Page Created: 20th August 1998

      Last Update: 26th March, 2001      

Future Features & Development Plans

The current plans are as follows:-

Below are some of the ideas currently on the drawing board for possible inclusion in future versions.   I'm always on the lookout for new ideas.  As you can see, some of items planned for inclusion have come directly from users suggestions.  So if you've got your own ideas for features please let me know.  If I use them, I'll put your name in the credits.  Ideas I've already received from people in the past are here.

Possible future ideas:

• 'Auto NightClock' feature so that when the Nightclock is set to operate the backlight between certain hours it overrides the "Screen save" logo and present one of the "Clock formats". Lets face it if you wake up in the night and want to know the time from the screen and you have not changed it to the clock it's a bit silly showing the moving Psion picture.  (Idea courtesy of Tony Crocker, UK)

• A 'time-enabled' period for the password - like is currently an option for the backlight.

• 'Life'.  I don't think I've seen 'Life' on the Series 5 yet.  Could be another screen-saver module.

Suggestions Received

I've had a large number of suggestions from people as to possible future features for Clock5 - thanks for all your emails.  Keep them coming.  I'll   implement most of them - eventually.  Unfortunately time constraints (e.g. full time job!) mean it'll be one thing at a time.  Anyway, in no particular order here are some of them:- (contributor's name shown in brackets, crossed out entries mean that I've now used their idea!)

• "My favorite view is the digital clock with calendar. There is room for displaying the seconds in half the size next to the calendar?"   (Bernard Muller)

• "In world view, it would be great to add AM/PM and date in the clock since they are analogic..."   (Bernard Muller)

• "How about an option for a TEXT screen-saver like windows Marquee. This could either be scrolling text, static text, or even the owner information, possible along with a smaller clock display."   (Tim Sneller)

• "When using the count-down timer, is there anyway to set an alarm to go off?  Even a simple "beep" would be a nice addition."   (John Linn)

• "How about letting the CountDown Timer set an alarm - so that you don't have to have the machine switched on to still count down?"   (Thomas Dunkerley)

• "Is it possible to have an alarm that will switch off after some specified time?"   (Avshalom Houri)

• "For the Worldtime, it would be good if the City is selectable from the built-in known cities in Psion, and the time-offset are automatically adjusted."  (Andrew Goh)

• "Allow the user to choose the alarm sound for CountDown. The default sound is too soft and short."  (Andrew Goh)

• "Bug - I realised that when it's passed midnight, say 12.15am, Clock5 voiced it as "Zero, Fiften AM" instead of "Twelve, Fifteen AM". The 24hour time was not set."  (Andrew Goh)

• "When you install a SIS program via PsiWin from a pc, Clock5 is automatically closed (along with everything else) thereby allowing the hacker to access any data on your 5ive.  I realise that hackers aren't usually going to have a copy of PsiWin handy, however one never knows.  Would it be possible to fix this?"   (Mark Woodcock)

• "When someone pushes a key but doesn't give the password within let's say 15 seconds a special warning sound file plays. E.g. I have a sound file from Star Trek: "Automatic defense procedures initiated". It should give people who want to tamper with your machine while it rests innocently on your desk quite a scare. It also would be nice if the screen gave a warning: e.g. Unauthorised trial to access."       (Ivo Moelans)

• "Some times I use my Psion 5 as an alarm clock. It would be so good to see the time in the dark just by pressing the "on key" or by opening the Psion..."  (Benoit Thomachot, Greasque (nearby Aix en Provence), France)

• "what I suggest is in additional to the features you have implemented, include a option to turn on clock at let's say from 9.00am to 17.00am at every switch on & dismiss the password screen for the rest of the day. so it's like during office hours, my Psion is password protected, however, after that, after office hours, I can use my Psion without going pass the password screen. so what do you think?"   (Kaiwei, Singapore)

• "...how about an option to have three or four clocks each showing different country times?"  (Cameron ?)

• "Quick launch key from documents folder"     (Cameron ?)

• "Also, a great suggestion for your application (as I think you have mentioned on the readme.txt file) is the ability to size the digital display and also add the current date underneath the time display in a small font."       (Brian Couitnho)

• "One nice touch you could add, would be to have the option to pulse/flash the ":" every second just some of the real desk clocks do."       (Brian Couitnho)

• "The ability to tap on a date in the calendar view and bring up agenda with that date as current."       (Brian Couitnho)

• "Hourly (and maybe half and quarterly) chimes."        (Bob Norris, UK)

• "Reminder window popping up at regular intervals e.g. "Don't forget Dentist at 3.pm"."       (Bob Norris, UK)

• "Countdown reminder e.g. "Dental appointment in 45 mins (then 30 mins, 20 mins etc)"       (Bob Norris, UK)

• "When running the small analog clock it goes very quickly over the screen and it cannot be seen very good. Would there be a possibility to alter the velocity or just as a suggestion have various small clocks on the screen which are running through the screen either in order or in various different ways, one horizontally, one vertically and so on."      (Eberhard Rompf, Germany)

• "Inquiry: Will a "StopWatch" be implemented to a Clock5 ?"      (Sky, USA)