Your BlackBerry provides rapid access to almost anything you can think of. Well for some people, that isn’t good enough! They demand instant access; they want knowledge and they want it now. Now, now, NOW! If you’re picturing adults throwing fits right about now, then we are on the same wavelength. That sort of behavior is kind of immature, if you ask me. On the other hand, there are benefits to being able to look at various types of information at a glance; to see if there is anything important. Yeah, having a grasp of your day from a momentary view of your BlackBerry is a good thing. That’s the kind of access I need - everything available to me now. Now, now, NOW!
Before I’m put in a time out, I wanted to have a look through an application called Pocketday. As you can probably tell from my so-called rant, Pocketday provides on-demand access to your content. For those who can’t fight the urge to look at their BlackBerrys, the application will at least keep your potentially inappropriate status check to a minimum. There are two versions of Pocketday available; Professional and Personal. Let’s see which one works best for you.
About Pocketday
The Pocketday application was developed by Cross River Systems LLC. I have covered a couple of their other applications in the past; Pocketday Start, which helps you create shortcuts to applications, and Pocketday Lists, an application that helps you create and customize lists and alarms. For more information on the Pocketday product line, hit up their website. In this review, we take a look at version 6.0.0.8; the application requires 704.7 kb.
your day at a glance
The main menu of Pocketday resembles a beefed up version of a Today screen - I guess that’s why it’s called the “Ultimate Today Screen”. The look of this screen has come a long way from previous versions; it’s now much easier on the eyes and feels more like a native today screen. For easier access, I would suggest assigning Pocketday to a convenience key. At the top of the screen, you will see typical pieces of information such as; the network, signal strength, battery life and so on. Below this is the search field, where you can search by using a large number of types, such as; Google, Google images, Google local, Google directions (I’m getting googly eyed),Twitter, Movies (by city or zip code/postal code), Reverse Phone number, flight status, package tracking and drink recipes. Quite an interesting array of search options. Pocketday uses 4info, Google, Boxoh and Twitter for your search requests. Below this the search field is the main screen, where you can view numerous sections of notifications and PIM. Here’s what you can initially see and do:
Missed Calls – you can view missed calls at a glance, including name and number. The application doesn’t use names found in your contact list, rather form an external database. By clicking on a missed call entry, you can call them back, add the call to your calendar, to your todo list, perform a reverse lookup, mark opened or delete the call log.
Unread Email – Here you can open, delete, or mark emails as read. By clicking on the message, you are able to read the email. It’s a slightly different view than what you would see normally. Above the email header, quick click buttons (delete, reply, reply all and forward) are available. In this view, you can also add to calendar and other actions, just as you can in the missed call section.
Text Messages – This section gives you the same functionality of the Unread Email section, but this time it’s with SMS messages.
Appointments – this section will display all the events you have going on today. You can quickly see the start time, subject and location. By clicking on the appointment, you are redirected to the native edit event screen.
Tasks – this section will display tasks and will differentiate them using colour, based on priority. You can sort them using factors that include: category, due date and subject. You can also rollback tasks that are past due in order for them to all have today as a due date (way to go slacker).
Weather – Powered by Accuweather, this section can display weather for up to 5 cities of your choice. You can see the current conditions (a detailed look at the weather), the forecast for today and the forecast for tomorrow. Other viewing options include an hour-by-hour forecast, the 7 day trend, radar (in the US), satellite map and storm warnings. Pocketday supports both Celsius and Fahrenheit.
Stocks – You can easily check up on your stocks in this section. You can add stocks by their symbol and view specific details (todays change, lows, highs and volume).
The following sections are available on Pocketday Professional
World Clock – You can view clock for up to 4 different time zones. You can choose whether you want to view a digital or analog clock.
RSS News – Here you can add your favourite feeds and choose to update manually or choose an automated interval. You can also choose from a selection provided by Pocketday. By expanding a feed on the today screen, you can quickly scroll through titles.
The Professional version also includes a memo section, system info (including free memory, OS Version, PIN and network) and a currency converter (with the ability to retrieve the current exchange rate).
Now besides these sections, the application is loaded with a huge amount of options to help you tinker and tweak with Pocketday until you have it finely tuned, for your personal needs. You can view your appointments and tasks in a weekly view or a monthly view. You can assign speedkeys to specific contacts and choose to email, SMS or call them. Alternatively, you can also assign native and third party applications to specific keys. Your trackball also provides shortcuts to a small list of actions and applications. You can even choose background images and text colour to further personalize Pocketday. There’s almost too many options to list!
quick access to common features
access to settings
Twitter is also supported by Pocketday, though not a fluid as other Twitter clients. You do have many of the commands that the clients offer; view the timelines of yourself, friends and the public, tweet, retweet, view friends/followers and see trends. There is one last feature that I should mention. Included in the application is a free trial of Pocketday Sports; where you have access to scoreboards, real-time scores, game previews and game recaps.
access to Twitter
Conclusion
The options of Pocketday are almost overwhelming. I do recommend that you take the time to sit down and properly configure Pocketday to suit your needs. There’s nothing like rushing into an application without knowing its potential. You will end up frustrated, without actually giving it a chance. That would be the only con - some may find it takes time to set it up. With its quick access and multiple shortcuts, you may leave other BlackBerry users in the dust (unless they type faster than you). The cost for both the personal and professional versions may be high to some ($19.95 and $24.95 respectively), so take advantage of the free trial and see if either will work for you. Both versions are available from the CrackBerry app store or you can find them in BlackBerry App World.
Pros
- A today screen on steroids
- Multiple personalization options
- Twitter support
Cons
- It does require time to set up
More Info
