eWallet 4.0 Released

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://www.iliumsoft.com/site/ew/ew_supt2.htm#upgr">http://www.iliumsoft.com/site/ew/ew_supt2.htm#upgr</a><br /><br />Ilium Software has released eWallet 4 for the Pocket PC and Windows desktop. I am not sure if they have even updated their website for it just yet. :wink: <br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/2004/20040720-ewallet4.gif" /><br /><br />Just a few of the new features of eWallet 4.0 include:<br /><br />• Subcategories - you can now add subcategories, or nested categories, to your folders, as shown in the image above.<br />• Record level synchronization - you can opt to synchronize individual Cards between your desktop and Pocket PC files instead of doing the entire file.<br />• True icons supported on the Pocket PC - those that have used eWallet for years recall that you used to have to "convert" desktop icons to special BMP files with a .BMI extension for use on the Pocket PC if you wanted custom icons for your cards or categories. Those BMP files were around 13K each, so having dozens could really eat up RAM space. No longer! Now the smaller 3K .ICO files from your desktop are supported. Better still, if they have the same names on your PC and Pocket PC, you can just copy them over and delete the .BMI files and eWallet 4 will use the icons.<br />• Password hints supported<br /><br />I've been using this now for a few months. All of these features are welcome additions. My favorite electronic wallet just got better! :way to go: As of this posting, I don't know what upgrade pricing will be, but they have always been fair in the past. As soon as they get their site updated and the downloads ready to go, you can get a trial or buy the it at the <a href="http://www.handango.com/brainstore//PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&productId=9440">Pocket PC Thoughts Handango Store</a> for $19.95. The Professional Version, which includes eWallet 4.0 for your Pocket PC and desktop is <a href="http://www.handango.com/brainstore//PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&productId=15458">$29.95</a>.<br /><br /><b>Update:</b> Upgrade info is now available. <div class="quote"> <span class="quote">Quote:</span> If you bought eWallet on or after April 15, 2004, your upgrade copy is free on the same platform(s). If you bought eWallet before April 12, 2004, or got eWallet included with a Compaq iPAQ 3100, 3600 or 3800 series Pocket PC, you can get this upgrade for $16.95 for: a Pocket PC, Palm Powered Handheld, or Windows Smartphone and a Windows PC . </div>

[Kevin Remhof]

• Record level synchronization - you can opt to synchronize individual
OK, I was debating about this upgrade until I saw this feature. Holy cow! That's the one thing I've been dreaming of. I've gotten burned by the lack of that feature more than once.

[disconnected]

I'm not sure if I fully understand how this feature works. Can I choose to just synch everything, but at the record level, so that if I've updated one card on the desktop and one on the PPC, both updates will be synched? If so, I guess it's finally time to upgrade from the free version I got with my iPAQ 3630; or at least it will be when I get my new 4700 :D
Does it support VGA?

[alex_kac]

Nice :)

[rlobrecht]

They've got upgrade info up. http://www.iliumsoft.com/site/ew/ew_supt2.htm#upgr
If you bought eWallet before April 12, 2004, or got eWallet included with a Compaq iPAQ 3100, 3600 or 3800 series Pocket PC, you can get this upgrade for $16.95 for:
a Pocket PC, Palm Powered Handheld, or Windows Smartphone and a Windows PC

I'll definitely be upgrading.

[Jacob]

I'm not sure if I fully understand how this feature works. Can I choose to just synch everything, but at the record level, so that if I've updated one card on the desktop and one on the PPC, both updates will be synched?

I'm quite sure that's exactly it. I've been burned by the lack of this feature before myself.

I also love the fact that you can have nested categories!!!

Looks like a worthwhile upgrade.

[Janak Parekh]

They've got upgrade info up. http://www.iliumsoft.com/site/ew/ew_supt2.htm#upgr
Thanks for the link! I'm buying it right now. The subcategories is killer for me -- I've been missing that feature ever since I used my "free iPAQ version".

