While many developers try to improve the horrible UI experience of Windows Mobile, only few come out as winners. Spb Software House is one of them. With the release of Spb Mobile Shell 2.0 earlier this month, Spb once again proves why its the best at making Windows Mobile much more user friendly.
Spb Mobile Shell 2.0 takes many useful, everyday features and puts them all at your fingertips. Some of the new and enhanced features include:
Now Panel: On the very top, the Now panel shows your battery status, your carrier, and signal strength. Right under that, you have five finger-friendly icons that offer easy access to the weather, notifications (such as messages, text, missed calls), and sound profiles. Under these icons you have the time and calendar.
The weather icon displays current status (sunny, rainy, cloudy, etc) and shows the high/low in your choice of Fahrenheit or Celsius. Tap the icon once and you enter a menu giving you weather for Night, Morning, Day, and Evening. You also get the weather for the next three days and clicking on any of them will also give you weather status for Night through Evening. You can easily update weather information with a simple tap on a refresh icon.
The notification icons are very useful. However, when you click on any of them, you are taken into the normal Windows Mobile version as they are not skinned by Mobile Shell. Same goes for the calendar. Tapping on the sound profiles icon gives you a small overlay with three options to choose from (Normal, Silent, Vibrate only). Almost the same as everything skinned by Mobile Shell, tapping on the time takes you inside a menu where you can set/view alarms and choose three other cities that you’d like to see the time for.
Menu Panel: Moving on, the Menu panel is full of icons. On the very top you have 12 icons which include shortcuts to brightness, your IE favorites, recently launched programs, and device lock. The Menu panel also has six large customizable icons that take you to programs, tools, and settings once you tap on an icon.
Tap the multimedia icon in the Menu Panel and you are taken inside custom functions for Windows Media Player, Camera, and Pictures.
Dial Panel: The third and final panel in Spb Mobile Shell is the Quick Dial panel. The panel has 15 squares where you can add anyone on your contact list. Once added the name of the person will show or the picture if you have one added. Tap on a name or picture and you will go inside a panel where you can choose what number to call (mobile, work, or home) or you can choose to send a message. The last square in the Quick Dial panel is a shortcut to Spb Contacts which allows you to quickly find someone by typing their name or number. Tapping and holding on any single contact bring out a small overlay menu with options to replace the contact, view recent calls, edit, or remove the contact.
Final Thoughts: If you don’t have Spb Mobile Shell 2.0 you are missing out, especially if you are using a touch screen device. Priced at $30, Spb Mobile Shell 2.0 makes it very easy to use your Windows Mobile device and adds lots of eye candy to it. I’ve used many different programs similar to Spb Mobile Shell 2.0, but none can offer the rich weather settings, contacts menu, or the customizable program launcher. My experience was very smooth and I did not notice any slow down or memory drain. All in all, this program is a must have if you’re a Windows Mobile user.
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