11-15-2005, 05:00 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 82
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Your Calendar Sleek and Clean - IntumiCal 1.0
Product Category: Software
Manufacturer: Intumi Software
Where to Buy: Intumi Software
Price: $19.99 USD
System Requirements: 571.4KB
Pros:- Simple, clean interface;
- Excellent use of pop ups to reduce unnecessary screens.
Cons:- Limited ways to access the program;
- No quick way to enter meeting locations;
- No convenient view of meeting locations.
Summary:
Normally, I�m not really big on the built-in application replacements, with the exception of Today plug-ins. I�ve tried just about every one I can get my hands on, but in the end, I find that they tend to just eat up too much RAM, and I don�t use more than half of what it�s capable of doing. So in the end they tend to get uninstalled. But here comes IntumiCal, a simple, minimalist approach to calendar management. Can it make the cut where other, bigger programs haven�t?
Read on for the full review!
Calendar Simplicity
IntumiCal is takes minimalism to heart. On lauching the application you�re greeted by an interface similar to what you�d expect from a calendar program, namely a display with days of the week at the top and a list of times running down the left side. It�s simple. It�s clean.
At the bottom of the screen there�s an Edit menu, for nothing more than Copy/Cut/Paste, and a Help menu, which gives you Options and About. Add to those two menus three buttons for changing the view from day to week to month and a button for deleting an appointment and that�s all the application gives you, at first glance. Like I said, they take minimalism to heart.
Figure 1: The main screen viewed as a daily calendar.
No �New� Is Good �New�
First thing I noticed when first launched the app, is no New button. Again, simplicity reigns supreme. To enter a new appointment you enter the appointment on the line closest to the time you want the appointment to take place. If your appointment happens to be at an odd time (say, for example, 2:15pm) write your appointment on the 2:00pm line, then when you�re done, by clicking on the colored bar that now highlights the appointment time, you can drag it down in 15 minute increments to the time you want. This I liked a lot.
By default, meetings are expected to last one hour. If you need longer than that, you can drag the bottom part of the same colored bar down (again in 15 minute increments) to the correct stop time. I liked this too, but even with some practice I found myself occasionally moving the appointment instead of extending its duration.
It�s All In The Details
On the left side of the appointment is a typical list of the hours in the day. The times during which your appointment takes place are highlighted in a color, which can be changed based on options that can be set based on categories. By clicking on the time of your appointment, a pop-up appears where you can set the appointment time, including making it an all day event. One thing I found frustrating here was clicking in the start or end field clears the field so you can fill in your own values. I�d much rather that the time remain and then I could edit the digit(s) that were incorrect.
Figure 2: Changing times with a pop-up.
At the bottom of the pop-up, there�s also a link for �More Details,� which takes you to a well organized screen for adding the typical details for an appointment (notes, location, recurrence, attendees, category, status, and reminder settings). My only bone to pick here is the location field. Instead of a drop down list that has common locations, you�re given nothing more than a text field. This makes common locations time consuming to enter. Hopefully, this is something that will get improved in the next version.
Figure 3: It's all in the details.
While you can add notes and reminders from the detail screen, the author continues to keep streamline in mind. Back on the main application screen, on the right side of the appointment are two boxes. Clicking in the first one brings up a pop-up for setting reminder settings. Clicking in the second quickly takes you back to the detail screen we left just a moment ago, and places your cursor in the Notes field.
Options and Views
Options... Well there really aren't many. You can choose whether tasks (all-day events) are visible in the day, week or monthly views, and you can set the color (with some impressive level of granularity) that you want appointment categories to be.
Figure 4: That's it? Those are all the options?
Here are a some screen shots of the week and month view.
Conclusions
There's a lot to love about IntumiCal. It�s a solid application with a strong eye towards sleek, simple input. It does, however, have a few key drawbacks that need to be overcome to be a serious contender. First, without a Today plug-in or a New button, normally found on practically every screen, the accessibility of the application is reduced to button assignment. While I�m ok with assigning a button to the application (it is meant to replace the built-in calendar, after all), I most frequently access my calendar by tapping on my Today plug-in (which happens to be Calendar+). Hitting a button to enter my calendar application isn�t something I want to retrain myself to do, and I don�t think most people will want to either.
Second, the Location field really needs a simple and effective way to enter common meeting locations. Given the attention to detail found throughout the application, I have faith that this was either an oversight or a planned improvement for future versions.
