Database Develop

Mixing Technology! HELP?!?

Ok i just have a real quick stupid question about apps. I have a copy of SPB Pocket Plus http://spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/pocketplus/?en that I LOVE but i cant really stand there SPB Weather app. So i bought the app Fizz weather http://www.fizzsoftware.com/products/weather/weather.html
(which is awesome) but i dont really like it taking up my so much of my today screen, so i was thinking that the obvious solution, SPB Pocket Plus allows you to customise your tabs, would be to make a tab for Fizz Weather. Thats how it shows up with SPB Weather. Well I cant figure out how to do it and i thought that maybe sombody out there might be able to help me. Im relativily new to PDAs and i dont know much.
BTW i do not like Fizz Moniter so i dont think thats an option pluse it doesnt offer the tabs like SPB PP does
Thanks for any comment that might be made

Touchflo 3D vs SPB Mobile Shell

Hi,
I've read a lot of pros to deactivate TF3D and install Mobile Shell because of the performance, and i was hoping to hear from people theirs pros and cons and i DON'T mean "i like TF3D bla bla" but an explanation too!!
I thinks it's a lot of storage to be used, or can it be installed on the internal memory?!

TF3D lasted about 20 minutes for me, it looks great but didnt really give me what I needed, when I needed it.
I found it dreadfully slow and fairly clumsy ...yes, I know you can tweak it to the N`th degree now, but still seems to be more cosmetic than funtional. Just a thin flash skin over WM6, and it resorts back to WM6 when you have to do more in depth things with the phone.
I guess I was biased towards SPB Mobile Shell though, as I`ve used it on my last 2 phones (Tytn and Tytn II) and love the way it simplifies and speeds up using the phones. It is not just an improvement over the TF3D but also Windows Mobile. Far more user friendly!! (finger friendly)
I have the latest version on my diamond and love the ability to thumb/finger scroll through the options/section just as well as the TF3D, it`s still layed out well, although I don`t like the way they`ve done the frequently used/favourite programs bits... I liked having the start square infact I prefer the layout of the previous version (9 squares rather than the 6 squares and the messy favourites bar at top.)
It doesnt look as lovely and unified as the TF3D but I realise that you can change the theme. It can look a bit garrish with the multicoloured icons .
The now (today) screen is far more useful on SPB as you can add/remove options.. still not as customisable as real today screen (I probably haven`t found all the plugins tho ?)
I would download the trial as see what you think.
I give TF3D a big thumbs down and SPB Mobile Shell a big thumbs up
Hope this all makes some sense / is of some use, as am slightly sloshed *h*i*c* !

Where have you installed the progam files? In the internal storage or RAM (i guess it's called?!))

I installed it on the phone rather than the internal storage, seemed to be plenty of space. Never normally install to the phone area but feel (rightly or wrongly) that it helps running from phone memory ?? Still loads of room and phone flies along. Doesnt seem to as big an issue as it once was.

hi bro,
being an experience user with spb shell, can you kindly share with us with some skins that you are using?

I have the latest version of SPB Shell (though not installed at the moment as just flashed with a new ROM.
I prefer the SPB Shell as it is alot smoother and faster switching between the menus and the main today screen can be configured to give alot more info than the TF3D one.
For those that like to know the weather it gives you a breakdown of what the weather is going to be like at various times of the day rather than just now (I can look out of the window for that) and even the 5 day forecast can be viewed to see the expected weather at various times of the day.
As for skins the default ones that come with it are only different colours but having a choice of colours from scratch is better than the plain TF3D.
SPB Shell is very configurable compaired to TF3D but still not as configurable as some other Today screens unless like th eother poster said it comes in the form of other plugins.
I have it installed to normal phone memory and everythings fine. I haven't tried installing it to the internal memory but figure if I have to reinstall it if I flash a new ROM anyway I may as well make sure that it's cleared for a fresh reinstall.
Deffo one to give a try if you want something other than TF3D - smoother, more configurable, more skin options, ability to add more plugins.

I have to agree that TF3D is not something that is usable. As a matter of fact, I am very close to labeling it as a piece of crap. All the bad points of TF3D has been posted in this forums countless times and I do not want to repeat it. I am sticking with TF3D is because of one reason only. That is because it's the Diamond's identity. If I were to use other today plugins I would not have gotten the Diamond. Diamond and TF3D is like coffee and sugar/milk (depending on how you like it). Without it, the Diamond loses it's identity.

How about battery usage? Any difference there?

