Bitbank Softare Upgrades Pocket QuickView to Version 4.0

[Paul Martin]

<i>"Pocket QuickView is a powerful and versatile application for working with digital images. PQV's code has been optimized to make viewing images on your phone quick and easy; PQV is currently the fastest software available for viewing photos on your Windows Mobile device. PQV is very good at handling large color and bilevel images such as JPEG, TIFF, CAL and MOD:CA files."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/martin-20070910_pqv_4.jpg" /><br /><br />With the new version of PQV, Larry Bank has ensured compatibility with all Pocket PC and SmartPhone devices from Windows Mobile 2003 forward. Other improvements include:<br />• More than twice as fast as the previous version<br />• Streamlined user interface works the same on &amp; Pocket PC<br />• Enhanced view of EXIF camera data<br />• Licensed per user - use on as many devices as you own; a single purchase can be used on SmartPhones, Pocket PCs and Desktop PCs<br />Owners of multiple devices will certainly find the last improvement a real budget saver. Snag a 30-day trial version or purchase at our <a href="http://software.pocketpcthoughts.com/product.asp?id=14310">affiliate store</a>.<br /><br /><b>UPDATE</b>: Larry would like to hear from Windows Mobile 6 TOUCHSCREEN devices. Post in the thread or e-mail Larry ([email protected]).

[burtcom]

Looks good on paper -- but it crashes my Eten M700 WM6 device when I try to open a JPEG.

[Paul Martin]

Sorry to hear about the crashes. Here's their contact info (http://www.bitbanksoftware.com/contact.html):

Email:
[email protected]

Instant Messaging:
(MSN) [email protected]

[bitbank]

It appears that it's having trouble with WM6 touchscreen devices. I don't have one for testing, but on WM6 standard (smartphone) it works fine. Can anyone with multiple devices confirm that it works on older devices?

Thanks,
Larry B.

[Paul Martin]

It appears that it's having trouble with WM6 touchscreen devices. I don't have one for testing, but on WM6 standard (smartphone) it works fine. Can anyone with multiple devices confirm that it works on older devices?

Thanks,
Larry B.

Updated the original post to request feedback for WM6 touchscreen devices.

- Paul

[Menneisyys]

It appears that it's having trouble with WM6 touchscreen devices. I don't have one for testing, but on WM6 standard (smartphone) it works fine. Can anyone with multiple devices confirm that it works on older devices?

Thanks,
Larry B.


Will test it on my WM6 Pocket PC's too.

[Don't Panic!]

I'll try it on the HTC 7501 with WM6 and also see if there are any issues with a square screen Treo 700w running WM5. I wish I had brought my Axim X50v with me today to test it on WM2003SE.

Is there a WM6 version of Galaxian and Galaga? :)

Update:
It installed easily and opened .jpeg, .gif and .png fines easily on the HTC. Slideshow transitions were really jerky though. Setting the Options> Preferences> Slideshow Transitions Effect box to none cleared that up.

I did have a problem starting a show after a soft reset. The program started fine but when I clicked for a slideshow the program closed. This happened a couple of times but once I actually selected a file before starting the slieshow it worked well.

There could be a issue with affecting my devices brightness control. Since installing PQV the screen seems to be in permanent powersave mode when on battery powere. On external powere the brightness level is on maximum and the sliderbar changes the intensity no problem but on battery power the sliderbar has no effect at all. I'll uninstall PQV and see if this really is the culprit. More soon.

[Menneisyys]

Is there a WM6 version of Galaxian and Galaga? :)

See namco's ports ( http://www.pocketgamer.org/showthread.php?threadid=6960 ) coded by no other than Larry. I also recommend Hitech's Arcade Park (see http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&amp;p=773&amp;more=1&amp;c=1&amp;tb=1&amp;pb=1 ).

[Don't Panic!]

The good news is uninstalling PQV did not fix my on battery brightness issue so I don't think PQV caused that issue.

The bad news is while I had it installed I couldn't get the crop function or Zoom Window to work.

[Don't Panic!]

More bad news. After a hard reset and reinstallation I can no longer open files but I can still run slideshows. Good news? It definitely wasn't PQV that caused my brightness slider issue.

[jlp]

I'm using a Pocket Loox 720 running Windows Mobile 2003 SE VGA display.

The program I just downloaded from your affiliate store seems to be a smartphone verion, not a PPC version even though the downloaded file reads pqv_ppc.exe and the installable cab file PQV_PPC.2577.CAB.

Hint 1: installed program on my Loox does NOT appear in the Start -> Programs window
Hint 2: when the program launches there are only 2 menus, like on WM Smartphones
Hint 3: WORST: pressing those 2 buttons does NOT work!! I have to switch to another program, then switch back for them to work!!
Hint 4: In folder \program files\BitBank\the program file is called pqv_sp.exe. SP for SmartPhone!!
Hint 5: there's a 4 way cursor-like icon just on the top left corner of the white area just below the Start flag/menu. Pressing Enter (cursor pad/side scroll button) turns it into a magnifying glass icon. Both are unmovable with the stylus NOR cursor pad.
Hint 6: when I press File -> Open it just displays a directory list on the 1/3 top of the screen, when I access a file it's displayed on the bottom 2/3
Hint 7: There are no icon-buttons whatsoever as there was on version 2 and 3 of the program. No wonder if this is a smartphone (NO touchscreen) version as I think it is.
Hint 8: nothing happens when I press/hold on the picture, simulating the right click; no menu appears.
Hint 9: When I display an image and press Options -> Toggle view, and double tap the fourth image, and then press the scrool bar while the image is loaded the program just quits.


All these, plus my Motorola MP-x220 Smartphone experience, make me think this is NO PocketPC program, tho it does have some compatibility.

Awaiting asnswer on this.

Thanks.

Jelpy

[jlp]

Another design problem is that whenever I start the program, besides asking me to enter registration (this is normal), it always asks to register file associations (based on file extensions) to itself.

At the very first start this would be enough; plus included in the Options area.

[Paul Martin]

Jelpy,

Hopefully Larry is monitoring this thread. In the meantime, try downloading the demo directly from Bitbank software (http://www.bitbanksoftware.com/downloads/index.html) and see if that makes any difference.

[Gerard]

I downloded the PC/PPC version from your site directly, not from an affiliate store... but get the same result; a smartphone version which I could not run on my device, a WM2003SE Toshiba e830. Here are a few more comments of varying importance to me.

As I detest Activesync, I used UnExtract on the PC to dig the CAB file out of the EXE file, then used that CAB to install directly on my device. As I like to control locations for installations thus saving precious RAM for more meaningful things, like actually running programs, I attempted to install from the CAB into an SD card. I've been using a couple of registry tweaks for this purpose for years, which allow manual selection of any location to install software. Unfortunately, some programs are hard-coded in the CAB for a particular location. This is the case with this PQV smartphone version. When my install location dialogue popped up it showed the default location as one I have never seen before; \Windows\programs. Why? Is this to preserve fastest possible operation, where a slow card might make PQV opening and processing times sluggish?

I changed the path to \SD Card\programs\PQV then tapped OK. The installer unpacked to \Program Files\BitBank. Wow. That's weird. Nothing was installed to \Windows\programs. I'm doubly confused about this installer now.

I manually moved the two executables from the default location to my selected location, then launched the main executable. This forced my screen into portrait orientation, something I very rarely see, as I prefer operation in landscape. Seems PQV doesn't like that. I was presented with a very plain screen, and only two ways out; closing it with WisBar, or okaying a Register button either with a tap (though the stylus had to tap near it, not on it for some reason) or pressing the Action button. Either way, I got a username/registration code input area with my username already placed there. As I don't have a code, I couldn't input that, so then was left with no way out but to force it closed with WisBar.

So I cannot try the software. Too bad, since I've been quite excited for a while about testing this... ever since Larry asked if I would. Never heard anything more about it until reading it on Thoughts this morning. Perhaps a viable WM2003SE version could have been released today, if I'd been able to help work out the bugs earlier.

[jlp]

Jelpy,

Hopefully Larry is monitoring this thread. In the meantime, try downloading the demo directly from Bitbank software (http://www.bitbanksoftware.com/downloads/index.html) and see if that makes any difference.

I did that already. And the file size is exactly the same.

WORST: I also downloaded the SP version installer and installed it in a different folder on my pc... and the cab file named pqv_sp.2577.cab contains exactly the same program pqv_sp.exe with exactly the same size of 482,304 bytes and exact same time/date too.

[Don't Panic!]

