Blog entries about Communication

In my last Bible of Windows Mobile, Symbian and Blackberry webcamera applications directly usable in desktop messengers like Live Messenger, I haven’t elaborated on the apps that are a bit different: they let for using your camera-equipped handset as a camera for your messaging application running on your desktop PC (connected to your handset).

Not all notebooks or desktop computers have a built-in web camera. With desktop PC’s, this isn’t that big an issue: as you don’t carry them around, you can just buy an inexpensive, clip-on USB camera and you’re set. Not so with notebooks, UMPC’s or Tablet PC’s – with them, purchasing (and carrying!) a cabled solution might be overly suboptimal. Then, just using your camera-equipped smartphone may turn out to be the best solution; preferably over a wireless connection like Bluetooth.

"July 14, 2008 - VITO Technology releases iWindowsMobile Communication Suite v 1.05. The Suite contains #1 finger-friendly contact manager FunContact, unique texting application SMS-Chat, zooming onscreen keyboard ZoomBoard, and now outstanding mobile shell Winterface instead of GoodWin! The price is $39.95, not  $70 when purchasing separately."

Now that I’ve become a proud owner of a super-mobile HP TC1100 Tablet PC, using mobile devices (smart phones) as external modems have became essential for me. Up until now, I’ve done most of my Web browsing, YouTube watching outdoors with some of my mobile devices.

YouMail is a great, and free, voicemail service filled with features, which now include visual voicemail. Plus, this week we’ll note some more reviews and announcements of hot new devices, including a video of the Samsung Omnia's touch interface.

YouMail — Free and Feature-filled Voicemail

I’ve long been promising a review of a multiplatform (Java-based) RDP client, TSMobiles (as of version 2.3.14) for quite a long time. Now that I’ve tested its brother, Remote Desktop for Mobiles (RDM+), I’ve decided to give a try to this app as well.

Note that this is a terse, technical, comparative quick review requiring you to understand the contents of my Windows Mobile Remote Desktop Controller Bible. Therefore, I won’t elaborate on, say, the RDP protocol itself, its advantages and disadvantages when compared to other protocols etc.

I’ve tested it on both QVGA and VGA Pocket PC’s and MS Smartphones. It should, essentially, work on Symbian S60 devices exactly like on the MS Smartphone platform; therefore, I didn’t separately test it on my Nokia N95. I haven’t run tests on my Blackberry either – essentially, the BB client must be far less different from its generic (non-BB-specific) Java brother than in the case with RDM+.

As it’s strictly Java-based, you’ll need a MIDlet manager to run it. See my MIDlet Bible for more info. I’ve tested it under the latest, most recommended Jbed version, JRebeiro_EsmertecJbed_20071119.3.1, reviewed HERE.

First, some benchmarks.

Benchmarks

As opposed to the official TSC (pre-WM6) RDM (WM6) client developed by Microsoft, it’s quite sensitive to smooth scrolling and other types of animations. Benchmark results:

Smooth scrolling (1sec): 2.8k/5.6M (!!!)
No smooth scroll (0.5 sec): 2.8k/1.1M

It’s still way better than NetOp Remote Control 9.0 by Danware and the RDP4-only Mocha Remote Client 1.2 by MochaSoft in this respect, though.

As opposed to RDM+:

I’ve long been promising a full comparison, benchmark and (compared to alternative solutions) pros/cons list of SHAPE Services’ RDM+, a really decent, multiplatform remote desktop controlling / accessor solution. Now that they have a MASSIVE rebate, I dedicated some time for some thorough testing on no less than four different mobile platforms: Windows Mobile Pocket PC (with touch screens), Windows Mobile Smartphone (without touch screens), Symbian S60 (Nokia N95) and BlackBerry (BB 8800). Sorry for being four-platform again: a geek like me just loves toys and wants to play with all the major gadgets and major mobile operating systems available (not only Windows Mobile).

Note that SHAPE Services have another, purely Java-based (meaning there's NO native Windows Mobile client and you must use a MIDlet manager) remote access client, TSMobiles. I'll review it VERY soon.