Vic5870 said:
I have to agree that TF3D is not something that is usable. As a matter of fact, I am very close to labeling it as a piece of crap. All the bad points of TF3D has been posted in this forums countless times and I do not want to repeat it. I am sticking with TF3D is because of one reason only. That is because it's the Diamond's identity. If I were to use other today plugins I would not have gotten the Diamond. Diamond and TF3D is like coffee and sugar/milk (depending on how you like it). Without it, the Diamond loses it's identity.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you. But where can TF3d Themes be found?
I have found two .theme files that works and easy to set up. O2 Blue and Orange Lite. But it would be nice to get something like the White Diamond

I think its better explained this way:
SPB can house many more functions. If you need your phones apps the whole day long an need to navigate your small system every minute, TF3D is really not the thing. SPB is very good, and takes care of every single corner on your phone. Highly skinnable, and fast.
I tried it, but you know, it's too much for me.
I like a lot of apps, but I don't use em every day. So I want to fast check Email, SMS, or weather, or make a call. For those basic functions I think TF3D is the best. Just grab phone, Thumb-thingy to the right tab and off you go.
I don't need something TF3D cant do. Well, some minor things, like agenda and tasks, but I guess that'll be fixed in a few weeks

I'll vote for the Shell too: I tried Flo, really tried as it looks so good, but found it was just unworkable!
Shell is clean and simple, and fast. Also, I use a P3600i in some situations (such as when I really want to hear incoming call rings) - using Shell keeps me to a common interface.
These are the setting that I use:
TABS Home TODAY Date
Time SPB Shell
Weather Owner
Dial Tab Messaging
Calendar
Fring
SPB Menu Internet IE/Opera + Favorites
No Data
Fring
Internet Sharing
Comm Mgr
Multimedia Media Player
Camera
Pictures
Voice recorder
Album
Tools Task Mgr
File Browser
Rotate
Lock
Profiles
SPB Backup
MemMaid
App to Date
Programmes (auto)
My Menu 1Calc
TomTom
Ozi
Stock Mgr
Best Crypto
FM Radio
Settings (auto)
I run TLR v3 - clean and stable.
Unrelated to SPB Mobile Shell, my final 'make it perfect' was to get rid of the ring delay by:
Diamond Phonepad skin: HKLM -> Security -> Phone -> Skin -> Enable (set 1 to 0), then reset

It all depends on what you do with your phone. I tried SPB Mobile Shell and it worked nicely. Quite happy with it. It's faster and more user friendly compared to TF3D. The homescreen also looks nice and it has a nice feature where you can move your finger in a downward movement from the taskbar to choose between the 3 pages of the shell. Although the Now screen is not very customizable (maybe it is with correct plugins?), the other page u can change every shortcut to programs and such. It's nice, but I don't tweak my Diamond anymore as I used to. I saw the Orange Theme with TF3D and I liked it alot. The analog clock looks great. If you're new with the Diamond and ur tweaking and changing and everything, I suggest you get SPB Shell (or just disable TF3D). But TF3D still looks better (orange theme that is)..
I just need to find a white .tsk theme for wm6.1.. All I see is grey/red/purple/whatever... Goodluck with this..

Spb Mobile 2.0 vs Tf3d

I'm not really gettin used to touchflow yet and I'm checking out other options. So... Lets get down to business:
The things that bugs me in touchflow are:
1.the todayscreen not being able to show more calendarevents.
2. the sms screen, the whole layout really
3. The mediaplayer
4. The alarm, every aspect there as well
I know that there are substitute programs for most of these problems BUT as I have to go in and select the appropriate program I fail to see the advantage of Touchflow..
The things I love with Tf3d are its speed and beautiful graphics and they will be soarly missed if I would go with another shell.
Are there any other touchfriendly options?
What are the pros and cons with Spb mobile shell 2.0? Especially regarding these issues!
Yours sinceraly
Adis Hardis

Sorry but I think you're a bit lazy. Why don't you just download a trial of spb mobile shell and see for yourself?

To be fair, I think he wants opinions..
SPB Software always rates highly in my books, I used to use the Shell on my Hermes. My girlfriend used to hate it, as it restricts access to the main features of the phone unless you kill it off.
But I guess if you tweak it to how you want it, then you never need to access the back end of the phone, pretty much like the HTC one I guess.
SMS's are visible (at least the count) on the main screen, and link direct to the pocket outlook folder
Media player - There's non built in, so again it's just a link.
Urm, Alarm again is built in.. Unless you put SPB time on??
Guess its worth a try! There's plenty of support on their forums, and hundreds of themes for it

I'm no expert in these areas but can I install spb without uninstalling? (and loosing all the settings and so forth). Cause thats my main concern!
Lazy or not, thats what forums are there for in my opinion, to get input and help...
Adis Hardis
Ps
Thank you MikeSel

Yeah you can, there simply 'today' plugins so you can disable one, and enable the other.. Make an informed decision and then dump one if you like.. Or just keep both, and leave one disabled
Have fun, and give me a shout if you get stuck!