--janak

[Zack Mahdavi]

Yes, record level sychronization! I'm definitely upgrading.. :)

[Steven Cedrone]

I'll be upgrading as well. Come to think of it, this will be a perfect time to go and clean up the junk in eWallet that I never bothered to update/delete... :wink:

Steve

[brianchris]

Record level syncronization is GREAT!!!! (although LONG overdue IMHO). Its enought to make me want to purchase. Now I have to just decide which is the lesser evil: manually entering ALL my wallet data currently in Flex Wallet to eWallet, OR continuing to live with file level sync (which just bit me once again this morning....its a daily occurance) :evil:

[carphead]

Time to upgrade. :D

Ewallet is the no.1 reason I can't be without my ipaq.

[NewKreation]

Does the new version support GIF images? It would be worth the upgrade if I did not have to convert my GIF's to BMP's and/or JPG's.

[Ed Hansberry]

Does the new version support GIF images? It would be worth the upgrade if I did not have to convert my GIF's to BMP's and/or JPG's.
No. BMP or JPG still.

I think there are royalty issues with .GIF they don't want to fool with. .GIF isn't a free open file format.

[Rob Alexander]

Does the new version support GIF images? It would be worth the upgrade if I did not have to convert my GIF's to BMP's and/or JPG's.
No. BMP or JPG still.

I think there are royalty issues with .GIF they don't want to fool with. .GIF isn't a free open file format.

Yeah, I'm starting to see quite a few graphics programs that are leaving out GIF support as well as LZW compression in TIFF. No one wants to fight Unisys over it and there are alternatives. I guess the question isn't whether you'd like to see GIF support in eWallet so much as it is whether you'd be willing to pay more for the program to get it. I imagine Ilium are thinking more people would pass on buying for a price increase than would for lack of GIF support.

BTW, thanks for the heads-up on the upgrade Ed. I just finished installing the new version. I don't care about record-level sync support, but the nested categories is a major plus. It's also nice that it will support .ico files directly instead of having to have them converted to .bmi files on the PPC.

[NewKreation]

I wonder if the PNG format is royalty-free. I find it very simple and quick to convert from GIF to PNG. What's more, the color palette can stay the same and the file size actually decreases.

[Theo]

Typical, the day I decide to switch to FlexWallet 'cos eWallet hasn't been upgraded to so SO! long - this announcement is posted 2 hrs later.

For those still looking to give FlexWallet a go - watch out for the 75% off advert on the PPCT homepage (small square on the lefthand side).

[Janak Parekh]

I wonder if the PNG format is royalty-free. I find it very simple and quick to convert from GIF to PNG. What's more, the color palette can stay the same and the file size actually decreases.
http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/pngfaq.html#patents

Interestingly, I believe GIF's patents are rapidly expiring (if they haven't already), but PNG is a much superior format, with uniform support for high-bit color, alpha transparency, better compression algorithms, etc.

Anyway, let's get back ontopic. ;)

--janak

[Jonathon Watkins]

Hmmm, about time to make the jump to a more secure wallet system I think........

[bnycastro]

:evil: arghhh! I got mine March 22, 2004! I guess mine won't be a free update! I do get a discount right?

[mgartner]

Just bought the upgrade and installed it...

Having a look at the new features, I'm a little bit disappointed:

1) the so called "SycPro" feature is not a true ActiveSync Plugin. They have again 'baked their own cake' - you can choose to, sync on app-start/stop, or at device connect.
If you now connect the device or start the program (depending on you setting) a sync dialog pops up and you have to wait until you can go further.
Why not a true ActiveSync plugin?

2) If you decide to use SyncPro feature, the synced files are moved outside the PocketPC desktop folder - mess!

3) on the PocketPC side the also have removed a standard PocketPC feature - the file list dialog! They have replaced this dialog with an ugly file list...

What do u think?

[Kevin Remhof]

1) the so called "SycPro" feature is not a true ActiveSync Plugin. They have again 'baked their own cake' - you can choose to, sync on app-start/stop, or at device connect.
If you now connect the device or start the program (depending on you setting) a sync dialog pops up and you have to wait until you can go further.
Why not a true ActiveSync plugin?

2) If you decide to use SyncPro feature, the synced files are moved outside the PocketPC desktop folder - mess!

