DocHawk for Blackberry

Date reviewed: 4/7/06
Version reviewed: 2.0.0299
Price as reviewed: 59.95 USD
Free to try?: Yes
Website:http://www.handango.com/PlatformProd...64848&R=164848
Vendor: Terratial Technologies
Installation:Application Loader via USB
File size: 90Kb
Compatible Models: OS 4.0 and newer
Category: Email Solution

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How many times a day do you receive an attachment on your email? Most of the attachments that I recieve are .PDF's and word attachments. If you have used the standard attachment application that comes with the more current OS's available today, you know that there is much left to be desired. Sometimes, I can barely make out what I am looking at on the screen. I thought to myself, man I would kill for an application that could give me a true Adobe Acrobat like view! I stumbled across DocHawk. I liked the looks, so I am bringing it to you.

This is a program that can utilize your current email settings and enhance your email viewing pleasure. Upon accessing the application, only a small amount of configuration is required to get up and running. Once you receive an email, you are set and ready to go. No need to go in to DocHawk and open the email and then the attachments, you are given an option to open the attachments via DocHawk right from your messages option screen.




Once you select open with DocHawk, a pop up appears alerting you that you are opening with DocHawk. Seemless and easy, just like a good application should be.





Once your attachments have been accessed, you are given a main screen. In that screen you see the subject, the number of pages, the date and the time that the attachment was uploaded. They are color coded as well as to the status of the upload. Blue means pending, green means uploaded successfully, and red means that there was an error uploading.


You press the trackwheel and you are given a list of options. By selecting View Page 1, you are taken in to the document view. In my opinion, this is one of the most impressive aspects of this application. It takes document viewing on the Blackberry to a whole new level.




The main page view....



Your options don't just stop there. Like every true PDF viewer, you are given the options of zooming. Now usually this is standard among some viewers (I know my treo had this option, but it was not this easy). You can zoom from 150% to 25% in the blink of an eye. You can jump to the top of the document or bottom, just as quick.




Since DocHawk accesses your attachments through your network coverage, there might be sometimes when you want to access a document when you dont have great coverage. DocHawk figured a way around that, saving pages locally. This way, you can access your pages that you need, no matter what.





The saved pages screen




You may wonder if your documents are protected and secure when they are in the network traffic. The answer to that, is yes my friend. DocHawk provides encryption of your PIN and IMEI for your protection. Another BIG BIG BIG benefit to DocHawk is that you only have to enter a password for say, a 20 page document, once. That saves you time and hassle.

DocHawk 2.0 Platinum Enterprise Server for Blackberry is now available as well. DocHawk is great because it requires no changes in your IT infrastructure, meaning less work for you. The requirements for this to function properly are as follows (keep in mind that if not compliant, the program will self-destruct.... just kidding!!!)
1GB of RAM, 50GB of free Hard drive space, POP-3 compliant email address, Windows XP or Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Office 2003 and Adobe Acrobat 7 Reader.
"Blackberry Enterprise Server is not required. No required changes are required of your BES." *

This application is versatile and instrumental in accessing your attachments. I believe that this is a beneficial purchase for anyone who relies on their important documents outside of the office. Without this program, your just stuck with a less than adequate attachement viewer.

I give this application 4 out of 5 Blackberry's

I enjoy reading your reviews. Perhaps the forum need a seperate "Reviews" section. I wouldn't like to see the site get too subdivided, but more "formal" reviews like the one above deserve to be in s special area imho

We are hopefully going to be creating a new fourm devoted to reviews soon.

Pretty expensive for one year. But I quess not if company is picking it up

I have used DocHawk for about a month. I have had several technial issues (using it through BES). I haveidnetified the issues as both on the DocHawk end and on the BES end. Technical service from DocHawk has been very good, and they will call you and walk you through the issues. That being said, the service tends to be slow (even when on EDGE), it tends to jam up with large pdfs, and in my mind still needs some tweaking. Final comment: When it works, it is great, & far surpasses the BB viewer.

I hope the company can continue to perfect the product.

Anyone know how it compares with eOffice? I'm very dissapointed with eOffice- slow, frequently never comes back from saving a doc so it can be viewed, and CS has been down right surly to deal with. Sorry to vent.

I will be doing an Eoffice review here in the future, so keep an eye out for it.

As for jamming of Dochawk. I had one instance in which a PDF file would not properly download, but nothing other than that. I suggested some ideas that they need to incorporate in their future version releases (such as being able to rotate a document). I have asked the producers to keep me updated on any releases and updates. They assured me they would.

I use the Dochawk service and have been EXTREMELY pleased with it. I have been a subscriber for about a month. I use an 8700c on Cingular with BES that we host directly. While the BES attachment service is useful, the visibility of various document formats other than .doc, .xls, .pdf, .ppt was lacking and not flexible enough. So far, I have not gotten an attachment of various varieties that I have not been able see using Dochawk.

I rarely need to do any editing of documents on my Blackberry but I have a mutliple-times-a-day need to review documents on the Blackberry.

George

hi does any one know why im getting "No HTTP connection is available right now (so3)" some times its a s02 or s05, its dochawk 2.0, and we do have signal when it does it...

hope some one can help

thanks kelly
new to dochawk 2.0 and blackberry's

It seems that you can view MS Office attachments but can you edit, make new Word documents or Power Points etc. Thanks.

how does this compare to repligo?

Chalk me up as a pleased customer of DocHawk. It's a little tough to get used to the interface, but if you are patient, it is well worth it. I use it on my 8700c and it's all good. Customer service is responsive as well.

Note that this is SUBSCRIPTION-base software... (ugh)
$59.95/year or $19.95/3-months.
Still may be worth it until there are some alternatives available.
They state that it is a service because a large part of the conversions take place on their servers.