Phone Managers
Modern world has introduced quite a large number of electronic gadgets – but cell phone
or mobile phone is the one with which people spend most of their time. Professionals or perhaps even students would agree that not even TV comes close to rival the use of cell phone, which is second only to PC and that too if PC happens to be a workplace requirement. In such a scenario, it’s only natural to tap the power of today’s phones by connecting them with personal computers or laptops for information synchronization. This connectivity, which is now a common feature of mid-range phones, comes through cable (serial or USB), Bluetooth or IrDA (infrared).
A piece of software called Phone Manager running in computer detects a connected device and lets user access nearly all the menus and contents of the attached phone. Often, cell phone manufacturers provide their own software, e.g. Nokia PC Suite, but there are instances when a particular phone model is not supported or detected, recommended cable is not available, or some added functionality is required. In such cases, third party phone managers come to rescue.
Today, we are going to take a brief look at 3 popular phone managers for cell phones and explore their connectivity through cable connection. Cell phone cables are either USB based or serial connector based, and technically identified as FBUS CA-42, CA-53 and DKU series (for Nokia) and generic cables. Once a cable is purchased, it’s easy to find out the correct technical identification of cable (if not mentioned on cable or by shopkeeper) through Internet or through hit-and-trial method with a Phone Manager. So, here’s our pick:
Logo Manager Pro Suite This is a suite of applications containing Mobius phone browser, MobiMB (Mobile Media Browser) and a Ringtone Editor. Let’s see MobiMB for now. Starting the app, the first thing is connections window. Go to Add Connection > Cable Connection > Select a phone manufacturer (e.g. Nokia) and select cable identification (e.g. CA-42). Now specify a port in Connection Properties dialog box, which in most cases is COM2. A connection is now added. Right click it to see the properties. It should show status ‘Good’ in Link Quality field. Detected phone (manufacturer and the model number) is shown under Active Devices frame of the connections screen. In the main interface, an explorer like interface displays the entire contents of Gallery and Apps of the phone. Image files can be dragged and dropped to Gallery folder. So, even if your cell phone doesn’t have camera or MMS, you can still have your loved ones’ images or animated GIFs in your device through MobiMB. File preview is supported in this phone manager, so is copying of any file from phone to hard disk.
Oxygen Phone Manager OPM is one of the most popular phone managers for cell phones in market. Connections here are managed through Options menu. Select a cable type e.g. DKU-5/CA-42 and press Add, select port e.g. COM2. Intimation of a new phone connection is displayed. Press ‘Read Data’ button at the top-left with green arrow under each category tree to open an explorer like interface that shows nearly all what appears in cell pone. Phonebook is beautifully divided according to calling groups (family, VIP etc) and storage (SIM or phone) and allows record editing through spreadsheet inspired F2 and double-click. Contacts can be added directly from call register lists too, and there’s an option to swap storage – from SIM to phone and vice versa. OPM’s SMS Manager allows offline creation of messages with option of multiple recipients and batch sending.
MobTime In MobTime connections with mobile phones are established using Options > Communication tab. Simply, select the phone manufacturer, keep the model to auto-detect, select cable type (e.g. FBUS which is equivalent to CA series cables), port (e.g.COM2) and keep the serial speed blank. Press Test. Attached phone is now detected with an intimation. Information categories are laid out under left most panel buttons. Pressing relevant button displays corresponding item in a tree view. The phonebook section allows editing and addition of new contacts with no session wise or counts restriction. Updates are synchronized with phone using ‘Upload modified and new contacts’ button at the top left. SMS section provides access to current messages and new messages can be created and sent with ease but batching is not supported. SMS Managers of the above tools support options of receiving delivery receipt report, which in fact shows ‘pending’ before showing ‘delivered’ if recipient’s phone is switched off when the SMS was sent.
There’s usually no such facility while sending SMS through phones. Then there’s ‘Flash SMS’ that gets displayed right on screen and doesn’t require the recipient to go to Inbox to read it. Bulk-delete SMS option is a real time-saver say if a particular message is to be retained and rest to be deleted. Such an operation would take a lot of key presses if done through cell phone. On the other hand, a limitation is there – a text chunk mentioning the tool used is appended at the tail of outgoing messages.
So, explore these versions of phone managers!