When I bought my new Nokia E71 last week I was very disappointed with the calendar and task functionality. Since then I have tried and fallen in love with an excellent piece of software from SBSH Software.
http://www.sbsh.net/products/symbian_s60/calendar
It costs $19,95 and replaces the built-in calendar and tasks applications. Since it uses the same database as the built-in calendar and tasks applications it does not affect the sync process, whether with a PC or wirelessly with an exchange server (I use the latter).
Compared the built in applications it provides a much better overview of both the calendars and the tasks. It is very customizable, for example you can adjust font size to include more on the screen and according to the sharpness of your eyesight
. It can also group tasks according to category (action), assign custom category colors in the calendar for day-specific tasks.
It does not handle projects though, but when I am on the go I really don't need that, I just want to keep track of my tasks and where I am supposed to do them (i.e. the outlook category/GTD action).
The only major functions that I miss to fully "mobilize" my GTD system on the E71 are category synchronization and to be able to have undated task (as I understand it this comes from a quirk in the built-in nokia database that assigns all undated tasks to today’s date) with category synchronization the most important by far. The GTD reviews I would not want to do on my smartphone anyway, so I don't think there is a need for all the functionality provided in the GTD outlook plugin.
Unfortunately there is no application available that synchronizes categories to the symbian platform (at least none I have found, so please let me know if you find one). But SBSH has provided a workaround. In their application you can assign a code to each category, and by starting your task subjects with that code it automatically assigns the task/appointment to the category representing that code.
Here is how to do it. Say you have an outlook task with "Call roy about the support question" in the task subject field, categorized as "@Calls". Manually add "[c]" before the task name so that it becomes "[c] Call Roy about the support question". Then create an "@Calls" category in the SBSH calendar, and assign it the code "c" (by marking the category and selecting "goosync" -> "set"). Do the same for the rest of your outlook task/SBSH categories and they will be synced. The only thing you will have to remember is to always start off your task/appointment descriptions with the brackets and the appropriate code (e.g. "[c]") and they will be categorized correctly on your phone. To save time you can of course limit yourself to the actions you really use when you are on the go, like in my case @Calls and @Errand.
I have emailed with SBSH about a solution to the manual step and they seem responsive so I hope that they soon will solve that also.
Hope this helps make you even more efficient.
Regards,
Tommy Arvinell
p.s. I do not work for the vendor of this product; I am just very impressed by it.
http://www.sbsh.net/products/symbian_s60/calendar
It costs $19,95 and replaces the built-in calendar and tasks applications. Since it uses the same database as the built-in calendar and tasks applications it does not affect the sync process, whether with a PC or wirelessly with an exchange server (I use the latter).
Compared the built in applications it provides a much better overview of both the calendars and the tasks. It is very customizable, for example you can adjust font size to include more on the screen and according to the sharpness of your eyesight
. It can also group tasks according to category (action), assign custom category colors in the calendar for day-specific tasks.It does not handle projects though, but when I am on the go I really don't need that, I just want to keep track of my tasks and where I am supposed to do them (i.e. the outlook category/GTD action).
The only major functions that I miss to fully "mobilize" my GTD system on the E71 are category synchronization and to be able to have undated task (as I understand it this comes from a quirk in the built-in nokia database that assigns all undated tasks to today’s date) with category synchronization the most important by far. The GTD reviews I would not want to do on my smartphone anyway, so I don't think there is a need for all the functionality provided in the GTD outlook plugin.
Unfortunately there is no application available that synchronizes categories to the symbian platform (at least none I have found, so please let me know if you find one). But SBSH has provided a workaround. In their application you can assign a code to each category, and by starting your task subjects with that code it automatically assigns the task/appointment to the category representing that code.
Here is how to do it. Say you have an outlook task with "Call roy about the support question" in the task subject field, categorized as "@Calls". Manually add "[c]" before the task name so that it becomes "[c] Call Roy about the support question". Then create an "@Calls" category in the SBSH calendar, and assign it the code "c" (by marking the category and selecting "goosync" -> "set"). Do the same for the rest of your outlook task/SBSH categories and they will be synced. The only thing you will have to remember is to always start off your task/appointment descriptions with the brackets and the appropriate code (e.g. "[c]") and they will be categorized correctly on your phone. To save time you can of course limit yourself to the actions you really use when you are on the go, like in my case @Calls and @Errand.
I have emailed with SBSH about a solution to the manual step and they seem responsive so I hope that they soon will solve that also.
Hope this helps make you even more efficient.
Regards,
Tommy Arvinell
p.s. I do not work for the vendor of this product; I am just very impressed by it.