MobilityMinded » SPB Softwarehouse

SPB Software in the mix on Bundeled User Interfaces on Mobile Phones

Johan van Mierlo — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:07:12 +0000

SPB Software just announced today that it will have their popular softwares pre-installed on the Pharos Pack Traveler 137. Bundeling these popular softwares will give the Pharos cunsomer a “Wow” factor and add a lot of new features and functionality to the phone.

The SPB Softwares that are going to be included in the bundle are:

The user experience on mobile devices is becoming so more important and manufacturers are using this to make the difference.

HTC already are having their popular Touch Flo 3D user interface and the upcoming HTC Sense user interface as a shell on their devices. Both for the Windows Mobile and the Andriod platform phones.

We just published that LG won the iF communication design award with their 3D S-Class user interface.

Samsungs TouchWiZ user interface is looking the same across the board with the the Omnia, Eternity and other devices, all on different platforms.

Looking at all of this, the (non geeky) consumer will in the end choose for a company with the best user interface and won’t even know what the under laying platform is and what it can do. The User Interface will hide the Symbian, Windows Phone and Android platforms. The Windows Phones in the future will be recognizable due to a Windows button on the phone. This is of course a great move by Microsoft to brand the phone so consumers will make an added “educated” guess. (either the buy the phone because the like their Windows brand or because the don’t).

Based on what createria would you choose your device ?

Brand name?
Platform?
User Interface?
Widgets?
Features?
Specifications?
Added Partner Logo’s
Carrier?

SPB Wallet 2.0 for iPhone and desktop review

Johan van Mierlo — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 08:00:41 +0000

SPB Wallet has been around for a while on the desktop, Windows Mobile and Symbian phones. But as of June 24th this great sensitive data management application is also available for the iPhone.

Below is a short description of the SPB Wallet software from their press release which explains it best.

SPB Wallet AES 256-encrypts and password-protects all stored sensitive information. SPB Wallet supports automatic lockup, automatic clipboard cleanup, and protects from phishing. The stored data can be synchronized between (and accessed from) multiple PCs and mobile devices. The virtual, electronically stored licenses, cards, and passports look like the real ones: SPB Wallet 2.0 offers an integrated online database with images of thousands of most popular cards and documents, plus the option to order more custom pictograms – for free. The desktop component of SPB Wallet offers advanced integration with web browsers, automatic supply and capture of online login information, includes a password generator, and a migration wizard from custom CSV formats and from other wallet applications.

Importing existing data from another wallet application

I have been using a different wallet application for a while, and I didn’t wanted to retype all of my close to 300 entries all over again. The desktop application allows you to import the exported files from all major wallet applications that currently exist for the mobile devices. I did an export and an import and my data is available in a separate folder in the SPB Wallet named after my previous wallet application. Now you just have to reorganize them if you want.

Synchronizing Desktop application with iPhone

On my previous wallet application,I could only synchronize the desktop information with my iPhone through a Wifi connection using the Bonjour sync application installed on my laptop.

The problem I had, is that I use the wallet application on my main desktop, which had no Wifi.
Thes following steps I had to follow to sync my desktop data with my iPhone.

- I had to sync my desktop version with my Windows Mobile device through active sync
- I Synced that Windows Mobile Device with the desktop application on my laptop which has Wifi
- Now I could sync my iPhone with my Laptop through Wifi and the Bonjour sync application.

SPB Wallet for iPhone came with a great solution for this. Besides syncing your desktop application and the iPhone together using Bonjour sync over Wifi, it also allows you the encrypted cloud synchronization with a Gmail account.

I currently am cloud syncing now my data between two laptops and the iphone using a Google account with my own domain. To be able to sync in the cloud allows you not to be depended any more on different sync applications on the different platforms.

Key Features

Now that I have gone over the two major differences of the SPB Wallet application I will sum up the key features. A lot of these features are also available on the competion applications, however SPB Wallet always adds a little bit extra.

