This week features my pal Tim Stringer (Website)(Twitter). Tim is a productivity consultant at Technically Simple and just launched his own website on teaching OmniFocus called, appropriately Learn OmniFocus. Okay Tim, show us your home screen.
What are some of your favorite apps?
OmniFocus 2 has a proud place on my dock. I find it’s an elegant and convenient app for referencing and updating my projects and actions on the go.
I’m also a big fan of Drafts. It’s my go-to app when I need to capture something and don’t have time to worry about where it belongs.
I’ve evaluated other calendar apps and keep coming back to Fantastical. It strikes a near perfect balance between style and functionality.
Another gem is Soulver. I use it regularly for quick calculations on both my Macs and iOS devices and like how my data is seamlessly synced between my devices via iCloud.
Day One is the georgeous app that has helped motivate me to journal on a regular basis. I sometimes write Day One entries on my iPad and Macs and appreciate the convenience of accessing my virtual journal from anywhere.
Habit List is another beautifully crafted app. I’ve been using it regularly since January 1, 2013 and this app has been instrumental in helping me cultivate some constructive new habits.
Which app is your guilty pleasure?
I admitted to being a bit of a podcast junkie when I shared my home screens a couple of years back. Not much has changed on that front, except that Instacast is now my podcast app of choice. I was drawn to the visual design of this app as well as its ability to sync with Instacast for Mac.
What is the app you are still missing?
I’m still waiting for an app that lets me point my iPhone’s camera at something, such as a tree or an exotic sports car I see parked on the street, and get detailed information on whatever it is that’s grabbing my attention. Though, I’d just rather that this app not be tied to a database of people. I like to get to know folks the old fashioned way.
How many times a day do you use your iPhone?
It really depends on my circumstances. I tend to refer to my iPhone quite frequently when I’m out and about here in Vancouver or traveling the world, but my treasured device often lies relatively dormant when I’m at home, where I tend to favor my Macs and iPad.
What is your favorite feature of the iPhone?
I appreciate having a good quality camera in my pocket. I’m planning to upgrade my iPhone 5 when Apple releases the next generation of iPhones and can only imagine what improvements Apple will make to the camera.
If you were in charge at Apple, what would you add or change?
I would add the option to store dictation libraries on iOS devices, to allow people to dictate text even when they’re not connected to the Internet. While I’m at it, I would have words appear on screen as they’re spoken. I’ve gotten use to having these features in Mac OS 10.9 “Mavericks” and know many people who would gladly give up some storage space on their iOS devices for this functionality.
What’s your wallpaper and why?
I use a simple, grey grid pattern for my wallpaper. This graphic matches my iPhone 5’s black frame nicely and keeps the focus on the beautiful app icons that designers worked hard to create.
Anything else you’d like to share?
I have a total of three home screens. The first contains the apps that I use most frequently and consists of 12 apps right on the home screen and four folders: “News/Read”, “On the Move”, “Social” and “More…”. The contents of these folders varies somewhat depending on my circumstances. For example, if I were jetting across the Great White North, I might have the “Air Canada” or “WestJet” apps in my “On the Move” folder and if I were enjoying some time at Macworld/iWorld I would temporarily add the “Macworld/iWorld” event app to my “More…” folder for easy access. The second home screen contains my less frequently used apps grouped into folders, that I most often launch the iOS search feature, and the third home screen houses the App Store app as well as any apps that I’m currently evaluating.
Thanks Tim.