Windows Phone Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

Check out the hottest Windows Mobile devices at our Expansys store!


Digital Home Thoughts

Loading feed...

Laptop Thoughts

Loading feed...

Android Thoughts

Loading feed...




Go Back   Thoughts Media Forums > WINDOWS PHONE THOUGHTS > Windows Phone Software

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 03-03-2009, 05:30 PM
Jon Westfall
Executive Editor, Android Thoughts
Jon Westfall's Avatar
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 3,233
Default Have Application Purchase Regret?

Many of us here do not run perfectly vanilla devices. We like to install one or two (on the low side) or even 10 or more third-party applications. However even though trial versions exist, sometimes it can be very tempting to buy something only to find a few weeks later that it wasn't the best purchase. I personally have dozens of registration codes in my eWallet for programs I though were uber-cool, and later found weren't as uber-useful as I had hoped. Want an example? OK - here's one: Calligrapher

Now don't get me wrong. Calligrapher is a great product. It works well, it's widely used, and has many featureas that power users can leverage quite well. However when I found the product, I forgot one critical thing about myself: my handwriting is aweful. Really bad. So bad that I worked hard to make my own font so I can type notes out in actual legible handwriting. And that means I don't really like to write. Not liking to write = not wanting to use Calligrapher that often. It's a shame too, but I suppose something to learn from.

Now it's your turn to share. Do you have Application Buyers Remorse or Regret? Feel free to name the application and why it wasn't a great fit for you!

__________________
Dr. Jon Westfall, MCSE, MS-MVP
Executive Editor - Android Thoughts
News Editor - Windows Phone Thoughts

 
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 03-03-2009, 07:35 PM
txa1265
Intellectual
txa1265's Avatar
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 190

Calligrapher was also one for me ... I so loved my Newton MP2100 and wanted to replicate that experience. But it has never really happened ... Calligrapher eventually came close on faster PPC's, but due to the size it was never the same experience.

I would also add about half the crap I have bought for my iPod Touch on the App stor - sure it is probably ~40-50 total I would call 'regret', but still ...
 
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 03-03-2009, 07:49 PM
doogald
Oracle
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 984

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jon Westfall View Post
However when I found the product, I forgot one critical thing about myself: my handwriting is aweful.
I say this just to be funny, but if Calligrapher spelled awful that way, you proved your point.

I also used Calligrapher a long, long time ago, when I first had a Pocket PC (perhaps even with a PsPC, if Calligrapher goes back that far.) I have very nice handwriting, and Calligrapher worked well for me, but I also stopped using it because

I do not express myself efficiently

when I am forced to write in

spurts of words like

this.

Application buyer's remorse? All of the time. I have licenses for both Agenda One and Pocket Informant and I do not use either one anymore. Netfront back in the PPC days; I used it for a bit and grew to hate it.

There are loads more. I do this all of the time . . .
 
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 03-03-2009, 08:22 PM
Jason Lee
Contributing Editor
Jason Lee's Avatar
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,389

Most definitely Flexmail... Yeuuck!

It was one of those I should have trialed longer. It seemed to fit the bill for what I needed after a few days so I bought it.. Only to spend the next few weeks fighting with it and realizing how bad of an app it really was.
I mean come on... When you delete mail it disappears from the list but never actually gets removed from the database???! So the database size will grow infinitely.. Horribly slow, and grew slower every day. There were many other "why on earth would you code something this way" issues that I just couldn't deal with and the developer said weren't really a priority to get fixed. Or that they didn't even see as a problem..

Gaah.. getting irritated just thinking about it.

Oh and Agendus. I actually won a copy in a contest here and went through their horrid registration/activation process only to find that the program was horrible. That was 2 years ago and to this day i still cannot stop them from spamming me with email. The unsubscribe link never works. I've even tried to manually contact them to get them to stop sending me crap... So I didn't buy it but I actually regret winning that one.
 
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 03-03-2009, 08:44 PM
yawanag
Thinker
yawanag's Avatar
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 378
Default Regret

I have so many apps that I thought was a "Must Have." A few months down the road I wondered what possessed me to buy it. When I first got my Jornada 540, I was into utilities 'cause I wanted to keep it in tip top shape. I am a lover of word gams and I bought one right after the other. It took a while that all were either sliding letters around, clicking on them or sending them sailing off the screen. Now I just stick to "Scrabble." One game I installed and stopped playing because it got to difficult was "Brain School." I swearI'll go back some day.

