Does anyone know of any good Personal Information Management software for Windows Mobile? I am not asking a whole lot. Just be able to search for a key word among appointments, todos, notes shouldn't be too much to ask for, is it? The current Calendar and Task applications can't even do that.
Thanks!
there are a ton of them, google PIM, windows mobile and your search will come up with Pocket Informant, Agenda One, and a bunch of others.
thanks!
dmd1272 said:
there are a ton of them, google PIM, windows mobile and your search will come up with Pocket Informant, Agenda One, and a bunch of others.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, I have done a google search before. Like you said, there are a ton. Perhaps, I should change my question to which PIM is better for the WM 6.1.
thanks!
i have been using agenda one - works for everything I need and I am kinda picky. If theres something better fill me in. Download the free trial and see if you like it.
PIM
Try Papyrus or Agenda One - both are among the best
Agenda One not working very well
[email protected] said:
Try Papyrus or Agenda One - both are among the best
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the suggestions! I downloaded the trial version of Agenda One - supposed to be full featured with time limit. I tried several searches - some search all, some search only in appointment, or only todos. None of them worked. It looked like the program tried for a while, then it simply terminated (not the search, but the entire Agenda one program). It kicked me back to the today screen, and the process no longer listed in the task list
Try the recently released Papyrus 2. It's frakkin' amazing
try agendus over at www.iambic.com
Agenda One is no go
anewbie said:
Thank you for the suggestions! I downloaded the trial version of Agenda One - supposed to be full featured with time limit. I tried several searches - some search all, some search only in appointment, or only todos. None of them worked. It looked like the program tried for a while, then it simply terminated (not the search, but the entire Agenda one program). It kicked me back to the today screen, and the process no longer listed in the task list
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I signed up at Developer One support forum, and tried to post this question. It's been a couple of days, they don't even show my posting in the forum. I tried to ask the same question again, still blocked by the moderator. Oh well, moving on to Papyrus 2 trial now.
Thank you all for the suggestions! I thought I'd spend a few words sharing my opinions on the products I've been trying out:
Agenda One - in spite of the awards the company claims they have received, I find this product adds very little value to the existing WM 6.1 PIM functionality. Some pretty colors, that's it. When I started my quest for a better PIM, all I was looking for was a search function. Agenda One has it. I had made many variations of attempts to use it, search all, search in appointments only, search in todos only, search whole word, partial word, any words .... Not once did it ever complete the search with any result. Every single time, the function started, try for a while, then the program crashed. It simply terminate. I submitted the question to the company's support forum, the question itself didn't get posted until 5 days later - as the moderator has to screen every single post. When it did appear, other user indicated same problem on other smart phone as well. I'm not the only one.
Edit: the forum blocked my complaint, and finally come back with a question - it remotely sounds like it cares, but the question is useless. If they read my post, they would have found the answer there. I feel like dealing with a communist government official - sensor everything, sloooooooooow to respond and defend every criticism ...
Papyrus 2.0 - the calendar layouts are reasonably flexible, so you can customize how you want to see all the activities. The search is very fast, even if I have more than 30 matches, they show up as soon as the program finds them. There is one thing I don't like, but I suspect I may be able to figure out a way to change, that is, I only want to see todos that are not yet completed on a daily basis. Even though I have that specified, it is still showing me the todos that are already marked complete (not all of them, just the ones that have no dates associated with). To me, they are done, they are done. Why would I want to look at them everyday just because their complete dates were not marked? Other than that, everything seems to be pretty good. They've got nice colors just like Agenda One, and price is about the same.
Agendus Pro - Agendus Pro has a rich set of nice features - in addition to the regular calendar/todo/contact views, you can also access call log, email, quote of the day, day in history, weather forecast, and stock quote all from this application. I didn't think about these before, but, they are very nice to have. The cost of this product is no more than the others. Another nice feature - there is a tool bar (either on top or bottom of the screen) you can use to select the format of display (day view, week view, month view, list, contact, email, etc, etc. With the other products (Agenda One, and Papyrus), you have to press the view soft bottom, which brings up another screen that let you select the format. Agendus layout is more intuitive and direct.
Having said all of that, I do have a couple of complaints -
- Agendus Pro take up 3.7 MB, whereas Papyrus - 700 KB, Agenda One - 966 KB. These are the cab size, I know that Agendus Pro includes several language supports, which contribute to the bigger CAB size. Nevertheless, the memory foot print is still the biggest among the 3.
- my 2nd complaint is that when you load the program just to look at some details in an appointment, the program starts and you don't see anything in the calendar - it tells you that you don't have any activity. Then, a little box flashes "initializing ...", "initializing ...", "initializing ..." ... My screen went out 4 times before I can finally see the content of my day's calendar. If it takes less memory, I may just keep it running, which would not have the "initializing ..." problem. Since the program takes up so much memory, I don't want to keep it in the memory. This is a deal killer for me. It's too bad. I like the features a lot.
Edit: Since the above was written, I've tried two more software packages. Nothing stood out. One fenomenal ability make Papyrus shine among all the others is how fast the search function performs. Everyone else wait, and wait, and wait until they've collected all the matches and put them on the screen all at once. If you have a sizable database (mine has about 2000 entries), you'll be staring at a blank screen with a spinning wheel forever, the screen saver would kick in multiple times. Whereas Papyrus' search shows you the match results as it progresses through the database. Maybe the match I am looking for is the first couple out of 50, why would I need to wait until it finds 50 before showing me first two? That's just a simply logic. I don't get what the other developers were thinking ....
