Infoshare V1.3 

Company: Unwired Software, Inc.

Product Name: InfoShare List Manager

Operating System: Windows
Mobile Smartphone, Pocket PC and Windows Desktop

Function: Create, synchronize and access lists on desktops and Windows Mobile devices. Wirelessly share lists and give others access and permission to your lists so that everyone has the most recent lists. Example lists include workgroup task lists, expense tracking lists, grocery lists, and much more.

Web Site: www.unwiredsoftware.com

Price: USD $29.95

System Requirements: Pocket PC: Windows Mobile for Pocket PC 2003 or above, 1.5 Megabytes of storage space, and the program may be installed to main or expansion memory. Desktop PC Requirements: Windows 98 or higher, 4 Megabytes of hard drive space available, constant Internet connectivity, and ActiveSync 3.7 or above. Also available for Windows Smartphones.

I recently had the opportunity to review Infoshare v1.3, a list making and sharing software.  I tested the software on a Dell Axim x50v with wm2003se.  I initially expected it to compete with Illium Software’s Listpro.  What I found, however, was something quite surprising and different! 

Backstory

According to one of the co-developer’s wives, this program developed because, "My problem is that I keep different information on different computers, and I can’t always access the computer holding the information I need. For example, I dropped my son off at his soccer practice and had an hour to do some shopping. I keep the main family shopping list on my laptop PC at home, and keep it synchronized with my Smartphone so I have a copy of it with me at all times. Unfortunately, my husband adds items to the laptop list all the time, and the list on my Smartphone is almost never up to date. I need to be able to access current information wherever I am, and I need to be able to share it with other people in a timely fashion.

The only device that I keep with me all the time is my Windows Mobile Smartphone. I know there are technologies that allow you to sync your Smartphone over-the-air in real time; however, they are limited in how they access data and who you can sync with. In addition, solutions like Microsoft Exchange require that you have a server. (I don’t know about you, but I don’t have one of those!) So what’s a girl to do?

The answer: marry a developer! My husband is one of the co-founders of Unwired Software, a company specializing in wireless access and collaboration software. I discussed my problem with him and he and his partners decided that solving it might lead to a product they could market. The result of their efforts was InfoShare List Manager, a software program I now can’t live without."

Creating Lists

Infoshare includes List Templates to make lists easy to create.  There are several included templates, and you can even create your own.  It took me under a minute to get started.  The creation was rather intuitive.  There is on-screen help to get you going as well.  You can create lists on your pc or pda/smartphone.  The only negative I encountered was the lack of the ability to import data from another source.  For example, I would like to import data from excel, word or a comma delimited file, but that is not available.  You must enter the data one record at a time.  I spoke to Infoshare about this and they said they are only a few months away from adding this feature.

One wonderful bonus I found when adding records into my pda, was an autocomplete feature called the Dictionary.  This speeds up text input by suggesting words based on the first few letters you enter.  It works great.

Sharing Lists

This is where the software really shines, but setting up the sharing system was not intuitive.  The desktop becomes the server and can "push" updates to a user list, or it can be done manually.  You use the Sync Manager to manage the synchronization services.  It can be accessed from the main PC application or the convenient tray icon.  A little bit of thought, some reading through the help files and I was good to go.  I was never very good with networking, I’ll admit!  As each list changes, whether on a PC, smartphone or pda, the other lists get updated automatically.  As tasks get done, one user may strike-through that task, showing completion, the other lists in the group will get updated to reflect the change.

InfoShare v1.3 can sync devices via GPRS connections or via cellular data connection, or WiFi or desktop proxy. Syncing will be accomplished by whatever means the devices can connect to the Internet or to a common network (i. e. desktop proxy, CDMA, etc.).

Support

Need help?  I’ll be the first to admit, I hate asking for directions and help.  But it’s there.  A large, usable help file that’s well organized comes with the software.  And a forum for users to ask, share and discuss issues also exists.  Now that’s great service.  Of course, top that off with great email support and you have top notch service.

In Conclusion

This software offers real time updates, sharing with other PCs and mobile devices, templates and autocomplete / dictionaries for quick and easy list creation, desktop and mobile list creation, wonderful support and secure data.  Sure, there are a couple issues such as the inability to import mass amounts of data, which they’re working on, and setup for sharing can be a bit confusing for the regular guy like me, but overall this is a well thought out, great app that should be considered in a situation where more than one computer/mobile device exist and lists can be shared.  In other words, any business or home can use this!

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