Review of Task Manager for Series 60-3 applications
The task manager applications allow you to have full information about running programs and about free memory left on the phone (RAM, Phone memory and Memory card). This software is convenient for quick mobile processes controlling.
We have got to know that Smartphoneware has released one more task manager application called Best TaskMan. We are glad that the number of good quality task manager applications is increasing and we have possibility to make review about them.
Here is brief information about the applications to be analyzed:
| App name | Vendor | Price | Size, Kb |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tracker | Smartphoneware | Buy $19.95 | 393 |
| Handy Taskman | EPOCWARE | Buy $19.95 | 204 |
| Best TaskMan | Smartphoneware | Buy $9.95 | 142 |
We analyzed the following list of aspects and application details:
• Installation
• Trial period
• Interface and Application in action
• Settings
• Help and Support
• Special features
• Testing results
• Conclusion
Applications are quickly and easily installed if you follow the instructions on the screen of the mobile phone.
| App name | Score |
|---|---|
| Tracker | 10 |
| Handy Taskman | 10 |
| Best TaskMan | 10 |
If you wish to try Tracker and not yet ready to buy it, Smartphoneware gives users a possibility to download a 15-day trial version of Tracker for s60 3rd edition application.
EPOCWARE offers 14-day full functional trial version of the Handy Taskman application. You have a nice chance first to try it before making the decision to purchase it.
The trial period of the Best TaskMan app expires in 15 days.
| App name | Score |
|---|---|
| Tracker | 9 |
| Handy Taskman | 8 |
| Best TaskMan | 9 |
Interface and Application in action
Tracker application consists of 3 main views:
• Desktop
• TaskMan
• Recent
Using left/right joystick buttons you can easily switch between them.
Here user can place on the desktop any number of notes, shortcuts to applications, contacts, documents, speed dials, speed SMS, webpages, and different actions. User can organise all these items to any number of folders, subfolders and put them on different pages.
Here are examples of creating new items and their view on the desktop screen:
1. New folder
To create a new folder item you have to click left soft key Options → New → Folder and fill in the following fields:
• Name (enter name of the new folder)
• Hotkey (choose the hotkey combination to access it with one key press)
• Icon (choose the needed icon from the list of available)
Having filled in the needed fields, the newly created folder appears on the desktop of the mobile screen:
2. New dial
To create a new speed dial item you have to click left soft key Options → New → Speed dial and fill in the following fields:
• Name (enter name of the new speed dial)
• Number (enter the needed phone number)
• Hotkey (choose the hotkey combination to access it with one key press)
In the end the newly created speed dial item will have the following view on the main screen:
3. New document
To create a new document item you have to click left soft key Options → New → Document and fill in the following fields:
• Name (enter name of the new item)
• Document (choose the needed document from the phone menu)
• Hotkey (choose the hotkey combination to access it with one key press)
The new item will look as follows:
4. New action
To create a new action item you have to click left soft key Options → New → Action and fill in the following fields:
• Name (enter name of the new action)
• Action (choose the needed action from the list of available)
• Hotkey (choose the hotkey combination to access it with one key press)
The new action item has the following view on the desktop screen:
Desk view
To start using the application user can click left soft key Options of the main screen:
• New (using the following list of commands you can create any number of folders and place any applications on the desktop)
o Note
o Folder
o Application
o Speed dial
o Speed contact
o Speed SMS
o Speed MMS
o Speed email
o Document
o Weblink
o Action
o Applications
• Manage pages (here user can create his own desktop pages or edit/delete the existing ones)
• Appearance (here user can customize desktop look)
o Sort (you can arrange items on screen using commands By name or Manually)
o Columns (set the number of columns user wants the desktop grid to have)
o Item layout (set the item appearance on desktop)
- Icon top
- Icon left
- Icon only
o Zoom (allows to select zoom factor of the desktop)
- Small
- Medium
- Large
o Show pages pane (allows to show or hide “Pages pane” from the desktop)
• View (allows to proceed to the needed application option with one click)
o Desk
o Recent
o Tasklist
o New call
o Launch application
• Settings
• Misc
• Exit
Hotkeys
User can assign hotkeys to any item on the desktop. This can be done using Hotkey field when creating new desktop item.
Taskman view
The Tasklist view shows information about currently running applications.
Clicking left soft key Options of this screen user can perform the following actions:
• Switch to (switch to the needed application)
• Application info (get information about any running application)
• Close application (close the current application)
• Kill application (forced closing of the current application)
• Close all apps (close all applications at once)
• Compress memory
• View
• Settings
• Misc
• Exit
User can also see the amount of memory and disk space available on the right of the screen.
Recent view
Recent view summarizes all important information and events in one view and allows to perform different actions on these events.
Recent view shows:
• recent incoming/outgoing calls
• missed calls
• received messages
• last used applications
• amount of unread messages
• calendar events
• todo
All events are sorted by event date.
