The basis for I’m InTouch is the ability to access and control your computer from any web browser connected to the internet. This means you are able to safely access your computer’s files, emails, and contacts, right from your Blackberry browser. The tool can be invaluable for road warriors that need access to their home or office computer. Read below for our review …
The installation is fairly simple, you will need to install the server software on the home computer. The server software is a light version of the popular Apache program, which runs unobtrusively in the background of the home machine. After you finish the install you will know you’re setup when you see a green satellite in your system tray. There is no actual installation on your Blackberry, it is just a matter of pointing your Blackberry Browser to http://locator.01com.com. You will then be asked to authenticate yourself by entering your computer name and username and password.
From the home screen, you can read, compose, send and receive e-mail, read and manage your contact list and view your calendar as though you were at your home machine. I’m InTouch is meant to support various different platforms from notebooks to other PDA’s so a few features will be redundant for Blackberry users. There is not much use to view and compose email from I’m InTouch web based interface. It is way too agonizingly slow for us that are spoiled with the Blackberry’s email capabilities. Where the program shines is the ability to view your home computer’s directory tree so you can attach a file and email it to a client.
After awhile the program can become annoying due to the major lag issues. I would like to see a dedicated client program for the Blackberry that would help speed up things a bit. Another issue is that I’m InTouch only supports Outlook and Outlook Express. Even if you wanted to use the program for it’s directory viewing capabilities only it will not allow you and forces you to set Outlook or Outlook Express as default.
I’m InTouch retails for $99 a year. I will agree that I’m InTouch has it’s usefulness but the subscription base pricing makes you think twice. We can see how the cost could be justified if one did not have wireless access to their email like most PDA users but for us Blackberry users the program is no more than a mobile windows explorer that we can use to send out emails with attachments.
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