My problem with some is that I still want them but have no room to house them. I am experiencing a problem now with the storage space reading 2.42MB and I have gone through almost everything and deleted it. I have performed a hard reset, deleted the old backup and performed a new one. Just can't figure out why it is still so low. I want to install PontCalc with 6MB 'cause I just started Weight Watchers and I just can't do it.
__________________
"It's alright to pick your friends, but not to pieces."
 
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 03-03-2009, 10:31 PM
Reid Kistler
Philosopher
Reid Kistler's Avatar
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 518

Calligrapher: appears to be one of those "love it or hate it apps" - although place more blame on myself for failing to find the time to LEARN how to use it, than on any inherent problem with the app itself.
Although, in fairness, the whole Gesture-centric interface seemed more important on the Handspring (Palm) than it proved to be on the Axim (WinMobile).


WebIS Mail / Flexmail: The initial app did not seem to work very well - or, at least, not as EXPECTED. Soon gave up trying to download e-mails to PDA, finding that wireless access became universal enough to suffice.

WebIS Money & MasterSoft Money: Never reached a point of comfort with trying to keep full "accounting" data ONLY on PDA. Pocket Excel has worked fine for recording the odd Must-Be-Recorded-Now expenditure and/or inflow. Still, a reasonably priced app that featured both Desktop & PDA versions (with decent syncing!) would still be of some interest, but would have to better Desktop Quicken (even as UNhappy as we are with Quicken!).

All APPs Purchased for Handspring Visor Platinum (Exluding FITALY): Simply because they had to be replaced when I broke the unit and it was clear that the Dell was the most attractive option on the market at that time.

Marginal: PhatPad. Like Calligrapher, PhatPad is an app that seems to hold much greater PROMISE than seemed to ever actually get out of it. However, it DOES get used once in a while - but belongs more in the "Luxury" rather than "Necessity" category....
 
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 03-03-2009, 10:38 PM
psyjohn
Ponderer
psyjohn's Avatar
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 73

I've done this more times than I want to admit. There are several SIP applications that I liked enough to purchase, but after a short time they just weren't working for me, although, I do own and frequently use Calligrapher. PI was another one I loved at first, and really tried to stick with it, but it was just too big for the small part of it that I really wanted.

Recently I enforced a firm rule for myself that I do not purchase any software until the very end of the trial period. I've avoided a few mistakes with that.
 
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 03-04-2009, 12:29 AM
azhiker
Ponderer
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 113
Send a message via AIM to azhiker
Default Not useful

Some purchases seemed right or novel at the time but never really fit my needs or took too much time to set up or maintain or took time to mess with. I ahve no time to fiddle. I have since removed them...

Any Instant messenger software, I used three, but gave up most IM
EZ Expense (just add expenses to Pocket Informant for each day)
Most games (Do keep Suduku)
SplashPhoto (never worked right on my desktop to transfer files)
MS Reader (I read books off my tablet PC but PPC is jsut too small)
Checklist Pro
Pocket Weather
__________________
"This is nothing like anything we have yet to experience." - Bob & Ray
 
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 03-04-2009, 06:08 AM
ctmagnus
5000+ Posts? I Should OWN This Site!
ctmagnus's Avatar
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 5,616

I have just two regrets:

Any email application.

Any sip method other than Fitaly.
__________________
iPhone 4! ☠☠☠ Mid-2010 15" MacBook Pro! ☠☠☠ Gateway LT2102h! ☠☠☠ Dell XPS M1210!
 
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 03-04-2009, 09:26 AM
Rahza
Neophyte
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 8

Just like others, Pocket Informant.

I just loved the trail. It looked really great with the colors and gave great overview of my schedule. And all those options to tweak the program. Awesome! I used it the whole trail period, loved it and then bought it.

That's when the problems started. It slowed down my device and somehow the app kept showing up after a soft reset, blocking out the phone's PIN input screen. PI is so bloated, that it is just to slow to use. I found myself using WM standard agenda more often than PI. Too bad.

More or less a regret but not really, SPB Pocket Plus. Since I don't use it anymore on my Touch Pro due to TF3D. Now SPB Pocket Plus is only used as a battery indicator on the top edge of the screen. Great app though!

Rahza
 
Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 07:33 PM.