Now that I’m working on a FULL roundup of EVERYTHING Windows Mobile instant messaging-related, I’ve also scrutinized the current state of Internet Relay Chat (IRC) applications. As I’ve already published several articles on Windows Mobile IRC clients, I’ve decided not to wait for the instant messaging article to be finished, but publish the news (as they are, as is the case with
First, PocketIRC .
PocketIRC has always been one of the best IRC applications for the Pocket PC (see these search results for more information on this question). The brand new version just released adds / fixes the following:
The much requested Favourite Channels list and auto join on connect capability (example screenshot here)
More detailed error messages, and improved disconnect detection
Verdict: a must for all existing PocketIRC users and recommended for anyone that wants to access IRC on his or her Pocket PC.
DXmobile releases Glam IRC, a “modern-style IRC app”
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DXmobile, a newcomer to Windows Mobile development, has recently released a brand new IRC application called Glam IRC. Note that DXmobile doesn’t have a homepage; therefore, you’ll need to download their app (if you bother, that is) from third-party servers like PocketGear and Handango.
Unfortunately, while, on paper, this application seems to be pretty capable, in reality, it is really-really weak.
First, it doesn’t run properly on WM5 and WM6 VGA devices: it has major rendering problems. It seems it’s sensing a QVGA screen as can be seen in for example this Dell Axim x51v screenshot (the same in Landscape). The same stands for WM6 (Crossbow), as can be seen in here. It’s, however, OK with WM5 QVGA (including landscape) and WM2003(SE), both QVGA and VGA, as can for example be seen in this WM2003SE VGA Pocket Loox 720 screenshot.
Unfortunately, this title is one of the worst IRC apps for Windows Mobile I’ve ever tested. It’s very hard to find anything positive about it, except for the DCC and the offline messaging capabilities (which I couldn’t test because of the major trial restrictions, and I, generally, don’t request a review copy of apps I know I couldn’t write anything positive about.)
The problems:
Has a lot of typos - no serious app should contain typos
Major incompatibility problems with WM5 / WM6 VGA models
Absolutely no user control commands (kick etc) (1; in Menu / List channelname Users, there is no context menu and the main menu only offers DCC file sending to the user
No colors, bold, underline, italic etc
Trial mode entirely useless, you can’t even tell anything to anyone
Upon receiving a message in another tab, you don’t get any kind of a notification; not even the color of the tab name is changed
Not any kind of copy/paste support (including clicking URL’s), let alone logging and other advanced functionality that have long been supported by alternate clients
Verdict: forget it, this REALLY overpriced ($19) and REALLY bad application is just not worth bothering. There are a lot of even FREE IRC clients that are way better than this one.
Related
Ever wanted to know how the names of the built-in applications / settings applets have changed during the evaluation of the Pocket PC / Windows Mobile operating system?
Microsoft, during the Pocket PC / Windows Mobile maturation / evolution, has changed some of the names of the built-in applications and settings applets (in addition to, naturally, changing their contents and capabilities).
In my articles, I tend to list sometimes two names for a given application so that readers that (possibly) only know their own version of the operating system are not forced to try to guess what I’m talking about.
For example, when I speak of the built-in Web browser in Windows Mobile, I refer to it as both Pocket Internet Explorer and Internet Explorer Mobile. Similarly, when referring to the built-in mailer client, I refer to this as both Inbox and Messaging. Finally, when I refer to the built-in Office applications, I use both “Pocket Word / Excel” and “Word / Excel / Powerpoint Mobile”.
Of course, this tends to clutter up my articles a bit (I have to repeat in all my articles related to, say, Messaging that it was called “Inbox” before the WM2003SE operating system and so on); therefore, I found it necessary to elaborate on this question a bit so that, later on, I can just refer to this article instead of cluttering up my articles with all the possible name versions of each standard Pocket PC application I refer to.
To find out how these names have changed, I, first, recommend Chris De Herrera’s excellent article “Windows Mobile Application Name”, which lists the name changes of the major built-in applications. (Please note that, of the chart, I’ll elaborate on “Internet Explorer” a bit later!)
