INTRODUCTION

    Always on the
go, always on the run. Our Pocket PC phones have so much functionality
and add so much to our lives by placing what we need in the palm of our
hands that sometimes we take the simple things for granted. I find menu
navigation slightly frustrating because the D-pad isn’t as used as much
as it should be. My Today screen is cluttered with programs I might
need quicker than others and I always find myself trying to juggle the
phone one-handedly while walking or driving, especially when I am
trying to perform one simple action that seems to always require
navigating through 3 menus, or trying to touch that little icon with the
tip of my thumb. V2R has thrown their hat in the ring to try
and solve this dilemma with their Active UI. I challenged myself to a
return to simplicity by emptying my Today screen and running only V2R
Active UI. Did I hit less curbs and trip less while living the mobile
life? Read on to find out!

WHAT’S HOT

    What’s hot is simplicity and an animated UI
that sits right on your Today screen just waiting to do your bidding,
all for FREE. Add on packs for new animations and icons are available
for free or for charge. A return to simplicity many times can bring the
beauty back out of your phone. 

SETUP

    Setup is standard. CAB files can downloaded directly to your device from V2R’s web page or as a setup file for desktop installation. The main file requires
841KB of space and can be installed to the storage card. Active UI
comes with 3 animations and 3 icon packs. Additional packs require
various amounts of storage space. 

    Once installation is complete
you are presented with the main Active UI screen. ‘Installation’ is
highlighted, select this to set options and enable the plug in. I found
the menu to be a little confusing as to what I was selecting when it
came to the animations and icons as they are similarly named. The third
button down is the Icon Pack selection. You are given
V2RMirrorStyleStraight, FingerTouchMultiColor and V2RSmall303030. The
fourth menu button is the Animations selection, which gives
V2RMirrorStyleStraight, V2rSmall303030 and FingerTouchSmallScreen. To
be honest, I find the naming convention confusing. 

    If you make any changes on this
menu be sure to use the ‘Select’ soft menu button instead of ‘Close’
otherwise the changes will not hold.

PRODUCT FEATURES

From
the main Active UI screen, selecting the About button will tell you
more about this version like the build number.

Selecting
Help will open an html file with some basic instructions on using
Active UI. The Device ID button pops up a unique number to be used when
purchasing add ons for Active UI.

    Now that installation is complete we can take a look at how it appears
on the Today screen. Above is the V2RMirrorStyleStraight animation with
the V2RMirrorStyle Straight Icon pack. You can use the D-Pad to slide
through the icons left and right and use the Action key to select an
icon. Most of the icons have sub menus with what V2R feels are the most
used features on the phone. Unfortunately, I was unable to find a way to
customize the icons shown and what programs they activate. However,
different icon and animation packs do provide limited additional
choices.

    Above are the FingerTouchMultiColor Icons and the FingerTouchSmallScreen animation. The left most image shows what I call the stand by mode for this animation and when you activate it by using the D-Pad or
touch it will expand into what the middle image shows. Selecting one of
the icons will expand certain items into sub-menus. As you can see
there is a main icon for ActiveUI and V2R which really should be under
one icon or removed from the main menu altogether.

    For those of us that value our
screen real estate there is the V2RSmall303030 icon and animation pack
which is also preferable if you won’t be using your thumbs much.

HELP SUPPORT

    The help file
that comes installed is fairly basic but covers most of the
functionality in V2R ActiveUI. There are no support forums to be found,
however questions can be asked through a form on the Contact page.

OPTIONS

    V2R ActiveUI
is free and additional Icon and Animation packs can be downloaded. Some
are free but as you can guess the ones you want will cost a few Euros.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

    V2R ActiveUI requires 841KB of install space so like most programs I installed to the storage card where it ran just fine.

BUGS AND WISHES

    This program is free, but there are some major changes I will suggest. The
application works solidly but enhanced functionality for advanced users
is not there. The free version should be upgradeable with a fee so one
can add/change/remove programs from the menu lists as well as use
different icons of their own creation. The idea of giving away the
product and charging for additional functionality and animations is
great, but I think they set the line too far back on this one. If I knew
I could pay a few dollars and be able to add/change/remove from the
menus at will, then I would highly recommend this application. As it is
now, we are at the whim of the designers.

PURCHASING

    V2R ActiveUI is free and can be downloaded from the V2R product page. Add on packs range from free to 2 Euros with a bundle pack available for 6 Euros.

PROS

• 
  

  Further Enhances one-handed use of your device

• 
  

  Animations are smooth and aesthetic

• 
  

  Add ons are available to enhance the product further

CONS

• 
  

  Cannot personalize the menus

• 
  

  Cannot use your own icons

• 
  

  No forum for exchange of ideas

Value
Ease of Use
Features
Overall

OVERALL IMPRESSION

    It was fun to simplify my
screen for awhile but the inability to customize my experience further
really nagged at me. I have tons of programs that I would love to put
into submenus on my today screen but I am held back because I cannot
add/change/remove what is there. I do believe that V2R ActiveUI has great potential and I encourage the designers to be persistent
but it isn’t there now. If they want to make some money off it then
charge a few Euros for the ability to add/change/remove once we have
seen what it can do with its current functionality.Until an update with that change, this application will not stay installed for long on my device.