Database Users

Pocket Informant Vs pocket Fusion

wich one is better?? or theres a better PIM???

This question has been asked on just about every PPC forum I frequent very much a personal choice as though they are both similar they are different in how they display things and custom features.
My advice is to download the trial version of both and give them a good work out for yourself before making your selection.
I prefer Pocket Informant and have never regretted buying it. Works well, stable, easy to use, regular enhancements to keep improving it.
Ed

Yes I agree. Pocket Informant is the knees of the bees.

I prefer Agenda Fusion. It loads faster and has an excellent week view.

I haven't tried Pocket Informant but I love Agenda Fusion. Best $40 I ever spent on my XDA2. It does exactly what it claims to do, works perfectly and never interferes with anything else on the machine.
I've read a lot of stories about Pocket Informant causing alarm or Today screen problems.

Software recommended for purchase?

Does anyone have any software which they've purchased for their Universal that they'd recommend? If so, why?

Pocket informant. Its the only PIM worth having, and it turns the useless PIM functionality built into PPCs into something that runs my life. Wouldn't be without it

If had had to narrow it down to one app, it'd have to be PocketBreeze by SBSH.net
Integrates with the aforementioned PocketInformant, but even if you haven't got PI, then PocketBreeze transforms your today screen into a far more usable beast. It's about a million times better than SPB's rip-off clone, and has far more functionality and configuration options. Plus it's regularly updated for bug-fixes and extra functions - and that is something that a lot of other software houses could learn from.
Oh, and the SBSH support forums are outstanding.

For me it's Resco File Explorer, SPB Pocket Plus and SPB Weather tweaked to pick information from BBC and not weather.com

If you use Lotus Notes, CommonTime's mNotes is pretty cool =) But then I would say that, since I work for CommonTime.

Pocketbreeze everytime.

Iliumsoft Listpro. By FAR the most handy app for personal management of lists.
http://www.iliumsoft.com/site/lp/listpro.htm
Very customisable

Microsoft Voice Command
Pocket Informant
SPB Pocket Plus
SPB Diary
SK Tools
Soti Pocket Controller
Sprite Backup
Aol Messenger
PpcWebCam
Some freeware/Shareware
Cambridge VxUtils
Total Commander
PH Registry Editor
TCPMP Media Player
GSPlayer Media Player
Insignia Solutions Jeode Runtime
Agile Messenger (need better wm5 support tho)

Rick GM said:
For me it's Resco File Explorer, SPB Pocket Plus and SPB Weather tweaked to pick information from BBC and not weather.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can you explain that tweak better please ?
link, pros of the bbc service, etc :wink:

Killer App
I agree with many of the recomendations above and mention was made of SKTools (eagle 1), which I have yet to try, but the killer application for me is SKscheMa which can automate all sorts of daily tasks including turning on and off WiFi, BT and GSM at specific or regular times.
It has a powerful scripting language which has allowed me to create a macro to insert my meeting text, title, place, date and time, who attended etc. It can simulate taps and tap and hold as well. Support is very fast and efficient.
I have even used it to turn on the Bluetooth at regular intervals until we get a fix for that bug.
Strongly advise you check this one out.
www.s-k-tools.com (link corrected)
Don't be put off by the simple web site - this product "rocks".

This product os brilliant - sync email calendar with your pc wirelessly (GPRS/3G/WIFI) push email too so you don't have to sync manually...
http://www.intellisync.com/pages/Products/Express/Benefits/
Free trial - only snag is your pc (or at least a pc theat you can access your mail from) needs to be always on. WOrks with outlook/lotus notes etc
And I don't work for them!
Common time is also good for Notes but I couldn't work out how to sync wirelessly.

cdally said:
Common time is also good for Notes but I couldn't work out how to sync wirelessly.
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You know you get free support with your 30 day free trial, right? ;-) Give them a call and they can get it all up & running for you. Something to do with locations and preferred order, if memory serves. But then it should run when cradled, when in WiFi range (if you have WiFi) and over GPRS if you have your firewall opened properly. Of course GPRS may be an issue if you're on a corporate network - there was talk about a solution to get round that about 18 months ago, but I think the company's sales focus has shifted towards corporates (Notes is used a LOT by corporates in the US) so features for individual users are on the back burner for now.