Needless to say, Papyrus 2.0 becomes my choice. Their forum is great, too! Very happy about this decision
thanks!
Related
Hello again all,
I posted a few days ago about how I was going to move from MS to WAD2.
The thing about MS is although it's stable, and it works well..it's not configurable/customizable without great pain.
WAD is very configurable, but kills my battery in less than a day (with MS I can easily get 2 days or more). It's also very sluggish and doesn't seem to link directly into things eg, in MS hitting the SMS icon takes you into your sms folder, in WAD it takes you to the messages list where you have to select the sms folder adding additional clicks to get to what you want isn't really desirable. This is the same with the email icon.
So I thought I'd try winterface...which is far too complicated and just doesn't seem to be very user friendly
Is there anything else left to try? are these the top 3 that people are using?
Thanks
twisted-pixel said:
Hello again all,
I posted a few days ago about how I was going to move from MS to WAD2.
The thing about MS is although it's stable, and it works well..it's not configurable/customizable without great pain.
WAD is very configurable, but kills my battery in less than a day (with MS I can easily get 2 days or more). It's also very sluggish and doesn't seem to link directly into things eg, in MS hitting the SMS icon takes you into your sms folder, in WAD it takes you to the messages list where you have to select the sms folder adding additional clicks to get to what you want isn't really desirable. This is the same with the email icon.
So I thought I'd try winterface...which is far too complicated and just doesn't seem to be very user friendly
Is there anything else left to try? are these the top 3 that people are using?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can configure WAD to go to anything mate. The reason it is going to messaging when you want SMS is because the theme you are running links it that way. You can link to individual files, folders or .lnk files. THe .lnk files are great because you can pass parameters inside which is how the MS sms link is working anyway. There is no "sms" program, it IS the messaging program with a parameter passed upon execution.
I dont get too bad of battery life from WAD but I am nto really runnign aything else that would drain my batter so that may be helping me. There is nothing out there that can even shake a stick at WAD from a customization perspective. I say you stick with WAD and customize the themes yo ualready love with the links you desire.
ok I wanted to go grab more info for you about the sms thing. when looking at the sms.lnk file I created for my iphone theme, properties shows that to bring up sms directly you need to have
"tmail.exe" -service "SMS"
tmail.exe is just the messaging program and the rest tells it what service to start in. I believe setting to "MMS" also works as well as putting the account in the "". If you named you email Yahoo then "Yahoo" would work and th elnk would take you to the inbox of your yahoo account you set up
ok..that's a huge help as despite it's sluggishness and battery hungryness....I love the fact that I can do anything I want with WAD.
If only there was somewhere that told me about that command!!..I've downloaded the manuals etc, and there's no mention in them about how to use such commands, or how to make a meter, etc etc..
and I hate asking people too many questions.
twisted-pixel said:
ok..that's a huge help as despite it's sluggishness and battery hungryness....I love the fact that I can do anything I want with WAD.
If only there was somewhere that told me about that command!!..I've downloaded the manuals etc, and there's no mention in them about how to use such commands, or how to make a meter, etc etc..
and I hate asking people too many questions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol i hear ya. I learned from here and other forums. I dont know all that much either. I just get an idea, assume it is possible and go search for ways to make it a reality
A Small Story to serve as an introductory:
So a while back, when I got my brilliant Excalibur, I started developing small applications. Some of you may recall the, now long dead , thread I had called CycloneApps [By Request]. I started with C#, and did some ok things [in my opinion] and they helped serve as a learning block for bigger and better developments. I have gone from CMail.exe, the command-line replacement to tmail.exe, all the way to FFP_LockScreen [Fake FingerPrint LockScreen], which unfortunately was aimed at Touch-Screen phone users as a project I undertook as I showed interest on a thread in the Software Development sub-forum. I got my original inspirations and 'drive' to develop from this here community, the Excalibur owners or supporters, and I thought it be best that I now fulfill a request made by Ookba, the great Chef who has brought our phones new life.
See, shortly after I started taking requests, Ookba suggested I re-make SMSBubbles to be more functional with the ROM. At the time, with the speeds of the .NET CF, it seemed impossible to really do. But I come back to you all now with the knowledge of C++ So as a token of my appreciation to all Excalibur owners, I want to develop CycBubbles, an SMSBubbles remake with features YOU want!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Having said all of that, I ask now that if anyone has any interest in such a program becoming available to the Excalibur, they reply to this thread with Ideas concerning one of the following:
Soft-Keys: What should the LEFT soft-key and RIGHT soft-key do [ and under what circumstances] ?
Look and Feel: Do you like the SMSBubbles 'bubble', or do you want something different? [Realize that more complex designs = slower speed]
Rules: How about some filter-rules about when the bubble should or should NOT appear.
Positioning: Do we all like the bubble at the bottom of the screen? Maybe we can make it more PPC-Like if it were in the Center, or from the TOP.
Extra Functions: What kind of extras would you like? (i.e. Should I utilize the 0 - 9 keys on the keyboard to do something?)
Once I get the ideas from YOU guys/girls, on what YOU want this program to do, I can start developing
Please consider
if you want to see this program really flourish
Reserved for later use
Rules would be awesome. How about setting bubbles only for certain contacts? Would the .cab install work for other ROM's besides ookba's?
I would most definitely aim to make the program ROM INdependent.
Thank You for the feedback
it would be interesting to make the left and right soft keys customizable...
and as for the location/look of the bubbles, that to would be nice to customize and to relocate wherever the user feels. top, bottom, left, right, center...
the rules sounds good, and maybe apply an ignore feature to certain annoying contacts lol. like a black list on contacts that the bubbles won't show up for.<-- pretty much what Frostmoon said. lol
pretty much make it user customizable friendly.
nice to see you around these parts again.
