Review of Novasec Pocket Facelift v1.7

Test Platform:

HP Jornada 545
Hitachi SH3 Processor @ 150Mhz
16MB Main Memory

Let's make this clear from the start: I am not what you would call a PDA "power user". My first three years of pen computing were bliss: basking in the monochromatic glow of my top-of-the-line 4MB Casio Pocket Viewer PVS-450. It was fast, it lasted 3 months on a set of Duracell AAA's, it sync'ed with Outlook, and I could play Tetris if I was bored.

And I was happy. Sure, I looked at the Compaq Aero's and HP Jornada's in the cabinet at David Jones thinking how cool it would be to have one of those. But they cost me 5 times more, and didn't really offer me anything more than what I had.

So when my precious Casio was stolen, I cried. No really, I cried. And still do. I am still finding bits of the window that the little thieves smashed to get my priceless treasure. After much soul-searching, I decided that I wasn't betraying Bob (that was my Casio) by purchasing a new PDA. So off I went and bought a second-hand HP Jornada 545. With all the colour screen, MP3 player and massive amount of space, you'd expect that I was happy to move up.

I wasn't. It was bulky and heavy, drank power like Kim Basinger in a really bad 80's film, and Solitare will never be as cool as Tetris. I longed for Bob and pen computing the way it should be - fast, functional and cost-effective.

There is a purpose for that introduction; it provides you with an understanding of where I am coming from when reviewing Novasec's Pocket Facelift. I am not the sort of person who will put up the overhead of a drop in speed of my already-too-slow PDA just so it can look pretty.

So why then would I want to use Pocket Facelift? Doesn't it just allow you to use PocketPC 2002 themes?

Well, yes. And so much more.

Pocket Facelift is a small app with *lot* of features. Its primary function is to allow PPC2000 PDA's to use PPC2002 themes for the "Today" screen. You can turn your boring old "Today" screen into an advertisement for any number of cars, movies, soft-drinks, universities or supermodels. To this I say... meh. Yes, its pretty. No, it does not make it more useful. Even the plethora of other "pretty" options doesn't excite me. Changing fonts, colours, program icons, background images. Blah! I am sure these are really great features for some people. For me, its using 77K of memory that I don't have spare. Give me something useful, or you're outta here!

Why then am I still running Pocket Facelift after a month? I'll give you five reasons:
* cascading Start Menu
* Quick-launch icons
* task-switcher
* persistent time/date
* real "close" button

Cascading Start Menu

The one thing that really annoyed me about my Jornada was the fact that I had to go through about 5 screens to get to launch the applications that I wanted to use. This is solved by Pocket Facelift by using the desktop-Windows cascading menus. Even better than that is the fact that you can customise the menus using the desllxo

Quicklaunch Icons

One of the great features of PPC2002 is the ability to place application icons on the Today screen. Pocket Facelift provides this functionality, allowing you to place as many icons as you like on the screen. A single tap and you're away! Depending on how many icons you decide to cram on there (or how good your aim is with a stylus), you can choose to have the icons in the small or large size.

Task Switcher

One of the most annoying features of PPC2K is the clunky method for switching between programs. Its fine if you only want to switch between the apps that have hardware buttons, but trying to switch between Word and Excel was getting my really annoyed! Thankfully Pocket Facelift has come to my aid again, creating a task-switcher perpetually located in the task bar. Tap once to open, tap again to switch, with pretty icons to boot. Thats the way its supposed to work; nearly as good as Alt-Tab.

Real 'Close' Button

Second only to the native crappy task-switcher is the native crappy "smart" minimize. Look, if I wanted to minimize the program, I would use the crappy task-switcher. I press the "die program die" button to kill the program and free up some vital KB's. Once again Pocket Facelift fills the void, giving you the ability to make those programs die a quick and horrible death. Very nice indeed.

Persistent time/date

Something that I didn't realise that I would use as much as I have is the little date and time bit in the taskbar. I have been using my PDA much more since my purchase of a Stowaway Keyboard and have found that having the time always in view is very useful for not missing buses and/or lectures (my students get very grumpy with me if I am late). A really nice feature.

This is only a short list of the features of Pocket Facelift. There are lots of options for making things look pretty, not least of which is the ability for using PPC2002 themes. You can change the fonts and colours of the taskbar, and if you are the creative type, customize the icons (or you can just download a new set from Novasec's website).

It would be unfair to write this review without mentioning the user forum at the Pocket Facelift website. I have made many visits to the forums and I have been thoroughly impressed with the support offered by the company, as well as the way in which they have taken ideas from users and incorporated them into subsequent releases. If only the makers of the OS would do the same.

The only gripe that I have about this product is that documentation is a little thin on the ground. This isn't too much of an issue to begin with; the application installed for me without a problem and the interface is really simple (Start->Settings->Facelift - duh!) It's only after you want to start trying to do the tricky stuff that you have to start heading for the FAQ (of which there isn't much) and the forums.

I think "Facelift" is a bit of a misnomer for this software. The functionality improvements are more akin to 6 weeks basic military training for PPC200 than an afternoon at the plastic surgeons. This little app has taken PPC2000 and made it the way it should have been done in the first place.

To surmise; a great little application that is worth all of its 77KB overhead. Whether you are after the functionality or the prettiness, you will not be disappointed either way. I still long for my Casio, but at least I can now use my Jornada without calling forth the wrath of evil spirits against the creators of PPC2000.