Any Gmail power user knows how critical and useful Google Tasks is. It really stays out of your way, yet helps you when you need it most. Android users have been asking for an official Google Tasks Android app for ages, but nothing has come their way so far.
Luckily we found BHive Google Tasks, a solution to sync Google Tasks with your Android. It integrates really well with the Google Tasks API and enables users to sync their task lists over to any Android device. It doesn’t come cheap (at almost $5), but once you start using it, you start loving it so much that you’d forget about how much you paid for it.
Let’s dive head first into BHive Google Tasks.
Upon installation, BHive Google Tasks leaves the user a bit confused by only showing the simple screen below. It’s only once you hit Menu > Sync, that it will prompt you for access to your Google Account. Once you’ve provided access, you need to initialize the sync once again to start retrieving and sync your Google Tasks with your Android.
Sync Google Tasks with Android
The flexibility of the app shows up when you start using the bar at the top. That’s where you’ll be spending most of your time once you get used to the app.
The first button allows you to filter tasks based on their due date. This obviously comes in handy when you need to quickly find out when you need to complete a certain task.
The second button is all about the various sublists that you may have created with Google Tasks to better segregate and organize your tasks. It filters the tasks based on the categories that you may have specified.
The third button is for filtering by tags. Tags are similar to Labels under Gmail and enable you a convenient filing mechanism where a single task such as “Complete The Laundry” may come under Housekeeping, as well as Weekend Chores.
The remaining three icons let you filter based on whether or not a task is a high priority, or if it has been starred, or if you want to revisit tasks that have already been completed. It’s a quick way of getting a bird’s eye view of your to-do list.
The New Task window (accessible from Menu > New Task) allows you to specify everything you may possibly need to while creating a new task. You can input a name for the task, set a due date, a reminder, and even specify recurrence attributes. Once done, you can assign it to a category, specify tags and assign the task a priority. There’s even a handy field to enter additional notes that you might need to keep in mind.
The settings menu is fairly spartan and only provides the option to change the sync interval. I’ve found that a 6 hour sync window works really well for me, although there’s even an option to sync every 30 minutes.
Syncing Google Tasks with your Android through an app like BHive Google Tasks takes something that can be daunting and provides a solution that is tailor-made for the average-Joe. Getting used to BHive Google Tasks is easy as pie and you can literally start depending on it from the moment you start using it.
Here’s a quick video to show you how it works.
Do you use Google Tasks? Do you take it on the go with you? How do you sync Google Tasks with your Android or other mobile phone?
