VITO Technology established their roots in mobile technology back in the late 90’s, and since that time, they have amassed quite a portfolio of applications. VITO offers products for both Windows Mobile touch screen devices and non-touch screen smartphones, as well as for mobile devices using the Symbian OS. Expect to see products for the iPhone and Google’s Android soon.
VITO offers a wide variety of program types, including GPS applications, sound recorders, IR remote control programs, and more. The company is based in Novosibirsk, Russia. Recently, I sat down with their marketing manager, Konstantin Kalinin, and had a little chat. (Actually, we used Google Talk—maybe I can actually visit Siberia someday, but not during the freezing winter!) He answered some questions about their attractive new iWindowsMobile product line and provided me with some evaluation software to review, including a brand new task manager called GoodWin. The iPhone influence is apparent in the layout and animation features in their new applications. Read on to learn more about this great mobile vendor, their new line of products, and their thoughts on the future of Windows Mobile.
This article includes my brief review of three of the new applications (and preview of a fourth) which are available for WM touch screen devices on VITO’s new Web site (iwindowsmobile.com). The sidebar includes my interview with Konstantin.
VITO’s new software
VITO provided me with copies of three of their newer applications. FunContact is an alternate contacts manager, ZoomBoard is an enhanced soft keyboard, and GoodWin is a task management and application launcher. Finally, I include a brief product overview of SMS-Chat, a new chat interface application that was not available at press time.
GoodWin
GoodWin’s home screen (Fig. 1) displays three small icons at the very top of the screen that let you change battery properties and the ringtone profile, and display your phone’s cell signal strength. The four larger quick-launch buttons located below these icons let you access the SMS, Time settings, Mail, and Phone applications. Pop-up flags on these buttons indicate incoming messages. The center of the screen displays a large digital clock. (A functional analog clock also appears on the Time settings button.)
The main screen is initially locked, indicated by the small lock icon in the lower left. To unlock it, slide the lock icon over to the right. This action replaces the digital clock with an area displaying program startup/control icons (Fig. 2).
Figs. 1 & 2: GoodWin’s home screen (left) displays the time and lets you access other features, including VITO’s alternate task manager and application launcher (right).
The entire GoodWin program window is scrollable, and a downward or upward drag of the finger reveals shortcuts for all programs (installed and native), and all device settings. Tapping on and holding an icon for a moment displays a pop-up menu window that lets you launch, start, stop, and even uninstall an application. A single quick tap on an icon launches the program. To access GoodWin’s main menu, simply scroll to the bottom of the program window. The size and spacing of the icons and menus easily accommodate finger navigation.
