BIOS: Technology Means Business

MegaClock 1.92 is probably the best timekeeping application for Palm OS currently available. It's packed with features, is highly customisable and costs just $14.95 (£8.48). The software looks great on a device with a 320x320-pixel display, but those with older 160x160-pixel Palm devices should be equally impressed with its range of well presented applications that should prove invaluable on a day-to-day basis.

Pros: Packed with features; highly customisable; low cost
Cons: No reset to defaults option; no desktop PC conduit

MegaClock is a multifunctional clock, alarm, timer and stopwatch utility for handheld devices (including the Treo 600) running Palm OS 4.0 and later. As simple and as dull as it sounds, MegaClock 1.92 is actually one of the best programs available for the Palm OS and you'll be surprised how long you have managed to live without it. It supports 4-, 8-, and 16-bit displays, in both colour and monochrome, as well as both 320x320-pixel and 160x160-pixel resolutions.

The 864KB software lets you view the current day and time in both digital and analogue formats using a number of great looking clocks and watches. For instance, the software's main page is a well presented Today-like view which shows the date (in calendar format), time (analogue clock with moving second hand) and the number of days past/remaining in the year. If you're after a more snazzy looking clock, MegaClock offers high-resolution graphical representations of three watches from Citizen, Casio Citizen and Ana-Digi - which all look amazing on a 320x320-pixel screen.

One of MegaClock's most useful features is its alarm clock that allows you to set up to 20 different alarms. Not only can you set up to 20 different alarms, but each alarm can be individually configured. For example, you can assign a description to each alarm so you know what it represents. You can also quickly set which days of the week the alarm will sound, whether the alarm should repeat and if there should be a snooze mode. MegaClock's Alarm feature also comes with some great cheesy tunes, such as Eiffel 65's Blue Da Ba Dee, Europe's The Final Countdown and the main theme from Star Wars. However, the alarm and snooze functions cannot be stopped or activated by using a hardware button on your Palm, so you have to grab your stylus and click onto the screen to turn off an alarm.

The Timers part of the software offers 4 countdown clocks (minutes and seconds) which can be run simultaneously, and the Stopwatch utility lets you track event times to the hundredth of a second, complete with an unlimited number of split times. Unfortunately, the Stopwatch lacks a lap record feature. Even more impressive is the Events utility that lets you calculate how far away a specific date is in terms of years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes or seconds. For instance, at the time of this review, Christmas Day 2004 is 368.9 days away, or, better still, 8,855.8 hours away.

Less useful features, but still impressive, include a World Time tool that lets you view two times zones on a single screen, a Moon Phases tool that lets you know when the moon will next be at its fullest, and the ability to find out what time the sun will rise and set in your city. If your home city is not among the 500 predefined cities supplied with the application, additional cities can be defined by longitude and latitude and added to the program's database. You can also define the software's colour schemes and your Palm device's hardware buttons to tailor your individual preferences.

Links:
MegaClock Web site