Apple iPhone and iPad users have had a great selection of calendar apps to choose from -- starting from square one with Apple's own built-in Calendar app. But what may be the best iOS calendar has recently been released for Android. Sunrise for Android will simplify your life, starting with making it easy to use a calendar.

For Android users, there have always been dozens of calendar apps available. But almost all of them basically look and operate the same as Google Calendar -- meaning they are slightly awkward, show too much or too little information and are usually not Apple-friendly.

Sunrise: Simple and Elegant, But Powerful and Connected

Sunrise, which was released for the first time for Android recently, offers a bunch of features without overwhelming you with a cluttered interface. In fact, if you just looked at the screen UI of Sunrise, you'd be forgiven for thinking it was one of those meticulously overdesigned iOS 7 apps.


But more important than a pretty face is the guts underneath: Sunrise for Android not only syncs with your Google account's calendar but also with Apple iCloud -- covering the two most often used calendar systems right off the bat. It also can seamlessly link with Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare and Facebook for notifications and events. And for the BYOD corporate crowd, Sunrise says it will be adding Microsoft Exchange support soon (something it's already added to the iOS version). For cross-platform users -- like those with a Mac computer, Android phone and iPad -- Sunrise Calendar is perfect for syncing everything.

This Is the Calendar App You Might Actually Use

Despite offering so many connections, Sunrise collates those Apple reminders, Google calendar invites and Facebook events into a simple, at-a-glance interface.

Sunrise offers an easy to read two-week view with scrolling details of morning, afternoon and evening below. At the flip of a button, the view goes into an expanded three-day outlook that scrolls across to quickly check your entire agenda for the week. And of course, there's color-coding to differentiate work, social, home, and/or the different connections and calendars you've added to Sunrise Calendar. Sunrise also throws in quick weather forecasts and Google Maps integration for locations, just for good measure.

There's also a widget that lets you check your commitments and events for a day or two with a quick glance at your Android's home screen.

Minor Drawbacks

There are some minor issues with the first iteration of the Android Sunrise Calendar app -- It's not perfect. For one, this was an iOS app first, so Android users will find that the everyday interface actions they're accustomed to using on Android are pretty much ignored. Don't press the settings button on your phone, for example, to change preferences -- it's in the top right corner, like an iOS app. If you add an event to the widget, for another quick example, you'll find yourself back in the app screen instead of back at home.

And currently, there's no support for tablets. This isn't a huge deal since everything still works fine on the blown-up screen, but it'd be nice to use that extra real estate for a full-month calendar view. Finally, there's no search button. This is the biggest drawback since looking ahead at scheduled work events, for example, will lead you to a lot of scrolling.

The Sunrise Web/Chrome Calendar

Those last few problems mentioned are relatively big, and Sunrise Calendar should think about adding those missing features in its next big update -- especially for the mainly mobile crowd.

But one extra feature for desktop users obviates the need for those features -- at least if you do a lot of scheduling on your computer. There's a web app at Calendar.Sunrise.AM and a Chrome extension (that runs offline) that you can log into to look at an expanded view of your calendar, including a month view.

The only drawback left if you're using both the app and web version of Sunrise Calendar is that the calendar currently doesn't allow for looking more than 11 months ahead. That's an easy fix, which will hopefully happen in a subsequent update, as well.

Conclusion: Tap That App

Despite the few quibbles about the interface and calendar views, Sunrise Calendar is definitely an app that conquers the first and most difficult problem for digital calendars: being simple and fast enough to encourage users to actually use it.

It effortlessly syncs the major calendar accounts that users are most likely to have -- Apple iCloud and Google Calendar -- into one location. And Microsoft Exchange support is on the way.

And it's got lots of features and an interface so simple that it won't overwhelm. And it's free!

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