Comments on: Simprit Releases Free GridMagic Community Edition

By: luc-mobile

luc-mobile — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 05:39:33 +0000

How about a very lightning quick review of Grid Magic? I just gave it a quick spin because I thought it might be suitable for a need I’ve had for some time. Spoiler: it doesn’t.
.
The first deal breaker is that it does not open or save spreadsheets on the SD card. It seems to be made to handle attachments only. That attitude seems to be everywhere in the Blackberry way of doing things and it is beginning to annoy me badly. The life-in-the-cloud approach is welcome, but unacceptable if offered as the only way.
.
I was hoping to turn Grid Magic into some quick and dirty database app, but it is not suitable. I can open a spreadsheet. Great. Then I can switch to full screen view. That’s really great too. But then I want to close the app and have to get out of full screen view, close the current spreadsheet, then finally close the program. I really wish I could exit the program or at least send it to the background with one single key press. Then I launch it again and I wish I could have that same previous spreadsheet opened automatically, and on full screen view too! But in reality I have to scroll down, pick the spreadsheet in a list again, open it again then press TWO keys to make it full screen again. Not agile. The problem with most applications: they don’t see and explore their own potential entirely, they just anticipate the most dumb and limited of all possible uses. That’s a shame.
.
There is one nice thing about Grid Magic that Berryreview did not mention (including the review of the paid version: http://www.berryreview.com/2007/12/26/review-gridmagic-excel-comes-to-your-blackberry/ ) and I really like: data integration. If a cell contains an e-mail address, a certain key combination clicked on that cell will launch the e-mail program with that address filled in as the recipient. If a cell contains a URL, the browser will open it. And if the cell contains a phone number, the phone application will launch and dial it with no delay. That’s a smart idea. Note that the free version of Grid Magic won’t do that. You must buy at least the Standard version to have that feature.
.
Unfortunately for me, Grid Magic is really just a spreadsheet program, not a database. The data integration feature is what really called my attention. I wish JavatekMedia had put in their “trackIT Custom Edition” application. I wrote to JavatekMedia a while ago asking for that feature, I still haven’t lost my hope.
.
Apart from my own selfish woes, it is a very polished little app. Typing and formatting information in it was a breeze, and the zoom function is a very welcome addition. A very acceptable alternative to anyone who needs nothing but some spreadsheeting and doesn’t want to go all the way in terms of cash and device memory with a full “Office” suite solution.

By: OpenCOD.org - Opensource BlackBerry Projects | BerryReview

OpenCOD.org - Opensource BlackBerry Projects | BerryReview — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 17:55:47 +0000

[...] far I only see 3 projects there but I think the idea has quite a bit of value. Simprit has tried a similar idea when they opened their Free Software Community with a free version of their Excel based GridMagic [...]

By: Ronen Halevy

Ronen Halevy — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 15:15:41 +0000

I have always heard promises from Dynoplex to support this feature but nobody has ever confirmed it. I try not to install any dynoplex software because it brings any device to a crawl. I installed it on my previous 8800 and I had to reimage the whole OS just to get rid of the slowdowns it caused!

By: luc-mobile

luc-mobile — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 00:41:47 +0000

I think it is possible to open Excel documents from the SD card with Dynoplex’s eCell/eOffice. But it’s just my guess. Check their site and/or support if you’re really interested.

By: Review: GridMagic - Excel comes to your BlackBerry | BerryReview

Review: GridMagic - Excel comes to your BlackBerry | BerryReview — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 16:38:29 +0000

[...] is also a new free Community Edition that we mentioned previously which is free for personal use and is quite functional. For more just make the [...]

By: hyedipin

hyedipin — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 21:11:03 +0000

Thanks Ronen, yes I can open the ones I receive by attachment, however I would like to be able to open ones that I save on my memory card. I don’t think we could create spreadsheets on BB directly. I don’t generally need to create anything, I just would like to be able to open the ones I saved previously (since I delete the original e-mails frequently.)

Thanks.

By: Ronen Halevy

Ronen Halevy — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:45:41 +0000

Hyedipin,
If I am not mistaken you can open excel sheets that you have received as attachments. You can also sync excel sheets with your desktop using the desktop manager. Last of all you seem to also be able to create spreadsheets on your BlackBerry.
So far I have not found a way to open excel files that are on the memory card. Personally I think the reason is that it converts the Excel file to a different format.

By: hyedipin

hyedipin — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:23:09 +0000

Question,
Will this allow me to OPEN any excel sheet that I have saved on my Blackberry? I hate the fact that BB won’t let you open files that you have on your memory card.

By: Ronen Halevy

Ronen Halevy — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 17:07:23 +0000

Hey you know us. We like free stuff You may also want to check out beamberry as an alternative attachment reader is you dont need editing capabilities. It is free during beta and the beta has not ended for months…

By: benedict

benedict — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 16:59:37 +0000

Looks like good stuff there.. I like there other product MiniSafe and Ringtones… thanks for sharing