TamsPPC – the Windows Phone Blog

Use the discount code VISKEEPER to get 20% off the product’s list price in the TamsShop!
Password managers are dime-a-dozen – good password managers are rare now that Resco has discontinued its IDGuard product. Can VisKeeper stack up?

Starting VisKeeper for the first time presents you with a pretty thorough “introduction”. It is shown as a series of notes stored in the program – not at all a bad idea.

VisKeeper generally adheres to the “template-and-object” design. According to SFR, they had it first – but it was made really popular by SPB Wallet. It defines that you first create a template specifying the fields needed:

And then fill in the fields in order to create an entry.

Entries can be arranged into folders, and text notes can be stored everywhere:

A very basic search tool is also included:

One of the most impressive features of VisKeeper it its ‘image password’ – a tap sequence on an image of choice can be used in Vislieu of a password:

Unfortunately, you must activate the password manager manually. If it is not “armed”, everybody can access your stored password by following the tutorial sequence.

Another thing which made me angry is that the program forces you to use the UI in the language set up in the Prefs. As I use an Austrian locale, this means that I am stuck with German – other programs allow you to choose the language in a more flexible fashion.

This review looked at VisKeeper version 3.2.2 on an XPERIA X1 running its stock distribution of Windows Mobile 6.1. The program needs 1228KB of memory and can be installed onto an external memory card.

In the end, VisKeeper is an extremely useful password manager once you wrap your head around some of its peculiarities. Being forced to activate the password manually is stupid – other than that, there’s little not to like. The price of 10$ for the stand-alone and 20$ for the PC-enabled versions is humane.

SPB Pocket Plus is a feature-rich today plugin that allows you to basically control your whole system from the today screen. It is skinnable and fully customizable.

If you choose to install via Activesync(a CAB installer is available on SPB’s website as well), you are given the option to choose what elements of the program to install. The choices are; Today Plugin, Button Mapper enhancement, File Explorer enhancement, Internet Explorer enhancement, Enhanced save/open dialog, safe mode, smart scrolling, and Switch Programs(Alt + Tab). For the purpose of this review, I only installed the Today plugin which was 1.83 MB, but if you chose to install other componentshere it would be a larger installation. Only 2.49 MB for all features though, so this app leaves a relatively small footprint compared to a lot of similar apps out there. Also, after choosing which bits you want to install, it will ask if you want to install the trial or the registered version. If you purchase the program and have a key, here is where you would enter it after selecting “Install registered version” and clicking Next. After that, you will see a screen asking if you’d like to try a 15-day trial of SPB Diary & SPB weather. If you choose to install these as well, the installer then proceeds to download them at that point.

On to the plugin! On your today screen SPB Pocket Plus gives you 5 main tabs upon first installation.

Home tab- Battery meter, brightness meter, file explorer, Word, Excel, Notes, and Powerpoint.

Media tab- WMP, Pics & Videos, Bubblebreaker, Solitaire, Screen-off button, Mute button, and a Sound settings button.

Internet tab- Text messages, Internet Explorer, Windows Live Messenger, and 3 smaller icons for Internet Sharing, Activesync, and Remote Desktop.

Programs tab- About 100 tiny icons for EVERY program that is on your device.

Tools/settings tab- Buttons for soft resetting, changing themes, screen-rotation, clock/alarm settings, and 5 smaller buttons- Remove programs, Screen settings, Today settings, Button settings, and regional settings.

Buttons & links can be removed or added to your preferences. Same thing with tabs, you can delete the default tabs or add your own custom tabs. You can set it to auto-arrange items so you don’t have to rearrange them yourself after customizing, and you can add any link to any screen, whether it be a program, file, folder, or even a contact. The program launcher tab was my favorite, you can launch any program on your device from those tiny little icons. I also thought the screen brightness slider was a nifty little widget, and it worked quite well. There are a bunch of different skins available from SPB’s website as well. The come in EXE form so you will need to install via Activesync.

Performance- SPB PP was amazingly fast. I usually use HTC Sense, AKA Touchflo 3D, so I’m used to a bit of a lag, but this plugin was extremely snappy. Screen taps were immediately registered, and programs & settings launched almost instantaneously. I noticed zero lags, even with my phone underclocked to 384 MHZ.