3) on the PocketPC side the also have removed a standard PocketPC feature - the file list dialog! They have replaced this dialog with an ugly file list...
Yeah, I'm not thrilled with my upgrade purchase. I should have RTFMed before I purchased. The "record level" sync is not at all what I thought it would be. I was hoping for something like Outlook where I can modify on my Pocket PC, Work Desktop, and Home Desktop, and it can figure out what goes where. I really need to sit down and figure out the best way to use SyncPro. I wish I didn't have to.

So far, I'm a bit bummed out. I'm starting to miss my Palm days where synching was easier... record level sync without custom apps is the only way to go.

I second the ugly comment about the file list. I don't even see my eWallet file anywhere. I guess I better contact tech support about that.

[Ilium Software]

[...]
1) [...]
Why not a true ActiveSync plugin?

The ActiveSync API did not give us the level of control of the sync process that was necessary to deliver an acceptable solution. We could not have made the decisions about what to do with the records: ActiveSync makes all the decisions for you. We initially examined using the ActiveSync API, brought our concerns to Microsoft, and the lead for the ActiveSync team recommended that we not develop to the ActiveSync API.


2) If you decide to use SyncPro feature, the synced files are moved outside the PocketPC desktop folder - mess!

This is necessary to avoid conflicts with File Synchronization. File Sync would pick a winner based on the file modification time and then you could lose changes made on one side before the sync engine had a chance to run.


3) on the PocketPC side the also have removed a standard PocketPC feature - the file list dialog! [...]
[...]


This is related to 2). The standard file list knows only about folders where File Synchronization might occur. In order to make synchronized wallets available, we had to develop our own file list. The built-in file list couldn't be extended to do what we needed it to do.

[Ilium Software]

[...]
I was hoping for something like Outlook where I can modify on my Pocket PC, Work Desktop, and Home Desktop, and it can figure out what goes where. I really need to sit down and figure out the best way to use SyncPro. I wish I didn't have to. [...]

Record-level synchronization is a strategic feature in eWallet. We hope to broaden its capabilities in each release. We don't comment on dates of unreleased content, so I can't say anything further.


[...] I don't even see my eWallet file anywhere. I guess I better contact tech support about that.

Synchronized wallets are under the eWallet installation directory in a folder called "Synchronized Wallets." This is done to avoid conflicts with File Synchronization.

[Janak Parekh]

1) the so called "SycPro" feature is not a true ActiveSync Plugin. They have again 'baked their own cake' - you can choose to, sync on app-start/stop, or at device connect.
If you set it to run on device connect, it acts as "part" of the ActiveSync process. I did just that (and turned off the other two) and I'm reasonably happy with the setup.

2) If you decide to use SyncPro feature, the synced files are moved outside the PocketPC desktop folder - mess!
Not really a problem for me, although I'd like to be able to specify where they go.

3) on the PocketPC side the also have removed a standard PocketPC feature - the file list dialog! They have replaced this dialog with an ugly file list...
How many wallets do you keep? I have exactly one, and the selector works just fine for me.

I was hoping for something like Outlook where I can modify on my Pocket PC, Work Desktop, and Home Desktop, and it can figure out what goes where. I really need to sit down and figure out the best way to use SyncPro. I wish I didn't have to.
Wait, it won't support this? What does it do if you modify in multiple places? I've only tested one desktop and my Pocket PC.

--janak

[Rob Alexander]

I was hoping for something like Outlook where I can modify on my Pocket PC, Work Desktop, and Home Desktop, and it can figure out what goes where. I really need to sit down and figure out the best way to use SyncPro. I wish I didn't have to.
Wait, it won't support this? What does it do if you modify in multiple places? I've only tested one desktop and my Pocket PC.

According to the documentation, you should not use SyncPro if you need to synchronize with more than one desktop. I'm thinking then that they're telling you it won't do this. I haven't tried it, though, to verify that.

[Janak Parekh]

According to the documentation, you should not use SyncPro if you need to synchronize with more than one desktop. I'm thinking then that they're telling you it won't do this. I haven't tried it, though, to verify that.
Ah. I guess conflict resolution isn't supported. :( I'll probably have to switch back, then.

