Mobility Digest Review: Spb Mobile Shell 3.0
I have always been a fan of an easy to use UI App made for Windows Devices, from HTC Home back on the 8525 and TILT, to Point UI, and now to Spb Mobile Shell 3.0.
Well thanks to www.spbsoftwarehouse.com, we got a copy of Mobile Shell 3.0 for testing, and let me tell our readers out there that they have made a major overhaul on Mobile Shell. I have always been a fan of HTC Touch Flo 3D ever since it was released, but now HTC has a new player out on the field and it is called Spb Mobile Shell 3.0.
I am not one for a lot of hype so let’s get to the review at hand!
Jump after the break for my complete review of Spb Mobile Shell 3.0
Business Pro Layout Lifestyle Layout
For starters with the new Spb Mobile Shell 3.0 I noticed is there is a business style and a lifestyle side. I am meaning there is a business pre set up for the business user that doesn’t have time to modify the icons to their own style. It has weather, email, missed calls, voicemail, alarms, and calendar all on the main screen. While the lifestyle, with a flick of the screen up, will give you a layout you can add and remove widgets to your liking.
I want to spend a little more time on the lifestyle side since this is the one I use the most of.
On the lifestyle side if you push the icon in the lower left corner a menu pops up, and in this menu you can show the today screen, meaning you can use TF3D if needed. Here you can select edit layout to add and remove widgets to the screen of your choosing. By selecting add widget you will go straight into and icons. The other great feature here you can change the background to a pic of your choosing.
Before we get started on the lifestyle side you need to know that all of the widgets you add, for the most part, are adjustable to fit the screen, meaning if the icons are too big hold on the icon and a new menu pops up. You can select small medium or text(large). Here you can also remove the icon as well if you don’t use it anymore.
While in the lifestyle side, if you flick the screen left or right, kinda like flicking the screen in TF3D, there is a new page to see. By flicking to the left first, this shows a settings based page. I modified mine to reflect just that. You can add anything you want but I chose to make it a settings version.
If you go back to the right from the main lifestyle page and flick to the right you will find a page that looks like a contact page. On this page instead of contacts, since at the bottom of screen you have a contacts button, I made this page an apps page. I have all my apps listed here that I mostly use.
If you select the icon in the lower right corner it will take you to the carousel of choosing several new pages like edit profile, world time, calendar, weather, contacts carousel, Spb contacts, favorite contacts, and call log. This carousel with all the apps you can choose from makes, in my opinion, TF3D look like HTC HOME when TF3D first came out, dull and boring.
Going back to the business side of Spb Mobile Shell 3.0, this updated version by far right now is leading the way of the Battle of the UI on Windows Mobile Phones. There is so many rich features this updated version offers that I can’t list so I will mention the ones I REALLLLLLY fell in love with.
The first thing I noticed on the business side is on the home screen it offers everything a business man needs, like email, missed calls, text messages, and voicemail reminders. There is a very useful calendar at the bottom to keep up with your daily routine as well as alarm to set.
![clip_image014[1]](http://www.fuzemobility.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/clip-image0141.jpg "clip_image014[1]")
The next thing I noticed, when you select the lower right hand corner icon, is it goes to the carousel I mentioned before. So if you use the lifestyle or business side of this AWSOME app they got you covered to the carousel of other options.
All in all this new version is my favorite UI to use, yes even over TF3D. This app is finger friendly and easy to navigate. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being perfect, I give it a good solid 9.
The reason I give it a nine is this is a solid useable UI, there is things that maybe in the future they can add like a stocks widget or a somewhat customizable business side, like to change the color of the back ground from blue only to another color like black.
To summarize everything up is: YOU NEED THIS APP FOR THIS IS THE BEST UI ON THE MARKET.
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Comments
whaleyboy “…like to change the color of the back ground from blue only to another color like black.”
