In 2009 Spb Software House was been busy. The Saint Petersburg, Russia based company updated virtually their entire line up of award winning applications. The updates focused mostly around updating the user interfaces to be more finger friendly while also expanding the features of the product as well. The second version of Spb Wallet was no exception.
When it comes to Wallet applications, the question is not necessarily if you need one but which one to get. Most people have dozens of usernames and passwords, PINs and various other bits of personal and important information. While its great to have this on your PC, having it on your mobile device is even better. Spb Wallet provides both a desktop and Windows Mobile client and with v2.0 also provide clients for iPhone and Symbian OS. There are several key new features in this release as well as overall improvements in operation and speed. This long awaited update has been worth the wait. For this review I’ll be focusing on the Windows PC version and Windows Mobile Professional version of the application.Â
The application requires that your Windows Mobile device be running Windows Mobile 5.0 or higher and will consume about 6MB of storage space on your device. The PC version requires Windows XP or Vista and if you want to synchronize your wallet with your device, you will need ActiveSync or Windows Mobile Device Center (Vista) installed as well. The PC version requires approximately 12MB of storage space.
When you first start Spb Wallet you will be prompted to open an existing wallet or create a new wallet. If you are upgrading an existing Spb Wallet file you will be prompted to upgrade that file to the new format for version 2.0.
Figure 1: The opening display in Spb Wallet
When you tap the Create a new Wallet link, you are prompted for a name of your wallet and the location where you want to store that wallet file.Â
Figure 2: Creating your wallet in Spb Wallet
After naming your wallet you will be prompted to enter a password for the wallet file. You are shown with a visual indicator how strong your password is below the password entry box. If you use only numbers or letters and fewer than 8 characters then you will be shown a red Weak indicator. If you have a mix of characters and numbers you will have a Medium security password while a 8 character password with a special character (like a !) then you will have a strong password. Keep in mind that your wallet file is encrypted with a 256-Bit AES encryption key and your password is part of the algorithm used in that key. That means the stronger you make your password the better. You can also have Spb Wallet automatically generate a password for you thanks to the built in password generator.
Figure 3: The password strength is show to you visually so you know how strong your password is as you type it into Spb Wallet
The last step in creating your new wallet is determining if you want to synchronize your wallet with your PC. This makes sure that the wallet file on your PC and your mobile device are always the same. This also assumes, of course, that you connect your Windows Mobile phone to your PC via ActiveSync or Windows Mobile Device Center (in Windows Vista or 7).
Figure 4: To synch or not to synch? Spb Wallet gives you the option
With your wallet created and secured you see the new user interface of version 2 of Spb Wallet. Does it look familiar? It should. Spb has done a great job of making all of their applications UIs look and function strikingly similar to each other. Take a look at Spb Mobile Shell, the first of these re-designed applications, then take a look at Spb Traveler, Spb Backup, Spb Online, Spb Traveler and the recently released Spb Weather. Not only does it save you learning time, it also saves time for Spb on the backend of things. By being able to re-use their code, they are able to keep costs low and create a standard user experience.
Figure 5: The Spb Wallet User Interface
When you create a new wallet you will note that there are several categories already created for you. These categories are those that are mostly commonly used so it saves you some time instead of having to create the categories yourself. If you tap on a category you will also see sample cards to give you an idea of how things look inside the categories. Think of the categories as folders and your cards are in those folders.
Figure 6: The list of sample entries give you an idea of how things will look when you begin putting your own information into Spb Wallet
Figure 7: A sample credit card in Spb Wallet
Creating a new card is simple and requires only a few taps of your device’s screen. Tap the Menu softkey then navigate up to File> New Card. You will also note that you can create a new folder or new template from this directory. I’ll be covering those features later in the review.
Figure 8: The menu to create a new card, folder or directory in Spb Wallet
When you create a new card you are shown a multi-tab display to enter the information about the card. The first tab is the general tab which is where you type in a name for the card and select the type of card and the icon for it. The icon is customizable (I will show this later in the review) but generally the icon chosen by Wallet is the correct one for the need.