Third, also having to do with location. I know I rarely ever have to put anything in my calendar that doesn�t have a location. Some way to enter this information from the main screen would really improve the usability. I�m not sure if another pop-up is the way to go or not, but I do find it a little cumbersome to enter a meeting title then having to enter the detail screen to enter a location.
I have to say that when all is said and done, I really liked this program. But I do find the three shortcomings rather limiting. I have no doubt that they can be overcome in future versions and then I think it will hard to find a cleaner, more accessible and friendly calendar replacement.
Jordan Rosenwald is an information protection analyst in the Philadelphia area.
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11-15-2005, 06:23 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 813
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A promising and clean calender application and thankfully the much needed 7 day view is currently in development.
__________________
Check out my Windows Mobile Ramble Blog
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11-15-2005, 07:36 PM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 4
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It kind of reminds me of my Palm days. I'm definitely going to have to try this out!
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11-15-2005, 07:39 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 193
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While I don't use half of what PI provides, I need about twice as much as what the built in suite gives me. I can't imagine going more simplistic... 
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11-15-2005, 09:36 PM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 8
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Hi all,
my name is Karl Traunm�ller, I'm the developer of IntumiCal.
First of all, thanks for the favourable review, Jordan, even though IntumiCal 1.0 clearly is, well, a 1.0 release. This first release has several drawbacks, mainly limited feature scope and bad performance (although you didn't object on that).
The good news is that IntumiCal 1.1 is already well under way and will fix all major points of objection. The most important improvements coming in 1.1 are
- 2 new calendar views (list-style day overview, grid-style week view)
- full support for tasks
- a contacts manager
- greatly improved performance (my top priority issue for 1.1)
- a standard "New" menu for appointments, tasks, and contacts
- (hopefully) a locations drop-down 
- a few more (sensible) options (first day of week)
- PocketBreeze (and maybe PocketPlus and Calendar+) support
I hope to have an alpha ready by late November / early December, to show off the new features, and get some early feedback for the release. The final release 1.1 should come around February, I guess.
For daily news on IntumiCal, visit my blog at http://karlt.blogspot.com
regards,
Karl Traunm�ller, CEO
Intumi Software
PS: Oh, by the way, Jordan, for entering an appointment starting on, say 10:15am, you don't have to create an appointment at 10:00, and then move it to 10:15. Just tap&hold the stylus in the time column, and move it up/down. An insert cursor shows up, and you can choose a start time on a 15min grid. Same for the week view. For more information on "hidden" features, check out the user's guide at http://www.intumi.com/calui.html
PPS: The options dialog is completely stripped down by design. Too many options don't buy you anything, I think. They're rather a sign of poor design or indecisivness of the developer. Look at Excel's or Outlook's options dialogs for good examples of how not to do it
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11-15-2005, 09:41 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 450
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Looks promising, especially the screenshots from 1.1 in the blog. I'll stick with PI until 1.1 is out, but then i'll definatelly give it a try. Also, it is good to hear about PB support.
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11-15-2005, 11:16 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 235
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I loaded up PI and tested it out, but after about a week, I couldn't stand to look at all the buttons and icons everywhere. It was WAY overkill.
This program looks alot more suited to my needs. I hope it hits the right balance between simplicity and functionality.
What is the status on WM5 and VGA compatibility?
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11-16-2005, 02:24 AM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 498
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It can be perfect if you keep the memory foorprint small. 1MB is way too big (v1.1) and bloated. In my opinion, PPC's contacts is good enough, there is no need to incorporate it. Actually the most successful PIM in Palm, dk3,4,5 also only deal with appointments and tasks.
What's the point to include contacts in PIM softwares? I just didn't get it. The databook in treo 650 is just what I need. No more, no less.
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11-16-2005, 03:14 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 82
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Hey Karl,
Glad you hoped right on here to keep everyone up to date on your developments. I had read about many of them, but just didn't see how I could mention them in a review on 1.0 other than mentioning how promising your application is, which is completely true.
I really look forward to seeing the improvements in 1.1.
All the best.
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11-16-2005, 06:08 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 13
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Karl,
I agree with the above poster about the contacts manger. I trialed the program and liked it. The lack of PB support has put a purchase on hold. The new views are great as is the task support. Please dont add the contacts manager, or have the option not to install it. The small, clean program is what I like about this. I tried PI, but it was overkill.
Jason
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