Due to the rather disheartening amount of feedback on this thread, I will most likely not develop this in the near future .
I am currently consumed with finishing up my next version of Fake FingerPrint LockScreen for Touch-Screen phones, but that should be over in about a week.
I have been pondering re-starting development on my Horizon Home-Screen, if any of you remember that (if not, you can search it). My further knowledge of C++ will most definitely assist me in making this HomeScreen I had dreamed of making a while back when I only knew C#.
So I suppose be on the lookout for any news on that, and check here occassionally to see if I post back. For now, I am going to leave this on Stage 1 (Gathering Ideas), NOT DISCONTINUED, because I do hope to have the time to come back to this soon and give back to the community that started me off
Cyclonezephyrxz7 said:
Due to the rather disheartening amount of feedback on this thread, I will most likely not develop this in the near future .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah it's a real shame as the idea was requested by users yet response so small, no longer have an Excalibur but think that the development of a SMS bubble app with more configurable options would be welcomed by many smartphone users and not just Excalibur, maybe worth thinking as a project for D&H rather than just Excalibur users.
>sms bubble duration
>marque of sms
>if recived multiple sms we shuld b able to select the one to view....
>customizable soft buttons becoz diffrent user wants different settings..
>user created themes
> rules is another great idea... coz somtimes service provider sends lots of annoing sms + others
>hide the vip sms.. and it requires password to view the sms( it can b a seperate function to lock the sms bubble with password)
>photo of the sender... if it is from the saved contact...
> a floating bubble would b great the flows from up-down or vice versa.... until the user press a button..
somecuitears said:
>sms bubble duration
>marque of sms
>if recived multiple sms we shuld b able to select the one to view....
>customizable soft buttons becoz diffrent user wants different settings..
>user created themes
> rules is another great idea... coz somtimes service provider sends lots of annoing sms + others
>hide the vip sms.. and it requires password to view the sms( it can b a seperate function to lock the sms bubble with password)
>photo of the sender... if it is from the saved contact...
> a floating bubble would b great the flows from up-down or vice versa.... until the user press a button..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
good ideas!
stylez said:
Yeah it's a real shame as the idea was requested by users yet response so small, no longer have an Excalibur but think that the development of a SMS bubble app with more configurable options would be welcomed by many smartphone users and not just Excalibur, maybe worth thinking as a project for D&H rather than just Excalibur users.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, it is a shame. i was really looking forward to this.
best of luck with you home screen development, will check in on that time to time.
somecuitears said:
>sms bubble duration
>marque of sms
>if recived multiple sms we shuld b able to select the one to view....
>customizable soft buttons becoz diffrent user wants different settings..
>user created themes
> rules is another great idea... coz somtimes service provider sends lots of annoing sms + others
>hide the vip sms.. and it requires password to view the sms( it can b a seperate function to lock the sms bubble with password)
>photo of the sender... if it is from the saved contact...
> a floating bubble would b great the flows from up-down or vice versa.... until the user press a button..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As stated above, good ideas!
@Cyclonezephyrxz7 - This can be a good start don't you think?. Thanks for your work dude, I hope to see this project rolling out
@Mr.Clown (and all others too)
Yes, it did serve as a sort of inspiration to start up. Thank You to those who did contribute ideas thus-far. I have not started up a thread yet, but http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=7166724&postcount=39
Expect something soon (Within a month maybe?)
Also, I am now officially a co-founder, and primary developer for Chicken-Egg Solutions. This will become my main venue for application development and requests, as well as web-design, computer repair, and problem solutions (Most of these will be taken care of by my friend, the other Co-Founder). The website will be up soon (www.chicken-eggsolutions.com), check back every so often
Hi Cyclone,
We met in another thread. But I would like to raise my function request here for your consideration.
I am looking for a delivery note management function that allows my to keep track of my sms receiver. I would like to know who, by name, have received my sms and at what time. I don't know if such function is appropriate for the software you are developing. If so, please consider to add this function into it. If not, appreciate if you can point me to the right direction.
So are you requesting, as opposed to the normal Delivery Requests that Windows Offers, to make a type of 'Delivery Notification' that gets stored in some XML-like file for future reference?
It will be great if the software can list out the receiver name and date/time of the delivery notification. It will ever greater if it can match the sms/delivery notification with the acknowledgement send out by the receiver after receiving my sms.
If it only output an XML, user will have to figure out how to display it on a mobile phone.
how about an option of reading the incoming sms....like in nokia mobiles
Like Text-To-Speech?
Cyclonezephyrxz7 said:
Like Text-To-Speech?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ya... how about that.. i think it shuld be customizable soft button or a different button..
I will see. I feel that that may increase the size of the app distinctly, and also distinctly reduce the speed. Although I could probably figure a way to not let it be affected.
Anywho, Thank you, ALL, so much for these ideas. I suppose that I will start attempting to make this once I am fully done with my FFP_LS pro (Which, by the way, works on Excaliburs! and other non-touch-screen phones ) and when I get my internet back fully.
Cyclonezephyrxz7 said:
I will see. I feel that that may increase the size of the app distinctly, and also distinctly reduce the speed. Although I could probably figure a way to not let it be affected.