--janak

[Andy Whiteford]

Has anyone had any form of instability on their device following this upgrade? I've had a few weird issues where my device has either locked up totally and needs a reset or the app seems to respond to the menus however I cannot close or use the scroll bars within because its as if the right hand side of the screen is not responding. This is only happening with eWallet 4 or just after I have used it. I also get a weird error when I power up and I get a warning dialogue that 'Cannot Execute \Storage Card ~ eWallet.exe'. This happens all the time when I power up - not a soft reset - until I go into the tools menu\configure within eWallet. It then works fine with no warnings until the next time I do a soft reset and this behaviour returns and I need to go back into the configure option. I make no changes at all in this menu - I just need to access it.

[bdavidson9554]

... I also get a weird error when I power up and I get a warning dialogue that 'Cannot Execute \Storage Card ~ eWallet.exe'. This happens all the time when I power up - not a soft reset - until I go into the tools menu\configure within eWallet. It then works fine with no warnings until the next time I do a soft reset and this behaviour returns and I need to go back into the configure option. I make no changes at all in this menu - I just need to access it.

I've reported the same error to Ilium Software and they've heard of it, but didn't really have a workaround short of installing to main memory instead of a storage card. It seems that version 4.0 adds a WAKEUP entry to the Notification database (check it out with Check Notifications from ScaryBear).

When you power-on, the storage card is likely not initialized yet when it tries to run ewallet.exe, so you get the notification error.

Not sure why this entry was needed for 4.0, but it sure is annoying. I'm just waiting for a compelling event to reinstall it to main memory.

Another thing I've done, with limited success, is to delete the ewallet.exe entry from the Notifications DB using Check Notifications, but it will get recreated when using eWallet again usually.

Brian

[Andy Whiteford]

... I also get a weird error when I power up and I get a warning dialogue that 'Cannot Execute \Storage Card ~ eWallet.exe'. This happens all the time when I power up - not a soft reset - until I go into the tools menu\configure within eWallet. It then works fine with no warnings until the next time I do a soft reset and this behaviour returns and I need to go back into the configure option. I make no changes at all in this menu - I just need to access it.

I've reported the same error to Ilium Software and they've heard of it, but didn't really have a workaround short of installing to main memory instead of a storage card. It seems that version 4.0 adds a WAKEUP entry to the Notification database (check it out with Check Notifications from ScaryBear).

When you power-on, the storage card is likely not initialized yet when it tries to run ewallet.exe, so you get the notification error.

Not sure why this entry was needed for 4.0, but it sure is annoying. I'm just waiting for a compelling event to reinstall it to main memory.

Another thing I've done, with limited success, is to delete the ewallet.exe entry from the Notifications DB using Check Notifications, but it will get recreated when using eWallet again usually.

Brian


I'm aware of soem issues with Storage Cards and the time it takes to initialise but I thought that was only an issue after a soft reset and not just a power up. Not sure what exactly going into the tools\configure menu does to eliminate this issue. have you had the locks ups or the top bar not responding? It's a shame because v3.1 was rock solid for me.

[mangust]

Did anybody else notice the subcategory name limitation in eWallet? One you name a category/subcategory that name cannot be reused. Consider this example - there are two main categories: Credit Cards and Phone Numbers. You want to create Personal and Work subcategories in both of them, so that the category tree would look like this:

+ Credit Cards
+ Personal
cards...
+ Work
cards...
+ Phone Numbers
+ Personal
cards...
+ Work
cards...

Even though Personal and Work are inside different categories you are not allowed to create them if they already exist. IMHO, this is a rather annoying limitation.

[bdavidson9554]

I'm aware of soem issues with Storage Cards and the time it takes to initialise but I thought that was only an issue after a soft reset and not just a power up. Not sure what exactly going into the tools\configure menu does to eliminate this issue. have you had the locks ups or the top bar not responding? It's a shame because v3.1 was rock solid for me.

I haven't had the lockups, but I have noticed the app just close when trying to create new cards. Nothing reproducible on demand, but it happened twice in a row for me.

I'm somewhat sorry I jumped the gun on buying the upgrade, but I didn't want to run the 4.0 trial with no encryption. Probably needed to wait until 4.0.1 or 4.1. Ilium did mention they will have an update in a month or so.

Brian