Archive notice: This article was originally published on May 5, 2009. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
FileMaker announced Bento for iPhone and iPod touch. The mobile version of its personal database was designed to be as easy to use as the iPhone or iPod touch and was immediately available for download from Apple’s iTunes App Store.
Bento for iPhone and iPod touch organizes the appointments and information of a busy daily schedule in one application. FileMaker supplied 25 ready-to-use templates for professional and personal tasks.
The templates were:
Contacts, notes, tasks, projects, items for sale, expenses, home inventory, training log, vehicle maintenance, donations, recipes, membership list, classes, digital media, student list, diet plan, events, files, inventory, event planning, time billing, equipment, issue tracking, sold items, customers, and blank templates for individual requirements.
Bento for iPhone and iPod touch can organize professional and personal activities in a single application, from address and contact management and business metrics to an upcoming birthday party. In the style of iTunes playlists, users can create collections and group or consolidate tasks and photos.
Bento for iPhone and iPod touch = Bento on the move
The 25 ready-made templates can be customized in a few steps. Users can also create their own forms to organize almost any type of data on an iPhone or iPod touch. From a Bento library or collection, users can place calls, open websites, create emails or display maps without changing applications.
Contacts, memberships, projects, parties, medical bills and vehicle maintenance are examples of the activities Bento can organize. Libraries and collections, database entries and forms can be created or modified while mobile, alongside an iTunes-style search function.
Bento for iPhone and iPod touch supports 15 field types: text, number, date, time, rating, duration, address, media (image, audio and video), choice field, checkbox, currency, telephone number, email address, instant messaging and URL.
Wireless synchronization between Bento for iPhone and iPod touch and Bento 2 for Mac
Bento for iPhone and iPod touch can be used as a standalone application or synchronized wirelessly with Bento for Mac. FileMaker also released Bento 2.0v4 for the desktop version of Bento 2 for Mac. The update enabled Bento 2 users to synchronize a Mac with a mobile device regardless of whether the data had been changed on the Mac, iPhone or iPod touch.
Integration with iPhone applications
Bento for iPhone and iPod touch works with existing information and iPhone applications including Contacts, Safari, direct telephone dialing, Mail and Google Maps.
FileMaker’s iPhone strategy
FileMaker offered iPhone users several database options. Individual users could use the new Bento application for iPhone and iPod touch. Workgroups could access sensitive business data live on an iPhone through websites created with the FileMaker PHP Site Assistant. The iPhone PHP Site Assistant was included with FileMaker Server 10 and FileMaker Server 10 Advanced. It could provide iPhone access to information such as scheduling, work tickets, images, sales figures, order histories, asset management and inventory.
Bento for iPhone and iPod touch was available in English for €3.99 through Apple’s iTunes App Store. The product could synchronize with the German desktop version of Bento 2.0v4, after which German templates could be stored on an iPhone or iPod touch.
Further Links:
- Update
More information
