A Fresh Look: Journal Bar Reviewed

[Ryan Joseph]

<img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/joseph-july04-journalbar-1.jpg" /> <br /><br /><b>Product Category:</b> News/Weather Software<br /><b>Manufacturer:</b> <a href="http://omegaone.com">OmegaOne Mobile Solutions</a><br /><b>Where to Buy:</b> <a href="http://www.handango.com/brainstore/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&productId=52103">Handango</a> [Affiliate]<br /><b>Price:</b> $19.99 USD<br /><b>System Requirements:</b> Pocket PC 2002 or Windows Mobile 2003 only. <br /><br /><b>Pros:</b><br /><li>All information appears right on the Today screen;<br /><li>Customizable Auto Scroll setting;<br /><li>No wireless connection needed;<br /><li>Free lifetime updates.<b>Cons:</b><br /><li>No way to filter news stories for content;<br /><li>Settings screen can be sluggish;<br /><li>Limited information available to users outside the United States.<b>Summary:</b><br />Journal Bar provides quick and easy access to weather, news, sports scores, finance and links right from the Today screen of your Pocket PC.<br /><br />Read on for the full review!<!><br /><PAGEBREAK> <br /><br /><span><b>Overview</b></span><br />OmegaOne Journal Bar is a weather/news/sports/finance/entertainment center for Pocket PCs. Everything is displayed on the Today screen in a scrollable format which keeps its footprint relatively small. The program can display: weather for up to five different cities; news (national, local, sports, finance, etc.) from up to 14 sources; up to 11 customizable stock symbols; and up to six links (movie times, TV listings, etc).<br /><br /><b><span>Today Screen</span></b><br />Journal Bar displays all of its information right on the Today screen. It can scroll through the various information topics automatically at a user-defined time limit, or it can stay on one topic until the user manually scrolls.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/joseph-july04-journalbar-2.JPG" /> <br /><i>Figure 1: The Today Screen.</i><br /><br />The scroll buttons are displayed on the far left side of the screen and above them is the icon for the current topic: sun for weather, house for local news, flag for national news, globe for world news, $ for financial news, baseball for sports, etc. Each information source has its own icon. When Journal Bar is updating itself, the icon flashes and a vertical status bar appears on the far right side of the screen. All Journal Bar text colors are set by the current Today screen theme.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/joseph-july04-journalbar-3.JPG" /> <br /><i>Figure 2: Scrollable Information Options.</i><br /> <PAGEBREAK> <br /><b><span>Getting More Details</span></b><br />Everything displayed in Journal Bar is a link to more detailed information. Tapping on a given day’s weather will bring up an explanation of the forecast.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/joseph-july04-journalbar-4.JPG" /> <br /><i>Figure 3: Detailed Weather Forecast.</i><br /><br />The same goes for news stories, stock quotes, sports scores, movie times, TV lineup, etc. It only shows the headlines on the Today screen, but details are only a tap away. The details are opened in Internet Explorer, but are stored locally so an Internet connection is not required to view details.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/joseph-july04-journalbar-5.JPG" /> <br /><i>Figure 4: News Details.</i><br /><br /><b><span>Setting Preferences</span></b><br />Almost everything can be customized in Journal Bar. Users can set which items they want to appear on the Today screen, which news feeds to use, what stock symbols to display (and whether to color gain/loss in stock prices), etc. Journal Bar doesn’t have an icon in Programs or Settings, but requires users to go into the Today settings. Options can be changed from there.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/joseph-july04-journalbar-6.JPG" /> <br /><i>Figure 5: Today Screen Options.</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/joseph-july04-journalbar-7.JPG" /> <br /><i>Figure 6: Journal Bar Options.</i><br /><br />And although the main program cannot be installed to a storage card, users can define where they want Journal Bar to store the downloaded content cache.<br /><br />All Journal Bar needs to keep up-to-date is a ZIP/Postal code (for US/Canadian users) or the closest city (for other countries). With this, the program is able to find everything from weather to movie times at local theaters. <br /> <PAGEBREAK> <br /><b><span>Downloading New Content</span></b><br />Journal Bar can use any available Internet connection to update the weather/news content. If the only connection available is when docked to a computer, it will only update during these connections. If a permanent connection is available (through WiFi, Bluetooth, GPRS, etc.), Journal Bar will update itself on a user-defined schedule.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/joseph-july04-journalbar-8.JPG" /> <br /><i>Figure 7: Update Schedule.</i><br /><br /><b><span>International Use</span></b><br />According to OmegaOne, Journal Bar can supply weather information to over 600 cities in 117 countries. It can provide over 100 news sections for 25 countries in 18 languages. However, at the bottom of the page, the fine print says, “most countries give excellent forecast information, but not all countries weather displays 5 days of information [sic]. Some countries are limited to reporting temperatures.” They suggest trying the demo version first to make sure the information is satisfactory.<br /><br /><b><span>Updates</span></b><br />The Journal Bar Website says that buyers get free lifetime updates. It doesn’t specify whether this means content updates or software version updates. However, when questioned about this, OmegaOne said, “This refers to upgrades to new versions of the software itself.” They also gave very specific instructions for downloading and installing the updates. Very impressive and professional, don’t you think?<br /><br /><span><b>Conclusions</b></span><br />For anyone who wants to keep up-to-date with the news or have the five-day forecast constantly available, Journal Bar is the answer. Even without a permanent Internet connection, as long as it is synced with a Internet-connected PC, the information stays current. It is certainly worth twenty bucks to always have the latest information at your fingertips. And although some countries may get less than ideal information content, the all-in-one news/weather/sports/finance nature of Journal Bar could outweigh the negatives. Best of all, they provide a fully-functional demo that expires after two weeks. Give it a try, you’ll love it!