Anywho, Thank you, ALL, so much for these ideas. I suppose that I will start attempting to make this once I am fully done with my FFP_LS pro (Which, by the way, works on Excaliburs! and other non-touch-screen phones ) and when I get my internet back fully.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your work and for sharing it, we will wait then
Revised Idea, and then some
Okay, so this post contains a little meat to it
1) I want to let people know about FFP_LockScreen Pro 2.0, now available on my website( www.chicken-eggsolutions.com ). My partner and I do app development as well as web design/development. FFP_LS Pro 2.0 is fully based on C++, has many customizable components, and best of all it is (what I consider to be) a pretty legitimate replacement lock for our phones. I have made this version (and all future versions) compliant with our lovely Excaliburs. Instead of having to press the screen, trick people with a "slight of hand" by putting your finger on-screen while pressing the space-bar with your knuckle (thats how it works for me) and it will start scanning. Trust me, it mystified half my family already haha. Anywho, it is shareware, so there is a free NON-EXPIRING trial. THe trial has its limiatations however. Also, another feature that is in this for our lovely Exca's that is currently NOT available to TOuch-Screen phones is true replacement (sorta) of the default lock. By using specific API commands, I was able to get it to run when we initiate the default lock! Cocky as it may sound, I feel this lockscreen beats S2U2 in 3 ways: (1) Tests have shown it to boot faster, (2) it actually replaces the default lock, and doesn't use some timeout trick, and (3) is actually blocks other windows [unlike S2U2 which can be overridden by pressing the TaskManager key or Messaging Key (on my phone at least)]. So yeah, personally I recommend it, but I made it. I will extend the same challenge here as I did on the Development forums: If you can make an interesting skin for the program, you can win a free license (3$ value)
2) So recently I have become extremely pissed off with tmail.exe. When I have actual 'conversation - length' messages, it is slow and just overall frustrating! So I thought, "Hey, I am already starting CycBubbles...why not make it a whole 'suite' type thing". So I am considering making my own Messaging Client EXE. It would be a major switch, as it would eliminate CE MAPI for the most part (it would keep messages stored there, but its main access would be via XML). Then as an extension to this I can h ave CycBubbles. Generally, I find, SMSBubbles works...and it is reliant on CE Mapi, so I can make one reliant on XML, not CE MAPI, that works comfortably with my own client. What do you think of that idea? This would obviously require a lot more time. But if it is what I imagine I can do, it will be faster and better
So I guess that is it really... If i remember anything else I wanted to say, I will post back again!
Hi there,
I recently installed a program on my IQ called "QMail". In setting it up, all the documentation says to start by clicking on the "Tools" menu. The problem is, I can't see any tools menu, and I have a feeling it may be blocked by the Windows taskbar, which is at the bottom of the screen in the Dragonstorm roms.
Is there any way to temporarily move the taskbar/start menu location to the top of the screen?
Also, has anyone tried using QMail? I'd be interested in hearing experiences - it sounds too good to be true! (here's a link: modernnomads.info/wiki/index.php?page=Installing+and+configuring+QMail - as you can see, the menus are at the bottom of the screen...)
Thanks!
Mike
Hi, Sandmonkee,
I'm having the exact trouble with viewing the qmail menu bar in EnergyROMs and an HTC Touch Pro 2.
Coming from CE machines, I've always used qmail. Though not as robust as nPop, qmail will do imap, which nPop obviously won't.
Did you ever find a solution to this? I haven't.
Jake
jakfish said:
Hi, Sandmonkee,
Did you ever find a solution to this? I haven't.
Jake
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have actually. Using the 2003SE version ended up working for me, the toolbar stays on top. Its this one:
http://q3.snak.org/download/snapshot/q3u-ppc2003se-armv4-ja-3_0_0.zip
When you sync, it'll ask you if you want to update the program. Say no. It still has great functionality.
Good luck!
how is qmail better than the built in windows mobile mail application?
josefcrist said:
how is qmail better than the built in windows mobile mail application?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I can't answer that really, as I've never tried the windows mail program. I don't use Outlook on my computer (Thunderbird for me) so I was looking for something similar that I could use on my phone. I wasn't able to find any kind of "Mobile Thunderbird" (a real miss on Mozilla's part imho), but QMail is pretty darn close. Plus you can use it for RSS, IMAP, POP3, NNTP and all kinds of other great stuff that I don't think the windows one can do. Look here for more info:
http://pdaphonehome.com/forums/htc-...il-setup-gmail-hotmail-exchange-nntp-rss.html
Sandmonkee, many, many thanks.
This version does work; I have searched everywhere for a solution--you were the only person who had one.
Heh, I'd forgotten what a bear it is to setup qmail. Took the entire evening. Filtering is difficult, especially. The good news is, once you set up, then just copy the qmail directory, along with your Mail directory, to the desktop and upon re-flashing, etc, those two directories will preclude setting anything up again.
It's much faster than Pocket Outlook and with its infinite adjustments to fonts and other visuals, it makes email on a phone almost a pleasure.
I did find that if you commit to a certain filter, say "headers only," and then want to change that to "all," qmail wouldn't recognize the change. I had to delete the entire account and start again.
Too, for a Tmobile TP2 user, I really had to go back and forth b/w landscape and portrait to access all the menu buttons. And the hardkey back arrow is sometimes the only thing that will close you out of a menu. But sometimes not.
It is a crazy program, but ungodly sophisticated. It's so funny to have such a good English translation of the program itself but so little documentation elsewhere.
Again, I'm grateful for your help,
Jake
Glad that got it working for you!
Gmail does work, I use it on my phone. You just need to get the SSL files that are on the download site and copy them to your Qmail directory on your phone.
Hopefully more folks will clue in to this great app!
I'm looking for some keyboard shortcuts. Ctrl-D will delete the message upon next sync, so you don't have to go through the hassle of Marking, etc.
