User Profile for adamjansch

PhoneManager X 1.1.6 (Mac OS X)

Nice idea, but needs work  

PhoneManager is a strange one. On paper the features offered are useful for those without a PC and so unable to use Nokia's PCsuite. You can add/edit/delete phonebook contacts, send SMS messages, and create new logos and ringtones, which are really the main reasons one would use it. However, when you actually use the program you may find it comes up short as far as user interaction is concerned. The phonebook is hard work, particularly when editing multiple entries (mainly due to there being a separate edit pane for the entries), the logo editor is far too simple, offering only single pixel draw/delete tools and no options to cut, paste, move or invert, and the ringtone editor is just plain daft, forcing a 'composer' to sequence using cryptic groups of letters and numbers. To add to that when the tone is played back within PhoneManager it doesn't play back the pitches correctly over multiple octaves, and won't play back steadily when the tempo is changed (but, bizarrely, it'll play back fine once on the phone). And on top of all this is the price tag of $29.95 (or just over £20) is too high for such an underdeveloped product. Granted it wasn't too difficult to set up and seems solid and unbuggy, but the user interfaces need a lot of work and one is forced to pay considering the limited functionality of the demo (no sending logos or ringtones until registered). Overall, the foundation is there for a truly great product, but its user interface needs a major overhaul. [alert admin]

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Thursday, April 13 2006 @ 06:35 AM PDT

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