SPB Mobile Shell 2.0 review

The HTC Touch Cruise's TouchFlo interface attempts, with some success, to make Windows Mobile easier to use.

Mobile Shell is even easier to use and can be installed on any touch-screen Windows Mobile 5 or 6 smartphone. It's designed as an add-on to Windows Mobile's Today screen rather than a replacement. Once installed, you have to launch it from the Start menu, but after that you can set Mobile Shell to run every time you bring the phone out of standby.

Mobile Shell consists of a Today screen, an applications screen and a contacts screen, all of which have icons large enough to tap with your finger. You flick between them by sliding your finger across the screen. The Home screen shows you the time and calendar appointments and has short cuts to messages and missed calls. The Contacts window has buttons for each of your favourite contacts, and you can assign a photo to each one. Another button brings up the full contacts list, complete with an onscreen numeric keypad. To find a contact, you just need to type the name you're looking for as if you were typing predictive text, and it will narrow down the contacts list accordingly. It works beautifully, and makes it faster and easier to find the number you need than the standard Windows Mobile contacts manager.

Mobile Shell's best feature is its applications screen. It has a number of categories, including Organiser, Internet, Multimedia and Tools. Clicking on each brings up a subset of programs and menus. This keeps the number in each category manageable and helps you to find the function you want. Again, the icons are all large enough to tap with your finger and the menus work incredibly quickly and smoothly. Compared to Mobile Shell, the normal Windows Mobile Start menu seems fiddly and sluggish, and it's a joy to explore your phone's functions. You can fully customise your Today screen, as well what appears in each category on the Applications screen. It's also easy to add new installed applications to the Mobile Shell, and there are several colour schemes and animations to choose from.

The only problem with Mobile Shell is that when you exit a Windows Mobile application you are taken back to the Windows Mobile Today screen, rather than the Mobile Shell Today screen. We would like to see an option to make the Mobile Shell Today screen the default. Still, you can access its menus from any application by dragging your finger down from the Start bar.

Mobile Shell is far better than TouchFlo, and is a vital application for any Windows Mobile smartphone owner.