xBar Review by Mozongoware

[Kris Kumar]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.mozongoware.com/featureddetails.asp?article=685' target='_blank'>http://www.mozongoware.com/featureddetails.asp?article=685</a><br /><br /></div><i>"One of the complaints about the Windows Mobile operating system for handhelds has been that there is no way to completely close programs without going into settings, memory, running programs, and then selecting those to close--a tedious operation. To fill the need to close programs and switch between running programs third-party software has emerged, perhaps most notably Battery Pack Pro by Omega One. Now comes XBar2 from Xetra for Smartphones. ... At first I was not too excited about this program because it seemed that I could get the same functionality in programs that I was already using, but what really sold me on this program being indispensable is the shift key emulation making copy and paste possible for the first time without a wireless Bluetooth keyboard."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/kris-may2005-xbarreview.gif" alt="User submitted image" title="User submitted image"/> <br /><br />Mozongoware has published a nice review that explains the basic xBar features. If you aren't convinced about why you should add this software to your Smartphone collection, then check out the review. :-) I do agree with the author's comment that xBar documentation needs to be improved.

[edgar]

Kris

There's no link to the article. The Headline isn't an active hyperlink.

-Edgar

[Mike Temporale]

Kris

There's no link to the article. The Headline isn't an active hyperlink.

-Edgar

:oops: I got it fixed up there! Thanks.

[ARW]

I feel the need to always add these comments so no one is mislead. The copy &amp; paste functionality does not work if you have an i600. xBar states on their website that they are working on this, but they are not and have not updated their statement since the original release.

Just don't want anybody to buy this app based on incorrect or misleading information.

[PPCMD]

I updated to 2.6 but on my MPx220 the apps in my xbar programs folder don't show up. I unfortunately deleted 2.5 already.

[edgar]

I have Battery Pack Pro - do I want/need both of these?

[Kris Kumar]

Kris

There's no link to the article. The Headline isn't an active hyperlink.

-Edgar

:oops: I got it fixed up there! Thanks.

Yikes! :oops:


Thanks Mike :-)

[Kris Kumar]

I have Battery Pack Pro - do I want/need both of these?

Not familiar with Battery Pack Pro. After reading the review, a little curious about. Must check out the trial version.

According the reviewer, you should get xBar if you want copy &amp; paste [not applicable for i600, as per ARW] and if you want a hot key to quickly switch between apps. The hot key in case of xBar is the action button [center or joystick/joypad], push down on it and xBar pops up.

[Jerry Raia]

I do have Battery Pack Pro. I like it but it is big. xbar is much more light weight as far as rescoures, however it doesn't have all the features either.

[edgar]

Looking at the images on the review it looks like Battery Pack Pro peeking out around the XBar balloon. Wonder if he has memory issues.

I wish I had a task viewer more like windows task/tskinfo on my MPX220. For some reason my app memory is always in the red zone - anf I get the "memory is low" blurb.

I have BBP, Clearvue, tweaks2k, ewallet, resco explorer, Opera, Pocketstreets, Sprite backup, tube and the BT Toggler loaded on my MiniSD. I can only think that Sprite scheduler, and battery Pack Pro always have a stub running. But I have no way of checking.

Storage space is way underutilized - too bad I cant assign some of that memory to applications like you can on the PPC.

Note: I just flashed to the AT&amp;T ROM update 1.39. I'm interested to see if memory is still an issue.