Upgrade boring WinMo with VITO Communication Suite
There are few harder arguments to win about WinMo’s effectiveness against other mobile operating systems than the old saw: “Well, it looks ugly, and is too hard to use!” It has become practically the clarion call of the iPhone zealot. That’s where VITO comes in…If your kid is getting bullied at school, you wouldn’t send him out looking like an even bigger nerd, would you? I thought not… You can at least give Windows Mobile a snazzy new look, and a teach him a few new tricks to defend himself as well.
Install
One thing that certainly hasn’t changed is the app install process in Windows Mobile, which is ghastly, IMO. MS should get bullied severely over Active Stink. VITO bundles together the apps in a downloadable exe, so you have to use A/S (or maybe I missed the download cab link). It installs them in series while you go bake a cake and mow the yard (and it might be done when you come back). Hey VITO, we prefer cabs (most WinMo power users do), instead of having to deal with the additional nuisance of using A/S. A/S helps you by copying the cabs over to your device (is it me or does it seem to take longer when A/S does it?). It does at least provide a backup function, so there are some redeeming qualities. At least 2 of the VITO apps failed to install (SMS-Chat, and FunContact), due to signing issues. Oh well, I have reviewed all of these apps at some point (do a search here on my blog for “VITO”) and they haven’t changed that much. The main reason for this post is to talk about the eye-candy, and rant mostly. Beware Apple zealots, things get rough from this point on. Normal iPhone users probably will just chuckle, but if you have a shrine to Steve Jobs at home, you might skip this one…
This mini-review is on VITO Communication Suite. It includes 4 apps (which you can also get independently of each other). There is also a free weather plug-in to Winterface.
Winterface
Winterface is like a real slap in the iPhone zealot’s face. We all need just such a slap from time to time. Of course, VITO made Comm Suite look and act like some serious iPhone smackdown! Whattya expect when the competition is aiming for your core market? Smart move in my opinion. The point is, Apple, we can make our OS look and act like yours any time we want. You (Apple), on the other hand, won’t even allow your users to make a background change without voiding the warranty (the lockscreen image doesn’t count), and—laugh hard and roll on the floor—are only just now adding something as basic as cut/copy/paste! This embarrassing lack was actually highlighted in an Apple keynote presentation about upcoming V3…? I wonder who thought that was a good idea? Let’s make a big slide showing someone doing a cut/paste operation on a mobile device, haha. Something that even the dinosaurs had on their PDAs, even before they had it on their cell phones. Sorry for getting so irate, but that’s for all the stupid comments I have to hear about WinMo, some of which come from people who have never even used it…
Anyhoo I digress, VITO added a second skin since I last updated Winterface, and a neat little Apple-like rotating circle while it loads (which could get them in trouble for copyright infringement). Wow, a whole new skin! Hey VITO, get your skin writers some more money/hours or something. Users need more than 2 skins, okay? The “bright” skin does look nice though, but the Lord Vader-esque “dark” could use an update. Actually, it would be cool if you provided a VITO interface skintool, which could allow a user to create their own skins/icons…just a thought. I do like that you can now choose to show the Titlebar at the top (makes getting at all programs/options easier)...
One thing that doesn’t act like an iPhone is the startup time of Winterface. The VITO developers need to trim that down, seriously. Oh, and the today plug-in should actually do something besides waste Today screen space and launch your app. Just a few suggestions.
Zoomboard
Zoomboard is not my favorite add-on keyboard (TouchPal is actually), but here again is demonstrated the freedom one gets from using Windows Mobile. I can quickly choose which one I like. Zoomboard is too close to the Apple look-n-feel for my taste, which is not a great soft input method, IMO. It is however better than the WM default option. TouchPal is great, but is a bit annoying for some input tasks, like filling in web forms and URLs, etc. Zoomboard is better for this. The Apple SIP method is pretty good, mind you, but not one I can be fast/accurate with for document editing. I actually write many a blog post in Pocket Word if you wonder why I would do this. Mostly, I use a bluetooth attached mini-keyboard though…awww, snap!
SMS-Chat
WM gets a bad grade and should stay after school in detention for a month for not having added a decent native threaded chat tool, and it isn’t all that great still. SMS-Chat will get you the rest of the way there. I guess I just don’t chat enough to get all that excited over this, but the VITO version looks like it would be a useful addition for the hyper-chatter. I’m still using stone age e-mail, myself…What the hell is a twitter? Why in hells name would I want to know what my friends are doing/where they are every second of the day? Sheesh, some of us have a life, and uh have work to do…just sayin.
FunContact
FunContact follows through with the rest of the VITO apps described above by adding iPhone-like features to a boring utilitarian WM framework. This time, your Contact list gets the overhaul. It looks like part of the rest of the suite. Apple does a good job of making their interface optimal for one-handed navigation. VITO does a good job of copying this in FunContact. Easily scroll through your contacts with a thumb.
