Monday, August 11, 2003
Flash Assist: Flash to Go!
Posted by Jason Dunn in "SOFTWARE" @ 02:33 PM
Flash Assist is a useful tool that allows you to view Flash files directly on your Pocket PC without needing any intermediary HTML files. One of the biggest irritations with the current Macromedia Flash player for the Pocket PC is that it was designed as an ActiveX control for the Pocket PC, which means it requires Pocket Internet Explorer to run. Unfortunately, unlike the desktop version of Internet Explorer, Flash files can't be opened directly in the browser (I'm not sure why not - JPEG files certainly can be).
Flash Assist is a simple application that does exactly what it says - it allows you to open up Flash files directly, play them full screen, and exit from the player (something Pocket Internet Explorer can't do because of the accursed fake "X"). The basic interface of Flash Assist is a file picker:
Once you've picked the Flash file you want to play, it opens up, and it plays. Yes, that's it. :lol: It's not terribly exciting - you can select from several display modes (not landscape though, sadly), and change the quality mode. On my iPAQ 1940, performance wasn't very good on High Quality mode, so most files were set to Medium Quality. I haven't tried it yet on a 400 Mhz PXA255 XScale Windows Mobile 2003 unit - I hope the performance will be better. Performance is based on a number of factors, the biggest of which are the ways in which the Flash file is prepared, so you'll see everything from great performance to dismal performance depending on what you're watching. And since Flash Assist is just a container of sorts for the ActiveX control, the performance is up to Macromedia, not Ant Mobile.
Flash Assist isn't a flashy app (hah!), but if you're a Flash file junkie and the thought of having Trogdor the Dragon throws you into fits of laughter, then you want this application. :mrgreen:
Flash Assist is a simple application that does exactly what it says - it allows you to open up Flash files directly, play them full screen, and exit from the player (something Pocket Internet Explorer can't do because of the accursed fake "X"). The basic interface of Flash Assist is a file picker:
Once you've picked the Flash file you want to play, it opens up, and it plays. Yes, that's it. :lol: It's not terribly exciting - you can select from several display modes (not landscape though, sadly), and change the quality mode. On my iPAQ 1940, performance wasn't very good on High Quality mode, so most files were set to Medium Quality. I haven't tried it yet on a 400 Mhz PXA255 XScale Windows Mobile 2003 unit - I hope the performance will be better. Performance is based on a number of factors, the biggest of which are the ways in which the Flash file is prepared, so you'll see everything from great performance to dismal performance depending on what you're watching. And since Flash Assist is just a container of sorts for the ActiveX control, the performance is up to Macromedia, not Ant Mobile.
Flash Assist isn't a flashy app (hah!), but if you're a Flash file junkie and the thought of having Trogdor the Dragon throws you into fits of laughter, then you want this application. :mrgreen:
