Review: Vito Winterface
As the default interface of Windows Mobile devices becomes more polished and informative, so the third party application developers have to become more innovative in releasing products that will add to or enhance the user experience.
Vito Technology have always been at the forefront of the 'enhancement' market, with recent successes such as FunContact and SMSChat. Their latest release, now also incorporated into their Communication Suite, is Winterface. This is designed to be a general information and application launcher. Unlike many of its kind, Winterface does not replace the Today Screen, but forms a layer on top of it. Thus when Winterface is minimised, all the user's normal Today customisations remain present. How does this fare in everyday use? Read on to find out!
Product Information
Software Developer: Vito Technology iWindowsMobile
Product Microsite: Winterface Product Page
Price: $19.95. 14 day Trial Version available
Devices used: HTC X7500 and HTC Touch Diamond with Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
What is Winterface
Winterface is part of Vito Technology's new suite of 'finger friendly' programs for Windows Mobile Professional devices. Its aim is to combine the functions of information display with an application launcher and quick contact manager. Each item is in the form of a large tile. There is space for fifteen tiles on each screen, with up to ten screens available. Each tile may represent a setting, a program or a contact. Accessing adjacent screens is achieved by a finger swipe to the left or right. There is a series of dots in the centre of the bottom of the screen, indicating how many screens you have defined, with the current screen position highlighted.
In addition to the main screens, Winterface also has a 'lock' screen which activates when the device enters standby. When activated again, the device shows the lock screen, with a 'Slide to Unlock' function, once again operated by a finger drag.
Installation
 | Winterface is available from the iwindowsmobile website as an EXE file to install from a PC, or a CAB file for installation from the device itself. The installed file size is 1.45MB, and it uses negligible system resources, even when running in the background. Once installed, the program shortcut is placed in the Startup folder so it will load after a soft reset; there is also a Winterface entry in Programs to run the program for the first time, or after it has been terminated.
On first Run, an explanation screen opens to inform the user of how to bring Winterface to the fore with a finger swipe gesture. Dismissing this screen opens the main Winterface screen. The program may be minimised or quit using standard icons in the Winterface configuration main screen, which is always the top left tile on the main page. This screen also has an About page where the Activation code can be entered, and a Help link which opens a locally stored web page in the default browser. |
Registering Winterface
| Vito use an online activation process to register its products. There is a fourteen day free trial period, after which it is necessary to purchase the product or remove it. On purchase, the user is sent an activation code. Entering this into the registration screen then causes the device to go online to complete the activation. Currently Vito allow a limited number of reactivations per license. A hard reset should be able to reuse the existing code, but a ROM update or new device will require the assistance of Customer Support to transfer the license. |  |
Using Winterface
Once loaded, Winterface is summoned by a finger swipe gesture, as in the diagram above. Some tiles show real-time information about their underlying application
- The Messaging tiles will show the number of unread messages in red
- The Phone setting tile shows the signal strength
- The Bluetooth tile shows BT on or off
- The Calendar and Time tiles show the current date and time respectively
- The Memory and Battery tiles show their current status.
- The Profile tile shows which setting is active
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Launching a program or setting, or communicating with a contact is simply a matter of touching the relevant tile with a finger. Tapping a Contact tile opens a screen allowing you to make contact by voice, SMS or Email depending on which items are available for that contact.
If the tile you want is on another page, then a lateral swipe will move pages back and forth, with the indicator at the bottom of the page showing your current position. It would be nice if the indicators were 'active' allowing quick access by finger press if one has a large number of pages; most users are probably unlikely to have more than three or four pages however, and screen scrolling is fast.
| When the device comes out of standby, the lock screen is displayed. This is a semi transparent screen, allowing you to see the contents of the underlying main screen, and the status of any messaging service, missed calls or the phone signal strength. Sliding the button to the right unlocks the device and reveals the Winterface main screen. |  |
 | A special 'Running' tile is used to call up a list of running applications. These can be activated by a finger press on their tile, or terminated by a press on or near the red square in the top right corner of the tile. The Running tile cannot be removed, though it can be placed on any of Winterface's pages.
