Expert: Werner "Menneisyys" Ruotsalainen

Because of the huge prices of traditional (non-Internet-based) video phoning services, several Symbian users have been praising TiVi, a VoIP app / service with video phoning and, at least on Symbian, front camera support capabilities. As it also has a Windows Mobile version, I gave it a very thorough, three-platform (desktop Windows, Symbian and Windows Mobile) ride to find out what it's really capable of.

1.1 Registration, Web page

Fortunately, using the service for TiVi - TiVi connections is absolutely free (as opposed to what some people state in some Symbian forums) and works over fully (on both sides) firewalled connections. To being able to reach your buddies, you'll need to register a nickname on the central server. This is pretty easy and can be done HERE.

You'll also need to download the client software; it's available for the desktop HERE and for mobile platforms HERE. Install it; after starting it, press the left softkeys on both mobile platforms and go to Config. There, fill in your login name / password. After this, you'll become available for the others; using your nick instead of a "traditional" number will work when calling you. Note that it also has a built-in Contacts list and also has access to the system-level contacts, offering (of course, non-free - as opposed to in-network calls) dial-out capabilities for them.

Note that the page and the service themselves are pretty far away from being professional. Latvian is used on some both the Web pages (even when using English) and, which is even worse, in the answering machine. This, of course, isn't that problematic, particularly if you speak some Slavonic language because, then, you'll understand at least the last two words of the answering machine message and can deduce what takes place. And, it's only in the first occasion that this can cause any kind of confusion.

1.2 Screenshots

(a Symbian shot showing the output of the HTC Universal - that is, the Nokia itself, me trying very hard to make a screenshot on it. In the upper left corner, you can also see Nokia's own camera image (of the Universal, with 180 degrees rotated screen, in front of it). Note that the Symbian version, in addition to stopping / restarting video, also supports switching between the front/back cameras if you press 0. By default, the front camera is used, of course.)

(a Windows Mobile HTC Universal screenshot showing the image received from the Nokia N95 and its own picture in the upper left corner. As you can see, the client doesn't even display a button shortcut to switch between the front and the back cameras)

Read more!

In my well-known (for example, Smartphone Thoughts frontpaged) MS Smartphone Instant Messaging Bible published a week ago, I’ve also elaborated on the excellent imov Messenger Enterprise, one of the best and most feature-rich instant messaging solutions for the MS Smartphone (WM Standard) platform.

Then, I’ve emphasized there were two annoyances with the then-current, 2.22 version of imov Messenger: the lack of auto-logging (without manually enabling it after starting the client) and the dynamic orientation changing of the HTC Vox (s710) or, for that matter, any similar slide-out Smartphone models released in the future.

Fortunately, the auto-logging feature is correctly implemented in the new (2.23) version. This means if you once enable Menu / Actions / Log Messages, it’ll stick and will always log conversations into the root directory of your handheld. You don’t need to disable and, then, re-enable it after restarting the program either, which is also a really welcome feature.

The dynamic portrait change support is also MUCH better (albeit still not flawless) than in the previous version. The only flaw in this version is that the text input field is always positioned in a way that there is way for the XT9 recommendation field under it. This means if there’re no XT9 recommendations (or, any kind of input), the lowermost part of the screen won’t be used as can be seen in THIS (portrait) and THIS (Landscape; after sending the message, another screenshot HERE) screenshots.

All in all, the new version is highly recommended for all Smartphone users.

Fortunately, there is a plethora of instant messenger (IM for short) applications for both the Pocket PC (Windows Mobile Professional / Classic) and MS Smartphone (Windows Mobile Standard) platforms – anyone having read the Windows Mobile Instant Messaging Bible knows this.

Now, just a day after I’ve published my latest, IM-related, for example Smartphone Thoughts-frontpaged article, my attention (thanks to XDA-Developers forum member RPG0) was pointed to another promising instant messenger solution, Inlux Messenger. It's available HERE for download.

(Screenshot on a VGA Pocket PC)

This messenger of Russian origin supports MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, G-talk and the, in Russia, popular mail.ru IM protocol. This means there’s no support for AIM and Jabber.

It’s compatible with all PPC OS’es starting with WM2003. It, however, doesn’t support the MS Smartphone platform.

The client is commercial. It seems the free version is restricted in the number of concurrent connections – it wouldn’t let my MSN / GTalk clients connect at all.

In my tests (of the current, 2.112 version), Inlux Messenger has turned out to be a pretty good but in no way excellent client. For example, it doesn’t support

Read more!

It was a half year ago (see review HERE) that Microsoft released the first beta of their VoIP / video phone / SIP program Microsoft Portrait. Microsoft has, in the meantime, released version 3.1.

I was very eager to check it out as 3.0 didn’t support front cameras on any Pocket PC’s, which would be essential for TCP/IP-based video phoning.

To make a long story short, unfortunately, the new version doesn’t support video phoning using front cameras either. It still only lists CAM1: (the rear camera) on all my Pocket PC models with two built-in cameras: the HTC Universal and the HTC Trinity (p3600). This is certainly bad news.

Furthermore, as far as the MS Smartphone compliance is concerned, it didn’t work on either the WM6 QVGA HTC Vox (s710) or the WM5 AKU3 HTC Oxygen (s310). On the former, it just displayed the “Initialize Portrait control failed” and, then, the “Get camera resolutions failed” info messages; on the latter, nothing has happened at all. Both phones are SIM / app unlocked and I’ve tried making Portrait work on them several times (yes, after resetting too).

All in all, it’s still useless for video phoning over traditional TCP/IP. Only get it if you only need it for voice / textual communication on Pocket PC's only (again, it seems it's completely incompatible with MS Smartphones.)

Causerie has just released their, on other mobile platforms, already-known instant messaging solution.

I’ll soon give it a thorough test ride and accordingly update the Windows Mobile Instant Messaging Bible. Stay tuned!

UPDATE:

OK guys and gals, I’ve thoroughly tested the app. The majority of the information can be found in the updated comparison chart of the IM Bible; in here, I only provide you with a pros/cons list.

The good

1. ability to log into any IM service using two accounts – currently, no other IM app is capable of this!
2. support for (ro)bots. Right now, Causerie retrieves Stock Quotes, Weather Predictions, Directions, News related to Business, Technology, Games, California Traffic, eBay etc.
3. Enterprise version supports Lotus IM (Sametime), Microsoft LCS, SIP, Reuters LCS and Jabber (SSL) – this is a BIG plus and really unique!
4. IMAP support. This means you don’t need to run an IMAP-capable mailer client in the background to get notified of your incoming mails. This, of course, will only work if you do have an IMAP-capable mailbox. This is also pretty unique. (See the IMAP Bible for more information on this question.)
5. Developer promises at least one-way SMS messaging in forthcoming, 1.1 version, slated for May. Now, their Palm version already supports even two-way messaging

The bad

1. restriction of four concurrent accounts logged in at a time
2. complete lack of Landscape orientation support – very bad news for slide-out or clamshell keyboard users (HTC Wizard, TyTN/Hermes, Universal etc.)
3. prone to crashes
4. not effective, Web browser-based rendering: slow, bandwidth-hungry and causes the on-screen SIP to be hidden with some people
5. doesn’t automatically re-login when the connection (temporarily) terminates: a problem particularly with unattended, suspended mode
6. no file transfer, no logging, all chat windows are immediately closed when the connection terminates, no support for conferencing

Verdict

Promising. Needs a little more work and bugfixes on the developer’s part, though.

UPDATE (03/27/2007): PPCT frontpage

UPDATE (04/10/2007): Just Another Mobile Monday frontpage