Secure Storage for sensitive information (string AES 256 Bit encryption, Automatic wallet locking)
Cards look like those in your wallet
Cards flip flow
Online templates gallery with 7000+ most popular cards integrated into application
Free template creation by request
Password auto fill for websites in web browser
Cards and templates are fully customizable
Templates import, export and sharing
60+ predefined templates, icons and graphics
Item level synchronization with support of multiple devices and desktops (cloud synchronization with Google Mailbox and desktop synchronization over Wifi with Bonjour sync
Smart card fields allow taking action right from the wallet (open links, send e-mails, make phone calls and send text messages from the application)
Password generator
Quick search
Compatible with Apple iPhone, Windows Mobile professional and Standard, Symbian S60 and Windows desktop
Desktop specific (SPB Wallet toolbar and automatic password supply for Internet explorer and Firefox)
Desktop import wizard from other Wallets (eWallet, FlexWallet, CodeWallet, SplashID, HandySafe and custom CSV)
Desktop quick search
Desktop backup and wallet in tray
Desktop Drag & Drop for fields inot other apps

As you can see SPB Wallet has so many options to keep your data safe and avaialble to you on many devices. For me this is going to be the wallet application I will be using for now.

The SPB Wallet desktop version is available at the SPB website for $9.99
And the iPhone application is available for $9.99 at either the SPB website with a link to the App store.

Together this is under $20 and is $9 less compared to the Windows Mobile version. The price is very reasonable for a great useful and needed application to securely manage all your sensitive information.

Spb Geo Game for Windows Mobile reviewed

Mark Briggeman — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:20:28 +0000

Last week Spb Softwarehouse announced their latest game: Geo Game. The goal of this fun game is to test your knowledge on the world’s capitals and national flags.

The game contains all the 234 flags, 235 capitals and 235 countries in the world and it is up to you to enter (or guess) them right. It is a great way of testing your knowledge or if needed, improve your knowledge or show off to your friends.

One thing I didn’t know was that not every country in the world has a capital and a flag. The FAQ on the Spb website answers that question for me:

Every country has its own flag. Most of the countries have official capitals with the following exceptions:
Tokelau consists of three tropical coral atolls and does not have a capital.
Nauru does not have an officially designated capital but Yaren (the largest city) is often considered the capital.

Vassili Philippov, COO of Spb Software says:

Getting to know all the countries in the world with their capitals and flags is something a lot of us always wanted to do, but never had the time.

Spb Geo Game grants the opportunity to test ourselves and study the world’s diversity in a fun and relaxing manner, within the few spare moments we have

Installation

Installation of the game is very easy. You can install it in two ways:

Download the executable file, connect your mobile device to your pc using Activesync or Windows Mobile Device Center, run the executable and follow instructions or:

Dowload the CAB file to your PC, copy it to your mobile device and use the File Explorer on your mobile device to install it.

The game starts !

After the installation you can start the game by pressing (or selecting if you have a non-touchscreen device) SPB Geo Game from your Start Menu.

Now you have to select Capitals or Flags to test your knowledge. Press Play to start the desired option.

Capitals

When you start the game, a counter is also started and you will have only one minute to complete the game. So, when you answer the question right, the correct answer is shown in the next screen on a globe.

If you answer it wrong, the wrong answer becomes grey and you have to guess again ! When you are done, the game returns to the first screen where you can choose to exit the game or play a game of Flags !

Flags

Flags works in the same manner as Capitals. A flag is shown and you have to choose the right answer. In the screenshots below, I had the first answer wrong (Solomon Islands) and the second one was right. You can see the wrong answer is now grey.

When you are done, the first screen will be presented with you personal High Scores, so you will have a challenge to beat them ! Guess I have to work on my knowledge of Flags in the world

Overall Wrap-up

Geo Game is most of all a fun game and great for testing your knowledge of flags and capitals of the world. The user interface is clear and easy to use. The only remark I have that the wrong answer is not clearly shown. Sometimes you have to look twice to see what the wrong answer is and meanwhile the clock is ticking ! I would like to see the wrong answer marked red or some other bright color.

You can download the game here: Spb Geo Game Download
If you like the trialversion, you can buy the game for only $4,95 here

Spb Puzzle for Symbian S60 & Windows Mobile Professional

Remo Knops — Tue, 12 May 2009 16:08:16 +0000

Spb Softwarehouse combined a classical “old” game -in this case the jigsaw puzzle- with modern mobile technology, resulting in a brand new game called Spb Puzzle with an interesting gameplay. The article below will provide a brief overview of this new game, and will highlight on several features. The article will end with some first conclusion, and you might want to check out some considerations as well.