I reopened PQV on my HTC7501 and lo and behold I can open files again as well as run slideshows. For cropping I used the joystick that's on this device and it lets me crop from the top down but not left to right. I wouldn't even have tried the joystick if you guys hadn't mentioned smartphones. I never did like smartphones. Slideshow transitions are still to jerky for my taste though.

Let's see now the .cab file I used located in C:/Program Files/Bitbank is titled PQV_PPC.2577.CAB. It's reported size is 510KB. I choose the PocketPC + Desktop download from the Bitbank website.

Update:
.gif and .jpg files open but .png do not. I'll send this .cab to you if your email account will handle .cab files. PM me here.

[bitbank]

Hi JLP,
Sorry about the problems you've had in trying PQV. I'll try to recreate the installation issues and see if I can resolve them here. The EXE for the Pocket PC and SmartPhone are named the same, but I use the PPC or SP SDK when building them. The GUI has been simplified to be just the 2 menus, so what you saw is correct. The operation of the program is different from the old PQV.

Don't Panic!,
The GUI has 2 modes: zoom and pan which are toggled by pressing the action/enter button. This is true in the crop dialog box also. You can see by the little indicator in the upper left corner.

I'll be doing some testing on my various devices and reply to this thread later today.

Larry B.

[Don't Panic!]

Thanks for the tips Larry. I was treating it like the old version. I'd really like to be ale to use the stylus to move the crop window around though It works fine in the Zoom Window.

[bitbank]

Bobby,
That's a reasonably request - I'll add it. My intent with PQV 4 was to keep the GUI very simple and allow one handed operation, but you're right that the stylus should be used when it's convenient.

L.B.

[bitbank]

I just got a loaner 700wx and x6700. I'll do some testing on these devices and report back what I find.

L.B.

[bitbank]

I've found and corrected a bug which may be affecting some PQV users. On touchscreen devices I have found a bug related to opening images from the file selector by double-clicking on the name. This would sometimes lead to a trap when the file was opened because of a miscalculation in the display routine. I have posted a fix (v 4.0.29) on my website (http://www.bitbanksoftware.com/PQV.html), so please give it a try and let me know if it resolves the problem.

Thanks,
L.B.

[bitbank]

After doing more testing on the Treo 700wx, I found some more problems on that platform. Apparently Palm broke Windows CE in several ways on the 700 series (message handling and focus issues), so I did some workarounds and now PQV works on the 700w and 700wx (probably the 750w also since it's really the same).

The new version is available for download (4.0.30).

L.B.

[Paul Martin]

... so I did some workarounds and now PQV works on the 700w and 700wx...

Larry,

Thanks for your compatibility work and for posting an update here.

Paul

[Don't Panic!]

the 4.0.29 build fixed the file opening issue I was having on the HTC 7501 with WM6 . Files opened easily after a double-click even after several soft resets. Not that I was having any problems that required a soft reset, I was just seeing if what happened before happened again. :)

I'm still getting jerkiness with some slide transitions though. smooth effects look good when part of a random slideshow but when I set smooth right or down as the only transition the program closes. It also seems like any effect that involves having two pictures at full resolution on the screen is jerky. Good examples of those effects are the cube effects, the slide effects and the split effects. I'm still gettng excellent results with None as the effect.

I'l try 4.0.30 tomorrow.

Keep up the good work L.B. 0X

[hill1973]

Viewer Running well on HTC Touch, though sometimes when trying to view an attachement to emial it states that object is not find able.

other wish would be that can zoom with stylus,
flick though pages of a tif multi page file
and that zoom level was either carried to next page or lot lost when going back to previous page.
on previous version you had a set level zoom that could be selected, becasue we scan all our documents to email at a set resolution, and as most are A4 they are all the same size.

great work. :D

[Don't Panic!]

4.0.30 still has the transition problems during slideshows that I discussed earlier. It also still won't open .png files. I'm using an HTC Advantage with WM6 the 5-inch screen on this puppy is perfect for watching slideshows.

[bitbank]

Sorry it's been so long since I posted here, but I finally bought some new test PDAs and found the answer to an old problem (crashing on some devices). PQV has some ARM assembly language code that uses the ARMv5E instruction set. This is fine on 99% of the devices out there, but devices based on the Samsung S3C2440 only support ARMv4 instructions. I discovered this when I did some testing on an old iPAQ rx1955. Those new instructions make a big difference in terms of performance, so in the new version of PQV (hopefully will release it soon), I have to incorporate several different optimized routines to handle the different ARM CPU types.

L.B.