REVIEW: SMS Chat 1.2

REVIEW: SMS Chat v1.2

Introduction

SMS Chat, from Vito Technology, has been around for a little while now. It has just been updated to version 1.2 so we thought it was about time we gave it the 4WinMobile review treatment. SMS Chat is a threaded SMS Text Messaging application; you may well wonder what the point of a threaded SMS application is now that WM6.1 includes this as standard? Well, read on to find out...

Supplier Vito Product SMS Chat 1.2 Cost $14.95 (14 day full-feature trial available) Supported OS WM5 PPC or later Supplier Web Site SMS Chat

4WinMobile would like to thank Olga Shtaub at Vito for providing a copy of SMS Chat for review purposes.

Feature Highlights


SMS Chat is a graphically rich Threaded SMS Messaging application that allows you to view text messages as conversations between you and your contacts.

Threaded SMS Messages

Backup and restore messages to/from your storage card

Three skins available

Finger friendly interface

Installation

Installation of SMS Chat is pretty standard Windows Mobile fare; you can choose from either a desktop installer for the PC (.exe), or a .cab file for direct installation on the device itself. I personally favour the .cab file route, as I can then keep the cab files of my most important applications on the storage card in my device, safe in the knowledge that, should I find myself needing to do an emergency re-build whilst on the road, I have everything to hand.


The .exe download is 1.4MB and the .cab file is 1.7MB. Once installed, the program consumes 1.6MB of storage space and it takes up 2.15MB of program memory once it is all up and running.



Getting Started

As with all the other Vito applications, you get the spinning Vito emblem as it starts up and then you are presented with a list of any of your contacts with whom you have been exchanging SMS messages, with the most recent exchange at the top. You get a shot preview of the last message along with the date it was sent/received. Towards the bottom of the screen you have two icons. The envelope with a pencil launches the "New SMS" form whilst the lined piece of paper pops up the main menu.

Firstly, let's run through that main menu to get an idea of what SMS Chat can do. Ignoring the four icons across the top for a moment, firstly we have Notifications. When a new SMS arrives, a really nice window pops up over whatever you are doing with a preview of the message, who it is from and options to read or dismiss it. It looks and works so much better than the Windows Mobile default. Next, we have templates; more on them later. Then options (see below) and a Cancel button. Going back to the four icons across the top, these are (from left to right) the About Box/Registration, Help, Minimise and Close.

Creating a new message

To create a Text Message for someone not in this list, just tap the envelope at the bottom of the screen. This will bring up the list you can see to your right with all of your contacts. The list supports kinetic scrolling with the finger and has a shortcut bar down the right. If you have a device with a keyboard you can also start typing their name and the list will be filtered accordingly as you type. Once you can see the contact you want, just tap it to start writing your message.

As you can see, the screen for composing a new message allows you to see previous messages from that contact. As you type, the space your own message takes up increases so you don't just see the one line. You get the usual indicator to tell you how many characters you have used and if the SMS will be sent as one or more messages. The example shown is using Resco keyboard but it works well with hardware keyboards and any of the T9 style SIPs. Once you're done, tap the envelope to send. As with all Vito apps, the icons and buttons are large and finger friendly. There is no chance of hitting the wrong button - even for a giant like me - and most of the symbols and icons are pretty self explanatory.

When you first send a message, it appears in the threaded list with an orange icon next to it to indicate it is being sent. Once it has been successfully sent the icon changes to a blue arrow. Any messages with a green arrow are messages you have received from that contact. From this screen, you can access the contact's full details by tapping their name (this launches Fun Contact from Vito if you have it installed, otherwise it's the Windows Mobile contacts application). By tapping the menu icon in the top right you luanch a menu of options giving you the ability to call them, send them a message from your pre-defined templates or to delete the whole chat for that contact.

Templates

I've mentioned Templates a few times now so I'd probably better explain them in more detail - although there is really very little to it. You can store a list of pre-defined messages that can very simply be sent to someone with just a couple of taps. As an example, I always have "On my way, see you soon" as a template. Then, when I'm picking up a take-away on the way home from work, as I climb into the car, carrier bag in hand, I can very quickly send a message to the wife so she knows dinner will be there in ten minutes. There are some templates in there already to give you an idea but you can add/delete to your hearts content. That's it. Simple, elegant and extremely useful.

Options

One of the main new features in this latest version of SMS Chat is found in the options menu - Backup. Tapping this option creates a backup of all your SMS messages in a file on your storage card under MyDocuments. Tapping Restore will get them all back for you. This will prove incredibly useful for the obsessive ROM upgraders amongst you as it avoids the need to install a separate application for this purpose. It's also good for those of us who have more than one device. Backup on one device, take your storage card out, whack it in the other device and restore. All your SMS messages are now on the new device (you do need two SMS Chat licenses to operate SMS Chat on more than one device at the same time though!).

The other big new feature is an extra skin with the colour coded messages that you can see in each of the screen-shots above. There are now three skins in SMS Chat; Dark, Clear and Bright. Bright is the new one, Dark is the default using a very HTC-esque white text on black and Clear looks very iPhone like with it's pale blue colouring. I've used SMS Chat for a while now and have always stuck with the Dark skin (the original one) but I've switched to the new Bright skin as the coloured threads are so much easier to follow. I actually prefer the screen layout used on the Clear thread so perhaps, if Vito are reading this, they might like to produce a new skin with the colourings of "Bright" but the screen layout of "Clear". They could call it "Bassey"!

Licensing

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 on-line to complete the activation. Currently, Vito allow a limited number of re-activations 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.



Pro's

The usual beautiful interface from Vito
Incredibly simple – you will not need the manual
Backup and restore built-in
Quick messaging templates
Finger friendly buttons
Those colour-coded threads!!!



Con's

Quite a large memory footprint
Vito's licensing!
It doesn't over-ride the Windows Mobile messaging application



Conclusion


As you can probably tell, I really like SMS Chat. I've been using it for some time now and it is always one of the first applications to go on my devices after a rebuild. This update to version 1.2 brings some welcome extras whilst leaving the core and simple interface well alone. The backups are great and the new skin really does make a big difference when looking at threads. All in all, I think it's well worth the $15 asking price and it's even better as part of the Communications Suite. Of course, you could always subscribe to 4WinMobile.com where you may well find even BETTER deals for Vito software