REVIEW: Review: SBSH Calendar Touch

SBSH is one of the most respected of the Windows Mobile developers; they produce a number of high quality programs for both Touchscreen and Smartphone (non-touchscreen) devices. Until now, one Smartphone program which has been enviously viewed by the Touchscreen fraternity has been Papyrus, a replacement for the native Windows Mobile Calendar and Task applications. SBSH have now redressed the balance with the release of SBSH Calendar Touch. Read on to find out whether it lives up to expectations!

Supplier:	SBSH Software
Platform:	Windows Mobile 5 onwards; Touchscreen devices
Price:	$24.95; 30% discount available by registering with SBSH Forums using link on product page
Devices used for review:	HTC Touch Diamond & O2 XDA Flint. Both VGA running WM6.1

Introduction

With the advent of Windows Mobile interfaces allowing the use of 'finger friendly' input and navigation, and driven no doubt by the success of touch input on other platforms, the limitations of the native Personal Information Management (PIM) programs such as Calendar, Tasks and Contacts have become more apparent. Many software houses are developing powerful but easy to use applications to improve the user experience. SBSH Software have now launched Calendar Touch which replaces the user interface of the standard Windows Mobile Calendar and Task applications, while retaining the underlying data file structure to allow the various synchronisation tools to continue operating normally. This is in addition to their long standing and popular Pocket Breeze program which continues to provide PIM content on the Today Screen, the latest release of which can link to Calendar Touch for adding or editing information.

Installation

Calendar Touch can be downloaded for installation from a PC via ActiveSync, or as a local installation directly on the device. The installed program needs 2.7MB of storage space, and around 2.5MB of program memory while running. As it is not a system program, it can be installed to a storage card to conserve device resources. During installation there is an option to replace the normal Calendar and Task shortcuts with Calendar Touch, and an option to select whether to assign one of the soft keys to Calendar Touch. Both these screens carry a warning that a soft reset may be required to implement the changes. The initial run after installation will show a screen requesting the registration details, or allow the program to run for twelve days in trial mode.

In Use

The whole point of this application is to assist in viewing and entering or modifying data without the need to resort to the stylus wherever possible. The Calendar Touch screens are logically laid out and very easy to navigate. There is an option in settings to open the program at the most recently used view, or always on a specified view. Other views are accessed via the View menu linked to the left softkey, which opens a full screen selection page.

There are screens for Day, List, Week, Month, Tasks and Search. Each screen has a small bar, called the Custom Titlebar (movable to top, bottom or either side) showing the current screen's date or date range. The amount of information displayed on each page can be adjusted by altering the font sizes within the options for each screen, of which more later. Each view can be optionally set to display the current item as a small, medium or large 'pop-out'. This is akin to a local zoom effect which magnifies and highlights the entry.

Navigation

Within each screen, navigation is achieved by:

• Swiping left or right across the screen to access the previous or next day
• Swiping up to return to the current day
• Swiping down to open the Date Picker
• Tapping the arrow buttons at the top right of the page
• Tapping and holding the arrow buttons to invoke the Date Picker
• Tapping the sidebar to invoke the Date Picker
• Pressing the Left/Right D pad buttons where available.

The Date Picker screen has finger-press up/down keys to change each element, a Done key to activate the selection and a Menu containing more options. The selection keys continue to scroll the day, month or year if held. The Date Picker works very well, and it is a nice touch that if you are scrolling the day up or down, the month will change automatically as the start or end date is passed. Within the Date picker screen is also a Menu item containing further navigation options, which operate relative to the current selection. For quickly moving to a more distant date, there is a date picker grid available by pressing and holding any of the date figures between the up and down arrows. An additional navigation feature is the 'scrolling ribbon' date picker which is accessed by swiping the finger to either edge of the screen and holding it there until the desired date or date range is central in the display. Releasing the screen opens the view at the selected date.

The overall function of the navigation controls is excellent, but there is currently a significant issue with the swipe gestures on HTC Touchflo enabled devices. The effect of this is that all swiping gestures become inoperative once any screen with a scrollbar has been viewed. The swiping gestures do not regain availability until Calendar Touch is exited and restarted. SBSH are working on a solution to this, but in the meantime suggest turning off Touchflo to maintain the full function of the swiping gestures. Unfortunately, most current devices do not have the option of disabling Touchflo, with the result that the interface is inconsistent and potentially confusing to new users. Once the swiping gestures are unavailable, the only way of navigating is via the arrow buttons, the Date Picker, or using the D-pad. On my HTC Diamond, the arrow buttons are too small to use with a finger, and require the stylus to access.


