FoneDB - First impressions review!

[Guest jcostantino]

So nobody replied to my question about having used Syware's FoneDB - I bought it a little while ago and threw together a basic database to log the testing of my pool (pH, chlorine, alkalinity, filter cleanings, etc). Since I haven't used the program very much, I'll go into what I know right now. Unfortunately, Syware's website is for lack of a better word, terrible if you want any product information.

This is a decent program but it has some limitations. It's a flat-file (meaning each database has only one table) database program with easy table creation tools. I'll address the limitations below.

First of all, it's $29.99 from www.syware.com with immediate download as the (only) shipping option. It comes with the database viewer/editor for the Smartphone (their website suggests compatibility with all Smartphone OS's, I can say it works great w/ 2k3SE on my SMT5600) and it comes with the database creator/viewer/editor for the desktop (PC only).

Installing the program was simple, double-click the installer and it will put both the desktop app on your computer and queue up the Smartphone app in your phone when you sync it. Once that's done, you can create a form/database in the desktop app. The editor has a WYSIWYG display of the phone screen and what goes on the form is pretty much identical to what ends up inside the phone. When your database is finished to your liking, browse to your phone and copy it to either Storage or Storage Card/My Documents. I had to execute the database I just made from Storage Card/My Docs but if it's in Storage/My Docs you may not need to do that.

When you run the program on your phone, it will show the databases you have installed, clicking on them will open up the form if there are no records to show. If you have records, opening the db file will show the list of records which you can scroll down and click to view. The menu button provides the standard New/Delete/Sort etc...

The program offers a sync capability which once your phone is connected to your PC allows you to sync between the computer's database and the phone's database. Any changes to the form are sent back and forth so if you update a field, it updates on the phone as well. Very slick and painless. It works fine with a Bluetooth Activesync connection as well since that's all I have at work.

If you want to edit the table in Access or any other ODBC database, it's as easy as linking the table via ODBC. I have to commend Syware because their in-program help is very good at describing the steps to do things with just the right amount of information.

I think that's pretty much it for the basics of how it works. Now, the stuff I don't much care for:

1. VERY basic form layout. You are limited in where you can put controls and labels. The only adjustment you have control over is the width of a field box and not always. The horizontal positioning is limited to moving an object up and down which moves it from right to left (if you're going up). Hard to describe but if you have a field and a label, they show up on their own line, you then press control-u (UP) to move the field up and it will divide the top line in half. Once you get the hang of it, it's not so hard to deal with it.

2. Limited navigation buttons. You can jump to a field with a button if you want to have a control on another page to add physical size to the layout of your form. What you can't do is browse to first, previous, next and last field. The only way to do that is to go back to the record view and click the record you want. I would've liked to be able to use the 1 and 3 keys to go up and down 1 record and the 4 and 6 keys to go to first and last record.

3. No SQL or any "advanced" database functions. This doesn't affect me but this program makes bog simple databases with basic arithmetic as the most advanced feature. If you need advanced database ability, this won't do it for you.

I hope this helps anyone out who is looking for a basic custom database app that syncs with the desktop. This is nowhere near SprintDB for the PPC but it's better than nothing - which seems to be the case with the exception of this program.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. They offer a sample database compiled with their "Pro" version but it doesn't show you how the program operates or how to assemble a database.

I suppose if I had to rate this with stars or something like that, I would give it:

Price 5/5 (can't beat $30 USD, especially since my employer bought it!)

Usability 3.5/5 (It's a bit fiddly and the lack of proper record navigation buttons hurts the score)

Value 4/5 (I really don't have anything bad to say about this - it does precisely what I want it to do - minus the record navigation)

jeff