The Winterface screen can be closed by pressing the top left tile, then using the Minimise or Close icons. The device OK or Home buttons will also quickly return the device to its normal home screen. |
In use, there are a few things to consider, although in the main it works very well. One problem is that there may be some conflicts of gesturing when calling up Winterface. On my Touch Diamond, when on the home screen, the swipe gesture to open Winterface is very similar to the screen scroll gesture of Touchflo. This can result in it taking a couple of tries before Winterface opens.
Gesture conflicts are more obtrusive if one is using programs with screen scrolling capabilities, such as Opera 9.5 on the Touch Diamond. Web pages are panned using finger dragging, and if using a left/right panning gesture, Winterface has a tendency to pop up as it interprets the movement as its calling gesture. Vito may well need to think how this can be avoided as it can become quite a nuisance.
The Winterface object selection is set to sense quite a broad contact - thus it is preferable to use a finger pad to open an item- using a stylus or fingernail may well inadvertently scroll the page rather than opening an item. This is soon overcome with practice.
Another small annoyance is that if one is on a phone call, and the screen blanks, which is how the newer devices are set to operate, when the screen is turned back on again, for instance to enter something on the keypad, or terminate the call, the Winterface lock screen activates. This requires an unlock, then pressing of the Winterface Phone tile to return to the phone screen, as all device buttons are locked when the lock screen is active.
Configuring Winterface
 | As I mentioned above, each Winterface screen can have a mixture of application, setting or contact tiles. New items are added from the main Winterface setting link at the top left of the main screen |
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| Settings: Most of the device settings can be added as shortcut Tiles. |  |
 | Programs: Any program in the Programs folder can be added as a Tile.
It is not possible to setup a link to a specific document, only to it's associated application. |
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| Contacts: Any contact may be added as a tile. There is a 'quick select' ABC bar to the right of the screen. |  |  |
Existing tiles can be deleted or moved to new locations or new screens. To enter the configuration mode, press and hold any tile for about one second. Each tile will show a red cross in its top right corner which can be tapped to delete the item. To move an item, simply press it again for one second, then drag it to a new position, or over the page margin to move it to a new page. While in this mode, all the icons jiggle about slightly to remind you that you are making changes. The normal finger swipe gesture allows page navigation while in configuration mode. To exit configuration mode, simply press any of the device hardware buttons.
That is the extent of the configuration options for Winterface. There are no colour options, no icon size options and no option to change the sensitivity or delay of the various actions. In my view, this is a good thing- the interface works well and looks good. My one reservation here is that there is no option to disable the lock screen altogether. For most users, the interplay between the lock and main screens will be perfectly adequate. There is an issue however in situations where the user employs another form of device lock. In my case I use PocketSecure for its comprehensive security features. If set to operate after turning on the device, the user would need to enter the PocketSecure password to unlock the device, then activate Winterface's swipe to unlock it again. This is cumbersome and a duplication of resources.
Pros and Cons
 Attractive interface |  Lock screen can't be disabled |
| Simple operation | Conflict of gestures with some applications |
| Comprehensive shortcuts | Pressure threshold may be a little oversensitive in some devices |
| Good value | No linking to specific documents |
| Innovative operating model | |
Conclusion
Winterface is a very useful program and I aim to keep it on both my Windows Mobile devices. The fact that it adds a layer of usability on top of the normal home screen means it can be used as a simple launcher or status screen, and still give access to the previously defined Today screen items. Vito have already made changes to the interface following user reports, and I have no doubt they will continue to develop the product beyond its current capability. I hope they will address the gesture conflicts with some applications. At $19.95 it represents good value for what it offers.
Reviewers Edit, August 2008. As of version 1.1.1, Vito have made some important changes to the functionality of Winterface, which address most of the criticisms in the review and subsequent comments.
- The calling gesture is now unlikely to conflict with other applications; there is also a new gesture to dismiss any open application.
- The Slide to Unlock screen is now optional.
- Winterface links can now include any file as well as any application or setting.
- The Calendar icon now shows the number of appointments due in the next two days. Tapping the icon opens a 'Winterface' semi-transparent scrolling window showing the details, plus a link to the full calendar application.
- If Vito Funcontact is installed, the Contact icon will open this instead of the default Contacts application.
As these changes are fundamental, I've altered the review score to reflect the improvements |  |
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