Pocket Informant 5.2 Available

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://www.pocketinformant.com/whatsnew.php?type=pocketinformant&amp;version=520">http://www.pocketinformant.com/whatsnew.php?type=pocketinformant&amp;version=520</a><br /><br />Pocket Informant 5.2 sports a completely revamped Notes View providing robust support for Outlook Notes in any number of folders and storage cards, PhatWare's PhatNotes and PhatPad products, and Sound files complete with the ability to search the contents of all notes. As well users will find a plethora of improvements in the Month View, Tasks, Editors, Journaling, and the user interface.<br /><br />As usual, there are tons of minor tweaks, fixes and improvements! Pocket Informant 5.2 is free to all 5.x owners, or you can <a href="http://www.handango.com/brainstore/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&productId=10226">buy it for $24.95</a>, which includes a free version of Phatware's PhatNotes Lite. Alex is also giving away WebIS Money for <a href="http://www.pocketinformant.com/p_money.php">Pocket Informant users</a>.

[Jereboam]

Just to say that the new notes integration works well (PhatPad integration is great - finding ink notes previously quickly was a bit of a hassle, although they can't be edited natively) and being given a free copy of PhatNotes Lite (and Money) must make this one of the very best Pocket PC software buys around.

Combine it with the subscriber discount and it's even more of a winner.

Note that PhatPad 2.0 beta is also out with a desktop client, and I can confirm it works just fine...

J'bm

[robeauch]

There's been an unheralded, but noteworthy, improvement to their documentation as well. In the 5.2 Reference Guide, the "Options Dialog" section has expanded from the original page-and-a-half of cursory descriptions ("Calendar: Options that apply only to the Calendar View") to nearly seven pages of nicely detailed explanations of practically every customizable item.

Yeah, I'm one of those people that reads the manual. You got a problem with that? :wink:

[Jereboam]

Hah! Funny...I just snagged the manual to read through as well...got to the point where I am really wringing every tiny option out in PI....

J'bm

[ctitanic]

You should read this too guys

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=275039&sid=b5b96028b9e149bd0484b63e83f18a32[/url]

[huangzhinong]

I must be very old now. I still like v5.01 better than v5.2.

By the way, I have more than 200 notes in HPC notes. Assigning a new catagory to each note for PI is the last thing I want to do. Anybody have a better idea how to do it in fewer clicks? thanks

Something I just don't understand. PI gives out Phatnotes lite free from v5.2. Am I the only person who found that Phatnotes lite is much better than PI notes? Will the phatnotes lite giving away hurt PI's sale if most people choose use phatnotes not PI?

[alex_kac]

Tell us how PhatNotes Lite is better than PI Notes in 5.2. Please :) We want to work with PhatNotes to become the best Notes editor on the Pocket PC bar none. 5.2 is a huge a step towards that, though there are a few things I still want to do that we didn't do for 5.2.

But please, I do want to know where we fail so we can improve.

[Lucifer]

I've not found evidence of PhatNotes Lite being included in Pocket Informant 5.2. I've checked WebIS's site, Handango and Pocketgear. Unless someone can provide a link to a WebIS-authored feature list that says PI now includes PhatNotes Lite, I think people should be skeptical of this statement.

[alex_kac]

Its in the installer and the announcements we sent to all the news sites.

Pocket Informant 5.2 comes with PhatNotes for PI (a variation of PhatNotes Lite) for free. A large part of this is to highlight the excellent integration of PhatNotes with PI 5.2.

[huangzhinong]

Tell us how PhatNotes Lite is better than PI Notes in 5.2. Please :) We want to work with PhatNotes to become the best Notes editor on the Pocket PC bar none. 5.2 is a huge a step towards that, though there are a few things I still want to do that we didn't do for 5.2.

But please, I do want to know where we fail so we can improve.


Maybe I didn't use PI v5.2 very well.

1. I can't open my password-enabled hpc notes in PI.
2. HPC notes has a much better interface. Sorting by color, catrgory and priority is very useful.
3. Unless PI is running at background, launching HPC notes is still about 2 times faster than PI in h2210 ROM1.1
4. HPC notes can display the catagory generated from PI, but PI can't display the catagory generated from HPC notes.

[alex_kac]

Tell us how PhatNotes Lite is better than PI Notes in 5.2. Please :) We want to work with PhatNotes to become the best Notes editor on the Pocket PC bar none. 5.2 is a huge a step towards that, though there are a few things I still want to do that we didn't do for 5.2.

But please, I do want to know where we fail so we can improve.


Maybe I didn't use PI v5.2 very well.

1. I can't open my password-enabled hpc notes in PI.
2. HPC notes has a much better interface. Sorting by color, catrgory and priority is very useful.
3. Unless PI is running at background, launching HPC notes is still about 2 times faster than PI in h2210 ROM1.1
4. HPC notes can display the catagory generated from PI, but PI can't display the catagory generated from HPC notes.