Figure 9: The general information tab when creating a new card in Spb Wallet
The next tab is the fields tab and this is where you put in the information specific to this card. For a credit card that would include things like the account number, the PIN and CVV numbers, the name on the card, the limit and so forth.Â
Figure 10: The fields tab is where you put information about your specific card into Spb Wallet
The view tab will allow you to view the template that the card will be created in while the attachment allows you to attach files associated with that card. For example, you could attach a text file to the card indicating everyone who is an authorized user. Likewise, you could also type that information into the notes field or, as I’ve done in Figure 11, indicate the purpose of the card and its intended use.
Figure 11 - The Notes field allows you to enter quick information about the card
When you have entered all of the card information tap the OK softkey and your card information is saved and a card is created in the folder you have selected. By tapping the newly created card you will see it displayed along with other information. Note that the PIN and CCV numbers are hidden. You can show these by tapping them.
Figure 12 - The newly created card show in the folder listing of Spb Wallet
Figure 13 - The card details of a credit card in Spb Wallet
As I indicated before, creating a new folder to store cards in Spb Wallet is as easy as making a card itself. Just tap the Menu>File>New Folder menu and enter a name for the folder. You can also indicate default card type you will be storing in that folder. The selection of this is important as it sets up the templates that will be used for the cards in that folder. You can, of course, use any template in any folder but this sets up Wallet to use the most common ones for that type of card.
Figure 14 - Creating a folder in Spb Wallet is easy
You will also see that you can change the icon that represents the folder. This is handy to do as well as it allows you to more closely identify the content of the folder with a glance of the icon.
Figure 15 - Choosing the icon for a folder in Spb Wallet
One of the key aspects of Spb Wallet is the ability to create your own custom card templates that you can use in the application. Creating a template is done off of the Menu>File menu and you begin by naming your template and determining if you want a base template to start your new custom template. Generally I have found it to be a good idea to start with a provided template then customize it to your liking. This usually assures that you don’t forget an important field in the process of creating yours.
Figure 16 - Name your custom template and decided if you want to start with an existing template as your base
On the Fields tab you can add, delete, move or create new fields for your template. This is where having a base template selected comes in handy. Now it becomes an editing exercise instead of a true creation exercise saving you time and potentially frustration.
Figure 17 - Select the fields you want in your template or move, delete or create new ones
Once you have your template created, just selected it when you are creating a new card. It’s that simple and that customizable.
Figure 18 - Select your template when you create a new card in Spb Wallet
As you explorer Spb Wallet you will find that it is designed with security in mind. As I mentioned before, the wallet file itself is encrypted but the application itself can be set to lock after a designated time of non-use. This is true both for the desktop version as well as the mobile version. This is particularly handy should you leave your device unattended or worse, it is stolen, when the application is open. I have my wallet set to lock after 5 minutes but you can adjust it to as high as 60 minutes. Once it is locked you will have to enter your password again to get into the wallet file.
Figure 19 - Setting the timer on your wallet to lock it automatically
Figure 20 - The lock screen of Spb Wallet
A final note on Spb Wallet. Although I have not covered it in this review, the Windows PC version of the application functions essentially the same as the Windows Phone version. You will find that the features are identical and easy of use the same – albeit on a bigger screen! Spb also includes a Internet Explorer toolbar which can automatically save usernames and passwords on a site to your wallet as well as pre-populate sites with your credentials when you visit it. While this was included in the previous version of Wallet, this new build is much more useable and responsive.
Figure 21 - The Windows PC version of Spb Wallet
Overall I’m quite impressed with this latest edition of Wallet. It seems much more responsive than the previous version and the new desktop Internet Explorer toolbar is fantastic for quickly creating cards on-the-fly. The Windows Phone version is much more finger friendly thanks to Spb building it on their new interface that has become a common theme for all of their applications. If you are looking for a wallet program to keep your information safe and secure, Spb Wallet should be at the top of the list for consideration
What I Like:
New User Interface – much more “Finger Friendly”
Improved speed and performance
Improved Internet Explorer toolbar – saves cards quickly and works quite wellÂ
What I Don’t Like:
Nothing! 5 out of 5 Stars on this one!
Spb Wallet is available for $29.95 (which includes the Windows PC and Windows Phone versions) at the Software Store
