Palm Discovery’s Essential Treo App# 5: CallRec

Wow! I can’t believe it’s been so long since I did an Essential Treo App series. Anyway, for those who enjoyed the series, here’s the latest to join the Essential Treo App series: Essential Treo App #5: CallRec.

A voice memo program is one software that you scratch your head sometimes and wonder why Palm decided to remove it from the Treo 650 smartphone. Considering that older Palm devices like the Tungsten T, T2, T3 and many others have a voice memo application, you would assume (yes, remember the “ass” “u” “me” saying) that the Treo 650 would have it, since at the time, it was considered the high end smartphone that could do everything, well, almost everything (but somehow, it was underpowered with very little RAM, processing power, etc but that’s another story). Well, the Treo 650 doesn’t have a voice memo program, although it is somewhat hidden in some ways as I’ve discussed in this posting.

Since the Treo doesn’t offer a true voice memo program in the Treo 650, I guess we’ll have to find a third party program that can do it. And Qmobilsoft’s CallRec program fits that very well. Actually, the program is really more of a phone call recorder program than a voice memo program, although I personally use it a more as a voice memo program than a phone call recorder program.

CallRec, as it name describes, is a call recorder program. It will record both your outgoing calls as well as incoming calls so that you can have a good quality voice recording of the phone call.

Before everyone starts jumping on me regarding privacy issues, obviously, yes, there are privacy issues, but for most of us, I think that we record the phone conversation mainly for personal benefits, such as recalling what was discussed, rather than using it for other unethical reasons. You may want to let the other party know that the call is being recorded before you start the conversation, or opt to not have it automatically record either outgoing or incoming calls. Or, you have it set to ask you before it records the conversation so that you can opt to start or not start recording. I personally use CallRec to remind myself of what’s discussed because sometimes, we forget about appointments or what was discussed. At least, I find that I do.

So, having a voice recorder program can be extremely helpful, especially with regards to those important phone calls where time and place or details are discussed. And most of us don’t normally have a notepad handy to be writing the details down (although you can put the call on speakerphone in the Treo and launch your Memo or Calendar or other programs while still on the call to put the details down). So, with a program like Callrec, you don’t need it. The program will record the entire call and should you need to refer to what was discussed, whether it’s an address, an appointment time, directions, project details, etc, you will be able to play it back at a later time. And provided you keep the recording, you can refer back to it whenever you need to. Again, keep the privacy issue in mind with regards to this program, especially if you are working in a corporate environment and use your Treo for a lot of business calls.

For those who want to skip over all the detailed review and just want a summary, you can jump to the review summary

CallRec, as I’ve already mentioned, besides being a phone call recorder program can also be a voice memo program, where you can easily activate it and record yourself a quick reminder, or a daily diary or daily memo, or an audio note, or even record someone’s address or phone number without having to fiddle around with the keyboard/keypad to input it. Or whatever else ideas you can come up with. In essence, it’s an audio recorder program that you can activate and record whatever you want in a way that you can put to use later.

I personally use CallRec mostly for this capability because it’s so easy to use, especially when I am busy doing other important things like driving my car. I have it set up that CallRec will immediately start recording upon two presses of the side button. So, when I need to record something I see, like gas prices at a specific location, or a quick reminder of what to do, etc, I simply have CallRec program start the recording without causing much of a distraction. And when I’m done, I press the side button twice again and it’s done. Obviously, I can play it back later to remind myself of those voice memos and notes. It can’t get any easier than that!

If recording a phone call, whether incoming or outgoing, you can set it to automatically be recording when the call is placed or connected, or set it to record either only outgoing or incoming calls or disable it altogether (although that would somewhat defeat the purpose of this program) but that option is available. I find it extremely useful as I no longer have to scramble for a notepad when taking calls because CallRec has the entire conversation recorded. I can always refer back to it to clarify, verify or recall what was said.

Here’s a video of the CallRec program:

CallRec video review on YouTube

Here are my observations:

I really love this program. It’s so easy to set up and use and I love being able to have the program automatically record my incoming and outgoing calls. The audio recording is quite amazing as the output is amazing clear and sharp, unlike the horrible audio quality of the default Palm audio recording software (via the Camcorder and Photos app since there is no Voice Memo app in the Treo 650). Even using a stripped off Voice Memo application (only for testing) from other Palm devices and trying it out on the Treo 650, the resulting file is still of very poor quality. The sound crackles and the voice is muffled and some higher end will be extremely distorted. No one in their right mind would seriously rely on the subpar Palm voice memo program for voice recordings on a long term basis, unless they can’t afford to purchase a third party program like Callrec.

I would suggest having the ability to set specific filters in the program, so that, the program wouldn’t automatically start recording when on incoming call from certain phone number or an outgoing call to a specific phone number. I think it can be very helpful and useful. But of course, you can always simply delete the recordings or start the recording at any time during the conversation, but having the filters can save some time. As well, if the filtering can place specific calls to different folders for easy management.

I would also suggest that CallRec could be better integrated with the Calendar/Date book program, especially third party programs like Datebk5/6 (which I use myself) because I find that it is especially useful and helpful if I can record a voice memo with CallRec and then use it as an alarm set up at a specific time in the future. That way, I can easily remind myself to “buy milk” just before I get home from work. As many Palm users have done with the voice memo app in the older Palm devices, it would be very useful to have that functionality back in the Treo 650. Yes, I know. The voice memo app was brought back in later Treo models. It’s just us Treo 650 owners that are out of luck.

Although that is the case, I still think it is still worthwhile to check out CallRec, even for those Treos that have the voice memo program mainly because the voice memo program in the Treos do not support phone call recording AND, and this is a big AND, the quality of the voice recording is so much better with the CallRec that you can’t seriously consider paying for the default voice memo app on the Treo if it’s out in the market.

I’ve been using CallRec for years and love it for its ease of use and stability. I rely on it for a lot of quick voice memos and phone call recording.

Review Summary

CallRec is an amazing problem in that it not only works as a voice memo recorder but also as a telephone call recorder. The most important aspect of the program is that it records those important things that may otherwise slip your mind. Make a voice recording of whatever you’re doing at the moment and it’s there for retrieval later. Details mentioned during a phone call that you forgot to write down but there’s CallRec to play back what was said. It’s such an important program in my mind that I think you should give it a try too. The program has been very stable and very easy to use. I’d strongly recommend it!

What do you think? Do you like CallRec? What other similar voice recording programs do you use that you think works great?

Check out CallRec at the following online stores:

CallRec at Handango

CallRec at OnlyTreo/MobiHand

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