Review: Developer One, Agenda One v2

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Like most included software, the native Windows Mobile applications are geared toward the average user with a focus on keeping them simple enough that anyone can use them. Even with the significant improvements in Windows Mobile 6, the included Personal Information Management (PIM) features are still a bit basic for those that have a busy schedule or need/want to take more control over their schedule. This is where third party developers come in, and Developer One is looking to fit the bill with their Agenda One (v2) application. Agenda One is a Windows Mobile 5/6 Professional (Pocket PC) and Standard (Smartphone) application that can replace the existing PIM apps on your device with more feature complete versions. Do those features fill the void left by the included apps and present enough value to justify a place on your device… we’re about to see.

As far as schedules go mine is definitely not the worst around, but I always seem to have more going on than I know what to do with. Anything that can help me keep up with that list is going to interest me. There are quite a few programs out there for this, but Agenda One is among the most highly regarded with several awards in the trophy case. Awards are one thing, but providing real value is, sometimes, a different matter entirely. The heart of the program is a complete overhaul of the included PIM applications with enhanced views, added functionality and some unique input methods. Developer One provides a Free Trial to let you take it for a test drive, and if you decide it is right the full license is $24.95. Agenda One supports all screen sizes and orientations including square screen and VGA devices. It requires just under 3MB of storage and can be installed to the storage card.

On the first launch of the program, Agenda One issues a prompt to the user asking whether to make the application the default program for your PIM information. Choosing yes will cause Agenda One to launch each time you select your contacts, calendar, and task shortcuts or links. Choosing yes is a good idea because once you start using it you will have little need for the standard applications. This setting is reversible in the options menu if you choose to uninstall or simply decide to switch back.

Once the program has finished loading you will instantly see the effort Developer One put into the views of this application. You are initially presented with the Week View where you not only see your appointments like Pocket Outlook, but you can also see some of the details of those appointments and any tasks with due dates in that time frame. This is one of the best features of the program because tasks can affect your schedule as much as your appointments and seeing them side-by-side is a very nice feature.

Agenda One offers 5 different views (Day, Agenda, Week, Month, and Tasks) for appointments and tasks along with a contact viewer (featuring finger scrolling) and a universal search. All views are accessible from the left soft-key no matter where in the application you are, and each of the views does a great job of presenting the information relevant to it while still providing a very consistent look and feel.

The day view presents you with a color coded (although the colors don’t match your categories until you choose that option) schedule bar across the top giving you an at-a-glance view of how busy your day is going to be.

Below that is a chronological list of the appointments you have coming up with your tasks for the day listed below.

Tapping on any item listed in the view will take you to the details for that item and allow you to edit it.

Agenda view is very consistent with the layout of the day view, only more compressed and for the current week ( # of days shown can be customized in the options).

The components are exactly the same, but they are all shrunk just a bit to allow for the full week to be displayed.

Just like the day view tapping on an item will take you to the details of that appointment or task. I couldn’t find a way to get to the day view from here which seemed logical to me, but I can also see the value in going straight to the appointment edit screen as well since you are seeing the entire day anyway.

The week view is probably the best part of the application.

It provides an at-a-glance view of the entire week and everything you have to look forward to. The components are basically the same, although slightly reorganized, as both previous views but further compressed. The text is still very usable as long as you have some idea of the data since the names/descriptions are truncated to allow for more data to be shown. This is where the icons and category colors come in handy.

Tapping on any day will take you to the day view, and in this view there is no way to navigate to the appointment edit view (although I agree with the navigation to the day).

Month view has been simplified quite a bit with only counts of appointments/tasks for each day. The details for the day can be found underneath the month calendar and tapping on a day in the calendar changes the bottom display. This is a nice design element as it keeps the calendar itself from becoming a complete mess and still gives you the information you need with a single click.

The day’s details follow the same format as the day in the agenda view and tapping within the details takes you to the day view. The only issues I had with this view are that if I want to see more than a couple of days I had to do a lot of jumping around, but I also realized I should have been on the Week or Agenda view to see this much information so it was not an issue.

Each view allows for filters to be applied, if your schedule dictates, and filters are applied based on a number of different headers assigned. You can choose how many days in advance your tasks show up on the views by setting the associated option. An additional time based filter is a nice feature for separating your work-time and personal-time tasks and appointments

Continue on for: Getting the most with item entry and configuration

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