When clicking left soft key Options of this screen user can perform the following actions:
• Open (open the current event)
• Refresh (refresh the Recent view events)
• View
• Settings
• Misc
• Exit
The Handy Taskman application contains two main screens:
Task list:
It shows the list of running and recently used applications.
Left soft key Options shows the following list of buttons:
• Switch to – to proceed to the current task
• Close all – shuts down all tasks in the task list
• Lookup and start – to locate and start a desired application by typing the first letters of its name
• Add to Favorites – to add task to the Favorites screen
• Memory details – information about free memory left on the phone
• Settings
• Help
• About
• Exit
Favorites:
This screen shows the list of your favourite applications and contacts for easy access to them.
Left soft key Options shows the following list of buttons:
• Start – to start the chosen task
• Add – to add new application, call or new SMS to the Favorites list
• Move
• Delete – removes the current task
• Lookup and start – to locate and start a desired application by typing the first letters of its name
• Memory details – information about free memory left on the phone
• Help
• About
• Exit
When you start Best TaskMan you can see 3 main views:
• Open applications
• Memory
• Quick start
The Open applications view shows information about running applications:
You can see what applications are running currently, switch to the needed application, get information about any running application, close some application or all applications at once. You may also see the amount of memory available at the end of the list.
Left soft key Options allows to:
• Switch to – switches to the marked application
• Application info – shows brief information about the current application
• Close application – shuts down the current opened application
• Close all – shuts down all opened applications
• Settings
o Settings
o Tasklist exceptions – allows to define a list of applications that should be hidden in Open applications view
o “Close all�? exceptions – as ‘Close all’ command in Open applications view closes all non system applications you can set up here an additional list of applications that should not be closed with ‘Close all’ command
• View
o Open applications
o Memory
o Quick start
o Advanced
- Processes – shows all active processes
- All open apps – shows the view similar to Open applications view but it also shows all hidden applications
- Installed apps – shows all installed applications on your device
• Misc – contains the About and Register info
• Hide taskman
• Exit
Memory view shows brief and detailed information about your device memory, phone disk and memory card:
Left soft key Options contains the following buttons:
• Memory info
• Memory card info
• Compact memory
• Refresh
• Settings
• View
• Misc – contains the About and Register info
• Hide taskman
• Exit
The Quick start view allows you to increase the productivity usage of your Smartphone. You can place here all most used applications and access them very fast when you need them. When opening it for the first time it has the following view:
Left soft key Options contains the following buttons:
• Add application(s)
• Settings
• View
• Misc – contains the About and Register info
• Hide taskman
• Exit
When you choose to add applications, you will see the list of the available applications, among which you have to select app(s) you need:
Afterwards the Quick start view will look as follows:
TaskMan’s Task Switcher is an alternative way to cycle applications:
| App name | Score |
|---|---|
| Tracker | 10 |
| Handy Taskman | 6 |
| Best TaskMan | 8 |
Tracker application suggests a wide range of settings:
Desk:
• Autostart – Tracker will be automatically started in background when system starts
• Desk view hotkey – allows to define hotkey to switch to Desk view in one key press
• View navigation – allows to block switching from left or right columns in grid to “Pages pane” or other view
• Tab emulation key – allows to define “Tab” key
Taskman:
• Taskman activation
o if it is set to “Instead of built-in one” then Tracker will replace the built-in task manager when you long press Menu key
o if it’s set to ‘Custom key’ then both Tracker’s taskman and system taskman can work at the same time
• Menu cycle list – allows to define a list of applications cycled when you press Menu key
• Switcher hotkey – allows to define a hotkey to use with TaskSwitcher
• Show hidden apps – if enabled then hidden application will be displayed in TaskList
• Task list exceptions - allows to define a list of applications that should be hidden in tasklist
• “Close all” exceptions – all non system applications in Tasklist are closed in case of “Close all” command
Recent:
• Recent view hotkey – allows to define hotkey to switch to Recent view in one key press
• Keep history for – define how many days you want to keep your events; older events will be pushed out from the list
• Max missed calls – define maximum number of missed calls shown in the list
• Max incoming calls – define maximum number of incoming calls shown in the list
• Max outgoing calls – define maximum number of outgoing calls shown in the list
• Max unread messages – define maximum number of unread messages shown in the list
• Max recent applications – define maximum number of recent applications in the list
Handy Taskman allows to configure the following options:
• Default view – to select the default view of the main screen of the application
o Task list
o Favorites
o Last used
• Task list – to select the list of the displayed tasks in the task list
o Running tasks
o Running and recent
• Close all exceptions
The Best TaskMan application suggests the following list of settings:
• Taskman activation – if it is set to “Instead of built-in one” then Best Taskman will replace the built-in task manager when you long press Menu key; if it’s set to ‘Custom key’ then both Best TaskMan and system taskman can work simultaneously
• Activation hotkey – this option is visible only when Taskman activation is set to ‘Custom key’; it allows you to define a hotkey to pop up Best TaskMan from background
• Switcher hotkey – allows you to define hotkey to use with TaskSwitcher
• Quick start hotkey – allows you to define hotkey to use with Quick start launcher
• Autostart Taskman – if enabled TaskMan will be automatically started in background when system starts
| App name | Score |
|---|---|
| Tracker | 10 |
| Handy Taskman | 6 |
| Best TaskMan | 9 |
Tracker for S60 3rd edition and Best TaskMan applications have no Help file, which is very uncomfortable, because the applications are quite filled with various options and settings, which can appear a bit complicated for user-beginner; e-mail (support@smartphoneware.com) is to contact a developer in case of any questions or suggestions.