But have you figured out a way to exit the actual program via a keystroke?
I still have to go to File and work my way to Exit.
Another thing I noticed is that if I make a shortcut in /Windows/StartMenu/Programs, I get a trusted certificate error. With keyboard config, however, I can at least map, say, ctrl-e and bring up QMail.
Jake
I'm a WP7 user, who also owns an iPod touch. Overall I like the WP7 experience, except for the app list - in my opinion it's killing the system.
On my Ipod I have probably around 200 apps. They are organised by page - so I have a page for games, a page for music apps, a page for productivity apps etc. With the newer version of iOS I've also made sub-folders on each page, but the point is; when I need X app I just swipe to the relevant page, then look for its icon.
This also has a nice side effect; when i'm bored, it's easy just to flick through the screens and find an app I want to play with.
On WP7 there is no quick way to find an app without knowing its name. For example, I installed a currency converter but to run I have to browse through a list of around 40 apps, looking for it. I don't remember what its icon looks like or its name as I use it infrequently - this process takes ages, and defies the point of having a smart phone, which you can quickly take out your pocket and look up something.
There is no real way you can memorise the names of 100+ apps, so the only choice is scrolling. However, having one long list is broken from a usability point of view, as every time you install a new app everything below in the list it gets pushed down a little bit. Therefore if you do learn how far down to scroll to find a specific app, it will eventually move and you won't find it again.
Finally, already there are tons of apps on my phone that I have forgotten I have installed. The list is not easy to flick through when bored, so infrequently used apps get neglected. Bare in mind I only have around 30 apps installed, and already I'm confused / lost..
All this could be solved so easily by adding groups, like the people hub has in Mango. Imagine being able to add groups at the top of the list like "Games", "Productivity", "Sound" etc, and a killer feature would be that you can add each app to multiple groups. Newly installed apps could even go in a default group called "Programs", bit like Windows.
This simple change would make the phone about 1000x more productive than now - thoughts?
Whatever do you need two hundred applications for???
I have around 50 apps installed on my WP7, and everything I need it for is covered. It is significantly easier to remember the names of 50 apps than 200, especially considering most apps on WP7 have reasonable names "London Travel", "Groceries", etc...
With the jump list feature in mango, it will become easier to page through a long list of apps as the app list will replicate the naviation of the people list, where you can click on any letter, then the letter you want, and jump straight to where you need to be.
I personally like the simplicity of the tiles and apps. I agree that another page on the left, where you could select a bunch of "frequently used, but not so frequently that I want them as live tiles" apps, would be a definite improvement though.
Aphasaic2002 said:
I'm a WP7 user, who also owns an iPod touch. Overall I like the WP7 experience, except for the app list - in my opinion it's killing the system.
On my Ipod I have probably around 200 apps. They are organised by page - so I have a page for games, a page for music apps, a page for productivity apps etc. With the newer version of iOS I've also made sub-folders on each page, but the point is; when I need X app I just swipe to the relevant page, then look for its icon.
This also has a nice side effect; when i'm bored, it's easy just to flick through the screens and find an app I want to play with.
On WP7 there is no quick way to find an app without knowing its name. For example, I installed a currency converter but to run I have to browse through a list of around 40 apps, looking for it. I don't remember what its icon looks like or its name as I use it infrequently - this process takes ages, and defies the point of having a smart phone, which you can quickly take out your pocket and look up something.
There is no real way you can memorise the names of 100+ apps, so the only choice is scrolling. However, having one long list is broken from a usability point of view, as every time you install a new app everything below in the list it gets pushed down a little bit. Therefore if you do learn how far down to scroll to find a specific app, it will eventually move and you won't find it again.
Finally, already there are tons of apps on my phone that I have forgotten I have installed. The list is not easy to flick through when bored, so infrequently used apps get neglected. Bare in mind I only have around 30 apps installed, and already I'm confused / lost..
All this could be solved so easily by adding groups, like the people hub has in Mango. Imagine being able to add groups at the top of the list like "Games", "Productivity", "Sound" etc, and a killer feature would be that you can add each app to multiple groups. Newly installed apps could even go in a default group called "Programs", bit like Windows.
This simple change would make the phone about 1000x more productive than now - thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's what grouping the app list looks like -
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
you can artificially group them on your start screen by doing something like this:
http://www.wpcentral.com/organise-your-start-screen-live-tiles
personally, the ability to add something to a hub, or to just have the option for folders would be helpful for people who want more control over the organization of apps, but i have maybe 50 apps installed and rarely do i find i'm missing an app for something.
andrewkeith5 said:
Whatever do you need two hundred applications for???
I have around 50 apps installed on my WP7, and everything I need it for is covered. It is significantly easier to remember the names of 50 apps than 200, especially considering most apps on WP7 have reasonable names "London Travel", "Groceries", etc...
With the jump list feature in mango, it will become easier to page through a long list of apps as the app list will replicate the naviation of the people list, where you can click on any letter, then the letter you want, and jump straight to where you need to be.
I personally like the simplicity of the tiles and apps. I agree that another page on the left, where you could select a bunch of "frequently used, but not so frequently that I want them as live tiles" apps, would be a definite improvement though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So now we are being judged for having too many apps? What business is it of yours (or anyone's) how many apps someone else has on their phone?
For people who have more use for their phone than 50 apps can satisfy, the current system, even with the jump list, is woefully inadequate. Too many app developers think they can be "clever" by giving their app a name that really has little bearing on its use. When you get too many of these on your phone, it becomes annoyingly difficult to remember the obscure names of all of these apps, so even the jump list and search features don't really help much.