Second, I also supply an additional chart showing
some other apps missing from the original chart
the changes introduced in the new WM5 AKU’s released after Chris’ publishing the article (more than a year ago) (Not sure what AKU's mean? Read this!)
the Settings applet name changes.
My additional chart is as follows:
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(note that if you have rendering problems, it’s also available here.)
Italic shows the first introduction (when it wasn’t right in PPC 2000) and bold shows the name changes.
What about Internet Explorer?
While the program icon is named Internet Explorer, internally, and as can be seen on their default homepage too, it is called Pocket Internet Explorer (see the screenshot showing this here) under pre-WM5 operating systems and Internet Explorer Mobile under WM5 (screenshot here).
Updated to include WM6 (Crossbow)-related information. (Also see the new, WM6 / Crossbow-related, forthcoming updates to my other articles!)
Some of you may have already played BS Hacker Replay Unlimited, a Cyberpunk / “hacker” game. It’s not a bad game (on the desktop Windows); I certainly recommend this review on it for more info. (Note that the linked review also reviews another desktop Windows "cyberpunk" game of the same developer.)
Now that Handango has cut the price of the Pocket PC port of the game in half, I’ve decided to give it a go, particularly when it comes to comparing it to the desktop version. There doesn’t seem a review of the Pocket PC version anywhere; PocketGamer.org hasn’t even mentioned it, let alone other Pocket PC gaming-related sites.
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Availability, price
(Current, tested version: 1.211)
The title is available for the original $9.99 on the homepage of the developer and, as has already been pointed out, at half the price, $4.99, on Handango.
Compatibility
All devices starting with Pocket PC 2002. This means, in addition to my Pocket PC 2002 iPAQ 3660, both my two other “problematic” devices have run the game without problems:
the WM5-upgraded HP iPAQ hx4700
the “slow” HTC Wizard (has for example no music or similar problems, unlike, say, SuperTux)
Differences between the desktop and the Windows Mobile version
First, you don’t need to enter any text on the Windows Mobile – everything is icon-based and, therefore, happens much faster (you don't need to enter commands on the keyboard, just click the given icon). The generic speedup also applies to functionality that was definitely slow in the desktop version: for example, cracking passwords, which is done much faster on Windows Mobile than in the desktop version.
However, a LOT of the desktop functionalities have been removed. For example, there are no files on hosts any more, you can only transfer money from them (and trash / BNC them if you deem it necessary – it’s only in this respect that it’s the same as the desktop version). Which is even worse, a LOT of functionality (still) present in the desktop version (ability to upgrade hacker apps; several missions or, for that matter, almost ANYTHING except just money transfer etc.) are severely missing from the PDA version.
The built-in, one-page (!) help (screenshot of it here) is in no way as good as the built-in, several-page tutorial of the desktop version. Apart from the differences between the desktop and the WM version (NO filelists, NO file transfer etc) for example it doesn’t even explain how the different BNC connections affect the trace speed – in this respect (too), it’s really poor.
Music
The music is exactly the same as in the desktop version (pretty repetitive, mono). Unfortunately, the Pocket PC version severely lacks the rather basic, but sometimes (for example, when you click a server to hack on the map) really cool sound effects.
Graphics
QVGA only (sorry, no high-resolution VGA support). However, the developers have managed to squeeze everything into this; that is, almost everything important is displayed, without the need for scrolling (which is, by the way, impossible in the PPC version, unlike on the desktop).
Verdict
If you loved the desktop version because of the great missions and the flexibility, you’ll be REALLY disappointed. In the conversion, all of this has been removed; this makes the game really shallow and uninteresting. I really disliked the PPC port because it’s just the best parts (the missions and the sophisticated file lists and options) that have been removed. You may want to give it a try to see whether you like it though.
The Mundu instant messenger client is widely known among both Microsoft Smartphone (in the new, WM6-related parlance, “Windows Mobile Standard”) and Palm OS users – on these platforms (particularly on the Palm), it’s probably the best IM client.
The developer has just come out with a heavily updated, new version. While it’s only meant for the MS Smartphone platform, thanks to the convergence between the MS Smartphone and the Pocket PC (Phone Edition) (in the new parlance, “Windows Mobile Classic / Professional”) devices, it works pretty good on all Pocket PC (Phone Edition) devices starting with WM5.