The background on the “Professional Layout” changes to whatever color theme you have selected…yes, even black! 
fireman54 I would take high battery usage over memory usage. TF3D would cause the file gwes.exe to grow and grow in size until I had to reset. I was resetting about twice a day. Needless to say, I stopped using TF3D. Hopefully Mobile Shell 3 won’t have memory issues. Version 2 works fine right now.
Don I’ve wanted to like Mobile Shell since version 1, and always wound up uninstalling it. V. 3 probably won’t be different.
1) Despite what the Spb website says, I can’t find any integration with Spb Traveler.
2) Weather only shows one city, not good for a frequent traveler. See item 1.
3) MS’s integration with Flexmail is backwards, which makes it inconvenient to get to text messages. I use Flexmail as my default mailer but not default SMS client; the MS email icon launches Pocket Outlook and the text icon opens Flexmail.
4) Moving from MS to TF3D and back would be a good workaround so I could take advantages of the strengths of both. Unfortunately, moving from MS to TF3D using Show Today doesn’t work consistently. I get a blank TF3D screen around 75% of the time.
And that’s with only a half hour of playing. MS 3 has a lot of nice features but the problems outweigh them given how I use my Fuze.
Mark A Anyone having this problem and a possible fix:
When I go to the bottom right corner and select Change Background, then select a pic, the screen goes to black albeit the bars are still working. The soft keys are calendar/L and Spb Home/R. Selecting Spb Home takes be back to the Lifestyle screen where I quickly notice the background has not changed.
Suggestions?
Yeah, and I’ll repeat what’s been said on the battery. 100% battery at 6:30am. Really no hands-on usage till 8:00am. Flipped on Bluetooth at 8:25am. And, I’m sitting at just less then 3/4 battery. And yes, the task mgr confirms nothing else is running, not even Activesync.
drjim Though I’m obviously not the Fuze Master that You Know Who is, I have to offer a different assessment of the new SPB MS 3.0.
I installed it this morning and have been playing with it ever since. I found it unnecessarily complex and not very user friendly. The most important thing for me in a UI is that I have everything I want within one (or two max) touches. I have my new TF3D2 set up so that I have all I want at my immediate e.g., I loved the carousel and the 3D graphics are very sporty), there were just too many screens to go to to get everywhere and too many options.
I’ll stick with my TF3D thank you very much.
W. M. Miller Yes, that’s what I really love about SPB Mobile Shell: everything is right there within a couple of taps; it’s a lot better than TF3D was in that regard. (I know you were saying the opposite, but my experience is that it’s extremely handy. I haven’t used TF3D2, though, so I can’t compare it with that.) I do agree that I will probably never use the carousels for screens and contacts because it’s just too much effort to get to what you want, but I’ve put everything I need within a couple of taps of the home screen.
I also haven’t noticed inordinate battery usage. I’ve been playing with mine off and on for the last 7 hours, including a half hour of watching a video with TCPMP, and my battery is still at 74%.
LaLa Mark A wrote:
“When I go to the bottom right corner and select Change Background, then select a pic, the screen goes to black albeit the bars are still working. The soft keys are calendar/L and Spb Home/R. Selecting Spb Home takes be back to the Lifestyle screen where I quickly notice the background has not changed.”
I have the same issue.
However, other than this, I really like this new shell! Granted, it doesn’t have multi-city weather or a stock price widget, but I find it a lot more usable and fluid user experience than Rhodium, it consumes less RAM, it’s more stable, and it has a Launcher that shows subfolders, too (unlike the flat “All programs” list in Rhodium).
Matthew Montgomery Ever since switching to TF3d2, though full of function, I felt the UI required too much tapping to get what I wanted. So, after reading Herg’s review, I reflashed to NATF’s latest ROM and installed SPB 3.0.
Haven’t noticed excessive battery drain and after reading the user manual, I had answers to several of my questions. One thing I missed – or maybe SPB missed, was that it would be nice if your contacts set could be different between Lifestyle and Business settings. Other than that, awesome.
W. M. Miller @X2D: I did enable 3D acceleration, but I didn’t notice much difference — it was already performing quite well. Did you have any specific things in mind?
