Review: Easy Search for UIQ 3

Score:
7.5%

After waiting for almost a year and a half, UIQ 3 users can now interact with their smartphones better with this new utility where you can search for data without digging deep into the file system.

Author: Webgate JS

Version Reviewed: 1.01

Buy Link | Download / Information Link

Easy Search for UIQ 3

I've talked about this type of software in an old article and, personally, I felt that UIQ 3 developers have left this genre blank for so long.

A search utility should have be included in any OS by default. Mobile, desktop or portable. Look at Windows XP, there's a search tool included. Why do Symbian smartphones not come with a default search tool? I still have not found a satisfactory answer to this question. But from my observation, manufacturers have now realised its importance and started to put in some effort, e.g. Nokia's inclusion of their Search tool in many of the latest S60 3rd Edition offerings (and downloadable for other handsets).  The latest Search 4.0 is superb, with integrated search functions in the standby screen, map search and a bunch of other additional functions, making it an indispensible tool for S60 users. And to add more salt to the wound, 3rd party developers also rushed in to bring search functions to S60 3rd Edition, witness Shape Services with its tool, AllFinder.

Despite being heavily advertised as business smartphones, Sony Ericsson's P990i and P1i do lack this search feature. You can't search for files or for data in the contact database, calendar and todo lists.

While the situation is sad for UIQ 3 users, now developers have actually realised how important it is to have such a feature. Enter Webgate's Easy Search for UIQ 3. Well, better late than never!

Easy Search is a small utility that greatly enhances the usability of UIQ 3 smartphones. It's been designed with one thing in mind - practicality.

  Easy Search UIQ 3 FC mode Easy Search UIQ 3 FC mode

What I really like about this little app is the interface. It's so simple and easy to use (hence, the name Easy Search!) The main screen consists of several checkboxes which represent the sources of data you want to search (messages, emails, contacts, calendar items, todos, files, etc.) You can tick all of them if you want to do an extensive search and you can also tick one or two for a specific search on that particular database.

 Easy Search Main screen Easy Search History

The results are displayed on tabs, where search results are displayed according to data type. One tab for contact items, another tab for calendar items, and so on. Once results are found, you can select them to open each in the appropriate applications. Very straightforward...

 Easy Search UIQ 3 Results  Easy Search Results

I have used Easy Search for a couple of weeks now and I highly recommend it.

Asri al-Baker, November 27th 2007 

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