Review: IntelliScreen

IntelliScreen v1.08 | Published by Intelliborn | Via Intelliborn Source | $4.99 - $49.99 (see review)

Overview

From the publisher's site: "Need to know where your next meeting is? Do you have any new email? What about a quick glimpse at your SMS/Text messages or weather? Want to catch the latest news, but Safari is too slow? IntelliScreen™ allows you to glimpse at your critical data on your iPhone "Slide to Unlock" screen!"

Review

For those of you familiar with Windows Mobile applications, IntelliScreen is to the iPhone as SPB Mobile Shell is to Windows Mobile, only with more IntelliDescriptors. It's an attempt to cram as much usability into your "Slide to Unlock" screen as is dimensionally possible, while still maintaining the clean looks and design of the iPhone. How successful is it? Read on...

This is a very comprehensive program, a fact that immediately dawned on me upon opening it and taking a look at the settings screen.

NOTE: Upon first opening IntelliScreen, you have the choice to either retreive a license or cancel. Even if you're just taking a trial of the software, click Retrieve License or your settings won't save. In the settings screen, you can turn the app on or off, change the layout of your info, or change the appearance if you upgrade to the premium package. The rest of the settings are all related to what information you want to display:

A brief summary of the options available in the basic version of the software (more on licensing later):

• Calendar: Display today, the next two days, this week, or up to 100 upcoming items.
• Mail: Display only new, or up to the 100 most recent messages.
• SMS (iPhone only): Display new, or up to the 100 most recent texts.
• Weather: Display for multiple locations in premium only, Celsius or Fahrenheit.
• News: Default feed is from Yahoo! Most Emailed, but you can add your own (premium only).
• Sports: ESPN feeds for all the major leagues, as well as NCAA Men's Football and Women's Basketball.

With the premium package, you also receive:

• IntelliAlerts: smart alerts for new mail, texts, upcoming events, etc.
• IntelliDial: remembers your favorite contacts.
• The option of a second screen, to fit more info.
• And "Upcoming IntelliScreen Features", according to the website.

So, what the result of all this info? In my case, a pretty boss looking unlock screen:

I think this works well for me because I only really want a few things on my screen. Since I rarely set foot outside on workdays, it's nice to know about the weather I'm missing. And I'd like to know what new e-mail I've received. If I tried to fit three or four of the options onto one screen, I think it would get a bit unweildy. Having the options available for the user is fantastic, though. I might never need to know what the latest NHL scores are, but it's nice to have the choice, right?

Speaking of having choices, there's three levels of licensing for this program:

Basic, selling for $4.99, includes the first set of features I detailed.

Premium, selling for $19.99, adds a HUGE amount of functionality, also detailed throughout.

But neither of these provide any customer support, unless you fork over another $20, to get the $49.99 Premium + Support option.

I feel that the basic license is more of a tease than anything else, since most of the usefulness you'd want out of it comes in the premium package. Skinning the layout, adjusting the size of the widgets, adding your own news feeds - all require a premium license.

Which leads to the question: is it worth it?

And my answer would be a definitive "it depends."

If you're going to use the program on a day-to-day basis and it saves you time, I believe this is an excellent choice to aggregate the information on your iPhone for a quick look. On the other hand, I think that charging 2.5x as much to support your software is pretty absurd.

Summary

IntelliUseful and IntelliAttractive, but probably IntelliOverpriced.

Usability: 5 / 5 Value: 3 / 5 Utility: 5 / 5 Aesthetics: 4 / 5

Overall Rating: 4.25 / 5

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