Product Reviews

If you find the standard Pocket PC organiser applications (Tasks, Calendar and Contacts) a little too basic, Pocket Informant 2005 is the answer. Recently given a major overhaul, this impressive application uses all your standard PIM data, synchronising perfectly with Microsoft Outlook, but adds lots of extra ways to view and organise your appointments, addresses and to-do items. The bad news is that Pocket Informant now has over a dozen settings screens, which sounds very daunting, but the good news is that most, if not all, of these can be safely ignored until you feel the urge to explore further.

Aside from its fabulous interface, there are lots of productivity aids, such as quick-entry templates for your regular appointment types, clear colour-coding, the option to add icons to identify specific events, and the ability to move appointments and to-do items around with drag-and-drop ease.

It's easy to be put off by all the features on offer, but if you have a busy diary and a lot of contacts, Pocket Informant 2005 will pay rich dividends once you get to grips with its power.