I’ve been using Astrid, a nice little free app on the Market that lets you set up tasks with deadlines and then notifies you when they’re due. I mentioned it on my HTC Magic review, but a few weeks on and I’m still using it. In fact, I’m really starting to appreciate it.
It’s a pretty simple idea that I’ve tried before using other platforms (desktop, Symbian phones) without much success. It’s working much better for me on my Magic, which I put down to the functionality beating other phones I’ve owned and the portability beating the desktop apps.
The keyboard and simple setup of tasks and repeats means that it’s really no problem for me to pop stuff I need to remember into there as-and-when I think of it. If it goes in the phone, I remember it. Simple. Just…got…to…be…disciplined…
It syncs up with rememberthemilk.com so you don’t lose all your stuff if you lose your phone, and you can get to your stuff from the web.
In use it’s transparent until it needs to tell me something, at which point I get a buzz and a little notification appearing in the notifications bar. Drag it down and I can see the tasks I need to do. Once there’s a few tasks in there, that notifications window fills up quick if you don’t stay on top of things – although that does kind of compel me either not to put things off, or to think about how long I’m putting something off for.
From a notification, you can open the task and complete it, snooze it or edit it. If you complete it and it’s due to repeat, it gets notified when it is next due.
Irritations: there isn’t a button to complete a task straight from the notification – which is what I do most often. It can also be a little slow, but that criticism could be levelled at most apps depending on how busy the phone is, so it’s probably not actually to do with Astrid. More annoying is the delay whilst it syncs up with rememberthemilk – it makes you wait, instead of just doing it in the background.
That said though, overall it’s a big plus. It’s a nice feeling to drop a task in there and know that you’ll get reminded when it’s due. It’s a really nice feeling when you get reminded of some silly little thing that there’s no way you would have remembered otherwise!
crossedstreams.com 
I’m impressed by your writing. Are you a professional or just very knwloeedgable?