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Agendus 6.0 By: Iambic
I first
contacted Iambic several weeks ago regarding doing a review of their Agendus software for the Palm and Windows desktop. Due
to family illnesses I was unable, until recently, to spend enough time with
their product to feel competent to write a review of it. I would like to
thank Iambic, and Katia Shabanova personally, for their patience in this
matter. They were a pleasure to work with and provided some of the most
prompt support of any company I have dealt with.
That being said, let me begin this review by stating right up front
that my personal use of a PDA does not include much use of or need of the
Date Book feature so my lack of need may have tarnished my impression of
this piece of software. Don't get me wrong, I found Agendus
to be rich in features, but it had a lot more to it than I personally
needed.
Agendus, for those of you who are unfamiliar with their
product, used to be called Action Names. It is an enhancement of the Date
Book software that is native to the Palm OS, although it offers much more
in the way of different views, icons, and built-in access to your contacts,
memos, and to-do list. It has most often been compared with the Datebk programs released by Pimlico.
After having
brought up Datebk5, I feel obligated, just to clarify any
misunderstandings, to mention the confusion that happened last year when
Datebk5 was released. This was caused by the fact that the URL for
www.datebk5.com (along with many other date book related words and phrases)
had been registered by Iambic and pointed to their product. It caused quite
a stir in the Palm community but it has been resolved. Datebk5 and Agendus are and always have been separate products by
different software developers and www.datebk5.com now points to the correct
product.
(Speaking of
Datebk5, I have not evaluated that product so, even though it is often
compared to Agendus, I lack the experience or knowledge to do so during
this review.)
The major
improvements that Agendus has made over the
native PIM software of the Palm OS are the seemingly endless options on how
you view your data and the incorporation of 3 of the 4 default programs
(Date Book, Address Book and To Do List) into the same program.
The
configurability of the different views is phenomenal. For example each
appointment view is configurable as to whether or not you choose to display
them with or without icons (we'll discuss them in more detail later.) but
also multiple views for each date range. Here are some examples:
Daily
View: Split
View, List View, and Today View (with optional background).
Week View:
List, Grid (1), Grid (2), Block
Month View
(Standard, Clocks, or Icons) and Quarterly Views
In order to
properly display all these different views, you are given a multitude of
options to use (or not) when you enter the data for each appointment. This
includes not just the date and times for each event but also the color of the shading for block view, a selection of an
icon, and an area to include contacts from your contact list. You are also
given the icons with which to categorize, create, delete, or set alarms for
the appointment.
Speaking of
Contacts, Agendus has pretty much replaced my
Address Book, a feature that I do use a lot, as my default contact manager.
While I don't require a lot from a contact manager, I found it extremely
convenient to have it integrated with the other applications.
The To Do
List is also an integrated part of the program and, along with allowing you
to list tasks, will also give you the opportunity to assign contacts, colors, icons, and alarms to the task.
One of the
nice features that Agendus incorporates is the
use of icons. Although it comes with a set of color
icons for you to use, there are only about 75 of them. Other companies,
such as designsbybert (www.designsbybert.com)
have designed much larger icon packs for Agendus
(or for Datebk5) which offer you a huge selection divided into various
categories. I had intended to include a screen shot of some of his icons
but his web page is under some construction at the moment.
One final
feature that is offered by Agendus is the
Journal. It, while not a replacement for the Memo Pad, can be used as one.
I couldn't find a way, however, to direct the Memo Pad button to Agendus' Journal feature. There may be a way, but I
couldn't find it.
The only
other thing that I had difficulty in doing was possibly more a matter of
personal preference than a program problem. When viewing my schedule in
weekly or monthly mode I tried to tap on a day to pull up the daily view
for that particular day and was unable to do so. If that is a feature of
the program than it would be great and I might use it more than I do now.
An ideal
companion to the Agendus on your Palm PDA is the
companion desktop software. It reminded me a lot of Microsoft Outlook as to
its functionality and is, as a matter of fact, not a replacement at all for
Outlook. If you currently have your Clie syncing
with Outlook rather than the Palm Desktop, Agendus
for Windows basically gives you a different desktop for the same
information. It "syncs" itself with your Outlook information
(which has been "synced with your Clie) and
so all three programs stay up to date.
The only
problem that I found with this process incurred when I entered a multitude
of re-occurring anniversaries into the desktop. It displayed them correctly
on the Clie after I hit synced but, for some
reason, displayed them as taking two days within Outlook. I ended up
recreating everyone's birthdays and anniversaries in Outlook.
Summary:
Do I like
the program? Yes I do.
Will I
keep it on my Clie? Probably. It
offers a lot. However for me it is like using a wheelbarrow to carry my
pocket change. Some people may have that much change but all I really need
is my pocket.
Is it
something that I would recommend to other PDA owners? Again, I probably
would. I found the program very rich in features and the support that I got
from Iambic was top notch.
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