There is really not much more to say about this program, it’s pretty straightforward & incredibly simple to use and customize. To customize or change skins, all you do is tap & hold, and follow the dialogs. I found this program to be thorough but not overwhelming, and the skins are a nice touch. I didn’t notice any bugs during use. It’s a very solid program, and I highly recommend it.

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Here is the second part of Kristin Werning’s review of Resco Contact Manager. Those of you who missed the first part can find it here…
RCM features a dialer skin that replaces the default dialer. It has large buttons and displays your last dialed calls, much like the default dialer. There is an SMS button next to the number buttons, which when pressed allows you to instantly compose an SMS to the highlighted phone number.

You can also save numbers in your call history to your contacts. There is also an option to have RCM replace the standard caller ID with a custom full screen caller ID with slide-to-answer. This feature can be disabled in the settings menu, but if you want full screen caller ID, here you go.

RCM replaces the standard Outlook text messaging app with a much smoother, more intuitive interface. Anyone Windows Mobile user who texts a lot has most likely grown frustrated with Outlook at some point, so it’s really nice to have RCM ‘fix’ text messaging. Usage is much the same as Outlook, but faster, smarter, & easier on the eyes.

You can view messaging statistics, place calls, and export your messages in CSV or XML format. Very neat. I can think of at least 3 times in the past where I could have really used this function so it’s a wonderful feature to have. Texts can be displayed either individually or threaded.

This review looked at the 2nd edition of Resco Contact Manager, on a Touch Pro 2 running MightyRom. It takes approximately 3mb of memory. It will not run from a storage card, as far as I know. I attempted to install it to my card, but got a message urging me to install to main memory.

I’m sure I’m probably missing some things, but that should show you just how many features this program really has! It is easily the most powerful & complete contact manager available, in this reviewers opinion. One more neat feature- it’s skinnable. Though I was not able to find any skins online, there is a black one provided with the program, and I believe I read somewhere that there will eventually be a skin editor. I did not encounter any lockups or crashes while using this program, you can tell Resco spent a lot of time polishing it to perfection. The only minor glitch i did notice was that sometimes the bluetooth/wifi controls on the today plugin did not always work right. I had to manually go into the bluetooth settings to change my visibility one time, and another time my wifi remained on after I set it to off via the plugin.

I am a touch cookie to impress when it comes to Windows Mobile apps. I have high standards & very little tolerance for glitches or shoddy programs, and I am really impressed with this Resco Contact Manager. You do not have to be a businessman to find it useful either, it’s good for both business users and casual users who just want a more intuitive interface. I highly recommend it.

Resco Contact Manager(hereafter abbreviated to RCM) is a very robust, thorough program, so this will be a relatively thorough review. It has so many features it is almost overwhelming at first, but once you spend a little time playing around with it, you learn how it works rather quickly. Everything is pretty self-explanatory, and there are no confusing or hidden menus or useless options you will never use.

RCM replaces the default Windows Mobile contacts app, AKA Outlook. It replaces it with a visually pleasing, finger-friendly interface that scrolls like butter with a mere flick of the finger. When you open the contacts, you have buttons at the bottom of the screen for favorites, contacts, history, SMS, and keypad.

Tap & hold on a contact and you get a nice little popup with options to Call the person, send them an SMS, send the contact via bluetooth, SMS, MMS vCard, or email, edit the contact, delete it, or link the contact to your Facebook account.

If you choose to link it to your Facebook account, it takes you to a login screen where you enter your email & password, and there is an option to remember your password which I found pretty neat.

Unfortunately, I rarely use Facebook and have long since forgotten my password, so I was not able to test the performance of the facebook integration. I would prefer Myspace integration as well, hopefully that will be added in future releases .You can completely manage your contacts with this program- add & edit contacts, add/delete photos, even take new contact pistures on the fly & add them instantly. In a nutshell- LOTS of options!

RCM features a today plugin that has all sorts of functions. It is actually my favorite feature of the whole program. It displays the time, your alarms, contacts(faves, SMS, call history, and Email), connectivity(Bluetooth, WiFi, cellular radio), sound profiles, and a lock button which initiates the default phone lock. It has a transparent background, which is nice if you use custom wallpapers on your today screen like I do.

