Windows Mobile Louisville

You know it’s a significant software change when you go from version 3.5 right to version 5.x! 

Unlike all the previous versions of SPB Mobile Shell available exclusively for Windows Mobile smartphones with touchscreens, version 5.0 is to be released for Android, Windows Mobile and Symbian. Thanks to the new portable SPB UI Engine, SPB Mobile Shell is planned to be spread to more mobile platforms.

Major updates to the new version include a new 3D engine and an improved social networking integration. The former means support for new types of eye candy effects such as 3D Media Player, 3D Photo Viewer, 3D Weather, dynamic 3D widgets and more, while the latter involves message, contacts, photo and status sync with popular services, namely Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

One important innovation in SPB Mobile Shell 5.0 is the Natural Interaction Engine which includes support for G-sensor and multitouch, a dedicated Feedback Engine providing realistic visual and haptic responses, and a Physics Engine responsible for the real-world behavior of all objects.

Can’t wait to see it!

SPB Software has released SPB Time 3, a major update to this very popular app.  The updated version offers a completely new user interface and significantly improved alarm features.  SPB Time 3 provides three different types of alarms - Paranoid, Bio, and Classic.

SPB Time 3 also makes use of SPB Mobile Shell’s widget system. Four widgets are available for those who already have Mobile Shell version 3.5.1 and higher: City Time, Moon Phase, Next Alarm and Stop Watch.

SPB Time 3 is compatible with Windows Mobile 5 and higher. It may be purchased for $14.95.  There is a 15-day free trial version.  Users of any previous versions of SPB Time are able to upgrade with a 50% discount, and if you have purchased it within the last 90 days, upgrades are free.

Ahh, the lure of SPB products!   When I got my new HTC Touch Pro2 at the beginning of the month, I vowed that I would stick with the default TouchFLO 3D on the device for a while, giving it a chance and running it through it’s paces (typically, I have been a Mobile Shell affectionado).   I was doing fine until I received an email from SPB this weekend, with a review copy of version 3.5 of Mobile Shell.   In all honesty, I have been quite pleased with the improvements to TF3D, so I wasn’t feeling compelled to install Shell or any other UI at the moment.  HTC made some improvements in areas I felt were lacking before, so the UI is pretty darned good. 

But simply knowing that SPB has been in the woodshed hammering out enhancements to Mobile Shell had me very tempted.  I mean, who doesn’t get excited when SPB releases something?!   Needless to say, I installed version 3.5 of Mobile Shell and began playing.  Here are my findings… (more…)

Spb has released a Beta update to Mobile Shell 3.0, SPB Mobile Shell 3.0.1 Beta 1.  The update Beta fixes several “bugs” in the original and adds a few minor features. According to SPB, the release is not designed to add additional “standalone” features but rather to fix known bugs and add small features.

The application is supposed to be more responsive to the touch. One fix was to resolve the tremendously slow screen rotation between portrait and landscape modes. The rotation speed was back to normal levels (maybe a hair faster) when you extend the keyboard on a device such as the AT&T Fuze or Sprint Touch Pro.

A few of the more notable additions/fixes with the Beta include the addition of a “Show Today” widget; the addition of a “Remove All” command in the call log menu, and support for the “call” button in certain screens. From an individual contact screen, when you highlight the desired number to call and hit your “call” button the number is now dialed. In the original 3.0, the “call” button pulled up your dial screen.

There’s no word from Spb when the update will be finalized and it’s nice to see the prompt response Spb has made in addressing these issues. The Beta can be downloaded here.

Source: WM Experts

Spb Software House has released a significant update to Mobile Shell.  Version 3 offers different modes for work and for play, along with integration of picture contacts with Facebook, account-sensitive email indicators, widgets, responsive kinetic scrolling and other enhancements.  If you have used Shell before, you will almost not recognize version 3, it’s that different!

If you have read any of my commentary before (such as this one), you know that I am all about Mobile Shell, so to say that I was excited to check out version 3 is an understatement!  So, at long last, a review copy arrived last week, and I was most pleased.
Here are my initial thoughts, after having played with the app/interface for about a week:

Professional and Lifestyle desktops

Mobile Shell 3 gives you the ability to have two different modes (for what was previously known as the Now screen). You can switch between work (Professional) and play (Lifestyle) desktops.  The Professional desktop contains everything you would need in a work scenario, and is not customizable (other than perhaps background color), but the Lifestyle desktop is highly customizable.  The possibilities are endless for the Lifestyle mode - you can add all sorts of widgets (shortcuts, contacts, indicators) to your heart’s content, and you can change the background image (which can be of desktop resolution!).  The Lifestyle desktop is actually three times as wide as the Professional one, allowing you to scroll left or right and add even more content (more on that shortly). 

