Friday, September 16, 2005
PIMping up your Pocket PC -- Agenda Fusion vs. Pocket Informant
Posted by Don Tolson in "THOUGHT" @ 09:00 AM
Conclusions
Did I touch on everything available in AF and PI? No. Have I missed some favorites? Probably. Both of these are extremely feature-rich PIM replacements and I would strongly recommend spending some time playing with each and reading through the manual before making a final decision as to which one is best for you. This is especially true of PI, since some of the its features are not immediately visible or obvious from the default settings.
PI and AF both provide some project management capability at the task level, but I prefer AF’s use of a Notes-like database to record time booked against a project. This is especially useful to me as a consultant/manager. PI’s timeline view is a good way to get a quick view of the time allocated to various activities in your working and/or private life.
Both companies continue to upgrade their product, but PI is by far the most frequent in their posted updates. Since I started this review a couple of months ago, there have been at least 2 major releases of PI 2005. In some ways, I wish WebIS would adopt a more formal bug-fix/enhancement release strategy, to better package the releases, and slow down the number of releases.
While both applications are substantial in terms of Pocket PC memory requirements, I generally found PI to be the more responsive – especially when going from view to view. AF seems a bit sluggish, and needs a couple of seconds to update when loading its default Today screen.
Bottom line? It’s really up to a personal preference as to interface and features. I like some of the features and views in PI, and its more responsive feel. But I still find it difficult to use smoothly. AF isn’t quite as rich at the interface level, but it has the support for recording time against projects and tasks which is useful to me as a consultant. So for now, I’ll stick with AF, but I’ll continue to watch PI.
Don is an Associate Director of Project Management and System Development with Fujitsu Consulting. When not trying out new PIMs (“I just can’t seem to find one that’s ‘just right’”), he works with government ministries, helping to turn strategies into reality.
