Handmark Express – Keeping You Always In the Know

Our friend PDALive asked SlashPhone to share the review of Handmark Wireless Express for PalmOS with our visitors.

SlashPhone is also working on a separate review for the MPx200 smartphone but ran into some technical difficulties, so keep an eye out for the review sometime down the road.

Reviewed on May 12 2004 by John Flucke
Type: Commercial Software: Wireless
Developer: Handmark
Minimum Requirement: Palm OS 3.5
Program Size: 1300K of RAM
Price: US$6.99 per month or $69.99 per year

Source PDALive

Handmark Express – Keeping You Always In the Know

There’s a new program available for those of you with a desire to have up to the minute information and to have it available at any minute of the day. For the last 2 months I’ve been using a beta (now available for purchase in its final code) of Handmark’s latest program Express.

Express is a program for Palm based PDA’s with Internet connectivity and Palm OS based smart phones. The program is a great idea for any mobile types or those who just want to be informed of the latest information. Using either Wi-Fi or a cellular provider, the software will update itself with all the latest information. This can be done manually or on a set schedule.

When installed, Express presents itself as a list of information topics. There is 411, Sports, Maps, Movies, News, Weather, and Alerts. Each of these categories can be selected when then presents the user with a “sub list” of topics to choose from.

The 411 category sub-list consists of Find a Person, Find a Neighbor, Find a Business, Reverse Address Lookup, and Reverse Phone Lookup. These are all handy utilities to have for either the business travel or the individual on the go.

The next category is Sports and, like its name, it provides schedules, scores and statistics.

The map category is invaluable to travelers and people who aren’t lucky enough to have a GPS unit. Selecting it allows you to input an address and have the map downloaded directly to your device or if you prefer you can enter your starting and ending addresses and have the driving directions downloaded instead.

There is a movie section that allows you to input your favorite local movie theaters and have their show schedules downloaded to your device. The show times and rating are downloaded as well as a link that allows you to buy the tickets directly from your Palm. You can even download movie details including a plot summary.

The News category supplies all the news one might need. It is broken down into sub-topics of All News Stories, Top Stories, Politics, Business, Technology, Sports, and Entertainment. Each of these sub-topics has the top 5 news stories available. You can either read a brief synopsis or download the entire article. This is a great way to stay informed.

There is a Stock category that lets the user input stocks they wish to follow and download their current prices. It also provides a ticker which provides the DJIA and NSADAQ totals.

The Weather category allows you to input your zip code and download a 7 day forecast for your area.

Finally there is an Alert category where Handmark can send you important information about Express.

Express is a great program. The auto update feature is really handy since I can have all of my information updated and available to me whenever I need it with no intervention on my part. I’ve been using it for about 2 months and can’t picture myself living without it. It’s available from Handmark and requires a monthly subscription fee. Give it a try. I think you’ll be as hooked on it as I am.

Let's sum it up.

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