Need a traveling companion? What about one that can tell you the weather, latest currency exchange rates, or even quiz you on your knowledge over the flags and capitals? Released today, Spb Traveler is a suite of tools aimed for those who travel the world and want to remain on top of things. Providing useful tools such as world time, scheduling of international appointments, and detailed information such as calling info in specific areas around the globe, Spb Traveler just may be that swiss army knife that will keep you on track and on time!

Read past the jump to find out more as well as how you can save up to 50% off the regular price!

Installation and Registration:

Just install and run the ActiveSync installer. A CAB installer is available as well. Registering is simple. Just tap the giant ’Menu’ soft button and select ’Registration’. Enter your serial number that Spb provided you and your ready to rock!

Using Spb Traveler:

Main Program:

The main program shows all the pertinent information about a city – time, weather, flags, and currency rates. Adding a city can be easily done by typing in the first 3 letters of a city’s name or it can also be searched for by country or by airport. In the example on the above left hand side, I also have the ’show map’ enabled from the ’View’ section of the ’Menu’ soft button. Other views are available as well in which more or less information can be shown. Examples of some other views are ’Narrow’ (bottom left photo) and ’Two Columns’ (bottom right photo). These views change the amount of information displayed as well as the types of information that will be displayed. Spb Traveler weather features are based on the new Spb Weather Engine that uses two trusted weather sources for providing users with weather forecasts. Depending on a city the data comes either from Foreca.com or Gismeteo.com.

Now what happens if you select one of the various cities? Well, it opens up detailed information about the city including standard gratuities in that area, telephone information, sunrise / sunset, location, and links directly to all the various calculators such as unit, tip, and clothing sizes. Also you can tap on the ’Links’ section to obtain information on a specific city (if online). Default links include links to the CIA Factbook country page and links to the corresponding city page in Wikipedia and Wikitravel which would make good reading when you are on a flight.

The ’Menu’ soft button also allows you to force immediate updates for currency and weather information. In the ’Options’ section you can set various program options such as Today Plug-In settings of which view to use and whether or not to display the time. Default units for conversions,  how often and when updates for weather and currency should be done can also be selected by choosing the appropriate option tab. The Spb Today Plug-In preview screen will let you see what it’ll look like and update your changes in real-time.

Flight Assistant:

The Flight Assistant can be pretty handy and allows you to store all your flight information by adding it not only internally in Spb Traveler, but also your schedule. Another nice thing about this tool is it answers the oh-so-frequent ARE WE THERE YET? question with an estimated time of arrival to the destination. The fictitious example above shows only 35 mins. until we land in Israel – Yay! Of course, you can add multiple flights and save them all into an Spb Traveler Trip File (.stt). What is really lacking here would be information for the whole trip and not just flights. What if I took a car ride? Or a trip by train? Spb should consider these possibilities and include trip planning information for such methods of transportation. It would be great if they added lodging information as well.

Tips Calculator:

The tips calculator is very well made. A very large and beautiful calculator pops up when numerical entries are attempted. The buttons on this calculator are nice and large – perfect for finger operation. The program allows for the calculation of split checks for up to 10 people. Spb did an excellent job in deciding to use list boxes for tip percentage selection as well as check splitting. This minimizes the amount of taps needed for the user while providing the most commonly used amounts for tips as well as an option to tip a specific amount.

Currency Converter:

The currency converter is quite straightforward. You can select 4 different currencies at a time and click on the calculator image to bring up the giant calculator for numerical entry. Enter what amount you want and hit the big green "=" and all 4 rates convert to their proper values based on what amount you entered. By tapping on the ’Rates’ soft button, you are presented with a chart of all currencies available. Updates are performed by tapping on the giant ’Update’ soft button. The updates are downloaded from the Spb website so if Spb’s website goes down, then updates will not be available. Spb uses currency rates provided by European Central Bank.

Unit Converter:

The unit converter is quite thorough and can cover conversions between metric and the U.S. standard for length, temperature, area, speed, weight, volume and pressure. Numerical entry is easily achieved with the on-screen calculator that offers easy digital access (using your fingers – digits – get it?) of the amounts to be converted.

