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FIRST LOOK
DateBk4 improves on a powerhouse
By Jeff Carlson
The Palm device's built-in applications haven't changed much over the past few years, in accordance with Palm Computing's mandate to keep its handheld computers simple and useful. As long as appointments are scheduled, tasks are recorded, and phone numbers are easily looked up, most users don't require more than the basics.
But we don't all qualify as "most users." If you've ever wished you could view your schedule and to-do items on the same screen, display individual events in different type styles, or link records between applications, it's time to jump out of the "most users" category and dive into Pimlico Software's DateBk4, shown in Figure A.
FIGURE A
DateBk4 takes the Date Book into an entirely new category.
At this point, DateBk4 is in its final, private, beta testing stage, with availability expected at the end of March 2000. If it's not available from http://www.gorilla-haven.org/pimlico/ when you read this, trust me -- it's worth the wait.
A worthy successor
DateBk4's predecessor, DateBk3, added features that should have been included in the Palm OS Date Book application. These features included more calendar views (including an expanded Week view), the ability to categorize events, support for multiple time zones, and more. For more information about DateBk3, see my review entitled "DateBk3 Pushes Date Book into the Future," in the January 1999 edition of PalmPower at http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue199901/datebook001.html. The only downside is that DateBk3 takes up 247K of memory, a huge amount by Palm OS standards.
Well, if you're thinking about buying a handheld with more memory capacity, now may be the time to do it. DateBk4 weighs in at 365K; though honestly I think that's probably as svelte as it could get. There doesn't seem to be any fat in the program, just features. Still, because of its size, Pimlico will still be making DateBk3 available for people with tighter memory restrictions on their handheld devices.
Like the original, DateBk4 doesn't actually replace your built-in Date Book application. Rather, it uses Date Book as its main database, which means that you can still HotSync your calendar as you normally do. Although Date Book still resides on your Palm organizer, you can use the Date Book application button on your device to launch DateBk4, if you wish to take advantage of that option.
It's time to split
One of the first noticeable differences between DateBk3 and DateBk4 is its split-screen view. DateBk3 offered the option of viewing To Do items on the same screen in the Day view. Now, in addition, you can divide the screen into two distinct windowpanes: the Day view area, and a flexible Split Window view, shown in Figure B.
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