The support department of this application works efficiently. The answer to the question asked was comprehensible and quick in the course of one business day.
Handy Taskman application has the Help file, which will help you to use the application properly; it has an e-mail (support@epocware.com) to contact a developer in case of any questions or suggestions.
The support department did not respond to my e-mail though I sent it twice.
| App name | Score |
|---|---|
| Tracker | 7 |
| Handy Taskman | 5 |
| Best TaskMan | 7 |
If application contains interesting features which others don’t have, it attracts users’ attention.
Tracker application has the following list of special features:
• View navigation – allows to block switching from left or right columns in grid to “Pages pane” or other view
• Tab emulation key – allows to define “Tab” key
• Menu cycle list – allows to define a list of applications cycled when you press Menu key
• Show hidden apps – if enabled then hidden application will be displayed in TaskList
• Task list exceptions - allows to define a list of applications that should be hidden in tasklist
• “Close all” exceptions – all non system applications in Tasklist are closed in case of “Close all” command
• Keep history for – define how many days you want to keep your events; older events will be pushed out from the list
Handy Taskman suggests the following list of special features:
• Default view – to select the default view of the main screen of the application
o Task list
o Favorites
o Last used
• Task list – to select the list of the displayed tasks in the task list
o Running tasks
o Running and recent
• Lookup and start – to locate and start a desired application by typing the first letters of its name
• Memory details – information about free memory left on the phone
Best TaskMan can offer you such special features as:
• Taskman activation – if it is set to “Instead of built-in one” then Best Taskman will replace the built-in task manager when you long press Menu key; if it’s set to ‘Custom key’ then both Best TaskMan and system taskman can work simultaneously
• Activation hotkey – this option is visible only when Taskman activation is set to ‘Custom key’; it allows you to define a hotkey to pop up Best TaskMan from background
• Switcher hotkey – allows you to define hotkey to use with TaskSwitcher
• Quick start hotkey – allows you to define hotkey to use with Quick start launcher
• View
o Advanced
- Processes – shows all active processes
- All open apps – shows the view similar to Open applications view but it also shows all hidden applications
- Installed apps – shows all installed applications on your device
| App name | Score |
|---|---|
| Tracker | 10 |
| Handy Taskman | 8 |
| Best TaskMan | 9 |
Having analyzed all components and settings and given them the scores from 1 to 10, we have multiplied the scores by a corresponding importance factor in order to get the total score value of the application.
We have used the following Importance factor (IF) values:
• Installation: IF 2
• Trial period: IF 4
• Interface and Application in action: IF 10
• Settings: IF 7
• Help and Support: IF 5
• Special features: IF 6
The total possible score for an application would be 340 points.
Multiplying the score by Importance factors we have got the following table:
| Tracker | Best TaskMan | Handy Taskman | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Installation | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| Trial period | 36 | 36 | 32 |
| Interface and Application in action | 100 | 80 | 60 |
| Settings | 70 | 63 | 42 |
| Help/Support | 35 | 35 | 25 |
| Special features | 60 | 54 | 48 |
| Total | 321 | 288 | 227 |
Test winner according to the overall application test is Tracker from Smartphoneware.
Having reviewed Best TaskMan application from Smartphoneware, you can see that this task manager is still better than Handy Taskman from EPOCWARE. It offers good and convenient interface with 3 views and its settings allow to configure software to your needs. We can say that Best TaskMan is a functional part of a multifunction Tracker app.
Tracker is a task manager, but suggests much wider range of features and possibilities than Handy Taskman does, even though their price is the same. In addition to nicely viewed task manager, Tracker allows organize the applications, notes and documents in your own way and have access to the recently opened applications.
Handy Taskman has just the function of a task manager. It is convenient and simple in using, and has nice interface. But its price is a bit too high with respect to Tracker as it doesn’t offer such variety of actions as Tracker does, and the price is a bit too high when considering the two good alternatives present on the market.