Bento for iPhone/iPod Touch

Reviewed by Ted Bade

$4.99 USD

System Requirements: Bento requires an iPhone or iPod touch with the iPhone 2.2 software update. Runs standalone, and if you’d like desktop synchronization, it requires Bento 2.0v4 for Mac desktop software and a Wi-Fi wireless network connection

Strengths: Terrific portability, easy to use standalone features for creating databases on the go.

Weaknesses: Limited screen sizes, keyboard takes up a lot of space and cannot be hidden. Syncing with Mac version requires a WiFi network both the device and the Mac are connected to.

Previous Reviews: See my review of Bento in MacCompanion.

Introduction

The people at Filemaker have created a version of Bento, their consumer level database application that works on the iPhone/iPod touch. Fans of Bento will be pleased to see that they can bring the power of Bento along with them, easily on their iPhones/Touches.

When I first heard about a version of Bento that would work on the iPhone/Touch I was interested. Databases are really nice, but if you use one to keep track of important things in your life, you need to lug a MacBook around if you want to access them. Until now. This version of Bento means your databases can go anywhere you and your iPhone/Touch go.

I have to admit, I am not really a big fan of the iPhone/Touch input interface. It works, but data entry is awkward at best (for me). Big fingers and old eyes limit the value of this interface, but nothing beats the portability. But the connection to a Mac that runs Bento makes this a very useful tool. I can do all the hard work of creating a usable database on my Mac, then take the data with me. If I do update the database on the road, when I sync, the data gets back to my Mac. So if I don’t do “te besst job uf typng” on the Touch, I can easily edit the update on the Mac!

If you haven’t ready my review of Bento, you should take a moment to. (There is a link at the top of this article). Bento for the iPhone/Touch does just about everything that the version on the Mac does. You can create and access databases containing text, graphics, URLs, and even motion video. Then organize this data in various ways that make the most sense for the way you work. There are plenty of templates to get you started as well. The iPhone/Touch version is completely stand alone, you really don’t need the Mac version to create valuable databases.

While you can do just about anything you can do with Bento on the Mac with this version, I personally see it more as a way to easy access important data when you are away from the Mac. I have made use of it to keep track of authors I read and books I have read, so when I am wondering about my favorite book stores, I know which book was last in the series, and perhaps even which is next. I even have a list of those books I want to look for. What I found to be cool was the ability to use a link to an author’s web site to check on what he or she is doing, making use of the store’s wireless network.

Another practical use is for the gardener. We keep images and information about plants we are looking for or already have, as well as images of our flower beds and landscape projects. We can use this information as we wander plant nurseries to help us better decide what to buy. Let us not forget that we can also use Bento to bring along a list of things we need to buy!

A portable version of Bento is very valuable to us. I believe other “technologically adaptive” (aka Geeky) families would also find value as well. Then again, people who just like to keep their life organized will also find it very useful.

The biggest issue I had with using Bento for the iPhone/Touch wasn’t an issue with Bento or with Filemaker, but with Apple. It seems somebody high up at Apple has some issues with allowing iPhone/Touch owners moving data to their device via the connection to the Mac. Sure sanctioned images, music, and video can go that route, but when it comes to personal data, no way.

I know a lot of people out there use wireless networks. It makes networking very easy for the average user. But it bleeds around everywhere (if I turn on the Airport ability of my MacBook Pro I can see and access several networks in my neighborhood.) Personally, I never found running a wired network very hard. So that is what I did. In any case, Apple, this is a very awkward way of moving data. Why can’t I just move it when the iPhone/Touch is connected to my Mac?

So I found myself testing this version of Bento and wondering how I was supposed to get my databases onto it. There were no options for which ones to move onto it while I was connected to iTunes. It turns out that the only way to move database data onto the portable device is to have both the iPhone/Touch and the Mac with the databases of interest connected to the same wireless network. Which leaves wired homes like mine out in the dark. What is Apple thinking? Luckily, you can use a computer to computer wireless network to transfer the data. I was able to turn on the built-in Airport feature of our MacMini to create a network. Once I logged our iTouch onto this network, Bento on the Mac was able to send the data over.

Over all the Bento interface is pretty good. I did have a couple of issues with it. First of all my wife wanted to keep a list of items we are collecting, which lists which we have, which we don’t, and of those we have, if we liked them or not (in case we’d like to get some more). When I bring up this note, half of the screen is permanently taken up by the Touch’s keypad interface. Which means I have to do a lot more scrolling to get to an item on the list. I would be a lot happier if the keypad interface could be brought up or hidden when wanted.

Help on the iPhone/Touch is online. So if you aren’t connected to a WiFi network, you won’t get any help. Perhaps the FileMaker people could just include a database made with Bento, that can be used on the iPhone/Touch to get help.

Just as we were going to press with the July edition of macCompanion, FileMaker released an update to Bento for the iPhone/Touch. This update improves stability of the application and takes advantage of features in version 3 of the iPhone/iTouch operating system. The Bento update is free. However, I did run into issues with syncing the databases after the update. I am really perturbed with Apple and their annoying limitation of file transfers.

Overall, Bento for the iPhone/Touch is a great little application. Once the issues with getting data synced are completely ironed out, it will be a tremendously handy application for keeping all types of information with you. It is easy to use as any App I have used and works very well. It goes best with a version on the Mac. Then you get the best of both worlds, easy creation and control along with phenomenal portability. I love this App!