Fast functional iPhone Spreadsheet App?

July 15, 2009 1:08 PM

Fast functional iPhone Spreadsheet App? I'm looking for the best way to manage the conditioning progress of my volleyball players. Things like Google Docs, EditGrid, and Documents 2 are all too slow and clunky to be effective at practice. I need to be able to quickly add columns, and being able to lock first column (Player Names) so that I can see whose information I'm plugging in would be a huge plus.

I've Googled, Yahooed, and AppStored. All of the free and web-based offerings are either too slow, or they don't allow simple features such as creating new column labels. In a best case scenario, I could export data (csv, or xls) to print for the girls, but this really is not necessary. I just don't want to deal with notebooks, and transferring data for 30 girls and 20 exercises four days a week. Thanks in advance.

posted by DavidJ710 to technology (4 comments total)

Actually, I see now that the OP is looking for an iPhone app.

I don't know if there is any such app with which to edit Excel or OpenOffice documents, and, even if there were, I don't know how fast they are to use.
posted by dfriedman at 1:34 PM on July 15

What about using voice notes to record the stats verbally, and then record them into your spreadsheet later when you get back to your PC?

I myself have yet to see a iPhone spreadsheet program thats good for more more that just reading on the fly, either.
posted by cgg at 3:13 PM on July 15

Have you looked at MarinerCalc, Bento, or Spreadsheet?
posted by designbot at 5:44 PM on July 15

You don't want to use a spreadsheet for data entry. It's a pain on the iPhone. I'm going to suggest that you try out a "database" (these aren't really databases in the sense of sql and other fully relational database features). It's more of a custom app building solution for us non-programmers that want to track custom things.

HandBase - Video - Itunes Link

I really like this program. It lets me store just about anytype of information that I can get into the iPhone. It has a desktop client, but it's not neccessary for simple forms. You can calculate fields from other fields which makes it most like a spreadsheet. Cool fields that you can have are picture fields, email fields, calcuated fields, and encrypted fields. It exports to CSV thru the browser or you can use the really easy to use desktop app (mac and PC.) It's the most relational of all the apps. The devleoper is responsive and is updating the app every 1-2 months.

Field Types:
Text, Integer, Float, Popup, CheckBox, UID, Image, Date, Time, Link, Linked, Note, Heading, DB popup, Calculated Field, Relationship, Conditional, External (this field lets you use the camera, launch the browser, or the phone)

Bento - Video - App store

This is the prettiest of all the "database" type apps on the app store. My major gripe with this for simple flat file type of stuff, is that there is no way to back things up (make a csv, and so on) without having the desktop app. Plus no calculated fields. Using Bento is dead easy, but it's not as customizable from the data point of view as HandBase. The developer, well it's a big company - this is the kind of support you can expect - things happen but more slowly than with Tap Forms or HandBase.

Field Types:
text, numbers, choice, checkbox, media, time, date, durations, currency, rating, address, phone number, email, URL, M Account

Tap Forms - Video - App Store

This is a very nice flat file app. It's as pretty as Bento in the UI department, but just as limited in the kinds of databases you can make. I haven't had a reason to contact the developer, but most small developers are very responsive and this looks like a one person application - so that's good and bad. It does have the ability to import and export CVS so there is no extra software to buy.

Field Types: Text, Numbers, Dates, Time, Contacts, Check marks, Notes, Photos, Audio Recordings, Website Addresses, Phone Numbers


HandBase for me beats all the other offerings in all areas accept UI. The functionality of HandBase is superior to both Bento and TapForms.
posted by bigmusic at 6:04 PM on July 15 [1 favorite]