To-do list apps are never that exciting – in fact, most of them simply rehash the same ideas. Different lists, and items you check off underneath each. But today a new app launched that has had a few user interface desginers very excited. You see, Clear does not follow any user interface guidelines which most good designers seem to agree with. Instead it uses an interface entirely devoid of buttons.

Users use a combination of pinches, drags and sweeps in order to create and complete tasks. In fact, the only familiar part of the interfaces is the occasional keyboard that pops up. Here is a basic guide to using the app:

- Pull down on a list to add an item

- Swipe an item right to complete it

- Swipe an item or list left to delete it

- Pinch apart two items to insert a new one between them

- Pinch vertically together to close the current list and show all the lists

Any items in your list can have a colour associated with it, but you simply hold them and drag them to the priority you want. You might want to check out this hands on demo of the app:

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If you need your Blackberry to keep you posted on all things Rugby World Cup, you can now go and download the official Rugby World Cup app from the Blackberry Appworld. The app will feature live match commentary via text, include videos after half time and full time, stats and score updates.

The best part is that a lot of this functionality is integrated right into the BBM IM client, so you will be constantly updated should you choose to do so. Events are also built into the calendar, so you can plan your day around the the games you really cannot afford to lose out on.

Here is the full feature rundown:

• Add fixtures for any match to your built-in calendar or add all the fixtures for your favourite team.
• BBM 6 integration provides real-time content sharing, automatic status updates and live match in-app chat.
• Access the Match Centre for live match coverage, including real-time live commentary, stats and video highlights.
• Get the latest news and keep up to date with the RWC 2011 Daily video.
• In New Zealand and want to know what to do? Go to the Fan Zone section to find out what events are on near where you are right now.
• Going to the match? Check out stadium locations, seating plans and facilities.

RWC 2011 starts on 9 September, so go and download it today here. With SA’s rugby crazy culture and the phenomenal popularity of the Blackberry, this app is sure to be a hit!

Related: Check out Blackberry’s new Curve, Bold and Torch models which should arrive in SA soon.

Guest Post: Kobus Elhers is a lecturer in Informatics specialising in Decision Making. He’s passionate about good design and spends his time looking at how technology impacts society. Of course he also has a slight gadget addiction.

Technologically FNB really has no equal in the South African banking space. They have an excellent internet banking platform (integrated with share trading and investment platforms), they offer several innovative mainstream products like card-less withdrawals and cellphone transfers, their use of Twitter is unparalleled (check out @RBJacobs), they have (mostly) figured out how OTP’s should work, they provide the only PayPal service in SA and they even operate as a VASP providing ADSL and VOIP services through FNBConnect. The list continues…

A few years ago FNB launched their first App (FNBConnect) to allow users to locate ATM’s and utilise some of the other VASP functionality. This week, however, saw the launch of the first integrated mobile banking application in SA. The FNB App was launched for Android, Blackberry and iPhone platforms. The app has generally been well received and generated a large amount of internet buzz. For those of you who are not FNB customers, do not have a compatible phone or haven’t installed the app yet, I’ll provide a quick review of the iPhone application here.

Functionality
In essence the app provides a more convenient and elegant version of all the commonly used functionality provided by the online banking system. (more…)

Count us fooled. A few days ago Facebook did a seemingly normal little update to its iPhone app – only to have Techcrunch figure out that it contains the secret iPad version of the Facebook app, using a universal binary. A while back Mark Zuckerburg said they will not build an iPad app, because it is not a “mobile device”. Despite recent mumblings of Facebook switching its focus to HTML5 only development (Project Spartan), it looks the FB developers have indeed been very busy with a great looking new Facebook for iPad app.

The apparent refusal by Facebook to develop a full iPad app until now has long been one of those things that bothered many users, so its great to see this new app. The design is pretty great. The app seems to work in two panes – with simple navigation on the left hand side, with content on the right. Simple pop-ups appear whenever you want comment and “like”, and new interface looks great for photos. Another weird design decision is the new dark left hand side, which is a welcome shift from Facebook’s traditional white and blue designs.

At present the only way to install this “unofficial” FB app is to install the current iPhone FB app on a jailbroken iPad. We are not going to tell you how to do it, but a simple Google Search will help you out. But we are more than willing to wait a little. So when can we expect it? Most sources seem to suggest that it it imminent – so lets give a few weeks… Expect our runthrough here the moment it arrives.

