Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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52 of 54 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
An OK product, but don't expect help if there's trouble, February 11, 2005
I obtained this software in a kit that included the software on CD along with a cable for my phone (LG 1300, a model with no camera, but pretty much everything else).
The packaging for the kit I purchased is quite nice, however, the fancy chart incorporated into the packaging which gives phone compatibility is obviously dated, since my phone is not present on the list but is known to the software.
More interestingly, the CD in my package was blank (not defective, but actually blank!). That was a bit startling. Sending emails to the company (every email address on their web-site) produced absolutely no response. I didn't bother to call since the idea of spending hours trying to reach a customer or tech service by phone that wouldn't respond to email seemed pointless. Anyway, about 6 weeks later a replacement CD showed up in the mail, with no explanatory note.
Interestingly, the replacement CD I received has a label on it that says "if the serial # you have does not start with 'BJ' please replace the first 2 characters of your current serial # with 'BJ'". Evidently, they have had to send out a bunch of these.
I remain totally mystified as to why Susteen didn't acknowledge any one of my emails and simply send me a download site (you can buy the software on-line by download, I believe). I had a valid serial number after all.
As to the software. My install was for XP (SP2). The install was not clean (rejected the serial number, then took it on a second try). The install didn't call for reboot, but I couldn't get connection to my phone until I rebooted, a minor quibble. The software's autodetect feature did not work for my phone, even though it wasn't among the phones the software listed as being problemmatic. I was able to successfully connect by entering my phone id info manually, although connecting this way failed on my first try (which is why I rebooted).
The connection appears to be a USB-serial replacement patch for an earlier serial version of the software. Anyway, the install is actually a series of installs, one of which puts in a driver similar to those for USB-serial adapters, which may explain the somewhat flaky connection issues I experienced.
Once I achieved connection, I was able to upload/download my address info, including the stuff I already had on my phone, an important plus, since managing this was a primary motivation for wanting the software in the first place. Incidentally, this process also took two tries, even after I had successfully made connection. I can't address the issue of syncing with Outlook, since Outlook has caused me enough grief over the years that I long since gave up on trying to sync anything with it. I am interested in seeing if I can sync this software with my PDA, but suspect I will find it will need to be a manual process. Frankly, given the rather low price for the software, I'm just happy that it actually can deal with basic capabilities of my cell phone.
The interface for handling ring-tones (assuming your phone supports this) is impressive given the evident playback limitations of a cell phone. I imported a large midi file and easily dumped it to my phone. Don't expect to do anything complicated with the software (there are much better products, albeit expensive ones, that do this; e.g., Sibelius), but the software does nicely display a staff line for each track, you can change the instrumentation on each track, modify notes, set tempo, and it downloads a reasonable rendition according to what the phone can play back (I dumped a lengthy Bach fugue onto the phone ... I suppose a 3-minute ring tone is a bit excessive, but it gives you the idea).
If your phone has wallpaper background (as my phone does), the software provides an image editor. Just as with the music, you would probably be better off doing image work with another product. Given the very limited display capability of the phone, you can't show much of an image anyway, but I did test it by putting a neat little jpg file I had on hand as my new wallpaper. It certainly distinguishes my phone and is an improvement over the stuff put on the phone by my supplier (Cingular).
The software provides other facilities (calendar, text message management) that I have not tested because these are for features I don't use my phone for (and probably never will).
I can certainly recommend this software. You do need to have a USB cable compatible with your phone. If you are willing to poke around on the web, there are suppliers who provide them for most phones for as little as $10, otherwise do what I did and buy the kit. Perhaps it's because I've used a huge variety of software over the years, but in contrast to other reviewers I found the interface to be just fine. There is a nice pdf documentation file included with the software that provides a pretty complete hand-holding for those not inclined to decipher an interface by trial and error. So why only 3 stars? Well, if you encounter difficulty, it appears to me unlikely that you will get much help from this company. I also thought that the install was unusually clunky. On the other hand, once in, the software appears to be solid and delivers pretty much what I expected it to.
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33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Just throw your money out the window now, it'll save time, May 8, 2006
Too bad we can't give a negative number of stars.
First, recognize that I am an electronics engineer who works with (and sometimes designs parts of) computers every single day of my life, including using/installing incredibly complicated pieces of software that cost thousands of dollars. I am extremely computer savvy and technically literate. Also, recognize that my computer, my OS, and my phone were supposed to be 100% compatible with the Datapilot software.
That having been said, I've just finished spending approximately 6 hours trying to get the software to work with my phone, as well as rehabilitating my computer from the damaged caused by the attempts at getting Datapilot to work.
I've read every bit of the installation instructions. I've read every potentially related article in their "knowledge base". I've tried everything they recommend as well as everything else I could think of, reinstalling things many times over. I've completely verified, by other means, that everything on my end (computer, phone, USB connection, etc.) works just fine with other applications and when used in any other manner *except* with the Datapilot software. I've verified, time and time again, that the drivers are the correct ones according to their instructions, and that the drivers are being installed properly, and that there is absolutely no problem.
Except that Datapilot absolutely will not recognize my phone, no matter what.
I've never requested a refund on any piece of software before, and I've never posted a software review anywhere before, but this is an outrageously bad piece of software. (Or else their compatibility list is a lie.)
Aside from the software just not working, there are problems with various pieces of documentation conflicting with each other, also.
I've requested a refund (I bought the software directly from Datapilot, not through Amazon). However, in detailed searching of their Knowledge Base, I now find that they say that a refund of something bought via credit card may take up to 2 billing cycles (i.e. up to 2 months) to show back up as a refund, which is ridiculous. They also say that they are going to charge a $9.95 "handling fee" regardless of the reason for the refund. The price of the software alone, in downloaded version not on CD, was $34.95. So they are charging nearly 30% of the purchase price for "handling" of something that is not physical and doesn't require any re-stocking or anything like that. And that refund policy is not posted in the normal website any place where you might possible see it before you buy.
Although I've never requested a software refund before, and only once or twice in my life requested a refund on other types of products, at this point I'm prepared to take them to court and spend even more money just for the satisfaction of getting that extra $9.95 back. I've never been more livid about a purchase in my life.
If I don't hear back from them right away and get a full refund very quickly, I'm definitely reporting them to the Better Business Bureau in any case.
The bottom line is that it's a great idea. And you may get lucky (like one or two of the people here)and have it work for you. But for most people it's a complete waste of time and money.
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25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Useful tool, but not quite universal, March 26, 2004
By A Customer
This kit supports most newer phones. It comes with two USB half-cords, and several phone half-cords. One USB cord is actually a serial converter, the other one is passive. The software is an all-in-one package, offering phonebook/ringtone/image/calendar sync and internet dialer, unlike FutureDial's Snap products. The software is well laid-out, however, not all phones support all sync functions. Also, some phones don't support two-way communication - you may be able to upload images, but you can't retrieve them. I gave the product only 3 stars for two reasons. First, the website doesn't mention that some information cannot be pulled from the phone - it can only be pushed to the phone. Second, the package I received had a defective serial converter USB cable - and after having to sit through three customer service reps, who may or may not know what they are doing, on a line that was busy for most of the day, I had to spend more money sending the cable in for exchange. The price is right for all the cables that you get, but there's free bitpim software out there that does the same, and more.
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