Review: Vito VoiceReminder
We told you about Vito VoiceReminder recently and now I bring to you a full look into the program. I’ll go in detail as to what you can do with the program and my thoughts about it.
I shall start off with my first impressions of the program. When I first started the program and played around with it for the first five minutes, I could tell that it is a very simple program made with one purpose only, as it’s name suggested, a voice reminder. There is really not much of a learning curve as the menus are well laid out and very intuitive. Anyone would be able to just pick up the Pocket PC/Smartphone, look at the program and start using it without facing any problems.
Read more after the jump…
Download the Pocket PC version HERE.
Download the Smartphone version HERE.
Buy it from the Solsie Store at $19.95. There is a Valentine’s Special going on now and it expires on the 15th of February 2007 where you get 15% off all software bought at the Solsie Store. The discount code is SOLSIE15 and it brings the price down to $16.96.
Before I truly begin, please note that I am using the Pocket PC version and thus will be reviewing the Pocket PC version. The features are the same in both versions, the only difference is that instead of tapping on the screen, you would have to use the various keys on your Smartphone. Please read the Vito VoiceReminder user’s manual to find out what those keys are. Thank you.
INSTALLATION AND ACTIVATION
As usual, I will start off with the installation process. At the Vito Technology website, you will be able to download three types of installation files; the executable file (.exe), a zipped version of the executable file and the cab file. The availability of the cab file on their website allows you to download the program over the air and install it without the need of a PC, which is exactly what I did. Just as an extra info for those of you who are going to download it over your mobile data network, the cab file is 2.7MB.
After the installation process comes the activation process where I had to do the common thing, key in the registration code to unlock the demo version into a full working version. There is however one extra process here which is common as far as I know with Vito’s softwares, and that is software activation. This activation process requires you to be online where the program will “phone home” to activate the software. If you are unable to go online, the program would generate a text file and you are required to send the text file back to Vito Technology. Obviously if you are not able to go online, this would be extremely inconvenient but then again, if you couldn’t go online in the first place you wouldn’t have been able to download or purchase the software.
THE MAIN SCREEN AND ITS MENUS
When we start the program, the first screen that we are greeted with is the one on the left (above). As you can see it is a big analogue clock and there is one fantastic feature of this screen. If you were to tap the screen, VoiceReminder will tell you the time. I still can’t really think of a reason why I would need it to tell me the time when I have such a big clock right in front of me, but I’m sure it’ll come in handy sometimes. The ability of VoiceReminder to tell the time is a feature that will present itself again in other parts of the program. I will be talking more about this feature later on in the review. The screen on the right (above) is just an About screen which shows us the program version and your license status.
We will now look at the menus. The top menu, New Reminder, does exactly what the menu suggests. Selecting this menu will bring you to a screen where you will be able to create a new reminder. The next menu, Reminders, will bring you to a screen where you will be able to see all your reminders in a day, week or month format.
Volume allows you to set the volume of your reminders. Please note that muting your Pocket PC will not turn off the reminder volume. Another words, a reminder will still sound even if your Pocket PC volume is turned off. Signal brings you to a file explorer like screen where you can search through your Pocket PC and select a music file to play as a signal. Make sure the music that you select as your signal is a short one because VoiceReminder plays the whole music file before announcing the time followed by your voice reminder. The Tell after sleep option makes VoiceReminder announce the time every time you turn on your Pocket PC, i.e. wake your Pocket PC up from sleep. This might be useful if you want to know the time but not able to look at the screen. VoiceReminder does not have to be on or in the background for this feature to work.
The Tell time menu lets you select whether you want VoiceReminder to roughly tell you the time or tell it to you precisely. If you select roughly, it would round up the time to the closest 5 minutes. Language allows you to change the language of the program. It does not however change the language of VoiceReminder’s tell the time feature. It will still tell you the time in English.
REMINDERS AND ITS MENUS
The two screens above is what you see when you select the Reminders menu from the main screen. Here you will be able to choose to view your reminders in the day, week and month format as mentioned earlier. Tapping the top red button at the top right of the screen will bring up a monthly calendar where you can choose the date that you would like to view. Tapping on menu brings up a list of menus allowing you to create a new reminder, copy, edit or delete a selected reminder.
The screen on the left (above) shows you your reminders for the week and the screen on the right (above) shows you your reminders for the month. In the weekly format, your reminders will show up as an alarm clock icon on the bar of the relevant day. In the monthly format, the days with reminders will have a red dot next to the date. The date that is circled is today’s date. Tapping the left red button on the top left of the screen would move the calendar backward by a week or a month respectively and tapping the right red button on the top right of the screen would move the calendar forward by a week or a month respectively.
In the weekly format, you will be able to select if you want VoiceReminder to start the week with Sunday or Monday. When I installed VoiceReminder, the default setting was Sunday being the starting day of the week. The next screen, the screen on the right (above) is what you see if you select the New Reminder menu either from the main screen or the Reminders screen. At the top of the screen there are three buttons, one with a red dot, one with a sideways triangle and finally one with a square. Everyone should know that the red dot is the recording button, the sideways triangle is the play button and the red square is the stop button. If you want to record a voice reminder, just press the button with the red dot and start talking. When you’re done press the button with the red square and to listen to the recording, press the button with the sideways triangle. The next line down is where you set the time and date of the reminder. Schedule lets you choose if the reminder that you are setting right now is a daily, weekly, monthly or a one-time-only reminder. Name allows you to give your reminder a name so that you will remember it when you see it. The next three options govern what happens when the reminder goes off. Selecting Play signal means that it will play the music file you selected as your signal before playing your voice reminder. Tell time announces the time after playing signal (if you selected Play signal) and finally Pause after signal plays the signal, announces the time (if you selected Tell time) and then waits till you tap the screen before playing your voice reminder.
The screen on the left (above) is what you would see when the reminder goes off. The name of your reminder will be shown in the middle of the screen with a Dismiss and Snooze button below it. You will be able to select if you want to snooze the reminder for 5, 10, 15, 30 or 60 minutes.
CONCLUSION
As I have said at the start of this review, this is a very simple program built for one purpose only; playing a voice reminder at a specific time and date. I would say that Vito Technology has been successful in making VoiceReminder a simple and great to use program just for that purpose. This program appeals to everyone, business users, students, the average Joe. It’s just a must have if you use write down a lot of reminders but never get around to reading them, thus making them useless. This program simulates someone reminding you to do something or about something and not just you writing something down to remind yourself at a later time/date.
I would like a few more features included into the upcoming updates of the program though. I would like to be able to change the colour of the screens or maybe even skin it. I would also like to be able to change the clock in the main screen to a digital one. I can tell the time much quicker on a digital clock than a analogue one. I mentioned earlier that the reminder will sound even if the Pocket PC is muted, maybe Vito Technology could add in a vibrate feature into the volume menu so that if you’re using it on a Pocket PC phone, it will not go off during meetings when you have the Pocket PC phone in vibrate mode.
One final thing that I would like to comment on is the price. For $19.95, I think it is slightly pricey. I would have been more comfortable with $15 perhaps? But then again, with the Valentine’s Special we are having over at the Solsie Store, it’s down to $17.
“Buy it from the Solsie Store at $19.95. There is a Valentine’s Special going on now and it expires on the 15th of February 2007 where you get 15% off all software bought at the Solsie Store. The discount code is SOLSIE15 and it brings the price down to $16.96.”
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