SaiSuke is one of the first calendar applications to make it to the iPhone Apps Store. Version 1.0 was released on September 8, 2008. Version 1.01 was just released today. The program enables wireless synchronization between your Google Calendar (Google Apps for Domains is supported ) and the SaiSuke program. The application synchronization does not modify your iPhone Calendar database – a fact the developer clearly discloses and which is a limitation of Apple’s restrictions. Instead the data is maintained within SaiSuke – which adds several much needed calendar layouts including a weekly view.

The calendar views that SaiSuke provide are a welcome improvement to the standard 3 included with the iPhone (list, day, month). However during testing I ran into an issue that you may want to consider prior to purchasing. Read on for some additional screen shots — and the problem that crept up in my testing.

The iPhone has three standard ways to view your calendar:

List – a top to bottom scrollable view of your upcoming appointments. This works well for those with few appointments that want an “at a glance” view. If you have a larger number of calendar appointments then list view falls short due to the vast amount of scrolling needed to see all of your calendar items.

Day – this single day at a glance is a great way to view and move appointments.

Month – the default iPhone month view shows only dots in the days when you have appointments. In order to see the actual appointment you must click into the day.

SaiSuke adds these views:

Here’s the List View Mode:

Scroll up and down with your finger. Change months by clicking the arrows at the top of the screen.

Notice the controls all along the bottom. The control in the lower right initiates a synchronization with Google.

You can set SaiSuke to automatically synchronize when you start the program. In my early tests the synchronization was quick. My initial sync took about 3 minutes. Adding an item online and synching only took 15 seconds (or less) and the item was duplicated in both Google Calendar and SaiSuke.

Here’s the Day View Mode:

This view mirrors the one included with the iPhone’s calendar program.

Here’s the Weekly View:

This is my favorite view because it allows me an “at a glance” look at my upcoming weekly appointments.

Here’s the Month View:

Notice how all the appointments show — instead of just dots as the default iPhone calendar app would show.

Here’s the last view – the Year View:

SaiSuke supports multiple calendar synchronization. Each of the calendars can be set for 1 way (SaiSuke to Google) or 2 way synchronization. Additional options – such as which day of the week should be considered the “first” day of a new week – can all be set within the program.

Some Cautions About SaiSuke
Unfortunately midway through my testing a bug of some sort crept up and has kept me from re-entering the SaiSuke application. Each time I try to get into the program it starts for a few seconds and immediately exits back to the iPhone desktop. I’ve tried removing and reinstalling as well as re-starting my iPhone. Nothing has worked. My SuiSuke calendar remains unusable – a condition which would have me throwing my iPhone out the window were it to occur in the field and leave me without access to a calendar for scheduling and checking appointments.

While I really like the weekly view, you may want to wait for the next release of this program unless you intend to use it as a secondary backup calendar.

Link: SaiSuke (via App Store)

Link: SaiSuke product web site

Cost: $9.99

What I liked:
- Weekly view of calendar

What Needs Improvement:
- Application crashed on my iPhone and I have not been able to re-start it since required several diagnostic steps including removing and reinstalling all data. The developer web site did not appear to have a support forum for answering questions.

UPDATE: After removing all SaiSuke data, re-loading the application and rebooting my iPhone it seems that the program is once again running. However I recommend proceeding with caution and only using this for the time being as a backup calendar. While I was able to get the program running after some troubleshooting, I consider calendars to be applications which must be “bulletproof”.

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