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Finnish invention Internet Relay Chat (IRC) has always been a great way to meet each other. This was particularly the case in the pre-Web, pre-* Messenger, pre-VoIP times, when the only really widely used form of conversation was IRC. Yours Truly has even spent 6-7 hours a day some 14-15 years ago talking to his friends, was always called A Serious, Hopeless IRC Addict that would probably never get back to life
After publishing my two roundups of IRC clients (Part I; Part II) two brand new IRC apps, PontiSoftware's mIRCy and Gargaj's zsIRC have been released; also, a brand new, 1.2 version of PocketIRC has been released. Therefore, I considered it to be essential to compare these three new releases to both each other and the already-released titles; most importantly, wmIRC (which hasn’t been updated for half a year), which, regardless the (sometimes fatal) bugs, I’ve always considered one of the two best IRC clients (the other being, up until now, PocketIRC).
All the three apps are landscape- and true VGA-friendly and run flawlessly on WM2003, WM2003SE and WM5 devices.
Code North PocketIRC 1.2
(Price: $14.95; free upgrade for previous 1.0 / 1.1 owners; OS compatibility: WM2003+ (1.1 supported all pre-WM2003 OS’es))
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The new version indeed delivers seamless VGA support (it doesn’t do pixel doubling any more, which was one of the biggest problems with version 1.1), which is the most important news. Also, it sports several bugfixes and is more compliant with WM5 (interestingly, I haven’t encountered any WM5-related problem with the previous 1.1 version either). Also, support for inverse color codes has been added (see Part I of my IRC roundup series on what this means).
Unfortunately, no new functionality seems to have been implemented. For example, one of the most important omission in version 1.1, the lack of logging, hasn’t been fixed in this version either.
Following are the Options dialogs so that you can have a clear picture what you can set and what you can’t: Server Display Format Ident DCC. As can clearly be seen, if you compare these dialogs to the previous version, there are absolutely no changes. The same stands for the menus.
Pros
VGA-friendly (no pixel doubling)
DCC support (as was already in the old, 1.1 version), in which it's really unique
said to have bugfixes and improved WM5 compatibility
Cons
ClearType can’t be switched off – it can be VERY annoying, especially on QVGA devices. Note that version 1.1 didn’t have ClearType.
No new functionality over version 1.1 except for the inverse color codes
The history is as useless as before – that is, pressing the “Up” arrow retrieves the first message, not the last one
mIRCy 1.0 by PontiSoftware
This brand new, commercial (it costs $11.95) IRC client is definitely worth paying attention to – it has great potential. By just eliminating its bugs, making it VGA-friendly (now, it does pixel doubling) including font size setting support, it can easily become the best IRC client for the Pocket PC (it, however, lacks any kind of DCC, in which PocketIRC is still the best Pocket PC IRC client).
It has a lot of goodies: logging support and for example Ignore, Highlight and Notify lists - in this respect, it’s really unique. Also, it’s highly fine-tunable (except for the character size, which I’ll elaborate on later). Following is a quick list of the dialog screens so that you can have a picture of what can be set: Connection, Options, Colors, Sounds (for example the channel joining sound is very funny!), Info, Files.
It’s of the very few apps that has a local server list. It can be found in the Connections settings dialog where there is a separate network and, inside networks, server list. It’s, however, is in no way as extensive as the desktop mIRC’s list available for download and conversion here. The two lists aren’t compatible but can definitely be converted with some regular expression knowledge (with which, fortunately, I can brag with). I’ve, therefore, quickly written the regexps to convert mIRC’s format to that of mIRCy (from: n\d+=(.+):.+SERVER\S+)\S+)GROUP:.+ to: $1\t$2\t$3\t ; with Editpad Pro (my favorite, fully regexp-compliant editor under Windows), this should be used as depicted in this and this screenshots). Note that the list MUST have a trailing Enter character; otherwise, the client will crash upon trying to load the list. Also note that you should only keep the [servers] section; delete everything BEFORE it. Also make sure you remove (or, manually convert) the “n127=EpicIRC Random serverSERVER:irc.epicirc.net:6667GROUP:EpicIRC” row from the resulting conversion (and make sure there are no other records with : in them; they don’t adhere to the reg exp syntax of the other records. You can, naturally, eliminate them yourself.) With my list AVAILABLE HERE (just overwrite the default list, \Program Files\ PontiSoft\ mIRCy\ servers.txt, with it), as you can see here, there are much more selectable networks and considerably more servers (416 as opposed to 306). Hope you enjoy my list.
Pros
Manually editable server list at \Program Files\ PontiSoft\ mIRCy\ servers.txt (to which, again, I’ve created an up-to-date list and a converter script for you so that you can do the conversion yourself, along with making available a converted, up-to-date, much-better-than-the-original mIRC list)
Logging
Copying to the clipboard (just select the text)
Pretty good context menu
The only Pocket PC IRC application to support multiple ports, of which it automatically chooses in a random way – starting from a port in the lower range, when it finds it doesn’t answer, it retries with a port with a higher port number). Much as, up to now, I haven’t really found a real use for this (if you use the default port number, 6667, and can’t join a server because it’s full, in most cases retrying with a different port number on the same server doesn’t help), this may be handy. For example, the most widely known, internationally (even from Europe!) usable US-based IRCNet server, irc.stealth.net, allows for connections in the 6660-6669 range (of which, at the time of writing, 6000, 6001 and 6002 were unreachable though as can also be seen in here (screenshot of PocketIRC 1.1 (also note there’s no ClearType); manually changed port numbers between connection attempts).
Note that the lack of multiple port support isn’t a showstopper with other clients. If you really want to try to retry with another port (as has already pointed out, in general, you won’t need to) different from the default 6667, you can always (manually) reconfigure your IRC client before reconnecting. (Yeah, I know it means you end up having to shut down zsIRC and editing the config file with an editor. In other clients, it’s much easier.)
Cons
No DCC
after disconnecting (File/Disconnect) from a server (or after an unsuccessful attempt to do it), it’s impossible to reconnect (retry) at once for at least 30 seconds: you’ll get the as can be seen in this screenshot too – or, in cases, the GUI becomes totally unresponsive. This can be a real pain in the back with servers that require many attempts to connect to (for example irc.stealth.net). The tested, other clients (the two PocketIRC versions, wmIRC 2.2, zsIRC) don’t do the same.
Sometimes selecting Connect results in the same without even having connected to servers before. Then, in addition, the GUI just seems to be frozen. Fortunately, after 10-15 seconds, you will regain control over it.