Please note that this isn’t a full review, just a “list” of the pros and cons and my benchmark results and a complete comparison of the (in some respects, pretty different) implementations on the different platforms. You’ll want to read my previous Windows Mobile Remote Desktop Controller Bible to get more information on what for example the benchmark results stand for, what the different features really mean etc. Again, I will NOT explain anything in here already explained in the Bible. Read it to get a picture of what I’m referring to in the current article.

Note that the current, tested versions are as follows: 3.6.6 (Windows Mobile); 3.6.8 (Symbian / Java; BlackBerry). By the time you read this review (probably months or even years later), it may be heavily outdated. Of course, I’ll try to keep it up-to-date by constantly posting “UPDATE” sections at the bottom. Make sure you check them out. Also make sure you check out the links in this article: they link to a lot of screenshots.

1. Bandwidth usage benchmarks

Using exactly the same method as with the old benchmarks, with exactly the same set-up so that the bandwidth usage results can be directly compared:

(On Windows Mobile [on Blackberries, it's 24 bit], default) 8 bit color depth; measured twice

8k/970k (up/down)
6k/966k (up/down) (both quite good)

(exactly the same results with smooth scrolling – this is excellent)

1 bit color depth (that is, monochrome): 5k/556k (that is, almost half of the bandwidth required in the default, 8-bit mode)
24 bit color depth: 6k/1MB

Idling (without anything happening: no visible animations, cursor etc): 3k/10k a minute (excellent result – compare it to the very bad results of, say, GoToMyPC or, even worse, PPC Tablet)

Cursor blink test: 2k/11k a minute (again, excellent – compare this to the very bad results of I’m InTouch)

The transfer speed is excellent on Pocket PC’s via a Wi-Fi connection; I had no screen refresh problems even with 0.5s waiting between the page down events on a VGA (!) device, in Landscape mode, using 800*600 desktop resolution. The Java client running on the Nokia N95 was pretty fast, too. It’s only on (current) BlackBerries that you might encounter somewhat slower screen updates, it seems.

1. Opera Mobile 9.5 announced!

The most powerful and standards-compliant Web browser for Windows Mobile has, finally, been updated!

Instant Messaging is, as with, for example, Web browsers, is a constantly improved area of mobile platforms. This means we’re getting newer and newer instant messenger apps all the time.

Palringo is the newest application to enter the Windows Mobile / Symbian instant messaging world. It, despite of being new, is already is a decent contender really worth paying attention to. Their free (!), multiplatform IM client, Palringo, is certainly worth paying attention to because it has some goodies not present in (most) other instant messenger clients.

(VGA Pocket PC)

(Symbian s60v3)

(176*220 MS Smartphone)

(Current, tested versions: Windows Mobile: 10/25/2007; Symbian s60v3: 0.96 (11) 10/08/2007. Test devices: Pocket PC (HTC Universal, HTC Wizard), MS Smartphone (HTC s310, s710) and Symbian s60v3 (Nokia N95).)

Getting, using

You can download it HERE. Enter your e-mail address twice. It can be arbitrary – that is, on any other server; it must, however, be an existing one so that you can activate the account. Also, create the password you’d like to use with the client. After submitting the info (and signing in with this), you’re taken to the Download page, where just click the “Download” button or buttons, if you select clients for multiple operating systems. Currently, three operating systems are supported: Windows Mobile (Smartphone and Pocket PC), desktop Windows and Symbian S60v3. They also promise a MIDlet (Java) version of their client, bringing IM support to even “dumb” phones, Blackberries and Palm OS-based devices.

It was just a few days ago that a newly debuted Windows Mobile developer, Colin Munro, released a new, commercial ($20) VNC client, zoomVNC.

(Note that this is a review of the current, initial, 1.0 version.)

I’ve thoroughly tested the client and found some of its features unique, particularly

1. the ability to connect to more than one VNC servers (desktops) at the same time and really quickly switch between them, without having to exit any of the active connections – an example screenshot showing this is HERE
2. the ability of freely creating / editing macros (example screenshots: 1 2 3 4 5; an example of the pre-defined Ctrl-Alt-Del macro is HERE)

However, if you don’t need the above features, I’ve found it decidedly inferior to the, currently, by far the best VNC client, PT Pocket Office (PT PO for short). The major disadvantages of zoomVNC, compared to PT Pocket Office, are as follows:

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

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

It was some four months ago that I’ve published the definitive guide and comparison of all instant messaging solutions for the Pocket PC, the Windows Mobile Instant Messaging (IM) Bible.

