Splashphoto 4.0 Reviewer's Guide Intro Splashphoto 4.0 Is a Fast, Easy to Use Image Viewer for Palm OS
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SplashPhoto 4.0 Reviewer's Guide Intro SplashPhoto 4.0 is a fast, easy to use image viewer for Palm OS. SplashPhoto allows users to organize images on their handhelds for individual or slideshow viewing. It is designed to provide optimal image viewing within the confines of a handheld's reduced display size and limited memory. In addition, SplashPhoto 4.0 includes desktop software (for Mac OSX and Windows) that synchronizes with the handheld, for editing, optimizing, installing, organizing and cataloging images. The SplashPhoto Desktop catalog and SplashPhoto on Palm OS Key Features 1. Simplicity – SplashPhoto is designed to do one thing well — displaying customized photo albums on a handheld device. Rather than trying to be all things to all people, SplashPhoto's UI is streamlined for managing and viewing photo albums while keeping other superfluous features out of the way. 2. Speed – SplashPhoto has been compiled as an OS 5 ARMlet, enabling it to run up to 20 times faster on an ARM device compared to devices running Palm OS 4 with a DragonBall processor. In addition, SplashPhoto caches much of the image metadata allowing users to launch it quickly and browse image thumbnails without delay. 3. Desktop catalog – SplashPhoto Desktop allows users to easily manage photo collections (add, remove, edit and categorize images) in a desktop catalog and synchronize those changes with the handheld. 4. Handheld optimization – SplashPhoto Desktop allows users to crop and resize images prior to installing them on the handheld, resulting in images that look exactly as intended. 5. Automatic cropping and resizing – Palm OS handhelds come in many different resolutions including 160x160 (Palm, Handspring, Kyocera, Samsung and other models), 320x320 (Palm OS 5 and Sony Clie models), and 320x480 (Sony Clie NR/NX series and Garmin iQue Page 1 SplashPhoto 4.0 Reviewer's Guide models). SplashPhoto Desktop automatically detects the handheld’s display capabilities and crops/resizes JPG images to the appropriate resolution. SplashPhoto Desktop can automatically crop and resize images to fit the handheld display 6. Memory efficient – SplashPhoto Desktop installs small JPG files that occupy less memory on the handheld as a result of image resizing—perfectly suited for handheld display. For example, a 300k 1280 x 960 JPG—when resized in SplashPhoto Desktop to fit the handheld display of 320x320—is reduced to only 35k in size. In this particular example, the size of the image is reduced by nearly 90%, which is very important on a handheld device with limited memory. 7. JPGs on internal memory – Palm OS limits internal memory to storing only Palm OS applications (PRCs) and Palm Databases (PDBs), meaning that other file types like JPG images can only be installed on an external memory card. SplashPhoto 4.0, however, will automatically save JPG images on internal memory by placing them in a “PDB wrapper,” enabling users with devices not having external memory cards (like the Treo 270 and 300) to install and view JPG images with SplashPhoto. 8. Compatible with built-in cameras – SplashPhoto will display images captured with built-in digital cameras like those found in the Sony Clie NR70, NX70, NX73V, NX80V, and NZ90; the Palm Zire 71; and the Handspring Treo 600. And images captured with the built-in camera on the handheld will be automatically sync'd to the SplashPhoto Desktop catalog. 9. Palm Photos support – SplashPhoto will display images stored in Palm Photos format, the image viewer bundled with the Palm Zire 71. See below for a competitive analysis of Palm Photos. Page 2 SplashPhoto 4.0 Reviewer's Guide 10. Categories – Users are able to create an unlimited number of custom categories and group images by category, speeding the process of searching for stored images. Filter images by category 11. IR & Bluetooth Beaming – SplashPhoto users can beam images via IR or Bluetooth to other handheld devices that accept JPGs, including Pocket PC handhelds, Palm OS handhelds, Symbian PDAs, smartphones, laptop computers and printers. Send and receive images via infrared, Bluetooth, SMS or email. 