When comparing Google Calendar vs Remember the Milk, the Slant community recommends Remember the Milk for most people. In the question“What are the best cross-platform task apps?” Remember the Milk is ranked 19th while Google Calendar is ranked 65th. The most important reason people chose Remember the Milk is:
Smart lists are configured using Remember the Milk's syntax, making it very customizable.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Integrates with Google Maps for directions
The app leverages Google Maps when adding location for an event by offering suggestions as well as offers opening Maps to help get directions to an event via shortcut on a reminder notification.
Pro Comes pre-installed on most Android devices
Google Calendar is a free Android calendar app without ads that comes already installed on Android devices that have stock support for Google Services.
Pro Clean design with 5 different views including an excellent schedule view
Google Calendar has a monochrome base design that's accented with colored-coded events and image banners that separate months in schedule view.
The app has 5 different views - schedule, day, 3-day, week and month.
Day, 3-day and week views split up the days horizontally and hours vertically. Month view lays out all days in a grid and displays up to 3 events in a day.
Schedule view displays an agenda view that allows browsing all events by swiping vertically. Additionally, the way events are displayed in the agenda view is context-aware. For example, adding an event called "gym" will display the event on a background with a dumbbell.
All views except for month view can be split horizontally to display a condensed month view at the top that can be navigated by swiping horizontally.
Events can be added from any view by clicking the red plus button that's available at the bottom-right corner of the screen.
Pro Offers creating events from e-mail messages based on content
Google Calendar integrates with e-mail for quickly creating events from e-mails that contain the word "meeting" or dates or times, or any other information about events or plans that it can understand.
Pro Can set on-screen and e-mail reminder notifications
Google calendar allows setting how many reminders are needed with each having the ability to set how long before the event the notification should remind and if it should be done via on-screen or e-mail notification.
Pro Integrates well with other Google services
Google Calendar is part of the Google ecosystem, it integrates with services like Google Now for creating events, Google Maps for directions and Gmail for pulling information about planned flights.
Pro Color-coding for events and calendars
The app will color-code different calendars in different colors as well as allow selecting a different color for each event.
Pro Straightforward event creation with autocomplete
All views have an option of adding a new event by tapping the plus sign at the lower right corner of the screen. This opens up a form and allows the user to add a location, start/end times, guests, description, color-code as well as choosing if it's an all day event, how often it repeats, how many and what kind of reminders are needed and setting the users availability and privacy settings.
Pro Awesome flairs / images view inside the agenda view / event page
Whenever you enter agenda / event title with the keywords (when available), the event will show up interesting flairs whenever the keyword inside the agenda / title you typed matches the flairs that are available inside the system, examples such as haircut, cycling, swimming, coffee, movie etc.
Pro Allows subscribing to public calendars through web client
Through the Google Calendar's web client, it is possible to subscribe to any public calendar. Google also maintains a list of public calendars for various sports events and holidays in different countries and for different religions.
Pro Supports non-Google calendars (requires accessing web client)
Google Calendar can be integrated with any calendar that support iCalendar format, including Exchange and iCloud, via URL, but it has to be done using the web client.
Pro Lots of third-party widgets
Google Calendar comes with a home screen widget, and there are also many third party widgets developed for this calendar app.
Pro Advanced functionality available through IFTTT
IFTTT offers over 198 channels to plug into the users Google Calendar.
Pro Has its own syntax for programming smart lists
Smart lists are configured using Remember the Milk's syntax, making it very customizable.
Pro Semantic shortcuts
Remember The Milk has a list of semantic shortcuts that allow adding tasks and task options faster.
Pro Many features already working in the free version
The majority of commonly used features are available for free. The pro version adds increased functionality such as advanced sorting, mobile push notifications and sharing permissions.
Pro Excellent cross platform support
Whether you depend on an iOS, Windows or Android phone; Google Calendar or Outlook; Evernote or Twitter: RTM has an app or extension for you.
Pro Powerful query language
Query language can be used to build your own GTD-based system, with tags and lists and queries. Such as system can be used for private life and work alongside several simple lists without things getting mixed up.
Pro Location-based notifications
You can set locations for each task (for example a specific store, or a general location like 'near the beach' for shell collectors), and RTM will remind you when you are near or in that location. This can help keep your daily list uncluttered and remind you of errands you might have forgotten.
Pro Tasks may have additional options
Extra options such as how often it repeats, the due date, and the location.
Pro Support of a "start" date
A start date can be set which can be used with smartlists or to set a reminder.