Generic rendering errors for example at inserting text into already-existing text and at displaying non-active queries / channels
Pixel doubling in SE (standard) VGA mode; forcing \Program Files\PontiSoft\mIRCy\mircy.exe doesn’t really help this because of the really tiny characters, totally messed-up main screen and whisper context menus (in native VGA, it's OK but uses very small characters)
Character size can’t be set (unlike in almost any other IRC client). Unfortunately, it doesn’t take into account the system-level character size setting either (see the “old” “Everything about VGA” article linked from here for more information on this)
There is history (accessible also with the up/down keys) but it always returns the first (globally) entered string, not the latest one – not what you may be looking for
Verdict
For VGA users: if it’d be more VGA-friendly (no pixel doubling) and the character size were settable, I’d certainly recommend it. For now: if you get upset by the non-settable character sizes and the pixel doubling, go for another client, for example zsIRC.
For QVGA users: recommended. Give it a try (particularly with my server list), you’ll like it.
zsIRC 2006. 07. 23. by Gargaj
This free (!) IRC client was a BIG surprise for me. It’s a bit hard for a newbie to operate (everything must be configured by manually editing the zsIRC.ini file; there isn’t even a CAB-based or a desktop installer etc) but is much-much better than any other free client out there – and, in many respects, even commercial ones! For example, it supports logging (again, the above-reviewed PocketIRC, which is in many respects the best IRC client, still doesn’t support this essential feature) and, as opposed to the above-reviewed mIRCy, it supports VGA and lets the user configure the fonts. This application is certainly worth a try.
Pros
LOGGING!
Free and MUCH better than any other free client
Pretty easy to switch between channels and queries (no drop-down menu to switch, unlike in PocketCHAT)
No anomalies on VGA devices
History works as expected (and unlike the other two apps, which always bring up the first item): pressing the Up key retrieves the last message sent, not the first one
(Via the zsIRC.ini file) many parameters can be configured (for example, a lot of appearance-related ones)
Cons
Everything must be configured via the zsIRC.ini file – no dedicated settings menus / dialogs
No installer
Requires you to know the exact syntax of, for example, /topic or /kick – no menu/dialog-based support
Very weak context menus (compare this to the context menus of the other two apps)
No copy to the clipboard – you can’t select any text, unlike with the other two reviewed apps. You need to look up the log files if you need to copy anything to the clipboard.
No DCC
No colors
Verdict
zsIRC has indeed proved to be a very good surprise: it’s so much better than all the other free clients out there. It’s not only free but also supports logging, has the best-working history (if you have an external / thumb keyboard and are used to the way how desktop / Unix IRC clients work, you’ll certainly welcome it) and has no visible anomalies, unlike both mIRCy (pixel doubling and non-settable character sizes) and PocketIRC (ClearType).
Sure, it has a lot of shortcomings, but as far as you don’t need menu support for IRC commands (after all, in the old IRC days, I had to memorize the correct syntax of all op and other commands because there were no menus under Unix or, even better, VM/CMS and I can tell you it’s not impossible), give it a go – you’ll like it.
Unfortunately, the new version of PocketIRC was a disappointment for me. I certainly hoped for more. The always-on ClearType is a real pain in the back (I just HATE it, particularly on QVGA devices). If you, on the other hand, don't dislike ClearType, you may want to give a title a try.
mIRCy clearly shows it’s just a 1.0 product – while, in some areas, it excels (for example, ignore lists and logging), the lack of VGA support and the inability to set the font size is unforgivable (if you are a VGA user, that is). Hope its problems will be soon fixed; for now, I can’t really recommend it if you have a VGA device. Then, I recommend the free zsIRC the best if you aren’t afraid of editing the settings file and memorizing the syntax of some often-used IRC commands like /invite, /kick or /ban. You’ll like it.
If you have a QVGA Pocket PC, on the other hand, you may definitely want to give mIRCy a try.
APPENDIX: The timeout problem
I’ve emphasized in Part I of this series that Pocket PC IRC clients are particularly sensitive to timeout issues.
‘Timeout’ means you don’t get direct feedback about the IRC server you (are supposed to) connect to not receiving your messages any more because, for example, the direct connection between you and the server has been broken, timed out. This can be caused by both IRC-specific problems and generic problems like the entire Pocket PC’s losing its Internet connection.
Not receiving any feedback, sadly, also means that, in cases, you may end up sending messages to your listeners even minutes after you’ve been disconnected. All these messages will be lost and will never be seen by the people you were speaking to (the "synchronous" IRC has no “memory”, unlike some much more modern also-asynchronous peer-to-peer (P2P) architectures like that of Skype – or, for that matter, the E-mail itself) unless you copy them to the clipboard (if your client is able to do this at all) and, then, paste them again into the channel / query windows as soon as you reconnect to the server.
Just to have a picture of what can happen to you in normal-day situations, here are the results of some of my real-world tests with current IRC applications, using two different servers: a well-known and usable-from-anywhere IRCNet (irc.stealth.net) and an EFNet (efnet.cs.hut.fi) one; using exactly the same circumstances on the client. All test have been done the same way: resetting my test Pocket PC (Dell Axim x51v A12; other models would have behaved the same way), booting in, starting the tested IRC client, connecting to the server via ActiveSync, logging into a channel so that my test clients logged into the channel can see everything’s all right and, then, just disconnecting the Pocket PC, starting the stopwatch. I’ve made sometimes several measurements with each client; the results are separated by commas.
As can be seen, all the tested applications (that is, all the really usable Pocket PC-based, native IRC applications), without exception, suffer from this problem, without an exception. In cases, you may end up sending out messages for even 20-30 minutes (!) without being notified of the broken connection.
Unfortunately, on the Pocket PC, using the current clients, it’s very hard to fight these kinds of errors because they don’t support for example timers to automatically send ping requests to anywhere, and manually pinging others every 1-2 minutes is quite awkward. To ease the pain and to implement the best possible solution, however, I recommend the following: if you have any friends you talk to with mIRC, you can ask them to enter the following command:
/timer 10000 10 msg your-nickname anymessage
or
/timer 10000 10 ping your-nickname
where 10 is (in seconds) the time messages and/or PING requests are sent to the client and 10000 is the amount requests are sent out. These values can be freely modified.
(If there is no one with this, just use the PING command.)
This way, if you just switch to the Status / server tab and/or the message window of the given user (canceling it being highlighted) and, then, switch back to your other windows, you can easily see even from other windows whether you’re still connected (see the red/ blue message/status window highlight here). You, of course, will need to often “clean” the “updated” flag by switching windows; if your IRC client supports switching tabs with the left/right D-pad (like mIRCy and unlike zsIRC or PocketIRC), it can be very easily done. Still, this way you can always be absolutely sure you’re still connected to the server and your friends can see you.