Nice, I'm on it, thanks for your help Mike!
Peace
Adis Hardis

i just recently installed SPB mobile on my diamond and i love it a lot more then TF3D. I thought TF3D was great at first, but it a shame it's not configurable even with TF3D advanced config etc installed. Only the very basic functionality is available. It does look very good though and maybe the future could hold great things for it. But for now and the near future SPB mobile is the winner for me
-it's better and more customizable
-it's got lot's of good plugins
-the latest version got guestures like touch flow
-runs smooth as silk
-great animation without slowdowns
-all of the functions are easy accessible

Tried spb 2.1 for a week, but changed back to tf3d.
For my use, tf3d its enough and mobile shell, is atm a bit slower than tf3d and i dont like the default look. And with a better looking vga skin its slower than the first versions of manila, so i stay with tf3d.

Alternative to touchFlo 3d

Does anyone know of an alternative to TouchFlo 3D. I spoke to an HTC technician who told me that he uses a better program for his Diamond that has better response times etc, but he wouldn't say what it was. I was complaining about the response times on the phone.

He probably meant PointUI, SPB Mobile Shell, Winterface or any number of alternatives. Been trying SPB Mobile Shell 3 which is pretty good (there's a free trial) but my fav so far is PointUI (free "light" version) - http://www.pointui.com
There are also a couple of iPhone clone interfaces in the Development and Hacking section.

Thanks a lot for that echolock. I am just downloading the free Pointui to the phone. Do I have to disable TouchPro 3d before loading it or will it do that automatically. I am fairly new to the phone so please excuse my ignorance.

Yes, you have to disable TF3D before using PointUI.
After all, if you decide to keep PointUI instead of TF3D, you have to flash your phone with a naked Rom so you gain space and memory.

Do you know how to disable TF3D. My phone is an Orange branded one if that makes a difference. They use thier own ROM. I can't find a way to disable it anywhere. I have downloaded Pointui directly to the phone but I can't start the program. It isn't in programs. I have found it in my documents. Can you help.

Go to start-settings-today, under items, untick touchflo.

Thanks for that. TF3D is now disabled. Any idea how i load Pointui onto my phone now?

Download the program (which is a .CAB file) to your computer, then copy to the phone (storage card is best area)
Then, using FileExplorer, naviagte on the phone, to the location you saved it, and click on the program, it'll ask a few things, just click the left soft button.

Thanks for that. Installed it and works fine. It does seem beeter than the TF3D.

I use scott seligman's launcher on the standard windows today screen,it just add's program icon's to today screen,one tap open's any application,no sliding this thing here,flipping this there,scrolling up or down.
It's not finger friendly though,unless you have pointy little finger's,or usually use a stylus anyway,but it doesn't get much faster or less resource hungry than this simple app.

WAD from lakeridgesoftware.com is pretty incredible
let me know what you think

calendar app

Hi....
Ive been using SPB mobile shell for a while now and about the only thing i really miss from TF3D is the 'calendar app' .....
Mobile shell uses just the basic WM calendar - what i miss is a nice pretty overview
i dont tend to use the calendar much for appointments - its more for checking dates etc. and for flicking through the months
can anyone suggest anything suitable ? SPB Diary seems a bit of overkill for what im after. Doesnt have to be freeware necessarily ......

wilbur-force said:
Hi....
Ive been using SPB mobile shell for a while now and about the only thing i really miss from TF3D is the 'calendar app' .....
Mobile shell uses just the basic WM calendar - what i miss is a nice pretty overview
i dont tend to use the calendar much for appointments - its more for checking dates etc. and for flicking through the months
can anyone suggest anything suitable ? SPB Diary seems a bit of overkill for what im after. Doesnt have to be freeware necessarily ......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SBSH Calendar is a great calender ( not Free ) Thumbcal ( free I think )

zelendel said:
SBSH Calendar is a great calender ( not Free ) Thumbcal ( free I think )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both have free trials, but neither is free, now.
Take a gander at One Touch Organizer at http://www.onetouchinnovation.com/. Haven't tried it yet myself, but I did download it and plan on tinkering with it over the next day or two.

You could also try iagenda..you can find the cab over at blownfuze.org...it integrates very nicely with icontact...

cheers for the suggestions - currently trying Thumbcal and very impressed with it
will probably try and use the 25% off handango deal (still on in the UK) and pick it up
thanks for all the advice !

just purchased thumbcal from the thumapps.com site - came in at about £8.50 using the 'summer deal' link

One-Touch Organizer does not load on my Fuze (which I have bumped to WM6.5). Couldn't test it anyways. I'll look at iAgenda today.