Android App Review: Exchange by TouchDown

Name:  Exchange by TouchDown
Publisher: Nitrodesk
Price: 5 day free demo, .99 for the key

Description:
With TouchDown™, your office email, calendar and contacts are acquirable right at your fingertips. You can select how long to retain your email on your phone. You can select to download ALL your exchange contacts to TouchDown™ any time you want, but get all changes automatically each time you check your email.

You get swift access to your day’s agenda, optimized for viewing on your phone. You can select to dismiss past events to simplify the view. (Taken directly from the TouchDown website)

Introduction:
While Android’s integrated corporate E-mail and calendar functions will be adequate for most users, in our organization we found them to be absent in a few areas. First, there was no task syncing with the Exchange server. Second, E-mail attachments were unable to be downloaded to our handset. This led to some searching for alternatives. That’s when we came crossways Exchange by TouchDown.

After installing from Android Market, and starting the application, just click the gear button to access the setup wizard. If you’re your own IT department, you should know all of the answers right away. If not, contact your IT department.  Once setup, Exchange by TouchDown will handle all of your corporate E-mail, calendaring, contacts, and tasks.  If you’ve had E-mail and calendar setup on your handset previously, you’ll either want to disable them or remove them completely.

Pros:
E-mail, task, contact, and calendar syncing
Supports syncing by Exchange 2003, Exchange 2007, ActiveSync, and USB to Outlook
Downloads E-mail attachments
Easy to use once setup
Four widgets (universal, E-mail, calendar, tasks)

Cons:
Price (while most companies that can afford an Exchange server won’t notice the hit, users purchasing the software themselves will)
Setup can be difficult if you’re not aware of the settings
Would like more widgets with more size options (I find 3×2 annoying)

Features Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Usability Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Setup Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Widgets Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Final Thoughts:
While this application was nice while I tested it, I found that I personally didn’t need the extra features.  I’ve uninstalled it.  Out of the four users in our organization, only one runs TouchDown.  That being said, for 25% of the DROID users in our organization, there was a need, and TouchDown met it with flying colors

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