When I reviewed the original Bento App for iPhone I was actually pretty psyched about it back then because I thought the technology was neat to be able to carry around custom personal databases on my iPhone and even do some data entry if necessary. However, I found that I really wasn't using it as much as I thought I would. Don't get me wrong, the App definitely works. It's just that I didn't really have a need for it. Yes I need to manage data every day, but the light never came on for me as to what the Killer App would be in my life
Bento for iPad changes the rules
I don't know what it is, but I'm guessing it's the large display. When I first saw Bento running on my iPad my jaw hit the floor. Why? Because it looked like Bento running on my MacBook Pro! It was gorgeous and while the iPhone App was functional, it just didn't come across as well as the iPad version does. The iPad version is so good that it made me look for a reason to use it and I found one. The one thing that I'm struggling with managing these days are the details behind all my travel. The more I thought about it the more I realized how much I could benefit from using Bento on the iPad as my event planner. I love the fact that it's just what I need and not too much and yet not too little either. I could start with one of the NEW built-in Libraries and then add in the fields that I need. Although I'm just getting started with this new database I'm seeing the potential and pay off right off the bat. I need to keep track of things like the event name, location, dates, times, coordinator and expected attendance. I also need to keep track of my travel to these events and since they are international events in many cases I need to know things like the status of my Visa application and whether or not I've booked all my travel. Right now all of that information exists in different places like my calendar, email, contacts and notes App. However, I bring it all into one ELEGANT place with Bento for iPad!
Bento for iPad goes for the low price of $4.99 here on the App Store.
The Bottom Line
Bento for iPad really makes me wish the iPad had a camera because then I really would get into doing more inventory work especially on the iPad. However, that's not Bento's fault. Although the App works great I would like to see a couple of things and one of which is that while you can sync data back and forth, you can only do so via the built-in templates. You can't download from the over 600 available Bento templates for the Mac to the iPad version. Another thing I'd like to see (and again their hands are tied here), is integration with the Calendar. Lastly my Events database would even be more powerful if I could attach PDFs to the records and view them. Many of the event details I get come in PDF format.
Although there a few more things I'd like to see, I'm thrilled with what's here today. I'm already looking for more uses for this dynamite combination. This is why Bento was one of my 10 Must Have iPad Apps!
Bento has 25 ready to use customizable templates built-right in! You can use it stand alone or if you have a Mac and Bento for the Mac you can sync data between the two via WiFi.
Bento for iPad
Bento is a personal database organizer with very visually compelling built-in templates. It can work stand alone or sync with Bento for Mac
- FileMaker Inc.
- Get on App Store
- $4.99
All info was collected on 8th April, 2010 when the app was reviewed.
About Terry White
Terry is the co-author of The Best Selling "The iPhone Book" 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th editions. He has been active in the industry for over 25 years and is the founder and president of MacGroup-Detroit, Inc., Michigan's largest Macintosh Users Group, host of the Adobe Creative Suite Podcast and a technology writer - Terry White Tech Blog.
I don't have Bento for my Mac, so I'm sorry if this is a silly question, but I don't understand something you wrote. Is the only way to get data off the ipad to send it to Bento on your desktop? It can't run a report of some sort that can be emailed or whatever? Also, if I did have Bento on my laptop, are you saying that since you took a standard template, and modified it with some new fields, that you can't transfer it to you desktop at all, just because you aren't using a standard template any more?
Rob,
1) If you want the data off your iPad/iPhone you will need to sync with the desktop version.
2) no reporting in the mobile App, you have to do your reporting from the desktop version.
3) Yes, you can modify one of it’s templates and go back and forth. That’s what I did with the standard Events Template. I actually added the fields I needed on the Mac version and then sync’d it and my fields are there on my iPad and iPhone.
I know that sounds limited, but considering this is only a $5 App, I can live with it even if all I had was the iPad/iPhone version. Simply because I would use it to keep track of things on the device and look things up on the device. If I needed more then I’d go with or sync to the desktop version. As a matter of fact I didn’t even think about these things until you asked. I had no plans of sending the data out. However, I can certainly see why someone would want to. Just not me.
How do you backup your data from this app if you don’t have the desktop version, does iTunes sync back it up?