12. Exchange Manager/Email Support – Palm OS allows applications to exchange information with each other using a function called the Exchange Manager. Email applications like SnapperMail and Palm's VersaMail use the Exchange Manager to communicate with other applications to exchange email attachments. SplashPhoto 4.0 supports the Exchange Manager, which means that it can open JPG images attached to an email message and send JPG images as email attachments. Page 3 SplashPhoto 4.0 Reviewer's Guide 13. Pan & Zoom – SplashPhoto now allows users to install images larger than the handheld display and pan across or zoom in and out on them, an ideal solution when images are captured by a built-in camera (on the Zire 71 or Sony Clie NX series) or received by email, infrared or Bluetooth rather than SplashPhoto Desktop. Zoom in and out on hi-resolution images. 14. Slideshow – SplashPhoto can display a slideshow of selected images, and the slideshow can run automatically when the handheld is charging in its cradle. Run slideshows automatically while your handheld is charging in its cradle. 15. Mac support – In addition to Windows support, SplashPhoto Desktop also runs on Mac OS X (available in late-August). Competitive Analysis Palm Photos Palm Solutions Group bundles an image viewer called Palm Photos with the Zire 71. Palm Photos is designed primarily as a companion application for browsing and organizing images captured with the built-in camera. SplashPhoto can also display and manage images captured with the built-in camera on the Zire 71 and stored in Palm Photos format. SplashPhoto offers the following advantages over Palm Photos: Page 4 SplashPhoto 4.0 Reviewer's Guide 1. Sync with card — Palm Photos includes a desktop application that catalogs images and syncs them with the handheld, but Palm Photos only allows two-way synchronization of handheld images that are stored on internal memory. SplashPhoto Desktop, however, allows two-way synchronization of images on the handheld that are stored on both internal memory and an expansion card. This feature is very important considering that images can require a lot of memory and it is quite common for users to store all of their images on a card to free- up internal memory. 2. Unlimited categories — SplashPhoto allows users to create an unlimited number of categories for organizing images. Palm Photos only allows a maximum of 15 categories. 3. Categorize images on card — SplashPhoto allows users to categorize images stored on both internal memory and expansion cards while Palm Photos only allows for the categorization of images on internal memory, leaving all of the images on a card unorganized. 4. Simultaneous display of images on internal and external memory — SplashPhoto displays thumbnail images stored on internal and external memory simultaneously. In contrast, Palm Photos does not show images on internal and external memory simultaneously – users can only see one or the other. 5. Install full-size JPGs to internal memory — SplashPhoto allows users to install JPG images to internal memory in full resolution. Palm Photos will only allow the installation of images to internal memory that are resized to fit the screen. 6. Pan & Zoom — SplashPhoto allows users to pan and zoom images that are larger than the handheld display. Palm Photos only displays images scaled to fit the screen. Acid Image Acid Image allows users to view images on a Palm OS handheld, but provides no desktop support; therefore, images must be manually cropped on the desktop using an image editor like PhotoShop and installed on the device with a card reader. In addition, Acid Image does not support categories and former users complained of its very confusing user interface. Acid Image also takes much longer to launch than SplashPhoto. Resco Picture Viewer Resco Picture Viewer is a new entrant in the Palm OS market. Resco does provide a desktop application for cropping and installing images on the handheld, but does not provide a desktop catalog that offers two-way synchronization with the handheld. And, like Acid Image, it does not support categories. Feedback from Resco users indicates its user interface is very cluttered and confusing. Differentiation What makes SplashPhoto unique is its speed, simplicity, handheld optimization, and two-way synchronization with the desktop. There are many general-purpose handheld image viewers on the market, but most of them only enable users to view images that are manually installed (via a card reader) on the handheld. None of these applications is as easy to use as SplashPhoto, nor do they provide a complete handheld and desktop solution with two-way synchronization. Page 5.