Winterface version 1.2 now available

It seems Vito Technology never rests, and as a reviewer I have a difficult time keeping up with their updates and innovations. Not long ago I wrote a review of Winterface when it first appeared. Most of the operational and layout features are the same in the new version. For a detailed discussion of the features, I refer you to my previous review: http://www.smartphonemag.com/cms/blog/108/place-winterface-your-desktop.

Here are the new features, improvements, and bug fixes reported by Vito in a recent press release:

• Today plug-in
• add favorite web sites
• Portrait\landscape mode icon switch
• Screens rotation with joystick
• "Close All" button in "Running"
• Clock icon shows indicator when the alarm is on
• SMS-Chat icon shows number of new text messages
• Bluetooth status icon toggles Bluetooth on/off with one press
• Battery icon shows when there is low charge
• Alphabetic ruler for quick scrolling when adding a file

• Bug with notification not visible under the lock screen
• Bug with power icon on HTC Touch HD/ PalmTreo Pro/ Samsung i900
• Winterface lock screen no longer interferes with the default lock screen
• Day of the week is displayed below the date on Calendar icon and the indicator of upcoming events doesn't close the date

I installed Winterface on two WM 6.1 devices to test it: Palm 800w and WMg Zinc II. On neither device could I get the Lock Screen to appear. That is an opening page that is supposed to appear when you turn on the device; it displays the day, time, date, with a padlock that you must slide to the right to unlock the screen. It appears in the screen shot above, but, it didn’t appear for me.

On the Zinc II, a Winterface bar appeared on the Today screen that would invoke the program by tapping it. No such bar appeared on the Treo 800w—curiously different behaviors. I also found that after installing the program, my Zinc II tended to lock up. I believe that there was a conflict between Mobile Shell and Winterface, for the problem disappeared when I removed Mobile Shell. I guess you are more or less forced choose one or the other. Fortunately, they are both good programs that will enhance user experience.

Few, if any, of my wishes in my review seem to have been addressed. But those were merely my opinion. For instance, I thought the somber black and white color scheme was like watching black and white TV. I also lamented that it was not possible to nest files within folders for better organization and easy access as you can in other shells such as SPB Mobile Shell.

You may try it for a 15 days free or purchase it for $19.95. Upgrades from the previous version are $4.95. To check it out, visit www.iwindowsmobile.com.

Text Message Blog

Text Message Blog

The Untapped Potential of Mobile Marketing « So What’s New?

The Untapped Potential of Mobile Marketing « So What’s New?

New PhoneWeaver 1.3.1 release

 

Whatever could be a phone weaver? Someone who weaves phones? If you consider the profile configuration elements of your phone as warp and woof, and the resulting profiles as phone fabric, then you will welcome PhoneWeaver for its amazing functionality whether on autopilot or manual operation.

PhoneWeaver is a Today Screen application that allows users to configure a phone’s profile settings based on such variables as time, appointments, and phone state. These profile settings will automatically control Wi-Fi, push mail, Bluetooth, ringer, and vibrate state. From the Today screen PhoneWeaver panel you can manually turn on/off Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Phone, and email. You can see how many new messages you have in voicemail, email, and SMS/MMS. It also logs missed calls. A tap will call them up for viewing. Launch the settings menu from the Today screen panel where you can control all the inner workings of the beast. For instance, you can create profiles for Mute, Night, Day, Flight, and Car as well as create custom profiles for certain circumstances to which you may assign specific icons that display in the panel.

A variety of skins are available for customizing the look of the PhoneWeaver panel and icons. Optionally, you can place an icon on the tray bar to invoke the program from outside the Today Screen if you wish.

The program is designed to be controlled with one hand and is finger friendly being receptive to thumb gestures for control.

PhoneWeaver is a program you could live without if you didn’t know any better. It’s like being happy with a Chevvy, if you didn’t know you could have a Maserati. Once you’ve experienced the functionality of PhoneWeaver, there’s no going back.