Time Converter:

The time converter is another very handy tool. It allows you to view up to 4 different time zones at once. It was nice that the time entry boxes used a numerical up/down type which allows you to just use a stylus or fingers to easily and quickly select the time you need. Of course, you could always pull up the SIP keyboard and use that to enter the time as well. Tapping the ’Menu’ soft-button lets you view a time zone list.

Clothing Sizes:

The clothing size table is perfect for shopping abroad. As different countries use different size numbers, it is imperative that you consult the chart lest you end up with something that you cannot wear. Spb Traveler allows you to sort the tables by clothing and by person. Sorting by clothing is easy as when you hit the ’Menu’ soft-button you can select the article of clothing and its corresponding conversion table. If you decide to have tables based on each person, you can add a person and select their custom sizes from the drop down menus.

Meeting Planner:

The meeting planner is one of those tools that I find a bit strange as you can ONLY get to it via the main Spb Traveler interface and not via any of the tool shortcuts whether it be from the Start Menu or the Today Plug-In. You add an entry to your calendar using the ’Meeting Planner’ by selecting the date and the time for that city where the meeting is to be held. A calendar entry with the event in your own local time will be created with a note indicating the local time of where your meeting will be held. For example, if you have a meeting in London, the meeting will be on your calendar in your local time and also have a note which will show the appointment time in England.

Game:

Do you know what the capital of Israel is? Can you identify the United Kingdom’s flag? Well, with Spb Traveler’s mini-game you can learn your flags and capitals in no time. When you get the correct answer, you are awarded with a loud "TA-DA". If you’re wrong however, you’ll be met with a blood curdling scream. The game allows you to choose between flags only, capitals only, or a mix of both types of questions. You can also select the game to be 1, 3, or 5 minutes long.

Today Plug-In:

Many programs these days come with a Today Plug-In. Spb Traveler is no different in that aspect – with the exception that this Today Plug-In is actually worth your device’s memory and your precious Today Screen real estate. You’ll have a plethora of options in just how the information is displayed. If you decide to tap on the weather portion, a more detailed weather display will be shown. From a choice of single city to multi-city weather information to world times of each selected city, you’ll find this to be the perfect quick glance display that you will need for international travel.

This Today Plug-In is also a launching point for all of Spb Traveler’s tasks. By tap and holding on the plug-in window you’ll be presented with most of the programs’ options including a launch pad to most of the Spb Traveler tools such as currency and tip calculators. You can also get into the main Spb Traveler program here and manage all cities to be displayed.

Spb Traveler Integration with Other Spb Products:

Spb Traveler can be integrated among many of Spb’s existing products. However, in the case of Spb Weather, Spb Traveler is a fully functional duplicate with extended features. Because of the extended functionality, any Spb components that use weather such as Spb Mobile Shell will have Spb Traveler’s Weather components replace the original older integrated component. The Spb Traveler today plug-in can be put into a separate tab of Spb Pocket Plus, Spb Mobile Shell, or Spb Diary through the use of ’Smart Today’ technology.

Conclusion:

Spb Traveler is a Swiss army knife for the frequent traveler. Geared towards those who fly, this collection of software will help you get things done by bringing not only daily weather and currency rates, but also help in the planning of meetings, shopping (clothing size charts), dining (tip calculator), calculations (unit converter), and even boredom with it’s amazingly addicting flags and capitals game. Priced at a mere $29.95 this product is sure to add efficiency to your daily activities around the world!

And for current owners of Spb Weather or Spb Time, you are entitled to purchase Spb Traveler at a whopping 50% off! That’s right, just head on over to Spb’s serial validation page to get your special discount pricing.

Name: Spb Traveler
Version: 1.0
Platform: WM 2003 / WM5 / WM6 Pocket PC
Developer:  Spb Software House
Available From: JAMM Store and Spb Software House
Price: $29.95
Trial: Yes – 15 Days
Devices Used for Review: Dell Axim X51v

Technorati Tags: Spb Software House, Spb Traveler, Review, Just Another Mobile Monday 

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