Could someone who uses either SBSH or SPB Today Outlooks plugins explain to me the added value over the basic ones that come with the OS?

Also is Pocket Informant or Agenda Fusion a replacement for Pocket Outlook or are they like SPB & SBSH?

Kinda Confused Here.

Thanks

I have both, and use both...on and off that is...

It's value is it's ability to have your appoinments, todo, etc. on your Today Screen. That's the short answer, I'm sure other people can explain it better than I can.

As far as PI and AF, they don't replace, but enhance Outlook. I'm using PI from the very beginning, and I must admit that I don't think I could get back to the boring Outlook. You should try out the Trial and see for yourself....

To me the advantage is having everything right there on your today screen just a tap or two away. I am a long time PocketBreeze user and I can see my schedule for the day or the week at a glance, look up a contact with a couple of taps, view my notes, view upcoming birthdays and anniverseries, look at or edit tasks, open emails, check out my RSS feeds (optional integration with PocketRSS), and with the addition of unlimited custom tabs I can now check the weather and open a launcher as well. All of that without ever having to open a program, just from the today screen.

 

To me PI and AF are bloated extensions of Pocket Outlook. I tried both but except for the agenda view they did not offer anything I really wanted.

When SPB Diary was released I tried and then immediately bought it because it filled many of the gaps left wide open by Pocket Office. The same would be true of the Pocket Breeze & Contact Breeze combo, I guess (i.e. tey'd fill the gaps, too).

I tried the latter two but like the Spb Diary better because it adds Notes management and looks better than PB & CB.

PB & CB can be customized to a much larger extent than The Diary. I think that users of the 96dpi VGA resolution would be happier with PB & CB. At 192 dpi VGA I am happier with The Diary, though.

Ken S is right on. Just like in Web Design, the fewer click the better (or burying stuff on a Web site is bad), so it is becoming on computers and handhelds. Quick access is vital because, well, it is quick.

---------
Jim Dvorak
http://www.dvorakwebdevelopment.com
http://jdvorak.org
http://blogs.oc.edu/ee/?/jdvorak

I never really used my calendar, tasks, or contacts all that effectively or often since what comes on the PPC is so much work to get to the information.

PB changed all that for me. Now PB is the only thing I have on my today screen. I am able to have it take the whole Today screen (490 Pixels high) to show all my upcoming appointments, tasks, aniversaries, birthdays, weather, etc.

It makes displaying and editing all the information much easier.
It is extremly customizable too.

If you message Amit, there is a thread about it on this forum, he will give you a 50% discount on PB and 30% off CB and/or PW.

 

PB now can "look" like Diary with a vertical row of tabs, and it has comparable Notes management.

And, you can add unlimited today screen plugins (from whatever developer) as a tab within PB--thereby saving screen space.

I own Diary and PB/CB, and with the new release of PB, I've uninstalled Diary.

--Andrew

    

Yes, PB5 adds Notes and handles them in much the same way as Diary. I was commenting on PB4. The other day I tried PB5 with CB and Pocket Weather. For some reason this combo made the whole PDA laggy, with nothing else running. Perhaps I should have tried PB5 alone. Anyway, I am back to the Diary.

PIM choices are the most personal software choices, I guess.

Out of pure interest, what are the PB/CB features (beyond arbitrary plug-ins and better support) which convinced you to switch?

Aside from the two features that you've mentioned--both of which are very important to me--I think the key benefit of PB/CB is almost limitless customization. You can set it up to work in some many different ways, and to look so many different ways (not to mention the many beautiful PB/CB skins out there). And, PB/CB is always adding new features requested by the users.

I like Diary. It's a solid program. It's just not as flexible and customizable as PB/CB, and really keeps its cooler customization options limited to other Spb products. (i.e., you can use custom tabs with Diary and Pocket Plus, and Spb Weather, etc., but you can't mix and match with other companies apps if you wanted to use those features. SBSH doesn't limit you in this way at all.

The only think I wish PB/CB had that Diary currently has is integrated forecast icons in the day titles to show you what the weather is expected to be. Unfortunately, in order to use that feature in Diary, you need to use Spb Weather, which is a good, albeit very simple weather app. SBSH's Pocket Weather is really an amazing and evolving app that offers much more for someone interested in weather data.

Just my 2 cents.

--Andrew

    

Thanks for the info. BTW, I have Spb Weather and do not use Diary's integration option. I found that is slowed down the PDA.

I tried diary and didn't like that fact that I couldn't minimize it like you can pb. Surprised nobody mentioned this.

OK, I'll bite. What does the minimize option do?

I use PB, and I keep it maximized at lease 99.99% of the time. So minimize option pretty much a non-significant item to me.

I use Diary too, both are good...

It allows you to shrink PocketBreeze so that only the single "title bar" is visible. The benefit being that when you don't need or want to view your calendar, you can minimize it so that the remaining today plug-ins will move up on the screen making them more accessible.

I use it with Wisbar Advance Desktop. Pressing my center button on the D-pad minimizes and maximizes PocketBreeze. When it is in minimized mode, all of my app shortcuts become visible and I can open programs I want to get into. This helps keep the number of virtual today pages I have to a minimum.

"I don't blame you. I'm just not ready to blame myself." - James

I installed all my today screen plug-ins as tabs under Pocket Breeze myself. That way the screen space can be optimized for the function at hand and I don't have to see things unless I wish to. Yes, it does take a tap or a d-pad click to get back to, say, Calendar, from iLauncher, but it is a much cleaner interface for me.

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