Note that your partners will see at once you’ve been disconnected (“EOF from client”), it’s “only” you that won’t notice this.
UPDATE (09/06/2006): PPCT frontpage; Appendix added.
Thanks for the write up. Always looking for improved IRC Clients.
Update: brand new Appendix added on generic timeout issues; (comparatively) minor additions and updates in the article
does someone knows IRC Client of the multi-servers supports?
i want to connect on a IRC Bouncer
MFG
Nullinga
PocketIRC 1.2.1 released – now, the always-on ClearType bug is fixed; additional color displaying tests with the four best Pocket PC IRC clients
It was just a few days ago that I’ve reported on the last, 1.2 version of PocketIRC, the great IRC client being released. Probably my biggest grief with the application (in addition to the still-missing logging capabilities) was the always-on ClearType.
Now, a new, 1.2.1 bugfix build has been released, which uses the system-level ClearType setting. This means it no longer uses ClearType when it’s not needed:
Unfortunately, there are no other changes; for example, still there is no logging.
Color rendering capabilities of the four best IRC clients (PocketIRC, wmIRC, zsIRC, mIRCy)
Now that I’ve tested PocketIRC’s ability to render (inverse) colors (see the above screenshot), I’ve also done the same to the new clients I’ve tested.
the free zsIRC and the commercial (!) mIRCy 1.0 don’t support them at all (neither normal nor inverse)
wmIRC 2.2 still doesn’t support inverse colors, only normal ones.
That is, color support-wise PocketIRC 1.2.1 is the best, wmIRC is the second and the others don’t support colors at all.
Nullinga said:
does someone knows IRC Client of the multi-servers supports?
i want to connect on a IRC Bouncer
MFG
Nullinga
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is none of them
Teksoft, developer of the excellent BlueMusic application (see for example this article & the links), has just come out with a brand new suite, Smart Bar, of system management applications. I decided to give it a try as it’s a pretty capable suite of utilities with some really excellent modules.
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They even promise an application capable of recording both (!) parties in a phone conversation (so far, this has been impossible with all Pocket PC Phone Edition devices of both HTC and ASUSTeK (Fujitsu-Siemens T8x0)); I think it’ll work by directly “tapping into” the Bluetooth unit as can be seen for example in here.
Availability, price
The suite is available here. To review the (pretty good and recommended) manual, visit this link. There is a(n unfortunately, pretty restricted) trial version too.
The “price” of the suite is 200 credits; that is, between 20 and 25 euros (depending on the amount of money you transfer to your online credit account). The registration is a one-device only (that is, CPU ID- and not PPC owner name-based); licenses can be transferred to other devices in case of a device change (for example, when the previous one bites the dust and gets exchanged).
Install
Use smartbar_setup.exe for pre-WM5 and the CAB files for WM5; see install.en.txt for the latter case.
Compatibility
It’s stated to be compatible with strictly QVGA devices with at least the WM2003 operating system. (I’ve also tested it on Pocket PC 2002; it indeed doesn’t work.)
You can, of course, try to install it on VGA devices, but I don’t think you should give it a go. I’ve tested it on three different VGA devices (Dell Axim x51v A12, WM5 iPAQ hx4700 2.01, WM2003SE Pocket Loox 720). On the hx4700, the PowerPlugin Today screen plug-in was absolutely useless; on the two other devices, it was shown, but not anything else. On the Dell Axim x51v, I’ve received frequent gwes.exe crashes after a reboot, because of which I had to entirely disable PowerPlugin.
Of the PowerPlugin, few features were accessible on these VGA devices; in the following chart, I’ve summarized all this (note that it also contains HTC Wizard-related info):
Note that, as far as the Wizard is concerned, I’ve listed two ROM’s: the O2 2.21.4.1 WWE (3/9/0) ROM and the “cooked”, widely known AKU3.2 one by KTamas / bepe. This means there are differences between different ROM versions / builds – all icons may work with your particular ROM version. The developer has promised they would test the suite with other ROM versions.
As can clearly be seen, the majority of the features PowerPlugin has can’t be used - not even on the QVGA HTC Wizard (with some ROM versions).
One of the central features of the application, Smartbar, wasn’t accessible either on any of my VGA devices. Self-standing apps like the screen capture, the network troubleshooter and the task manager applications, however, did work on VGA devices.
Also, it’s very important that you BACKUP (see the Backup Bible if you’re unsure) your device before installing the application. My absolutely clean, freshly hard reset WM2003 HP iPAQ 2210, after the install, couldn’t boot in at all and I ended up having to hard reset the PDA (I’ve tested this two times). I haven’t tried to boot into Safe Mode (read this roundup & tutorial if interested in Safe Mode on the Pocket PC); it may have helped .
Today plug-in (PowerPlugin)
It’s a simple plug-in with shortcuts to en/disable wireless units, suspend the device, show whether it's connected to the Net (IMHO, this is pretty useless on a WM2003+ device - after all, the Connectivity icon is always visible on the taskbar) and a backlight slider. It doesn’t contain for example battery or memory meters, unlike most other Today launchers (please see this iLauncher review and the links to earlier reviews to find out what a decent Today launcher should offer.)
Unfortunately, the majority of the functionality it’s supposed to offer didn’t work on my test devices. For example, as far as en/disabling wireless functionality is concerned, it was only on the x51v that it was able to both en- and disable Wi-Fi; on the Wizard, it was only able to enable it and on the PL720, wasn’t able to do anything. As far as Bluetooth is concerned, it didn’t work on any of my test devices in any direction. The backlight slider only worked on the PL720. (See the chart at the top, in the Compatibility section for more info.) The only exception is the HTC Wizard with the O2 ROM, where everything worked. (Again, more information on the compliance with other HTC Wizard ROM versions will be published / announced later.)
Also note that, while it has, in addition to the backlight slider, a backlight icon. It, now, doesn’t do anything. Hope the Teksoft folks wire it to the backlight / brightness applet of the device as is the case with all the other, similar Today plug-ins.
Task manager
This is one of the best features of the suite.
Pretty cool. Better than the built-in task manager: it lists the memory used, whether it’s a windowed app/process and if yes, is it visible; the title and the window class name. However, it doesn’t display other advanced & useful stuff like CPU usage and has no “Stop all processes”. Also, it’s not possible to “hide” system processes either – that is, for a newbie, this task manager can prove pretty dangerous.
Ultra Keyboard
This is probably the most unique feature of this suite: it allows for controlling some functionality using the keyboard. The most important of this is text insert macroing capabilities, which has always been missing from Pocket PC’s (except for some, not very capable Software Input Panels (SIP's) like Resco Keyboard Pro and Biomobility’s CopyText Pro; also see this thread for more info if interested).