Try it for free, and you will surely want to keep as one of the missing tools not supplied in Windows Mobile. It’s available at http://www.sbsh.net/products/windows_mobile_pocket_pc/phoneweaver and costs $14.95. If you hurry, there’s a special offer that will save you $4.48 and cost only $10.47.

SHSH Pocket Weather 2:1--just released

 

There are many good Today Screen weather programs available these days. I have probably reviewed them all at one time or another. But, Pocket Weather is my favorite. I was disappointed recently when it would not install on a new WM 6.1 unit no matter what I tried. But I was heartened when the new version worked on my Palm Treo WM 6.1 with a 320 x 320 screen.

Weather is certainly a central issue for most people. It can be a matter of life and death sometimes. It is always the first thing I look at when turn on my pocket pal in the morning, and I appreciate its being displayed prominently on my Today Screen. I also like being able to have immediate access to other cities where friends, relatives, and associates reside or cities where I travel. It’s nice to have forecasts and more detailed information should I wish it and weather alerts as well.

In my experience Pocket Weather has always had the most in-depth weather information, enough to please the most demanding meteorologist. For instance, you can view daily forecasts that cover visibility, humidity, dew point, sunrise/sunset times, weather maps, radar images, METAR feeds used by the aviation industry, and even earthquake tracking.

There are a variety of layouts for the display panel that vary the amount of data and its arrangement. You can set the measurement formats and even get wind velocity and direction. If you wish, you can create weather comparison charts for various locations. This is a new feature in the latest release. There are additional, free templates available for download from the SBSH Website.

Another new feature includes icons and skins, also available as free downloads. But the program already comes packed with many options.

What else is new in 2.1?

· D-pad navigation for one-handed control and easy access to the depths of the data

· For those with touch screens and a finger fixation, you will be glad to know that you can also navigate with finger gestures. So see a YouTube demo, go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmIGe33pjp8

· New scripting system that allows designers/users to create custom display layouts. There is a manual on how to do it at http://downloads.sbsh.net/products/pocketp...yout_Manual.pdf

· A redesigned weather console now supports almost every size and shape. That’s why I was so delighted to have it available on my Palm square screen.

· The weather console now support METAR current conditions with raw METAR/TAF data with optional comparative views.

· A new set of icons designed by Juni is also available for download giving the application a new look and feel

· The new skin images support PGN format as well as the older TGA files, but PNG files have a smaller footprint.

· Ability to use multiple weather sources

· And, for you lunatics, there’s even a moon phase view

· For GPS enabled devices, PW will find locations near you, update, and report the local weather. This is a slick and unique feature, but it will drain the battery.

· Now there is also a version available for WM non-touch screens.

If you use SBSH’s Pocket Breeze, you will be pleased to know that Pocket Weather is now an integrated feature. Pocket Breeze is an application that allows you to manage your agenda from your Today Screen. The ability to access Pocket Weather from Pocket Breeze is a considerable convenience. You must have the latest Pocket Breeze 5.4 to take advantage of this option.

Obviously the power of any weather program is its weather data source. While Pocket Weather comes with a highly accurate source, it now allows users to acquire data from a variety of other sources as well. You can even download a weather source template editor from http://downloads.sbsh.net/products/pocketp....00_pctools.zip

If you are looking for a weather station in your pocket, you cannot do better than Pocket Weather. Download a free trail at www.sbsh.net or purchase it for just $14.95. Check with SBSH for the possibility of a $4.95 upgrade.

New: Sandisk Sansa Clip 8MB

Sandisk has announced a new Clip with an 8 GB capacity. This tiny MP3 player has been immensely popular for good reason, but one of the limiting factors has been that it only came in 1, 2, and 4 GB capacities and no expansion card.

The new version should quell the objections, for 8GB is certainly a respectable capacity. I still wish it had a expansion card though like its big brother the Fuze.

Nevertheless, it is a great value with a suggested retail price of only $99 making it even more attractive. It comes in your choice of silver or black. That optional clip really makes it more likeable and practical. Why hasn’t anyone else though of this obvious but simple feature?

For more details, see my recent Sansa Clip review; all the other features are the same.

