Review: RemindMe for Windows 8

RemindMe is an Alarm app for your Windows 8 PC/Tablet. Unlike Effectual (which I told you about yesterday), RemindMe does not sync across multiple devices. It is designed to provide a quick way to set reminders, with an updatable Live Time and Toast notifications. I have tried a few of these apps, and so far RemindMe is the best I have found. Oh, and it’s free, and void of ads, which is always a good thing.

This app is suited for someone who spends a lot of time in front of the same screen for a good part of the day. My office desktop for example. If someone asks me to call them back at 2:00pm, instead of jotting the info on a post-it, that I will probably cover with something else, I can quickly add it to RemindMe and be alerted when 2:00pm rolls around. Simple. It can sometimes be a challenge deciding what events should be included on your; calendar, task app, or alarm app, but each user will find what’s most comfortable for them. As I spend most of my time at my desk, staring at the same screen, an alarm app for business tasks and recurring events is the simplest method for me. If you are a more mobile user who jump from desktop, to laptop to phone throughout your day, then you may need to rely on Cloud support/syncing for most of your tasks and reminders.

From the developer:

Description

RemindMe is a simple, but powerful, reminders application for Windows 8.
RemindMe integrates deeply with Windows 8. Get toast notifications for reminders, see your next reminders on the live tile, and stay up to date on the lock screen. Pin the compose screen to Start to quickly create new reminders.
Quickly create reminders for relative (ex: “in 10 minutes”) or absolute (ex: “3:00PM on 5/9/2013”) times. Watch your reminders count down in real time!
NEW! Recurring reminders automatically reactivate themselves in set intervals. For instance, you could set a reminder to go off every day at 5:00 PM. Nifty! This works automatically in the background, whether the app is running or not!
With an amazing, easy-to-use UI and features like live countdowns, RemindMe is the Windows 8 reminders app to beat. Oh, and it is completely free with no ads or upsell. What’s not to like?

Features

• Quick and easy reminders and countdowns
• Live tile and lock screen integration
• System-wide notifications for reminders, tasks, and to-do’s
• Simple, beautiful, and easy-to-use user interface
• Powerful settings to help you manage your reminders
• Recurring reminders that automatically repeat

The user interface is really simple, and touch friendly (although I don’t have touch at the office, yet). There is no Notification system for Windows 8, so toasts disappear from the screen just as they do with WP. But the developer has added an option to keep toasts up on screen, triggering an audio alert, for 25 seconds. That helps a lot. The Live Tile will also change the status of an alert to EXPIRED, just in case you miss the Toast. The Live Tile will indicate how many reminders are due today, or have expired. Not sure how many reminders the app will cycle through, but right now my tile is cycling; an expired reminder, a recurring reminder due in three days and a reminder with no date/time set.

To get started you enter the text part of your reminder and select one of three types; IN-A relative time (a period of time; seconds, minutes, hours or days), ON-A specific time (today, or a future date/time), or X – No set date or time. Depending which reminder you selected, you will be presented with a bunch of options. For example, selecting an IN reminder, you will be asked to enter the number of minutes (default), or hours, seconds, days, till the reminder is triggered. Or you could use the pre-defined options for; 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 60 or 90. There are options to set the color of your reminder (red is the default) or the sound (reminder is the default) for ping 1, 2, 3, or alarm, alarm2, alarm 3 (all long). To can also set a recurrence for the reminder, or preview the reminder to see what it will look like. Of course, if you are in a hurry, you can simply exit after setting a time. If you are in a real hurry, and want to save one extra click, you can pin the New Reminder icon to the Start Screen, which will take you straight to the entry screen.

As noted, the app is free, so what do you have to lose. You may just become a wee bit more organized. And maybe, come to appreciate some of the new apps appearing in the Windows Store.