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Much as it does have some problems on Pocket PC (Phone Edition) devices (for example, it doesn’t support working in suspended mode and vibration, unlike with MS Smartphones, where both are supported), I really recommend it particularly if you
want seamless auto-logging capabilities
want conference support with MSN, Yahoo and, according to the developer, AOL/AIM
want file upload (no file download is possible)
Note that, in addition to the connectivity problems (it doesn’t work while the PPC phone is suspended) caused by the officially not-supported platform, you also need to learn to live with the lack of touchscreen support. This means you’ll need to use the Action button (the center button in D-Pad with most Pocket PC’s) instead of for example double-clicking to, say, initiate a conversation with someone. Note that you can still select and use the menu with the stylus.
Another great news item is that the Mundu folks will release a Pocket PC (and a Symbian)-specific version very soon. Hope that version will also fix the issues caused by the differences between the Smartphone and the Pocket PC platform; most importantly, the (on the Pocket PC) lack of vibration and suspended mode support.
Finally, note that I’ve thoroughly updated the comparison / feature chart of my well-known Windows Mobile Instant Messaging Bible (cross-posted to: PPCT, MobilitySite, AximSite, XDA-Developers, FirstLoox, BrightHand, HowardForums), the source of ALL information on instant messaging. In there, you’ll find a REALLY thorough comparison of Mundu to all the alternative instant messenger clients on the Pocket PC – and tons of screenshots. Make sure you check it out to discover what this messenger is really capable of and how it compares to the alternative messengers.
Probably the "prettiest" of the bunch out there (also fairly large in size at nearly 3mb installed).
I really liked the graphics and the options but it was a little laggy (running on the Moto Q).
What killed it for me though at least in my limited tests (<10 mins, lol):
--> It kept a constant data connection (to Gtalk at least), like if I were streaming a video kind of connection. I could have only imagined what my battery would have looked like after 30 minutes.
Then again maybe it was a fluke or after 10 mins it does some awesome idling, I dunno.
I know you didn't get to test the bandwidth but if you get around I'd be interested to see if you get something similar.
This article may be of interest to not only BlackBerry users, but also those of Windows Mobile; particularly ones that would like to know more about Sid Meier's Civilization IV: War of Two Cities from Concrete Software, also promised for Windows Mobile. I’ll also elaborate on three titles also existing for Windows Mobile.
1. As has already been announced in my previous Games news article, Concrete Software have released Sid Meier's Civilization IV: War of Two Cities for the BlackBerry. The homepage of the title is HERE. Note that the game is also promised for the Windows Mobile platform.
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Anyone hoping for a top-down view and turn-based strategy approach common with Civilization games will be pretty much at a loss: this title is pretty simple and is really only reminiscent of the “real” game in the tech tree. (However, not even the tech tree is as big as the original - see the screenshot above for a quick comparison.) It doesn’t seem to support multiplayer either, which is pretty much disappointing on an always-connected platform (BlackBerry). However, it still might be a nice game to kill some time with if you don’t really need a “real” Civilization on your handset. If you do, go for either the n0p’s DOSBox port + Civ1 combo on Windows Mobile or Revival (probably the best Civ-alike so far, apart from the no-longer-developed Pocket Humanity) on the WinMo, Palm OS and Symbian (no BB, sorry) platforms (additional review links HERE). Also see the user review HERE. Finally, I only hope that the two other, announced ports (Pirates and Railroad Tycoon) will be an exact replica of the original – after all, the original titles also used low-resolution and didn’t necessarily depend on the mouse.
Note that the trial version is pretty useless: it can be played through in about 5 minutes and only allows for the first two, very short scenarios. This also means you can’t go up the tech tree at all (except for one step).