Tim Hillebrand | Mobility Site

Tim Hillebrand | Mobility Site

Tim Hillebrand | Mobility Site

Tim Hillebrand | Mobility Site

Tim Hillebrand | Mobility Site

Tim Hillebrand | Mobility Site

Tim Hillebrand | Mobility Site

Tim Hillebrand | Mobility Site

Tim Hillebrand | Mobility Site

Tim Hillebrand | Mobility Site

Tim Hillebrand | Mobility Site

Tim Hillebrand | Mobility Site

In Search of a Virtual Cradle: Pocket Controller

Perhaps some of you remember the good old days when every PDA came with a cradle in the box as a standard accessory. In case you never knew the virtues of a cradle, it was a device that acted as an easel for your handheld, charged it, synced with your desktop, and allowed you to view the screen at a suitable angle. Now, you are lucky indeed to find a cradle as a costly peripheral. I miss the good old days and yearn for a cradle.

I have tried various solutions such as going to Staples and finding a business card holder that will hold my pocket pal. But, that can be goofy when the connector is at the bottom, in which case I try setting the device on its side and putting the screen in landscape view.

Then I realized that I already had a perfect solution—a program I’ve been using for years—Soti’s Pocket Controller. I have always been fond of this program and have followed it through its evolution over time, but I had never thought of it as a virtual cradle.

A virtual cradle will allow you to view your handheld’s screen and access it with your mouse and keyboard so that it becomes like another computer screen right on your desktop.

Pocket Controller has many more virtues, however. You can download skins that represent your pocket pal so it looks as if the actual machine is embedded in your monitor. Or, you can simply display the small screen as is. The nice thing is that you can interact with it using the mouse for navigation and your keyboard for inputting.

Pocket Controller (PC) allows you to explore all the files and folders on your handheld and to transfer files back and for the by copy/paste or drag/drop with desktop. You can also explore and tweak the registry. PC has a task manager for viewing all the running processes, not just the programs on your device. You can view detailed system information. PC even offers a DOS prompt box, which is something I’ve never really thought about for a handheld. PC allows you to perform a soft or hard reset of the remote device.

Besides the skins view, PC accommodates changing the background, hiding windows, switching from portrait to landscape, drawing on screens, bringing up Websites, and zooming up to 300%.

In the capture mode, PC lets you print a screen, save it to a file or sync clipboards for pasting into other applications on your handheld or desktop. You can record macros with PC in the capture mode. It also allows you to record video animations. With PC, you can set rules for file and folder synchronization between remote and desktop.

The reason I started using PC in the first place long ago was its ability to capture and record screens, which is great for presentations and publishing.

Frankly, I don’t know what I would have done without PC over the years. But I would usually just invoke it long enough for a screen capture. Now that I realize I can use it for a virtual cradle, I often leave it running all day long. It’s nice to see my little pocket pal’s screen on my desktop and be able to access it as if it were just another computer screen, which of course is what it is actually. So, to heck with the manufacturers that forget to put a cradle in the box. I’ve learned to live without them, and I’m actually better of because of it.

To get your Pocket Controller virtual cradle, go to www.soti.net. Pocket Controller Professional version 6.0 will cost you $35.95. A cradle, should you be fortunate enough to find one, would probably cost just as much, but won’t do as much for you. Accordingly, which would you rather have? I think I’ll pick Pocket Controller and phooey on the good old days. I’ve moved on.

In Search of a Virtual Cradle: True Connect

 

In my disgrundlement that you no longer seem to find a cradle in the box anymore, I am searching for another solution in the form of on-screen viewers. So, instead of your device sitting cuddled in a cradle you can have its little screen embedded on your monitor for easy viewing.

The second program I will review in this series is called True Connect by Raspberry Software. After installing it, your handheld screen will automatically appear on your monitor.

True Connect Pro offers the following features:

· SMS Text Messaging Outlook Integration.

· On Screen Connect - Controlling the device in a PC window.  A useful feature for devices without cradles and with the ability to display in full-screen mode, excellent for demonstrations.