Adding the option to pin apps to the top of the list (and then be able to drag them into a preferred order, similar to the way live tiles can be dragged around) would be a huge benefit to many of us. Even a "most recently used" list or the ability to group by marketplace category would help.
Aphasaic2002 said:
I'm a WP7 user, who also owns an iPod touch. Overall I like the WP7 experience, except for the app list - in my opinion it's killing the system.
On my Ipod I have probably around 200 apps. They are organised by page - so I have a page for games, a page for music apps, a page for productivity apps etc. With the newer version of iOS I've also made sub-folders on each page, but the point is; when I need X app I just swipe to the relevant page, then look for its icon.
This also has a nice side effect; when i'm bored, it's easy just to flick through the screens and find an app I want to play with.
On WP7 there is no quick way to find an app without knowing its name. For example, I installed a currency converter but to run I have to browse through a list of around 40 apps, looking for it. I don't remember what its icon looks like or its name as I use it infrequently - this process takes ages, and defies the point of having a smart phone, which you can quickly take out your pocket and look up something.
There is no real way you can memorise the names of 100+ apps, so the only choice is scrolling. However, having one long list is broken from a usability point of view, as every time you install a new app everything below in the list it gets pushed down a little bit. Therefore if you do learn how far down to scroll to find a specific app, it will eventually move and you won't find it again.
Finally, already there are tons of apps on my phone that I have forgotten I have installed. The list is not easy to flick through when bored, so infrequently used apps get neglected. Bare in mind I only have around 30 apps installed, and already I'm confused / lost..
All this could be solved so easily by adding groups, like the people hub has in Mango. Imagine being able to add groups at the top of the list like "Games", "Productivity", "Sound" etc, and a killer feature would be that you can add each app to multiple groups. Newly installed apps could even go in a default group called "Programs", bit like Windows.
This simple change would make the phone about 1000x more productive than now - thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nah man, it's just because you're so used to working with the 4x4 grid. Your brain is gonna pick up working with WP7 and you'll start remembering the names of apps, at least ones that you use frequently.
Worst case my friend, use the voice option to open the name of the app
OR
Hit the Magnifying glass and do a search of the functionality that you're looking for. Mango has it where it'll suggest apps for the tasks that you want to do.
As a tangent, I can't even imagine drilling down through so many levels of folders to find what I'm looking for, at least on a phone, that just sounds nuts to me.
ScottSUmmers said:
Hit the Magnifying glass and do a search of the functionality that you're looking for. Mango has it where it'll suggest apps for the tasks that you want to do.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i didn't know mango had that as a feature, neat!
tired of these threads with these lousy childish complaints. use the jumplist, search feature or pin your most used apps to the start screen!!!! and be done with it, that's what it's there for!
Ok, so everyone always says "use the jump list" or "use the search function...
There is no jumplist. I have 86 apps in my applist and there's no jumplist.
There is no search. When I press the search button, I get the bing search. If I enter the name of any of my apps, all it gives me is bing search results. "Web" and "News". There's no option to search/find apps.
So please either stop telling use to use these non-existing features or tell us how to enable them. Until then: I want groups as well!
Not to pile on, but if you can't find a currency converter app on your phone that you installed in a list of 40 apps, maybe the phone isn't the problem. Additionally, if you believe finding an app within multiple pages with multiple sub genres is less confusing, I just don't know what to say.
Sent from my SGH-i917 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
It's not too bad of a suggestiong, not sure why some are taking it so personally. Right now it's not a big deal but later on when you have a lot of apps, then it may be nice to have grouping. It will also probably look better visually, then just a plain list.
On the other hand, as others have already mentioned there are ways to get around it now, use the voice command.. it's works great. Or use the search grid. Or pin if you have too.
N0MN0M said:
use the voice command.. it's works great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
while voice launching works surprisingly well, I'd just feel stupid in public (city, train) to yell "start nyan!"...
Localhorst86 said:
while voice launching works surprisingly well, I'd just feel stupid in public (city, train) to yell "start nyan!"...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
then PIN THE APP!!!!!
eric12341 said:
then PIN THE APP!!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And needlessly clutter the start screen. Brilliant idea, that one.
Localhorst86 said:
Ok, so everyone always says "use the jump list" or "use the search function...
There is no jumplist. I have 86 apps in my applist and there's no jumplist.
There is no search. When I press the search button, I get the bing search. If I enter the name of any of my apps, all it gives me is bing search results. "Web" and "News". There's no option to search/find apps.
So please either stop telling use to use these non-existing features or tell us how to enable them. Until then: I want groups as well!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm assuming you don't have Mango. In Mango, you have the following
1. Jump list is activated when you have greater than 4X (I forget the exact number) apps
2. I just did a search for "restaurant reviews" and the first result is the Yelp icon with the ability to launch the app. It is under the web tab. In addition, there is a search button in the app list (under the arrow)
munkeyphyst said:
Not to pile on, but if you can't find a currency converter app on your phone that you installed in a list of 40 apps, maybe the phone isn't the problem. Additionally, if you believe finding an app within multiple pages with multiple sub genres is less confusing, I just don't know what to say.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are piling on, and you know it .
But let's take your specific example. I have the XE currency converter app on my phone. The problem is, in an effort to be clever, they put the "XE" in the icon, and called the app "Currency". So, looking at it in the list you still see "XE Currency".