When you use text insert macroing and assign a macro to, say, the series of characters “bye”, Smart Bar will constantly monitor the keys you press on the built-in (or external) keyboard of your PDA and when it sees the keys b, y and e pressed in order, it’ll delete back the three characters and insert the replacement text.
It's really cool but, unfortunately, only works with built-in keyboards or external ones (like those of desktop-based PDA controllers; see this roundup for more information on them.) Even in this case it can prove useful - most built-in thumb boards are pretty awkward to enter text on them.
You can initiate the following functionality from the keyboard: Replace with phrase; Execute a file; Turn device off; Reset device; Call number and Screen Capture. Note that if your keyboard has a different layout than your current ROM language, the default layout will be used. For example, if you have a German MDA Vario (= HTC Wizard) with English ROM but use the keyboard in German mode so that you find all keys at once, you will need to enter ‘bze’ instead of ‘bye’ for the ‘bye’ script to be executed. Also, note that not even in this case will everything execute – that is, try not to use anything that have relocated letters.
In my tests, all these functions worked OK.
Smartbar
This is a shortcut bar at the bottom of the Today screen for accessing active apps (closing / activating them) and activating other built-in apps (and the Desktop mode) of the Smart Bar suite. Unfortunately, task control-wise, it is probably the worst module in the entire suite; hope this will be greatly enhanced in subsequent releases.
Compared to (better) task managers like iLauncher, Magic Button or Spb Pocket Plus, its disadvantages are as follows:
It can only be accessed on the Today screen, not on the taskbar (and / or the Close / Minimize icon itself)
It supports no mass operations like “close all but this one”, “close all”, unlike with Magic Button or the built-in iTask of Compaq / HP iPAQ’s
It doesn’t override the Minimize / Close (x) icon
Hope these disadvantages will be soon be fixed and the task management functionalities of the application greatly enhanced.
Note that while it doesn’t have explicit scrolling icons / menus (unlike Magic Button as can be seen in here but NOT iLauncher 3, which is suffering from the complete lack of scrollbars as can be seen in this and this screenshots), you can scroll the active task icon list if there are more than five (Portrait) / seven (Landscape) of them.
I’ve also tested the CPU usage of smart.exe to see whether it causes any CPU load, particularly with more than a handful programs active. (For example, Magic Button causes a constant CPU usage of about 1-3% all the time.) The results are acceptable and not much worse than those of Magic Button:
Desktop
Yes, a WisBar Advance Desktop (WAD) clone! It’s in no way so advanced as WAD; still, if you like these kinds of applications, you may find the one in Smart Bar suitable.
Screen capture
Smart bar also contains built-in screen capturing capabilities. Please see the Screen Capture Bible for more information; in the following pros/cons list, I build on the information and explanations of that guide.
Compared to other screen capturer applications,
Pros
Uses a 3-second delay by default; that is, it can be used to make menu screenshots (without using the periodic screenshot capabilities)
Able to capture images periodically (albeit with some limitations, particularly when it comes to the frequency of taking shots). Note that it’s the “Stop interval” drop-down list that lets you fine-tune the interval it’ll take screenshots (between 10 seconds and 10 minutes as can be seen here and here)
If you use it on a device with a built-in thumb/keyboard and you enable screen capturing through Ultra Keyboard, you will be able to capture almost any game screen any time (!) by just entering the Ultra Keyboard shortcut (“CAP” by default). In this respect, the suite is unbeatable and unrivalled.
Periodic screenshot capturing is fast and, therefore, gaming-friendly (unlike, say, BeniSoft ScreenShotCE)
Both BMP and JPG output; the latter with settable quality
Can save files to anywhere, not just the main storage
Can capture images, in addition to the original (100%) size, at double and triple (200% / 300%) size – very useful on QVGA devices to avoid further enlargement and unique among all the screen capturer applications
Landscape & VGA compliant even in SE VGA mode
Cons
Multishot (periodic) capabilities are a bit limited – you can’t instruct the app to make shots less frequently than every two second
While the screenshot utility is a self-standing app, it cannot be invoked from a custom-written nScriptm script to fine-tune periodic screenshot making parameters
(Trial version useless: it inserts a message in the captured images)
All in all, the screenshot capabilities of the app are excellent, especially when you take the price of the suite into account and the only problem with this module are the too frequent screenshots in auto mode. Also, as has already been pointed out, the ability to make hardware keyboard-based screenshots of games is unbeatable and unique.
Network Tools
The suite also contains a simple (it’s in no way as advanced as, say, vxUtil) network troubleshooting utility, Network Tools.
It’s able to ping and traceroute to find out possible networking problems. It also uses DNS lookups; that is, if you for example enter www.yahoo.com, the contents of the input field will revert to 209.73.186.238 (or something very similar, with a different ending), showing the IP address of the given computer (it doesn’t do the reverse).
It also exports the traceroute results to a file. (Note that I didn’t have a “real” wireless connection during the tests and the utility had problems accessing the net via USB (in both WM5 AKU2+ networking modes); I could only access the desktop computer my PDA was hooked up to; this is why there is only one entry in the tracelog.)
It’s pretty cool to have if you don’t happen to have Windows Mobile Network Analyzer PowerToy or vxUtil around.
Verdict
This app is certainly promising. Hope subsequent builds / versions will fix the issues / implement the missing functionality (most importantly, overridden Close / Minimize button) I’ve elaborated on. Then, I’ll recommend it heartily, without conditions. Now, in the present state, I do recommend it too – but conditionally.
First, the bad. It does have compatibility issues. If it does work on your PDA model, it won’t likely to support all the features of the Today plug-in (PowerPlugin) and has no for example storage meters. Also, the task management functionalities / program shutdown capabilities of Smartbar are certainly inferior to most similar apps like iLauncher, Magic Button or Spb Pocket Plus. I find this the biggest stumbling block of the application.
Second, the good. It’s, as an all-in-one application, is really good. That is, if you don’t want to struggle with installing many applications (say, WAD + Magic Button + some advanced (!) screenshot app + vxUtil) to achieve the same (or even better! See for example the screenshot utility) functionality (without keyboard macros, of course), give it a go. Also, if you need keyboard macroing (again, it won’t work with on-screen keyboards, only hardware ones!), this is the application to go.
The same stands for taking screenshots: this application clearly excels in this area (except for the too frequent screenshot taking in repetitive mode – hope the developer fixes this too), particularly when it comes to making screenshots of anything (most importantly, games) that inhibits hardware button access and, therefore, renders hotkey-based screen grabbing impossible. Then, Ultra Keyboard’s excellent keyboard-based shortcuts will prove highly useful.
