[General Topics] Menneisyys:
UPDATE (01/09/2008):

Combined with the enabled (!) speakerphone and call autorecord of VITO AudioNotes, both the HTC Wizard and the HTC Universal could make acceptable recordings. Note that even if the Wizard was set to "Silent", it automatically switched to speakerphone mode to both play the pre-recorded message and to relay the caller's voice. The Universal, on the other hand, didn't activate the speaker in this mode; therefore, the caller didn't hear the message at all. That is, with the Universal, you will need to set it to at least the lowest, but still enabled volume.

Using VITO AudioNotes in addition to iSecretary is also preferable in that iSecretary only stores the caller's info until you exit it. Unlike with PMRecorder / VITO AudioNotes / Resco Audio Recorder 4 (that is, the three most recommended apps for Windows Mobile call recording), it doesn't store the caller's number or any other data in/along with (for example, in the names) the WAV files it records. Therefore, adding an additional layer of (parallel) recording via VITO AudioNotes not only helps in switching to auto-speaker mode, but also preserves the caller's number / contact name, if any.

note that neither the intro message nor the caller's voice can be switched off. That is, the intro message is returned to the caller via the standard speaker / mike way and not directly. And, of course, the caller's voice, on most models, need to be relayed to the (auto-)speakerphone - with the help of VITO AudioNotes - so that it can be acceptably recorded. This means you won't be able to use this app in a place where silence is required (for example, in a concert). In cases like this, currently, only remote voice mailboxes (see THIS) or the SMS responser applications (see next bullet) will help.

This is certainly an area where Microsoft and the hardware manufacturers should improve on functionality. On Symbian, even in the very old S60v1 (I've myself tested this on my year 2003 N-Gage with the current, 2.05 version of Best Answering Machine), no speakerphone is needed to play back the message to the caller or (locally) record his/her incoming voice. All S60 devices can be used along with a local answering machine software in a completely silent environment - unlike with iSecretary, which must heavily rely on the very loud and disturbing speakerphone mode to make the audio transfer in both directions legible.

some have asked what the difference is between this app,

The Mobile Secretary and Aali Alikoski's recently-updated SMS Notifier (see review of version 1.2 HERE - note that in the new, 1.3 version, there are some WM6 compatibility fixes and it, finally, is auto-started after a reset) is. The major difference is that the latter two apps only send back an SMS message (and an optional Calendar info) to the caller and not a message. In this respect, they're exactly the same as Best SmsMachine on pre-S60v3 Symbian.

However, in silent environments like a theater or a concert, they are the only way (in addition to the mobile operator-based remote voicemail-boxes) to, in some way, respond to the caller because, as has already been pointed out, iSecretary MUST rely on the mike-speakerphone feedback to be able to both record incoming messages and play the intro message back to the caller. Using the speakerphone isn't acceptable in a quiet environment.