Below are my Professional and Lifestyle desktops.  You can switch from one to the other with an upward or downward flick of the finger:

I’ve been having fun configuring the Lifestyle mode, as you can see.  I actually made a contact for each of my pets, and added their contact widgets along with my wife’s contact widget - making it a family affair!  The only other widget I added to the “main” page of the Lifestyle mode was the notification indicator.  I like this concept - it’s nice to switch to a non-cluttered look during “off-time”, so I can enjoy seeing the family when I turn on my device.  I can always see other pertinent info with a tap or a flick if I need… (more…)

Spb Software House has made some updates to Spb Keyboard:

• Portrait skin in full screen mode

• Own dictionary based word suggestion in the half screen mode (only full screen before)

• Bug fixes in language layouts based on user reports

• Use of the native dictionary to improve suggestion

• Performance fix in full screen mode for HTC devices

• Backspace button performs “undo autocorrection” after autocorrection occured in half-screen (standard) mode

• Fix for cases when the fullscreen mode is bounded to the long-press of hardware buttons

• Small fixes in Symbol layout

• Other minor bug fixes

Get your updated version here.

As is usually the case with Spb Software, an update to version 2 of Spb Weather was (quietly) released on Feb 10th.

Here are the changes:

• Close button
• Open day details on tap on Today plug-in
• Several preinstalled skins for Today plugin
• City list ordering (menu move up/move down)
• Tap on weather source list item activates weather sources dialog
• Weather layer download progress indication
• New default skin for the Today plugin
• Fixed problems with adding custom US city
• Startup city is used for integration with Spb Diary
• Cities database extended (1600+ cities added)
• Edit city name (city list/city menu)
• Gismeteo as a separate weather source
• Weather.gov default source for US cities
• Globe zooming improved (up/down gestures at right size of the screen)
• Smaller baloons for globe cities
• Scrollers added
• Downloading module improved
• 5 extra skins for today
• Minor fixes

Holy cow, that was a significant update!  Download Spb Weather here.

UPDATE: Here is a video with much better quality!  Yaroslav Goncharov from Spb Software runs through a 10 minute demo of Mobile Shell 3.0, and all I can say is WOW! 

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While the filming is absolutely horrid, you can get the idea of what Spb Mobile Shell 3.0 will look like (albeit blurry) here.

Looking forward to this being released, particularly since WM 6.5 is still solid months away!

Regardless of whether you use Spb Backup, Sprite Backup or some other version, the important thing is to USE BACKUP SOFTWARE and back up your data regularly!  Read on after the break for an example of how Spb Backup saved my butt, as well as how fast a device can be a useless brick.

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I should have known!  As soon as I posted the news about Microsoft’s release of a Netflix Mobile Manager, I installed it, tested it out, and was quite impressed.  It just seemed to work so well, so - familiar…

And then we received the following press release, and it all made sense!

Spb Software Develops Windows Mobile Netflix Application in Cooperation with Microsoft and Netflix

Spb Software worked closely with Microsoft and Netflix to develop the first official Netflix application for Windows phones. The Mobile Manager for Netflix is an on-device application that seamlessly interfaces with the Netflix web service, allows searching the entire Netflix library, viewing the movie details, managing the DVD queue, and adding movies to Instant Queue directly from Windows phones. The unique exclusive feature of Mobile Manager for Netflix is the ability to play trailers of movies, directly on the handset screen.

The Mobile Manager for Netflix was developed in cooperation between Microsoft, Netflix, and Spb Software. The application interface is built on the Spb Mobile Shell UI engine (also used in such popular applications as Spb Wallet, Spb Online, Spb Weather, Spb Traveler), and allows optimizing the efficiency of the user interface and speed of service navigation. With this fast and finger-friendly UI, the Mobile Manager application streamlines the Netflix mobile user experience, allowing subscribers to preview movie trailers on the go, add selected items to the DVD queue, or the Instant Queue - to instantly watch movies on TV screens using Microsoft’s Xbox 360.

“Windows phones help people access the information they care about most, bringing together the Web, the PC and the phone - all in one device,” said Steve Hegenderfer, group product manager at Microsoft, Corp. “We are very excited to work with Spb Software to bring the popular Netflix service to our customers, giving them easy access to their account and favorite movies while on the go.”

To get more information, or download the Mobile Manager for Netflix, please visit

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-us/totalaccess/software/software/netflix.mspx