Tim Allen
07-30-2004, 05:00 PM
<img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-jul04-repligo-teaser.gif" /><br /><br /><b>Product Category:</b> Document viewer<br /><b>Manufacturer:</b> <a href="http://www.cerience.com">Cerience</a><br /><b>Where to Buy:</b> <a href="http://www.handango.com/brainstore/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&productId=51208">Download from Handango</a> (affiliate link)<br /><b>Price:</b> $29.95 USD (or $14.95 upgrade from v1.0)<br /><b>System Requirements:</b> Desktop: Windows 98 SE, Me, 2000 or XP with 12.5 MB disk space required for all components; Device: any ARM-based Pocket PC running Pocket PC 2002 or later with 510KB of available space<br /><br /><b>Pros:</b><li>Still fast, slick and powerful;<br /><li>Some essential new features and enhancements;<br /><li>Lower price.<br /><b>Cons:</b><li>Images and Word tables still not shown in flowed view;<br /><li>Still difficult to manage large number of Repligo files;<br /><li>Expensive upgrade.<b>Summary:</b><br />We <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/articles.php?action=expand,9580">looked at Repligo v1.0</a> early last year, and whilst there were several limitations this was clearly an excellent piece of software, albeit coming in at a fairly hefty price. There have been a few point releases since then (most notably adding landscape support), but the recently released version 2.0 comes with a multitude of major new features and improvements. Do these make it worth the upgrade, or is it more a case of unnecessary feature-bloat?<br /><br />Read on for the full review!<!><br /><PAGEBREAK><br /><span><b>What Is It?</b></span><br />Repligo is a universal document viewer along the lines of Acrobat, i.e. convert any source document to the Repligo format and then view it in read-only mode on any device that has the viewer application installed.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-jul04-repligo-full.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 1: Here's a Word document converted to Repligo format and displayed in full-page view.</i><br /><br />Rather than re-iterate the basics of document conversion and viewing with Repligo, in this article I'm going to focus on what's new in version 2.0 - and what isn't.<br /><br /><span><b>Text Searching</b></span><br />At long last you can now perform text searches within Repligo documents. This includes the usual options such as case-sensitivity and partial/whole word matching, but not the more advanced filtering options such as wildcards and sounds like.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-jul04-repligo-search.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 2: The new Find screen.</i><br /><br /><span><b>Bookmarks</b></span><br />Another important new feature is the ability to create bookmarks, enabling you to quickly return to a previous location within a document. These bookmarks can be saved within the Repligo file, together with the view selected at the time the bookmark was created. Even better, default bookmarks are automatically created for you based on headings or sections within the source document itself.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-jul04-repligo-bookmark-default.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 3: Default 'document' bookmarks. Select one and tap 'Go To'.</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-jul04-repligo-bookmark-create.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 4: Creating a user-defined or 'personal' bookmark.</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-jul04-repligo-bookmark-list.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 5: New bookmark now included in list.</i><br /><PAGEBREAK><br /><span><b>Comments and Text Highlighting</b></span><br />Related to bookmarks, comments are free-form notes which you can now create within Repligo documents.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-jul04-repligo-comment-create.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 6: Creating a comment.</i><br /><br />Comments created manually like this are only linked to a particular page, rather than a section or specific point within the page, so can only be used for general notes as they only take you to the start of the page they were created on. However, Repligo now also gives you the ability to highlight text (in a variety of colours), and comments are automatically created for these highlights.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-jul04-repligo-highlight-select.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 7: Selecting the highlighter.</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-jul04-repligo-highlight-text.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 8: Highlighting the text.</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-jul04-repligo-comment-list.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 9: The highlighted text now included as a comment (together with the available highlight colours).</i><br /><br />The advantage of these highlight-generated comments is that they take you directly to the highlighted text rather than just the page, so are much more useful that manual comments. In addition you can edit them to add additional notes to the comment.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-jul04-repligo-comment-edit.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 10: Editing a text highlight comment.</i><br /><br />Like bookmarks, comments and highlighting are stored within the document - you're prompted to save the document when closing it if you've added any of these items.