Calendar Touch is here!

 

After a long and arduous round of beta testing, SBHS’ Calendar Touch has been released. It’s a vast improvement over its Papyrus predecessor. This is not an upgrade with a new name; it is a completely new Calendar program with exciting new features.

With finger-friendly all the rage, CT has incorporated gestures, and hence the Touch moniker. Left and right swipes switches dates, which will vary according to calendar view. An upward motion brings up today’s date. A downward motion pops up a handy date picker control screen. Dragging and holding from left to right invokes a slide date picker that really zooms the dates by, but you can control the speed.

The great virtue of a touch screen platform is that it allows quick and easy access to many PIM elements without having to bother with a stylus.

When you install it, you have the choice of selecting the left or right hardware button for CT control menu that only works within CT. At first, I thought it would invoke the program from anywhere, which didn’t prove to be the case, and I wish it were, for the program is not easy to access without a launcher. I would like it always available in the tray bar.

While in the program, the left hardware button allows you to select views: daily, weekly, monthly, list or tasks. There is also a search option. The right button brings up a menu with the following choices: New Appointment, New Task, Go to, Filters, Search, Settings, and Exit.

There are 20 filters available for your convenience that you can use for selecting data by certain criteria--a very nice and powerful feature.

The settings menu displays a grid of nine buttons with settings for the following areas: General, Daily, List, Weekly, Monthly, Tasks, Calendar Tasks, Colors, and Register. Here you can tweak how the data are displayed.

Another innovation you will appreciate in CT is the pop-up feature which magnifies a particular cell or area that you are viewing for closer inspection. This is particularly well-received when in the monthly calendar mode, for you can zoom in on a particular day. More important, however, is that the panel at the bottom of the calendar screen displays all of the appointments clearly.

Task management in CT is wonderful. You can optionally display your tasks in an integrated view with calendar items. You can also create a three tier hierarchical view of tasks according to priority. CT also allows you to assign colors and icons to tasks for sorting and grouping to which you may apply filters.

The search function allows quick retrieval of any calendar or task item in the calendar database. You can search by string values as well. Search is available from the main menu, view picker, and as an option on the menu button.

The developers paid attention to design, display, and color. I think you will be happy with the results, for the display is pleasing and a pleasure to use. You can even tweak the colors to fit your outfit, mood, or purpose throughout the program. CT uses png graphics for a better display experience. CT allows the application of all the themes you use on your device and integrates them into its display.

While CT is a brilliant application, and I fully appreciate its powerful functionality, my only wish is that it were more easily invoked. I would like to be able to access it from anywhere from within any other application at any time. It does not even appear as an optional panel on the Today screen. You have to go to programs to launch it. On the other hand, I suppose you could assign it to a hardware button.

Another SBSH product, PocketBreeze, is a complete PIM application. From its desktop panel, you can access all of your PIM data, which is lacking in Calendar Touch because it focuses on calendar and tasks. Supposedly, CT integrates with PB, but I could not make that happen on my Palm Treo 800w. Perhaps it will work on your machine, and that would be a good thing because you could then more readily access CT from your desktop.

You can try CT free or purchase it for $24.95 from www.shsh.net. PocketBreeze is also available on a free trial basis and costs $19.95. Assuming they work in concert, and that I just experienced a glitch, they would make a good pair.