Spb Insight

Spb Insight Review

Introduction


The subject of this review is the latest addition to the Spb fold, namely Spb Insight... This will be Spb's first foray into the world of RSS aggregators for the PPC platform. So, how does this newcomer fare in this role, there's only one way to find out, read on!!

We all know Spb Software House to be purveyors of good quality software, with old favourites such as Spb GPRS Monitor, Spb Pocket Plus & Spb Fullscreen keyboard still ranking alongside the newer offerings Spb Weather & Spb Backup...

Many thanks to Alexander Schtuchkin from Spb Software for granting us this opportunity to review Spb Insight.

Supplier: Spb Software House
Product: Spb Insight
Cost: $19.95
Supplier Web Site: Spb Software
Supplier Product Web Site: Spb Insight

For your delectation all photographs are thumbnails which may be clicked on to load an image.

Installation






Installation follows that tried & tested Spb Installation route, with a clean & clear desktop installer guiding you effortlessly through every step. Once again, the great feature I always rave about is present, & that is the ability to install the registered version direct from your desktop.

Should you choose to install the registered version over the trial, the next window will simply ask you for your registration key, saving the steps needed to register the product directly on the PDA, top notch.




During installation, well, at the end really, a configuration screen pops up allowing you to initially configure some of the default program settings.

At this point, you can pick where Insight will store the feed data, select whether or not the program should only use free data connections, such as Wi-Fi or cradle, and whether or not to use Anonymous Spb Insight Channel ratings, although at this point in time I'm not sure what the last configuration option does.

Once you have finished this step, the program installation ends in the usual Windows Mobile way!

















Startup



Once installed, simply run the program as usual from the program Menu, and that's nothing like teaching your granny to suck eggs here is it! The initial screen you see displays the rather appealing (in my opinion anyway) Spb Insight logo, and the simple instruction 'Tap New to add Channels'.

Spb have badged the RSS feeds as channels within Insight, and this is quite a good description in my opinion, channels were you can funnel your interests!!

With regards to Insight starting as a clean slate, I much prefer the program to come sans channel setup, as I find that 9 times out of 10, I'd always delete the pre-configured option in favour of of my own selections. Which leads me neatly into the next section.......










Channel Configuration


Clicking on the NEW button, which is assigned to the left soft key, presents you with a screen of various Channel or feed configuration options:
























Online Catalog

I wasn't really sure what an Online Catalog was in terms of RSS, but selecting Online Catalog and tapping next soon sorted that out for me. Spb Insight connected to the Internet and began downoading the catalog... Suddenly it made sense, Insight was downloading a catalog of feeds, or channels as Spb like to call them.

Once the download completed, you are presented with channels grouped into categories, which means that making a selection is a cinch, although you are restricted to what Spb have included in the Online Catalog. That being said, the Spb Website for Insight, www.spbinsight.com, does allow you to make suggestions for Channels/feeds to be included in the catalog, which in my opinion is a good thing.











RSS/Atom Feed URL

This was more familiar territory for me, selecting RSS/Atom feed URL and tapping next takes you to a screen where you can input the URL of the feed that your are interested in. The configuration screen also provides a button where Insight can go online to check the feed is valid, and to retrieve the feed name automatically.

I've seen this in other programs, and it is a very useful feature. Top marks to Spb for including it here.



















OPML

OPML stands for Outline Processing Markup Language. The OPML option within Insight allows you to import your Channels/Feeds from an XML File.

Files of this type are usually exported from another application, which allows you to transfer your feed setup from one program to another with relative ease.
















Search

Now, I really liked this option, I selected search, hit next & entered 'Windows Mobile' into the search text field & then clicked next, within seconds, I was presented with a list of Windows Mobile related feeds, albeit none of the regulars I would have expected, but the list did include a lot of feeds I'd not heard of before!

Selecting what I wanted was simply a matter of clicking in the check boxes and hitting finish!

















Local Template

Another option I wasn't really familiar with, and thus wasn't able to try the option out. Hopefully, in the near future I'll get a handle on what a local template is, and be in a position to update the review to reflect this.



In Use




Spb Insight handles graphics within RSS feeds superbly, scaling them to fit the QVGA Screen of my TyTn with great effect. This for me was one of the outstanding features of the program.

Navigation is achieved one of two ways, for those with a keyboarded device such as the TyTn or Universal, you can navigate through articles by either using the left & right keys on the keyboard, or join those users with keyboard-less devices in using the left and right action on the joypad.














And landscape also proved no problem for Spb Insight to cope with either, effortlessly switching between the two modes, without a hint of screen corruption in sight.















Application Configuration


Options

The underlying application options can be accessed by selecting 'Menu', which is assigned to the right hand soft key, and then taking 'Options'. This then presents you with with a set of three tabs, each of which is explained below:





General


Left/right buttons move to previous/next item.
Selecting this check box allows you to navigate backwards and forwards through items within a Channel/Feed. No more needs to be said about this to my mind!

