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| SAMMY'S EDITORIAL: My views on the Pocket PC PDA2K device. Is it better than a Palm OS device? |
| 10.29.04 (12:02 am) [edit] |
  So thoughts on using the PDA2K compared to my TC. Well firstly, remember that I am not against the Pocket PC, indeed it's a terrific platform but one that is not for me. Why? Well let me start by saying the PDA2K has to be one of the best PDA's that I have ever used in terms of hardware. It beats the tc for a number of reasons. Firstly it has a built in kekpad. Now I could not grasp using this and it took me for forever to even get any of my words right and I think you remember me saying so last week. However after some practice I am getting used to it and typing on it has become a hell of a lot easier. In fact although not as fast as my tc I am able to get a good speed up.
The other thing I like is that we have wifi and bluetooth all built in and of course it has a camera built in so in that case that is why it beats the tc hands down. However in regards to using it is a different story. I like the idea of Windows Mobile but yet never really thought of it as a simple operating system. If you want a OS that powerful with lots of bells and whistles then can I suiggest Windows Mobile, yet something light and straight to the point then can I say stick with the Palm OS. The PDA2K is certainly bright. I think the screen is very crisp and I would say that it's as bright as my TC. The keyboard is great because it illuminates with a nice blue glow allowing me to see my keys easily in the dark, so no problem there. Furthermore its easy to write on and the device is small enough to fit into my pocket. Oh did I forget to tell you the PDA2K is also a phone too? Well it is and the reception was equal to my Treo 600 however I think that holding the Treo 600 is a lot easier than the PDA2K.
Whenever I have used Windows Mobile I have never had that much luck with it. I always experience the odd crash and end up losing a word documents that I was working on so end up relying on my Palm device and this is a good thing. So in this short opinion what are my conclusions? I think the PDA2K is the best Windows Mobile device I have ever used. The hardware is better than my TC and indeed its on par I think with the Treo 600 if not that bit better because it has Wifi, however as an operating system I have to say that I did not find the device as reliable as using my tc. It's also easier to type on my tc rather than the PDA2K. On the other hand its a nice looking device and I would certainly recomend as a Pocket PC, but if you asking me about Palm OS v Windows Mobile then I would have to say that its Palm OS for me and I'm sticking with the TC, however as hardware goes this device gets 8.5 out of 10, and it loses a point because I am not used to the keyboard yet.
- Sammy (Manchester, UK)
 I have added these thoughts on to our review and software thoughts page which you can read here
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| SAMMY'S EDITORIAL: Agendus |
| 10.28.04 (11:30 pm) [edit] |
I have been using Agendus for the last two weeks and I have to say that it's certainly growing on me. For those not aware Agendus is a great PIM and is very powerful. Now I am not going to go into a full blown review but I will say this its excellent. Let's start with the views. You have:
Daily View
You have time bars starting from whatever time you choose in my case its 8am as its no point any earlier as I dont get up until 8am and then it goes on until midnight. At the bottom of the page you have your to do list which is how I like it. I can see all of my to do items for that day. Obviously at the top of the view you have the days of the week so you choose say Tuesday of that week to see whats happening. The menu's allow me to enter anything in fopr that day whether its an appointment or a task. You can also enter in calls to a new meeting. At the bottom of the view and indeed all of the views is a tabbled graphic menu which allows you to select any of the views. Quite perfect.
7 Day view
Gives you a week view at one tiome and this is one of my favorite views because it allows you to see what free time you have. I have my weekends a different color to the rest of the week. The view also allows you to see what free time that you have. It certainly is quite helpful especially if you want to plan ahead. Again, menu options give you the ability to add appointments where neccesary and of course change views.
Month View
Use icons to see what your doing later in the month. Selecting any day from the month view automatically gives you the days agenda. Thios is great if you are putting in birthdays, holidays or whatever. It is nothingt something that I tend to use that much but it does give a good graphical impression of what is happening.
Three month view
This for me acts as a calendar. The only downside to this is that there are no letters stating what day each date represents which annoys me slighly however you get used to knowing that Sundays are corresponding to the first date in the left column etc, however it would still be nice if it told you the date.
7 Day at a glance view
This is my favorite because it gives a weekly list of tasks and your agenda and is my standard view when using TC. It's helpful to see everything going on at a glance.
To Do List
There is task list that lists everything that is going on for the week ahead. I use this to delete and plan my tasks.
Contacts
We must not forget the contacts view. This is a very powerful contacts program. I just automatically use contacts all of the time andf have the relevant hard button corresponding to it. You can even attach photographs too.
Conclusion
There is a lot more besides what I have written above. There are templates for certain tasks which I know a lot of people find useful. There is a free trial to give this a whirl and then purchase price and then Agendus can then be purchased for $29.95. I have to give this 9 out of 10. It loses a point for a poor calendar view and again this is my own opinion so bear that in mind when you consider downloading it.
Available from Iambic
- Sammy (Manchester, UK)
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| SAMMY'S THOUGHT: Snappermail |
| 10.28.04 (1:21 am) [edit] |
I have been using the latest version of Snappermail and have to say that its a wonderful application and one that I really enjoy using. It gibes my Palm devifce a complete different perspective of using it. Earlier this week I was talking about how my TC is also seen as a communicator rather than just a standard PDA. Snappermail certainly helps makes my tc more of a communication device. It's not all plain sailing but its getting there. Snappermail is powerful, it allows me access to not just my mac email but also my AOL email. This is good because I need full access to both of these accounts. It also allows me to draft emails when I am out and about. A prime example is I like to visit Starbucks quite close to my office every afternoon, I call it the treat of the day and whilst I am there I can respond to email that I have had waiting in my inbox for my attention. Now I know that WiFi is a major factor in Starbucks in the UK, however in the US it has not reached its peak so my local Starbucks does not have WiFi. However I can still keep the emails in draft format and send off when I am back in the office. However it shows that I am able to write email wherever I am and send when I want to.
