11-01-2004, 05:00 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 33
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Weathering Those Brainstorms on the Go with MindManager Mobile X5 for Pocket PC
Product Category: Productivity software
Manufacturer: Mindjet
Where to Buy: Available from the Mindjet Website.
Price: $49.99 USD (MindManager X5 for the desktop is $199.00, MindManager X5 Pro for the desktop is $299.00)
System Requirements: Runs on all Pocket PCs.
Pros:- Great synchronization with desktop software;
- Can create mindmaps on the fly.
Cons:- Expensive;
- Does not allow for the same freeform inputting;
- Not much use without the $200.00 to $300.00 desktop software.
Summary:
Many people have heard of mindmapping software for desktop PCs, which helps to organize ideas and structure thoughts, but that only works when you are sitting at your desk. Some of my best thoughts occur when I am walking through a store, or sitting in a restaurant. Can MindManager Mobile X5 for Pocket PC help me to herd these thoughts into something usable?
Read on for the full review!
Mapping my Mind Without an MRI
Some months ago Don Tolson reviewed Pocket Mindmap 1.3 mindmapping software for the Pocket PC. In his review Don does an excellent job of explaining what mindmapping can do for you, so I won�t try to reiterate here. At the close of his article, Don mentions that Pocket Mindmap 1.3 has sychronization capabilities with Mindjet�s MindManager mindmapping software.
MindManager is one of the best known mindmapping software packages for the PC, and one of my favorite programs, whether on my desktop PC, or on my trusty Toshiba Tablet PC. While I strive to be organized, quite often my ideas seem to surface in a chaotic jumble, or I may find myself faced with a complex planning project with myriad goals and constraints. Simply writing these things down is usually not sufficient to help me process everything. MindManager X5 software gives me powerful tools to be able to throw out bits of ideas or streams of consciousness as they occur to me, almost as if I were putting Post-It notes with thought snippits on my desk. I can then move these ideas around graphically (this is so cool) and then explore relationships, organize hierarchies, etc. As the ideas develop, I can add more detail, images, sketches, etc., to the mixture to further flesh out ideas or explore possibilities. The software allows me to assign graphics to items, import elements from other applications, and even assign items as tasks in Outlook - one of my favorite functions.
Figure 1: This is an example of a mindmap in the desktop version of the software. Notice the connections and all of the added graphics.
Yeah, But Can I Do This on the Bus?
Not surprisingly, MindManager Mobile does not provide the all of the same freeform capabilities as the desktop version. The graphical nature of the desktop is missing from the mobile package. This isn�t really a surprise given the differences in processing power, so the mobile version is effectively limited to an outline structure. Luckily, there is still a lot of flexibility to the outline�s organization, so topics can change, and relationships evolve. On the downside, only a portion of the outline is visible at any given time. Unfortunately, I found this to be really distracting.
The Swing....
Figure 2: The same mindmap as in Figure 1, as displayed on the Pocket PC. Notice that the icons transfer across.
MindManager allows you to add formatting and icons to the elements in the mindmap. MindManager x5 Mobile does a pretty good job of keeping this formatting intact. Notes attached to various items are transferred across to the Pocket PC.
Figure 3: Associated notes make it across to the mobile version.
Figure 4:Formatting options for your map elements...
Figure 5: Graphics can be assigned or changed in the mobile version.
The Miss....
My major disappointment lies with the fact that I am limited to working with the outline view. However, this alone wouldn�t be enough to really upset me except for the fact that I cannot view the entire outline; only one topic and its branches at a time. If I want to move a subtopic from one branch to another, I have to perform several actions. The major appeal of MindManager (the desktop version) is its unstructured nature. It seems very contradictory to me to hobble the Pocket PC version to so much unnecessary structure.
Figure 6: This is an example of a generic outline.
Referring to Figure 6 above, if I want to reassign an idea to another topic, it takes several steps, not a clean and simple drag and drop.
Figure 7: I start by dragging an idea...
I start by dragging the idea from its original location to a new category.
Figure 8:...into an new relationship. But I can't control where it goes in the new topic...
After dropping, I have to open the new home category. The idea is at the top of the list. If I want to associate that idea with a topic, I have to drag and drop again.
Figure 9:...until I manually open further levels of the outline.
I open the newly desired topic, and drag and drop the idea to the desired location. While this may not seem like a lot of work, the process becomes cumbersome when trying to move large amounts of items when fleeting new concepts find you. Because of this, I have found MindManager X5 Mobile to be a good resource to view elements of a map I created on the desktop, but not a serious tool for brainstorming on the fly.
Conclusions
MindManager X5 Pro is a powerful program that offers powerful yet freeform tools to capture thoughts and and explore ideas through the creation of mindmaps. The mobile version is good for referring to these MindMaps, but the software is too structured to help with more than basic mindmap creation.
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11-01-2004, 05:16 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 352
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Mindmapping software is a wonderful tool.
I am not quite sure if that makes a good app for Pocket PC though. The screen size is a real problem. But I am definitely going to give it a try on a VGA device. Thanks for the review.
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11-01-2004, 06:08 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 27
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New Pocketmindmap Beta
Yesterday a new public beta version of Pocket Mindmap was made available. This version can read and write MindManager X5 .xml files directly (no need for a desktop converter). At first look there seems to be some work still to do but, fundamentally, it does the job. The beta can be downloaded from http://www.pocketmindmap.com/Docs/PM...ap/default.asp
Regards
Dave
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11-01-2004, 09:52 PM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 1
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I have been a longtime user of Mindjet's MindManager on the desktop and was an early adopter of their mobile client.