Tap Channel or article icon starts updating.
Again, pretty much what is says on the tin, with this option selected, you can initiate individual updates to your various channels by simply clicking on the icon for either the channel itself, or the icon for an article within that channel. Or if you're like me, you just select update all from the main menu!

Update newly added channels.
With this option set, as soon as the channel is created, Spb Insight will attempt a network connection to perform an initial update.

Developer mode.
Not too sure about this option, but I would imagine that it would provide Spb with extended debugging information during the application runtime.





Content

The Content tab allows you to take control of your Channels/Feeds. As with the initial application install, the option to choose the content location is also present here, giving you the ability to move the content data should you so wish.

The amount of space your content is currently utilising is also shown, indicated by the Size field, and just below that is a button marked 'Default Channel Properties', which taks you to a further configuration screen, containing another two tabs that are described below:


















Updating

The Updating table offers two options for controlling how Insight should perform RSS Channel/Feed updates:

Manual articles updating.
Selecting this option prevents Insight from automatically updating Channel/Feeds that you have configured, leaving it to the user to manually select an udpate from the top menu.
Do not download images.
Once again, it does exactly what it says on the tin, and prevents Insight from downloading any images within the articles it retrieves, thus providing a saving on data costs. Although, in my opinion, this would be disabling one of Insights best features, the image handing within articles.

Cleaning

Automatically delete articles older than.
Which as the name suggests, allows you to keep control of the content store by using a combo box to select the number of days that articles should be retained for. The default setting after installing Spb Insight has this option disabled, so unless you want to keep all the RSS feeds you receive, this is a pretty good option to set!
Limit the number of articles in a channel to.
Which gives you control over how many articles will be downloaded in a channel, once again allowing you to keep control of data costs, and how much space is used on your device.




Network

The Network tab grants control over the connectivity aspects of the application, and offers three configurable options:

Use only free of charge internet connections.
A superb addition by Spb, giving you total control of those data charges, this option allows you to limit your Channel updates to only those connectivity options that are deemed to be free, effectively removing GPRS from the equation. Although that being said, if you're connected in a coffee bar over wi-fi, you're still paying for it, but I guess the over-all cost could be lower.
Automatically update all channels when cradled.
Offers the option of getting all your channels updated ewhen you connect your PDA to your desktop over Activesync, which removes the necessity of remembering to set the channel updates going yourself. Another neat option in my opinion.
Anonymous Spb Insight channel rating(recommended).
This feature ties in with Spb's Online Catalog for Insight, it provides statistical feedback on the channels you visit, allowing the creation of a Channel rating, which is then used to create a list of the most popular channels. There will be some network usage, but I'm not currently recording mine, so I couldn't tell how much.

Spb have thoughtfully included the ability to turn this function on & off, giving you total control over whether you want your RSS habits reflected back to Insight's Online Catalog. I currently have it switched on, as I like the idea of everyone providing information to increase the awareness of popular channels.









Top Level Menu




Update All.
Selecting this menu item initiates a network connection and allows Insight to update all your currently configured channels. All new articles are collecting from the date of your last update. You can view the update status, as Insight displays a status bar with a stop icon at the bottom of the screen when an update is active.

Cancel Update.
This menu item is only active during an update, and as the name describes, allows you to cancel the update in progress should you wish.

Options.
Already discussed previously in the review, this menu item takes you to the application configuration options.

Registration.
This menu item allows you to enter your registration code from Spb, if you didn't install the registered version direct from the desktop installer. If the program is already registered, a window will pop up stating that fact.



Channel Menu


When working within a selected channel, the WM5 soft-keys re-map to options pertinent to the current operation. The left soft key becomes 'Channels' and simply takes you back to the main Channel list, whereas the right soft key provides pertinent items for working within the Channel itself:

Update Channel.
This item initiates a network connection, but only receives an update for the currently selected channel itself.
Finish Download.
Much like the Cancel Update functionality of the main menu, this item allows you to end a Channel Update before it completes.
Mark All as Read.
If you do not wish to read every post in a selected channel, then this option will allow you to mark them all as read, saving you having to view each one in turn.
Delete All.
This item over-rides the 'Cleaning' settings within the application options, and performs an immediate delete of all articles within the current channel.
Options.
This item takes you directly to the Application Configuration, as described previously within the review.




Conclusion




Spb Insight is an extremely well crafted application, and delivers the quality that we have come to expect from Spb products. It really does do what it says on the tin, and it does it very well indeed.

Being a user of Newsgator mobile, there were a couple of things that I missed... The first being the online syncronisation, which allows me to keep my RSS feeds in sync across multiple devices & Outlook back at base, which is very handy for a gadget maniac such as myself. The second being the clip function, which is invaluable as a site moderator on 4WM as it allows me to keep up with reading my feeds whilst out and about, and 'clip' those of interest for reviewing later in Outlook when back at base, with a view to posting as news on the site.

That being said, Spb Insight wins hands down in the graphics arena, clearing displaying both Channel/feed icons, and images within the articles themselves, it really makes RSS feed reading a joy.

Congratulations to Spb on yet another fine product added to the range.


4WinMobile rating:- 90%