[Altaman]

The free lifetime updates work the same as their Battery Pack...the updates are free until they add Pro to the end so they can get away from the free updates.

Alt

[Kati Compton]

Hmm. Back when I got WeatherToday, Journal Bar didn't support weather for multiple cities. Maybe I'll have to take another look now. :)

[Ryan Joseph]

Hmm. Back when I got WeatherToday, Journal Bar didn't support weather for multiple cities. Maybe I'll have to take another look now. :)

Yep, that's a very cool feature. When I went to Orlando a few weeks ago, I just entered that zip code and temporarily unchecked my home zip. It gave me Orlando's weather for the week I was there and when I returned I unchecked Orlando and rechecked Home.

A very useful feature. :mrgreen:

[carphead]

The Journal Bar Website says that buyers get free lifetime updates. It doesn’t specify whether this means content updates or software version updates. However, when questioned about this, OmegaOne said, “This refers to upgrades to new versions of the software itself.” They also gave very specific instructions for downloading and installing the updates. Very impressive and professional, don’t you think?

History Tells us that OmegaOne will not stick to this. I think there will be more than one reply about this :)

It was also failed to mention how much of a memory and processor hog JB is. Having said that it is a good app that works but with a few issues :)

[ricktakagi]

I think JB is a pretty good product but all my news links are blank for some reason...anyone have this happen to them?

I seem to get a "very low memory" warning when I pick up my PPC off the cradle in the morning...I'm wondering if JB is the culprit?

Rick T.

[dhettel]

It would seem to me that one must wonder at the thoroughness of this review.

No mention of large display. Where Journal Bar displays 4 lines of text on the Today screen. Or the City name above the weather, with temperature

Not one word about radar images.
Nothing about the satellite infrared images.

Life time free upgrade.......
Well most users have already paid once for the program, and again for the expansion pack. Life time has a way of meaning different things. To bad it doesn't mean LIFE TIME anymore.

[ikesler]

It would seem to me that one must wonder at the thoroughness of this review.

No mention of large display. Where Journal Bar displays 4 lines of text on the Today screen. Or the City name above the weather, with temperature

Not one word about radar images.
Nothing about the satellite infrared images.



That would be becuase you are talking about the Beta release not the latest Official release.......... not eveyone has what you and I have.

[sharyncern]

I seem to get a "very low memory" warning when I pick up my PPC off the cradle in the morning...I'm wondering if JB is the culprit?
I have JB and had it installed on my Siemens SX56. Now, understanding that the Siemens is about as anemic a unit as I've ever seen, it was unusable on that device. I got constant out of memory messages. I now have the PPC4100 and have not installed it on this unit yet, but read on the Audiovox forum that someone who did racked up several hundred dollars of internet connection bills due to JB constantly connecting itself.

So just be sure you have the memory capability to run the software and that you have it set for only manual update.