First off, their mobile client is NOT a mindmapping application. It's an outliner if anything and it's not even a very good one.
So for quite some time I have been using Pocketmindmap, which I consider a far superior product and a true mobile mindmapping tool. The list of features goes way beyond graphical representation and allows for the creation and update of Outlook tasks. This makes it a very powerful tool.
Unfortunately, until recently Pocketpindmap was not compatible with Mindjet's new X5 version and reluctantly I went back to using the Mindjet mobile client.
When I recently installed my new VGA iPAQ hx4700, Mindjet's Mobile X5 client locked up my PPC. Problems with other programs on the VGA device were quickly solved after contacting the support departments, so I contacted Mindjet for the issue with their mobile client (as a paying client I felt I was entitled to support).
I let their response speak for itself :
QUOTE
This operating system is only available on few Pocket PCs. On most of them MindManager X5 Mobile cannot be used.
UNQUOTE
Let it be clear that they are talking about Windows Mobile 2003 SE and that this OS is now installed on all new PPCs. But basically what their saying is that they give NO support.
Later that same day I received a emailing from Mindjet, promoting their mobile client. Nowhere did they mention in that emailing that Mobile 2003 SE devices are not supported.
I saw to my delight that the long awaited new version of Pocketmindmap (www.pocketmindmap.com) is now in public beta and I for my part know where I am going to spend my money in the future.
TS
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11-02-2004, 12:05 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 90
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Re: New Pocketmindmap Beta
Quote:
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Originally Posted by davenicholls
Yesterday a new public beta version of Pocket Mindmap was made available. This version can read and write MindManager X5 .xml files directly (no need for a desktop converter). At first look there seems to be some work still to do but, fundamentally, it does the job. The beta can be downloaded from http://www.pocketmindmap.com/Docs/PM...ap/default.asp
Regards
Dave |
Dave, how well do you find the beta Pocket MindMap to work when converting to and from MindManager X5? I have Pocket MindMap and have held off on purchasing MindManager X5 until two way file transfer/synchronization has become stable (and reasonably easy for that matter).
Thanks so much! 
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11-02-2004, 12:26 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 27
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Re: New Pocketmindmap Beta
Quote:
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Originally Posted by welovejesus
Dave, how well do you find the beta Pocket MindMap to work when converting to and from MindManager X5? I have Pocket MindMap and have held off on purchasing MindManager X5 until two way file transfer/synchronization has become stable (and reasonably easy for that matter).
Thanks so much! |
I downloaded the beta this morning so I haven't had time to do a thorough test. I have passed maps back and forth and my first impressions are:
1) Currently PMM only supports .xml files, not Mindmanager's .mmap. Support for .mmap files is promised. I know that .mmap files are basically zipped xml files, but I don't know if there's anything in that format that straight .xml can't handle.
2) Transfer from the ppc is by export rather than save. You have to export as .xml which, because there are a few options, has a few more steps than a normal save
3) A simple map I created on the PPC with branches, task information, some references, and an icon, transferred perfectly apart from the main branch layout which needed tweaking to recreate the original.
I'll post further items as I find them, but at the moment I have to say I'm pretty impressed. The process is much easier than the old method usind PMM desktop converter and, allowing for different functionality in the two pieces of software the transfer works well.
I believe the PMM folks are partly using the beta to find out exactly how people want things to work (one example is how PMM scribbles are handled) so it might be a good time to download Mindmanager and give it a go.
Cheers
Dave
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11-02-2004, 11:21 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 33
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Re: New Pocketmindmap Beta
Quote:
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Originally Posted by davenicholls
Yesterday a new public beta version of Pocket Mindmap was made available. This version can read and write MindManager X5 .xml files directly (no need for a desktop converter). At first look there seems to be some work still to do but, fundamentally, it does the job. The beta can be downloaded from http://www.pocketmindmap.com/Docs/PM...ap/default.asp
Regards
Dave |
I will download this and give it a try. I am always encouraged then developers keep working at making improvements!
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11-03-2004, 01:26 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 13
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I believe that Pocket MindMap already works with Mindgenius....
http://www.mindgenius.com
A cool contender to MindManager especially with their new version that has recently come out.
Cheers,
Philb
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11-03-2004, 01:42 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 27
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by philb2k
I believe that Pocket MindMap already works with Mindgenius....
http://www.mindgenius.com
A cool contender to MindManager especially with their new version that has recently come out.
Cheers,
Philb |
I tried MindGenius a few months ago and it does work well with PMM, basically MindGenius allows the loading and saving of PMM files directly. There was a problem which caused it to fail when references were used, but that is supposed to be fixed in the new beta of PMM.
Cheers
Dave
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11-18-2004, 04:52 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 98
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I'm using MindManager XL5 Pro and the beta release of Pocket MindMap.
Excellent pairing! I start the maps wherever I happen to be on my Asus 716 with Pocket MindMap, and then export it to MindManager XL5 to flesh it out. This is working great!
It's not an inexpensive solution, but it's absolutely the best "idea to presentation/implementation" management tool I've come across!
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Linear Mode
