MyHome

Time for yet another shell program. This time, taking a closer look at "MyHome". I was just about to say that with so many shell programmes surfacing these days, I think that Microsoft ought to wake up and smell the coffee, Windows Mobile UI needs to be re-vamped. But is that true? I think most of us would still go looking for ways of pimping our phones even if the UI of WinMo was up-dated and improved. And you would probably end up taking a look at "MyHome" anyway.



"MyHome" is very much like the UI for WM Standard (the smartphones without a touch-screen). Only in this case it is responsive to touch. The Today screen is sectioned into 4 main areas that, as you scroll down with your finger, are highlighted in a glass-like bubble (for want of a better word). Whilst highlighted, you have the ability to scroll sideways through the options. The version I have is with the extra option of the Weather program also from SBHT. So for example, in the clock function at the top of the screen, when highlighted, you can scroll from clock to Weather and then to Media Player.



Going further down the screen, you have the call functions. Again, you scroll left and right for the sub-menues. In this case, Missed Calls, Voice Mail, Text Messages and E-Mail. It does take a little bit of getting used to but in no time at all you are quite used to how things work. Prior to higlighting this menu, you have an "at-a-glance" view of all the 4 options, so it is easy to see if you have missed a call or if there are a few voice messages to catch up on.



Next section down is the appointment book. This is where you will see up-coming events from your Outlook appointment list. The only other option available in this menu is to add new appointments. But what more do you want?



The forth segment is a little bit more interesting as this is where you get to control the phone a bit more. Instead of having to go through Start> Settings> Connections....... you have direct access to Wi-fi, BT, Profiles, Themes, Ringtones and Task Manager. Yes I know you can map the functions to hard/soft buttons, but at some point you are going to start running out of buttons! So it's a great idea to have direct access on the Home Page (IMHO).



The last segment of the Home screen is basically a launcher. The icons are very reminisant of those from Sonys PSP and PS3. Which has the advantage of not having to learn new icons. These are clear to understand, especially as there is a label under each one to let you know in case you should get confussed (as happens all too often to me these days). One of the things I particularly like about the launcher is that unlike some similar programmes, you can point the icons at the apps that you want to open. By default, the Movie icon opens WMP, but I have reset it to now open TCPMP.

In addition to all this, in the options you can also activate the vibrate function to give you a form of haptic feed-back when you touch the screen. Obviously a matter of taste. You can also change the look of MyHome by changing skins. There is a community of fans who make their own skins in addition to those on offer from SHBT themselves. They are available from the SHBT forum which has also hints and tips for users of the app.

I have now been using MyHome for the better part of three weeks and find it to be easy to live with and a bit of an eye-catcher too. But it is more than just eye-candy. All of the functions are useful, everything is accessable direct from the Home page. And the best thing is, if you don't want to use it for a few days you don't need to uninstall it. Just don't activate it. And it is a lot cheaper than some of the competition. Though in this case you really do get more than you pay for. It works well even on an "old" phone like the Orbit. I would love to try this on a Diamond or even better, on a Touch HD. The VGA display would no doubt make it look even better. Did I mention that in the time I have been using MyHome I have not had a single problem with it? I didn't mention it? Well, it has run absolutely problem free the entire time. I am totally impressed.



SHBT MyHome costs €14.95 or £13.75 at current rates of exchange. SHBT Weather normally costs a further €5,95 or £5.47. However, if you buy SHBT MyHome now, you get SHBT Weather for free! Now that's a great offer!!

For more details take a look at SHBTs website at www.shbt.hu Try the trial version at your own risk! Once you have it on your phone you'll not want to get rid of it again! Remember, before downloading, check that you pick the correct screen resolution version.