All in all, if you still don’t have any application to implement the above-listed functionalities or, for example, losing the excellent task management functionalities of other task managers isn’t a problem, definitely give it a go. Remember, however, that
do NOT get it if you are a VGA user; wait for the soon-to-be-released VGA-specific / compliant version
do backup your device before installing or, at least, make sure you have an active Safe Mode application
We all know the, without doubt, BEST “let’s control a Windows Mobile device from a desktop PC” solution, SOTi Pocket Controller Professional capable of controlling both Pocket PC's and Smartphones. Now that they have just released a brand new, 6.0 version, I’ve given it a very thorough test ride (current, tested version: 6.01 build 1256). Read on to find out whether it’s worth upgrading!
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Note that the excellent Windows Mobile site Just Another Mobile Monday has already published an excellent review. Please make sure you read it. In the current article, I “only” show what has changed over the last, 5.07 build 966 version (and, for SP users, I give you some genuine registry hacks to hide the icon of the old Pocket Controller from the task bar). I also provide you with some benchmark so that you will know everything to decide whether the new version is worth upgrading. You may also want to read my all-in-one roundup of all the comparable solutions HERE.
Availability
It’s available HERE. A single-device license costs $35.95. If you have purchased Pocket Controller-Pro during the last 10 months, you are eligible for a free upgrade. Otherwise, you get a 20% discount if you've purchased Pocket Controller earlier.
Should you have more than one Windows Mobile devices, you need to purchase a license for each of them, should you want to access them via Pocket Controller. This isn't an issue with the vast majority of the Windows Mobile users out there, having only one handheld, "only" supergeeks and gadget fans having more than one device.
Compared to the old, 5.x series,
The pros
Fully fledged registry editor – currently, the only one registry editor to flawlessly work with WM5+ devices, as opposed to the free Mobile Registry Editor 1.1 (of which, the long-promised, new, 1.2 version doesn’t seem to be released). It supports everything a decent registry editor should support: import / export (using version 5 compatible with Resco Registry Explorer), search and is way faster than MRE. (See the Windows Mobile Registry Editor Bible for more info.)
Image snapshot capabilities are vastly enhanced: PNG is supported and GIF are saved compressed. No need to save your images to BMP files and, then, in a separate session, convert them to PNG’s (or, probably, GIF’s). Not that the latter would be THAT complicated: I’ve, for example, created a simple batch file just calling ImageMagick to make this stuff automatic.
The video capture capabilities have also been enhanced: now, it’s also able to record into WMV files (not only AVI ones), should you prefer the former to the latter.
On MS Smartphone (Windows Mobile 6 Standard) models, the Soti icon isn’t any more displayed on the task bar (in addition to the above screenshots, HERE is an Oxygen screenshot; compare all these screenshots to my previous Smartphone shots).
Note that , with previous versions, you could also do the same with importing THIS registry file and restarting your phone (results visible HERE). This hack has been, as usual, discovered by me; it just involves setting HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\Apps\ SOTI\ PocketController\ enabletray to OFF.
The client CPU usage is a TAD lower, 32-33% as opposed to 33-34%, under exactly the same circumstances. In the screenshot, the first 3-4 minutes have been taken using the new (another screenshot of this case HERE; as can be seen, it lacks the PocketController icon in the top right corner, also showing it’s the new version), the last 3-4 minutes with the old version, quickly swapping the two versions in between. Note that if there is no remote controlling session, the CPU will not be used.
The User Interface is far prettier now: the new Vista style UI, which also now has a New Skin Display Mode (i.e. Skin in Window) that was not possible in v5.07.
The Skin Catalog has also been completely redesigned; for example skin downloads are much faster now, you can also do things like download all skins for a manufacturer with a single mouse click and preview all skins without having to download each skin one at a time and then click on each skin to look at it. Also added is the capability of showing the specifications for a device in the Skin Catalog in addition to its picture. At present, however, the data of a few devices data is populated. As an example, look at the Intermec CN3 device in the Skin Catalog.
Now, for some other stuff I don’t actively use / need: it supports advanced security options (for example, remote wipe), advanced printing and a lot more; see THIS for more info on new / enhanced functionality.
Still not changed / enhanced
You still can’t use the keyboard / mouse with the HTC Vox – as opposed to the HTC Oxygen
The Task Manager module hasn’t changed at all. This means you can’t expect anything like acbTaskMan or any, more advanced task / process manager / monitor tool. (See THIS for a complete review of these tools.)
The draw mode isn’t enhanced: it only supports hand drawing (shot of the older version HERE) – there are no ways of using for example circles / ellipses (to emphasize something) or making some text (for example, e-mail addresses, names etc. in a contact list) illegible. This means you will still need to post-process a LOT of images to make a lot of personal information unreadable.
On the other hand, you don’t need to keep Ctrl depressed on the keyboard any more to continue drawing, which was a definite problem with the earlier version (which just deleted handmade drawings upon releasing the Ctrl button; this also means, with the old version, you can’t use the Ctrl-D shortcut to quickly bring up the screenshot window, unlike with the new one).
The remote console is as simple as before; it only knows very few commands. Not that it should be a complete reimplementation of the file system tools of the venerable MS-DOS, anyway.
About 100k more (built-in - as before, being a service started at startup, it can't be installed to storage cards) storage usage (understandable if you think of for example the brand new functionality like remote wipe)
Note that Intel 2700G (3D accelerator in the Dell Axim x50v / x51v; see the Screen Capture Bible for more info on the related problems) screen capture-wise, I haven’t found any differences. The problems are mostly based on the fact that a given game’s hating ActiveSync. As is pointed out in the Bible, you can be successful at making a game run with Pocket Controller being active; for example, with Call of Duty 2, to do this, you need to only activate Pocket Controller after you’ve started a new game or loaded a previous one, not before (otherwise, the game may hang in the menus).
Verdict
If you can get a free update (that is, you’ve purchased your copy in the last ten months), go get it. If you need Smartphone screenshots without the SOTI icon and are afraid (you shouldn’t be!) of importing my registry script, it’s a must. Also, if you need a decent and, as opposed to anything else currently available, working and fully fledged desktop-side registry editor, go get it. The same stands for the brand new functionality like enhanced security / remote wipe – if your particular model / carrier doesn’t support it, you may want to go for alternate means; one of them may be the new Pocket Controller version.
If, on the other hand, you already have the 5.x series, it’s working great with you, don’t need any of the new functionality and you aren’t eligible for the free, new version (because you’ve purchased your copy more than 10 months ago and, therefore, you could only use the 20% rebate), I’d think twice before going for the new version: the underlying engine is only (very) slightly better / faster than the last, 5.07 version (see for example the CPU usage results). It's only at low-speed, for example, GPRS connections (as opposed to the high-speed direct USB connection) that there is a certainly visible communication speed improvement: the data traffic during remote control sessions is a little more efficient (SOTi have switched to using the same technology for their enterprise solution, MobiControl, which can manage devices over slow GPRS connections, so sending less data really matters in this case) I’m not sure whether it’ll worth the $28.76 for a 5.0x user – again, unless you desperately need the new features (remote wipe, desktop-side registry editor etc).