Views

Daily Displays the current day's appointments plus optionally any current or overdue tasks. The Custom Titlebar shows the date in a format as defined in the settings screen. The timeline shows occupied time slots, with the category colour of the appointment if appropriate. Next to the timeline are icons showing the number of appointments and tasks in the current view and the navigation arrows. The body of the page shows each appointment with a category icon and a note icon if applicable. The note icon denotes the presence of a text note within the entry. Location, Start time and end time can be displayed, or just start time. Past appointments can be shown in as strikeout, normal or invisible. If selected for display, the leading colour bars can denote either the category colour or the status colour. If Tasks are selected to display in the Calendar views, they include any Priority flag selected, the due date, and category or note icons, as for appointment entries. There is also a check-box for marking a task as complete. Tapping this prompts a confirmation dialog box.

List Displays the complete list of appointments and tasks for the current week, in a single scrollable window. The window can be scrolled using the scrollbar, or dragged up or down with a finger. The display elements are the same as for the single day view except that in List view there is no overall timeline; each day header has its own timeline and appointment counts (but no task count). Tapping the day header expands or collapses the entries for that day. Entries can be forced to a single line display if desired. The lack of a timeline means there are no navigation arrows, so the only way to quickly move to the next or previous week is by swiping (if it is still functioning) or using the D-pad direction keys. Users of the HTC Touch HD may find this irksome!

Weekly Displays one whole week of appointments and current tasks. In this view, there is a single timeline in the header which shows data for the currently selected day. Each day is represented by a rectangle showing the date in the lower right corner, and as much of the days data as will fit. Touching a day causes it to be selected, and if the pop-out effect has been enabled, the day will be magnified slightly to assist viewing its contents. A further tap on the day will open the single day view for that day; in this case, the left soft key will be labeled 'week' for quickly returning to the week view which is a nice touch. The D pad moves forward and back by days in the horizontal plane, or weeks in the vertical plane.

Monthly The Monthly view shows a grid of days for the selected month, with the currently selected day highlighted. Each day can have a small timeline and/or category icons. Timelines can be hidden for empty days. If desired, there can be a preview pane to display the contents of the selected day. The preview pane has a timeline for the selected day plus item counts and arrow keys for navigation. The preview pane can be below or to the side of the grid, or automatic depending on screen orientation. As with the weekly view, a second tap on a day will open it in full day entry mode, this time with the left soft key allowing a quick return to the month view.

Each Calendar view has a Menu invoked by the right soft key. This includes New, Delete (the current item), More- Duplicate or Beam the current item, Goto (which opens the Date Picker), Filters, Search and Settings. The Goto menu is a little superfluous given the other ways of opening the Date Picker. My preference would be for this menu to have direct access to Today, Next Week, Last Week etc.

Tasks Displays all tasks conforming to the currently selected parameters. Each task shows its due date, the task name, category and note items if applicable and a completion check-box. There is an optional preview pane below the list. To access this, it is necessary to use the D pad to scroll up and down the list, as tapping an item opens it rather than selecting it. My preference would be for a single tap to select an item (and display its contents in the preview pane) with a second tap opening it for detailed viewing or editing. Tapping the check-box toggles its status, with a dialog box prompting the confirmation of completing or activating a task. The colours of current, past and undated tasks can be set in the task options. There would appear to be no option to have completed tasks in a different colour to past incomplete tasks, though completed tasks can be set not to be displayed.

The menu in the tasks screen differs from those in the appointments screens, in that there are options for task completion (or activation if the selected task is already marked complete), sorting parameters and the range of tasks to display. Sorting of tasks can be to three levels, with six options for each. The primary sort option also includes grouping tasks under a Category Group or Priority Group heading. Each sort level can be in ascending or descending order.

Appointments and Tasks can be filtered by their categories, accessed by the Menu/Filters option. This allows any one of ten filters to be applied.

The Manage Filters option allows the user to customise each of the available filters. This includes assigning a meaningful name to the filter, assigning categories by a number of parameters and excluding categories by similar parameters. The net effect of this is to provide a very comprehensive method of limiting the items viewed in each screen. Any applied filter can be defeated by the Unfiltered option.

During the assignment of categories, the category entries themselves can also be edited by adding or removing categories and assigning custom colours and icons to each category.

Search Calendar Touch has a comprehensive Search engine. Simply type in a search string of two or more characters, set any required Options then tap 'Search'

There are a number of options for setting the Search parameters. Once set, tap 'Done' to return to the main Search screen. The options are: Include appointments, tasks or both Begin with, or simply contain the search string Constrain the search to a selected date range Display the first 5, 10, 20, 50 or 100 results.