Images: TechCrunch (and MG Siegler who clearly does not have an issue with his profile page being shown over the entire web…)

So you might be a seasoned twitter user, or you are eager to get a feel for this “tweet” thing everyone is talking about. Now you obviously just head over to twitter.com, but you know all the cool kids are doing it directly from their phones. Luckily its pretty easy to dive into the world of twitter with the following Twitter clients on iPhone:

5) Hootsuite

Hootsuite is one of the great web-based clients for your PC, so its only natural for them to focus on the iPhone as well. The interface is clean and uncluttered, and very smooth. Integration with Foursquare works well – so if you want to save switching between Twitter and Foursquare, Hootsuite might just be perfect for you. One disadvantage is that you have to use the built in Ow.ly URL shortener.

4) Tweetdeck

Now I know there are some Tweetdeck fanatics – but I do not find it the best Twitter client for iPhone. I find it too busy, even though I do like the white text on black theme. There is also Facebook integration should you want that – but its really limited. One of the advantages is that if you use Tweetdeck on your PC, you can easily import all your collumns to your phone, and its syncs your unread messages. One small thing that bothers me is that Tweetdeck is still optimised for the Retina display. How long has iPhone 4 and the latest iPod Touch been out?

3) Twitteriffic

While its not my favourite Twitter app, Twitteriffic is always a pleasure to use because they do not stick with the boring, dull, text heavy interfaces some of the other apps use. Tweets are marked in colours – with a different colour for mentions and messages. Unfortuantely it is not free, but the ads do not really bother too much. Small details like geotagging and image previews seems to be missing on the free version.

2) Seesmic

One thing I always like about Seesmic is that they have unique interfaces – while this version is not as pretty as the Seesmic for Windows Phone 7 version, it does have a unique “Spaces” environment which reminds me of Expose on Mac OS X. If you use a variety of social networks, Seesmic currently also supports Myspace, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Flickr, Blogger, Delicio.us and you can even save your tweets on Evernote.

1) Twitter for iPhone

This app used to be called Tweetie, which has always been the Twitter app that other apps tried to mimic. Small details in the interface make it an absolute pleasure to use. For example – you know that small “pull down to refresh” interface feature some apps use? Tweetie was the app that did it first. In fact Tweetie was so good that Twitter decided to buy it from Atebits, and then rebranded it as the official Twitter app on iPhone. Its very quick and integrates well with all the necessary Twitter features. My app of choice. The iPad version looks even better.

Now this is a pretty novel modern twist on an old idea – the walkie talkie. Heytell enables easy to-and-fro voice messages between smartphone users, and I have to be honest, it works pretty well! Its pretty easy to understand – User A clicks on User B’s  name in the app, then clicks the “Hold to Speak” button, then the app records the message, compresses it, and fires it off to the recipient.

One of the cooler parts of the app is that it is currently available on iPhone and Android – so regardless whether the users of the two operating systems might not agree with each other, they can at least communicate with each other. I tried it out with the guys over at ZaDroid on their devices, and it worked flawlessly between iPhone and Android. On the iPhone it pops up a push notification whenever you have message waiting.

No you might ask – how is this different to Push To Talk? Well – you do not have instantly hear every message, you can listen to it whenever you want, its just waiting in your inbox. As David Perel points out in Charl’s video review of Heytell, the app is also great for quick messaging while driving. Its pretty stupid to send off an SMS, where this app is very easy to use. I can imagine it being quite popular to contact one or two favourites. You can also share your current position with the person you are talking with – think you great that is when you need to meet someone somewhere?

If there is one little bit of advice I can give to the HeyTell developers – please get it on Blackberry as soon as possible, and perhaps also Symbian. If the cross-platform integration works so well with iPhone and Android, it would be even better with Blackberry! Another small point of advice – maybe get some decent user interface specialists in – the icons and buttons have a very “quick and dirty” feel about them. But hey – I am nitpicking here!

Best part – it is free, and it just works! (But there are a few add-ons like voice changers available). You can get it in the Apple Appstore and the Android Marketplace. Next up: Charl Norman’s video review of HeyTell: