Jon Westfall
10-17-2006, 03:00 PM
<img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/westfall/westfall-insightreview-initial_screen.gif" /><br /><br /><b>Product Category:</b> Productivity Software<br /><b>Manufacturer:</b> <a href="http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/">Spb Software House</a><br /><b>Where to Buy:</b> <a href="http://mobihand.com/pocketpcthoughts/product.asp?id=8915">Mobihand</a> [Affiliate]<br /><b>Price:</b> $19.99 USD<br /><b>System Requirements:</b> Windows Mobile 2003; Windows Mobile 5. 1.5 MB of free space plus more for channel storage.<br /><br /><b>Pros:</b><br /><li>Pleasing appearance (clean);<li>News Search Feature<li>Thumbnail Images<br /><b>Cons:</b><br /><li>No support for embedded audio (Podcasting);<li>Lack of Today Screen plugin;<li>Price.<br /><b>Summary:</b><br />The world is crazy for RSS feeds. Assembling your own newspaper is fun, but it can be exasperating to use a poor-quality news reader on any sort of platform. Spb steps up to challenge of building a simple and easy, yet robust, newsreader client - but does it stack up against the competition?<br /><br />Read on for the full review!<!><br /><PAGEBREAK><br /><span><b>Getting Started</b></span><br />After downloading the setup file from Spb's website, you're presented with the usual Spb setup program. I really like Spb's approach - allowing the user to enter the registration code during the desktop installer. It saves me a bunch of time and gives a professional appearance. It's also really handy when you use a variety of Spb products on your device. The install runs smoothly enough, and after the files are copied to the device, the user is presented the initial setup screen below.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/westfall/westfall-insightreview-initial_setup.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 1: Initial setup screen, shown just after installation. </i><br /><br />This is a nice method of allowing the user to select where files should live and how Spb Insight should connect to the Internet. Other products I've used take you through the setup process when you launch the app and then simply dump all of the data files in Main Memory, making it a pain to move it over to a storage card later. This is also a good time to have the user specify how Insight should connect to the Net, allowing users to avoid unnecessary charges if they don't have an unlimited data plan.<br /><br />While it's nice to have it right at the end of setup, I think I would have liked it better if it simply popped up on first-run of the program. Why? Well, sometimes I chain multiple installations together (using ActiveSync's Add/Remove Programs menu item) when setting up a new device. Programs that require the user to intervene to setup options really wreck the flow when trying to install multiple programs at one time. But again, it's nice to have this presented to the user before they even start using the program, rather than have it buried in some menu somewhere.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/westfall/westfall-insightreview-new_feed.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 2: Adding a new feed couldn't be simpler.</i><br /><br />Adding a new channel is a pretty painless process. I have my favorite OPML file but decided not to just dump it in, but rather to browse Spb's channel database. The database is retrieved from Spb's servers whenever you browse them, so if you're on a pay data plan, you may want to browse from a free connection. However, I doubt it takes up too much data just by the way it pops up fairly quickly.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/westfall/westfall-insightreview-channels.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 3: Selecting from Spb's channel database. </i><br /><br />After you select the channels you wish to add, Insight adds them to the main screen and begins downloading the content from each channel. A nice little progress bar displays at the bottom to let you know how far the downloading has gone, including the amount of data Insight has downloaded. After the data download is complete, simply selecting the feed will bring up a list of items within it.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/westfall/westfall-insightreview-screenwithitems.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 4: Your channels displayed, showing a download progress indicator at the bottom. </i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/westfall/westfall-insightreview-ppctchannel.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 5: The Pocket PC Thoughts news feed, complete with thumb nailed images.</i><br /><br />The first thing that I noticed on this page was the very nice addition of thumbnails to the side of the screen. If the items has an image within it, Insight thumbnails it and places it next to the item, allowing you to quickly navigate to items that truly look interesting. Items in which the author couldn't find a suitable image (or decided not to add one) such as the one highlighted in this screen shot, simply show a line icon, indicating that no image was downloaded. Selecting any item you like will bring that item up in the program, showing the text and any other information (such as the time/date posted) that is available.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/westfall/westfall-insightreview-article.