Push email is big with the likes of the blackberry and providing that you have a connection to the internet, in my case with tc wifi I can have Snappermail retrieve my email at periodic times such as every ten minutes and alert me when I have mail. Very handy. It does run into some problems which are no doubt user caused. An example is that sometimes my email does not check for mail at the same times and I have to manually ask it to check mail, then it will go ahead and start checking. Other times I may place my tc in the cradle to charge and find that it no longer wants to check at periodic times, however, take it out of the cradle and it's off again checking. Not sure what is happening but it always sorts itself out. In the end I can be certain to get my email at the times I need it.
I like the design of Snappermail. It's simple, a nice blue color although you can of course go back to the classic look. Furthermore I also enjoy deleating email and know that its also deleated off my email server I do not have to see or delete the same messages in my inbox on my Mac. Deleating using IMAP just saves the day there. To conclude I think Snappermail is the best. Yes there are some problems but as I have explained I really think these are the fault of the user rather than the software itself. I would be happy to give Snappermail a well deserved 9 out of 10www.snappermail.com
- Sammy (Manchester, UK)
I have also posted this review on our reviews page
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| SAMMY'S EDITORIAL, A short review of the Blackberry 7100 |
| 10.27.04 (11:06 pm) [edit] |
 Take the Blackberry out of it's box and your met with an unusual looking blue / grey toned cell phone with the red Vodafone graphics. It's is quite narrow, smaller than what I thought and very light. It weighs in my opinion the same or if not just a little lighter than my t600. I have to charge the 7100 and I do so for an hour. As this uses a Vodafone SIM card rather than my Orange SIM card I have to manually add all my contacts which takes me the good part of an hour. The screen is brighter than I had imagined because I had read a number of reviews saying the screen was not so bright. In my opinion it's not as bright as the Treo but it's still comftable to view.
The apps are cool enough, there are the normal PIM applications including a to do list, obviously a contacts application etc. My initial impressions are that although the applications are sufficent they do not compare to the Palm OS where the applications are far superior. Receiving email automatically is very good however I later realized that it's pushed to your blackberry on 15 minute intervals. Now when you compare that to my Tungsten C using Snappermail I can have me emailed downloaded every 5 minutes if I wanted providing I am in a wifi enabled area such as my office or at home.
One has to remember that I am very new to the Blackberry and nowhere near as confiodent as using a Palm OS device. However it is clean, seems quick and does what I need it to do. However my TC and indeed the Treo 600 performs better plus they are also much faster too. However if I had to choose between using a Windows Mobile device and a Blackberry then I know what I would choose and thats a Blackberry. The Blackberry community reminds me of what the Palm community was like when we first started Palm Addict back in the Summer of 1999 which seems like a generation ago. However I will say that I am more than happy using my TC and I think thats a reflection of how good this device is.
- Sammy (Manchester, UK)
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| SAMMY'S EDITORIAL: A brief review of the Veo Traveller Camera for Palm |
| 10.20.04 (5:37 am) [edit] |
 Using a Veo camera with my Palm device is a real blessing. There are many times when I just want to pick up my Tungsten C and just snap away. The camera is small and fits into the SD Card slot at the top of my TC. The camera itself is real easy to use, it's just a case of finding the Veo application, adjusting the camera to a view in focus using the screen on your TC or whatever Palm device you use and for me I just hit the Navigator button to shoot the image.
It then asks whether you want to save the image and by doing so I can then email it or use Verichat to send it on. I can also squeeze the image to whatever size I want and the Veo camera can set the brightness automatically or you can do ity manually. Focusing is done by yourself and there are several zoom in / zoom out options for you to take advanage of.
One must remember that the Veo camera can also be used as a video camera and this works perfectly fine too, although it will eat memory so a good Memory card will be needed to save the file. Personally I tend not to take advantage of the video although it is good to know that it's there should I need it.
In conclusion I never thought that I would take advantage of a camera enabled Palm device but in the end I think that I would not ever puchase a Palm device without the camera and with that in mind, over the last six months or so I have taken advantage where I can of using the camera. My Veo camera has really opened my eyes to taking photographs with my Palm device and if you have the opportunity I urge you to take advantage of taking snapshots, you may just be suprised with how your pictures turn out.
[Link - Veo]
- Sammy (Manchester, UK)
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| SAMMY'S EDITORIAL: Verichat |
| 10.16.04 (10:12 am) [edit] |
I wanted to talk briefly about one of my favorite software titles Verichat because its very important to me. Verichat is an instant messenger for Palm OS and can connect to the main 4 Messenger clients,, ICQ,, Yahoo Messenger, MSN, and of course AIM.. I use all of these to stay in contact with people I know. I am not always available but at least once a day I try to get online so that I can speak to my office and friends.
 Verichat has a great deal of advantages and one of them is the ability to be in another application and be sent a IM at any time. You can reply with a quick message or indeed if you wish enter into a full blown conversation, the option, well is yours. Verichat is one of those applications where you pay for a subscription on an annual basis rather than a one off payment but I am happy with that.
Verichat is very stable and I have never had a problem with it. Oh, I forgot to mention that in fact you can actually hhave different alert tones depending on where you are and what attention you require. Personally I have mine to vibrate but you can choose what alert prefence you desire. Another neat feature is the ability to allow Verichat to connect the instant you switch your TC on. I don't allow this opportunity but you have the choice.
There are a lot of other features that come with Verichat and it's a sound application which holds many benefits for me personally. You can download from Palmgear and it costs $24.95 which is good value and I certainly have gotten my money's worth out of it.
- Sammy (Manchester, UK)
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