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Spb Mobile Shell 2.0 ReviewMarch 4, 2008 In February 2007, Spb Software House released a revolutionary application in Spb Mobile Shell. This new application was one of the first available for Windows Mobile users that completely revamped the Today screen by providing important information to users such as battery life, time, calendar events upcoming and messages - E-mail, voice mail and SMS - at a glance. They took it a step further by making all of the settings and applications on your device easy to access with the Spb Menu, a part of Mobile Shell, completely changing how you use and interact with your device. Most of us in the Windows Mobile "blogosphere" as well as the thousands who have purchased the application, loved Mobile Shell and were happy to see a 1.5 version released in June 2007 as it addressed issues in the original release. Critics agreed as well, awarding Mobile Shell with multiple awards including the Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine Best User Interface award in 2007. Fast forward to the Mobile World Congress in February 2008 and Spb announced the upcoming release of Mobile Shell 2.0. If there was any hesitation for you to try Mobile Shell before, all of those reasons are now gone. Version 2.0 is simply stunning. This version builds on an already successful 1.x platform, taking the application to a new level of functionality, usability and versatility. Couple these with outstanding graphics and design and you get what clearly should be the default user interface for Windows Mobile device. HTC has come close with their HTC Home plug-in on their devices, but Spb Mobile Shell will make it pale in comparison once you experience the application. Rarely do I get so excited about an application that I feel everyone should have it on their device. Each year I list 10 in my Top 10 Applications list. Rest assured that Spb Mobile Shell will be very high on that list come December 2008. Spb Mobile Shell is installed via ActiveSync or Windows Mobile Device Center and requires approximately 2.8MB of storage space on your device. Mobile Shell can only be installed in your device's storage memory and not on a storage card. In order to use this new version, your device must be running Windows Mobile Professional 5.0, 6 or 6.1. This new version substantially improves in memory usage performance, requiring just about half of the resources of the 1.5 version. Once Mobile Shell is installed and your device is soft-reset, you will be presented the Now screen. This first taste of Mobile Shell alone will get you excited about the changes this application has made to your device.
The Now screen is very similar to the 1.x version of Mobile Shell but with some significant changes. The most predominant change is the row of icons at the bottom of the screen. From here you can go between the Now screen, the Spb Menu screen, your favorite contacts or close the Now screen altogether. No longer do you have to switch the Now screen off and on to access your applications or contacts and in my case, it has relegated my Windows Start button on my T-Mobile Wing to rarely being touched. So powerful is the Now screen that it has become my default interface to my device. From it and the icons below, I get can get any setting or application on my device without the stylus ever being pulled out or multiple hard button pushes.
As you can see by just these first three device shots, there is a tremendous amount of depth and richness to Mobile Shell. To begin, the Now screen displays a tremendous amount of information that can be accessed generally with one screen tap. Indeed the screen itself can be configured to fit your needs best. In Figure 1 you see the Professional layout of the Now screen which has a digital clock, upcoming appointments and the weekly calendar at the bottom. The Classic Now screen is geared to be a little more simple and doesn't provide the calendar display at the bottom.
From the Now screen you will find information and configurations a screen tap away. First is the weather information which when tapped, provided a full screen display of current weather conditions as well as the next four days of the forecast. This is an improvement over the 1.x version of Mobile Shell which only provided a half-screen weather display. You can tap any day in the forecast and get information on that particular day as well as change the city or do a manual refresh of the weather information. To back to the Now screen tap the arrow at the bottom of the screen. As I have described, you will note that this was all done with one finger and not my stylus. This is one of the best aspects of Mobile Shell.
One of the challenges of Windows Mobile is quickly disabling the ringer on the phone. In the default interface this almost always requires a stylus and multiple taps. With Mobile Shell you can now turn your phone to ring, silent or vibrate only mode with two taps of the Now screen. To adjust the ringer volume, tap the speaker icon the Now screen. This will bring up a small window with your three options: Normal, Silent and Vibrate Only. Tap the one you need and that's it!