Pro Lists can be shared
Share lists with other Remember The Milk users, or with iCal and more. Shared lists can be collaboratively updated. This makes it great for teams or just to share progress with others.
Pro Quickly add rich text
Remember The Milk offers Smart Add – shortcuts that allow you to quickly add advanced information to a task. For example, you can quickly add a due date, set the priority level, add a tag, set repeat times, add URLs, and add notes to your tasks. For the full list, check out How Do I Use Smart Add?
Pro Manual sorting
Manual sorting is available on both the web app and android, allowing prioritization of tasks. This can be particularly useful for shopping lists, where you can put all the meat together, and all the cheese together etc. to make it easier to skim through when you're in the store.
Pro Nice Android Widget
Compared to competitors like todoist, the widget doesn't use too much space.
Pro Really, really cool support
They react within hours, and they actually keep track of your issue.
Pro Support for keywords to set due/start date, add to list with one line of text
There are special characters which open a box so the user can select predefined values or a calendar picker.
Pro Lightning fast sync
Syncs quickly across all your devices and platforms.
Pro Syncs with Evernote
Not only syncing, it's more of a "linking" with a two-way synchronization. Changing the title of a note in Evernote will update the title in Remember the Milk. So far, Remember The Milk is the only to-do app with a feature like this.
Pro Add tasks via e-mail
You can add tasks to Remember the Milk via email easily once you get the hang of formatting the messages.
Pro Twitter integration
The Twitter integration is excellent and allows for many types of automation.
Cons
Con No vertical scroll
Like iOS and outlook for Android.
Con Privacy concerns
Google integrate all their services to connect and mine information on an individual to better profile and target advertising.
Con Google tasks do not show on Google Calendar
You can create tasks in your desktop Google Calendar but they will not sync nor show up in your android Google Calendar
Con Setting up non-Google calendars requires accessing web client
There is no ability in the Android app to access other calendars. This limits the usefulness for people that use more than one calendar, such as OSX and iOS users.
Con No weather forecast
The Android app version of Google Calendar does not show any weather forcast information, even if it is added as an extra calendar in the web application. Being that weather is tied into Google Now, the absence is surprising.
Con Setting up CalDAV or iCAL from other sources is not working or not working well
A lot of people share events between different sources: professional, private, family or friends.
Not everybody is on Google and of course a lot of corporations.
Con Month view shows limited information about the event
Month view does not show how many events there are in each given day or color-code them in any way, only informs of their existence.
Con Does not work well with Apple / iCloud Calendar
Apple and Google calendars have syncing issues, which is annoying if you want to have shared calendars with friends / family.
Con Some recurrence options not available
If you want to add a recurring event based on quirky (but normal) calendar rules, it's not supported by Google Calendar. For example, if you set up a financial calendar in Google Calendar and an event falls on a weekend or bank holiday, Google Calendar cannot schedule the occurrence properly. Worse yet, if you submit those calendar occurences via VEVENT details, Google Calendar displays different information if you use the mobile calendar vs. the desktop web calendar.
Con Once you create a event on a Calendar, you can't move to a different Calendar
Con Horizontal Scroll
Does not vertically scroll like ios calendars on outlook calendar.
Con Slow syncing of external calendars
Google Calendar is known to sync external calendars very slowly, takes hours if not a full day before the updated events are reflected.
Con No natural language input support
The Android app has no natural language input support, while it's available using the web client and in a limited capacity using Google Now.
Con Weak default view
Even if month is set as default view, as soon as you touch a day or an event, you have to carefully select twice to get back to month view.
Con Time zone is incorrect no matter what's done
Con Timezone for Moscow is incorrect
Timezone for Moscow is 1 hour off. This makes the calendar unusable in Russia.
Con Subtasks only available in Pro version
Subtasks can break a longer to-do item into discrete tasks, helping you keep tabs on your progress.
Con Bad UI redesign
The web app takes up too much screen real estate and uses a half-screen format that requires a wide screen. The task edit screen is clunky. It still has UI bugs one year in. You can't complete tasks from the UI.
Con Free version lacks features
Mobile reminders, subtsaks, offline mode, Microsoft Outlook sync, priority, and more features are limited to the paid version ($39.99/year). To see the full list of restrictions, check out this page.
Con Does not support attachments
Cloud storage was recently added as a pro feature.
Con Cannot add task in notification bar
There is no pull down option to add a task in the notification bar.
Con Ugly icon
The goofy cow image does not fit well with a professsional office environment.
