Handy Shopper (S60 5th Edition)
Epocware's suite of lifestyle applications have made the jump to S60 5th Edition, and the enabling of touch in many of them is not only smooth, but augments the functionality of a number of them for the better.
That's certainly the case with Handy Shopper. The remit of this application is simple – to let you add to a series of shopping lists throughout the day so when you do get to whatever stores you go to, up comes the relevant list. Hopefully you won't forget anything!
Much like any productivity tool, and you should be clear that Handy Shopper definitely falls into that remit, it's all about trusting the application both to capture all your ideas (which needs special commitment from the user), and knowing that the information entered can be recalled with ease when you need it.
Take those ideals in turn and you can see that Handy Shopper is a winner. When you have to add something to a list, you just open the app, choose the list and you can speedily add an item from a pre-populated list. When you need more coffee, just call up Handy Shopper and away you go. The hardest part may be deciding which list to use – for example, I could add coffee to either weekly shopping or office supplies. Handy Shopper can ask you to suggest an amount you need, but for me this application is about speed and jogging my memory, so I've switched this option off.
The pre-populated list is very traditional, and while there are some strange omissions (hot dog buns but no hot dogs?) and some not so surprising missing items (Haggis, anyone?) it is easy enough to add your own items, and place them either in the supplied sub categories (such as snacks or baby goods to pick out two) or in the “My Own” category. Once added, they're always available and included in all the views, including the global search.
Reading lists is just as simple, as the list contents are always on view when you first click on a list. If you've added quantities, these will be on show, otherwise it defaults to '1'. Alongside each item is a tick-box, to keep track as you presumably go round the shops. The tick-box is probably one of the main beneficiaries of the touch interface, although you still have to tap twice: once to highlight an item, and once more to tick (or untick) the box.
Epocware have used this 'double-tap' method throughout Handy Shopper, giving a nice consistency to the application. After a few days of use, muscle memory starts to take over and navigating shopping lists becomes second nature. I'm still not convinced that the search method using the big letter tiles on the screen, and only showing the ones available (as in Contacts) helps the speed, as you need to look for feedback to find the next key, but as it is the method Nokia use, the consistency with S60 is probably more important to an application like this than other methods.
Epocware are to be commended for their shareware policy – Handy Shopper is fully active for fourteen days from the time it is installed. That should be more than enough time for anyone to decide if they want to continue using it. I suspect that it won't take as long as that for many people.
Handy Shopper doesn't do anything fancy – it does lists. But it does them very well, and effort has been put in to make sue that any new user can get to grips with the application intuitively from the first screen. It might not be a 'sexy' application but it can fill the gap in people's lifestyle, and make that life just a little bit easier. Can you ask any more from a software tool?
PS. There's a lot of code here that could be re-used to make a half-decent To-Do list manager. Perhaps if I stare at Epocware long enough....
-- Ewan Spence, March 2009.
Published by Ewan Spence at 6:26 UTC, March 11th 2009
Categories: Applications
Platforms: S60 5th Edition
News Discussion
Where's the use?
Where's the use?[/quote]
Agreed. The built in "Notes" app or "Active notes" is the most underrated app in the world. I use it all the time to jot down all kinds of information on my E90/E71.
This handy shopper app wastes space and money.
however there is a easy workaround you can use Advanced Device Locks or Advanced Phone Lock and put a lock on Notes/Active Notes...:icon14:
[SIZE="1"][FONT="Comic Sans MS"]It's times like this I'm especially glad I switched to the iPhone, hehe.[/FONT][/SIZE] :tongue:
1) Stop charging an obscene amount for Handy Calendar since it doesn't do much more than 5800's built in calendar.
2) Ditto Handy Alarm (the only thing it has over default s60 alarm is customisable tones for each alarm)
3) Make Handy Shell more customisable, less ugly
Which brings me to the price. I agree with the others that it is simply ridiculously priced. I don't think they should charge $20 for an app like this. Is it just me or do others also watch the apps they sell in the app store in the other side of the wall (where only apples grow) and sigh at their prices? Epocware, there's competition now. Better come down to earth and offer good products at reasonable prices.
i looked for an app that organised my notes and found best jotter by smartphoneware. easy to make notes, but you can organise them into folders so searching is easier and you have a greater feeling of order. also, it's only $15!
if you want shopping lists, projekt by kylom is very good. a great hierarchical system for organising projects and ideas, but also has a preset shopping list. pricier at 25 euro.
i've trialled epocware stuff, underwhelming and overpriced!
You set up your own lists and then you can note things onto or off the "Items to Buy" list by just checking or unchecking the check box against the item.
The best things about Upvise are
1. It's free
2. You can set up or edit your lists via a web page on a full size pc keyboard
3. It runs on S60, Blackberry, WinMob. Java feature phones, and iPhone so there's no danger of losing your data if you decide to change phone.
4. You can access the same list from multiple devices which means my wife and I can each add items to a list from our phones and whoever actually does the shopping will always have the full list.
5. The developer listens to user feedback and incorporates it into the product
Upvise also has a bunch of other functions but I only use the list manager personally.
Wont be furnishing their pockets with anymore money until they grow some balls and start answering questions.
I don't understand how can someone pay 20 bucks just because he doesn't like t9!
You can manage your notes very well.
Suppose I am in office right now and will be out by 6.30 PM. I have following activities to be done:
Buy vegetables from Veg market
Buy household itmes from a superstore
get haircut done
buy gift for Kid's friends birthday party
All this can be seperated in notes.
All of them will go into my meeting schedule wit times allotted to each of the activity. The headline for meetings can be words above and I can add See Note 1 for meeting 1. It can have the details.
So I don't see how notes become messy.
If only you know how to optimise your PIM apps.
You can customize the categories to your hearts content, and I've set it up so that my groceries come in the right sequence to match the route through my regular store. I just tick off what I need to buy and the resulting list is properly sequenced, when you have a long list, its really a bonus.
Has anyone visited Nokia's Ovi Store? Sad.
The comment about competition is wrong. Apple's apps are not competing with the apps for S60 devices. I'm not going to ditch my N97 for an iPhone because comparable apps cost one tenth the price.
If someone can point out an app that is as graphically pleasing and handy as Handy Shopper please post here. The competition in S60 5th Edition apps is just plain weak, hence high prices.
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