24 November 2009

Swiss Manager Pro S60
Manage Your Smartphone In Detail

CellPhoneSoft, that was previously better know for their work in UIQ platform, has recently released Swiss Manager Pro S60 - a surprisingly deep package of tools fitted inside a single application for Symbian 3rd and 5th edition devices.

It’s not a big secret that there has been a noticeable lack of quality new releases coming to the Symbian platform, be it 3rd party applications or exciting games. So it’s always heartwarming to learn of an occasional new gem finding it’s way to our beloved S60 land. I’m here to tell you what exactly makes Swiss Manager stand out from the rest of the crowd.

But before we move on, let’s take a quick look of what Swiss Manager has to offer:

• Task manager, system information, file navigator in one application.
• Full control over running and installed programs.
• Advanced memory cleanup functions to maximize free memory, both manually and automatically.
• Useful system information (device characteristics, system uptime, status reports, and much more).
• File manager providing fast and convenient operations (copy, move, delete, rename, etc.).
• Status icon displaying time, free memory, CPU usage, battery level, and drive usage.
• Floating menu for instant access to all major services.
• Fully customizable Favorite list for convenient application launch.
• Recent list providing automated access to the most frequently used programs.
• Key-press shortcuts for all major functions.
• Many options for full customization and convenient use.

As I’ve been part of the beta testing team for the S60 version of Swiss Manager, I had the opportunity to spend a considerable amount of time with the application prior to it’s release. The application surprised me from the very start with the sheer number of features which made the testing even more demanding and fun at the same time. To ensure a better understanding of what Swiss Manager can do, I’ll split the review into two sections.

The management tools

If we would break Swiss manager down to it’s core functions, we would get roughly 3 standalone tool sets that a smartphone user might find extremely useful in different situations: a task manager, a system information tool and a file manager.

Swiss manager core functions are accessible in two different ways: the usual way, by finding the application in the menus or - a more efficient route - by simply tapping the on-screen status icon (it’s possible to remove that element altogether – more on this later on).

First in line is the task manager. As with many other functions of Swiss Manager, it doesn’t immediately impress, but a closer look reveals an awful lot of options that would keep even the biggest tech geek quite busy. Aside the standard functions set that you might come to expect from a task manager, there’s a possibility to view and close hidden processes that are running in the background, as well as have an overview of any user installed or built-in applications. The ‘info’ panel not only provides with any relevant information but also allows the user to change how task manager handles a particular application.

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This is especially vital if the user chooses to run the memory cleanup utility that closes any background applications. The upside is that memory management feature works flawlessly here and reclaims a good chunk of lost Ram, potentially saving many owners from doing the tedious task of rebooting their smartphones.

There’s also an option to add any application to a separate favourites list for a quicker access via the already mentioned on-screen status icon.

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The second included major set of features is the system information tool that does exactly what the name implies - it provides an accurate look at everything non-application related. Be it smartphone’s hardware resources like cpu clock speed and memory, or simply phone’s firmware version and IMEI, this tool gathers all the necessary, and sometimes not so much, data in a single list, divided into easy to understand sub-categories. By tapping the ‘Function’ tab, it’s also possible to reboot the device and calibrate the touchscreen.

It’s hard to list every possibility in a single sentence, and therefore the users are highly encouraged to explore by themselves what new can they learn about their devices with this interesting tool.

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The Swiss manager package is complete with it’s own file manager. Visually it does look rather simplistic, yet it offers some extra features over the S60 built-in file manager. First of all, the 3 tabs above the soft keys ensure a faster paced work without the need to scroll down in the context menus, and switching between different drives is a breeze as well. Secondly, the mentioned ‘Info’ tab gives considerably more detailed look with additional fields of information on the file. Needles to say, the options to sort, move and rename files are all present, and only I miss the ‘open with’ and thumbnail preview features that would doubtlessly sweeten the user experience. As shown in the screen below, the file manager is also fully competent at working with hidden system files if the need for applying hacks would ever arrive.

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The personalization options

One of my most favourite things about the Swiss Manager is the depth of how I can customize the app, and I’ll look more closely into that now. All of the necessary options to change the appearance and behaviour of Swiss Manager are split into 4 separate pages in the settings menu.
First of all, the user can change the size of font, decide if the phone handles Swiss Manager as a system application, or fine tune the parameters of the memory cleanup utility, like when should it be performed and how aggressively.

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Like I previously mentioned, the status icon provides a quicker access to all the major functions of Swiss manager, and that element can be easily dragged across the screen and locked firmly into place.

The biggest portion in the settings is dedicated to this handy feature, and here it’s possible to alter the appearance with different sizes and indicator colours. If the user feels that there’s too much information cramped into a single spot, there’s also an option to remove the unnecessary status bars and instead have the icon only display available free Ram and CPU usage bar.

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On a personal note, in the future updates I’d like to see more options to choose for the icon text. One extremely useful thing I can think of is a small traffic counter and a network/wlan transfer speed gauge.

It may take a little time to get a complete understanding of what can be done here, but the apparent gain is that everyone can tweak the settings to closely match with the preferred style of usage.

The verdict

While having a 256 Mb of Ram equipped smartphone I’m probably not in the best position to appreciate all the advantages that the powerful memory management tool bring to the table, yet I’ve still managed to find a number of other features that were quite useful. For example, I’ve grown into the habit of using the on-screen status icon to quickly access my favourite and most used apps, and it does infuse more life into the default and boring looking S60 homescreen.

Of course, there’s always room for improvements. The file manager is still rather simplistic in face of the competition and lacks the much needed eye candy, and a built-in autostart feature would be nice to have as well. But what’s more important, is that Swiss Manager doesn’t disappoint on what it promises. The included features actually improve the smartphone experience rather than becoming a nuisance after a while.

For now, only a Pro version of Swiss Manager is available to purchase for 14.21 EUR ($19.95), and anyone interested can download the fully featured two week trial version beforehand to see how well it suits them. Due to user feedback, a cheaper, Lite version of Swiss Manager will possibly be released in the near future, that would only feature the task manager with the same memory manager functionality, and a simplified version of status icon.

So there you have it, Swiss Manager Pro S60 turned out to be a solid new entry in the Symbian app catalogue that is worth checking out. If you want to manage your smartphone in detail while limiting your expenses to a single app purchase, than Swiss Manger fits the bill perfectly.