Comments on: Sony Clie Organizer Software Review

Why doesn't someone mkae a voicememo as a todo item? I use the voicememo's as quick todo's - but I would like to be able to incorporate them as normal todo's

Picture this - you jot yourself a todo - assign a priority, due date, alarm and then attach a voicememo to use as the alarm...

I know you can kinda do that with the current voice memo app - but - would be nice to see someone do somthing simple like this.

GAreth "insert Comment here" Jones

It kind of looks cute in the store. Its user interface is at best debatable. It is kind of annyoing that it takes up even a little space with tabs on the already narrow TH55 screen.

But what makes it unusable is how slow it it. With a few hundred items, it takes 15 seconds (!) to switch into its ToDo list. Presumably, that's because it needs to/tries to synchronize with the Palm's built-in ToDo list. Actually, some other PIM add-on's have the same problem--it's probably due to POS--but that doesn't make it any more tolerable.

It takes a lot of effort to disable Clie Organizer, but it can be done. You can remap the first three hardware buttons to the standard applications. To remap the fourth, you need a piece of software called "THeGoGo".

Clie Organizer still insists on inserting itself into the "Find" output. To get rid of it there, use "Find Hack", which lets you select which applications to search through (again, this is really a design problem with POS).

When you have done all that, you'll still get two alarms for every alarm that you set: one from DateBook and one from Clie Organizer. I haven't been able to figure out how to turn that off.

Another problem is that, in order to be able to add information to the standard databases, Clie Organizer apparently adds odd looking strings into attached notes. If you commit to using it and Clies, and if Sony keeps supporting this, this may not be a problem. For me, it is.

Even though it has problems of its own, Clie Organizer could have been a good first attempt at a new generation of PIM applications for Palms. But the limitations of PalmOS make it unusable for the kinds of people who most need an improved PIM application--those with any reasonable amount of data.

I only wish I could remove Clie Organizer from flash permanently and replace it with some application I actually use. As it is, the TH55 can be turned into a decent handheld (great hardware, iffy software) with some effort, but you'll still get reminded pretty regularly of the presence of a pretty substantial piece of software that, as far as I'm concerned, is only a nuisance.

A couple other items you can _not_ do in the applications area. You can not delete an application. You can not edit your category folders list. You can not move applications to different categories. You can not get info on any applications.
You have a bunch of folders with the files the way Sony wants the applications ordered into. You can choose big or tiny icons and you can assign apps to launch in the quick launcher area. Oh yea, you also get to wait many times longer for it to load (appear) everytime over the Palm OS launcher. Don't really understand their thinking on this one. Knowing all the visual features found elsewhere in the CO area, you would think there would be all the normal launcher features plus the ability to insert a snap shot into the background (don't use that feature personally in the other aftermarket launchers), etc...

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My wife has to sell a lot of candles (www.ccandles.com) to buy her new Palm.

I liked the org. software - but had to uninstall it. I am using the Palm Desktop as my PIM and the sync never picked up all of the calender items.
It also almost always froze when syncing (i have a couple of thousand entries in both contacts and calender).
So it was not worth the hassle of working with (and the recent patch did all contacts to sync for the first time - but not the calender).

keith

Sounds pretty much like most of what I've started to come to expect from Sony - flashy and neat-looking at first, but ultimately rushed, incomplete, buggy, and generally impractical.

I think I'll continue to stay far away from them, thanks. *clutches her T|E*

Heh, all of the folks who discount the TH55 because of this one application suite are losing out. Sure, the CO is underbaked and not as nice as other 3rd party apps.

But the CO is not the reason to buy the TH55. For a price-to-feature ratio unseen since the N760C came out, you get a large screen VG setup, small thin pocketable size, MP3 player, movie player (and recorder if you already 'have' the software), camera, voice recorder, and enough RAM for your very favorite 3rd party apps.

I am totally thrilled with the unit, and haven't even looked at CO since the first couple of days. If you pass this unit over just because of CO, it'd be like passing over a Ferrari just because you didn't like the floormats.