If I used it every day, I'd get used to that. But I don't use it every day (and therefore DON'T, I repeat DON'T want to pin it to the start screen). And, the few times I have used it, my mind has focused on the fact that it is XE (since that has always been its name on the web site I've used for the past ten years, i.e. xe.com). Unfortunately, you won't find it under X in the list, but under C. And in a list of 150+ apps, it tends to get lost fairly quickly.
Seriously people, stop bashing others for not wanting to just settle for something less or not be like everyone else. Having groups/folders/etc. is a good suggestion. Also, a lot of your suggestions are for Mango, which many of us don't want to run yet as you loose a lot of homebrew on it nevermind it's Beta. So, in the end, stop crying because someone has a complaint or is giving constructive criticism. While you may like it exactly as is, not everyone does & having choices is better.
PG2G said:
2. I just did a search for "restaurant reviews" and the first result is the Yelp icon with the ability to launch the app. It is under the web tab. In addition, there is a search button in the app list (under the arrow)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And you really don't see how monumentally inefficient it is to have to open bing and type in "restaurant reviews" and wait for the search results, just to launch an app that is already installed? I think that new feature of bing is more intended to help people recognize that an app they already have offers a feature they didn't know about or to allow them to install the app if they don't already have it, not to provide an efficient means to launch an app that you are already familiar with.
RoboDad said:
And needlessly clutter the start screen. Brilliant idea, that one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
apps u most commonly use on a daily basis aren't " needless clutter" and its not MS' problem that u don't want to actually use the start screen.
eric12341 said:
apps u most commonly use on a daily basis aren't " needless clutter" and its not MS' problem that u don't want to actually use the start screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You really need to pay more attention to what is written in the thread before responding. Read this again:
RoboDad said:
If I used it every day, I'd get used to that. But I don't use it every day (and therefore DON'T, I repeat DON'T want to pin it to the start screen).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey guys, came across this great article about jelly bean and I wonder what you guys think about it. I really agree with some of the points he makes.
http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/09/18/ux-things-i-hate-about-android/
Read this article as well and yes he does make some good and valid points. However, Android is still a work in progress according to Matias Duarte. As much as Jelly Bean has improved the user experience there is still a ways to go to polishing the OS.
Here is a good follow up article you might want to check out:
http://www.androidcentral.com/duarte-i-m-third-way-where-i-want-be-android
He makes some good points, but also shows that he doesn't seem to understand Android programming at all.
If you open something within an app directly from a widget (his Gmail example), then obviously the back key would go one layer higher within the app. Opening an email from a widget layers home->gmail->email, not home->email.
Also, icons opening the "wrong" app. He uses Maps and Latitude as an example. Well, considering that Latitude is built on the Maps framework (and presumably calls an instance of Maps in order to operate), it makes complete sense that opening Maps would open the active Latitude session when one exists.
Other items just seemed like whining. For example, the section regarding the Google Voice icon. He makes the base assumption that people use it primarily for texting when texting is certainly not the primary function of the app. The app's primary function is voicemail, followed closely by VOIP calling. Texting is easily a tertiary function, even if it has been embraced by the community. [Edit: As mentioned below, I was incorrect regarding VOIP, which would make texting the secondary function of the app.]
Don't get me wrong. There were some good points, but I was shaking my head through a lot of that article.
Cilraaz said:
The app's primary function is voicemail, followed closely by VOIP calling.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there is no voip from the google voice app itself. when you make a call with it, it basically calls the GV number + the number you are actually wanting to call.
Zepius said:
there is no voip from the google voice app itself. when you make a call with it, it basically calls the GV number + the number you are actually wanting to call.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My mistake. I assumed it was VOIP rather than call-chaining, based on the app prompting if Voice should be used for international calls. So at that point, texting would become the secondary function.
Thanks for the info.
Cilraaz said:
He makes some good points, but also shows that he doesn't seem to understand Android programming at all.
If you open something within an app directly from a widget (his Gmail example), then obviously the back key would go one layer higher within the app. Opening an email from a widget layers home->gmail->email, not home->email.
Also, icons opening the "wrong" app. He uses Maps and Latitude as an example. Well, considering that Latitude is built on the Maps framework (and presumably calls an instance of Maps in order to operate), it makes complete sense that opening Maps would open the active Latitude session when one exists.
Other items just seemed like whining. For example, the section regarding the Google Voice icon. He makes the base assumption that people use it primarily for texting when texting is certainly not the primary function of the app. The app's primary function is voicemail, followed closely by VOIP calling. Texting is easily a tertiary function, even if it has been embraced by the community.
Don't get me wrong. There were some good points, but I was shaking my head through a lot of that article.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Although you are totally right, you have to look at it from a consumer's point of view. And they won't think "hey, of course the back button goes to the underlying Gmail menu", they'll think "wtf.? I was on the home screen before I tapped that mail on the widget. Why did it take me into the Gmail overview now?"
The same is even more true for Latitude. It is obvious for us tech-enthusiasts that Latitude is just more or less a part of maps. But I guess most other people never even give a thought to this, so they're just confused why the Maps icon would open a (seemingly) completely different service.
Also I'm sure the author of the article knows all this as well as anybody. But he tries to look from the consumer's point of view.