[dhettel]

It would seem to me that one must wonder at the thoroughness of this review.

No mention of large display. Where Journal Bar displays 4 lines of text on the Today screen. Or the City name above the weather, with temperature

Not one word about radar images.
Nothing about the satellite infrared images.



That would be becuase you are talking about the Beta release not the latest Official release.......... not eveyone has what you and I have.

The "Beta" release is a public release, and this article claims to be a new and fresh look. I have no idea what "new and fresh" means to you. From the included screen shots 2.0.3-7 the software reviewed is not "new" or "fresh" IMHO. The Official release is at 2.0.5-13 if that is the only version one may review, why someone would care to review an outdated release and call it new and fresh is beyond me.

When words cease to have a common meaning, they become worthless. The computer industry seems to be really pushing this. Words no longer have much meaning in the computer industry. Just as lifetime has come to mean as long as I feel like it. A rz1715 can be more powerful than a h5555, that 32MB of Flash ROM can hold more OS than 48MB of Flash ROM. That a device with twice the speed, 4 times the SD Memory, and 1.5 times the Flash ROM does have enough memory or power to contain the Windows SE Image.

Words only have value when we hold people accountable for what they say. I am simply pointing out what I see as an inconsistency.

[davis77]

The free lifetime updates work the same as their Battery Pack...the updates are free until they add Pro to the end so they can get away from the free updates.

Alt


The Pro version is different than the standard version of Battery Pack.

I found the extra $5 bucks was well worth the nicer Pro version of the features.

Do you use Windows XP Home or Pro version? Are you aware that sometimes there are more than one verison of software? Thats actually pretty common. To slander a company outright like you did is not fair.

[Altaman]

The free lifetime updates work the same as their Battery Pack...the updates are free until they add Pro to the end so they can get away from the free updates.

Alt


The Pro version is different than the standard version of Battery Pack.

I found the extra $5 bucks was well worth the nicer Pro version of the features.

Do you use Windows XP Home or Pro version? Are you aware that sometimes there are more than one verison of software? Thats actually pretty common. To slander a company outright like you did is not fair.

That is crap...if MS offered free updates for life for Windows, you can be darn sure there would be lawsuits everywhere against them when they went to a new version and charged.

I am not slandering anyone, it is a fact that Omegaone had to put pro in the title name as they did not want to continue to offer free updates for life! BatteryPack Pro is Battery Pack which has been updated and is charging existing users for it. It is not $5 and whether it is worth the cost, the fact remains that BP was to be free updates for life and there should have been no charge for existing users of BP. If they wanted to change the policy, they could have grandfathered existing users and had it so new users did not get lifetime free updates.

Alt

[James Fee]

The Pro version is different than the standard version of Battery Pack.
The difference is what? The name? Sounds like a scam to me. :roll:
To slander a company outright like you did is not fair.
see above :takethat:

[ikesler]

It would seem to me that one must wonder at the thoroughness of this review.

No mention of large display. Where Journal Bar displays 4 lines of text on the Today screen. Or the City name above the weather, with temperature

Not one word about radar images.
Nothing about the satellite infrared images.



That would be becuase you are talking about the Beta release not the latest Official release.......... not eveyone has what you and I have.

The "Beta" release is a public release, and this article claims to be a new and fresh look. I have no idea what "new and fresh" means to you. From the included screen shots 2.0.3-7 the software reviewed is not "new" or "fresh" IMHO. The Official release is at 2.0.5-13 if that is the only version one may review, why someone would care to review an outdated release and call it new and fresh is beyond me.

When words cease to have a common meaning, they become worthless. The computer industry seems to be really pushing this. Words no longer have much meaning in the computer industry. Just as lifetime has come to mean as long as I feel like it. A rz1715 can be more powerful than a h5555, that 32MB of Flash ROM can hold more OS than 48MB of Flash ROM. That a device with twice the speed, 4 times the SD Memory, and 1.5 times the Flash ROM does have enough memory or power to contain the Windows SE Image.

Words only have value when we hold people accountable for what they say. I am simply pointing out what I see as an inconsistency.

Gotcha.......... I was just saying that not everyone is aware of or has the "beta" release, a lot of users don't bother searching for those.......
But I understand your points.

