GoodLink 4 review

If you want email on the move, there are alternatives to the offering from BlackBerry. GoodLink 4 will bring email to any Treo or a Windows Mobile device containing a SIM card, such as an Xda or the SPV M100. The most immediate advantage is that you not only get the same email features as a BlackBerry user, but also all your PDA's existing features.

The key difference to using GoodLink rather than the normal email client on your device is that you don't have to press Send and Receive to find out whether you have mail. Arriving emails on your server will pop up automatically on your PDA.

However, it's not just email the product downloads over its GPRS connection - it's designed as a mobile access point to all the different parts of Outlook as well. The product installs its own replacements for the normal calendar, contacts, tasks and email icons on the main menu of your PDA. These link directly to the functions on your Outlook server. If a colleague changes a meeting time on your PC, this is automatically replicated in the GoodLink Agenda on your PDA. Similarly, any change made on the GoodLink client is reflected instantly back in the office.

GoodLink claims the latest version reduces the over-the-air sync time by 300 per cent, and it certainly took less than 60 seconds from sending an email on our PC to receiving it on the Treo. It's a more thorough reproduction of Outlook than similar products on the market, and version 4 boasts such features as a preview pane, calendar week view and support for the follow-up flag. One particularly handy feature is being able to set up an Out of Office autoreply after you've left the office.

Running on a Microsoft Exchange Server, GoodLink needs to be installed by a network administrator and isn't designed for an individual to install on a single PC. The price of £240 per person isn't cheap either, and it's clearly aimed at the corporate market, although it does at least include all installation and support costs. But if you already use a Treo or Xda and you can justify the price, it makes a fine alternative to the BlackBerry.

Author: Mark Needham