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 6: A news item posted by one of my favorite authors. ;)</i><br /><PAGEBREAK><br /><span><b>Innovative Features</b></span><br />Insight sports a few nice options that allow you to tailor your news feeds and manage them effectively. As stated earlier, the program lets you specify where your channels will "live" right off the bat, to curb on memory usage, and it offers an online database of channels. One of the neat features is the ability to search that database for channels that interest you. After entering the search query below, I was inundated with many results that had "news" in the title. This would be a great way for those of you who do not have an OPML file of "favorite feeds" yet and want to get into the whole RSS thing. I know before I jumped in, I was very overwhelmed by the idea that I had to seek out all of those little XML buttons on my favorite sites and try to add them or enter them into a program. This takes a little less time than doing that, and it allows you to seek out those XML buttons on your favorite sites, not just sites that you rarely visit but want to know about.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/westfall/westfall-insightreview-news_search.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 7: Searching for a channel. </i><br /><br />Returning to the management side of RSS feeds, anyone who has ever used an RSS reader has probably at one time found that space on their device was getting quite small. The options in Insight allow you to specify where the content is stored and also to see how much space it's currently taking up. Clicking on "Default Channel Options" brings up the defaults for each channel in regards to how much content is stored on your device, and when to delete old items to make way for new. This can be changed on a channel-by-channel basis, allowing you to keep an extensive history of your favorite channels, and a rather short history of channels that you frequently check.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/westfall/westfall-insightreview-size.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 8: Setting up the size limits for the channels.</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/westfall/westfall-insightreview-cleaning.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 9: Cleaning options.</i><br /><br />Spb has never been a company scared of innovation, but I must admit, the options in Insight left me wanting a bit more. Perhaps integration with Pocket Outlook so that I could forward items to friends (or the email gateway to my blog) or more options on how to display my channels (a timeline view would be nice, to have all items from all channels integrated into one view showing when the item was posted). If previous product evolution is similar for Insight as it has been for other Spb products, then I predict we'll see massive additions of options within the next few years as new releases come out. Still, there are some features I'm baffled that Spb didn't include.<br /><PAGEBREAK><br /><span><b>Missing Pieces</b></span><br />Insight lacks some options, as mentioned, and it also seems to lack some major features I would have liked to see. For example, RSS is a great technology for disseminating information to a mass audience. Part of the strength of RSS is the ability to syndicate not only from provider to individual, but also from individuals to other individuals (anyone ever read a blog comprised of news that the owner found interesting?). Insight allows providers to display their content to you in a simple and clean format, however it does not allow you to forward items through email or blog them to any blog service. Adding those abilities in future builds would be much appreciated. Another feature that may help Insight would be that of a Today Screen plugin (preferably one that interfaced with other Spb tools). While I've never been a big fan, those plugins can be nice for those who don't mind scroll bars on their Today Screen.<br /><br />Another feature that Insight doesn't support is the <embed> tag for audio within feeds. For those of you not familiar with RSS, authors can embed audio into their feed (this is the basis of "podcasting"), and clients can be set to automatically download this content for offline listening. While there are only a few Pocket PC clients that support embedded audio, it is still a feature I would have liked to see in Insight - just for completeness sake. <br /><br />Insight banks on its clean and clear appearance and feature set to appeal to consumers. If you're tired of bloated clients that are a bit too big or clunky for their own good, then Insight may be the RSS reader for you. However, if you're a fan of forwarding news to friends or having audio downloaded for you directly, you may wish to wait until these features appear in a future version (hopefully!).<br /><br /><span><b>Conclusions</b></span><br />Overall I have very mixed opinions on Spb Insight. On one hand, it's superb at doing exactly what is is supposed to - it downloads feeds and displays them in a user friendly manner. It is easy to use, understand, and maintain. I found no faults in the software, and no confusion at all in the UI. However, I did miss some of the more advanced features found in other RSS readers, and would have liked to see them present even if not everyone would have used them. I expect that future versions of Insight will add these capabilities, so if you're in need of them now, you may want to hold of. Otherwise, check out Insight - it should provide some insight to your world in a fairly clean and concise manner!<br /><br /><i>Jon Westfall truly does not know how to classify himself. Decision making researcher? System Administrator? Editor & Reviewer? Maybe all of those. To find out more than you want to know, you can visit <a href="http://www.jonwestfall.com">JonWestfall.Com</a> or just watch for his frequent news posts here at Pocket PC Thoughts!</i>