VoiceTranslator is a Java application that is intended to give you access to various information that is relevant to business and personal travel. At the time of review there were 7 different versions covering different phones and screen sizes, meaning that most phones are supported.

Upon first loading the application you are greeted with a menu page which includes the various options. The options are Translator, Guides, Events, Flights, Clocks, Currencies, Weather, and a Size and Measure Converter.

As this application is geared towards travel, the options listed could come in very handy when you are away.

Using the translation functionality lets you choose a certain type of subject or topic and then select a common saying and have the application translate it for you into your chosen language. In order for the translation and also for some of the other options to work a data connection is needed.

It was not possible to get some of the functionality to work on the review handset, for example the currency converter and weather option locked the application. Also while the flight search seemed to work, it was not possible to bring up any flight details.

In conclusion this application has really got some good potential, it's really nice to have access to all of this helpful information in one place by using the well thought out interface. However there are still some rough edges that will need to be ironed out in later releases.

Download Page

Mologogo itself is a free service that enables you to keep track of yourself, friends or family using GPS.

When the application was first run, there were a few screens of configuration to be completed. These included configuring GPS support, choosing whether to use Microsoft Virtual Earth or OpenStreetMap.org as your mapping provider, setting your login details and setting an automatic sms location reply.

One the configuration was completed the Microsoft Virtual Earth map came up and the GPS figured out the device location. It is then possible to select a Mologogo contact and see their location. In order for this application to become really useful you need to ensure that your friends or family are also using this service as the software effectively keeps sending your location back to the Mologogo servers so that other selected users can view it.

One interesting feature of this application is the ability to send your location back to a contact that sends an sms to you with the string 'whereru' in the message. It was not possible to get this to work and it could be that the sender needs to be a registered Mologogo user for this to work.

The application itself seemed very stable and responsive, the only real problem came when the GPS was switched off. This should make the application try to use the current cell id from your network to give to you an approximate location, however this caused the application to crash. All in all this is a very interesting application and it will be interesting to see how it develops.

Download Page

Multidomo itself is a software service which allows a user to view, control and manage his home from many different types of devices. The service itself looks very mature and offers many features. This review will look at the Java J2ME client that runs on many different types of handsets.

In order to get started I made use of the option to send a link to my mobile phone. I then followed the link on the sms message and soon the application was installed. When I first started the application I was asked for login information, so I used the following demo credentials to login:

username: demo2
password: 12345678.

I also gave my device a descriptive name. Upon logging in I was asked whether to download my home database, which I did. I was then greeted with 6 different icons relating to Areas, Cameras, Atmospheres, Shortcuts, Home stats and Programs. I was then able to select any of these and get further information, for example by selecting Home states I could then see the temperature both inside and outside of the demo home (although for the demo no temperature was displayed). Also by selecting Atmospheres I was able to control the lights and blinds. As another example I was able get a live video feed from any of the different cameras that were setup.

Of course to really benefit from this application you will have to make an certain investment and setup your home in such a way that data can be gathered and household devices can be controlled. From what I could gather from the Multidomo website, to get started initially you will need its software installed on your Windows PC (XP, Vista, Server 2003) and have a permanent internet connection. With this in place you can then connect up X10 compatible sensors and controllers.

In summary, this application was quite responsive to use and the interface was fairly well thought out and easy to navigate. It would be a handy tool for anyone looking to get into home monitoring and automation.

Download Page

MirageMoney is a 3-D motion controlled game where you navigate within 3-D virtual and augmented environments.

I used Betavine's 'send to mobile' functionality to push a link to this application to my Nokia n95 and it installed without any problems. This game utilises the built in accelerometer found in Nokia n95 series devices and is therefore only compatible with this device.

This game is an excellent example of how a motion sensor can be used to enhance the usability of a real-time simulation, in this case flight. I was surprised as to the level of control I had through tilting the device in different directions, I was expecting things to be a lot more difficult to control and this is certainly an improvement on using the digital navigation buttons.

Unfortunately, due to the nature of how the accelerometer detects movement, the game can only be used with the phone at a certain orientation which could make it a bit tricky to use in certain environments, however the game does come with some excellent in-built help screens.

Here are a few thoughts on enhancing this game in future versions::

1)      The ability for the user to set the objects that fly past This could be small icons of photos taken using the n95 camera

2)      Multi-player support using a mobile network or Bluetooth

3)      A function to upload scores to a central server

4)      A difficulty mode that sets the speed that objects fly past
 

A great game demonstrating the potential of motion sensors to enhance user interaction!

Download Page

DrugArranger2 is an application which allows you to easily maintain and control a drug schedule.

I initially downloaded this application to my device via the WAP push method, but after a few issues I used the synch manager. The software has a handy user guide as well to explain it's functions and how it works.

I was impressed by the way it easily allowed you to add each drug and setup the schedule, no complex feature heavy menus, just does what it says on the tin! If you miss a drug schedule a very loud alarm and flashing screen alerts you that it's time to take your medication! For me that was my vitamin tablets. The summary screen shows you a quick list of all the drugs you must take that day.

The other aspect of the application that is very useful is 'alert' and 'update'. If you really depend on a drug that you must take and be alerted on you can setup the app to send a text to someone to inform them you have missed taking the drug more than 'x' number of times. On the flip side of this, a pre-configured text to the phone can add, update and remove a schedule! With a good management interface I would imagine this could be very useful to people in the medical profession.