To the article: I mostly agree with his points. Play store not remembering my scroll position and the different sizes of some icons (and even more the almost overlapping icon names sometimes) are things that bugged me too. But mixed UI designs and that calculator bug are just things that happen if you roll out such a major update with significant UI changes. It's nothing I get even slightly mad about.
qwer23 said:
Although you are totally right, you have to look at it from a consumer's point of view. And they won't think "hey, of course the back button goes to the underlying Gmail menu", they'll think "wtf.? I was on the home screen before I tapped that mail on the widget. Why did it take me into the Gmail overview now?"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can understand it from a consumer's point of view, but how would it be resolved programmatically? If we start requiring a pointer to where a screen was opened from, you increase the memory footprint of every app. It might also cause some problems with app deconstruction. In the Gmail example, pressing the back button deconstructs the single email instance, but if a pointer were to tell it to go back to the home screen because we got to it from a widget, do we deconstruct the base Gmail app also? What if the widget puts you 4 layers into an app? Not only would the pointers again add to the app's memory footprint, but we have the deconstruction issue on a larger level.
I'm not the greatest programmer (especially in Java), but the "inelegant" way that it works now seems to have a few positives for both devs and users.
qwer23 said:
The same is even more true for Latitude. It is obvious for us tech-enthusiasts that Latitude is just more or less a part of maps. But I guess most other people never even give a thought to this, so they're just confused why the Maps icon would open a (seemingly) completely different service.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, I understand the consumer side of things, but is Maps opening Latitude more confusing than having Maps kill off Latitude? The user would then just try to re-open Latitude and be confused as to why the prior instance wasn't running. If Maps wouldn't kill off Latitude, then it would have to create a second instance of itself, which again has a negative impact on the app's memory footprint.
------------
I understand a general "hey, it should work like this instead", but there are plenty of reasons why it works the way it does now. Android might be able to get "perfect" functionality, but it would likely require some dumbing down of multitasking (either more process suspension instead of true(r) multitasking or the memory manager would be more likely to kill off background processes). I don't at all doubt these are discussions going on at Google, though.
Cilraaz said:
[...]
I understand a general "hey, it should work like this instead", but there are plenty of reasons why it works the way it does now. Android might be able to get "perfect" functionality, but it would likely require some dumbing down of multitasking (either more process suspension instead of true(r) multitasking or the memory manager would be more likely to kill off background processes). I don't at all doubt these are discussions going on at Google, though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Cilraaz, you really shed some light upon the deeper reasons for the sometimes odd behaviour of the back button and app layers. I'm no programmer at all, so I didn't know all this would add to the memory footprint of the apps and would affect developing in such a major way.
After reading your post I suggest we can be happy with some minor incosistencies and enjoy true multitasking instead of dumbing down our phones Again thanks for your nice clarification!
Some good stuff in this thread.
"complains about back button not taking him home, doesn't use home button"
crixley said:
"complains about back button not taking him home, doesn't use home button"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not what he complained about. He complained about the back button behaving inconsistently.
I find it actually works very logically. If i click on one email in my widget to read it and then use the back button to go back, it makes sense to be taken to my inbox so i can read more messages, instead of being taken back to home screen and selecting a new email from there. Its more practical in case you get like 10 emails at one, which won´t fit in the widget all at once anyway. If i wanted to go back to the home screen, hey there is the home button.
That sounds like one corner case where the behaviour works in your favor, that doesn't mean it's right. It used to work better. For example if you have Navigation open, and select and email from the notification then you are brought to the email. Then when you hit back it brings you to your Inbox (which you have no reason to go to) then when you hit back again it brings you to your home screen. In previous versions of Android when you hit back from the email you are reading it would take you directly back to Navigation. That is what you most likely want, and that is what the Android documentation says should happen. But all too often it does not.
Totally agree with this article. I love Jelly Bean, and Android, but ultimately, it lacks a hell of a lot of polish. This is where iOS is still leagues ahead (and for that matter, so is WP7/8), I forgive it because it is a very open and powerful platform, but it is still a platform for the techie, and has a long way to go before it is as friendly and approachable as its rivals IMO.
The same sorts of arguments have been leveled at PCs for years and are equally valid.
Like it or not, most people AREN'T techies and this is why the likes of Apple are so successful, because they understand this and bring out an OS that is generally intuitive to average joe. Ironically I find some of the ways their software works confusing in places (particularly OSX) but that is more down to my "techie" approach and being set in my ways, as most techies are.
Well, he has some valid ponts, but most of the time, he is wrong. Especially for the back button.
e34v8 said:
Well, he has some valid ponts, but most of the time, he is wrong. Especially for the back button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you please tell me how he is wrong, specially if Android documentation says that the function of back button is X, and, sometimes you get Y, sometimes you get Z, and sometimes you get X?
Either document that back button has a bunch of functions that no one knows until you use it in a given context with a given app, or, give it a consistent behavior (and I'm not discussing which one would be better).... It is understandable when 3rd party software doesn't behave 100% as documented, but, built in phone apps should be consistent and provide the same experience...
Great article. A lot of those things drive me nuts, the icon size and back button in particular.
Another annoying thing the back button does is, for example, if you have been using the Play Store before, then you open an app that links to a Play Store page. Once you have seen the page and press back, rather than it taking you back to the app, the back button will just traverse through all the pages that you have been looking at on the Play Store in your previous session.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
crixley said:
"complains about back button not taking him home, doesn't use home button"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I found that amusing as well.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
pfmiller said:
That sounds like one corner case where the behaviour works in your favor, that doesn't mean it's right. It used to work better. For example if you have Navigation open, and select and email from the notification then you are brought to the email. Then when you hit back it brings you to your Inbox (which you have no reason to go to) then when you hit back again it brings you to your home screen. In previous versions of Android when you hit back from the email you are reading it would take you directly back to Navigation. That is what you most likely want, and that is what the Android documentation says should happen. But all too often it does not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe the "back" button should be replaced by a "higher level" (hope it's the right term ) button. Maybe in this case his function would be more logical.
However I agree on almost every point in the article