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In January of this year many websites hosted free downloads of Pocket Informant 7 (PI).  Why would Webis.net, makers of PI and several other programs, give away the leading Personal Information Manager (PIM) for free?  We found out one week later when on January 10th PI 8 was released.  The idea was to hook people on the old version then give them a reason to upgrade.  So what makes PI 8 so compelling?

PI has streamlined the complicated settings, making them far easier to navigate.  They have added a new Roles-based interface that gives you a selection of preferred methods of work, then tailors the menus to your needs.  They have produced a one-handed interface that is more finger friendly.  Scrolling with fingers is now possible as well.  This version marks the first time that the Pocket PC and Smartphone versions have near feature parity.  For a complete list of what’s new in PI 8 go here.

If you use Pocket Outlook and are wondering what a PIM can do for you, consider this.  PI acts as a single, integrated springboard to launch the many activities you wish to engage in, including tasks, email, appointments, notes and more.  One significant feature is the ability to link all the above to one contact, as well as linking documents, such as spreadsheets, to a contact, or even to a task.

I am not going to cover every possible feature.  At the end of the review is a link to the User’s Guide.  My main goal is to illustrate the differences between PI 7 and PI 8 and give you the information you need to decide if you want to upgrade.  I think you will.

PI 8 was tested on an HTC Advantage, which is a VGA device.  I have used pictures instead of text where possible to make it an easier read.

System Requirements

This software must be installed onto the device and not a storage card.  It works with Windows Mobile 2003 and later.

Usage Role

One of the first things you’ll see after installing PI 8 is the Usage Role dialog box.  You can choose from 5 types of use to quickly configure Pocket Informant to your needs and only show the menus, dialogs, and actions you want to see.  If you choose Appointments Focused, for example, it will show the full menu for appointments and shortened menus for other features.

View Picker

Above left you notice Contacts View on PI 7.  Near the bottom is the View Picker.  Just press one of the buttons to go to that View.  On the right is PI 8.  You’ll notice that there is more screen real estate and a softkey on the left that says, “Views.”  Press that and this pops up:

This picker features larger buttons and is more finger-friendly.

Contacts View

Notice that PI 8 has a much larger font, making it far more finger friendly.  The font is easy to change in the new settings.  More on that later.  It also supports photos, which makes the contacts even larger.  Click on photos to pull up contact information.

The notes above right have a new, modern look.

Calendars

PI features 1, 7 and 31 day calendar views.  I will show the 7 and 31 views.

The 7 day views are similar.  The difference is the View Picker.

Both versions will show appointment details at the bottom of the view, as illustrated in the PI 8 version above right.

Appointments & Tasks

PI 7 forces you to pull out your stylus to make an appointment.  PI 8 improves a bit.  Tasks are created the same way as appointments.

Both versions start the same.  You press Menu, Agenda Tools, and Create Appt with…

Both pick the date in the same way, necessitating use of the stylus:

But they differ when choosing the appointment time.

PI 8 is more finger friendly here, but why didn’t they use the same approach when picking the date?

Above: Task View

Tasks can be organized with Parent Tasks and Child Tasks.  The Child Tasks will inherit the same due dates and completion percentage.  Tasks can be grouped by completion, progress, priority, importance, category, and date.

Settings & Customization

This is where PI 8 shines.  The settings menu in previous versions were overly complicated and had tiny font.

Above right I chose Fonts/Colors, then decided to change the font in the Contacts View.

Notice on the picture above right, there is a search box to quickly find important settings.  While some settings remain a bit difficult to decipher, overall this feature is much improved.  It is easier to read because of the larger font, and organized better.

Touch Mode

This brings iPhone-like scrolling to some of the views including Contacts View.  It also features an alphabet at the far right of Contacts View.  When you choose a letter it takes you to the first contact with that letter, or just swipe downwards with your finger to begin the scrolling.

Search

One of the views is called Search.  it will search your entire database quickly.  You can also have a text box at the top of Contacts View to search.  Just start typing a name or company and it will find it.  With nearly 700 contacts I find the search very important and useful.

Categories

This is a key feature of PI.  It syncs with Outlook categories and makes finding contacts easier.  Managing contacts in chunks instead of as a whole is more useful.  If you view contacts By Category, however, you will see categories with your contacts underneath each category.  The problem I have with this view is that you can’t view By Category then By Company, so the companies show only the contact names.  When you filter categories, and just pick one, then it shows By Company, which is far more useful.  Categories can be assigned colors and icons.

Drag & Drop

For touchscreen devices drag appointments from one day to the next or within the same day to change its time. Drag items to link them. Drag tasks to convert to appointments and vice versa.

Conclusion

PI 8 has so many features, I have barely scratched the surface.  I actually use Companionlink to sync it to Act! 2008, which is similar to Outlook but more contact oriented.  PI is very flexible.  It works with other programs on the desktop and the PDA, is highly customizable, yet it is simple to use.  The new improvements in PI 8 paid off for me right away when I found I was able to change the font easily and make the Contacts View more finger friendly.  Webis has improved tons of items on PI 8, many of which are under the hood.

While I haven’t been able to completely eliminate the stylus, the software has made much progress.  Overall, PI 8 is easier to use than previous versions in nearly every aspect.  Some software gets more bloated with new versions, but Webis has managed to streamline it.  The improvements are worth the upgrade.  I give it 4.5 out of 5.

Pros

• More finger friendly
• Highly customizable
• Far better settings menus
• Excellent, full featured PIM

Cons

• Category View displays contact names instead of companies.  I would like to be able to use more than one filter at a time.  For example, Filter by Category, Company Name, State.  This would pull up all companies in the state I choose that are part of whatever category I have chosen.

Let’s get rid of the stylus completely and make everything finger friendly.  See my comments above under Appointments.

User’s Guide

Pricing and Availability

Pocket Informant v8.02 is available at the Aximsite Store for $29.95.

Steve Laser (136 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook