REVIEW & COMPARISON: Spb Online

The Spb folks have just released their online portal, Spb Online. Three other reviews have already been published (some hours ago) on it. Therefore, I've paid special attention to elaborating on issues not discussed in the other reviews, particularly when it comes to comparing Spb Online to the competing alternatives – after all, I've published several articles on several areas Spb Online implemented: radio and TV streaming, podcasting and multiplayer games.

That is, first, read the linked reviews (links below); then, you can safely read on to see what additional, comparative (!!) information I have for you. You will NOT want to read further without reading the other review first as I have only concentrated on the areas they didn't discuss (for example, multiplayer games, streaming compatibility, CPU usage, adding non-implemented functionality via Registry hacking etc.)

Let's start with the multiplayer games.

Multiplayer games

Spb Online (SO for short) uses a central server-based approach, which means you must have a constant Internet connection to play opponents. You aren't allowed to select your opponent; that is, you will be assigned an opponent (or, if there aren't any, just the CPU) in a completely random fashion as soon as you start the game. Unfortunately, there aren't other goodies like in-game messaging / chatting either.

An in-game screenshot of checkers played against a human opponent and showing his data:

In the game options, in addition to the sound volume, you can set your level (what opponents the game should look for upon startin a new game):

In addition to the (few) built-in board games, SO also offers the possibility to purchase applications and games from their online store, right from the program, without ever having to fire up a Web browser.

The built-in support for directly browsing and purchasing software is very nice and easy-to-use. However, currently, it only offers very few titles. For example, as far as games are concerned, it only offers - in addition to Spb's games – titles by Concerte Software, SimbSoft and, in general, the not very good OmniG Software:

Fortunately, it also allows for over-the-air downloads of trial versions whenever available. See the Download Trial link in the following screenshot:

Unfortunately, there's no way of changing the download / saving path from inside the app; this may cause problems if you, by mistake, provide it with a volume not even having 4-5 Mbyte free space:

Fortunately, this can be fixed by simply deleting HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Spb Software House\Spb Online Shell\DownloadFolder in the Registry and restarting the app (this hack has been found out by me). Then, you'll be asked again for the target path:

It, of course, has a built-in dialog for entering credit card info; that is, you in no way need to depend on an external Web browser:

Unfortunately, there's no PayPal support at all.

Note that the non-gaming part of the online shop contains some other third-party apps; for example, those of Conduits in the Multimedia category:

and that of SBSH in the Business category:

News (RSS) Reader

This module is almost the same as Spb Insight, Spb's RSS reader. It's a solid reader but in no way as powerful as, say, Newsbreak. For example, it has absolutely no podcatching capabilities (see THIS for more info).

TV

The TV module has the best features when it comes to picture-in-picture, TV guide and quick preview. However, the lack of the ability of adding new TV channels certainly decrease the usability of this module. Sure, I know accessing the guide needed to be "wired in" to SO; however, the Spb folks may want to either provide an API (via, say, XML or plain text config files) to be able to configure the program to add new streams.

You can disable any of the (few) wired-in TV stations:

Remember that you can still watch other TV streams – in other apps like CorePlayer or the built-in WMP. Please see my dedicated articles on this.

As a quick summary, the pros of the TV module:

1. Moderate CPU usage (in no way worse than the alternatives). For example, I've very thoroughly benchmarked the WMV-based Sky News mms://live1.wm.skynews.servecast.net/skynews_wmlz_live300k stream. I got the following results: Spb Online: ~36% (vertically stretched to full screen); WMP: ~40%; CP: ~41% (both 320*180). That is, the results are excellent.
    
2. PIP (excellent!)
    
3. Quick preview (excellent!)
    
4. Advanced TV guide functionality (excellent!)

And the cons:
There's absolutely no way of adding new channel URL's. This is quite big a problem as there are very few streams in the app. Just look at the sheer number of available channels at WWITV - about half of them are WMV and, therefore, can be directly streamed on Windows Mobile, using the built-in WMP! Hope this bug will be fixed in the next version. Adding URL's will only work with the Radio program.

Radio

It also has support for radio streaming, using the same finger-friendly interface. Unlike with the TV module, this support adding URL's:

Stream compliance-wise, it's not compatible with SHOUTcast HE-AACv2 and MP3 streams (THIS, THIS) (aac+) and THIS (MP3): the player either stalls at Opening or displays Invalid header information. That is, it's only compatible with WMA streams like THIS - you won't be able to listen to for example SHOUTcast stations at all. (Links HERE and HERE for more info & links)

The built-in station directory is pretty nice and has about the same number of well-structured stations as the competing, (in this regard) comparable products; most importantly, Resco Pocket Radio and LCG Jukebox (see THIS for more info; as you can see, the third product in this category, Mundu Radio, as far fewer pre-defined stations).

The recently-released Kinoma Play, the (current, at least before the release of CorePlayer 1.3 with the new channel support) king of connected streaming players is, of course, much better. Kinoma's built-in station list just can't be compared to that of SO: in addition to WMA stations, Kinoma also lists SHOUTcast stations, covering both MP3 and AAC+ (but, being not compatible with the format, not OGG) – and, of course, a LOT of TV stations. Opposed to this, SO only lists WMA radio stations (it being completely unable to stream SHOUTcast stations) and the pre-defined, very few TV streams. Add the non-existing compatibility with the widely used SHOUTcast formats: you'll still want to keep other radio streamer clients (Kinoma Play, GSPlayer etc.) on your handset if you're a radio fan – there will be a lot of stations you won't be able to listen to using SO.

Other stuff

There's also a weather and a ringtone purchasing module in SO.

Verdict

I agree with the other reviews: this title is a bit expensive if you already have an RSS reader, a weather or a radio app. Otherwise, you may want to give it a try, particularly if you love playing multiplayer games or want to use the advanced capabilities of the TV module.

Other reviews

Spb Online Review - Verdict: Too Expensive for What You Get (pocketnow; very terse)

Software Review: SPB Online (mobiletechaddicts)

Review: SPB Online (wmexperts)