On both the Classic and Professional Now screens, you will see three icons at the top of the display allowing you to have one-tap access to your E-mail, SMS/MMS and Voicemail. Below that is the time and date display which, when tapped, gives a full screen display of the local time and date, any alarms you have set and the time of three different locations. If you tap the alarm area on this screen it will open up the clocks and alarms application in Windows Mobile and allow you to set an alarm on the device. Likewise, if you select one of the locations listed below the alarms, you can configure the cities that are displayed.
To finish up the Now screen, if you have the Professional version displayed, you can tap an appointment to open up the Calendar application or if you tap one of the days in the weekly calendar below, it will open up to that day. This is particularly handy for those in meetings or at other appointments to see which days up coming they have available time. As to which Now screen is right for you will depend on your needs and how you use your Windows Mobile device. I encourage you to try both and see which one you find the most useful for you. The second icon on the taskbar of the Now screen brings you to the Spb Menu. The premise behind Spb Menu is to allow you to quickly access any aspect of your device - settings, configurations and applications - with only a few taps with your finger. Once again Spb has worked hard to eliminate the need to pull out your stylus. The Spb Menu screen is split into two areas: Most recently used applications or settings are at the top with the main menu dominating the middle of the screen. As the name suggests, the most recently used (MRU) allows you one tap access to the last 10 applications or settings that you have accessed on your device. You will note there are a total of 12 icons available but two are taken by the backlight adjustment (which you can disable) and the Spb Mobile Shell settings icon.
The Spb Menu itself is divided into a set of six large icons which are named to give you an idea of what you can do by tapping that icon. For example, if you tap the Internet icon (which is in the middle of the top row), you will access aspects of Internet Explorer as well as Live Messenger. From here you can even choose a Internet Explorer favorite and immediately launch that site in the browser. Similarly, the Multimedia icon allows you to access applications on your device such as your picture viewer, camera and media player.
The Organizer icon gives you access to the various items that contain your personal information such as contacts, your calendar, tasks and notes. This makes getting to your PIM data effortlessly and quick making this feature my favorite in the entire application. Again Spb has lowered the number of screen taps to get to my information while assuring that I do not have to pick up my stylus.
The Tools Menu provides you a handy set of commonly used tools that allow you to control or use your device much faster than using the Start menu. From the Tools menu you can soft reset your device, lock it, see the Task Manager, adjust your phone profiles and search your device. From this menu you can also adjust the theme of Spb Mobile Shell as well to any one of 15 color shades. In the figures throughout my review, I have been using the Gold theme but try them all out to see which fits you and your personality the best!
As you would expect, the Settings Menu allows you to access the settings of your device. The icons across the top of the screen allow you to access your Personal, System and Communications menus much like you would using the Start>Settings menu on your device. Additionally you can quickly access the Today screen settings and Spb Mobile Shell settings while the bottom three icons are the last three settings you accessed on your device.
Finally, the Programs Menu allows you to access any application that is installed on your device. This functions like the other menu options in Spb Menu with scrolling through your programs done via the arrows at the bottom of the display. Once you find the application you want to launch simply tap it.
The last major feature of the Now screen is the Contacts Favorites. From this screen you can have up to 15 quick-dials set up for those people you most commonly contact whether that be by phone or SMS. To add a contact to the menu, tap an available location on the Favorites menu and choose the contact you want to add by either scrolling to find them or by spelling their first or last name with the dial pad provided. Once you select a contact they are automatically added into the location you chose on the Favorites menu. If the contact you selected is one that you have a picture associated with them, you will see that picture on the menu otherwise you will see their name.
The Favorite Contacts list however is more powerful than simply making a quick dial for you. When you select a contact from the Favorite menu, you are given the opportunity to contact them using any of the methods you have saved for them. For example, if you have their home phone and cellular phone, you can tap the button to choose one or the other. Likewise you can also choose send a SMS message to that contact as well directly from this menu, saving you multiple taps to open up your SMS client.