Chapmeister you know, battery drain will always be a key issue. However, why would anyone in their mind switch from TF3D to SPB MS, and back on the same phone?!! Thats what is killing your battery.
I have been running MS 3.0 since it released, and I have been running it on Sheps 6.5 rom, which is already a battery saver. I disable all that TF3D stuff, and primarily run MS 3. I even over-rode the Start menu with MS. Very customizable, worth the $30, and does NOT drain my battery. Again, you have to disable TF3D in the Today settings to get better battery life
drjim I don’t want people to think that I’m against MS 3.0. Given the general consensus, it seems that perhaps I didn’t spend enough time with it to give it a fair shake.
But here’s an interesting test of one-touch functionality. The way I have my Fuze set up, I can reach the following with one touch of the Today screen (not counting the buttons which we all share):
1. Start menu.
2. Task bar icons.
3. Alarm.
4. Call history.
5. Appointments.
6. Mail.
7. Calendar.
8. Internet.
9. Favorite programs.
10. Contacts.
11. Camera.
How many can the MS 3.0 reach?
Of course, there are other benefits to a UI, but this one seems to be highly valued by most.
In any event, all in good fun and learning.
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DrzNight @drjim
I don’t see your point. MS 3.0 has a customizable home screen in which you can add a lot of widgets to get where ever you want. Heck, if you wanted to I’m sure you could a lot more than 11 places that you could reach with a single touch. I was a huge tf3d fan until yesterday, MS 3.0 has blown me away =)
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TVDinner so far I love it. A few questions
1) I am not sure what turning 3D Accelerator on actually does. My MS 3.0 works the same with it on or off. What is supposed to happen differently??
2) Has anyone figured out how to configure what you see in each folder. So for example I go to Launcher, then Organizer and I see Calendar, Tasks, Notes. In 2.0 I could configure the menu and what links where there and I had quick links to specific Notes that I use all the time. Or if I click on the Internet link it would show what I wanted there in a grid view instead of the current list view. Same for Multimedia, etc
It seems we have lost this feature from 2.0 in 3.0. I hope I am just missing it and someone can show me how to fix.
TVDinner some more info and links from xda
tricks thread – http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=507697
mods/hacks thread – http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=506866
wallpaper sharing thread – http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=506198
still looking for info on questions in my post above this one. Thanks!
Philthyone Just tried out the demo of this program, and all I can say is WOW!!!! I may never use TF3D again. They really did this right. The learning curve is minor, and even fun. (It does so much more than TF3D). as for performance, I have not seen any kind of slowdowns at all. I would say it is as fast if not faster than TF3D.
Daniel C Definitely don’t mind SPB but $30 bucks isn’t worth it when TF3D if standard. They have some good ideas, such as widgets and multiple homescreens that are customizable but I did not notice a tasks section (which tf3d doesn’t have either, which sucks). If you’re looking for a great shell, it’s hard to not use PointUI. I believe it to be the best 3rd party shell out there.
Houston L Mobile Shell 3.0 is pretty awesome. No real complaints, well, accept for the fact that File Explorer is now more-or-less dead. Before I installed Mobile Shell 3.0, I could open/view pictures or videos directly from File Explorer just by clicking on them. After installation, clicking on a picture or video does nothing. The only way I can view pictures now is through a link to the HTC album (basically the one that is accessible through the camera interface). Anyone else having this problem?
Nancy A Huber I think that this new version is highly over rated. I paid for the upgrade (120 days after buying version 2) and really wish that I had waited.
It freezes my fuze, sucks up the batery life and takes too many taps to get where I want to be..really liked 2 better.
TVDinner Nancy – really?? not on my fuze – it is a rocket ship, never freezes, and the battery life is actually way better then ever before. I am using NAFT’s ROM. Maybe your rom is the problem.
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Good review. It seems nice, but I am wondering about performance, memory usage and also battery usage. At Xda-developers some are complaining about high battery usage compared to TF3D. What your experience?