SplashWallet Suite review: SplashWallet Suite

SplashWallet Suite
PDAs do a good job of providing you with the tools for organizing your contacts, appointments, and tasks, but they don't always go beyond the basics. That's where a program such as SplashData's SplashWallet can come in handy. The suite of four applications--SplashMoney, SplashPhoto, SplashID, and SplashShopper--is designed to store the type of information you would typically carry in your wallet, such as identification, credit card numbers, shopping lists, and photos of friends and family. During our tests, we found the software easy to use and helpful for organizing everyday responsibilities. SplashWallet works with Palm OS 4.0 and later and costs $119.95. Yes, it's a tad pricey, but remember, you get four apps for that price. As an alternative, you can buy each program separately for $29.95.

Installation was a breeze as we simply downloaded the software and followed the prompts. During this initial setup, you also have the option of choosing which programs you want for creating desktop shortcuts; if you prefer to keep your desktop clutter-free, we suggest you pay attention during this process. After installing the driver on to our PC, we hooked up our PDA (for our tests, we used the Palm Tungsten E2) and simply performed a HotSync operation. The final step is to enter your registration code--you'll have to do this for each of the four applications--then you're ready to go.

The first program we tried was SplashID. Here, you can store all your personal identification information, such as credit card numbers, e-mail usernames and passwords, frequent-flyer numbers, vehicle info, and more. In addition, SplashID provides a convenient drop-down list of such categories and appropriate icons for easy filing and viewing. The interface is clean and easy to use, and we had no problem entering new information, as well as editing and deleting previous entries. If you've used other third-party software, such as eWallet and CryptInfo, to store your data, you can import that data into SplashID--however, be aware that all entries will be under the Unfiled category, so you'll have to go back and manually categorize each entry.

With all your sensitive information in one place, you're probably wondering about security. By default, SplashID masks certain information such as passwords and credit card numbers, which appear only as four dots. You can unmask the information by hitting the two-dot icon, and you can customize the mask settings under Edit Type on the desktop application or under Custom Field Labels on the handheld application. For a more secure option, you can set and require passwords to gain access to the program. You'll have to manually set the same password for the desktop and the handheld app in order to synchronize between the two. As a final precaution, you can select a preset timeout so that the program automatically locks after a period of nonuse.

Next up is SplashPhoto. With this application, you can organize, edit, and view your digital photos--that is, as long as they're JPEG images. Despite this limitation, SplashPhoto is a handy program. Again, there is a desktop component, and it is here where you'll do the bulk of your work. You can resize and crop images, adjust the contrast and brightness, and rotate the orientation. In addition, you can rename photos, add notes, and file them by user-defined categories. Once you have all your JPEG images to your liking, just sync them with your PDA. SplashPhoto's handheld app acts more like an image viewer more than anything else, but we like the fact that you can create and view slide shows. If you have a Palm Treo 650, Tungsten T5, Zire 72, or any device running Palm OS 5.0 or later, as well as Pocket Tunes 3.0 or AeroPlayer 5.0, you can even set background music to play during your slide show.

SplashMoney is a bit different from the other software in the suite in that there is no desktop application. Instead, it meshes with personal-finance programs such as Intuit's Quicken and Microsoft Money. There are also templates for the various accounts you might have, such as checking, savings, and those for your credit cards, and you can schedule reminders for upcoming transactions and reconcile account statements. In addition, SplashMoney can generate reports and budgets.

Last but not least, there's SplashShopper. This isn't some rudimentary app for creating grocery lists. Aside from groceries, you can create shopping lists for books, gifts, music, wine, and even Chinese takeout. Even better, both the desktop and handheld components have sophisticated functions through which you can categorize each entry, specify quantities, include prices and coupons, note store locations, and so forth. Admittedly, all this can be a bit overwhelming, especially when a simple handwritten list will do, but we found that once we used the program for a couple of days, it was useful not only as a shopping reminder but also for tracking expenses.

SplashData offers a number of support options that are useful and informative. During setup, the program installs comprehensive user guides (as PDFs) for each application, and the company's Web site is also a wealth of information, with a FAQ section and a group forum. If these resources still don't answer your questions, you can submit an e-mail query form with a promised turnaround of one business day.