Finally, if you’re a newcomer to Windows Mobile and have NOT ever purchased any version of this tool, go get it – it’ll pay off in everything; most importantly, speed (no other tool remote controller tool supports so high a speed). You will LOVE it, I’m absolutely sure – just don’t waste your time with the other, in most respects, vastly inferior solutions. What you gain by not paying anything for a free remote controller tool, you will easily lose by, for example, having to waste a LOT more time waiting for screen refreshes because of the far worse communication protocol used.
UPDATE (07/20/2007): PPCT frontpage; SPT frontpage; minor (mostly GUI-related) changes.
Instant Messaging is, as with, for example, Web browsers, is a constantly improved area of mobile platforms. This means we’re getting newer and newer instant messenger apps all the time.
Palringo is the newest application to enter the Windows Mobile / Symbian instant messaging world. It, despite of being new, is already is a decent contender really worth paying attention to. Their free (!), multiplatform IM client, Palringo, is certainly worth paying attention to because it has some goodies not present in (most) other instant messenger clients.
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(VGA Pocket PC)
(Symbian s60v3)
(176*220 MS Smartphone)
(Current, tested versions: Windows Mobile: 10/25/2007; Symbian s60v3: 0.96 (11) 10/08/2007. Test devices: Pocket PC (HTC Universal, HTC Wizard), MS Smartphone (HTC s310, s710) and Symbian s60v3 (Nokia N95).)
Getting, using
You can download it HERE. Enter your e-mail address twice. It can be arbitrary – that is, on any other server; it must, however, be an existing one so that you can activate the account. Also, create the password you’d like to use with the client. After submitting the info (and signing in with this), you’re taken to the Download page, where just click the “Download” button or buttons, if you select clients for multiple operating systems. Currently, three operating systems are supported: Windows Mobile (Smartphone and Pocket PC), desktop Windows and Symbian S60v3. They also promise a MIDlet (Java) version of their client, bringing IM support to even “dumb” phones, Blackberries and Palm OS-based devices.
Alternatively, if you don’t want to use desktop download / installation, you can fill in your phone number if you want a direct installation link to be sent to you per SMS.
After installing and starting the client, select Menu / Palringo / Online. Enter the e-mail / password pair you’ve registered yourself first at Palringo.
Then, you’ll need to add services to your account. You may want to do this on your desktop computer (with the desktop version if you don’t have a remote controller tool like the excellent Pocket Controller) if you don’t have a decent keyboard for your phone. If you do this on the desktop, the added service accounts will be immediately synchronized to your mobile (and vice versa – and, of course, between mobile phones as well).
Palringo is interoperable with MSN, Yahoo, AIM, GG (Gadu-Gadu), ICQ and XMPP (Jabber). That is, after selecting Menu / Add Service, select the one you’d like to use from the list and, then, just fill in the service login / password as can be seen in HERE. Now, you’ll be logged in. Note that you can add other service accounts any time; you’ll be able to switch between them on the main dialog.
You’ll soon notice Palringo supports multiple logins. Very few IM clients allow the user to log in with multiple accounts into a given IM network: currently, only the, otherwise, not very good Causerie and the band new, beta version of Shape Services’ well-known IM+ for MS Smartphones. (See THIS and THIS threads; their Smartphone homepage is HERE; note that the current (4.45 and 6.15, respectively) PPC and Symbian S60v3 versions still don’t support multiple logins). In THIS screenshot (the same made on a 176*220 Smartphone is HERE and you can see I’ve already logged in with three MSN accounts, and I can still add more MSN accounts by selecting Add Service.
In this respect, therefore, Palringo is without doubt the best.
In addition, it supports groups (pretty much like on the IRC), which is a great way to meet friends or people and is increasingly used by some user communities like that of the infamous XDA-Developers. You can, of course, both create a new or join an existing group. Some screenshots of joining a group: 1 2 3 4 – it’s certainly worth giving a try!
Voice clips, camera stills, clickable links, copy/paste
As with several other clients, it supports sending voice clips. As opposed to, say, Fring (which is without doubt the best IM app in this respect), and just like with Microsoft’s Live Messenger on Windows Mobile (but not on the desktop, where full voice chat is supported), you can only use voice clips, not real-time VoIP. (And, of course, this only works in one direction with non-native Palringo receivers like MSN.) The voice codec is Speex-based, which means it works with acceptable upload speed even over GPRS, while maintaining pretty good sound quality.
Links are clickable on all platforms - certainly good news.
You can paste into the text input field and you can also copy the contents of individual messages (Pocket PC – a HTC Wizard – screenshot HERE). This is good news for Symbian S60 / MS Smartphone (platforms lacking a touchscreen and its mass-selecting capabilities) users but not very good for Pocket PC users, which may want to make mass selection upon wanting to, say, save an entire conversation to a file in one step.
Logging, history
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to log conversations on Windows Mobile at all. On Symbian, however, there’s a separate menu item in the chat window, Options / View Older Messages (or, alternatively, activating the thin bar at the top – in the screenshot, it’s purple-colored). This will retrieve the message from the server, which may take some time, particularly if you retrieve a voice clip or an image.
(Windows Mobile users, see the point in providing Symbian info in my articles? The previous paragraph was one of the tidbits that REALLY make it worth discussing multiple operating system versions at the same time. It’s certainly worth knowing the Symbian version is better in this respect – then, you can “push” the developers to implement the same functionality in the Windows Mobile port as well.)
The problem with this kind of logging is that you must retrieve all older messages one by one by either selecting Options / View Older Messages all the time or, better, pressing the bar. In addition, as the old messages / images / voice clips are all stored on the server, it may take some time to retrieve them. However, it’s still better than nothing at all. Still, in this respect, there’re much more advanced IM clients; most importantly, mov Messenger (for both platforms under Windows Mobile).
Notification, vibration, Pocket PC suspended state, Unicode
It seems to support system-level settings on all Windows Mobile devices (as opposed to Symbian); for example, it had no problems with vibration on the HTC Universal and HTC Wizard PPC. I’ve encountered no vibration and/or system-level audio / vibration switching problems with the HTC Oxygen (s310) and HTC Vox (s710) MS Smartphones either. Notification bubbles / taskbar icons are supported on Pocket PC’s; a taskbar icon is supported on the Smartphone platform; they’re all animated. Notification LED’s are also used.
