I recently made the move from a 2 device phone/IPAQ setup to a Blackberry 7100t on the T-Mobile network. I was lugging around a phone on my belt, an IPAQ in its case (primarily for contacts, tasks and calendar) and a pad/pen for notes. I have tried for over 10 years, though every device imaginable, to give up the pad/pen and finally accepted that it will never happen. So a Blackberry with the phone, calendar, tasks, contacts and e-mail as well – perfect.
So where did everything suddenly go? Without memorizing a dozen short cuts (which I’m sure will come in time) I was developing a super-human thumb scrolling and pressing constantly to get to the information I needed. Where was my ‘one view’ of everything that mattered to me right now that had become so familiar though years of PDAs? PocketDay to the rescue! A package offering to give me back all that I had lost.
Install
The install was a seamless as you would expect from commercial software. Download the ZIP, unpack, plug in and install – all done in a matter of minutes. Your device will restart when the install is complete and like magic – everything is back! PocketDay takes much of your critical data and presents it to you in a single view covering Appointments, Tasks, Unread Email, Missed Calls, Weather and Stock Quotes.
For those of us that always want the “Test Drive†option, it should be noted that the Trial is a fully functional version of the software – an option that any developer with confidence in their solution should offer.
Features
The package is well designed with an intuitive interface and it appears to integrate very well to the native BB offering. On my 7100t it appears as an application but launches at start up and becomes the central screen from which most things are done. The designer has gone to some length to make the app feel like it came with the device, making good use of menus and even making the app available in the main menu from other locations.
Good use is made of the available screen space with the key information for each section available on screen at all times. Fonts, sizes and colors are fully customizable as is the ability to turn sections on/off and the order in which they will appear. For me coming from the PDA world with no BES integration (yet), this allows my calendar to be most visible followed by my tasks, e-mail and calls. For many others, I’m sure that e-mail will be at the top of the list.
Scrolling to any of the main sections and selecting “Go To..†takes you to the native functionality for that feature so the full Blackberry functions are literally a click away. For the important tasks of creating new items, there are links directly on the menu saving clicks and therefore time.
