Mini review (sort of) - Smart Solitaire by MUD Inc.

[PJE]

Hi All,

I was fortunate enough to win a copy of Smart Solitaire by Mud Inc in the Smartphone Thoughts Launch Extravaganza.

<Smartphone PocketPC>

Unfortunately I don't posses a Smartphone (with my company I'm lucky to get a mobile phone at all)... but MUD were kind enough to subsititue the PocketPC version for my Axim. Given their generosity I feel honor bound to write a mini review of the program.

From the screenshot above it is clear that the Smartphone and PocketPC versions share a common design, with only the increased size of the graphic elements and touchscreen support being the only significant differences. The graphics are very nice, with a very wide choice of card backs and table colors. I would have liked to see the cards spaced a little wider appart vertically on some games (Yukon) to make use of the full screen real-estate (or for the spacing to be proportional to the number of cards in the column) to make it easier to see the available moves.

The user interface makes use of the D-pad which is used to navigate to the source card where select is pressed. The D-pad is used again to select the destination column, with a second select invoking the movement. For the PocketPC the stylus can be used to select the source and destinations, but there is no dragging of cards like other products. With the Smartphone it is also possible to use the number pad to select the columns to speed things up.

There are a very wide range of games (200+), which should keep most people occupied for quite a while. I'm adicted to Yukon, and I think it's going to be Christmas before I get to any of the others...

Likes:

• Full screen - especially nice on PocketPC as cards can be larger than competing products.
• Nice Graphics - Choice of card back and table color.
• Almost limitless number of solitaire card games.
• Developer is actively developing the product, with free updates.
• Very Addictive!

Dislikes:

• No online manual for each game (unless I missed something), means you need to know each game or experiment.
• Lack of card dragging may make it less intuative to some users.
• No quick way (other than hard keys) to switch to another program.
• A little costly at $20, but you'll get your moneys worth if you like card games.
• Very Addictive!

There is a trial version available at Smart Solitaire which is well worth checking out. The program takes up about 500KB on my PocketPC.

Regards

PJE

[PJE]

Hi All,

I was fortunate enough to win a copy of Smart Solitaire by Mud Inc in the Smartphone Thoughts Launch Extravaganza.

<Smartphone PocketPC>

Unfortunately I don't posses a Smartphone (with my company I'm lucky to get a mobile phone at all)... but MUD were kind enough to subsititue the PocketPC version for my Axim. Given their generosity I feel honor bound to write a mini review of the program.

From the screenshot above it is clear that the Smartphone and PocketPC versions share a common design, with only the increased size of the graphic elements and touchscreen support being the only significant differences. The graphics are very nice, with a very wide choice of card backs and table colors. I would have liked to see the cards spaced a little wider appart vertically on some games (Yukon) to make use of the full screen real-estate (or for the spacing to be proportional to the number of cards in the column) to make it easier to see the available moves.

The user interface makes use of the D-pad which is used to navigate to the source card where select is pressed. The D-pad is used again to select the destination column, with a second select invoking the movement. For the PocketPC the stylus can be used to select the source and destinations, but there is no dragging of cards like other products. With the Smartphone it is also possible to use the number pad to select the columns to speed things up.

There are a very wide range of games (200+), which should keep most people occupied for quite a while. I'm adicted to Yukon, and I think it's going to be Christmas before I get to any of the others...

Likes:

• Full screen - especially nice on PocketPC as cards can be larger than competing products.
• Nice Graphics - Choice of card back and table color.
• Almost limitless number of solitaire card games.
• Developer is actively developing the product, with free updates.
• Very Addictive!

Dislikes:

• No online manual for each game (unless I missed something), means you need to know each game or experiment.
• Lack of card dragging may make it less intuative to some users.
• No quick way (other than hard keys) to switch to another program.
• A little costly at $20, but you'll get your moneys worth if you like card games.
• Very Addictive!

There is a trial version available at Smart Solitaire which is well worth checking out. The program takes up about 500KB on my PocketPC.

Regards

PJE

[Robert Levy]

Great review! Here's a link to the rules for all the games: http://www.mud.ca/soli/rules.html

[PJE]

Originally Posted by Robert Levy

Great review! Here's a link to the rules for all the games: http://www.mud.ca/soli/rules.html

Thanks! I was really after a built-in version... I tend to just experiment anyway.

PJE