[davis77]

The Pro version is different than the standard version of Battery Pack.
The difference is what? The name? Sounds like a scam to me. :roll:


You admit you dont even know and still make a stupid comment? Ignorance is bliss I guess. :mrgreen:

[davis77]

The free lifetime updates work the same as their Battery Pack...the updates are free until they add Pro to the end so they can get away from the free updates.

Alt


The Pro version is different than the standard version of Battery Pack.

I found the extra $5 bucks was well worth the nicer Pro version of the features.

Do you use Windows XP Home or Pro version? Are you aware that sometimes there are more than one verison of software? Thats actually pretty common. To slander a company outright like you did is not fair.

That is crap...if MS offered free updates for life for Windows, you can be darn sure there would be lawsuits everywhere against them when they went to a new version and charged.

I am not slandering anyone, it is a fact that Omegaone had to put pro in the title name as they did not want to continue to offer free updates for life! BatteryPack Pro is Battery Pack which has been updated and is charging existing users for it. It is not $5 and whether it is worth the cost, the fact remains that BP was to be free updates for life and there should have been no charge for existing users of BP. If they wanted to change the policy, they could have grandfathered existing users and had it so new users did not get lifetime free updates.

Alt

So are you using Windows 3.1 still? Why not? Updates and patches were free for the life of the product.

Quite simply you bought a later version of Windows because it has more features... or maybe not. Maybe you are using Win 3.1 and whining still because MS wont give you WinXP for free.

Get over it. This was a thread about Journal Bar.

[Steven Cedrone]

Guys...

Please, let's limit the discussion to Journal Bar. (I know it may be difficult) Also, please refrain from making inflammatory comments about others posts...

Thanks,

Steve

[ignar]

Journal bar doesn't run stably on my PocketPC. Also I didn't really see the usefulness of news feature. I'd rather use Avantgo or wireless internet to get news. I like weather feature though. If OmegaOne offers JB with only weather feature (I know weather panel or weather today do this, but I think JB interface is more polished) at lower price, I might consider getting one. Oh, forget the free lifetime update guarantee and drop the price a buck or two. I will be rather happy with that.

[juni]

Has the "using connection manager even when you ask JB not to use it" issue been fixed in the new beta? And has the resource hogging been fixed?

Always when I'd try JB and then go to do some wireless surfing and going into favorites to select a link and scrolling down - the whole favorites page would scroll right back to the top with even intervals. I found out that disabling JB would stop this weird behaviour. Maybe the favorites page jumps right back to the top when JB refreshes the today screen? Has this been fixed or am I the only one who had this problem?

[davis77]

Journal bar doesn't run stably on my PocketPC. Also I didn't really see the usefulness of news feature. I'd rather use Avantgo or wireless internet to get news.

Ignar,

I agree with you about getting the news wirelessly. I think the idea was if you didnt have wireless access you could have news feeds pre-captured like Avantgo so you could read it later when you were away from your PC.

My impression from the few times I used the news feed from Journal bar was that it was much more comprehensive than Avantgo. That could just be my impression but it seemed a little more thourough. I agree with you though that I would rather grab it on the fly wirelessly.

[Stephen Beesley]

Journal bar doesn't run stably on my PocketPC. Also I didn't really see the usefulness of news feature. I'd rather use Avantgo or wireless internet to get news.

Ignar,

I agree with you about getting the news wirelessly. I think the idea was if you didnt have wireless access you could have news feeds pre-captured like Avantgo so you could read it later when you were away from your PC.

My impression from the few times I used the news feed from Journal bar was that it was much more comprehensive than Avantgo. That could just be my impression but it seemed a little more thourough. I agree with you though that I would rather grab it on the fly wirelessly.

I have just gone back to using JB (not the Beta version) and have found it to be running very smoothly on my e755. The connection manager can still be an issue, but I found that if I told it not to use the connection manager and not to dock on first sync, then clicked on the update format button it seems to have stopped constantly trying to update. Not sure if there is any reason that this worked or if I am imagining it but...

Anyway as for the news feature - I love it. It is one of the main things I like about Journal bar. I have found that the range of news sources available is just about right for my needsa and by using the expansion pack I have enough to keep me interested during a boring commute - or meeting :devilboy:

[teq]

I bought Journal Bar because I like Battery Bar a lot and was very disappointed:
- First, the weather data feed is crap - at least for Germany. I don't know where they get their data from, but it's extremely inaccurate. (Even Yahoo! has more accurate wheather data for Germany.) Any other international feedback concerning the quality of the weather data?
- IHMO, Journal Bar 2.0 is cripple-ware: You need to buy the expansion pack in order to show weather data for 5 cities. (And best of all, the demo version shows all 5 cities! :bad-words: ) Complete rip-off if you consider the price of JB!