In saying all this, the app is itching for more features to make it compeling for normal users, how about:

• Integration into the home screen on windows mobile;
• Integration with the task manager on the mobile showing your next drug schedule;
• Setting of the alert method;
• Setting of the alert duration;
• Using a management interface to show a number of active drug arrangers beeing tracked, updated, and monitored using SMS API's;
• Extension of the application to allow reporting via SMS to a central repository (management interface);
• Interface to an online database to show a list of common drugs and/or medication that a user can select from. Maybe a website of some sort?;
• If you have missed a drug, your nearest location is reported as well to the central repository;
• Maybe a warning to say how many tablets you have left, especially if it's near a holiday of some sort in your local area; and
• How about a safty critical mode for a managed service? (i.e. It has to send a message off when you have successfully taken your medication.

The only gripe I'd have to say is that it's not clear how to switch off the alarm once it goes off, as most of our department can vouch for! On the whole this application has got bags of commercial potential. I'm surprised this has not sparked off a small developer community already!

Download Page

Trippo is a real time translation tool with audio playback.

I downloaded Trippo using betavine.mobi, the application downloaded straight to my Nokia N95 and installed instantly. I then successfully translated an English phrase into Italian. The application also offers the ability to hear the translation, this is a nice feature and puts the application above any mobile app I have come across before.

I am impressed by Trippo, it offers a good user experience and is very efficient to use. I have only tried short phrases so far, so have not tested the application to its full potential. The application also has a few added features, for example, you can alter the speech speed and it is possible to share the application with your friends by sending them a link from within Trippo.

I can see how this application is very useful, there is no need to carry a phrase book around with you when you go on holiday and business men have access to lots of different languages on their most prised possession, their mobile phone. Overall a fantastic application.

I would encourage others to test out this application to see how it works across different devices and experiment with longer phrases.

Please note. This application has a limited trial period.

Download Page

Upon starting the app the first time you must be honest giving your height, weight and waist. The app can calculate BMI, fat ration and all sorts of data about yourself. Under Nutrition tell it what you eat each day and then more analysis is possible, calculate the calories, get tips what to avoid and what not. It includes RSS for up to date nutritional news feeds, diet tips and a good explanation for each of the calculations the program does.

The program definitely has a commercial and professional developer behind it, but there are still a few things that could be ironed out. For instance:

• Huge input fields for name, age, and password require a lot of unnecessary scrolling for the user; and
• Being guided to the personal input page before each calculation gets a bit annoying.

But all in all a nice tool for any health conscious person, if you have the time to enter all the required data.

Download Page

The quitmateME ™ provides a great aid to stop smoking, by tracking and encouraging you to reduce your consumption in realtime. I quit smoking a long time ago, using a similar technique and would have loved this application then.

You notify the application each time you light up. Based on this information the application sets goals for you to beat. You can also see charts covering hourly, am/pm, daily and weekly periods.

Installation of the jar download file was a breeze with both devices. I used Nokia's PC Suite to install the application onto the 6630. I copied the jar file to the K1's mini SD card and installed the application by selecting '[Install New]' from the 'Entertainment' menu.

There are a couple of minor issues. Selecting 'Demo' from the 'Settings' menu actually loads up demo data overwriting any saved data without warning. I had to reinstall the application to clear the data after running the demo. There is no obvious method for data backup or restore, exacerbated by a K1 bug, (latest release) that forgets the application has been installed after power off, thereby losing the precious smoking history. A 'reset' or 'clear-data' option would be useful whilst learning to use the application or showing it to my smoker friends.

The main page is cropped when displayed on the Nokia 6630, leaving you unable to see the current status symbol and the counts for today and yesterday. The page displays beautifully on the Motorola K1. Navigation could be improved by displaying menu items in a consistent order between similar menus.

The usage graphs are great encouragement and seeing how much money you've saved is even better.

It'd be great to see some real world feedback from someone using this application to free themselves of the smoking addiction. I wonder how much the algorithm relies on time-of-day, how it determines the waking and sleeping hours and consequently, how well it copes with a shift-worker's lifestyle or someone travelling across time-zones.

Let's hope this application save lots of lives. I wish it every success.

Download Page

The Windows Mobile GPS Logger allows you to capture and store your running/hiking trails and to geo-tag your photos for later visualisation on Google or Virtual earth maps. The app only works on PDAs / Smartphones running Windows Mobile and naturally a GPS device is needed.

Turn on your GPS device and pair it with your PDA (Windows Mobile only), unless you have a PDA with built-in GPS. Set the correct COM port and start the tracking mode. Then off you go, by car, on foot or cycling. SunsetGPSLogger records your GPS coordinates at preset intervals. When you get home, simply copy the log to your PC and then drag and drop it into Google Earth. You can also build a small JavaScript Mash-up to include the data into Google Maps, or even edit the data to include photos!

One problem I had was, when going inside for a while, the app crashed. I guess because no GPS signal was received for a while.

A few improvements for the next release could be: saving the settings (as I generally forgot to set the COM port correctly), choosing to record only the “track points”, and include a few buttons to create “way points” along the way, e.g. "Took photo", "Nice place", etc. Editing the “way points” later by comparing times is a bit tedious, and can result in corrupting the XML file while editing, but maybe that’s just me.

Download Page