Fone No Link
OK, I took FoneLink for a spin, and unfortunately, the early results do not seem very encouraging. The application needs to mature a little bit until I am willing to shell out any cash for it.
The first annoyance is that the tryout version is nagware. This is not your average demo which politely reminds you every now and then to register. No, this software is Marge Simpson on steroids and then some, every few clicks:
While the nagging could be excused, the fact that Fone Link goes chasing after null pointers a bit too much is not:
Obviously some part of the equation does not fit – I've tried Fone Link with a MacBook and the N95, and I am yet to be able to perform a passable end user operation (like, say, syncing the calendar events) without the application going down in flames.
The user interface and functionality shows some promise, however, so I am looking forward to a version of Fone Link that can do a bit more than just crash, hopefully with less nagging.
Comments
Better alternative?
After trying phone link and not getting very far, I was suddenly pointed (via Tommi's page) to Nokia's new Nokia Media Transfer app this morning. I expect this will do 90% of what most people will want. Amazingly a full featured, very Mac like app from Nokia! Kudos... :D
http://europe.nokia.com/A4423135
Will not detect any BT devices
I've been trying to set up the demo version to test it out. For some reason, it reports all my BT devices are offline.
FoneLink very encouraging
I agree, the nagging is very annoying.
I'm currently trialling FoneLink on a MacBook with a Nokia E61 and have gotten no crashes so far.
The first backup process synced almost everything (contacts, calendar, photos...) and then stuck at
some of my podcasts. I quit and tried again and this time it synced everything without a hitch.
The certainly needs a little more debugging and polish, but it's very encouraging.
The days where a lot of us have to have Parallels just for the ability to run Nokias PC Suite for backups
are numbered - and that is a great prospect!
Greetings from NovaMedia
Based on my review, I received a very friendly mail from NovaMedia, informing me that they are improving N95 compatibility (apparently, the problems I experienced are phone model specific). And to boot, they offered me a registration key for testing & reviewing the application without the nagging!
12 points go to Germany for customer service and attitude! Big kudos to NovaMedia, and I intend to take the software through its paces with an older phone to isolate the issues to N95 interoperability.
FoneLink
Hello,
thank you very much - this is the best way to improve the program, squash bugs and make it a better experience for every one. I am looking forward to your remarks and ideas ...
Jan Fuellemann (nova media)
Disappointed, beta feel
I bought the application, but I should have tested it more. It has a Beta feel to it. It crashed a few times and it keeps on hanging. I will submit bug reports, but when I pay so much for a simple tool I expect not to be a beta tester.
Well, leason learned.
Hi Edwin
sorry for your experience with FoneLink. We have tested it for some weeks here, but it seems we can never simulate all possible combinations of firmware, network and device. Anyway - all I can promise you is that we are working very hard on the necessary updates and version 1.0.2 will fix the bugs you and others have been reporting to us. Mail to me directly at fuellemann@novamedia.de for any direct questions and thanks for staying with us ...
Jan Fuellemann (nova media)
Crash, but I shant let them burn
I also tried the beta, and it just kept on crashing. But I have to hand it to the germans; I mailed them my crashlog and stuff saturday night at five in the morning. At eleven sunday, I recieved a reply. And no difference in time either, as I´m sitting in Oslo. Do they sleep at all?
I´m guessing this will be a nice little app once they´ve ironed out all the bugs...
Sorry, Mr Fuellemann
Sorry about the third person reply, didn´t see you there.
Looking forward to your next release.
Keep on keeping on