When you switch to landscape the plugin reorients itself instantly, no lagging that I noticed. The sound profile option is really cool, you can completely control your sounds from the today screen. It even allows you to select your ringtone on the custom profile tab. My favorite thing about the today plugin- the buttons are customizable. Tap & hold and you get a popup menu that allows you to delete and add shortcuts. It allows you to add individual contacts, connectivity icons, the keylock button, applications, or documents. You can have up to five rows of stuff in this plugin. Very cool! I use HTC Home as a program launcher normally & this is able to completely replace it. Note- this plugin will not display if you are using TouchFlo 3D.

Tune in soon for Part 2!

RNS::’s HiLauncher for Palm OS can be considered the staple food of Palmary launcherness – it remains the most commonly used “start menu” for the operating system. Microsoft’s decision to abandon the classic start menu on WM 6.5 motivated RNS:: to port…can HiLauncher stack up in the new environment?

After setting up HiLauncher, the product immediately displays a “basic configuration wizard”. It allows you to configure the most essential things immediately:

Once this is done, the program takes over the start menu immediately. Customization happens via a control panel which is displayed in the Programs view:

Unlike the traditional start menu, HiLauncher supports a variety of special items. Things like status indicators and toggles are a non-issue:

As are multi-level folder hierarchies:

Customization can be done in an extremely flexible fashion – the shots below show a few of the available font settings:

Unfortunately, replacing a core system component never is easy. For example, the default programs view still omits all programs on the start menu – if they aren’t on the RNS menu, you can’t access them anymore.

This review looked at version 1.0.1 of HiLauncher on an XPERIA X1 running its stock distribution of Windows Mobile 6.1. As the program needs but 500k of memory, it should definitely go into RAM to reduce latencies.

In the end, RNS’s HiLauncher is a must-have for all who dislike the WM 6.5 start menu. All others have to evaluate the benefits against the somewhat high cost (15$ without rebate) and the speed penalty of replacing a core Windows component – I personally feel that the added possibilities are worth the minimal extra delay…

Recently, a ROM dump of the XPERIA X2 was leaked to xda-developers. As the hardware of the box is essentially unchanged from the X1, hackers were quick to try backporting stuff…and were largely successful. Sony Ericsson’s TileWave panel is hailed as one of the key features of the new device – but can it be ran on an X1?

An insider source recently provided me with a cab file called “SE Tilwave Panel.cab”, which installed onto my device without any issues. No further CABs were provided. However, getting it up and running is not as easy.

The first step involves opening the panel list, and going into “panel management mode”:

Then, click an empty space and assign the TileWave panel to it:

When this is done, activate the panel. It will take a few seconds to load:

Unfortunately, the panel is not particularly useful. Here are a few shots of its limited offerings:

Getting rid of it is difficult, as the XPERIA panel manager of the R3A ROM is blocked while the panel is running. The only way to switch to a different panel is switching the device on and off again. This must also be done prior to uninstallation.

In the end, I struggle to see much value in the panel. Yes, it works – but I have since booted it off my handset and have returned to the default today screen.

Microsoft’s Windows Mobile has traditionally been an enterprise user’s darling – features like its domain integration made the product extremely easy to manage. However, not all is good: the IMAP client is not exactly useful. Can FlexMail stack up?

WebIS’s flagship product is centered across two views – one of the two is the folder list. It shows all ‘accounts’ on the handset:

Clicking on a folder lets you look at the emails. A Outlook-style preview panel is available for easy viewing:

When opening an email, the sender data is not shown immediately – you have to scroll up for the full scoop:

FlexMail might not be too flexible when it comes to formatting outgoing email. However, it allows for a variety of quoting styles and can even manage and request (!!!) read receipts:

Background downloading of emails is a non-issue. The program presents itself pretty chatty and makes extensive use of notifications:

Power users will be delighted to hear about the multi-window capabilities of the program. They allow you to edit one email and look at another one ‘at the same time’.