Weather
This weather plug-in would actually be met with scorn from a real weather person. For the casual user, it works just fine…
Conclusion: VITO takes a good swipe at an integrated shell replacement for WM, but it needs expansion. E-mail/Calendaring is the other glaring WM applications that could use a refresh of smarter features. I like what SBSH has done with the Today screen in Pocket Breeze, and the integration features of the new Calendar Touch. The Gmail mobile web client is about the best mail client I have yet used (as an example), so a threaded mail client would also be sweet in WinMo. I really thought when VITO released the Task2Gather application, they would start creating more cloud-based services and with it a new innovative space for their WM apps, all of which would be integrated and tied together. I am a little let down that they have not done more development like this. Anyway, I tip my hat at the excellent continued efforts of their programmers. I like their apps, even if I do beat them up a little. The VITO StarWalk for iPhone is one of my all -time favs. See, I’m not a WM shill or a VITO shill, or an Apple shill either. I’m not even a zealot, but I am partial to Windows Mobile for certain tasks. No wonder there. WM has been at this longer than Apple. Web browsing on an iPhone/iPod is better, no doubt, but still not comparable to my laptop (where I want to do most of my browsing anyway). It was never really about that anyway. It’s about mobility. Those of us who use these gadgets as tools want as much functionality packed in as possible. I can use WM as a scripting engine to run scripts, use telnet/ftp, etc. I can do my timecard by using a terminal emulator. The point is, I have enough tools in WM to leave the laptop behind sometimes.. Apple now has some of these apps but they aren’t yet quite as full featured. I even have a network packet sniffer for WM, and a firewall. Oh well, most users don’t need all that stuff, I understand. If you wanna try a great WinMo phone (and there are some very cool ones out there), but also want the slick Apple screen sliding goodness, go check out VITO Communication Suite ($39.95 at their site). With WM, you can have your cake and eat it too.
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briand Yes, I was being a
briand
Yes, I was being a bit cheeky, but Apple has to take a few hits, when their own marketing dish it out (the "I'm a MAC/PC" commercials for example). Fair is fair, though. Gadgets all have their flaws. Apple got a good ride out of the iPhone, but they (not that different from the recent MS Vista issues) have had their dark years way before the iPhone. I remember those years. Steve Jobs left for awhile, if I'm not mistaken.
The iPod actually helped put them back on the map, and I agree that was Apple/Jobs truly brilliant conception (I'm also a happy Touch and iPod Nano owner). I still have one of the original 1st gen iPods. Cracked the case on it to replace the battery and add a bigger hard drive. It still works fine, but only 1 year after it was new, I had to do the first surgery because of a failure on the drive (actually it belonged to my son). The major flaw was using a real hard drive with no shock absorbent tech to protect it. This on a portable player. The sound was/still is amazing though. Had to stand on my head practically to open the case without damaging the unit. Would have cost more than the player to get Apple to fix it. The Apple models were overpriced, and under-supported to get consumers to constantly buy new products. The life cycle is too short for the cost. Most consumers don't understand this... My son wants a new iPhone already (because of new features not offered for his model), yet hasn't even had his current one for a year. HP is guilty of this as well with some of the newer iPAQ models (especially regarding upgrade policy).
I have several iPAQs. The original Compaqs were better stability-wise (especially around WM2003), but HP still churned out a couple of good models after that (IMHO). I think the cooked ROMs (if you can find one) are better for the later models. This demonstrates (at least to me) that WM6.1 can function better, and HP was simply greedy to not offer upgrades. Now about the tweaking... You are correct that if you aren't into gadgety tweaking, WM touch-screen devices are not for the casual user (which I am defn into). It is indeed a matter of taste. I get tired of looking at the same screen, just like I get tired of the same desktop on my PC. I'm always tweaking Ubuntu/Windows/JDE on my computers at home, because I'm sort of artsy so I hate not beng able to tweak the Apple devices more than currently is allowed... I don't want to jailbreak until my warranty runs out completely, but feel that Apple should lighten up a bit about this.
VITO is one of the old-school dev shops that created great add-ons for WM from the beginning. Their sound recording apps were superb. After the iPhone came out, they worked hard to breathe new life into WM by snagging some of the genuinely smart features brought to iPhone. They were not the only vendors to do so (Spb, is another though the concepts are more original). A lot of vendors stayed with the same stylus-oriented layouts/screens native to WM. In many ways this was understandable, as WM touch-screen devices did not have the iPhone responsiveness for finger-oriented control. As you point out, WM can also be more sluggish generally, but many tweaks are available to improve this (check out XDA developer forums for example). I try to be fair in my reviews of software here and on our iPhone sister site... I agree with your points, but point out that WinCE was around long before iPhone. I disagree however on one point: MS did innovate to create a mobile framework that could be integrated and used with desktop and server apps like Exchange mail, and Windows file/database as well. They've had their good years and bad, like Apple. I expect we will be seeing something fresh from them in the near future. Apple doesn't own a monopoly on creating new tech. They simply took the "smartphone" concept to a new level.
Sorry about the long-winded response...thought I should explain myself and my review better. I was mostly just giving the Mac heads a hard time. If I could afford a new Mac machine, I would probably have one (I might get the Mac mini when my 5+ year old Dell finally dies).