Search is great – when you have it

It has been interesting to see how quickly Lifeblog mobile (the Lifeblog app on the phone) and Lifeblog PC (the Lifeblog app on the PC) have been converging in features. From both apps you can browse the timeline, edit items, add notes, send via email, and post to a blog. Sure, there are some differences, such as you can send reply to SMSs and MMSs from Lifeblog mobile. Or, you can blog more items at a time with Lifeblog PC.

But, the key feature I seem to miss on Lifeblog mobile is Search.

Because I can easily search for stuff on Lifeblog PC, I find myself labeling things specifically to easily find them later. For example, I have a running log. Every item in the log is labeled ‘Running’. In Lifeblog PC, all I do is search for ‘Running’ and all the items appear.

But, I also have a ton of stuff in my Favorites that are on the phone. I usually want to show someone something and the only way to find it right now in Lifeblog mobile is to scroll a lot or guess the date of the item. Sigh.

Don’t get me wrong, Lifeblog mobile still does a lot. I think, though, that I might see if I can get in a feature request regarding search on Lifeblog mobile. 😉

PS I’d like to point out that one of the greatest and most dangerous aspects of product creation is when you have all these geeky users (uh, like everyone on our team) who come up with a feature for themselves. My boss calls it ‘the global user group of 1’. Many times one of us proposes a feature that gets quickly knocked down when we realize it is for the specific use case from one of us. Fortunately, the there are a few folks on our team that see that. I, though, am usually oblivious to it. That’s why I am not on the product creation side, I guess.