Windows Phone Thoughts: Wisbar Advance 2: Using Your Pocket PC Just Got Easier

It's All About Convenience
What's the best thing about Wisbar Advance 2? For me, ithe best thing about Wisbar is the continuous and unobtrusive indicators that give a general representation of how much storage and program memory is available, an iicon on the tool bar that allows me to switch to my phone dialer screen with one click, and an icon that displays whether there is voice mail, e-mail, or SMS messages waiting. These displays are constantly viewable on the bar at the top of the display. Wisbar Advance is a small and yet is makes a big difference in the ease of keeping an eye status of the most critical aspects of the Pocket PC -- it's a no-brainer.

The days of having to go back to the Today screen and using it as a portal for many functions, that the average user needs, are gone. Wisbar Advance 2 moves the "Programs" listing on the menu bar on the "Start" button and if selected, the program list cascades, similar to the desktop version of Microsoft's OS, and the program categories, too, are multi-tiered and will cascade without navigating.



Figure 3: Cascading menus make navigation easy.

How Well Does This Thing Work?
When I first installed Wisbar Advance, I didn't really notice anything--at first. I wasn't sure what was supposed to happen, what it would do, or how it would benefit me. Then, I noticed that when the program is started, the new, if subtle, bar that resides at the top of the screen was the key to the Wisbar's functionality. Like most everything, there is a slight learning curve associated with Wisbar Advance, but it strikes me that it's the sort of program that, once it's installed and the user gets accustomed to it, it feels like a very "normal" part of the OS and it's easy to become attached to the advantages that it provides.

Wisbar Advance 2 installs easily and doesn't need a lot of explanation, but some of the finer points of the features are elusive, especially without a help file or user guide readily available. Lakeridge Software does have some FAQ's and directions on skinning. Skinning may not be high on everyone's priority list, but there are a few cool skins that are available for free download on the manufacturer's site.


Figure 4: Downloadable skin created for Wisbar Advance 2.

Conclusions
If you've got a Pocket PC with a suitable OS, you can benefit from what Wisbar Advance has to offer. Wisbar Advance 2 does not alter the way any of the other programs on the Pocket PC work, but it offers the capability of more easily accessing and monitoring battery, memory, and message status. If I can look at my Pocket PC screen and see whether I have messages, memory available, and/or switch between active programs, without having to go back to my Today screen or minimize running programs, life is good. The previously mentioned trial downloads are available from Handange, PocketGear, and directly from Lakeridge Software. If you like the convenience of having several key status indicators visible at a glance, and you're tired of having to manually close programs, Wisbar Advance 2.0 is well worth the $10 pricetag.