Last updated: October 4, 2001

The REX 6000 "Wish-list"

Please email me with your suggestions!

Our most important "wish" as of 9/1/01 - that Intel sells the REX to another company that will know how to update and market it effectively!!

INTERFACE/FUNCTIONS:

Provide visual confirmation for all screen taps (e.g., quick reverse video, as on the buttons on the keyboard screen)

Provide full stylus navigation on all screens - allow users to enter, use, and exit all screens (to return up to the Main Menu, if desired) via the stylus. (E.g., as within the Web function.)

Provide fixed width fonts option in the notes tool and/or option to choose font set

Options (like sort order) in various screens should be “sticky.” If a user chooses to sort contacts by first name, Contacts should stay sorted first name on the REX. Also on the keyboard in Memos or Contacts, if I choose Caps Lock, then it should stay as the default. It does this for the Task List.

Provide a "magnify" feature to allow users to temporarily enlarge the text on the screen.

Bring category information for calendar events and tasks to allow filtering of those items on the REX by category.

Allow password protected entry/modification of user-information directly on the REX. (Currently requires REX Tools.)

SEARCH ability for text strings in contacts, tasks, calendar, memos and web modules

Rex should have 2 on-screen keyboards that are context sensitive. The current one is great for text, but when one goes to enter a phone number a numeric only keypad should pop up.

Memos:

Provide an option for reading Memos a page at a time by pressing the "down/up" keys or tapping on the down/up arrows (as in the Web pags).

Calendar:

Bugs:

• In the week-view the appointments are shown 1 hour earlier [if the top of the shown hours are reference, otherwise it's even 2 hours]
• Only the first 29 characters of an appointment are shown. In the day-view that's expected because og limited space, however in the detailed view it certainly should be shown completely.

Suggestions in Calendar:

• Provide capability to link appointments to contacts during appointment setup (as on REX 5000)
• For recurring events - allow users to choose to delete one occurrence of a recurring event. (As on REX 5000.) Currently can only delete all instances of the recurring event on the REX 6000.
• The possibility for a default setting for the alarm for events[eg 15 minutes/1 hour/1 day]
• In week-view a reference mark fot the hours [eg small horizontal line at the exact hour and between the double hours like 9 and 11 o'clock]. This is especially important because of the lack of end-time in the day-view, so the week-view is essential for planning events.
• A tap in the week-view opens a new event at the "tapped" time and day [speeds up adding new appointments]
• Place in events: choice menu of the 5 [or more] last inserted locations [speeds up making appointments], as in Outlook
• Show current time in the following screens: day, new event [setting place/time/alarm], modify event. This is usefull for planning or resetting alarm.
• Show small arrow in week-view above and/or below the day when there are events not shown before resp. after the visible period on screen.

Tasks:

Bugs:

• Recurring events get "fanned" on the REX and turn into dozens of individual tasks, depending on the number of recurrences set in Outlook.
• Alarms for Tasks appear on the REX one day earlier than they are set in Outlook.

SYNC

Speed up sync

Provide support for more PIMs

Bug: Fix recurring appointment problems

Allow sync of memos and contacts created on REX to specific Outlook Notes and Contacts folders

Provide tools/process to simplify upgrade from REX 3 REX Pro/5000

Support syncing .txt, .rtf and .doc files in a particular directory on the desktop PC to the REX 6000 as an alternative to synching Outlook or IMD notes. (This will help support CE device users.)

MUST have more REX device Contacts fields to sync to various phone and e-mail fields in Outlook Contacts. The omission of multiple critical fields, including Pager, is a SERIOUS shortcoming

OPERATION

Speed up operations on the REX (e.g., can take 2 seconds to move forward one day in the calendar)

Fix "leaky" REX memory when entering items on the REX (entering info on the REX uses up memory rapidly)

WEB/REX.NET:

Expand movie listings to all states

Expand movie listings to countries outside the US

Allow for a greater number of movie theaters for download of show listings (currently limited to three)

Add TV listings to REX NET

Allow user selection of specific news web sites for download of top stories

Provide a function to download web pages to the REX with formatting "relatively" intact (e.g., line breaks, paragraphs, internal page links, etc.)

Bug: For words with apostrophes Web articles, the apostrophe is preceded by a capital A with a tilde over it.

Bug: Stories are sometimes repeated in the same category

Provide more "global" content - current content is heavily biased towards the US.

To alert users of changing content on rex.net, add a "channel" for info about changes at rex.net, bulletins and announcements, etc.

Add Rex Rumor Central as a "channel" of web content

Add Zagat restaurant guide/subscription service like the palm has

Add last 6 months of video releases, with some kind of rating to tell in Blockbuster which are losers

Provide more extensive movie reviews (currently four or five at most are included)

Provide map download from Yahoo.maps or Mapquest, etc.

ADD-INS:

Release a #*$&@%^ REX 6000 SDK!!

Increase the allowable number of add-ins that can be loaded at one time (currently 8)

Increase the allowable size of each add-in (currently 8K)

Add-ins desired:

Expense Report (there is a Japanese version of this already)

Financial calculator

Golf score keeper (great idea!)

Solitaire (a must have!)

Tetris (written to run in REX "vertically" along the long axis

Map application (to read maps downloaded from Maps.yahoo or Mapquest, etc.)

Conversion factor: "A little add-in program that lets me put in square meters and get acres or Newtons/meter square and get Atmospheres or Torr"

Exercise manager/tracker (directions, timing, tracking weights/reps/activities)

Diet guide

"Lite" spreadsheet add-in. Something small with the just the essential mathematical functions.

PACKAGING/HARDWARE:

Place a second metal plate (user removable for those who wish to avoid the additional weight) in the screen side of the REX case to provide full protection from damage

Add "eject" button to USB cradle

Modify USB cradle so the light doesn't blink constantly!

Allow use of the REX while in the cradle (serial or USB) and not syncing.

Provide multiple sound levels for alarm (add an option to select a louder tone) - current alarm often isn't loud enough.