iWindowsMobile’s Communication Suite Upgrades Your Phone To The Next Generation

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It’s no doubt that the next generation of devices are those with a finger-friendly interface. The Apple iPhone led the wave and now, even non-Pocket PCs (like Verizon’s Glyde and Sprint’s upcoming Instinct) are embracing this technology. We no longer want to use our stylus on our Pocket PCs and it looks like VITO has responded to that cry with their iWindowsMobile Communication Suite.

Intro

For users of VITO software, Communication Suite is a constellation of some of their best-selling software: GoodWin, FunContact, SMS-Chat and ZoomBoard. Bundled into 1 suite, it’ll set you back by $39.95 which is $30 cheaper than what you would be paying if you bought each item individually. Even if you only needed 3 of the 4 software, buying the Suite would net you a better price than to purchase them separately.

Like all other VITO applications out there, trials do exist for those who like to taste before ordering. However, unlike a lot of other applications out there, you get different trial durations for different components. So if you were to have the full 30 days for all 4 components, you’re not in luck. Not in luck as well as Windows Mobile Standard users and those who are using WM2003SE and older. That’s because the Suite (and the applications within it) only support WM5/6 devices with touchscreen. It’s currently at v1.00 (although the applications within it are of higher version numbers).

With all that in mind, how does the Communication Suite stand out?

After the cumbersome installation process (more on that later), you would not notice much change to your device except for the addition of this new entry (screen shot to your right) on your Today Screen. This is your shortcut to the communication suite and from here, you can activate the respective applications that came with it. So let’s start with GoodWin:

GoodWin

The launcher of VITO is a pretty slick application. Unlike a lot of other applications, this one is pretty simple and easy to use. There is not much setting up needed but as you will later realize, that does have it’s shortcomings as well. The application is divided into 5 parts.

Navigation

The top bar is where you see your indicators (battery, sound, time and phone) and tapping on any of them would take you to the settings for each. For example, tapping on the ringer/bell icon would bring up a window that allows you to choose between the 3 standard profiles of Windows Mobile. Nothing great I agree but it does make it a lot easier to choose your profiles now without the need for a stylus.

Just below that are 4 icons, 3 of which launches the other 3 applications in the Suite. The one that doesn’t is the one with the count. That launches the generic task application and the count shows the number of tasks I have undone.

Just below that you have your Favorite & Running section. If you have an application that you are always or regularly using, you can just easily add it here so you no longer have to scroll through the list. And if there’s an application that’s running and you want closed, just tap and hold on it’s icon. A window comes up asking what you want to do with it and you can easily close it from there.

The next (and last) 2 sections are Programs and Settings which is similar as to what you would find in the normal Programs and Settings menu. However, a stark difference is the lack of folders, even if you have set them up in your Programs. So for those who rely on such a structure and plan on using GoodWin, a compromise is needed.

When I first used GoodWin (that was v1) I had a long list of programs and settings. So to get to GoodWin’s menu, I had to scroll a long way. With v2 (which is what is included in this version), you get 2 arrows, an upward facing on the left and a downward facing on the right. Tapping on either arrow brings you to the next section. For example, if I am currently at Favorites & Running, tapping the downward arrow twice would bring me to Settings. Another tap on it would bring up the Menu button.

Lock

There’s even a nice lock screen that activates when your device turns off/goes to sleep. The mechanism is similar to the iPhone in a sense that you’ll need to slide it across the screen (in the direction of the arrow) to unlock your phone.

Some Improvements

Unfortunately, GoodWin is one of the simplest launchers I have come across. Some will really appreciate this because launchers can be troublesome to customize but for users looking for something more robust, they’ll have to look elsewhere.

It does not support folders and applications added to Favorites cannot be rearranged to the user’s desire. Instead, they’re alphabetically sorted.

However, my biggest disappointment with GoodWin is the fact that it does not provide me with an option to launch it automatically after a soft reset. It’s a launcher and I would have loved to always have it activated so I can could use it. Instead, I am finding myself having to constantly activate the application after each soft-reset. I hear that VITO is coming up with a new version of this soon. Hopefully that would bring with it such a feature.

FunContact

Next up, we have VITO’s contact manager. Like GoodWin, the interface is really finger-friendly and colors are nice. It has 4 sections which can be accessed by the 4 buttons at the bottom of the screen.

Full List

This first button lists all your contacts. There are 3 ways to get to your contact. The first is the standard kinetic scrolling, pretty similar to what you see on the iPhone. The second is by first tapping on the row of letters that you see at the side and scrolling to the starting letter of the name. It will then bring up a list of names with that starting name and you then scroll to your contact. The third is via a T9 search. Tap on the arrow to open up a phone pad and spell the name of the person using T9 predictive text. So if I wanted Adam, I would type 2326. Or if you want to call a number directly, you could just enter the number and hit the green call button.

Favorite

Now if you have some contacts that you are constantly calling, add them to this list. It’s easily accessible and you do not have to scroll (unless you have a long list of favorites) a lot to reach the contact you want to call.

Call History

The third button brings up your call history so you can either add an unknown number to your contact or call it directly. The icons are nice and large which makes for informative quick glances. You could easily tell if the call was incoming, outgoing or missed.

Menu

Tapping on this last button brings up the menu, overlapping whichever function you were just before. From here, you could add contacts or decide how to sort contacts. Like GoodWin, there is not much tweaking needed so there’s no need to worry about that.

Adding/Editing Contacts

It was a joy to do using FunContact. With the generic Windows Mobile application, you’re better off doing it with a stylus but not so with FunContact. With it’s finger friendly interface, you could quickly add a picture, enter the name and number and you’re good to go. It does not get any easier than this and if you’ve used it, you’ll likely agree with me.