“A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of numerous small, often oddly shaped, interlocking and tessellating pieces. Each piece has a small part of a picture on it; when complete, a jigsaw puzzle produces a complete picture. In some cases more advanced types have appeared on the market, such as spherical Jigsaws and puzzles showing Optical Illusions.” [ref01]

How can you transform such a cardbord jigsaw puzzle onto a touch screen of Symbian S60 or Windows Mobile Phone ? Well Spb softwarehouse had some important design key points:

“Building on the strengths of the classical jigsaw puzzle by using high-quality pictures;
Creating the simplest interface possible, minimizing the number of unnecessary and distracting details;
Keeping the game simple and attractive;” [ref02]

With these design keypoints in mind, lets have a look at the application itself. Below a step by step walk through will be provided, while some key features are highlighted.

Spb Puzzle overview

When downloading the installer of Spb Puzzle I was a little surprised by its large size of 13 MB, resulting in 7,2 MB (VGA) in the ROM after installation on my HTC Touch Diamond 2. Opening the application from the start menu, directly shows me a clever designed logo, and a great flash screen with Leonardo Davinci’s Vitruvian Man as a background and Spb Puzzle as title on top of it.

If I want to start a new game there are three options (on first use) available at the carousel like homescreen we saw in Spb Mobile Shell 3:

Select an imagepack;
Select a custom image from your device;
Download a new imagepack;

Let me emphasize that the user interface is really intuitive, and Spb Softwarehouse has a solid track record in designing simple but very efficient user interfaces. with left right swipe gestures you can easily switch between the different options available. However if you download and install a new imagepack, an additional panel is added to the interface. At some point in time with X panels available it would make sense to add a panel view like we are used from the Sony Xperia X1 and Spb Mobile Shell 3.

After this little sidestep, you can either choose an available imagepack (= a set of puzzles around a topic), or simply download a new imagepack. Selec “Load new packs from internet” and your webbrowser is automatically opened and a list of imagepacks appears. Simply select one for dowloading (in the cab-installer-format), and open the file after download. Restart Spb Puzzle and you are good to go with the new imagepack.

“On release date around 3-5 additional puzzle packs will be available. Meanwhile a lot of new great packs are still in development and will become available bit a little later. ” [ref02]

Custom or personalized puzzles

Spb Softwarehouse has added a personalized approach in the development of Spb Puzzle. Users can create a puzzle from a photo taken with the cameria on the device. So just take a picture a your car, your girlfriend, your pet or what ever you like, and simply choose this image to create a puzzle from it. Set the difficulty level and you are ready to go ! In my perception this brings an additional funfactor into the application, while the process is very simple.

Gameplay and its highlights

Already described above there are three options to choose from when starting a new game. Two of these options are already described above, and this paragraph will focus on the gameplay using an imagepack. At the start with a new imagepack just the first image is available for puzzling, like in the screenshot above. However once you have solved the first puzzle, access to the next puzzle in the imagepack is granted. This approach can also be seen in Spb Brain Evolution, getting access to new games.

When you select the puzzle a preview is shown, and with pressing the right softkey “resume” the game is started. If you need to go back to the preview during the game, simply click the “back arrow” in the left corner below, and resume again after the preview. Some cool behavior in the gameplay:

“If two adjacent pieces face each other close enough and with the right sides – they will stick together and continue to behave like one. If piece is placed in its correct position, for example, in a corner – it will be fixed and will no longer move.” [ref02]

In addition when you put two pieces of the puzzle together, you get haptic feedback ( = short vibrate) on the moment you “click” the piece in the puzzle. Since this is hart to capture in a screenshot a short video is provided above.

If you have put the last piece right into the puzzle Spb Softwarehouse has included a nice “fading-feature”. The layer with puzzle-piece shapes is removed, and the original picture is shown.