To finish up the Now screen and Spb Menu aspects of Mobile Shell, one of the best new features in this version - and a definite "cool" factor - are the animated transitions of the menus. In the previous version of Mobile Shell, when a menu was chosen it would simply bring that menu up. With version 2.0, these transitions are all animated with a cube-effect that rotates to your selection. These transitions are much smoother and have far greater eye appeal that simply cutting to the next menu screen. To this point I have primarily focused on the Now screen of Mobile Shell but will now turn to the Today plug-in of the application should you turn off the Now screen or choose not to use it. The Today plug-in is very similar to Spb Pocket Plus (see our review of Pocket Plus v4) but not nearly as configurable or dynamic. That said, you can use Mobile Shell and Pocket Plus together - in fact, I do - without any compatibility issues so you get the best of both applications. The Today screen is divided up into tabs that are at the top of the screen with tabs horizontal across the top of the display. By default you have the Home tab, Clock tab, Weather tab and Dialer tab.
Additional tabs can easily be added by opening the Mobile Shell settings under the "tab" menu. From here you can move the tabs into different orders as well, replace their icons and add or delete tabs. Adding a tab is done by tapping the Add... button and you can select a variety of different types of tabs including more dialer tabs, other Today screen plug-ins such as Messaging or the Today plug in of installed applications such as Spb Backup. These additional tabs make Mobile Shell very customizable to your specific usage needs and provides an opportunity for you to experiment on which layout or information is best for your every day needs.
The default tabs themselves are somewhat self explanatory based on their icons as seen in Figure 18. The Home tab provides you access to your most recently used applications or settings while the weather and clock tabs provide you access to those specific applications. The dial tab functions in a similar fashion to the Favorite Contacts page on the Now screen only it dials the selected number only. You cannot send SMS from it. If your contact has multiple phone numbers you will need to have a dial button set up for that person for each number. If these functions sound familiar they should. Essentially these are the same functions of the Now screen only in a tabular format. To finalize our look at Mobile Shell, we have to point out the new Quick Launch and Gestures features. Both of these features can be seen in action on the Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com! YouTube channel but here is a brief overview of them. The Quick Launch menu allows you to select the Now screen, the Spb Menu screen or the Favorite contacts screen by tapping-and-sliding your finger down the left side of the screen while you are in any application on your device. The great part is this is real time on your device meaning that if you use the Quick Launch to simply check the time on the Now screen, the time displayed is accurate and not a cached view of the Now screen. Meanwhile, the Gestures allow you to horizontally slide your finger or stylus throughout the Mobile Shell Today plug in to select applications. Simply tap-and-slide your finger or stylus horizontally across the application icons and when you release the screen that application will launch. Again, to really appreciate how these work, visit our YouTube channel and watch them in action. While I have covered the majority of Spb Mobile Shell v2, I strongly recommend that you download and try the application yourself. There are many settings and adjustments you can make to this application to make it fit your needs and style while also enhancing your productivity. I have been fortunate enough to be on the beta program for Mobile Shell and simply can't see myself not using this application. I've only found one bug in it - when you access your calendar it goes to agenda view even if you have calendar set to open in another view - but nothing serious by any stretch. The application performs exceptionally well and has dramatically improved my user experience with my device. Spb Mobile Shell v2 is available from the Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com! software store for $29.95. Now through March 31, 2008 you can save 15% off by using the coupon code CFMOBILESHELL when you check out. If you are a version 1.x owner you can upgrade for 50% off directly from Spb Software House and if you have bought Mobile Shell in the last 90 days, the upgrade is free. From our software store as well as the Spb site, you can download a 15 day trial as well. Mobile Shell is backed up with email and forum support (Spb Club membership is required - but is free). Without question Spb Mobile Shell will change the way you use your Windows Mobile device. The impressive graphics, easy of use and easy of access to applications and settings in your device make this application stand head-and-shoulders above similar applications. |
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