I did try to get in touch with them but they didn't seem very interested - I did actually buy it as it was the best option for cradle based syncing - Do you know of anyone specific I can talk to?

Pocketzenphone for me is the most important. Easily change between phone profiles e.g. Loud / meeting /flight etc.
Can be set to do this at specific times e.g. Go to silent at 23:30 and back to normal at 8:00. Also integrates with outlook - e.g can put it into meeting mode when your calender shows meetings or for me puts the device into flight mode when I have flights marked in the calender.
cheers

Haven't purchased yet, but will do so shortly: a backup app. My choice is SPB Backup, but Sprite or Sunnysoft's should do just fine. The reason for buying one should be fairly obvious

cdally said:
I did try to get in touch with them but they didn't seem very interested - I did actually buy it as it was the best option for cradle based syncing - Do you know of anyone specific I can talk to?
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Your best bet is probably to pick up the phone when you're at your PC/PDA. I think the support number is on the site under Information/Contact details. Scroll down to after the list of links at the top.
If you called them before and can remember the name of who you spoke to, I'll go upstairs & give them a clip round the earhole In general we get a good response about our support!

Ravenmaster
The default weather source is weather.com which I have found to be pretty useless. However, if you go to here;
www.pdagold.com/themes/details.asp?t=12007
you can pick up forecasts for Spb Weather from the BBC. Follow the Readme.txt and it's pretty straight forward. The forecast is so much more accurate than weather.com (in my opinion)

Rick GM said:
Ravenmaster
The default weather source is weather.com which I have found to be pretty useless. However, if you go to here;
www.pdagold.com/themes/details.asp?t=12007
you can pick up forecasts for Spb Weather from the BBC. Follow the Readme.txt and it's pretty straight forward. The forecast is so much more accurate than weather.com (in my opinion)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does SPB Weather also shows NOWs weather? I installed it and didn't see that option, and not that many other options at all.
I purchased and used Weather Panel on my previous PDA2K and that program proved to be super accurate.. actually it showed the weather condition in my city relevant to the minute... e.g. Changed to 'FOG' icon and FOG began.. Changed to Raining now.. and rain just started an hour before..
I didn't see these features in SPB weather.. maybe i missed them though...

Sounds like you've found a way to CONTROL the weather - [/quote]Changed to 'FOG' icon and FOG began..
!!
Anyway - all SPB does is pick up a forecast from wherever you tell it to. In my case I just use the BBC's site.
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Click to collapse

I've bought Voice Command and photo contacts pro, both I really like.
Freeware that surpasses all others to me is:
Qmail3, ugly as sin but so much better than the built in email client.
Will Check over an activesync connection, very useful at work, and one button handles multiple account checking. Glorious!
Does RSS and NNTP as well.
http://www.pocketpcfreewares.com/en/index.php?soft=1344
Lots of info on it here.
http://discussion.brighthand.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=38956
Will buy Opera when that goes commercial.

Better Calendar Display

I love being able to access my calendar on my phone. However, it seems like I just get small chunks at a time with the built in calendar app. When I zoom out to see my whole week for example, I only see blue lines. I don't see exactly what the appointment is.
I know that is in no small way due to the limited size of the screen but I am looking for a more effective way to display my calendar.
I am currently trying pocket informant and it gets me closer to what I want. However, it has a couple screwy issues such as the bottom arrow of the scroll bar not being displayed etc.
So, what do you guys use? Or, are you happy with the built in calendar app?
Is there another forum that would be better for me to post this question? It's not directly related to the 8525 after all.