“When a puzzle is solved successfully – an informative description of the assembled image will be provided, followed by the “congratulations” screen.” [ref02]

By providing some background information the Spb Puzzle game has also a learning / teaching aspect. Getting to know a little background on some pieces of art for instance. Spb Softwarehouse included a clever “auto-save function” if you close the game in a certain way, like described below.

“The game can be closed with the touch of the “End Call” button. This game will be automatically saved and will be opened at next launch at the same point.” [ref02]

Depending on the device and screensize, as well as the difficulty level of the puzzle, the size of the image exceeds the size of the screen. In other words it means that you just see a part of the image on the current screen, resulting in moving around the screen by using your finger or stylus. However you can also give the pieces a kind of swipe, which makes it easier to search among them.

“You can quickly move the necessary fragments through the whole field. This kind of jump can be performed in two ways:
Tap any field point, then quickly tap somewhere aside (at least a centimeter away) in the direction of the desired jump. If you do it right the screen will immediately move in that direction against the stop. If the first tap was done on a certain piece it will be quickly moved through the whole screen.
If the device has a joypad (hardware navigation buttons) you can carry out the same action: while holding a piece with your stylus, use the navigation buttons to move it to the appropriate edge of the field. ” [ref02]

First thoughts and some considerations

First I truly like the idea of transforming a classical “old” game into a digital game for use on mobile phones. I think almost everyone has solved a jigsaw puzzle, so it’s a very

“Puzzles are said to improve concentration, logic, attention, memory, and imagination. Spb Puzzle lets you play the time-tested jigsaw classic on your phone – anytime and anyplace.” [ref02]

Second my compliments for the excellent designed gameplay. Because of the perception of a classical jigsaw puzzle is rather “simple” in concept, Spb Softwarehouse managed to develop an attractive and interactive game in a modern jacket.

Third the modular imagepack-concept is very welcome. The standard imagepack is about art, and if that doesn’t interest you it’s no fun in solving those puzzles. As stated in the overview above, several additional imagepacks will be available for download, and hopefully the (Windows Mobile) developer community can add/or upload their own created imagepacks to Spb Softwarehouse.

Spb Softwarehouse developed a great gameplay in which touch (finger and stylus) are supported as well as the use of the hardware keys.

Als very cool that you can personalize the application and creat and solve your own puzzles. Simply take a picture of your girlfriend, car, pet or what ever you like and create a puzzle from it within Spb Puzzle. This brings an additional funfactor in this application.

Some considerations and remarks

“Typically, the size of images exceeds the size of the screen, so permanently a player can only see a part of the whole image.” [ref02]

This results in a lot of panning and moving the puzzle around. A screen on a mobile device isn’t as large as the kitchen table where you solved a 5000 pieces puzzle. Personally I find the relative small screen and resulting select and pan “actions” a little distractive. My view on this is that Spb Puzzle is shown advantage on large screen devices like the HTC Advantage, the HTC Touch or the Samsung Omnia.

Elaborating a little more in this direction, and adapting a part of the Microsoft three screen strategy, I would invite Spb Softwarehouse to develop a desktop version of the Spb Puzzle application. With touchscreens becoming more and more available for notebooks and desktops this might be a step to consider. Personally I use a Lenovo X60 tablet, and for instance the HP TX2 (= tablet) or the HP Touchsmart ( = all in one desktop) support finger-touch. The latter both I’ve played with @ CNTRSTG and we had great fun playing a simple game on the HP Touchsmart.

Remark that I wasn’t able to test Spb Puzzle on a Symbian S60 device with touchscreen. Simply because I don’t have such a device, but that raises an important question:

“Why has Spb Softwarehouse chosen for Symbian S60 as a second platform for Spb Puzzle, since there aren’t that many Symbian S60 devices on the market WITH a touch screen ?”

I’m only aware of one Nokia device that has a touchscreen: Nokia Xpressmusic 5800 and the Samsung Omnia HD also provides a large screen combined with the Symbian S60 platform. I don’t get the reasoning behind this, while there are large volumes in the iPhone market and Spb Softwarehouse already has experience with the launch of Spb Wallet for iPhone. Idea’s ?

