I installed SPB Traveler on my Windows Mobile device, it didn’t last more than a day before I removed it.
The most comprehensive piece of software for managing travel itineraries is Worldmate but their licensing is nothing short of thievery. As if the initial price is not bad enough, incredibly, that only gives you use of the software for a year, after which you have to pay another huge fee.
So, when SPB announced Traveler, I thought that Worldmate’s grip on the travel market for Windows Mobile was over but sadly it is not.
SPB traveler is a good-looking applicaton, as are all SPB applications but in terms of functionality it falls way short.
My main gripes:
The only form of transport handled is flights
No hotel management
No flight schedule lookup
Crazy time management which is non-configurable.
Essentially you have a calendar input tool with some pretty pictures and weather lookups.
The time management is a real puzzle. I spend most of my time in Zurich, Switzerland but for me, London is home. Now, Windows Mobile does me no favours when it comes to time zones so I work around it by keeping my time zone as London and changing the time every time I fly.
I have no interest in comparing times between London and Zurich. If I make an appointment for 19:00, it is 19:00 regardless of time zone. While I am in London and make an appointment to meet someone in Zurich at 19:00, I don’t want that changing to 20:00 when I change the time zone on my device, so I leave it.
SPB Traveler does the same. If I book a flight from Zurich to London, the departure time is 19:05 and arrival is 19:45 (both local times) and that is how I want it recorded. Traveler inserts a calendar entry for 18:05 to 19:45 because it converts the departure time to the time zone set on my device, as if I want to keep track of the departure time of my Zurich flight using the London time.
I don’t.
I have no option to keep times as local times, as entered. It makes it useless for me.
SPB applications have started to fall short of what I would call full functionality. Pocket Plus is a great application, same with Diary and Backup but recent additions like Insight (the RSS reader) and Traveler do not cover their ground well enough for me.
I hope Traveler improves because Worldmate does not deserve to survive without competition. Their pricing structure simply cannot be defended.
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