I'm using Pocket Breeze and very satisfied with it.

i use today agenda, its a killer app with many different customizations.. Dr. P got me hooked on this app!
http://tiews.info/index.php?show=software/todayagenda

I use SPB Diary, perfect today plugin that completely replaces the agenda. It's also the only today plugin I use or need.

I use SBSH.net PocketBreeze. I beta tested SPB Diary 2.0 and even tried the final version but wanted more control over customizing so I stuck by PocketBreeze. Still SPB Diary is also a fine product. You can't go wrong with either IMO. If you want to see your appointments in Calendar though I think you have to use one of those Power PIM apps [Agenda Fusion, etc etc] personally I find them overkill for my needs I stay with the default PIM and PocketBreeze.

I like pocketbreeze for the today screen display of the calendar. It's just when I go into the calendar app itself that I'm thinking there should be something better.
I'll check out your ideas. Anyone else?

I like the FREE Calendar+
http://www.mohairsofa.com/Default.aspx/document/10
Not a replacement for the MS Calendar, but rather a Today plugin.
I think it looks very similar to "View as Agenda" on blackberry.

also try out pocket informant alot of PB users also use that app.

Another vote for TodayAgenda. Excellent app. Free, small and highly configurable.

I've been using Pocket Breeze and Pocket Informant together since I had my old Orange M2000 and it works very well for me.

spb software group?

Is there any problem using spb pocket plus, weather, time, diary and etc.?
Does it affect the performance of the Wizard?
Thanks!

amar963 said:
Is there any problem using spb pocket plus, weather, time, diary and etc.?
Does it affect the performance of the Wizard?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have them all and use some of them. I have kept Plus and Diary on my MDA and use it daily.
Weather is not accurate. Get SPB Traveler instead of Weather and Time.
I would not buy SPB Finance if you use Quicken 2007 or 2008. It is not compatible with SPB.
SPB Backup is good.
Tried SPB Wallet and it was not an app that I found to be something that I couldn't do with phone contacts or Excel.
Hope this helps.
If you want a Weather app, I would suggest Pocket Weather.

Dear asctony,
Thanks for your reply
I just want to know if these applications cause any conflict in general.
As you mentioned, Weather is not accurate but at lease it's much better than HTC Touch Flo weather plug-in

I have SPB Weather and find it's reasonably accurate in the UK. (Not perfect 2+ days ahead, but to be fair nor are most online weather sites I find.)
I'm also evaluating SPB Phone Suite at the moment, which is useful for adding photo dialling icons to the today screen. It also adds a lot of other phone-related 'fixes', which I must admit I haven't really noticed/used. I will almost certainly buy this, although for $19.95 it's pretty expensive.

amar963 said:
Dear asctony,
Thanks for your reply
I just want to know if these applications cause any conflict in general.
As you mentioned, Weather is not accurate but at lease it's much better than HTC Touch Flo weather plug-in
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have not incurred any conflicts and I have a lot of apps on my MDA and have had it for 14 months.
If I were to buy SPB Apps today, based on what is available, I would buy:
1. Backup
2. Diary
3. Pocket Plus
4.Traveler (Weather, Time, Conversion, etc., all in one)
SPB Apps are buggy at times and don't seem to be consistant in how they perform. So, again, I have tried them all, and only use Backup, Diary and Pocket Plus.
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.
Here is the site to obtain more info.
http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/downloads.html?en

I think the most popular are:- \ My experiences with them:-
SPB backup \ very good and simple, can have problems finding a file to backup, which causes it to fail the automatic soft reset after it backs up (this can be solved with a reg edit)
Weather \ I have used this every day since I bought it, it's the best if you can't use freeware and you can add custom data sources. I currently have data updating issues, maybe due to wm6. (Traveler is possibly better, but a much bigger program, which includes currency rates, clothing sizes, more cities by default and a small clock, but NOT the same functions as spb time)
Time \ It used to be a must have for me except for two reasons, 1 the alarm doesn't work correctly for wm6 and, 2 alarms don't support wma (only mp3)
Diary \ faultless. not the most customizable available (sbsh) or the simplest (today agenda (freeware)) but the best I think
Pocket Plus \ Simply put - not required. It looks nice but I can't think of anything it can do that freeware can't (wm5NewMenu is very good) can't do, so I gave up using it (SBSH's ilauncher is possibly better)
They're a good company for ease of use products, they all look nice and are uncomplicated in general. But, their support can be lacking, and their releases are slow and infrequent, compared to sbsh who often release updates weekly compared to twice a year from spb, and they are not as customizable as even some similar freeware apps.

