Fantastical shines on the iPad's display
Fantastical from Flexibits has been my go-to calendar on the Mac and iPhone for a long time now. This week the company released an iPad version (US$9.99) that takes advantage of the device's big display. The app isn't simply larger on the iPad. The developers clearly sat down and considered how the additional room could affect Fantastical's functioning. The results are quite nice.
The biggest "wow moment" is the dashboard. The iPhone version provides either a week view or a monthly view (the so-called "Day Ticker") plus a running list of upcoming events. It's tidy, handy and definitely mobile. On the iPad, the Dashboard is much more feature-rich.
For starters, the Day Ticker displays three additional days. Also, you get month and daily view simultaneously, which is very handy. A reminders list appears on the list. Having all three on screen at once is something the iPhone app can't do and it's a very nice feature on the iPad. Similar to what you find on the iPhone and Mac apps, as you swipe through the Day Ticker, the corresponding events and appointments appear in a vertical list below. I like this quite a bit and it looks great on the iPad.
But the Day Ticker has two more tricks up its sleeve! Pull down part way to reveal an expanded six-day view. Keep pulling and you'll get a full-screen weekly view. The best part is that you can move appointments around via drag-and-drop.
Another change is that Flexibits decided to avoid popovers in Fantastical for iPad. Instead, these panels slide in from the side. It's a bit jarring at first, but they're quite legible and leave a bit of the background visible. You get used to them after a while and they start to make sense.
Long-time Fantastical users will find that beloved features like natural language support and cute animations are intact.
As I've said, Fantastical is my preferred calendar on the iPhone and Mac. It's very nice to see the iPad get in on the action, especially with such a nice iteration of the app.
