Introduction
FunContact is part of Vito Technology's portfolio designed to bring Finger Friendly control to the Windows Mobile device. The aim being to reduce the need to use the stylus and provide one handed control.
FunContact provides this functionality by replacing the standard contacts application as supplied with the device.
Supplier | ViTo TechnologyProduct | FunContact v 2.1.5 |
Cost | $19.95 | |
| Trial Version | 14 Day | |
| Supported OS | WM5/WM6 PPC Devices | |
| Supplier Web Site | ViTo Technology | |
| Product Web Site | ViTo FunContact | |
4WinMobile would like to thank Vito Technology for providing a copy of FunContact for review purposes.
PLEASE NOTE: This review has been updated, to take into account changes introduced as part of V2.1, which was issued shortly after the initial release of V2.0. All changes have been highlighted in red and affected areas striked out. Also updated for v2.15 with new screens with changes in blue.
Feature Highlights
FunContact is not truly a contacts replacement, rather it is a front-end application to contacts providing a more graphical, quicker and more touch friendly experience for its most common and regularly used functions:
- Slide finger to scroll contacts
- Instant access to favourites and call history
- Sort contacts by firstname, lastname and company
- Full integration with standard contacts
- T9 contacts lookup
- Simple Add/Update to contact details
- New Black Skin
- Joystick control
Installation & Setup
Installation of FunContact is very simple and can be performed from a PC setup file or using a CAB file directly on the device. Activation is accomplished with your device connected to the internet, while your activation code is typed in and confirmed. In case no internet is available, there is also a procedure to activate without connecting. This will just take a little more time.
There is no built in help file. However, one is provided on the web site in pdf format. This is fairly basic and is only 4 pages but is sufficient as the product is fairly easy to use and the features are obvious.
Although no advice is provided as to the location to install the program it is probably advisable to install it directly onto the device rather than a storage card
There is a fully functional 14 day trial version of FunContact available to download.
Main Contacts Index
This is the main screen, which is displayed after a 5-6 second flash logo screen (more of which later!).
From here you can navigate to the various features available and more importantly access your list of contacts.
The contacts list can be navigated in a number of ways:
- Use the finger to hold and drag the screen up and down.
- Use the finger to flick the screen 2/3 pages at a time.
- Select a start letter from the alphabetical list along the right hand edge.
- Tap the grey arrow by the "I" to display the T9 search page.
- Use the up and down controls of the joystick
Considering how narrow the Alphabetical list column is I found it surprisingly accurate to use with my thumb in one handed mode using either my left or right hand.
Tapping a contact will then display the contacts detail screen.
The bottom of the screen allows quick access to the Alphabetical list, Favourites, Call History (showing the number of missed calls) and Options
Contact Details
The Contact Details screen provides finger friendly access to the various communication options associated with the contact. There are 12 of the most common contact fields available including 6 phone numbers and three email addresses. You can have between 5 to 6 fields displayed along with the contact's picture.
An additional feature is the star in the top right corner. Touching the star will toggle the contact's inclusion in the Favourites list
Selecting one of the fields will either phone the contact, or for an email address, bring up the messaging screen.
However, in the case of the mobile phone field, touching the left half of the field will dial the user and touching the SMS envelope will start an SMS message.
Access is also provided to the default contacts application and to the FunContact edit option.
The order of the fields is not configurable, and although the screen will scroll once you have the maximum of 5 or 6 fields displayed (determined by any free space above the options bar), you must first remove a field before you can add another one.
Favourites Listing
The Favourites list can be accessed quickly by touching the star button displayed on the bottom of the screen.
You can define any of your contacts as a "Favourite" by tapping on their star in the contact's detail screen.
There does not appear to be any limit to the number of contacts that you set as a favourite. However, the only navigation available within the list is touch scrolling so it works best if you limit yourself to a maximum of 6 contacts.
This is quite a nice option and can provide a fast and simple access to those special and frequently used phone numbers.
Call Register
Tapping the phone icon on the options bar displays a list of your recent phone call log.
- A blue arrow represents a call out.
- A green arrow represents a call in.
- A red cross a missed call.
Tapping one of the entries automatically starts a call to that number.
You can update existing contacts or create a new contacts from call log by clicking the icon (it can be green arrow, red cross or blue arrow depending on the type of the call). Clicking on the icon brings up a new menu wihich allows edit/add contact or send an SMS.
Although most devices have this feature built in to the phone dialer in a finger friendly way, this is definitely easier to use, and less prone to accidental dialing whilst trying to scroll through the entries.
Options Screen
The remaining button on the action bar at the bottom of the screen is the Options button. Tapping this button brings up a touch friendly menu that defaults to the Exit option.
This menu allows you to:
Create a new Contact.