Complementary Spb Puzzle review on Symbian S60

The review above just focusses on Spb Puzzle running on a Windows Mobile Professional device. Unfortunately I didn’t have a Symbian S60 device available. Matthew Miller from Nokia Experts has also written an excellent review about Spb Puzzle, but tested on the Nokia 5800. His conclusions:

“Spb Puzzle is a fairly simple game, but like I said earlier I actually had quite a bit of fun putting puzzle back together on my 5800 XM. Spb stated they wanted to “Create the simplest interface possible, minimizing the number of unnecessary and distracting details.” I have to fully agree that they achieved this as I was able to jump right in and have fun assembling puzzles without any other menus, options, noises, etc. distracting me from the task at hand. While Spb Puzzle is quite enjoyable it is also a benefit that puzzles are said to improve concentration, logic, attention, memory, and imagination and we can all use some improvement in these areas..” [ref04]

The review is highly recommended and complementary to the review above, so head over to Nokia Experts !

Overall wrap-up

Spb Softwarehouse transformed a well known classical jigsaw puzzle into a modern game for mobile phones (running multiple platforms). While this is version 1.0 of Spb Puzzle, the Russian developers did a great job with the haptic feedback, the realistic gameplay, and a very intuitive user interface. The custom puzzles give a high level of personalization, and the modular design with additional imagepacks and multi-platform approach make it a great application.

Available at the at the website of Spb Softwarehouse for a fair price of $9,95

Reference List:

WIKIPEDIA: Jigsaw Puzzle
SPB SOFTWAREHOUSE: Additional background information about Spb Puzzle
SPB SOFTWAREHOUSE: Spb Puzzle Product page
NOKIA EXPERTS: Review: Solve jigsaw puzzles on your Nokia 5800 with Spb Puzzle

CTIA 2009: Microsoft announces partners in Windows Marketplace for Mobile and more.

Remo Knops — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 00:00:58 +0000

During the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Windows Mobile 6.5 was announced, however not much information was revealed about the second service: Windows Marketplace for Mobile. Just befor the start of CTIA 2009 Microsoft has a lot of new things to announce:

More details on Windows Marketplace for Mobile,
Individual customization of the Windows Phone,
New ways to connect with friends and family (social networking).

This article looks at al the three key topics in more detail, complemented with some early thoughts.

1. Windows Marketplace for Mobile

The screenshots above provide a good idea how the Windows Marketplace for Mobile will look like. The press release provides a list a of top application developers who commited to the Windows Marketplace for Mobile program. Personally it is good to see such an extensive list, and there are really great developers on this list, which means quality on-board !!

“Companies representing the top-selling categories of mobile applications today signed on to be among the first to offer applications through Windows Marketplace for Mobile. They include AccuWeather.com., The Associated Press, CNBC, Developer One Mobile Software, EA Mobile, Facebook, Gameloft, Glu Mobile, Handmark, Ilium Software Inc., Jeyo Inc., Kinoma, LiteScape, Magmic Games, Melodis Corp., MySpace, Namco Networks, Netflix, Pandora, PhatWare Corp., Resco s.r.o., ShoZu Inc., Sling Media Inc., SBSH Mobile Software, Spb Software, Web Information Solutions Inc. and Zagat Survey.” [ref01]

However the Windows Marketplace for Mobile seems to be announced -at leat according to the press release- for the next generation of Windows Phone, which simply means Windows Mobile 6.5 devices. Personally I think this is the wrong decision, because the Windows Mobile 6.0 and 6.1 userbase is large, while Windows Mobile 6.5 will be on relative few devices by the end of the year. Windows Marketplace for Mobile should be a downloadable application, that is backwards compatible with Windows Mobile 6.

“Resulting applications will provide new and unique gaming, social networking, media, utility and personal productivity experiences for the next generation of Windows phones.” [ref01]

Finally an interesting option is that Mobile Operators can partner with Microsoft on the Windows Marketplace for Mobile. The operator can get access to a specific (branded) set of software titels from the whole population of titels on the Marketplace. Although I live in the Netherlands I won a Samsung BlackJack II, which is fully loaded with AT&T custom software. I hope that throught partnering the amount of this specific software is limited so that end-users can add their own prefered software titles.

