All About Symbian - Symbian, Nokia and S60 unwrapped.
DataViz updates RoadSyc 4 with touch optimisations
Published by Rafe Blandford at 23:58 UTC, July 29th 2009
DataViz today announced the release of an updated version of RoadSync that improves the product's support for S60 5th Edition devices such as the Nokia N97 and 5800, and Samsung i8910. Version 4.004 of the Microsoft Exchange Client features a new 'touch toolbar' when viewing messages, allowing for easier email management. The release also improves the set up procedure with support for auto-discovery (Exchange 2007 only) of account details.
There are also a number of small bug fixes and improvements in the new release including fixes for new email notifications on the i8910 and 5800, improvements in full screen and zooming support and support for syncing with Google Calendar and Google Contacts (for non Exchange users).
DataViz are also celebrating their partnership with Samsung which sees RoadSync shipping out-of-the-box with the i8910 HD (Omnia HD) handset:
RoadSync is optimized for Symbian S60 5th Edition and provides Samsung customers with built-in secure, wireless and direct push synchronization of corporate e-mail, calendar, contacts and tasks with Microsoft Exchange Server.
“Samsung is regarded as one the most successful quality brands in today’s market and we are very pleased to partner with them to provide Exchange ActiveSync connectivity for their handsets,” said Dick Fontana, President and CEO of DataViz, Inc. “The development resources which are made available through the Samsung Mobile Innovator program enable us to consistently update our RoadSync solution and offer more productivity features to our customers.”
Checking for updates, and the new touch friendly toolbars.
On Nokia phones RoadSync competes against Nokia's free Mail for Exchange product. However, in general, Roadsync has had always had a richer set of functionality and a better thought out user interface. On the other hand RoadSync has, in general, been more resource hungry (in memory terms), although this has become much less of an issue as the RAM size of Nokia phones has increased.
While recent releases of Mail for Exchange on S60 3.2 (notably in the E75) have narrowed the gap between the two products (e.g. sub folder support and limited HTML support have been added to Mail for Exchange), the same is not true for S60 5th Edition. RoadSync on S60 5th Edition supports Exchange sub-folders, HTML email, a full screen view for messages and, as noted above, has touch optimised UI elements. None of these features are present in the S60 5th Edition of the 2.9 release of Mail for Exchange.
As such, at the current time, I would consider Roadsync the premier Microsoft Exchange client for S60 5th Edition phones. If you're a regular user of Exchange on your mobile phone, and you're looking for the best possible mobile email experience, then it is well worth the price.
How to buy / upgrade RoadSync
Samsung i8910 owners receive a fully licensed copy of Roadsync bundled with their phone. Nokia N97 and Nokia 5800 users can purchase RoadSync from DataViz or from the Ovi Store. Currently there is a time limited promotion running in the Ovi Store where by you can purchase Roadsync for £8, rather than the usual £30 - a great bargain!
If you've been using RoadSync on S60 5th Edition (either purchased via Ovi Store, or pre-installed on the Samsung i8910) you will get a free upgrade to the latest 4.x version.
The easiest way to update the application is to choose Options -> Help -> Check for updates from the menu on the application's main screen. This will take you to a web page that will inform you whether an update is available. From here you can following the on screen instructions to download and install the new version.
If you update the application you will have to enter your license number and activation number again. You should have received these by email when you registered the copy. You can also find your registration number in the application's about screen (make a note of this before upgrading) and use it to retrieve your activation number of the DataViz website.
RoadSync for S60 3rd Edition
RoadSync is also available for S60 3rd Edition devices; version 4 was announced in October last year and there have been a number of small incremental improvements since its release. These include full screen support (when reading email), support for DataViz's mini appstore, zooming improvements, extra localisations and numerous bug fixes.
News Discussion
Compare that to the iPhone (ducks). In the email application you can configure how much of the message it will preview in the list view from 0 to 5 lines. You also get considerably more of the subject and senders name, about 20 and 30 characters respectively. You can also choose a font size. Here's an example with preview turned off.
Email is still one of the key smartphone apps and IMHO Nokia is lagging way behind Apple, RIM and Android
That said some of the extra stuff (icon you refer) to are useful. The top ones let you switch to other folders in messaging (SMS etc.). The bottom ones let you take immediate action on emails (reply, new email, delete).
ROADSYNC HAVE LABELLED THEM INCORRECTLY! I've tried to contact them, but I can't find a way to contact support. All you N97 users, try what they have labelled as v3 and see what happens (unless they've sorted it since yesterday!) :o
Its definitely miles ahead of what it use to be and a very worthy upgrade (even from 4.002 to 4.004).
the only problem I have with it is it doesnt allow you to select "Internet" destination as your access point (which will automatically swap over to Home or work WIFI when detected rather than through 3G/HSDPA). You have to pick a specific access point which is rather annoying since M4E gave you the option to and worked really really well.
Other than that.. worth the upgrade and worth the license by purchasing it through OVI. Just wish Quickoffice wasnt as expensive!!
As for the comments re: the GUI being bad, I agree. The likes of Gravity and Profimail show that you don't have to conform to the nastiness of the standard GUI, so they could have put some effort in and done a far better job. I fear though that now that S60 is going to change, that developers will simply not bother until what comes out next.
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