I have Spb Mobile Shell and works great

bbobeckyj said:
I think the most popular are:- \ My experiences with them:-
SPB backup \ very good and simple, can have problems finding a file to backup, which causes it to fail the automatic soft reset after it backs up (this can be solved with a reg edit)
Weather \ I have used this every day since I bought it, it's the best if you can't use freeware and you can add custom data sources. I currently have data updating issues, maybe due to wm6. (Traveler is possibly better, but a much bigger program, which includes currency rates, clothing sizes, more cities by default and a small clock, but NOT the same functions as spb time)
Time \ It used to be a must have for me except for two reasons, 1 the alarm doesn't work correctly for wm6 and, 2 alarms don't support wma (only mp3)
Diary \ faultless. not the most customizable available (sbsh) or the simplest (today agenda (freeware)) but the best I think
Pocket Plus \ Simply put - not required. It looks nice but I can't think of anything it can do that freeware can't (wm5NewMenu is very good) can't do, so I gave up using it (SBSH's ilauncher is possibly better)
They're a good company for ease of use products, they all look nice and are uncomplicated in general. But, their support can be lacking, and their releases are slow and infrequent, compared to sbsh who often release updates weekly compared to twice a year from spb, and they are not as customizable as even some similar freeware apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right!
I've been using Time since 20 days and it was great with WM5, but after I flashed WM6 to my phone I noticed some problems.
I was thinking that maybe other ROM version will work fine with the application but failed with different ROMs.
Which software you recommend as best and guaranteed alarm? web address please?
Thanks to all

amar963 said:
Dear asctony,
Thanks for your reply
I just want to know if these applications cause any conflict in general.
As you mentioned, Weather is not accurate but at lease it's much better than HTC Touch Flo weather plug-in
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You may want to read some of the postings on SPB's Forums before you decide to buy any of their products.
Here is the link for their forums:
http://www.spbclub.com/forum/index.php

asctony said:
You may want to read some of the postings on SPB's Forums before you decide to buy any of their products.
Here is the link for their forums:
http://www.spbclub.com/forum/index.php
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Many thanks!
The web site you recommended is great

Spb backup is great.
I also use Insight every day to keep up on things.
I didn't like the weather app, I use Marsware WeatherPanel....It is very accurate and fast.

Spb Diary -- Could not get through a work-day without it. Rock-solid, no-nonsense app that gets the job done better than a lot of flashier programs.
Spb Pocket Plus -- Essential to the way I work and navigate in WM 5. It adds a few small but but critical tweaks. You may not need it though.
Spb Insight -- If you do a lot of reading on the internet, this is an indispensable app! It will change the way you use the web. Best 20 bucks I've ever dropped on any hardware or software.

kidlockatong said:
Spb Diary -- Could not get through a work-day without it. Rock-solid, no-nonsense app that gets the job done better than a lot of flashier programs.
Spb Pocket Plus -- Essential to the way I work and navigate in WM 5. It adds a few small but but critical tweaks. You may not need it though.
Spb Insight -- If you do a lot of reading on the internet, this is an indispensable app! It will change the way you use the web. Best 20 bucks I've ever dropped on any hardware or software.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree with most of the comments. However, I don't use Insight anymore. I use NewsCopier - Free Edition V 1.1. I found it much faster and more selections. Here is the link for it:
http://www.freeware-palm.com/download-newscopier-v1-1.html

asctony said:
I use NewsCopier - Free Edition V 1.1. I found it much faster and more selections. Here is the link for it:
http://www.freeware-palm.com/download-newscopier-v1-1.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hear ya.
I'll bet there are several better headline/summary/link news readers than Insight, but that's not why I use it. What I like about it is -- I can update complete articles for 20 feeds in a snap on a wireless broadband at home every morning, and read them all day without having to connect to the internet or any cellular service at all.
And they don't need to be RSS/Atom/etc. feeds, either. Half the stuff I download comes from sites that don't even use feeds. Or if they do, I pull stuff that they don't feed.
But not everyone may want or need that.

