Once you have selected the content you want to subscribe to your channels are displayed along with the number of unread items in that channel.  By tapping or using your devices D-Pad to choose the channel and your Action button to choose it.  When a channel is displayed, if the thread has an image, a thumbnail of that image is displayed along with the title of that thread.  When a thread is displayed, the content of and the full image is shown much like many other RSS readers.

Figure 7:  The Channels List in Spb Insight

Figure 8:  The Content Listing of The Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com! RSS Feed Displayed

Figure 9:  Article Content Displayed - Note The Extensive Use of The Windows Mobile 5 Soft Keys

A key advantage to Insight is its full integration with Windows Mobile 5.  As you can see from the images throughout this review, the Windows Mobile 5 soft keys are enabled through Insight.  This makes using it virtually stylus free, allowing far quicker access and searches of your content and channels.  While Insight will work with Pocket PC 2003 and 2003SE, it is clear that Spb had Windows Mobile 5 in mind when the application was designed.

Overall, Spb Insight is a great application and is one of the better RSS/Atom applications that I have reviewed.  It is fast and reliable and does a good job of making use of your device's connectivity options as well as providing all of your content offline so you can read it later.  Having tested Spb Insight since it was in its beta program, I can say that the application is quite stable and has worked well on a variety of my devices including a Dell Axim x51v, QTEK 9100 and 02 XDA Atom.

That said, there is room for improvement within Insight.  Background updates without having to run the application itself (like Ilium Software's NewsBreak) would be a nice feature to see in future releases.  Additionally, having a Today screen plug-in available would also be beneficial.  Spb Software House has done a fantastic job of tying many of their products together on the Today screen with the use of Pocket Plus (See my review of Spb Pocket Plus).  With Spb Pocket Plus installed, other Spb applications such as Spb Weather, Spb Diary, Spb Finance and Spb GPRS Monitor can be all joined into one, tab based Today plug in.  This function is not available in Spb Insight and as a Spb Pocket Plus user, is sorely missed.

It is important to remember however that with this initial release, Spb has created a great product which should make RSS use - which is already easy - even easier.

Spb Insight is available from Spb for $19.95.  A 15-day trial of the application is available as well and you should try it out before buy to make sure it will fit your needs.  You can purchase Spb Insight from the Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com! online store by clicking here.  For more information on Spb Insight, visit the products website at http://www.spbinsight.com.

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