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NewsPC Review
By Michael
Boone, Copyright 2001
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| NewsPC
Price:
Free!!
Available
at: http://www.geocities.com/briancbarnes/CEPage.html
|
Note:
NewsPC
is currently being developed as PPCNewz.
I don't plan to review it, because it uses the same underlying NewsPC
program to get the messages, which caused some problems with my desktop
system. But if anyone else would like to submit a review, please contact
me.
Here's a review of NewsPC, from back when I was able to get it working
on my desktop PC.
NewsPC
Review
Thanks
to Brian Barnes, there is now finally a free newsreader program
available for the Pocket PC. It is called NewsPC. The
program consists of an .exe file that goes on the Pocket PC (the Pocket
PC newsreader program), and also a desktop .exe program that downloads
the messages, as well as a new desktop version of the newsreader.
You can now have a desktop newsreader that syncs with the mobile device!
Here's how it works. The desktop program gathers all the new
messages and saves them as files in the directory you specify. You
should specify that it download those messages to the "My
Documents" folder that your mobile device syncs with on your
desktop. Then, if you have file synchronization enabled on your
mobile device, the next time you sync, those files (which are the
messages) will automatically be transferred to the mobile device.
The .exe file that you copied to your palm size PC now opens those
messages, and you're set to read newsgroups offline. No mobile
device modem is required!
Setting
it up:
After
downloading the NewsPC zip file, you will need to manually transfer the
appropriate .exe file over to your mobile device. You will also
probably want to move the desktop .exe files to a handy location.
You can configure where you want the downloaded files to go, and you can
control how big your download is by specifying how many kb of data you
will allow for each group. Brian has also made a feature that
allows you to filter out unwanted messages. The "add"
function for adding new newsgroups has been improved too. And it
all works faster thanks to the addition of a newsgroup cache.
Once
you get your options set up, you can choose "synchronize" from
the desktop newsreader (newsrd.exe). Once the messages are
downloaded, you can sync your mobile device and the messages will be
transferred via file synchronization in ActiveSync.
On
to the mobile device:
Run
the .exe file on the mobile device, and you will see your group list
with the number of messages beside it. Double-tap that group
name and your thread view opens up. It moves into the thread
view very quickly, which is nice. Really, the speed that this
program threads the messages and moves between them is quite
impressive. From the thread view, double-tap the subject and you
will see the message. Navigation has also been improved on the
mobile device. The only things I see here are that the down
arrow button for going to the next messages does some kind of weird
scrolling thing, and it seems to take a little longer than expected to
get to the next message that way. Another nice feature would be
the inclusion of where you are in the thread, i.e. message 2 of 4.
The
program now gets the newest messages available first, which is great.
It still lacks a "catch up" or "mark server as read
option." This is an option I'd really like to see.
Posting
a reply or a new message has also been improved in the latest version.
But there isn't yet the option to reply via e-mail.
Things
I'd like to see:
The
option to "mark server read"
Improved
operation of the "down arrow" button from within the article
view.
Reply
via e-mail option.
Things
I liked:
It's
FREE!!!! Thank you Brian!
Downloads
the messages without a need for a mobile modem or proxy software.
It
has a desktop version that syncs with the palm size PC!!
Moves
around quite quickly and nicely.
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