Searching is very quick; all the test searches I tried returned results within one second, from a dataset of about 160 appointments and 20 tasks. Items returned in the search list can be tapped to open, then edited if required. Completing the edit returns to the search results screen.

Adding and Editing Entries

The method of entering a new item and editing an existing one is essentially the same, though the route taken to initiate each is different. To add an Appointment entry, simply tap Menu with the right soft key and select New Appointment. To edit an existing entry, locate it using the view screens or the search function, tap the entry to open it in full screen viewing mode, then tap Edit to commence the edit. Either of these actions opens up a screen with all the available data fields, with finger touch entry options where possible.

The Subject title can be typed using a normal text input mode, but tapping the expand box with its three dots opens a screen offering Full Screen Editor, My Text, which has a list of user definable standard phrases, or Insert Contact which opens a simple list of all available contact names. If the selected contact has telephone numbers available, there is an option to include one of the numbers, or no number. Tapping 'Done' pastes the contact into the text field. My Text and Contacts text entry can be repeated as many times as required.

The Start and End date fields can be filled using the traditional stylus and keyboard method, or by touching the down arrow to invoke the full screen Date Picker. The Start and Finish times are entered by highlighting each element as required and using the keyboard, or spinner arrows to change the time. Tapping the expand button opens a time picker screen from where the hour and minute can be selected by finger presses.

The subsequent fields allow: The setting of whether the event is regular or all day Whether a reminder is set for the item. Reminder values are defined in the general settings screen, as is the default reminder time for all new entries. Normal or Confidential status Busy/Free/Tentative or Out of Office status Recurrence pattern (See the Tasks section for an explanation of recurrence) Category. This opens a screen with check-boxes for all available categories and a text box at the top for entering a new category. To the right of the category description is a box showing the current marker colour for that category. Tapping this opens a colour selection screen with tabs for RGB, HTML or visual colour selection options. To the right of this is an Icon indicator. Tapping this opens a screen with groupings of icons which can be assigned to the category. This is compatible with SBSH's new Iconstore Extensions feature which uses PNG graphics to achieve high quality icons. Attendees. This opens a list of all available contacts with email addresses. Each has a check-box and all selected attendees are emailed the appointment details with a confirmation request. Notes. This works in exactly the same way as the Subject text entry.

The process for Tasks is exactly the same, though the available fields differ. For tasks they are: Subject- with text entry as for appointments Start Date. If a start date is selected via the check-box, then a date entry field becomes available. Due Date: as for Start Date Reminder: with tasks, the reminder option is set for each task and works in the same way as the two previous fields. Recurrence pattern: If a task is required to be repeating, selecting this option opens a drop down list with ten common repeat patterns based on the current day and date, or for 'Custom Repeating Pattern' which opens a secondary screen with comprehensive selection options. Priority: Low, Normal or High Category: as for appointment entry Notes: as for other text entry fields Once all the data has been entered, tapping 'Done' commits the new or edited record.

Settings

As we have come to expect from SBSH, the appearance of every element of this application can be modified to suit the user's preferences and device type. By design, the overall theme is set automatically depending on the device theme. This works well on my O2 XDA Flint, with Calendar Touch's theme matching each of the four selectable today themes, including the HTC Black. On the HTC Diamond, the HTC Black theme is not recognised, and the Calendar Touch theme is green. I'm not sure why this is, and it is not a major issue for me! To access the settings screens, there is a Settings item on each screen's Menu. When this is invoked, the settings icon for the current view is highlighted.

If the automatic theme generation is not for you, then pretty much all elements of the program can be modified using the Settings/Colour option. There is a menu option to return all settings to their default values if things get out of hand!

The General settings panel controls the global appearance of the program and sets parameters such as the startup view, input mode. display elements etc. I shall not go through these individually, nor will I list the options for every screen. I trust the screenshots will give sufficient information about what is included. The option to 'Include special events' will check through your contacts data for anniveraries and birthdays, then add them as calendar entries. In most cases, this should be unchecked, as most users will have set Outlook calendar entries for these recurring events. If that is the case, then selecting this option will cause duplicate entries to display. The Human Time option allows a working day to be defined as crossing the midnight boundary. For example, if an appointment is set from 9pm to 1am, it will continue to show as one day's entry rather than displaying on two consecutive days if Human time is selected.

The Calendar Tasks setting screen determines which, if any, tasks are displayed on the main calendar screens, and if so, in which sort order they appear. This can be different to the sort order selected for the main Tasks screen.

