Over the years the community has
INTRODUCTION
bemoaned the lack of respect that Microsoft has
given to their Personal Information Management
applications on the Windows Mobile platform,
especially when compared to the great evolution of
Outlook on the desktop. Perhaps this is done on purpose to encourage innovation from third party developers such as WebIS and DeveloperOne. Pocket Informant 2005 was
initially released in March 2005, and since July, WebIS has been working laboriously on the new rev 3 version, which adds full support for Windows Mobile 5.0 among other features and bug fixes.
Although this isn’t officially a major version upgrade, there’s still a healthy list of new features and bug fixes. Read on for the thorough review.
WebIS has added too many features to
WHAT’S HOT
list. Here are some highlights, you can find the
complete list for revision 3
here:
- Contacts
editor only shows you the fields you want to
see - One handed
search and dialing on Pocket PC Phone Edition
devices using the D pad - Five customizable
calendar views plus contacts, tasks, notes, and
search views - Timeline view
lets you compare schedules and manage projects - Notes view
supports sound files, Outlook notes, PhatNotes,
and PhatPad - Task
auto-groupings and hierarchical groups - Contact
grouping by company, department, city, state,
and country as well as a picture list - Appointment
bars in all calendar views - Soundex
searching for contacts in the search view - 2/6/12 month
date picker complete with date coloring - Supports task
recurrence/regeneration and show days until due - Smart macros
and active templates make text entry a snap - Journaling
with optional syncing with WebIS’ Journal
ActiveSync - Soft keys for
main and summary views (WM 5.0 English
only)
There are two versions of Pocket Informant
SETUP
bundled in the setup, one for the WM2002/2003 ARM based OS and one for
the WM 5.0. The setup routine will automatically determine which one you
need. If you choose to install directly from .cab the file you
will have to choose the appropriate one. ".ARM.cab" for WM2002/2003 and
".WM5.cab" for WM 5.0.
The
setup uses the standard Windows XP/ActiveSync
installer dialog.
WebIS packages additional trial software such as
Toolbox 3 (which we recently reviewed), and a free version of Phatware’s PhatNotes
LITE, that you can elect to install.
(all images link to higher resolution)
A
new feature in the Windows Mobile 5.0 installer allows
you to choose where to install the application
without having to make the selection in ActiveSync.
This is particularly helpful when using the .cab
install method directly on the device.
WebIS releases new versions regularly and
PROGRAM FEATURES
we have reviewed Pocket Informant several times. Pocket
Informant 2005 is an evolutionary release from
version 5 with quite a bit of improvement under the
covers, as well as enhanced user features. If this
is your first look at Pocket Informant, I highly
recommend reading our last
review of version 5.5, since this review will
concentrate on enhancements made since then.
Pocket Informant
2005 addresses the 5 key areas of Personal
Information Management, contacts, calendar, tasks,
journal and notes. It ties them all together
very nicely with it’s multiple views, timeline
feature and search capabilities.
Introducing — the revamped interface of Pocket Informant! No, we’re just kidding. This is what PI looked like when we last reviewed the application.
The first
noticeable change in WM5 is the use of the standard
WM 5.0 soft keys at the bottom of the screen which
allow you to control the application with one hand, and
this works pretty well, but tends to jumble all commands under the singular Menu — something we’ll have to get used to with many WM 5.0 applications. For those that have no need to use the soft keys, you can also configure the
application to display the pre WM 5.0 classic look, as depicted on the right image above. The "Next Tab" key allows you
cycle through all the different views in the
applications. It’d be great if the left soft key could be programed to take on custom tasks.
One of the The zoom feature
additions to the calendar views is how you can zoom
to a selected number of days from the month view.
works by selecting the number of desired days you
would like to view. I selected the 2 weeks
from the 17th to the 30th. You can then tap on any
day of either view above to display the detail. To
view day details, you have three options which you
can choose from in the interface month and timeline
view settings. The viewing options are: anchored,
inline, and pop up.
The
anchored view option shifts the calendar upward.
This is the default.
The
inline view option shifts the calendar around the
detail.
The
pop up view option brings the data to the foreground.
You
also have the ability to view the tasks that are
overdue or due on the day you choose to display.
This option can be set for any of the five calendar
views.