No such icons under Symbian (for example, on the Standby screen), though.
I haven’t had any problems with receiving notifications on Pocket PC’s in suspended state (tested on the HTC Wizard and Universal), which is certainly very good news, battery life-wise. Of course, always-on platforms not using a suspended state (Symbian, MS Smartphone) have worked all the time.
It has no problems with Unicode chars in either direction (tested with MSN).
Symbian issues (and goodies)
While I had no problems with vibrating alarm (in “Meeting” mode) on ALL of my Windows Mobile devices, it didn’t work on my Nokia N95.
The camera interface is inaccessible under Symbian as can be seen in HERE (before capturing – as can be seen, no interface is accessible, unlike under WM – I’ve tested this on all the three WM test devices), HERE (after capturing) and HERE (transferring the resulting shot) but NOT under WM (example screenshot, taken on the Oxygen, HERE and HERE – incidentally, they show my Universal and N95, both running Palringo), where the real interface is used. This means for example the inability to manually switch to macro mode, switch off the flash etc.
Fortunately, under Symbian, you can set a default access point so that the client can automatically reconnect as can be seen in THIS screenshot. Incidentally, this shot also shows that under Symbian, you can independently set the notification volume, unlike under WM.
Also, on Symbian, it isn’t shut down when the free RAM decreases. This is a definite plus on RAM-lacking models like the Nokia N95.
Windows Mobile issues, CPU / memory benchmarks
I’ve had no problems at all. It worked on all my test devices I’ve installed it on (HTC Universal VGA Pocket PC, HTC Oxygen / s310 WM5 176*220 and HTC Vox / s710 QVGA Smartphones) in both Portrait and Landscape orientations. There were no keyboard problems at all and no orientation change flaws; not even on the Vox (which, before the latest version of mov Messenger, had caused problems to the latter.)
CPU / memory usage while actively waiting for incoming messages: 0% and 300…700kbytes on WM, independent of the “Power/Data Saving Mode” checkbox in Settings. That is, very good.
Some other screenshots
Contact list (on a 176*220 MS Smartphone)
Adding a contact: 1 2
Chatting interface on Symbian
Photo, clickable and voice clip sending works from Palringo to MSN – but, of course, not in the other direction.
Verdict
This is an excellent IM client all supported mobile platforms (Windows Mobile Smartphones and Pocket PC’s and Symbian), particularly if you look for a client capable of joining pre-existing IRC-like groups like that of XDA-Devs and/or want a messenger application capable of multiple logins to the same network. It’s only the lack of logging and copying large blocks (not just one row) of text on touchscreen-enabled platforms (Pocket PC) that I really miss.
Related (Windows Mobile-only) articles
The MS Smartphone Instant Messaging Bible
The Pocket PC Instant Messaging Bible (Cross-posts: PPCT, MobilitySite, AximSite, XDA-Developers - 1, XDA-Developers - 2, FirstLoox, BrightHand, HowardForums, TheSmallPicture)
A pretty nice list & quick comparison of the brand new (year 2007) IM apps (that is, Octro, Mundu and Palringo.)
Great article, this is by far my favourite IM client out there.
You should add to the review the fact that it works on http only connections (XMPP over Bosh, probably) and that they have a battery friendly setting (¿HTTP Binding?).
Those last facts are on my own, but I'm pretty sure I'm right
stickman said:
Great article, this is by far my favourite IM client out there.
You should add to the review the fact that it works on http only connections (XMPP over Bosh, probably) and that they have a battery friendly setting (¿HTTP Binding?).
Those last facts are on my own, but I'm pretty sure I'm right
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it support proxy configuration?
I still haven't seen *ANY* IM clients out there supporting (or 'inheriting' wm's) proxy configurations.
My dataplan doesn't allow proxyless connections, everything must go through their proxy - otherwise it won't work.
So im stuck without no IM client. anyone has any suggestions?
Good but...
Sound input from the Sprint Mogul and Touch does not function properly in Palringo. It has horrid clicking and choppiness, and although Palringo has been aware of the problem for some time, no solution yet. (Fingers crossed though). I think there are 3 main problems other than the sound bug.
1: Battery life is absolutely atrocious with palringo open. My mogul burned through 50% of a fresh 1500mAh battery in 3 hours.
2: No way to add new contacts
3: Whenever you close a conversation, like to return to the contact list, next time it opens there is absolutely no history...so this is definitely not for ADD people or anybody messaging more than 1-2 people at a time.
Crash after installing Fring
Here's my story I wanna share in case others encounter the same difficulties:
My Hermes is crashed right after installing the latest Fring (cab over the air). The device now blocks seconds after restarting. The screen remains normal, but it is completely frozen, and no command is possible.
I regret not having made a backup beforehand I'm still trying, but I think the only way out at this stage is to hard reset.
another issue is you have to sign in to parlingo, to use a service.
e.g. i cant use my own IM server in my own network if i can not reach parlingo server.
Never seems to connect to their network for me.
Could be that it's somehow blocked by my school's firewall (I'm on their wifi and don't get cell signal in the building). Anything with HTTP binding usually gets through but I can't find an option for enabling HTTP binding. If only Talkonaut wasn't a java app...
UPDATE (02/27/2008): there's a great review of the app HERE. There's some user feedback worth checking out HERE and HERE. Also note that MoDaCo also has a Palringo usergroup.
I, being the author of the Windows Mobile Mailer Bible, probably the best source of everything mailing-related, always receive several mailing-related questions. One of the most often asked one concerns mass selection operations to be able to quickly delete or mark (un)read several (or all) messages. The main reason for this is, for example, resetting the “new / unread mail” counter on your main home (on Pocket PC’s, “Today”) screen by quickly deleting or making read mail you know you won’t ever need – without the need to open and/or delete them one by one.
First, let’s take a look at how this is to be done in the two major flavors of Windows Mobile:
1.1 Pocket PC (WM6 Professional / Classic; devices with touch screens)
It’s very easy to mass-select your mails in Pocket PC’s. All you need to do is either:
mass-select the mails you want to mark / delete with the stylus and/or
if you have a built-in thumbboard, press Shift and the up/down arrow keys (its effect is the same as that of the stylus when mass selecting messages) and/or
if you want to mass-select all messages (not just some of them), bring up the on-screen keyboard and press Ctl and, then, A
After this, all mass operations will work as supposed to.
1.2 MS Smartphone (WM6 Standard; devices without touch screens)
Unfortunately, the touchscreen-less MS Smartphone platform works in a pretty much different way. First, let’s start with the built-in messaging:
1.2.1 Messaging
As with the “big brother”, the Pocket PC, there aren’t any menu-based mass selection capabilities built-in in the MS Smartphone version of Messaging either. This can be seen in the following menu shot:
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As there’s no touch screen and/or on-screen keyboards either, you couldn’t use Ctrl-A without third party tools (more on them later).