Version 4.1 added threaded SMS support:

While this is not bad on its own, it blocks access to the default SMS/MMS tool via the start menu:

For future versions, webIS must definitely overhaul the contact management – if I enter an email address once, I want it cached…even if it isn’t in the address book. Furthermore, the program still crashes from time to time (approx 1 in 1000 emails, device restart required) – this is unavoidable for a HTML renderer, but should be minimized.

This review looked at version 4.10 of FlexMail on an XPERIA X1 running its stock version of Windows Mobile. Memory usage starts out at 5MB, and then depends on the number and size of emails downloaded. Running FlexMail from a memory card is possible, even though RAM installs tend to deliver more speed.

In the end, my delay at writing this review can and should be the best possible endorsement for the program. It has managed my email without one outage for the last year – if you own an IMAP server, throw the 10$ on the table NOW. You would be stupid not to…

Use the discount code DONTGETWET to get 20% off HandyWeather in the TamsShop!
Displaying weather information was one of the oldest usage scenarios for smartphones. Since the humble beginnings, these programs have evolved significantly…some even go as far as to offer animated 3D globes.

All of this is nice and dandy when you are in a club – but when it comes to a panel for the today screen, lean is king. Can HandyWeather stack up?

Starting HandyWeather for the first time pushes you through an introduction wizard, which helps you set up the basics:

Picking a city works well, but is slow due to the annoying animations:

Once the wizard is gone, you find yourself confronted with the following screen:

Tapping around on icons and the menu then lets you access a variety of other options including a detailed 24h “weather radar view”:

The real reason most users install a program like HandyWeather is its today plug-in. HandyWeather’s plugin is lean, and can be customized comfortably to take up comparatively little space:

As for customization, the product generally goes a long way – you can modify everything except for the highly annoying animated transitions:

Unfortunately, Paragon had to add an extra craplet to the launcher:

This review looked at version 4.00 of HandyWeather on an XPERIA X1 running its stock version of Windows Mobile 6.1. The program needs about 3800KB of memory and can be installed into RAM or onto an external memory card.

Turn it around and around, but HandyWeather always remains about 2MB less fat than its competitors. Of course, it also is less flashy – but is very close to an ideal no-frills weather software. If Paragon would allow users to disable the flashy animations, eliminate the annoying icon and would clear up the GUI a bit, we had a clear winner here. As it stands now, the price of 17$ is insane…

Use the discount code CHEAPSPBTV to get 20% off the program’s retail price in the TamsShop!

3G connections, faster CPUs and falling data have opened doors for various applications which used to be impossible in the past. Mobile TV is one of these areas: what once required clumsy reception gadgetry, is now offered for free by many carriers.

Unfortunately, carrier TV solutions are usually limited to a few “broad appeal” channels, and omit high-quality news and finance channels. SPB TV wants to fill the void – but can it stack up?

The home screen of the program contains a scrollable list of channels along with a preview of the currently-running program:

Some programs stream a TV program, which is displayed by SPB TV:

Reminders can be created easily – and are actually written into your device’s calendar discreetly:

Channels stream in very high quality, but can neither be recorded nor be kept playing while in the background. In fact, even screenshots turn out all black:

SPB TV allows you to hide channels which you do not want:

As already said before, SPB TV offers many channels which are not offered by any carrier solution. I am currently pursuing a list of channels, and will post it here as soon as I can get it from the company.

This review looked at version 1.0.0 b461 of SPB TV on an XPERIA X1 running its stock distribution of Windows Mobile 6.1. Three-G coverage was provided by Hutchison Austria. BTW: SPB TV needs 4850KB of RAM and can be installed onto an external memory card.

