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View Full Version : Spb Pocket Plus 4.0 Released


Darius Wey
10-16-2007, 06:53 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/pocketplus/?en' target='_blank'>http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/pro.../pocketplus/?en</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Spb Software House, the world’s leading Windows Mobile software maker, releases a new version of its legendary Spb Pocket Plus application. Spb Pocket Plus 4.0 works as a seamless extension of Windows Mobile, building on the natural strengths of the Microsoft platform, while dramatically enhancing the functionality. In essence, this distinguished by Microsoft and award-winning product, is a long-awaited pack of features, called on to compliment the original Windows Mobile platform. Over a million users from all over the world have come to rely on Spb Pocket Plus for making their device experience run smoother with a set of convenient features, lacking in out-of-the-box mobile devices. In comparison with the previous versions, the new Spb Pocket Plus is smaller, yet richer in functionality, and is faster than ever before. Spb Pocket Plus teaches Windows Mobile Pocket PCs to support smart-scrolling, to adopt the multi-tab browsing ability in Internet Explorer, to employ a user-friendly Save/Open dialog, and to customize the Today Screen, facilitating fast access to favorite items and settings. "</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20071016-spbpp4.jpg" /><br /><br />Spb Software House has just released <a href="http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/pocketplus">Spb Pocket Plus 4.0</a>, which boasts improved performance across the board as well as reduced memory consumption. In addition, it packs smart scrolling, tabs and fast search in Internet Explorer Mobile, shortcut labels, support for multiple third-party plug-ins, new file operations, and new hardware button actions.<br /><br />Head over to our <a href="http://www.handango.com/ampp/store/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&platformId=2&productType=2&productId=50351">affiliate software store</a> and grab yourself a free trial version. The full version can be purchased for $29.95. If you're the owner of a previous version of Spb Pocket Plus, you can upgrade to v4.0 for $14.95, or for free if you purchased Spb Pocket Plus within the last 90 days.

Menneisyys
10-16-2007, 09:29 PM
smart scrolling, tabs and fast search in Internet Explorer Mobile, shortcut labels, support for multiple third-party plug-ins, new file operations, and new hardware button actions.

GREAT! I'll write a review of the IEM plug-in.

angler
10-17-2007, 01:12 PM
There are a lot of things need to be fixed as posted in Spb forum. Among these posts, the software seems requiring more beta testing before public launch. Smart scrolling seems to be one of best selling point for this upgrade version, but it even cannot work with Spb Diary. Hope Spb does not pace the same road as of Omega One. I remembered once Battery Pack, Journal Bar were successful softwares but now ....

vassiliphilippov
10-17-2007, 03:33 PM
Angler, thank you for your feedback! We did our best to make sure that Spb Pocket Plus works on all existing devices with all existing programs and their combinations. We have made more than three months of beta testing for Spb Pocket Plus.

Smart scrolling seems to be one of best selling point for this upgrade version
I personly think that despite all the new features the best thing of Spb Pocket Plus 4.0 is its memory and speed optimization. We have spent more than half of all development time not on the new features but to make it faster than previous version and reduce memory consumption. We were not sure if it was a right thing to do because we were not sure if we would be able to "sell" it. But I hope it was a right decision.

but it even cannot work with Spb Diary
Smart Scrolling technology can work with programs that uses standard rendering technology. Spb Diary uses a special rendering technology (for speed optimizations) and so it cannot be managed by Smart Scrolling. It is not something we can do in Spb Pocket Plus - it should be done in Spb Diary. Nevertheless Spb Diary team works on that feature now and I think we will see it in one of the next minor (=free) updates.

burtcom
10-17-2007, 03:42 PM
Nice update!

smaller and faster -- I have installed the whole thing on my internal storage now.

Bonus -- the backlight control now works with my ETEN phone.

I've set up a hardware button to map to OK/Close, and another to the Start menu for easier one-handed operation -- plus now ALL buttons can have an action for press-and-hold :)

applejosh
10-17-2007, 04:10 PM
Just as an FYI to all, they did remove the repeating alarms feature with this version. There might be a separate download "very soon" to get that back, but if you depend on the repeating alarms feature of PP 3.x, it might be wise to hold off on buying until this gets sorted out. :evil:

(They're reasoning was that WM5/6 has some sort of repeating alarm support and most people they surveyed didn't use the repeating alarms in PocketPlus (maybe because it was deep in the advanced settings where few think to look???). Wish they had surveyed me before deciding this.)

Edit: They have updated the release history to reflect this change. (Still kind of wished I had known about prior to buying the upgrade, but hopefully the separate download will be available soon. This app has just been pretty darn stable on every other release I've had, so didn't think to check for the removal of features before buying. Live and learn.)

Don Tolson
10-17-2007, 08:57 PM
I haven't had time to read the user manual yet, but I wonder if PocketPlus includes all the features of Spb Mobile Shell? If so, is it a replacement/superset of Shell?

Darius Wey
10-18-2007, 02:44 AM
I haven't had time to read the user manual yet, but I wonder if PocketPlus includes all the features of Spb Mobile Shell?

It doesn't. Spb Pocket Plus lacks Spb Mobile Shell's Spb Menu, Now screen, weather forecasts, world time, and colour themes. On the other hand, Spb Pocket Plus packs a number of features that Spb Mobile Shell lacks.

You may want to give the trial version a spin to compare the two.

PocketPC Addict
10-20-2007, 04:57 AM
Has anyone noticed a slowdown with this update? My Axim x51V seems slower. and I've had a few crashes since installing.

cakira
10-20-2007, 07:12 AM
I tried the previous version of Pocket Plus (together with SPB Mobile Shell 1.5) and I saw no use for them.

Now, I saw smart scrolling and liked the idea, since it get me on the nerves to scroll the HTML mails up and down, left and right. With Pocket Plus, I can now do smart scrolling in the e-mails list, but I can't do smart scrolling in the message itself!!! I wonder if they will support this feature in future versions.

And I'm not sure why, but now (as I said, I didn't like the previous version) I liked Pocket Plus v4. Perhaps it's me or perhaps the software really became better and more beautifull. And it can control the brightness of the Glofiish X500+ LCD! The free today plugins that I tried coudn't.

The software indeed consumes a lot of RAM memory (I have about 5MB of RAM less now), but it seems worthy. At least I could disable the other task manager. It's a pity that Pocket Plus does not substitute SmartSKey too...

If it supported smart scrolling in the HTML mails, I would think seriously about buying it. Since it doesn't seem to support, I guess I'll keep using it just until the end of the trial period.

Akira

Ragart
10-22-2007, 04:30 AM
Hey cakira,

they don't 'officially' support the e-mail scroll in the checklist, but it is definitely possible to have it. I got it working on my device thanks to the help on the SPB forums.

It's a post on the first page of this thread: http://www.spbclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10531

Cheers

cakira
10-22-2007, 12:12 PM
It's a post on the first page of this thread: http://www.spbclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10531


Great! Now I'm starting to like to program.
Thank you!