PocketZenPhone

PocketZenPhone Version 5.01
PocketZenPhone
€5.00

I hate to say this is a *must have application* because that term gets used far too often for applications that are just so, so. However in this review I'm going to show you why this application should be licensed for all PocketPC Phone Edition Devices. It is really *that* good.




Just under 8 months ago, a seemingly open and simple post to the forums on XDA-Developers.com caused a flurry of activity and updates to become the biggest single thread I've ever seen. There are 101 pages of posts, that's about 2,525 individual postings based on my calculations. What's it all about? The single most comprehensive phone profile switcher/manager available for PocketPC Phone Edition devices.

The current full version is 5.01 for registered users, there's also a light (free) version 4.5.1 with limited features.

Full version Features include

• Up to five personal profiles available from the today screen.
• Personalized settings for each profile.
• Customisable from the today screen.
• Auto-Switch profile based on time, or Outlook appointments/categories.
• Visual active profile identification.
• Controls all volumes, PocketPC, Phone, and phone speaker.
• Tap to switch profiles instantly.
• Timed Bluetooth on/off
• Profile Icon customisation
• Import / Export settings for each profile.
• Superb Support from the developer!

If you, like me are running an XDA II, then you will most likely be running their custom profile manager application, and can I say YUK! Just to change profile requires opening the program - 2 taps, selecting the profile - 1 tap, then tapping ok/apply. That's 4 taps, and then to switch back is another 4!! Using PocketZenPhone, switching profiles is a single tap and if you do it programmatically, then you don't need to tap at all. Cool Tap Saving software eh?



But I'm getting ahead of myself here, first step is to download and install it, PocketZenPhone is only offered in the mobile .cab file format, so if you download it to your PC, you need to manually copy it to your device then tap on it using explorer to install. The application registers itself on the today screen and immediately sets up five profiles for use.

To understand what these profiles are doing, you will need to tap on the hammer icon to the right of the plug-in on the today screen. This opens up the settings screen where you can begin to customise the profiles. When changing the name of the profile you'll notice that your SIP (soft input panel) does not automatically jump up, instead you tap just under the profile name on the ... tapping here will display and hide your SIP on each tap.

Notice that the three volumes can be adjusted for this profile, also on the bottom you have options to reset, save, export or import settings for this profile. To move to another profile tap the left or right icon next to the profile name, or to adjust more settings for this profile, tap the left or right icon next to Volume Settings.

The customisable settings for each profile include, Volume, Ring, Notifications, Radio/Bluetooth, Time, Sounds, and finally Outlook.





On the ring settings page, you can control how the device rings for this profile, there's 12 ring options that can be individually selected ranging from 'message display' to 'fast vibrate and flash'.

Also on this page you can have the phone auto-answer after a predefined number of rings. I've never used this feature myself, I'd be a bit wary of not actually hearing the phone ring and then having the other party listening in to whatever I might be doing...hee hee too risky for me!

Lastly on this page you can input your sim code (pin number), this is a handy feature. For example, let's say that you enable the 'off' profile when entering the cinema, with the sim code enabled, when you leave the cinema you only have to tap once on the appropriate profile and you pin is automatically entered and the profile settings are immediately restored. Just think of all those taps you are saving.

Onto the Notification Settings, from here you can control the sounds that are used within this profile. These are the same as the Sounds and Notifications from the PocketPC Settings Menu. But here they can be customised on a per-profile basis. Very handy for when your phone is set to silent mode but you still want to hear an alert for incoming sms messages. You can also set the red led to flash for a period of time with 0 being indefinite or constant.





Moving on again to the Radio/Bluetooth settings page, you can control the on/off states for Phone Radio, Bluetooth, and Headset. As in my previous example of the cinema, setting up a profile to automatically disable the radio is very handy. Again a just one tap will turn the phone part of your device completely off saving any possible embarrassment during a movie. Likewise Bluetooth and headset can be disabled to save on battery life

Next up, time settings. Using this page, you can specify that the current profile should switch on (activate) at the specified time, and then return to a chosen profile at some later time. Looking at the screen shot, you can see that I switch to my Quiet profile at 23:05 and then back to my Office profile at 06:05. For me this means that when I go to bed and tap away at a game or two, or have exchange activesync kick in, then the notifications or sounds don't wake the wife. So, if you are like me, a nocturnal tapper then you might also go for something similar. Additionally, as my normal alarm does not go off until 06:30, changing to the Office Profile helps to ensure that I hear the alarm!





The second last page is the Sound Settings page. For each profile you can choose if events such as screen taps, warnings etc should have an audile alert. Also on this page we can select to have alarms and reminder sounds on or off.

The Outlook settings page, here you can control the profile switch based on your Pocket Outlook appointments, for example a business category appointment at 14:30 lasting one hour, would change my profiles from Office to Quiet for one hour then back to Office. For me this is very useful when I am in meetings, some people can get really peeved if a phone rings!





From the today page, there's more that can be done too. For instance, if my desk phone rings, I would normally tap & hold on the quiet profile icon, this produces a timed profile lasting, from 15 minutes to 3 hours. This setting can lead to some confusion with PocketZenPhone. This happens because if you have a timed, or Pocket Outlook switch active and you change to another profile for a period of time, it's not easy to understand what will happen at the end of the timed period. However, Zendrui has some excellent examples in the form of charts available here to describe the end result. Really in this instance a picture paints a thousand words.

Also from the today page you can alter how you want the profile switches to work. On the left hand side of the plug-in is the icon representing profile switches. There are six states for this icon; tapping on the icon will cycle through the options. For instance to prevent any timed or Pocket Outlook appointment from changing your profile you can tap the switch icon until you see a red (off) icon. Likewise, if you have a current Outlook appointment switch in progress this is represented by a small outlook icon. The known states can be seen on the switch page here

Lastly then, there's the customisation elements. There's a page full of different icons you can use in place of the standard ones. That's cool enough, but what if you don't really have a need for five profiles? Well that's no problem. In my day-to-day life I use three, Off, Quiet and Office. To prevent icons appearing on the screen for the other two profiles is a simple trick, simply don't include graphics for those profiles!






Conclusion

PocketZenPhone is one of those apps that should be on every phone edition device, in my opinion it should be included in ROM and licensed by the operators. Zendrui is an open person, taking peoples feature requests and bug reports seriously and constantly evolving the application. His dedication can be clearly seen in the forum thread. The app is inexpensive at just €5.00 but also offered in a feature limited free version. Hands down this is one of the best applications that I've had the pleasure to own and use. Two thumbs up for this one!

For.
More features than any other profile manager.
One tap switch.
Tons of settings per profile.
Control of the different volume settings.
Control of Bluetooth radio.
Tight integration with Pocket Outlook.
Free version available.
Throughly tested - see forum.

Against - being really picky here.
No activesync installer.
SIP has to be manually initiated.
Can be hard to find the end profile during multiple active switches.






4WM Rating 99%