Sprite Archie 1.0 Review

February 25, 2008

With nearly 6.5 billion SMS' sent each day around the globe, the ability to track them and have a record of them is increasingly becoming more important.  No longer is SMS merely used for simple conversations amongst the millennial generation.  Today more information about companies, their customers and work places is being shared via SMS than ever before.  While we can question the security of having such conversations using this format - as we can with E-mail for that matter - it is something that is happening which will require a way to capture the information.

Sprite Software, makers of the award winning Sprite Backup application, have recently developed Sprite Archie for this very need.  Archie runs in the background on your Windows Mobile Professional device and keeps track of all incoming and outgoing SMS and phone calls in a log file which can be reviewed or E-mailed to you in a variety of formats.  It is a great way to have a record of conversations by text or voice without requiring any real effort on your part - even better!  While there are some things that could use some improvement, Archie is a great application and one heavy phone and SMS users should consider.

Archie is installed on your Windows Mobile Professional device via ActiveSync or Windows Mobile Device Center and requires approximately 1.5MB of space on your device.  You can install Archie in your device's memory or on a storage card and both are supported.  Note that you will need a Windows Mobile 5.0, 6 or 6.1 device in order to use Archie.  Once installation is completed, starting Archie will launch the application which has a simple, easy-to-use interface.

Figure 1:  Archie's User Interface

The display is divided into the three key functions that Archie offers - SMS Received (In), SMS Sent (Out) and Phone (In and Out).  In Figure 1 you see that all have a disabled icon next to them.  By tapping the Enabled soft key, all three will be enabled based on the configuration you have set up, either email or a text file, will begin logging all of the information.  However, you can also tap each individual item and only enable it.  For example, if you only want call log information, you can tap the Phone icon and only have that feature enabled.

Figure 2:  Selective Enablement of Archie Features

Before enabling everything in Archie however it is a good idea to configure how and where you want your log information to go once it is collected, how often to go there an in what format.  This is all done from the Options menu.

Figure 3:  The Archie Options Menu

The Options menu is split into two main areas:  The feature configuration and the overall configuration of log data.  Like being able to turn on individual functions within Archie, so to can you configure how that information is provided to you.  All SMS and call data can be proved to you either by email or in a file which is stored on your device.  For each feature you can choose the destination of that log information (email or file), the format you want it in (Plain Text, XML or CSV and how frequently you want the data collected and sent to email or the log file.

Figure 4:  Configuring Logging Options in Archie

From a scheduling or frequency perspective, you can have Archie send your log information immediately, daily at a determined time or weekly.  If you have it send your information to a file, the new data is added to the existing log file. 

If you decide to have your logs sent to you via email, you will need to set up the email function with Archie.  This is simply a matter of providing which account to use to send the file(s), the email address and the sender name you want it from.  Emailing the files are a great way to provide you a true, off device backup of your logs.

Figure 5:  Configuring Email Sending Options in Archie

Likewise, if you decide you want to have all of your data sent to a log file, you will need to configure where that file is stored in Archie and if you want the data appended (default).

Figure 6:  Configuring File Options in Archie

As you can see, there are a multitude of option Archie gives you to collect, store and send your SMS and call data.  You will have to try and see which configuration works best for you based on your needs or preferences.  For me, I have found having a daily email sent of my activity for the previous day to be the best option.  Doing this assures me I get the log by email every morning along with digests I already subscribe to from blogs and newsgroups already.

The only real critism I have of Archie is how it handles SMS logs.  It creates a seperate log for both incoming and outgoing SMS traffic.  Ideally it would be great if both of these could be configured into one log file as an option.  As it is now, you have to piece things together by looking at both files.  Yes, you can configured the files to be sent in CSV format and could put it all together via Excel but it would be nice if this was an option out-of-the-box.  I've spoken to Sprite about adding this feature and it is being investigated for a future release.  Still, even with this, I'm quite comfortable recommending Archie.  It works flawlessly and is ultra-easy to use.

The last major feature of Archie is the ability to alter or create new or alter existing email templates.  To alter the templates you will need to know a bit of XML but if you want or need to, you can easily change the Subject line of the email that is sent to you.  This can help you more quickly identify the email and set up your Spam filter so it does not accidently catch the logs and delete them.

Figure 7:  Changing Templates in Archie

Overall it is hard to find much not to like about Archie.  It works exceptionally well, doesn't seem to impact device performance and provides what is advertized:  A back up of your SMS and call activity.  While the SMS logging feature could use a bit of improvement that I've outlined above, it still does a great job and this one item should not hold you back from trying Archie.  If you send and receive a lot of SMS' or calls, Archie should seriously be considered.

Sprite backs up Archie with online support either via email or their support forms located on their website.  The company is based in New Zealand but I have found that my questions regarding Archie have been answered quickly no matter what time of day I send it from here in the United States.

Archie is available from Sprite Software for $14.95 and there is a trial version available on the site as well.