The constant evolution of the clients (for example, the recent release of the really promising and, on Windows Mobile, except for Microsoft Portrait unprecedented and unrivalled Fring client) and the MS Smartphone (WM 6 Standard) platform have forced me to embark on an update to the roundup.

In this roundup, I review all the IM solutions working on the MS Smartphone platform along with listing the PPC-specific changes too. That is, this article will appeal to both Pocket PC and MS Smartphone users. In addition, if you’re interested in Voice over IP (VoIP) solutions, you REALLY will want to read the related section: I also review Fring, the (on Windows Mobile) brand new and simply GREAT Skype, MSN , Google Talk and standard SIP-compliant application working just great even over EDGE or more advanced (with at least 2 upload slots) GPRS connections.

(the icons of the reviewed apps on my HTC Vox. I haven’t put the icon of Causerie Mobile Messenger 1.0.9 there because of its incompatibility with the platform – despite what the developer states, it doesn’t seem to be compatible with Smartphones.)

Again, this article is a three-in-one roundup:

1. a FULL review & roundup of all IM solutions running on the MS Smartphone
2. a review of what has been changed in the last four months: Most of the reviewed applications have been updated in the meantime. While these updates are pretty minor with all the titles, it’s still worth checking them out as some of the missing functionalities or bugs have been fixed in these.
3. a review of the completely new and groundbreaking Fring client, compared to the other clients offering similar functionality.

Note that you REALLY will want to read the original Windows Mobile Instant Messaging Bible. It’s in there that I’ve thoroughly described all the IM clients I elaborate on in here – except for, of course, the brand new Fring. That is, do read the original Bible. Note that I’ve already updated its chart to include the new information on both the new versions and the Smartphone-related information.

In addition to my Pocket PC’s (where I’ve tested how the Pocket PC-related functionality has been improved), I’ve used two MS Smartphone devices to test the IM clients on: a WM5 AKU3 176*220 HTC s310 (Oxygen) and a WM6 QVGA HTC s710 (Vox). On the latter, I’ve paid special attention to supporting the built-in keyboard and the dynamic orientation switching support – in addition to the QVGA support, of course.

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.

Everyone has a blog, right?...My basset hound has his own blog, for Pete's sake, and his layout is better than mine. He's a little weak on content, though...you can only explore the "art of sleeping all day" so many times! Anyway, if you want to preserve your tome of knowledge for future civilizations, you might want to back it up from time-to-time. Or...if you're as narcissistic as I am, you really just want to read it over and over again, so you can feel better about yourself. Either way, here's some simple, free (so far) and pretty effective ways of backing up your blog. You can even export your blog content out to a document format like PDF. Some easy ways to back up your blog:

1. Online Services: backupmyblog.com
and blogbackuponline.com are 2 beta (and free for now) services you can use to run daily backups of your blogs and restore content as well. I have tested blogbackuponline, which we will get to in the Read More section. Both services appear to offer a pretty wide range of support for various blog types, although backupmyblog has to be able to install scripts to your blog, which means many hosted blogs (Typepad, MySpace, etc.) will not work with this service. If you manage or have administrator rights to your flavor of blog server, and it is PHP and MySQL based, scripts are easily located on the web to do the same kind of thing (and backups can also be automated using a cron job, etc.) so you probably would not require a service.

2. Client application: I like Blog Collector Lite, which will allow you to fully backup your blog posts or merely re-sync changes. The lite version will not allow you to restore posts (but you can easily cut and paste).

3. Copy/Paste: The old manual standby for moving data from one place to another. You could also use an RSS aggregator to collect your posts and just simply copy/paste them into Word or Notepad and save them. However, using one of the first 2 methods mentioned will allow you far greater control over your blog content.

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.

https://messenger.mundu.com/

http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=1725&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

If you’ve already read Remote Media Controllers for Windows Mobile - the Definitive Roundup, you'll certainly welcome the following news:

1. there is a new, beta version of 0.7.0 of the jaylee.org’s Bluetooth Remote Control for Windows Mobile. It, for example, now supports the desktop-side Widcomm BT stack, which is GREAT news!
2. AirTunes!