I use Spb Mobile Shell (top of my Avatar photo) It's weather tab is fairly accurate and tracks with the local forecasts. The photo speed dial tab is nice as is the battery / most recent applications tab. The clock is there, but I don't access the multi time zones much.
As far as performance, I have only run it on the Uni and the Athena, without conflicts or hang-ups. Can't testify to using it first hand on the Wizard.

kidlockatong said:
I hear ya.
I'll bet there are several better headline/summary/link news readers than Insight, but that's not why I use it. What I like about it is -- I can update complete articles for 20 feeds in a snap on a wireless broadband at home every morning, and read them all day without having to connect to the Internet or any cellular service at all.
And they don't need to be RSS/Atom/etc. feeds, either. Half the stuff I download comes from sites that don't even use feeds. Or if they do, I pull stuff that they don't feed.
But not everyone may want or need that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I download from 20 different feeds daily also. I just counted them to see how much I was downloading from. I also read them during the day without being connect to the Internet or any cellular service using NewsCopier. So, there are commonalities among both apps. The good thing about this thread is that you now can try both of them and even more and make your own decision. Not every app is suited for everyone or anyone user.

asctony -- Thanks! The page didn't seem to mention that. Will definitely follow up on it. Is that version usable on a wizard?

Got it. Thanks again.

I've used them all. The only one I use now and is rock solid is Diary. Phone Suit is VERY buggy. Most of the features only work intermittently. Weather is not nearly as good as WeatherPanel. I could not get Finance to work with MS Money Plus (2007). SPB Shell, Plus, Time, Traveler, and all the rest are too heavy on the PDA resources compared with what they do. The cost benefit analysis leans too far toward cost to justify using them.

kidlockatong said:
asctony -- Thanks! The page didn't seem to mention that. Will definitely follow up on it. Is that version usable on a wizard?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a T-Mobile MDA. Model: WIZA200 Pocket PC
I run with:
IPL 2.26
SPL 2.26
GSM Radio 2.25.11
OS WxtRom 2.26.10.2
I have been using that version on my MDA for over 8 months. No problems and I do use it daily.
Let me know if you need anything else.

Task Calendar app?

Hi all, does anyone know of a app (freeware preferably) that allows you to add tasks to your calendar (and you can check them off as you complete them). I've seen many checklists, but none where the task is shown on a calender. (think google calender, but with remember the milk added in). I'm really new to this stuff, so any help is much appreciated!

brucewayneisbatman said:
Hi all, does anyone know of a app (freeware preferably) that allows you to add tasks to your calendar (and you can check them off as you complete them). I've seen many checklists, but none where the task is shown on a calender. (think google calender, but with remember the milk added in). I'm really new to this stuff, so any help is much appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can do this with PocketInformant - see pocketinformant.com .
- Tim

it ain't freeware, but SBP Diary is the best program for this that I've ever come across... it is an absolute must-have for anyone who uses their device as a planner, IMHO.
Tabbed today screen plugin, one of the tabs (calendar tab) will show the appointments of each day for the next n days, and all tasks for that day, w/out a due-date, and/or that haven't come up due yet, etc.
it's very useful.. also has an email tab, a task tab (which just shows all tasks by category, etc), etc.
wonderful program. highly recommend. (no, I don't work for nor am affiliated with any pocketpc development companies =])

Thanks for information everyone. I like Pocket Informant so far, but everything feels very crammed.
I'm going to try SBP diary soon (if there is a demo that is)