One drawback of such comprehensive configuration options is that it can be a little time consuming adjusting all the details to personal preference. This is especially true of font sizes. There is a large range of available font size for each screen, but I would have liked to have seen a simpler Large, Medium or Small selector in the General options to determine a base font size, which could then be individually modified in each view setting panel.

Although the settings configuration is saved to the device, and is recognised when updating or reinstalling the program, there is no option to backup or export the settings. Thus after a clean device reset, all the settings will need to be re-entered unless the user had located and manually saved the settings file (Program Files/SBSHCalendar/SBSHcalendar.ini), then manually copied it back after the installation. A user selectable option to backup the settings is, in my opinion, essential in a program with so many configuration options as Calendar Touch.



Pros and Cons

Clear and intuitive interface	Incompatibility with HTC Touchflo Touch & gesture navigation	Complexity of settings
Easy to use screen controls	Inability to select an item without opening it in some screens
Thoughtful design	No settings backup, save or restore option
Intelligent theme generation	Some custom themes not recognised
Integration with other SBSH products

Conclusion

SBSH Calendar Touch is an impressive new addition to the PIM replacement market. It does not include Contact management, nor does it purport to, but it does integrate contacts where appropriate including the automatic emailing of meeting requests. Once all the settings are adjusted to the user's personal preferences, the ease of use, particularly of viewing information, is excellent. Adding and editing information is good, but obviously shows more of the raw Windows Mobile interface, though SBSH have tried to offer stylus free operation wherever possible. The one major irritation in this release is that, in some current devices, the full functionality of the touch interface is lost once a screen with a scrollbar has been accessed. This can make navigation on a small screen device such as the Diamond somewhat difficult and also results in an inconsistent interface for inexperienced users. We must hope that SBSH continue their efforts to fix this problem.

At $24.95 Calendar Touch is at the upper end of the expected cost for this type of application, but there are some substantial discounts available. New customers can receive 30% discount by registering to join the SBSH user forums, which is free of charge, via the Special Offer link on the product page of the SBSH website. Existing SBSH customers who subscribe to their email list may also receive an offer of 33% discount. These discounted prices make Calendar Touch good value for money, and an excellent program overall.


Update, March 16 2008

SBSH Software have released Calendar Touch V2.1, a significant update to the Calendar Touch program. This addresses the most important criticisms of the previous version, namely the problems with finger touch scrolling on some devices.

The new version has replaced the standard Windows Mobile softkey bottom bar, with a customised navigation bar. It also has its own mechanism for scrolling within and between pages of views.

Many of the screens now have large, touch friendly buttons, though entering new appointments and tasks will still require a stylus as they revert to the standard entry screens.

Integration with the newest version of Pocket Breeze is also now included.

See the press release Here.

Here are some screenshots of most of the updated content

Left: New Calendar screen, showing the 'Day' view with tasktray icons for: View Select Previous Day Date Picker Next Day Calendar Menu The other Calendar views have a similar look. If any screen has more entries than can be displayed, the lists can be scrolled up or down with a finger drag. This also applies to the smaller sub-displays such as in the Week and Month views. Dragging left or right moves to the previous or next entry, and dragging to the margin then holding will cause the 'Quick Scroll' feature to operate as before. Right: Calendar Menu page

Left: The Tasks screen has a similar look to the Calendar screens. In Tasks, the tray icons represent: View Select Task Filter Task Sort Task Menu Right: The Task Menu screen.

Left: The Task Filter button launches this screen allowing only Tasks of the selected status to be displayed. Right: The Task Sort icon launches the Sort screen allowing tasks to be sorted on the selected parameters. There are tray icons for selecting the sort direction. Both these screens show a 'Thumbs Up' icon for the currently selected mode

The two remaining screens with significant changes are: Left: The Date Picker screen, accessed by the centre icon in the Calendar views. As before, the buttons can be pressed or held to cause the data elements to change. Pressing the Thumbs Up icon commits the change and displays the selected date. The Arrow icons move forward or backward one week at a time, and the centre icon selects the current date, and returns to the previous Calendar view. Right: The main Settings screen is now a draggable list. Touching any entry opens the options for that selection. The underlying options screens are still the standard Windows Mobile format. The Thumbs Up icon saves the changes and returns to the previous screen.

Updated Conclusion

Version 2.1 of Calendar Touch has succeeded in addressing a major difficulty seen in the original release. The changes to the Touch navigation are excellent and SBSH are to be congratulated on the tenacity with which they have pursued this evolution. There are still areas where the underlying Windows Mobile heritage is evident, namely in the new entry screens and in the individual settings screens. I'm sure some of these will be given a makeover in due course.

Calendar Touch was a good application before; in my opinion it is now first rate!