2. The new beta of Viigo, probably the best, forthcoming RSS (and, hopefully, podcast) reader has been released; bumping up the major version number from 2 to 3. (About a month ago, the then-current version was 2.2.82; now, it’s 3.0.224.) It already has much nicer-looking and better settings (options) dialogs:
As can be seen in the following screenshot, the initial list also shows podcasting support (please see my related Podcasting bible for more info):
However, it’s still not working:
As soon as it starts working, I update the Podcasting bible. Note that I’ll also make some other changes to it; most importantly, include info on the just-released Kinoma Player’s podcasting capabilities and also elaborate on the latest, pretty nice pRSSreader. Note that I'll VERY soon publish the multiplatform RSS bible, which MAY already contain info on the iPhone too, which I plan to purchase next week. If my wife allows me to, that is
3. The recently-released, new BlackBerry version (5.2.8) of IM+, the all-in-one messenger app, introduced a lot of long-awaited functionality; for example, file and voice clip sending (from the BB to any other client – but not in the opposite direction):
Also, conference talks are also possible:
Voice sending uses MP3 encoding, which guarantees low bandwidth usage, while providing excellent sound quality. However, IM+ takes a LOT of time to encode even short clips to MP3 and upload them via EDGE; that is, your experience probably won’t be as good as with the Windows Mobile Live Messenger client’s built-in voice upload support.
4. RDM+ (version 3.7.5 released in early August) has also received file transfer capabilities in the meantime. Definitely good news - the version I’ve reviewed in my initial multiplatform RDM+ review still didn’t have such support.
There have been several YouTube players for Windows Mobile, two of them being, in my opinion, the best: the commercial, but highly recommended CorePlayer (which, with the recent, 1.3.0 upgrade, has fixed almost all the problems I’ve talked about in my dedicated all-in-one bible) and the free FlashVideoBundle. While some of the alternatives (for example, Kinoma Play with the built-in YouTube support and the recently released Flash Lite 3.1) offer more functionalities (for example, built-in account support in Kinoma) and/or better (more “natural”) browser integration, in my opinion, these two players still remain the best choices for YouTube playback, particularly if you have a VGA device.
Enter YouTube’s own player. First of all, before you run to download it: at the current state, I in no way recommend it. It’s in every way worse than CorePlayer: it’s less polished, uses much more CPU for playback and is simply not optimized for being played back on VGA devices, resulting in sometimes ridiculous frame rates. It doesn’t support videos with greater resolution than QVGA either, which is bad news for (W)VGA users having enjoyed the higher-resolution HVGA (480*320) H.264 movies. It seems not to able to work (connect) on some phones; for example, using exactly the same WLAN network, I was able to play back videos (hmmm… more like slideshows on this VGA unit) on my HP iPAQ 210 but couldn’t do the same on my HTC Wizard and HTC Universal phones and my Dell Axim x51v – they complained about connection errors. Again, all this under exactly the same (networking) circumstances.
All in all, it seems this title is worse as the official Symbian version (see 1.3 Using the official YouTube MIDlet, YouTube for Mobile (beta) (currently, Symbian)) of YouTube’s player.
Example screenshots
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Main menu of the player, allowing for accessing the search, top rated, most viewed and most recent categories. The menu (right softkey), as can be seen in the following screenshot, only allows for returning to this screen and bringing up the related list; that is, there’s absolutely no for example account support (unlike with Kinoma’s player or solutions based on the Web – Flash Lite 3.1, the native mobile Web version, http://m.youtube.com, of YouTube or FlashVideoBundle).
A search result. The screen can’t be scrolled down to, for example, see the comments. With more than one search result, the icons can be scrolled from left to right with fingers. Tapping them starts the playback in Landscape. An example screenshot of this:
Installation
Nevertheless, if you still want to give it a try (you’ve been warned…), head to http://m.youtube.com in the built-in Internet Explorer Mobile (unfortunately, it seems alternative browsers like Opera Mobile aren’t supported – I’ve tested the latter with the Omnia build of Opera Mobile 9.5) and click the “Download the YouTube application” link at the bottom, just above the YouTube application copyright message:
If, on the next screen, you’re told your particular model isn’t supported (this will be the case if you aren’t located in an English-speaking country; some people also state the same trick is also needed in English-speaking ones), just click the “Change Language” link at the bottom. The following screenshot shows this (selected) link in Finnish (“Muuta kieli”):
On the next dialog, select English (or English UK):
Now, the download will start; just answer Yes to the question:
After this, just click Youtube in Start / Programs.
Thanks Menneisyys!
As always very usefull info
I´ll try the options and see if finally I can see a video on my Uni
Cheers,
I can´t make it work... not any of the options...