You can now get Filemaker's easy-to-use database application - with 25 useful templates - for iPhone or iPod Touch.
The application, which includes a recipe database, inventory, to-do lists, event planning and more, costs just $5.99 from the App Store.
You can use it to manage anything from contacts and club members to projects, parties, medical bills and vehicle maintenance.
The new FileMaker Bento-toGo is a standalone application, and will sync with and can also import data via Outlook
If you have a Mac, you can also use it as an extension of Bento 2 for Mac ($79RRP). If you use the Mac version already, you'll need Bento 2.0v4, now available as a free update to allow synchronization with Bento for iPhone and iPod.
We had a demonstration from FileMaker last week, and we'll review the application once we get the final release, but in the meantime, here are the pros and cons.
Many templates, one app
Bento's many templates mean that you can get started immediately, but a blank template also means that you can create unlimited new databases on your iPhone or iPod touch, rather than needing to create it on a Mac and then synchronise the new database onto your iPhone/iPod Touch.
The sheer number of templates mean that instead of buying many small single-purpose applications, you can buy one app that you can modify to suit your needs or use as-is for simplicity.
Linked everywhere
One of the main advantages that Bento has over other applications is that, on your iPhone or iPod, you get the advantages of Mac OS X links - you can link iPhone contacts, photos, music, and other information into databases, and then changes in one location will update everywhere. If you have a Mac and Bento 2.0v4, you can synchronise databases and changes wirelessly between iPhone and computer.
Those links also let you include information from your Contacts, Safari, Phone Dialing, Mail and Google Maps that you can launch right from within Bento. Tap to call a contact, view a Web site, send an email or display a map all while in a Bento library or collection. It also works the other way: if you're making a new recipe, just take a snap with your iPhone and add it into your recipe database immediately.
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| Pictures and other details can be added and linked. |
The downsides
Of course, Bento-to-Go is not without its downsides. You won't be able to link video within your iPhone, and adding media over 10MB is size can only be done via the Bento desktop software - impossible if you don't have a mac. Any Mac media files must be in a iPod compatible format to synchronise across.
You can't create a new calculation form on the iPhone either - you'll have to do that within the Bento desktop application.
Finally, you can't create a relate database on the iPhone, potentially limiting the complexity of databases you can create. Bento-to-Go has considerably more functionality if you use it alongside Bento 2.0 for Mac, as a result.
Until iPhone 3.0 software is finalized, the lack of cut and paste will also make it harder to use the features of Bento-to-Go. Data Entry by hand is more tedious than it needs to be, even with the ability to link information from elsewhere on your iPhone.
Available templates:
• For Business: Issue Tracking, Time Billing, Customers, Expenses, Products for Sale, Inventory, Projects, Event Planning, Items Sold, and Equipment.
• Personal: Contacts, To Dos, Diet Log, Expenses, Classes, Recipes, Digital Media, Vehicle Maintenance, Projects, Home Inventory, Event Planning, Membership Lists, Notes, and Donations.