Review: Activity Log for BlackBerry

Hey! What have you been doing all day?! Have you been on your BlackBerry this whole time?! Let me guess; Brick Breaker! We’ve all been there, at least once. I know I have many, many times. The truth is that when I’m at work, I work. Some may look like they are blankly staring at their monitors, but their minds are in overdrive as a whirlwind of thought processes furiously search for resolutions. Okay...some of them may be reading the blogs at CrackBerry.com, but that’s beside the point. There comes a time when your boss, or even yourself, would like to know where your precious time is being spent. As you begin to keep a real-time record of your day to day, you can’t help but think if this activity is actually wasting more of your time.

Activity Log provides a way to record your activities while greatly reducing the time it takes to mark them down. In most cases, all you have to do is select one of the preloaded activities or add some of your own! Now you can truly tell how addicted to your BlackBerry you are.

About Activity Log

The application was developed by Hasan Computing Systems. The application actually comes in two versions. The “Classic” version is available for free, while another version, dubbed Activity Log Pro – Big Bang, costs $19.99. Activity Log requires users to be running OS 4.5 or higher. Currently in version 4.1.0, it has a file size of 1 MB. Both touch and non-touch screen BlackBerrys are supported.

Cost: Classic version – free, “Big Bang” version - $19.99

BlackBerry App World rating: 3.5/5

If you didn’t know what the application was all about, you may find the UI a bit confusing. With that in mind, then ask yourself the following: If you don’t know what it is, why the heck did you download it?! The main menu displays the Activity Log for today.

Main menu

As you can see, the majority of the screen houses icons that represent various activities; approximately 50 in all. These range from the productive (research, working, meeting) to the less productive (party, network breakdown, chitchat). The application offers a few ways to select an activity; select the correct icon or type in the associated keypad shortcut (for example, ALT + EX is a shortcut to Exercise). Below this section is a running tally of your daily happenings. As you choose your current action, the selection is then generated in the tally. This information is then separated into the Start time, name of the activity, End time and Duration; with the most recent activity found at the bottom of the list.

Editing the activity

Sometimes mistakes happen, even to the best of us. These would include selecting an incorrect activity or forgetting to log the activity at the right time. Luckily, users can edit each entry - by either modifying the type of activity, the times recorded or simply deleting them entirely. This can be done by selecting a particular entry, which automatically opens up the Edit Activity screen. At the end of the day, you can see a list of all of your activities and see where your time is being spent. Activity Log also includes a history screen, which gives you a look at your activities for the past 30 days.

Resizing images may help you use the application

Today's history

At this point, the functionality of the Classic Version is limited. Users who have the Big Bang version can choose to export the logs via .csv format. So the next time your boss asks you what you have been doing all day, you can show him. For your viewing (and analyzing) enjoyment, the Big Bang version can also generate a comparison chart to review. Other Activity Log settings allow you to alter the size of the activity icons (especially important for touch screen BlackBerrys), rearrange the order in which the activities appear or quickly delete unwanted activities/icons.

Conclusion

While I would have liked at least one of the Pro features in the Classic version (namely, generate a .csv file), Activity log does indeed help you keep an eye on your actions. Some may find it too tedious to have to access the app every time you want to perform a new activity. On the other hand, the application makes it pretty easy to do so. Both versions of Activity Log are available from BlackBerry App World, but I suggest trying out the Classic version first.