1.2.1.1 A quick tip for easier one-by-one deletion
If you want to quickly delete messages (with a single press of the left softkey – warning, the left softkey is only assigned the “Delete” functionality in WM6 and above, NOT in WM5!), do the following: go to Tools / Options / Other / uncheck Warn when deleting messages in the message list:
This makes it far easier to delete mails. This, however, doesn’t help in making a mail read. The latter will always require two button presses per mail (as opposed to – again, only under WM6+ - one, when you delete mail) (Menu / Mark as read).
1.2.2 FlexMail
With the alternative, excellent mailer client, FlexMail, the situation is better as of the current version (FlexMail 4 beta; 03/11/2008).
1.2.2.1 (Un)read flag toggling
In the top-level Folder view, if you just press Action on the folder, you can quickly toggle the read flag of all mail inside:
You can also do the same in the folder itself (Menu / Mark):
In Messaging, you can’t do the same.
1.2.2.2 Mass selection for deletion
It’s, unfortunately, not possible to make a mass-selection with the built-in thumbboard / dialpad; neither with menus. At least Shift + arrow keys / D-pad didn’t work on the HTC Vox’s thumbboard (unlike on Pocket PC’s – the HTC Universal – or external keyboards). Other MS Smartphones (again, with a built-in keyboard) may be better in this respect.
With an external keyboard (probably also with the widely used ThinkOutside / iGo StowAway – I haven’t checked this, only with SOTI’s excellent Pocket Controller, where it does work), this MAY become possible:
Messages selected this way can, then, be quickly deleted / flagged (un)read using the menu.
1.2.2.3 A quick note
FlexMail is indeed way more powerful on the Smartphone than the built-in Messaging; not just because of it being far more featureful, but also because of the button shortcuts. Unlike with Messaging, where all the dialpad (and, when present, the QWERTY thumbboard) keys are used for quick search, by default, dialpad keys (and several QWERTY ones) are assigned a shortcut. There is even an in-built help screen (accessible via 0 or H) showing all these shortcuts:
As you can see, as with Messaging (where, in WM6+, the left softkey can be used for quick deletion), you can do the same by pressing 7 (or D(elete)). The deletion happens without any confirmation dialog (as opposed to Messaging, unless you configure it not to do so). Note that you can do the same with flagging messages but, then, Menu / Delete won’t delete flagged messages.
1.2.2.4 Mass selection still needed on the MS Smartphone platform? AEBPlus for the rescue!
However, if you just plan to mass-delete mails, you’ll definitely want to set up the (for this), free (!!!!) AEBPlus. If you’ve read my Button Enhancer Bible, you may already know this excellent utility.
Just make sure you assign the “Select all” functionality (it’s number 15 in the functionality list) to the button you’d like to use to mass-select items. In the following screenshot, I show it bound to the Volume Up button:
and this is the set-up screen, telling AEBPlus to look for single-presses (of course, you may want to use double/triple-presses or long presses instead; then, just select the according mode in the list):
Note that this will not only work in FlexMail, but also in all the other apps supporting Ctrl-A (Select All); for example, the built-in File Explorer. And, again, this will NOT work in Messaging.
2. Competing consumer smartphone OS’es
The behavior of the MS Smartphone version of Messaging is diametrically opposed to how Symbian S60 and BlackBerry allow for mass / quick selection. These two operating systems are the two major competitors to Windows Mobile; I’m still not counting in iPhone because of the – current – lack of third-party apps and the platform still being comparatively limited to the “Holy Trinity” of consumer smart phone OS’es.
Microsoft should definitely fix this issue in future operating system versions as, again, in this respect, these two competing operating systems are definitely better.
2.1 Symbian S60
2.1.1 Selecting everything
Just go to Options / Mark/Unmark and select Mark All:
2.1.2 Selecting only blocks of mails
On Symbian S60 devices with a dedicated Pencil button (like the excellent Nokia N95), you just keep it pressed while moving the D-pad up and down. (On newer devices (N82, N81 etc.) without a pencil key, according to the N81 review from AAS, you can use # instead of the removed Pencil key. This doesn’t work on the N95.)
Then, just select either Options / Delete (alternatively, just press the C “delete” hardware button) or Mark as (Un)read:
2.2 BlackBerry
On BlackBerries, you can just keep the Shift key pressed and roll up/down the trackball for quick (mass) selection. Then, just select Mark (Un)Opened or Delete Messages from the menu. It’s very fast; my only grief is that, while mass-selecting mails, you can’t make this even faster by using the Alt button, unlike in regular mode, where you can utilize it for page jumps instead of line scrolling.
In the default BlackBerry client, it’s not possible to mass-select all the messages at once. However, thanks to the trackball, mass-selecting is VERY fast – much faster than on any competing D-pad-based solution. No wonder I'm recommending trackballs instead of touchpads
UPDATE (later the same day): I’ve forgotten to mention that you can easily delete all mails from a folder in the Smartphone (and, of course, the Pocket PC) version of FlexMail. To do this, you must be in the folder view (as in the first FlexMail screenshot; in there, it’s at position 3), highlighting Inbox, and select either Menu / Folder / Empty or press Action and select Empty from the context menu. Note that Empty will not be shown at all (or disabled) when there are no messages in the given folder to be deleted.
This makes it much easier to delete all messages in one step and also makes it unnecessary to install AEBPlus if you want to not only mark read the entire contents of a folder, but also delete it.
UPDATE (03/14/2008): thanks to my blog reader looeee, I've noticed the MS Smartphone version of WM6 supports similar numeric (dialpad) shortcuts to approximately the same functionality as in Flexmail (see Section 1.2.2.3). The only difference is that you must keep the given button depressed (that is, press-and-hold) for the given functionality to be invoked - instead of the standard searching. The shortcut list (which can be brought up by press-and-holding the 0 button) can be seen in the following screenshot:
Again, this is WM6 MS Smartphone only - it doesn't work in WM5.
UPDATE (03/13/2008):
There’s an official (but in no way officially advertised) add-on patch for the built-in Messaging, which allows mass “mark read” and “delete” operations. This means you don’t need to switch to FlexMail on the MS Smartphone platform if you frequently need to delete / mark as read all your messages as quickly as possible.
Navigate to THIS page; get and execute InboxExtender.CAB on your phone. After this, the menu will contain two new menu items: Mark All as Read and Delete All.
(WM6 Smartphone and VGA Pocket PC, respectively)
(thanks to HowardForums forum member RF9 for the heads-up!)