<br /><PAGEBREAK><br /><span><b>Enhanced Internet Explorer Integration</b></span><br />Converting Web pages is now easier thanks to additional options which give you more control over how the page should be formatted during the conversion, such as scaling to fit. However this only works with Internet Explorer 5.5 and above, and only if you install Repligo with the IE integration option.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-jul04-repligo-iesetup.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 11: Internet Explorer conversion setup options.</i><br /><br />The new preview window gives you the chance to see how this will work before committing to the actual conversion, and to fine tune the settings accordingly.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-jul04-repligo-iepreview.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 12: Internet Explorer conversion preview window.</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-jul04-repligo-ieresult.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 13: The resulting converted Web page shown in Repligo.</i><br /><br /><span><b>Live Hyperlinks</b></span><br />Hyperlinks in source documents are now preserved, and can be tapped in the converted document to access the corresponding Web site (or mailto: address). However this only works if you convert using the integrated toolbar button in Word, Excel or Powerpoint.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-jul04-repligo-hyperlink.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 14: Following a hyperlink in the converted Repligo document.</i><br /><PAGEBREAK><br /><span><b>Direct Copy to Storage Card</b></span><br />You can now bypass ActiveSync when converting a document and directly save it to any folder on your device including a storage card, and whilst the conversion works well enough the file browser inside Repligo itself won't list the file unless it's in My Documents (or a sub-folder thereof). You can however launch Repligo from the file itself using File Explorer.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-jul04-repligo-bypassactivesync.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 15: ActiveSync bypass conversion selected.</i><br /><br /><span><b>New Desktop Viewer</b></span><br />A brand new application for version 2.0, the Repligo Desktop Viewer provides all the functionality of the Pocket PC version so you can now see all your Repligo documents on your PC without having to open your device.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-jul04-repligo-desktop-viewer.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 16: The desktop viewer.</i><br /><br />Obviously in order to do that you need to make sure the option to save a local copy of converted documents is selected.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/allen-jul04-repligo-convert-options.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 17: Document conversion options.</i><br /><br /><span><b>Other Enhancements</b></span><br />In addition to the above major new features, there are are a couple of other enhancements in Repligo version 2.0 worth mentioning. Text can now be selected and copied to the clipboard; and there is support for conversion of 24-bit colour images rather than these being limited to 8-bit colour.<br /><PAGEBREAK><br /><span><b>Conclusions</b></span><br />Many of the limitations of the previous version - no bookmarks, no comments or highlighting, no text search, no desktop viewer - have been addressed, and Repligo is still a fast, slick and professionally-written application. But for me there are still a few key problems that haven't been fixed.<br /><br />Firstly, the on-going inability to see pictures or Word tables along with the text in flowed view is a major drawback for the kind of documents I use day-to-day, which are full of tables. I am thus forced to use the standard zoomed mode which results in a lot of painful scrolling around, or alternatively constantly switch between views.<br /><br />Secondly, almost as a result of its own success, Repligo files quickly build up into a large collection which can easily get out of hand. The file browser seems ripe for improvement, as it doesn't show the original file type, long filenames get truncated, you can't sort files in descending date order and there's no facility to filter or search for specific files. There really needs to be a better way of cataloguing all your Repligo files.<br /><br />Finally, you can only have one document open at a time, so switching between documents quickly becomes painful. It's crying out for a set of document tabs (which ironically you do get on the desktop viewer). In addition it would help if the title of the currently open document was shown in the window bar.<br /><br />Having said all that, Repligo is now much cheaper than when originally launched, coming in at a much more reasonable $29.95, although this is still at the upper end of the Pocket PC software price range. Those upgrading from version 1 will be charged half of this though, and whilst you can open version 1 files in version 2 you'll need to reconvert all your documents to take advantage of most of the new features.<br /><br />Overall then, Repligo v2.0 is still an excellent piece of software and is heartily recommended. But it's value is questionable for existing users given the high upgrade cost, although the new features really are must-haves that you'll probably find you can't live without.