BIOS: Technology Means Business

KeySuite is a comprehensive mobile companion to Microsoft's Outlook. It allows you to organise and access information on your handheld in a similar way that you do in Outlook, so folders in Outlook (including public folders and subfolders from multiple PCs) become folders on your handheld. Plus, you can view and create contact links on your handheld to associate people with other contacts, events, tasks and notes. Unfortunately, it doesn't offer a Today page like Outlook or Dataviz's Beyond Contacts, so you have to navigate between all applications to view your daily chores. There's no e-mail synchronisation either, which is equally poor, but you may find that support for high-resolution screens makes up for these shortcomings.

Pros: Supports high-resolution screens; powerful features
Cons: No Today page; doesn't synchronise e-mail; expensive

Chapura is best known for its PocketMirror application, a utility that synchronises the default folders in Microsoft's Outlook Calendar, Contacts, Tasks and Notes with the built-in Date Book, Address List, To Do List, and Memo Pad on your Palm OS device. However, PocketMirror is designed specifically to synchronise with Palm OS software, not Outlook, so there are limitations to the amount of Outlook information that it synchronises. KeySuite 2.4, on the other hand, extends a Palm's functionality with Outlook (version 2000 or later) by offering alternative applications to those built into Palm OS.

A companion application to Microsoft's popular PIM, Outlook, KeySuite 2.4 consists of four software components: KeyDates, KeyContacts, KeyTasks and KeyNotes. These components act as alternative applications to those built into the Palm OS platform, allowing you to synchronise any of Outlook's public folders and subfolders, use up to 254 categories per folder on your PDA, as well as view and create contact links on your PDA for quick reference. The software also allows you to synchronise your Palm with multiple PCs, such as an office and home PC, but there's no support for e-mail synchronisation.

KeySuite 2.4 also supports high-resolution displays (320x480 pixels), so those with compatible handhelds, such as a Palm Tungsten T3, can take advantage of the additional screen space provided with a portrait view to see more of their Outlook information on a single screen.

After installing the software on your computer, the first synchronisation you perform only installs the KeySuite applications onto your Palm handheld. The second synchronisation then places the contents of your Outlook Contacts, Calendar, Notes, and Tasks default folders onto your handheld. After the second synchronisation, a dialog box asks you to open KeySuite on your handheld and verify that your desired records appear. From here you can also synchronise additional Outlook folders using the Add Folder Wizard.

There are three ways to enter data into the KeySuite handheld applications: tap on the specific application icon; tap the Go To icon from within any of the KeySuite applications; and press the shortcut button on your Palm that a KeySuite application is mapped to. You don't have to exit out of one application to go into another, but unlike Outlook and DataViz's Beyond Contacts ($29.95), there's no Today page that displays your upcoming events. This is a significant omission, and is one of the main reasons why Beyond Contacts is a more useful and intuitive application.

Links:
KeySuite 2.4 for Palm OS Web site
KeySuite 2.4 for Palm OS 21-day trial (4.72MB)