Wednesday, July 30, 2003
One Touch IR Transfers - BizBeam Reviewed
Posted by Jimmy Dodd in "SOFTWARE" @ 10:00 AM
The ability to transfer files and Pocket Outlook items to other devices via infrared has been a requirement of the Pocket PC from the beginning. Despite this fact, during a recent, highly unscientific poll of my colleagues I found that, like myself, most rarely ever "beamed" a contact, task, event, or file to another device. The few who had actually done so admitted to fumbling their way through the process, searching for the right file or digging through their contact database looking for the right item, until they finally just gave the information verbally or, more commonly, jotted down an email address with the promise to send it later. While beaming a file or contact isn't technically challenging, it isn't very handy either. Having a quick shortcut to the two or three items you are most apt to transfer on the spur of the moment would go a long way toward making IR transfers more useful. It is this need that Two Peaks Software aims to fullfill with BizBeam.
BizBeam (version 1.0) is a small utility that provides a quick and handy method of transferring contacts and files via infrared beaming. With a minimum amount of setup, users can have immediate access to their most commonly transferred data without ever leaving their Today screen.
Figure 1: BizBeam on the Today screen
Overview
Using BizBeam is simplicity itself. From the Today screen you have five icons: two contact icons, one document icon, a Receive IR icon, and a shortcut icon to the settings dialog (we'll look at the latter two later).
To beam one of the contacts or the document you simply tap on the approriate icon and the beaming process begins. That's it - no searching through folders, no digging through Contacts, no tap-and-hold. Just a single tap on an icon that's large enough that you probably don't even need to use your stylus.
The underlying mechanism that performs the contact transfer is the same software that runs if you tap Start > Programs > Contacts, search through your list of contacts, select the appropriate entry, and then tap Tools > Beam Contact to begin the transfer. Likewise, tapping the document icon runs the same software that occurs when you select Beam File... from a document's context menu in File Explorer. BizBeam adds no new functionality to the transfer, it merely creates a Today screen shortcut to start the transfer. This may not seem like much, but if you use IR to transfer the same contacts or document regularly then it can save you a lot of trouble, especially in a situation when you are talking with the person you are trying to beam the data to, or when you only have one free hand.
If you are on the receiving end of a transfer, the Receive IR icon provides a handy shortcut to the Pocket PC Beam screen (normally reached via Start > Settings > Connections > Beam). While Pocket PCs will normally receive IR transfers automatically, this lets you manually turn on the receive side of the IR transfer if you happen to leave the "Receive all incoming beams" unchecked on the Beam applet, something many of us do to extend battery life.
In addition to the Today screen plug-in, BizBeam provides a stand-alone application that provides the same features without requiring you to allocate space on the Today screen. The stand-alone application displays the same first four icons as available from the Today screen. We'll discuss the missing fifth icon, Settings, shortly. In addition to the icons, the stand-alone app shows the name, email address, and phone number for the contacts, and the name, size, and timestamp of the document. This additional information can be a useful check that you are sending the contact or file you intend to send, especially if you change the configuration regularly.
Figure 2: The BizBeam stand alone application.
Configuring BizBeam
Selecting the Settings icon on the Today screen opens the BizBeam stand-alone application. In addition to providing access to beaming the three configured items, this application serves as the configuration dialog for the three items available for beaming (thus the fifth icon, settings, is missing from the screen).
Tapping on one of the contacts' names (not the icon) opens a list of all entries in the Contacts database. Selecting a contact from the list closes the dialog and enters that contact as the new item to beam when that icon is tapped. Likewise, tapping the document name opens an Explorer-like dialog that allows you to select any document that is then configured to beam when the document icon is tapped.
As noted above, each of the icons on the settings screen serves the same function as its counterpart on the Today screen.
Other than the Registration/About items, the Tools menu contains only a single item which acts as a shortcut to the Pocket PC Settings Button's applet. Setting a hardware button to the BizBeam application launches the stand-alone application upon pressing that button.
Gotchas
BizBeam works as advertised, though a few extra features might make it a little more user friendly. Being restricted to exactly two contacts and one document is a limitation that many users might find annoying. It would be nice if any combination of three items could be configured. Also, allowing for any type of item to be configured, such as Calendar events and Task items, would make BizBeam more flexible. Since these items are already beamable from the Calendar and Tasks applications there doesn't seem to be a reason for restricting them from BizBeam.
Also, the icons on the Today screen are quite large. The BizBeam documentation states that this is intentional so as to make them usable with a finger tap instead of requiring the stylus be used. This goes hand-in-hand with BizBeam's purpose of providing quick access to beaming features, though I can see some people complaining that it takes up too much room on the Today screen. For those with limited Today screen real estate, Two Peaks suggests mapping a hardware button to the stand-alone application and removing the BizBeam plug-in from the Today screen. In this scenario you can still transfer your data with a single button press followed by a screen tap.
A caveat for Windows Mobile 2003 users is in order. When trying to beam a document on my HP iPAQ h2215 an error message popped up saying it "cannot find irsqurt (or one of its components)." Indeed I couldn't find this file on my iPAQ either, although it exists in the Windows folder on my ViewSonic V37 (a Pocket PC 2002 device) where BizBeam had no trouble transferring a document. At the time of this writing Two Peaks Software had not responded to my inquiries on this matter. Once they do so I'll post more info in the discussion forum.
Where To Buy
BizBeam version 1.0 can be downloaded from Handango for $4.95 US (affiliate link). A five day limited demo is downloadable for free.
