I was looking for a program that I could run on my iPAQ that would serve two purposes. Firstly I wanted to be able to download my mobile phone contacts to the iPAQ, edit them and save them back to the phone. Secondly I wanted to be able to read and write SMS messages on my iPAQ. This is by no means an exhaustive test, more a summary of my findings as I looked for the product to meet my needs.
I used a
Nokia 8210 which has in built infrared capabilities. I have created a chart
at the end of these reviews comparing features and the speed of the programs.
This software is very quick and easy to use, you don't need to tell it what kind of phone you have. It does exactly what it says, it allows you download contact information from the mobile SIM or the mobiles memory. It correctly downloaded my 2 SMS messages, with the correct title and date/time stamps. In order to send SMS messages you need to input the SMS service centre phone number into the program, which is an oversight in my opinion as the phone already has this information.
When sending an SMS you can pick from your phone contacts, or enter a new number, it doesn't do any checking to see wether the number is a valid mobile or not. It keeps a handy count of the characters entered.
It also allows you to upload ringtones and operator logos to Siemens S25 phone, however I couldn't test this facility as I have a Nokia phone.
On first views this product looks very busy to me. You need to set it up with your phone type and the communication method between the PocketPC and the mobile. As this product supports fax you can also enter full sender information, ie name, address, fax number etc. You can also specify a cover page to go with your faxes. However in the 30 day trial version I could not find a fax option.
Whilst it downloaded my 2 SMS messages it incorrectly displayed the From field, displaying a string of alphanumerical characters rather than the meaningful name displayed on the phone.
It doesn't require you to enter your service center number, unless you wish to use a different one then the standard one on the phone.
The product is integrated into Pocket Outlook in that you can select an entry from your mobile and add it to your pocket outlook contacts quickly and easily.
This product takes a different approach to the two previous ones in that it is fully integrated into the Inbox on your PocketPC. In order to use the SMS facilities you need to add it as a service to the Inbox program on the PocketPC. The mobile phone contact list is run from the standard contacts program.
I couldn't get the SMS facility to work, and indeed it seemed a long winded approach.
Also the contact program put my top bar to the bottom of the screen, which I have only ever seen before on programs written for Windows CE 2 and not Pocket PC. This program locked up my iPAQ within 5 minutes of being installed, and was then deleted!
Once again a simple, no frills program that does what it says. It's purely a contact a utility for managing your mobile contacts, the company has another program for SMS. No setup is needed, just point the phone at the iPAQ, choose the mobile phone SIM memory and it reads the contacts. The first time you do it it scans all 100 'slots' on the mobile, hence the download is the longest time tested, however reducing this to the total contacts I have knocked 10 seconds off the time.
Like Win Phone pocket this didn't display the name of the SMS message, rather an alpha numerical character set. I suspect this is some form of sender ID which this product and WinPhone are incorrectly reading as the Sender, whereas Phoneman is reading it correctly. This has the feel of a very professional program and is certainly the fastest of all the programs I have used. This is due to the fact that GSM manager initiates communications seperately to clicking the download button, whereas the other programs initiate and download all from one push of the button.
Upon further use, it appears that you cannot add a single entry from Pocket Outlook into your mobile phone contacts list, it will only add the whole of your contacts until you've run out of space on the mobile.
| Phoneman | WinPhone | MessageMaster | Red Phone | GSM Manager | ||
| Up/down load SMS | y | y | y 2 | n | y | |
| Up/down load contacts | y | y | y | y | y | |
| Integrated with Outlook contacts? | partly 1 | y | n | y | y | |
| Fax? | n | y | n | n | n | |
| split large SMS? | y | n | ||||
| Time to download 2 SMS messages | 8.41 secs | 13.02 secs | N/A | 7.16 secs | ||
| Time to download 58 contacts | 12.14 secs | 19.6 secs | 10.9 secs | 16.98 secs | 9.45 secs 3 | |
| Free trial? | 14 days | n | restricted | restricted | restricted | |
| cost | $21.99 | $68 | $48.6 | $15 | $29.95 | |
| 1. Allows import/export to CSV which could then be import/exported to Outlook. | ||||||
| 2. I couldn't get this to work | ||||||
I'm actually disappointed in that no one program does the 2 basic features that I want, namely:
1. Ability to add a single mobile phone record from pocket contacts into my mobile phone list
2. Ability to correctly download my SMS messages without corruption
So for the moment I'm still looking for the correct software for my needs.
|
Greg's SmartPhone
iPAQ and PocketPC
Software list contains smartphone,mobile, cell, pocket pc and windows
CE software to download, including freeware, free games, video, email
and many others. |
|
©2001-2007 PocketPCSoft.net-All Rights Reserved www.ipaqsoft.net | www.pocketpcsoft.net| www.smartphonesoft.com |
| Site links: Mobile index Add software Bluetooth tips Real life battery tests iPAQ tips VGA card review Powerpoint tool SMS programs Theme Generation Replacement stylus Metal Case for iPAQ Worldmate review iPAQ 1900 cases Whats on my iPAQ Skiing dashboard skin Links About this site Feedback PocketPC Forum |