It’s unbelievable to think that, after all these years, Microsoft still hasn’t gotten repeating alarms working right in Windows Mobile 6. I work in the Information Technology field and my team has a rotating pager duty. Most of them have BlackBerry devices, which offer no problems in the way of alarms. When I stepped out and got a Tilt, I knew that I would need to get a program to augment alarms, because missing a network emergency page during the night just won’t fly.

Four years ago I bought alarmToday (from pocketMax) for this need, and I was surprised that my serial number still worked. What I liked about alarmToday back then (and don’t like now) is how alarmToday took up room on the Today screen. Since I am using the HTC Home Today plug-in, alarmToday doesn’t work for me now and takes up precious screen real estate that other items are competing for.

So I started looking for an alternative. And lo and behold, pocketMax had created a similar product called alarmPal.

Click after the break for the rundown.

This new program is like the MTV Plugged version. It’s more stripped down but works great and retains most of the same functionality. You have the option of running alarmPal minimized on the Today screen, hidden, or in the title bar. I prefer to leave it running as an icon on the Today screen, in the lower-right corner. When you tap on it, a menu pops up with some options.

You can access the obvious Exit, Disable, and Settings options. Dial Fav pops open a box with the last ten incoming and/or outgoing calls made on your phone, and you can quickly dial them. Task Switcher is exactly what it sounds like: a pop-up box of running applications with an option to close an app at a time or close them all in one stroke. The alarmNotes option allows you to create quick hand-drawn or voice notes that have alarms attached to them. They are perfect for quick reminders that don’t require a full-fledged task or appointment.

When selecting Settings, you’ll see a window with several tabs.

Under the Display tab, you can set how the application will run, the language, and an interesting option of setting alarmPal to run between specific times.

The meat and potatoes of the application is the Repeat tab. Here you set the number and frequency for the alarms as well as power and vibrate options. Why is it so hard for Microsoft to implement this?

The Alarms tab allows you to select what events you want to trigger alarms for, as well as selecting a folder for alarmNotes.

The Sounds tab allows you to set, curiously enough, the sounds for each event type (SMS, Voicemail,etc.).

Overall, alarmPal is an excellent, low-footprint solution for repeating alarms. It simply works, and when it comes to repeating alarms, that’s all you can ask. The alarmNotes, dialing, and task switcher functionality are great value-added extras. If you already own alarmToday, you can purchase an upgrade to alarmPal for $7.23 (as of the recent currency conversion rate when I purchased it). Otherwise it’s roughly $11, and worth every penny.

Posted by Doug Smith | Filed under: Software

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