Keeping in Touch: Sunnysoft Contacts 1.0 [Archive]

Don Tolson

08-29-2007, 04:00 PM

<img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/don-aug07-sscontacts-logo.gif" /> Product Category: Software – Contacts replacement Manufacturer: <A HREF = "http://www.sunnysoft.com" target = "blank"> Sunnysoft s.r.o.</A> Where to Buy: <A HREF = "http://www.mobihand.com/pocketpcthoughts/product.asp?id=13693" target = "blank"> MobiHand</A> [Affiliate] Price: $14.95 USD A fully-functioning 15-day trial version is available. System Requirements: Windows Mobile 5 or 6. Requires approximately 500K of program memory. Specifications: Automatically installs to program memory on the PPC (installation to SD card is not available). Available in English, French, German, Spanish and Czech. Pros:<li>Interface is simple, straightforward, and finger-friendly;; <li>Good integration with messaging and phone function. Cons:<li>Search on phone numbers can't deal with hyphen; <li>Needs a call history 'cleanup' function.Summary: Sunnysoft Contacts is billed as a replacement for the Contacts portion of Windows Mobile, but it provides much more than just the standard functionality. Integrated with SMS, MMS, email and phone functions, Sunnysoft Contacts can provide one-stop access to the people and places you love and work with. Read on for the review. <!><PAGEBREAK> Introduction Near the middle of July, Sunnysoft contacted us to let us know that they were about to release a new Contacts application. Intrigued, I picked up a copy and started playing with it, off and on, over the last couple of weeks while out camping with the family. Since this is a compact, uncomplicated application, I thought I'd put together a quick overview of its major features. EDIT -- (DRT) I just got notified that Sunnysoft has released version 1.1. This new version includes: <li>Vcard, Video call and speed dial support;<li>Hardware keyboard support;<li>Sorted Menu (sent and received items...)<li>Possibility to save a phone number from calls history to a list of contacts Installation Sunnysoft typically provides its applications as a desktop-installed .EXE file which uses Activesync to install on the PPC. The actual installation is straightforward, but unfortunately registration is not. Their registration procedure is a bit involved, using Activation codes and Registration IDs which are provided by contacting their web site. Even getting the codes directly from the Sunnysoft staff as we did, there was confusion (at least on my part) as to which one was which, and where they should be used. Setting It Up Once you get it installed, you must run Sunnysoft Contacts from the Programs menu for the first time. After that, you can use the Options selection from the Menu (right soft key) to configure it as the replacement for WM's Contacts application, and as the default when the 'Call' button is pushed (on a WM Phone Edition unit). <img src = "http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/don-aug07-sscontacts-opts-general.gif" border="1"> Figure 1: Configuring Sunnysoft Contacts to take over the Contacts function in your PDA/phone. One of the neat additions I noticed for this app is that, if you are running this on a WM Phone edition, it integrates the contacts information from the SIM card as well. Thus, you can add and modify SIM contacts directly from the same application. Also available in the Options menu are parameters for customizing the look and feel of the application. <img src = "http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/don-aug07-sscontacts-opts-app.gif" border="1"> Figure 2: Changing the skin of the application. <img src = "http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/don-aug07-sscontacts-opts-buttons.gif" border="1"> Figure 3: Configuring the quick access buttons which are included for each of the entries. Even though all are selected, they will only show up if there is an entry defined for them. <PAGEBREAK> Using Contacts When you run Sunnysoft Contacts, it starts up at the Search screen. Along the top of the screen is the familiar tri-letter grouping index from WM's Contacts' interface, and along the bottom is the keyboard used to input the desired search string. Sunnysoft's Search function uses the now familiar T9 interface, where a telephone pad is used for input - similar to texting on a phone pad. The advantage in Sunnysoft Contacts is that the search utilizes both the numeric and alphabetic strings. Thus, tapping on '4' then '7' brings up not only numbers starting with '47' but also any alphabetic entries which match the corresponding letters. <img src = "http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/don-aug07-sscontacts-search.gif" border="1"> Figure 4: Using Sunnysoft's search capabilities. Note the return of both numeric ('47') and alpha ('GR') matches to the search criteria. The search already ignores North American Area Codes (in the parentheses), but it doesn't ignore the commonly inserted hyphens between the