People who are happy with the channels offered by their carrier won’t need SPB TV. Everybody else should rush and pay the 15 dollars – the money is well invested if you need one of the TV channels on the go (think N-TV or BloomBerg) and are on an unlimited data plan…

If your Windows Mobile-phone is web-enabled, then this program is a must-have. Depending on your mobile-phone carrier and contract, browsing can be very expensive – all the more if you have no idea, how many data has been transferred.
An example: with my phone carrier, 1 MB costs 0,24€. Now if you’re a Youtube enthusiast and watch ~10 videos (one around 10 MB) in a week, you would have to pay 24€ only for internet!
Spb Wireless Monitor helps to keep your expenses low by counting the internet traffic and notifying when you reached a previous set limit. Let’s take a closer look:

After starting up the program, you will see this screen with the most important functions. Open up the first function and you will see statistics about the internet usage. The program differentiates between the different types of internet connections: USB, WiFi, the data plan of your mobile carrier or other connections available. After choosing the type of connection, Spb Wireless Monitor displays which program used how much web traffic over this particular connection. These statistics can be displayed as a detailed list or as a diagram – a very clear way to present them.

In addition, you can limit the time range of the data which should be displayed, for example the program can display only the transferred data volume of the last month. This is very useful, if you’ve a one-month volume flat. If you’ve previously entered the rate, Spb Wireless Monitor even shows how much you had to pay for your web trip.
Another nice feature are the notifications. The user can create as many notifications as he wishes. Spb Wireless Monitor can notify the user, if a determined volume or a determined cost-limit was reached. An example for a possible notification:

Notify me, if the daily volume exceeds 20 MB over the connection 3G Internet

If this notification is active, the program displays a pop up message, if you used your mobile 3G internet connection and downloaded 20 MB of data, or watched some videos on Youtube which were 20 MB big in total, or if you just browsed web pages…

For those who like to have an overview over their expenses on the desktop computer, the export function might be a handy feature. The user can chose the connection, and the time range of the data which should be exported, then with a tap on the ‘Export’-button, the chosen data will be saved to a file. Supported output file formats are HTML and comma seperated values (CSV).

The last option in the main menu calls up the configuration dialog of the Spb Wireless Monitor today screen plugin. By default, data of all available connections are shown on the today screen. In this configuration dialog, the different connections can be hidden or shown.

Conclusion

If you use your phone for mobile surfing, you should use this program – only then you have a clean and precise overview over your expenses and which program caused them.

Opera Mobile 9.7 is considered a magic box by many: features like 3D-accelerated scrolling, a powerful proxy in the backend and a variety of other options should theoretically give all other devices a run for their money. But can it really stack up?

Installing the program takes a few minutes – in case you already had Opera on your box, you will then find a total of two icons:

The new browser has a different start-up animation:

And furthermore has a different theme:

A zoom slider is finally available for comfortable zooming: the dreaded grey checkerboard now pops up a lot less:

Unfortunately, the rendering engine still has some eekers which were not present in 9.5 – the image below shows our sister site TamsPalm:

Surprisingly, Opera Mobile 9.5 gets it done without any eekers:

The status bar at the bottom is now a lot wider, which wastes screen real estate:

Closing tabs can no longer be done via a button at the top – it now requires two clicks:

Opera Mobile 9.7 furthermore does away with the highly annoying XML errors (ridiculed here) – which means that web sites like The Daily WTF can now be accessed easily…

In the end, the browser feels a lot faster than its predecessor…but can not stack up fully due to its horrible handling and rendering engine eekers. If Opera manages to get the rendering back in line, this could well be their next bestseller…

P.S. Stay tuned – SunSpider benchmark test reports follow shortly…

Use the discount code CHEAPERAIKO to get 20% off SecuWipe in the TamsShop!

The advent of Flash-based handhelds and smartphones brought us freedom from data loss…but came at a very high price: deleted data can easily be recovered from a flash chip. Aiko Solutions SecuWipe is the first file shredder for Windows Mobile…but can it stack up?

SecuWipe has a well-done home screen where actions can be triggered. Unfortunately, some dialogs take up to 20 seconds to open:

Wiping always follows the same scheme. You first select one or more victims:

Afterwards, the security level is specified:

Finally, the wiping process starts:

A very detailed help file explains program operation and available overwriting methods:

This review looked at version 1.0.0 of SecuWipe on an XPERIA X1 running its stock version of Windows Mobile 6.1. SecuWipe needs 636KB of memory and can be installed onto an external memory card. Program stability was ok except for some display eekers due to the 800×480 screen:

In the end, the high price of about 32$ after a TamsShop rebate of 20 percent makes this product too expensive for the average user. Security-conscious users will be happy though.

