.  This ensures that the most relevant information (what I call the right now information) is always the most accessible.  I hope the week view will be improved in future editions of Saisuke.

Of course, if you are a traditionalist, then you are going to want a full agenda.  Your day broken into half-hour, bite sized bits.  Well, for that, you can just tap on the day view.   This view will show you your day, broken into hour long increments (with each half hour division marked off.)  Like the other modes, your appointments will be displayed with color coding to match their assigned categories.

The final view is list view.  This gives an overview of your entire agenda.  All of your appointments are arranged in a list, sorted by date and time.  Just scroll through the list to see what the rest of your day holds.  As an added benefit, each item has a colored icon in front of it, denoting the category assigned to it.

Creating an appointment is easy.  You can either add it to your Google calendar, and then sync; or you can simply tap the create new button from within Saisuke and add an appointment to your calendar.  Saisuke also gives you the option of creating a notification to remind you of your upcoming appointments.  I was disappointed, however, to find that this feature did not work at all.  I tested it on several different occasions, and was never offered any kind of reminder, despite setting it to do so.  Nonetheless, there is also an option to be reminded via email and SMS message.  These features seemed to work better.

It is funny to me that PIM and calendar applications, like Saisuke, are among the most popular and functional programs available for Windows Mobile.  Yet, they are virtually nonexistent on the iPhone.  In fact, Saisuke is the only full calendar application I have been able to find thus far for my iPod Touch.  Fortunately, it works, and works well.  It offers significant functionality beyond the native calendar application, including: two views more than the native calendar application (week and year), as well as the ability to sync with Google calendar.   Still, I was disappointed to find that there were none of the other functions which normally come with a PIM application, such as task management and contacts.  Nonetheless, this is exactly the kind of application I was hoping to find when the App Store initially opened for business.   Hopefully, this will be a sign of more things to come.

What I Liked:

• multiple views
• color coded categories
• Google calendar sync

What Needs Improvement:

• week view needs to be reorganized
• no tasks
• no contacts
• alarm notifications do not work

Where To Buy: iTunes App Store

More Information: Say Software

Price: $9.99

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