first 3 digits (which used to be called the 'exchange') and the remaining 4 digits. For us North Americans, using the search on phone numbers fails after 3 digits as there is no way to input a hyphen. Results of searches are shown automatically, as the digits/letters are pressed on the keyboard, so it's easy to see if you're getting into the right area. You can also eliminate the keypad, if you wish, using the left soft button. This gives you a little more real estate to work with, but reduces your searching to use of the tri-letter index. <img src = "http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/don-aug07-sscontacts-hidekeys.gif" border="1"> Figure 5: Main screen of Contacts with the keypad hidden. As can be seen from the screenshots, Sunnysoft has designed an interface which is quite easy to use with the fingers, so there is little need to pull out the stylus at all. Beside each result are buttons for directly sending a text message, email or call to that person and as noted above, the buttons only show up if there is a valid number/email address/picture for that person. The double-sided black arrows show that there are additional buttons available but which can't fit on the display. By double-tapping any entry, you get a condensed display of all information about the contact. <img src = "http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/don-aug07-sscontacts-contactdetail.gif" border="1"> Figure 6: Detailed information on a contact. You can change the contact info by selecting the Edit function from the Menu soft key. It appears that Sunnysoft Contacts connects directly to WM's Contact application to handle actual editing of the contact information, since the screens are identical. To add a new contact, you can either select the Add Contact entry from the menu, or you can type in the phone number (or name) on the Search screen. If no matching criteria is found, a new quick button is presented at the top of the screen which allows you to add the new contact. <img src = "http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/don-aug07-sscontacts-newentry.gif" border="1"> Figure 7: A new icon is presented for adding a new entry to the Contacts list. The Call History, available from the History entry of the Menu soft key, provides a listing of all calls made. Also included are histories of emails, SMS and MMS messages on separate tabs. <img src = "http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/don-aug07-sscontacts-history.gif" border="1"> Figure 8: Call history for the entire unit. Note the difference in icons to distinguish between incoming and outgoing calls. You can also retrieve the history for a particular, selected contact via the Contact History on the same menu. <img src = "http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/don-aug07-sscontacts-contacthistory.gif" border="1"> Figure 9: Call history for a particular contact. I couldn't find any way to limit or delete existing call histories. I'm hoping there is some automatic cleanup and/or this will be provided as a feature on the Options screen in a later version. If you select an entry in the Call History, you can see the details of the call via the Details on the left soft key. <img src = "http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/don-aug07-sscontacts-calldetail.gif" border="1"> Figure 10: Details of a particular call. (Yup, I let them know about the spelling of 'Incoming') Messaging Integration Sunnysoft Contacts is integrated with existing Windows Mobile applications to provide messaging services directly from the Search results. Tapping on the message button initiates the text messaging function with the contact information already provided. Similarly, tapping on the email button starts up Pocket Outlook email with the contact's email address already supplied in the To: field. <img src = "http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/don-aug07-sscontacts-email.gif" border="1"> Figure 11: Sunnysoft Contacts integrates with Pocket Outlook to send email. Similarly, it would appear that SunnySoft Contacts connects directly into WM's Contacts application to handle actual editing of the contact information, since the screens are identical. Documentation I couldn't find any documentation or help files for the application, but I found I didn't really need them. Everything was pretty much where I expected it to be and worked the way one would normally anticipate. Conclusions All in all, not a bad little application. As I've mentioned before, now having an WM Phone Edition PPC, I really appreciate vendors making it possible to use their applications with just fingers, and Sunnysoft has done a good job of providing additional functionality and integration for Contacts into this interface. There are other products available which do similar things, but I haven't seen the level of integration shown here. Don is an Associate Director with Fujitsu Consulting and leader of its Enterprise Mobility Community.