A very
powerful feature (not exclusively new to rev 3) is the ability to create "My Text"
entries with current date/time and contact field
text substitution. If
you continually make lunch appointments, for example, you can
create a my text entry to simplify your input.
In addition to fixed text entries, you can perform
text substitution by entering special variables
defined in the Pocket Informant’s user manual.
In this example %first% and %name% are associated
with first name and last name from your contacts.
The combination of "My Text" and text substitution
is called "Smart Macros."
You can use my text
entries and smart macros in most text fields
throughout the product. Once you choose a my text
smart macro entry with variables associated with
contacts, the contact selection screen is displayed.
The
result speeds up your entries considerably.
As with previous versions, Pocket Informant 2005 marries
templates and smart macros into active templates.
You
create an active template by using the template
editor. Two types of templates are available,
one for tasks and one for appointments.
If you’re a power PI user, than you know the power of using active templates. In this example, the subject and
location fields have contact based smart macros
while the time and status fields were modified from
the appointment form defaults.
Once
you create a new appointment, you choose the
template you want to use.
The
contact selection screen is displayed and once you
select a contact the appointment screen is filled
in. Pretty nice!
The contact entry
screen has been updated to include a feature that
allows you to add one of the many contact fields that
may be seldom used for entry. The
option to add a new field to the editor can be found
at the top right of the screen. By tapping it, you
will bring up all the available contact fields. Once you
have made your selection you are returned to the
updated entry screen.
The new field is added to the
bottom, ready for entry. Another new feature on the left allows you to access
more widely used field. By tapping on the +
icon next to "Email 1" a new entry field for Email
2" is added. This also works for "Office", "Home",
"Email" and "Work Addr" fields.
Pocket Informant
2005 rev 3 has also improved on its ability to link PIM
items together and create mini project plans using
its timeline feature. This is a very complete
product. Utilizing the full potential of what it has
to offer will entail some studying.
Pocket Informant 2005
HELP SUPPORT
comes with an 88 page .pdf manual which is quite
useful and complete. I would like to see hot links
in the table of contents and an index to simplify
navigation. There is a set of FAQ on the WebIS web
site
here. You can also make a specific support
request
here and the official customer support forum is
here. With WebIS’ reputation for
responsiveness you won’t go wrong.
If you find you want
OPTIONS
additional integration, you may want to take a look
at Phatware’s
PhatNotes Lite and PhatPad, as well as WebIs’ Mail 2
and Journal ActiveSync. Included in Pocket
Informant 2005, is a free license for PhatNotes Lite
and trial licenses of the other related products.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Pocket
Informant 2005 revision 3 runs on WM2002/2003 and WM5. Pocket
Informant uses about 1MB of runtime RAM and about 3MB of ROM storage.
With WM 5.0′s new RAM/ROM model this is not problem, but for WM2002/2003
users it is a tight fit in RAM.
BUGS AND WISHES
I did not encounter
the problem, described in our review of version 5.5,
with the 31 day calendar view with anchored detail
display. I found this WM 5.0 version of PI to be a bit slower (installed onto my X51v) than a previous version I had installed on a Pocket PC 2003/se device. Other than that, I came across no bugs. Here’s a wish list:
-
PhatPad preview -
PhatPad editor integration -
Outlook add-in for those items that Microsoft
does not support such as hierarchical tasks -
More text substitution variables from other PIM
record types -
More WM 5.0 softkey options - Some sort of interactive tutorial system
PURCHASING
You can purchase Pocket Informant 2005 rev 3
here for $29.95 or upgrade from a bundle or
previous version
here.
PROS
- Still the king of PIM
- Full WM 5.0 support
- New contact entry system
- Spruced up UI
- Impressive collection of
calendar views - Integration of tasks into
calendar view
CONS
- User manual could be a bit more interactive
- A tad slower in WM 5.0
- Limited soft key function control (WM 5.0)
| Value |
 |
| Ease of Use |
 |
| Features |
|
Overall |
 |
According to a recent newsletter issued by WebIS, the rev 3 version was only intended to bring PI up to WM 5.0 compatibility, while fixing a few bugs and adding some new features. They met their objective with flying colors. A quote from the newsletter: "And now that we’ve gotten our WM 5.0 compatible release out, we’re focusing on the next Pocket Informant – Rev 4 – to provide a bigger jump in feature improvements." Candy to our ears!
OVERALL IMPRESSION
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