· Cut/Copy/Paste between PC and mobile device.

· Screen Capture.

· PC Keyboard mapping.

· Full operation of the PC mouse on the mobile device.

· Full operation of the PC keyboard on the mobile device.

· Pocket PC and Smartphone Support (Touch-Screen and non Touch-Screen).

· Simple Plug-and-play.  Connect any Windows device and you are ready to use.

· Navigation panel to make hands free calls or use alternative navigation (Smartphone).

· Wheel mouse up/down/left/right scrolling supported.

· Customizable drag edge placement.

· Control all applications and functions on your mobile device.

· Set the PC mouse cursor speed for the device.

There are two other features I should mention. One is that you can use the mouse on the remote device or switch to using it to image on the monitor. The other feature is that the on-screen image can be set to autohide when not in use and slide out when summoned by simply hovering the mouse over a bar dockable on any side of the screen. I really like this feature because it gets the screen out of the way when you don’t need it, but you always know where to find it and get retrieve it whenever you wish. This, to me, is a winning feature that other similar applications lack.

Notice the tool bar above the handheld screen image. It contains icons (from left to right) that pin the screen location, expand the screen 200%, capture the screen image to the clipboard, a settings button, and present a full screen view, which is great for presentations.

The integration of True Connect with Outlook for SMS or text messaging is a brilliant convenience. A new True Connect tool bar appears in the Outlook ribbon that allows you to reply to messages via SMS directly from Outlook. A True Connect folder appears on the Outlook sidebar that contains an Inbox, Deleted Items, Drafts, Outbox, and Sent Items. This feature alone puts True Connect at the head of the pack.

At $29.99, which is probably less than you would pay for a cradle, you have far more functionality than you would with a cradle. Check it out at www.raspberrysoftware.com.

In Search of a Virtual Cradle: mDesktop

Here comes the fourth review in a series that lamented manufacturers not supplying cradles anymore. However, I’m finding that with the new remote viewing applications, maybe we don’t need cradles anymore.

If you ever wished you could control your Windows Mobile device from your desktop using your mouse and full-size keyboard, mDesktop purports to make it possible.

Go to www.motionapps.com to install the program. You can purchase it for $19.95 or install a 7 day trial version. You have the option of installing an icon on your desktop.

Note that mDesktop requires .NET Framework v2.0 to be installed on the desktop computer in order to complete installation. This is not a problem, for it is a free download from Microsoft.

If you need any help getting started, check out the .pdf manual that comes with the program. However, I would say that one of the virtues of the program is that it is highly intuitive.

While the developer seems to promote it primarily as a tool for sending SMS from your desktop, it is far more than that. It virtually allows you to control your mobile device from your desktop, which is an invaluable service for screen captures, data transfer, inputting, and presentations.

When I first connected my device to my desktop and ran the program, it opened in full screen mode, which seemed weird and large to me. However, I soon discovered that I could click on the up arrow in the lower left corner of the screen to give me a more user friendly, slightly larger than life size screen view of my PDA. The program is not scalable in degrees, and that would be a nice feature.

A column of icons appears on the left side of the screen that offers various functions. I will briefly note the function of each icon beginning at the top.

The Phone icon allows you to make calls directly from your desktop using your computer keyboard and mouse.

The SMS icon brings up a screen with threaded chats. All you have to do is click on the one you want and start typing with your desktop keyboard to send out a message conveniently.

The Contacts icon displays a complete list of your contacts and an alphabetical index for easy access. I was disappointed that you cannot edit this file from with mDesktop and consider this a serious shortcoming.

The Calendar icon shows your upcoming appointments and complete calendar, but again, you cannot edit it, which is a pity.

The Camera icon is not a camera as I was expected. Instead, it allows you to view your pictures and to copy or paste them into other applications.

The Folder icon enables you to browse all the files and folders in your handheld device.

The screen icon places a real time image of your Windows Mobile device on your desktop. This is a valuable tool for copying, pasting, inputting, and for screen captures. It is also good for presentations. Sadly, this program will not capture videos nor animations.