2. Customized Themes for Windows Mobile 6.5

On the current Windows Mobile devices it is sometimes tricky to personalize the device in terms graphics. Apple iPhone, Google Android, Symbian S60 and Windows Mobile all serve a specific set of customers. The buying process of a mobile device is becoming more and more comperable with buying a car: “an emotional purchase”. Microsoft takes the personal representation, customization and individualization of a Windows Phone to the next level !

“Through new partnerships with the Design Museum London and Council of Fashion Designers of America, Microsoft will offer a variety of free* designer themes to help people express their personal style on Windows phones. Microsoft today announced Mizrahi as the first in a series of designers to create exclusive themes, including color palettes and wallpaper.” [ref01]

The Mizrahi designs are shown in the screenshots above.

“In addition, the new Theme Generator will provide people with yet another way to personalize their Windows phone. The Theme Generator, available at http://www.windowsmobile.com later this year, will enable Windows phone users to select pictures from their PC to set as background images, as well as choose colors to personalize their navigation bar, scroll bar and highlighted text. Once finished, their personal theme will be sent to their phone.” [ref01]

This theme generator is a very cool tool to easily personalize your device, and could be combined with the MyPhone Service I wrote about earlier this year, or other services. However currently it seems like the Theme Generator will only support Windows Mobile Professional devices, and not Windows Mobile Standard devices. It’s a fair decision since the whole process of customizing a skinning is totally different, which means two different products and two different development cycles.

3. Social networking and more

I think the booming of social networking doesn’t need any further explenation. Screenshots of the new Facebook application are shown above. Microsoft did also three announcements in the social networking area:

“Windows Mobile users will be able to engage and experience some of the most popular global social networks right from their Windows phone, including Facebook, MySpace and Windows Live.
Microsoft has created a new Facebook application, available for Windows phones for free* in April, that makes it easy for people to capture video on their phone and upload it to Facebook.
A new MySpace application, available for free* this summer, gives Windowsphone customers real-time access to their global MySpace network. LG Electronics Inc. will preload the MySpace application on its Windows phones.
Microsoft also announced that Windows Live for Mobile will be available for free download this week for customers in 25 languages. Windows Live for Mobile is the company’s mobile suite of Internet services designed specifically to take advantage of the Windows Mobile platform. It includes mobile versions of Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Contacts, Windows Live Spaces, Microsoft Live Search and enhanced photo upload capabilities.” [ref01]

The Facebook application will be compatible with Windows Mobile 6.1 and higher. Within the Live services there is some additional good news on the Hotmail-front.

“The company also will launch a new beta version of Windows Live Hotmail available through a mobile Web browser. The release includes a new and improved user interface, navigation enhancements for touch-screen devices, the ability to see full HTML pages within e-mail messages and a new search feature that enables people to find important e-mail messages more easily.” [ref01]

Some personal thoughts

At first I simply CAN’T understand the business reasoning why the Windows Marketplace for Mobile isn’t Windows Mobile 6.0 (and higher) compatible. I had the chance to use the Google Android G1 with the linked Android Marketplace. There I became aware how easy and convenient it is to search for, download and install top applications from one central place without accessing each developers website. This ease of use is also applicable to the CURRENT userbase, since not everyone is an early-adopter or geek buying the latest device.

It is a cool trend to see large companies hooking up with designers from the fashion sector, like HP did for the Vivienne Tam edition of the HP Mini 1000 netbook. The theme generator can become a very cool feature, since sometimes it is not easy to create a theme for your Windows Mobile device. Furthermore it is a unique service, which no other mobile platform offers (to my knowledge).

Finally social networking is becoming more and more important. And in line with the strategy of using software or services on your pc, in the cloud and on you mobile device, it’s good to see Microsoft developing on this front. Special interest has the Facebook application, as well as the Windows Live Messenger. I like the idea that these programs are offered via download, and can be installed on any device (if compatible of course). This concept should also be applied to IE6 for Mobile, which currently only is available pre-loaded in the Palm Treo Pro ROM. To get your applications out to the large public, your business model needs to outperform competition …

I’m looking forward to the keynote of Mobile Entertainment & Devices President Robbie Bach @ CTIA 2009. Hopefully we can see some very nice live demo’s of the applications and services addressed in this article.