Ilium Releases eWallet 7

[Ed Hansberry]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.iliumsoft.com/site/ew/ewallet.php' target='_blank'>http://www.iliumsoft.com/site/ew/ewallet.php</a><br /><br /></div><p>eWallet 7.0 is now shipping from Ilium Software. There are two really significant changes to the product and a bunch of minor ones. The first significant change is the desktop client is all new, rewritten from the ground up. I've been beta testing it now since the summer and in many areas, it is a substantial improvement over the 6.x build. I'll get into those changes in a minute.</p><p><img alt="eWallet 7" border="0" src="http://www.iliumsoft.com/site/ew/pix/hd_ewallet.gif" /></p><p>The second major change is pricing. You now only pay for eWallet one time. You no longer have to buy eWallet for your device. You buy eWallet for <em>you.</em> If you use an iPhone this week and switch to a Blackberry next month, you just download the new client for the Blackberry and enter your registration code. No more repurchasing when you change clients.</p><p>Now, on to the feature updates. Remember, this is mostly about the Windows client, but Windows Mobile users will see some welcome changes when syncing with a desktop client.</p><ul><li>Totally new interface with an all new look that fits right at home with Vista's and Windows 7's Aero interface. You can revert to "classic" though if you prefer.</li><li>Auto-pass for Firefox users, something IE users have enjoyed for years.</li><li>Recenly opened cards list lets you quickly access those frequently used cards.</li><li>Full support for Windows 7. I'm running it on Win7 Ultimate x64 here.</li><li>All of the new graphics options designed on the desktop will sync over to your WinMo device.</li><li>Files attached on the desktop will sync over to a WinMo device. Don't get too carried away with this or you'll find yourself syncing a 50MB eWallet file. <img border="0" src="http://www.ehansberry.com/ppct/wink.gif" /></li><li>WinMo 6.5 touchscreen users will be able to easily flip between cards on their device.</li></ul><p>There is a free trial available. If you purchased eWallet 6.x between August 30 and today, you get 7.0 free. If you purchased it before then, you can upgrade for $10. If you don't own eWallet, it is only $19.99. There is a catch for users that purchased it through the WinMo Marketplace store or the iPhone App Store - those locations only sell device specific versions. You'll have to pay $10 to upgrade to the desktop client or to gain access to other platforms. One other side note: if you are still nursing a PalmOS device, be careful. There will be no eWallet 7 update for that platform and 6.x cannot read the 7.0 files.</p>

[doogald]

And a Mac preview release! I am close to one less reason to ever start Windows!

[stlbud]

I've been using a wallet program (FlexWallet) for years and would be lost without it. I recently switched to eWallet (Version 6) and am very pleased with it's performance and function. My only reservation is that it syncs with my WinMo device outside of ActiveSync. It seems to work reliably but it was a surprise the first time I tried to sync.

I'm looking forward to using version 7.

[signothefish]

I've been using eWallet Professional v3.1 for Pocket PC/Windows for years now. I bought it back in 2003 at Handango, and it's still going strong. Did you notice the iPhone screenshots? iPhone App Screenshots :: Ilium Software (http://www.iliumsoft.com/site/iphone/screenshots.php?e)
Get an interface like that for Windows Mobile, and that would be incentive enough for me to upgrade.

[Bob Anderson]

Excellent ... the first application upgrade I'll get for my new Omnia II which has been ordered and should be delivered Thursday! I've used eWallet for I don't know how long and it is one of the best programs I have ever owned or used. The developers continue to refine and improve! Thanks for the good news...

[Rob Alexander]

I've been using eWallet since version 2, many years ago and it's always one of the first things I put on a new device. I just bought my upgrade and installed it. On the positive side, the finger-friendly interface for the WM version is really nice and I'm very happy about that. The PC version is more attractive, too, though I'm not sure it's actually more useable. Of course, you can choose the old or new style, so there's no downside to that.