The Down arrow icon allows you to drag and drop URLs from your desktop and thereby add then to your Favorites folder. You can also drag, drop, and install CAB files here too, which are both handy features.

The “I” for Information button displays the status of your system with information about your battery life, memory, performance, and more.

This program does allow you to use your desktop keyboard and mouse for navigation and inputting, but I lament that there is no left button mouse functionality. You cannot sync with your mobile device with this program either.

While I was testing the program, it froze. I tried to uninstall it, which it would not do completely. I discovered this when I tried to reinstall it, and it would not reinstall over the old program detritus. The only solution seems to be to remove all program remnants from the registry by hand.

I have been in touch with the developer and have tested three different Beta versions now on both Vista and XP machines with several handheld devices. Unfortunately, I have been unable to get the program to function properly. It may, on occasion, connect long enough to grab an email and SMS count but then disconnects and will not reconnect. The developer is aware of this problem and working on a solution. Perhaps it will work on your machine. It’s worth a try because it offers myriad features.

Go to www.motionapps.com where you can try it out for free. It is reasonably priced at $19.99, but try it first to make certain it works on your setup. Check out some of the company’s other offerings too such as mRing, mVoice, mVisual, and VoiceMail.

In Search of a Virtual Cradle: Mobiola Remote Controller

Continuing with my quest for an on-screen mobile device viewer because manufacturers are too cheap to include cradles anymore, I offer Mobiola Remote Control for your consideration.

I am beginning to learn that the basic features for this type of application must include remote control of device from PC using mouse and keyboard. Other requisites include screen capture, video capture, save to clipboard, save to file and zoom. Mobiola offers a full screen zoom, which is nice for presentations.

All of these attributes are present in Mobiola, but there’s more. This program is unique in offering toolbars and keyboard panels that you can opt in and out. Note the icons on the left toolbar as follows from top to bottom: Copy to Clipboard, Screen Capture, Start/Stop Video Recording, Zoom Out, Zoom In, Full Screen, and Settings. The settings menu allows you to direct where screen shots and videos will be stored. The slider on the right allows you to set the resolution quality. Tabs across the top contain must of the same functions of the sidebar icons with the exception of a help menu that includes a tutorial.

Below, is a view of the octopus with all its tentacles retracted. I appreciate the keyboard for phone dialing from my desktop, but would not use it for text entry or SMS. It is much more convenient to use the computer keyboard.

While Mobiola does not integrate with Outlook as we saw with True Connect, it is certainly easy enough to conduct texting activities on the device in monitor view.

Perhaps one of the most welcome features of Mobiola is the multiple connectivity options. It is possible to connect Mobiola via the traditional USB sync method, but it is also possible to connect through your choice of Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. This is a first in my experience.

Another asset that Mobiola offers is the ability to demo your phone screen through Skype Video conference and record videos directly to YouTube with webcam driver.

Under the Tools tab, you can map the keyboard for 14 shortcuts for such functions as Call, OK, Left Softkey, Right Softkey, Menu, Push to Talk, Terminate and more.

Clearly Mobiola is endowed with a robust set of features. I would certainly give it two thumbs up for it has most of the functionality one would want or expect in a remote viewing application. However, there are some items that I would add to my wish list for future versions. I would like to see a restart button, the ability to edit the register, system information, a task manager, the ability to draw on screens, switch from portrait to landscape, and the option to use actual PDA skins.

Mobiola is reasonably priced at $19.99. You can get a copy or try it for free from the Website at www.shapeservices.com. Check out some of the other impressive programs while you’re there. One I intend to review for sure is an application that turns your pocket pal into a Webcam. Stay tuned for that one.

Get Coupons on Your Mobile Phone Using Cellfire

Get Coupons on Your Mobile Phone Using Cellfire

Direct Dispatch » Blog Archive » Do you want fries with that? Text “Yes” to 8008.

Direct Dispatch » Blog Archive » Do you want fries with that? Text “Yes” to 8008.

France Smartphone, Windows Mobile in all its forms ...

France Smartphone, Windows Mobile in all its forms ...