Price:	$14.95		Reviewed by:	Mike Featherstone
Supplied:	lil' REDSPIDER		Review date:	01/08/2005
Pros:	Clean and clear interface Better than built in OS5.4 'Today' screen Standard layout on all devices Active development continues Did I mention the clean and clear interface?		Cons:	Category support pending

Introduction

I first came across TMP (Time Manager Pad) purely by accident. I was trawling the web looking for PDA news and stumbled across this application (in its development phase) along with the associated appeal for beta testers. At the time I was in the middle of trying to 'beef up' my PDA calendar display to a state where I found it useable and useful (trying applications under both PalmOS and Windows Mobile as I had ‘borrowed’ a WM PDA at the time) and as an enhanced calendar display was what this offered, I thought I’d give the beta a go.

I say enhanced display, actually I should probably say ‘different display’ for there are still a couple of features supported by the standard calendar application that TMP does not yet include though development continues apace. Regardless of the semantics of language, I found in this application a new method of combining the display of my calendar appointments with my tasks which was exactly what I was looking for at the time.

The details of Tasks and Calendar data should be well known to just about everyone who’s ever owned a PalmOS device. Both databases have been fiddled with in the more recent models, but the basics are the same across all devices and really don’t need any additional explanation here. TMP doesn’t add to these in any way (at least not on the T5) by which I mean that it isn’t an application that’s designed to extend the available functionality of the PalmOS calendar or task management tools. Rather, it’s designed to offer the data stored in those standard, built in databases in a format that’s quite different to anything I’ve seen under this OS in the past.

Calendar

Dispensing with the normal PalmOS screen layout, i.e. the standard header bar at the top of the page, TMP utilises the entire screen in a consistent manner as part of the calendar display. The top line now tells you which month you’re looking at as well as providing controls to step through the days and ‘re-centre’ the calendar at today’s date. Again, these haven’t adopted the standard OS button format but a graphical form of their own. I’ve been critical in the past of applications that don’t follow the ‘standard’ PalmOS form in the way they’ve managed their controls but with TMP, I have to say that while they are not standard, the controls 'just work'. It’s possibly because there’s been no attempt to draw overly complex graphical buttons and things, instead using a set of symbols that are small (yet big enough to tap reliably) or it may simply be because they perform a simple task in a simple manner without trying to be too clever. Either way, I’m happy.

The calendar display is laid out in strict date order, by which I mean that every day is included in the display even if there are no appointments set up for it. I have no doubt that some will find this a pain if they’ve got used to having their appointments displayed without the empty days as some other applications do and initially I had some doubts as to whether I would be prepared to live with the apparent ‘wasted space’ of not having productive appointment data displayed on every line. I’m not a compulsive calendar user, however, which may be part of the reason why having used TMP for a month or three now, I’m still prepared to say that I’m quite pleased with the look and don’t think I’d really want it any other way. There is something faintly reminiscent of a paper diary or even a filofax (oh no!) in the feel of this application and I think that’s part of the reason why it’s so immediately comfortable and familiar in use.

The fonts and colours for each part of the display are fully configurable and while I’m still tempted to cram as much data on the screen as possible, I’ve managed not to put everything in the smallest available font...so far. Colours are also very much a personal choice but for the moment I’ve stuck with the default set – black text, white background with some differentiation between weekends and weekdays in the margin. It’s notable that all appointments are displayed in the same colour at the moment while many other applications offer the facility to colour their information by category. This is not a deliberate choice on my part so much as a reflection of the fact that categorisation is one of those features not yet supported within TMP. It’s something I’d very much like to see as my calendar has been category managed up until now, but it’s not something I’m prepared to 'bin' the application as a whole for the lack of.

Creating a new appointment is as simple as selecting a date and tapping on the ‘new’ icon in the toolbar beneath the calendar. The options offered in the dialog are all standard and will equate with what you see within your OS date book/calendar application (excepting category as already mentioned). Having said that, if you have a device that’s older than my T5 you will find that the 'Location' field which is standard in the newer units, has now been added to your calendar too. Not quite a fair swap (category for location), nevertheless, if 'Location' is something you need, this is certainly one way of obtaining it.

Having mentioned the lack of categorisation, my first pass at this review also mentioned the omission of graphical indications for the presence of notes or alarms on a calendar appointment or task. While alarmed tasks are not supported yet, a full set of icons indicating notes, alarms and repeats on calendar events have now been implemented making life easier if, like me, you use these features rarely and thus need reminding when they apply. In an unusual move, though, each of these icons may be disabled if you really don’t want to see them.

The up and down hard keys enable you to step through your diary one page at a time or one entry at a time if starting with an entry highlighted. The left and right buttons on 5-way navigator equipped hardware duplicate this latter function but without the need to highlight first. (Note that this is different to the day-by-day step function available via the controls at the top of the screen).

As well as a 'new calendar entry' button, the toolbar at the bottom of the calendar display also has buttons to trigger the display of either a monthly calendar or the task list. This calendar is a normal tabulated display of months two wide (or three if you have a landscape display) which may be expanded to a 2x2 display on a portrait mode device. This has its own forward/back soft keys (month or year at a time) enabling rapid access to any date. Tapping a date will take the main calendar display to it, allowing you to get at dates well in the future for the creation or modification of appointments.

If you've assigned TMP to a hard key, repeated use of the key will toggle this area between the tasks view, calendar view and its 'withdrawn' state i.e. full screen diary view. On a hi-res+ device, a long press on the key will toggle the size of this 'secondary pane' between 1/3, 2/3 and ‘withdrawn’.

Tasks

As already stated, the tasks display uses the same space as the monthly calendar. This is by far the more interesting of the two options, however, as this is what allows such a useful combination of features to be offered by TMP (in my view anyway). While the T3/5 calendar application attempts a split calendar/task display, it doesn't achieve it half as well as TMP.

The displayed tasks obviously come from the in-built application along with their priority and category. One or all categories may be displayed with items of lower priority excluded if required. The standard checkbox is provided, to mark the task as 'done' on completion.

At the base of this display, next to the priority and category selections is the 'new task' icon. Added since my initial review, this gives access to a dialog with all the usual task related fields. For those with newer devices, it's worth noting that alarmed or repeated tasks are not yet supported but other than that, everything is now provided, removing the need to switch to the native Tasks application for any editing.

One final feature that I have to highlight is one I didn't even mention when I first wrote this review in April yet I believe it to be one of the most important. TMP allows you to hide tasks that are due later than a preset number of days in the future. This probably won't be a huge deal for most people but in my opinion is the one feature that the standard PalmOS tasks application should always have had but has never been given.

Conclusion

TMP has continued to grow in features since I first looked at it and represents an even better investment now than it did then. The number of configuration options seems to be growing by the day, with different ones available from just about every screen and dialog – tap on the menu bar on each page to have a look if you don’t believe me. If you don’t quite like the way the software does something, the chances are that you can modify it somehow.

The 15 day trial will allow you to assess all this for yourself, of course, which is something I would recommend. For those who use the features regularly, calendar display requirements can be quite specific and it's only through a trial that you'll be able to determine if TMP is suitable for your needs, however good the reviews you read. With full task handling now provided and with further development in hand, the future is still looking bright for TMP and I'm certainly going to stick with it to see just how good it will get.