I think the basic premise in your points is that if you use all the PhatNotes fields, then yes obviously using the PhatNotes UI is better. 5.2 only supports a subset of the PhatNotes fields, but future versions will support more of those fields.

1. Correct at this time. You will be able to later, though it will open in PhatNotes and not PI.
2. We will be adding more sort options in the future, but those sorts you mention depend on PhatNotes specific fields. I didn't want to add them at this time because it would be undefined what to do with them with Outlook Notes. Since we merge the two - we have to consider that. I don't think we'll be adding any PhatNotes specific sorts.
3. OK. Its about the same here on my XDA II, but you're talking about a dedicated Notes app vs a full PIM. It has nothing to do with UI.
4. Yes, we know this. This will be solved in a future release.

So I honestly have to say that your points are all valid, but your initial comment was incorrect. What I think you meant to say was that PhatNotes is a better app for editing PhatNotes themselves, not notes in general. And it will remain that way.

PI will NEVER be better at editing PhatNotes data over PhatNotes. EVER. That is not our intention. If we did that, PhatWare would have no reason to allow us to integrate with them as their PhatNotes product on the PPC would cease to have any meaning. Plus, considering that most PI users don't have PhatNotes, its not fair to them to have 3/4ths of the interface dedicated to PhatNotes features.

That is why we even have an "Edit in PhatNotes" contextual menu item for those notes - because we know that for some things you're just going to have to use that app. Its a good app. A great app. But for Notes in general, I have to state that I think PI 5.2 is the best BECAUSE it integrates the Outlook Notes, WAV files, PhatPad files, and PhatNotes files all in one place in an easy to use UI that works equally well across all the different data types. THAT's our focus. The ability to search a note and not care about where it is (Outlook Notes, Storage card, or PhatNote). The ability to preview a note no matter what type. Etc...

So our focus is not being the best PhatNotes editor we can be (PhatNotes is already that), but being the best integrator of all the Note types.

I hope that makes sense. And I know we're not perfect in 5.2 - vis a vis the items you mentioned. But those will be solved and a few others as well that will provide better PhatNotes integration as well (alarms and colors being the two primary ones).

[huangzhinong]

Your commets are valid and I have no complaint about it. I realized that I depend too much on HPC notes and didn't use too much WAV and other notes, but other people may find that WAV and other INK notes are much more useful. Anyway, thanks for commets.

Giving away HPC notes lite and Money free is really great offer. I appreciated it although I have registered my HPC notes and I am too poor to have enough items to use your Money software.

Good job. :D

[alex_kac]

Its a good thing to depend a lot on HPC/PhatNotes. And at the very least you can always get to PhatNotes quickly from within PI, so its not a total lost :)

[Bruno Figueiredo]

Alex: Good work on PI! It's getting more and more useful in every iteration.

However, I think that the UI could get even better. There are more and more options in every PI release and I think the UI is begining to resent that.

I feel the UI is not quite streamlined yet. Icons are somewhat inconsistent in style and the icons to attach are aweful. Some have white backs, some are unrecognizable... I know you have Icon packs but they don't help neither. Maybe you could develop some Hi-Res/Lo-Res pack from the ground up for WM2003.

I'm an interface and usability expert and also a designer, so if you want I can lend you a hand.

[alex_kac]

Alex: Good work on PI! It's getting more and more useful in every iteration.

However, I think that the UI could get even better. There are more and more options in every PI release and I think the UI is begining to resent that.

I feel the UI is not quite streamlined yet. Icons are somewhat inconsistent in style and the icons to attach are aweful. Some have white backs, some are unrecognizable... I know you have Icon packs but they don't help neither. Maybe you could develop some Hi-Res/Lo-Res pack from the ground up for WM2003.

I'm an interface and usability expert and also a designer, so if you want I can lend you a hand.

The High DPI icons are all very consistent, the QVGA ones are a bit less so, though the reason is just the difficulty in getting so many icons to look good at 16 pixels high/width. The free icons aren't bad, but they are FREE :)

The Icon Packs I think are awesome and all were designed specifically for this purpose.

[welovejesus]

You should read this too guys

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=275039&sid=b5b96028b9e149bd0484b63e83f18a32[/url]

After checking ctitanic's link above, Tweaks2K2 emerged as an answer to my meager RAM. Both PItoMem and Tweaks2K2 can move the PI dlls from the RAM to the storage memory or storage cards to save precious RAM space. Moreover, RegKing2003 does not even come close to what Tweaks2K2 can do. Tweaks2K2 and Pocket Hack Master are essential utilities for the Pocket PC.

Thanks ctitanic!

PS Purchase direct from his website http://www.pc-counselor.com/downloads.htm if you would like to save an additional 30%!

[ctitanic]

Thanks to you!

[ctmagnus]

If you want to upgrade from PhatNotes Lite (included with PI 5.2) to Standard or Professional, PhatWare is offering $10 off!

[Darius Wey]

Just thought I'd make a quick update:

PI has just been updated to 5.2.1 - I'm not sure what has been fixed in this minor update from 5.2.0, but just thought I'd let you all know.