Improvements

There were some missing elements in FunContact which I was hoping VITO would add. For one, there is no sorting by File As option available. So if this is your method of choice (as is mine), you’re out of luck.

The other improvement I would like to see is with regards to call history. Tapping on the number calls it. What I would prefer is something similar to the call history of the generic phone application. That is, when you tap on a number, it shows you a history of when the number was dialed or received.

SMS-Chat

When making a call is not feasible, sending a text is your next best option and SMS-Chat makes it a lot better. It may do only one thing but it does it really well.

What I like about Gmail is that it allows me to easily keep track of discussions. All my emails are automatically grouped, so even if I were to receive 20 emails right now, I would not be lost in following the conversation because I could easily look at previous emails to jog my memory. Same goes with SMS-Chat.

Easily Send Messages & Chat

It uses a threaded messaging system so you can actually follow a text message discussion with your friend instead of trying to figure out why he sent you a message saying ‘$35′. What’s even better is that if you want to send a message to your friend who had previously sent you one, all you need to do is tap on that message, type your message and send. There’s no need to add his number to it because it’s already there. And for those really quick messages, you could always use the built-in template to send a long message even quicker than before.

Group Messaging

That alone makes it worth the $14.95 retail price but that’s not all. If you are one of those who constantly have to send messages to a large group of people, you’d notice that the generic Windows Mobile messaging application does not support such a feature. Well SMS-Chat does and adding recipients to your message couldn’t be easier than tapping on their name.

Email Address Or Phone Number?

Even if you seldom use text messaging, SMS-Chat might be something you want to look into. From one screen, you could tap on a message and choose to forward or resend it and even visit links within those messages. It’s even smart enough to pick up numbers and let you choose if you want to call it. And there’s also the option of easily deleting messages.

Improvement

There’s nothing much to fault SMS-Chat on except on the group messaging part. I would have preferred if I could create a group of recipients so that the next time I want to send a message, I just select the group instead of choosing recipients one by one. When you think about it, when people usually message a group, they usually do so to the same recipients so this feature would definitely be welcomed with open arms. What do you say VITO?

ZoomBoard

To send those messages quickly, you’ll need a good SIP and ZoomBoard may just be the one for you. I say may because SIPs are one of those applications that you need to spend a substantial amount of time with before you can make a decision. We’re all creatures of habits and using an entirely new SIP is not the easiest of things to do. I know because I was/am one such user.

When I first reviewed ZoomBoard here on My Today Screen, I liked it. I was not used to it at first but I appreciated how it worked and what it was capable of. Now, over a month of using it, I am loving it even more. I can enter text faster than before and I have replaced it as the default SIP that I now use.

So if you think that you already have a SIP that you love, there’s no harm to give ZoomBoard a go. At the very least, you’ll know it’s not for you. But if that’s not the case, you might just make the change like I did.

Overall

So how does all these 4 applications come into play together? It’s definitely a good start and a step in the right direction. For one, when you try to change the look of your device, some applications do not work well together. But when it all comes from one company, you can be assured that there would be no such case. GoodWin launches FunContact when you tap on the shortcut and SMS-Chat when you are in the texting mood.

However, I can’t help but feel a bit disjointed when using the applications. The reason for this was the interface. GoodWin and FunContact had a brighter feel to it while ZoomBoard and SMS-Chat was recently updated to support the black skin. Take a look at the screen shots above to see what I mean. Even the menu for settings are not uniform. I think it would go a long way to show integration if VITO had the same skin and menu navigation for all 4 applications. That would definitely give the image of a tighter integration.

Speaking of integration, I also feel that GoodWin is the weakest link in the suite and this should not be, especially when it’s considered the core of it. VITO should definitely look into strengthening this application if it wants to make the Communication Suite even better. And while they’re on it, to make the installation process a lot easier. I can understand why would VITO would want you to install the application one by one (so you can choose where each application goes) but for those who plan on installing it all to one location (which I recommend is the Main Memory), there should be such an option as well.

What I Like

• Deep discount for buying the suite instead of 4 applications separately.
• Error free and well-integrated applications.
• Very finger-friendly interface
• Useful for day to day use and fills some gaps left by Windows Mobile generic applications.

What Could Be Improved

• Easier installation process.
• Minor tweaks to FunContact and SMS-Chat to add functionality.
• Major tweaks to GoodWin to make it even better.
• Uniform skin and menu options across all 4 applications.

Conclusion

VITO’s Communication Suite is more than just what the name suggests. While FunContact and SMS-Chat (and ZoomBoard in a way) does help in making communication a much better process, I do not see how GoodWin adds to it. However, these 4 applications really work well with each other and if you are bored of how your Windows Mobile device looks like, grab this suite for it and throw your stylus away because you would not be needing it anymore.

Some may argue that you could easily get similar applications that are either free or more robust and I do agree that you could. The problem is that they would not look uniform together and while you could tweak it to make it so, there’s always the question of stability. With a suite, you can be certain that it work better than meshing up several applications together.

Still don’t believe me? Go ahead and grab a trial copy of it and see for yourself. And if you want to grab a copy for yourself, it retails for $39.95. Even if you only fancy 3 of the 4 applications in it, I would still recommend you purchase the suite because of the money you’ll save. Be reminded that only WM5/6 touchscreen devices are supported.

This is how Windows Mobile should work and it would not be long before Microsoft integrates it into their WM platform (WM7 hopefully) but until that happens, you’ll have to VITO’s iWindowsMobile Communications Suite to get you through.

Do you use VITO’s iWindowsMobile Communication Suite? What has your experience been like? What do you like about it and what would you improve?

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