INTRODUCTION

    How often have you had to click that “Reset Your Password” link?
Have you ever had to fill out forms at the doctor’s office and couldn’t remember a
child’s social security number? What was the PIN number for that debit card you don’t
use very often? Maybe you jot all this information down on a convenient sticky note and
post it on the wall or tuck it in your wallet. Spb Wallet will let you store all this
information in one convenient location and have it available on your phone wherever you go, while keeping it super secure.
Read on to find out if Spb Wallet is a worthy replacement for your collection of sticky notes!

WHAT’S HOT

SETUP

    Spb Wallet is installed on your desktop and
mobile device using a single Windows installer. ActiveSync or
Windows Mobile Device Center will handle installation on your
Windows Mobile phone. (Although Spb Wallet supports installation
on Symbian S60 and iPhone devices, our review was performed using
a Windows Mobile Professional device.)

PRODUCT FEATURES

    Since Spb Wallet is composed of a mobile component
and desktop component, we’ll begin by taking a quick tour of the mobile
component.

    A wallet contains information cards that are
organized into folders. Folders and cards can be browsed in a manner
similar to browsing within File Explorer, or you can scroll through
a list using gestures.

    You can add new cards to your wallet, such as a
web site login, by entering the details for the specific type of card.
After the card has been added to the wallet, you can view the
card’s information and even navigate to a web site associated with
the card. The login information from the card will be automatically
entered on the web site. Personal notes can be attached to the card,
or you can even attach complete files to a card.

    If Spb Wallet doesn’t already support the type of
card you need, you can create your own card template. For example,
you can create a template for storing the security code for your car
stereo and then create cards from that template.

    Once you have a lot of cards stored in Spb Wallet, it
may become difficult to remember exactly where you filed a specific card.
The search feature makes it easy to locate the card by matching your
search phrase to each card’s data fields.

    A number of configurable options allow you to
control how Spb Wallet works. You can control syncing with your desktop
computer, lock the wallet after a specified period of device inactivity,
adjust card display, and change the login skin.

    Moving to the desktop application, we’ll take a look
at the capabilities it offers…

The template gallery is also available on the desktop,
which is actually more convenient for browsing card samples.

    You can configure the desktop application to synchronize
your wallet with a shared network folder, Gmail, or a mobile device. Synchronization
is performed card-by-card, so changes on the desktop can easily be merged with
changes on a mobile device.

    When synchronizing with Gmail, Spb Wallet will create an
“Spb Wallet” label and store the wallet as a message attachment. Although the
content of the wallet file can not be accessed directly, it does serve as a
convenient offsite backup of your wallet file.

    Spb Wallet provides the option of adding a toolbar within
Internet Explorer (shown) and Firefox browsers. The toolbar allows you to
automatically fill in fields on a web page with information from a card
containing the current web site address, or you can capture information from
fields on the web site into a new card.

    The “Go To Web Site” button will allow you to quickly
navigate to the site associated with a particular card and login fields will
automatically be filled by Spb Wallet. Overall, the user interface for Spb Wallet is very straight-forward
and flows smoothly. Synchronization is easy to setup and even easier to run.
Integration with web browsing seems very natural. All in all, the designers
should be proud of their work.

    Spb Software House provides a number of support options
on their website, including community forums, FAQs, and e-mail. During the review process Spb Software House was quick to answer
questions and provide any necessary support through e-mail.