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 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.

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.

GoodWin was very responsive on my HP iPAQ hx2495 Pocket PC, and I didn’t experience any major problems with it. I like the smooth scrolling and the attractive look. It could use a few more features and options, though. For instance, I wouldn’t mind having the ability to change skins, modify the layout and number of buttons, or change the applications launched by the four large buttons. I couldn’t seem to get the battery icon to launch the battery settings, or the mail icon to work, but then I had a very early beta version. VITO says that they have plans for making GoodWin the central control for other VITO products, so I expect they will greatly enhance these options in the near future. I also noted that it runs in the foreground until you launch something and returns when you minimize the application. I would prefer it include the ability to run in the background until I called it up. I posted a video demo on YouTube to demonstrate the scrolling and visual effects of GoodWin (youtube.com/watch?v=4mpxerRc_as).

FunContact

FunContact dresses up the Contacts interface and adds some gee-wiz animations. I obtained the beta of V 2.0 in time for this review. It is more polished than version 1.0 and there are a number of stand-out features, including the call log and the ability to easily tag favorites. However, FunContact’s strength lies in its large buttons, which make it easy to scroll-search through the contact list and edit individual contacts without having to pull out your stylus.

The updated V 2.0 interface includes better visual effects, a keypad for dialing, integrated contact edits, and more intuitive call logging. It’s difficult to demonstrate this with static screen shots. Fortunately, a video of this program in action is available on the FunContact Web page (iwin dowsmobile.com/contact-manager.html).

ZoomBoard

In many ways, the enhanced soft keyboard ZoomBoard is the new crown jewel in the VITO lineup. What is unique about ZoomBoard is that, when you drag your finger or thumb across the keyboard, an animated, graphical orb appears above the keyboard displaying the key your finger is resting on and the ones adjacent to it. You can quickly adjust your finger on the keyboard up, down, left, or right to display the desired key. When you see the key you want displayed in the center of the orb, take your finger off the key to enter it. I was able to achieve the same “hen-pecking” speed that I get from larger on-screen keyboards, but with fewer errors. I didn’t try to figure out how many words-per-minute I achieved, but I expect that with practice, it would surpass the standard input options.

VITO could improve ZoomBoard by including a large keyboard. This would allow them to display larger keys and add CTRL, tab, and other keys to the keyboard. Some different skin options would also be nice.

As with the other VITO applications, a video is better at showing off ZoomBoard’s capabilities. Check out this brief YouTube video of the product (youtube.com/watch?v=FOKIZuN6jmg).

SMS-Chat

SMS-Chat is a new VITO application that was still in development when I was writing this review. It provides a friendly chat interface for Short Message Service communications. Features include the ability to initiate and organize messages by contact, and the same eye-pleasing graphics of the other new VITO applications.

The future of VITO...and Windows Mobile

VITO Technology’s product line has expanded over the years, and several of VITO’s programs have been multi-year winners of our Best Software Awards. Their new iWindowsMobile product line continues VITO’s tradition of high-quality software programs.

We have seen a dwindling of the third-party software market in the last year or two, and with the success of competing hardware and software platforms in this space, this trend will continue or even accelerate. To reverse it, Microsoft must take their mobile handheld products in a new and more original direction. Innovative software developers like VITO are introducing products that incorporate some of the best features of competing platforms. Microsoft would be wise to encourage these efforts.