Specifications
Installed, BizBeam consists of two files that take up only about 77K on my ARM-based V37. BizBeam runs on any Pocket PC 2000 or 2002 device. BizBeam predates Windows Mobile 2003 devices and as such does not specifically support them at this time. See the Gotchas section for more details on problems running BizBeam on Windows Mobile 2003.
Conclusions
Despite its low price and limited configurability BizBeam is a handy utility if you regularly beam the same contacts and files over and over. Armed with BizBeam your contact info will always be a simple screen tap away.
BizBeam (version 1.0) is a small utility that provides a quick and handy method of transferring contacts and files via infrared beaming. With a minimum amount of setup, users can have immediate access to their most commonly transferred data without ever leaving their Today screen.
Figure 1: BizBeam on the Today screen
Overview
Using BizBeam is simplicity itself. From the Today screen you have five icons: two contact icons, one document icon, a Receive IR icon, and a shortcut icon to the settings dialog (we'll look at the latter two later).
To beam one of the contacts or the document you simply tap on the approriate icon and the beaming process begins. That's it - no searching through folders, no digging through Contacts, no tap-and-hold. Just a single tap on an icon that's large enough that you probably don't even need to use your stylus.
The underlying mechanism that performs the contact transfer is the same software that runs if you tap Start > Programs > Contacts, search through your list of contacts, select the appropriate entry, and then tap Tools > Beam Contact to begin the transfer. Likewise, tapping the document icon runs the same software that occurs when you select Beam File... from a document's context menu in File Explorer. BizBeam adds no new functionality to the transfer, it merely creates a Today screen shortcut to start the transfer. This may not seem like much, but if you use IR to transfer the same contacts or document regularly then it can save you a lot of trouble, especially in a situation when you are talking with the person you are trying to beam the data to, or when you only have one free hand.
If you are on the receiving end of a transfer, the Receive IR icon provides a handy shortcut to the Pocket PC Beam screen (normally reached via Start > Settings > Connections > Beam). While Pocket PCs will normally receive IR transfers automatically, this lets you manually turn on the receive side of the IR transfer if you happen to leave the "Receive all incoming beams" unchecked on the Beam applet, something many of us do to extend battery life.
In addition to the Today screen plug-in, BizBeam provides a stand-alone application that provides the same features without requiring you to allocate space on the Today screen. The stand-alone application displays the same first four icons as available from the Today screen. We'll discuss the missing fifth icon, Settings, shortly. In addition to the icons, the stand-alone app shows the name, email address, and phone number for the contacts, and the name, size, and timestamp of the document. This additional information can be a useful check that you are sending the contact or file you intend to send, especially if you change the configuration regularly.
Figure 2: The BizBeam stand alone application.
Configuring BizBeam
Selecting the Settings icon on the Today screen opens the BizBeam stand-alone application. In addition to providing access to beaming the three configured items, this application serves as the configuration dialog for the three items available for beaming (thus the fifth icon, settings, is missing from the screen).
Tapping on one of the contacts' names (not the icon) opens a list of all entries in the Contacts database. Selecting a contact from the list closes the dialog and enters that contact as the new item to beam when that icon is tapped. Likewise, tapping the document name opens an Explorer-like dialog that allows you to select any document that is then configured to beam when the document icon is tapped.
As noted above, each of the icons on the settings screen serves the same function as its counterpart on the Today screen.
Other than the Registration/About items, the Tools menu contains only a single item which acts as a shortcut to the Pocket PC Settings Button's applet. Setting a hardware button to the BizBeam application launches the stand-alone application upon pressing that button.
Gotchas
BizBeam works as advertised, though a few extra features might make it a little more user friendly. Being restricted to exactly two contacts and one document is a limitation that many users might find annoying. It would be nice if any combination of three items could be configured. Also, allowing for any type of item to be configured, such as Calendar events and Task items, would make BizBeam more flexible. Since these items are already beamable from the Calendar and Tasks applications there doesn't seem to be a reason for restricting them from BizBeam.
Also, the icons on the Today screen are quite large. The BizBeam documentation states that this is intentional so as to make them usable with a finger tap instead of requiring the stylus be used. This goes hand-in-hand with BizBeam's purpose of providing quick access to beaming features, though I can see some people complaining that it takes up too much room on the Today screen. For those with limited Today screen real estate, Two Peaks suggests mapping a hardware button to the stand-alone application and removing the BizBeam plug-in from the Today screen. In this scenario you can still transfer your data with a single button press followed by a screen tap.
A caveat for Windows Mobile 2003 users is in order. When trying to beam a document on my HP iPAQ h2215 an error message popped up saying it "cannot find irsqurt (or one of its components)." Indeed I couldn't find this file on my iPAQ either, although it exists in the Windows folder on my ViewSonic V37 (a Pocket PC 2002 device) where BizBeam had no trouble transferring a document. At the time of this writing Two Peaks Software had not responded to my inquiries on this matter. Once they do so I'll post more info in the discussion forum.
Where To Buy
BizBeam version 1.0 can be downloaded from Handango for $4.95 US (affiliate link). A five day limited demo is downloadable for free.
Specifications
Installed, BizBeam consists of two files that take up only about 77K on my ARM-based V37. BizBeam runs on any Pocket PC 2000 or 2002 device. BizBeam predates Windows Mobile 2003 devices and as such does not specifically support them at this time. See the Gotchas section for more details on problems running BizBeam on Windows Mobile 2003.
Conclusions
Despite its low price and limited configurability BizBeam is a handy utility if you regularly beam the same contacts and files over and over. Armed with BizBeam your contact info will always be a simple screen tap away.