[ctmagnus]

More notes sorting, for one. Now I can sort alphabetically by category in each directory. 8)

[alex_kac]

5.21 primarily fixes issues with PhatNotes drag and drop in the Notes View. It also does provide a few things we were able to respond to feedback on:

http://www.pocketinformant.com/whatsnew.php?type=pocketinformant&version=520

[starstreak]

Sorry if this was asked elsewhere, but can you answer this:
1) If I use pocket Informant, does it duplicate everything from my calender, etc.? As in now I need twice the ram becuase it copied everything from my calender to the PI calender?
2) Is everything (features) at least duplicated from windows calender, etc. to the PI calender and etc? So in other words, I will have all the same features+ more that PI adds?
3) Is everything in contacts copied into PI contacts? I remember switching from pocketpc to palm (yes I know its not the same) and I remember how limited things were in contacts. Like no annaversary or birthdate reminders.

[Jacob]

Sorry if this was asked elsewhere, but can you answer this:
1) If I use pocket Informant, does it duplicate everything from my calender, etc.? As in now I need twice the ram becuase it copied everything from my calender to the PI calender?

No. PI uses the same databases that the default PIM apps use. It does store some extra data if you use links and maybe some other features, but no extra PIM data.

2) Is everything (features) at least duplicated from windows calender, etc. to the PI calender and etc? So in other words, I will have all the same features+ more that PI adds?

PI has the same features and a lot more than the default PIM. I would suggest you do a trial to get the feel of the differences in behavior though.


3) Is everything in contacts copied into PI contacts? I remember switching from pocketpc to palm (yes I know its not the same) and I remember how limited things were in contacts. Like no annaversary or birthdate reminders.

Same as with the calendar, PI uses the same databases so it doesn't copy data, but uses it. PI does mark anniversaries and birthdays.

I hope that answers the questions well enough :)

[starstreak]

Thanks, so it should be safe for me to load into my pocketpc to try and if I don't like it, removing it won't remove anything from my regular calenders etc. Except for anything that PI adds that the regular calender does not. Oh, you can substitute theword calender with agenda,contacts, etc.

Oh I was looking at a screen shot, and I saw mini-text detail for calender. Looks like a good feature missing from the normal calender. I take it this works really well with a vga pocketpc? I ask becasuse in about a week I should be upgrading to a Loox 720.

[starstreak]

I installed the program. And when I synced up to my computer, it said I had like 500+ files that were not updated. But I thought PI used only stuff from the regular calender and agenda, etc? What was the 500+ files it just copied over? I'm guessing its my calender as I had stuff dated as far back as 1998. ;)

[alex_kac]

If its files - it would be the category icons PI installs.

[starstreak]

i'll bite, whats catagory icons? 500+ of them? or are you saying that it adds a tag to my contacts or something and those tags are saved? sorry, i'm still new to this.

[alex_kac]

If the sync said you had 500 FILES to sync, then it probably was category icons.

When you install PI, you are given an options page on what to install. At the bottom of that page includes 2 options that add files that PI can use if you wish.

One of them is Color Schemes and the other is Category Icons. These are bitmap files that you can assign to a category or directly to an appointment, task, or contact. The bitmap files live in \My Documents\WebIS\IconStore.

You can choose to move them anywhere you want, but that's the default install location. Read the docs on category icons to see their use.

[starstreak]

ok thanks! Do you like this program? I'm trying to deside if I like it or not yet. So far so good, except for notes. In my normal notes, it shows all my notes from anywhere (from main memory and from cf card), but this PI program pulls up a directory and you kind of have to hunt for where all your notes are.

[Jacob]

ok thanks! Do you like this program? I'm trying to deside if I like it or not yet. So far so good, except for notes. In my normal notes, it shows all my notes from anywhere (from main memory and from cf card), but this PI program pulls up a directory and you kind of have to hunt for where all your notes are.

I'll mention that alex_kac is the CEO of Web IS - who makes Pocket Informant so I would guess that he likes it :)

I personally DO like it a lot. The calendar gives me a good amount of information that the regular calendar doesn't give, not to mention the other nice things.

The notes view is very nice and the tasks view is a lot better.

[starstreak]

Haha! I didn't know alex was the ceo. I guess he would like it. :)
Is there a way to make the note view similar to the old note view? I even noticed the record feature is different for the notes. Lke the recording sounds funny. Are the recording using the same settings as the original notes?
btw, I'm at work now and not at my home computer. Are the help docs on the pda (which I cannot find) or on the computer that I installed the program on? Nevermind I'll just check once I get home from work. :) Looks neat so far though.

[alex_kac]

Yes, PI's notes are hierarchical, while the Notes app just shows all the notes in one list. Its really something that some people like and some don't. You can imitate the PPC Notes method by showing the Notes in Search View, but not in the Notes view itself.

Also you don't have to hunt. You can use the search toolbar, or the triangles at the top/right to expand all.