FileMaker Mobile

Rating:
Summary: Good DB solution for the mac
Review: Filemaker Mobile was simply in the right place at the right time. While on the pc side, you can sync your palmos device with outlook, unless you buy Office 2001, you cannot do that on a mac with the provided software. Which didn't really matter, all our client records were in our filemaker database anyway. Filemaker mobile provided us with a way to take our contact infomation with us, versus manually imputing 900 records. Installation was simple, all it requires is that you specify what fields you want echoed on the mobile device. The next HotSync takes a bit longer, but worked well. 900 records of general contact infomation plus the app itself took up under 300k of memory.

On the negative side, apparently, updates only work one way. So if the main database has a change, and the palm has a change, you have to duplicate a record and then manually re-edit. One-way updates work fine, either way you pick, although you do have to specify which database is the correct one. Also, because of the size of the screen, records in list form are centered, in that the title of the field is cut off on the left side. Minor problem, but can make reading similarly titled fields difficult.

Altogether a nice application, with just minor issues.

Rating:
Summary: A bit of a let-down
Review: Filemaker Pro is a great product. It's power lies in its relational capabilities and its scripting and calculation capabilities. I have been able to generate solutions to data storage and data relationships that even take me by surprise. The capability and flexibility of the product to layout information is better than any other software I've used.

These are just some of the reasons that Filemaker Mobile is a dissapointment.

A new user of Filemaker Pro may start by building flat databases that are little more than lists of items. Pretty quickly, however, the power of the product becomes apparent, and the user will be using relationships, calculations and scripts. Filemaker Mobile gives you none of these capabilities, and if you buy it, you'll be stuck where you began: building flat databases that are little more than shopping lists. So if your happy to fork out for this product only to find that the only thing worth synchronising is the database that contains your CD collection (the first one you ever designed), then go for it. Serious users should forget all the great applications that you thought this product would be able to provide when you heard the product was to become available.

Filemaker PLEASE release a Palm product worthy of your moniker.

Rating:
Summary: Lousy Product / Lousy Technical Support
Review: I hoped that this mobile version of Filemaker would be up to the standards of Filemaker 5, but it fell far short. FM mobile allows you to transfer only 20 fields of your database. Furthermore, you can't transfer calculation fields and you can't use pop-up menus.There's probably more that can't be done, but I returned it before I could find out. FM Sync/JFile is a sync/database application that allows more fields and doesn't have the other limits of Filemaker mobile.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I hoped that this mobile version of Filemaker would be up to the standards of Filemaker 5, but it fell far short. FM mobile allows you to transfer only 20 fields of your database. Furthermore, you can't transfer calculation fields and you can't use pop-up menus.There's probably more that can't be done, but I returned it before I could find out. FM Sync/JFile is a sync/database application that allows more fields and doesn't have the other limits of Filemaker mobile.

Rating:
Summary: Lousy Product / Lousy Technical Support
Review: There must be something than this better out there. Though it says it's compatible with Windows 95+, the download version doesn't install properly on Windows 98 and the technical support team is a joke. Once you get it installed, the Palm-side databases are limited in function.