P.S. Don’t think about using the trial to wipe free space on a handheld before selling it – the trial version does not support this feature…

Apples touchscreen devices managed to raise a huge ruckus due to their excellent YouTube integration. This was hardly surprising, as the mobile video application was preinstalled onto each and every device and was furthermore optimized to the devices hardware. Windows Mobile just got a native client – can in stack up?

After starting up for the first time, the product displays a disclaimer and a terms-of-use agreement. As of this writing, very few countries are covered:

YouTube Mobile’s home screen is pictured below – searching videos can be done via the text field. Unfortunately, the generation of the home screen can take up to 20 seconds, thereby defeating the idea of the mobile client in the first place:

The display of search results could literally be taken from a book of bad GUI design:

Finally, a look at video playback. The controls are hidden most of the time, and pop up only when the screen is touched:

Just in case anybody of you is asking himself about settings or options: there are none. Deleting search history and/or “private data” must be done from the Help menu:

This review looked at version 2.0.2 of YouTube Mobile on a Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 running its stock distribution of Windows Mobile 6.1. The program needs 1506KB of memory and can be installed onto an external memory card.

In the end, YouTube for Windows Mobile excels in nothing but eating up memory: the 1500KB can definitely be used more efficiently. The program is slower than the dedicated web site, and doesn’t offer significantly better video qualiţy. Fail!

Windows Mobile phones have evolved out of the PocketPC/Windows CE platform – a platform notable for its contact management power and multimedia handhelds. Phone support was an afterthought added in 2002…and even though the UI has improved a lot since then, it still lacks at least some of the polish inherent in other platforms. Resco’s Contact Manager wants to fix this – but can it stack up?

RCM consists of multiple modules which are integrated into a folder of the programs folder:

The program furthermore attaches itself to the ’start call’ key of your handset. While the screen may look a bit overwhelming at first glance, it is extremely useful – you can enter both numbers and contacts easily (in a T9esque fashion):

BTW: the little SMS icon allows you to SMS a contact directly…

RCM displays detailed statistics for each contact – you can easily find out whom you called when and how long you talked:

Resco Contact Manager furthermore acts as a threaded SMS viewer:

The real strength of RCM is its ability to handle contacts with associated photos. Once a photo is associated with a contact, the product displays it whenever the contact is referenced:

Unfortunately, the folks at Resco’s could not resist the urge to create a today plugin. It uses an obscene amount of space and IMHO offers little value, as it can not be configured:

This review looked at version 1.10 of Resco Contact Manager on a Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1. RCM needs 1917KB of memory and can be installed onto an external memory card.

In the end, Resco Contact Manager can likely save you quite a few clicks. If the boys at Resco’s would add a graphical contact chooser like the one found in UltimatePhone for Palm OS and add a few small tweaks(like displaying the currently active network), RCM would be a total must have. As it stands now, the price of 25$ is too steep…but keeping an eye on it is a great idea…

Use the discount code RSS4CHEAP to get 20% off the product’s list price (20$) in the TamsShop!
While RSS is almost universally loathed by blog operators (RSS readers dont display sponsor ads,…), users can save a lot of time with them when it comes to reading multiple blogs at once. This has always been an application for handhelds (anyone remember Plucker?) – but lets see which of the RSS readers for Windows Mobile is best?

Our first contender is SPB’s Insight. The product displays a settings wizard while being installed, and contains a today plug-in:

Channels can be added to Insight easily. SPB has chosen to store the list of feeds online: while this requires you to download a catalog every time you wish to use the built-in list, it also makes sure that all channels advertised actually exist:

Once your channels are in the list, updating them is easy:

Feeds can even be displayed while being updated – SPB apparently dislikes waiting as much as I do:

The rendering quality of the product is good (read: Pocket IE). To cut a long story short: all my test feeds rendered well, embedded images were displayed.

This review looked at version of SPB Insight on an XPERIA X1. The product needs 2276KB of memory and can be installed onto an external memory card.

In the end, SPB Insight is a good reader with a lethal flaw: it does not allow you to bookmark articles for later processing. If you can live with this omission, take the trial of this program for a spin. If not, stay tuned for the next program!