On the negative side, I was really hoping that they'd include ftp sync on the WM version this time. (It's something that I've emailed them about before and that they sounded positive about including one day.) Don't they understand that fewer and fewer Windows Mobile users sync with their desktops? I don't even have an association set up and it sucks that I have to do that just to sync this one program. If they would just add ftp sync into the WM client, then I could use my ftp site to act as a master copy of my eWallet file with both my PC and Windows Phone syncing to it, keeping everything automatically up-to-date. I would think that lots of people would like that.

[signothefish]

I use Live Mesh for that very thing you're talking about, Rob. Basically, I have a Dropbox account that contains the My Documents folder of my Windows Mobile device (others recommend Sugarsync, but I haven't tried it yet). Inside that folder is the eWallet data file. When I change the file on one computer, it's changed instantly on all the other computers. The next time Live Mesh syncs, the file is updated on the phone, so I always have the most updated wallet.

[doogald]

I use Live Mesh for that very thing you're talking about, Rob. Basically, I have a Dropbox account that contains the My Documents folder of my Windows Mobile device (others recommend Sugarsync, but I haven't tried it yet). Inside that folder is the eWallet data file. When I change the file on one computer, it's changed instantly on all the other computers. The next time Live Mesh syncs, the file is updated on the phone, so I always have the most updated wallet.

How did you get Live Mesh on a WM phone? Every time I go to the Live Mesh site, it says "coming soon" for Mobile.

As a Mac user (the Mac Live Mesh client is great) who cannot find a decent WM desktop syncing app (though I prefer doing it through the cloud anyway), I'd love to have this. I've tried SugarSync, but the client doesn't work with WM Standard (well, it may, but I supplied the wrong password when I tried to login and with WM Standard I cannot erase it.)

[edit: never mind; I found it. Looks like it is a closed beta.]

[Ed Hansberry]

[edit: never mind; I found it. Looks like it is a closed beta.]

You aren't missing much. I have tried it 4 times this year on 3 different devices and the device sync settings continually get corrupted requiring an uninstall/reinstall, which is a pain. I gave up.

It will be uber-cool when finished, but right now, just a bit too rough on WinMo rely on.

[Rob Alexander]

I use Live Mesh for that very thing you're talking about, Rob. Basically, I have a Dropbox account that contains the My Documents folder of my Windows Mobile device (others recommend Sugarsync, but I haven't tried it yet). Inside that folder is the eWallet data file. When I change the file on one computer, it's changed instantly on all the other computers. The next time Live Mesh syncs, the file is updated on the phone, so I always have the most updated wallet.

At one point, I used Live Mesh for this as well. It was the only multiple sync solution that included my WM phone and that was a huge attraction for this very reason. Unfortunately, Live Mesh and my desktop PC did not get along. Intermittently, LM would run one of my CPU cores up to 100% and wouldn't stop until I rebooted. It would go on for hours that way even when there was nothing to sync. Now I'm using Syncplicity for that. It works beautifully, but it doesn't include my phone. I sync my PIM stuff through a personal Exchange account and this is the only other thing that I really need to sync, so I was just hoping they'd add that. I'm just frustrated because they already have the code for the PC version so it can't be that much extra work for a feature that lots of people would like. Even better, they could combine the idea with their Web Companion. Instead of making Web Companion just a web site to view your data, they could easily make it a site that could serve as a sync hub for all of your devices.

[Eriq Cook]

You aren't missing much. I have tried it 4 times this year on 3 different devices and the device sync settings continually get corrupted requiring an uninstall/reinstall, which is a pain. I gave up.

It will be uber-cool when finished, but right now, just a bit too rough on WinMo rely on.

Same here. Has it been a year (or more) already? LOL

[Eriq Cook]

I've been using eWallet since 2001. Great app. I'll be upgrading this week. Since I may be switching to Blackberry soon (at least temporarily until Winmo7) it's great to know about the positive change in licensing.