This is a reduced set of the full contacts fields providing a quick and simple method of adding new contacts.
Sort
There are three sort options, Firstname, Lastname and Company.
As from V2.1 this setting is valid for all further sessions. Unfortunately this setting is valid for the current session only and will revert back to the default Firstname order once you exit the application.
Language
Change the default langauge.
Skin
V2.15 allows yiu to switch between the old grey skin and the new default "Black" skin.
V2.15 has changed the remaing 4 options to a horizontal header bar at the top of the menu
Minimize
This option allows you to hide FunContacts allowing to run in the background. This takes up
1.75Mb slightly over 2Mb of program memory but has 2 main advantages:
Startup is quicker and bypasses the splash logo
Maintains your chosen sort order
Exit
V2.15 now exits the program without asking for a confirmation now.
T9 Search
Finally there is a further trick up FunContact's sleeve when it comes to searching for a known contact - The T9 Search Option accessed by tapping the grey arrow displayed on Alphabetical Contacts List.
Entering the desired T9 keys will display those contacts that match the search request.
The example shows "65" which has displayed the contacts whose:
- First name starts OL
- Surname starts OL
- Company starts OL
However, it would also show any contacts with a 1st letter of "MNO" and second letter of "JKL".
Although the keypad does obscure the list it is semi-transparent and you can just about make out the entries displayed. The displayed list can also be Touch scrolled.
If you are a regular texter then this will be a definite attraction as you can quickly cut down the number of entries displayed. You can also just type the phone number in and hit the phone icon to ring that number.
One curious note is that the keypad appears to show the letters in two alphabetic scripts.
Pros
Finger friendly
Good graphics
Simple installation & setup
Handy favourite contacts list
Good touch navigation and scrolling
T9 Search
Cons
Price is a little high
Delay on start and exit
4WM Rating 91%
Conclusion
So what do I think of FunContact? I love it; it replaces what is after all a fairly boring, but integral, part of Windows Mobile with an easy to use, good looking application that is fun to use and almost completely does way with the need for the stylus. Although the release V2.0 had a small number of issues with it, VITO Technology quickly released V2.1, which resolved or mitigated these issues. V2.15 has kept with the original concept and style and enhanced its userability, added a few new features and generally speeded up its use.
I still have two one small niggle, the splash screen at the startup and the confirmation of Exit at the end. As stated this is an integral and frequently used component of a WM Phone device and should therefore be instantly available. However, both these areas have been speeded up and can be bypassed by starting FunContact once and then minimizing rather than exiting. This is an extra overhead if the phone is being used for a lot of other functions but the memory footprint has been reduced in v2.1.
FunContact really does make contact communication so much easier and does bring one handed "finger friendly" usage to Windows Mobile telephony.
So would I buy it? Well Vito Technology provide a 1 year free upgrade path and have already shown that changes and faults can be update quickly. At just over £12, at current rates, it does seem a bit pricey but when you consider how often you would be using it perhaps not. What FunContact does is let Windows Mobile get on with the secondary contact management issues and concentrates on providing a "Finger Friendly" one handed replacement for the most frequent uses of contacts and does it in a smooth and graphically pleasing solution. So - Yes I would.
Version 2.15 is a minor change but with the new "Black" screen and the beginnings of joystick control it is getting close to as good as it gets. All it really needs now is complete joystick control. And yes I do use it personally.
So what do I think of FunContact? I love it; it replaces what is after all a fairly boring, but integral, part of Windows Mobile with an easy to use, good looking application that is fun to use and almost completely does way with the need for the stylus. So why only a Silver Award?
Unfortunately, what should be a Gold Award and probably a 95% rating, is let down by a single fault and maybe two small niggles. My default contacts sort order is Lastname, Firstname and, although FunContact can display my contacts in this order, it has to be reset every time it is started. The two niggles are the splash screen at the startup and the confirmation of Exit at the end. As stated this is an integral and frequently used component of a WM Phone device and should therefore be instantly available. Admittedly all three issues can be cured by starting FunContact once and then minimizing rather than exiting but that is an extra overhead and if the phone is being used for a lot of other functions this can make the device sluggish.
However, FunContact really does make contact communication so much easier and does bring one handed finger friendly" usage to Windows Mobile telephony.
So would I buy it? Well Vito Technology provide a 1 year free upgrade path so hopefully a solution to the sort order, and perhaps even the other niggles, will be corrected before then. At just over £12, at current rates, it does seem a bit pricey but when you consider how often you would be using it perhaps not. What FunContact does is let Windows Mobile get on with the secondary contact management issues and concentrates on providing a "Finger Friendly" one handed replacement for the most frequent uses of contacts and does it in a smooth and graphically pleasing solution. So - Yes I would.
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