I've switched to Stocks and Weather Today and like it very much. The weather data is much more accurate and I can set-up 6 cities (no expansion pack necessary, thank you very much!). I don't need the news-feed function of JB because I'm using AvantGo, so I don't miss that in Stocks and Weather Today.

Cheers,
teq

[pdaknut]

Best of all, they provide a fully-functional demo that expires after two weeks. Give it a try, you’ll love it!

Isn't the demo actually more than fully functional? That is, doesn't the demo version give you the option to track more cities, stocks and news sources than the actual version you think you are buying. I think the demo version gives you the ability to track 5 cities but when you purchase it you can only track 2. I think the same is true for stocks and news sources.

I think you have to spend another 10 clams to get the functionality that you were trying out. I guess that is one way of getting around the "Pro" debacle but still pretty sleazy if you ask me (which no one did :mrgreen:).

I don't know about you, but when I download a trial version, I like to trial the version that I will actually be buying, but that is just me.

I tried Journal Bar, but the version I tried made my device run like a pig and it took FOREVER to update the data. In addition, it appeared to have more bugs than hookers at a political convention (:shocked!:)

I personally think Stocks and Weather Today is superior to Journal Bar. I don't want the news stuff since I use Advantgo for that and Journal Bar did not populate the links that stories have in the, (which is probably a good thing because if it did it would probably never get done updating)

Maybe someone should write a review comparing Journal Bar and Stocks and Weather Today since it appears those are the two most popular applications for displaying stocks/weather on the today screen.

I would offer to do it, but I am clearly biased.

[pdaknut]

Journal bar doesn't run stably on my PocketPC. Also I didn't really see the usefulness of news feature. I'd rather use Avantgo or wireless internet to get news. I like weather feature though. If OmegaOne offers JB with only weather feature (I know weather panel or weather today do this, but I think JB interface is more polished) at lower price, I might consider getting one. Oh, forget the free lifetime update guarantee and drop the price a buck or two. I will be rather happy with that.

More refined than Weather Panel or Weather Today? Have you checked out the latest version of Weather Today? They (Weather Today) recently added animated weather icons and completely re-did all the icons. I know the new icons are a free upgrade for Stocks and Weather Today users and I "think" they are for Weather Today users. The animated icons totally rock. :way to go:

In addition, a private party (Juni) just made a set of 3-D animated icons which are way cool.

[Stephen Beesley]

Well it definately looks like I am in a minority here, but I really like JB.

I have run Weather Today as well I do find that is probably a better program if all you are after is the weather functionality. Never tried stocks and weahter today as I have no interest in stocks and do not use that function on JB so I cannot comment there.

For me what I really like in JB is the news links. I do sometimes log into my Avantgo accounts, but have found alot of the channels to be pretty buggy - sometimes they work sometimes they dont: sometimes they are updated sometimes not. Being Australian (and an Australian living OS at that) I particularly like the links in JB for Oz news etc and the BBC listings are very comprehensive. As for the accuracy of the weather - it seems as good as any of the other weather programs at least for here in Ireland - although that may not be saying much as we really do have very unpredictable weather (for any other Aussies on the list - think Melbourne in winter but all year round!)

[Rob Alexander]

I use JB just for the weather report feature; I rarely look at the news. I can't say that I notice any particular slowdown from having JB installed, but it's certainly using more space than needed for what I want it for. If I were buying now I'd probably go ahead and get Weather Today, but I just can't bring myself to spend another $17 for that when I already own an app that does the job.

[ctmagnus]

Something I would like to see in these weather apps is for the developers to have a listing of postal/zip codes that the apps support, on their sites. Otherwise a lot of people would end up downloading the trial to see if they're listed in the apps only to find out that the closest station the app lists is 100km away, uninstall the trial, download the new version a year later and get hit by the "your trial has expired" bug.

[nuts]

Journalbar drains the memory of my 2210.
Pretty annoying that I have to soft-reset every time I take the thing out of the cradle.