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Topic: Mobility

Top Android app of the day: Spb Shell 3D (on video)

Summary: The folks at Spb Softwarehouse have released Spb Shell 3D for Android phones that takes the user interface to an entirely new level, and all in 3D. Check out the video.

James Kendrick

By for Mobile News |

The beauty of the Android OS is how it is possible to customize the look and feel like no other smartphone platform. The folks at Spb Software have released Spb Shell 3D for Android phones that takes the user interface to an entirely new level, and all in 3D. I have been giving it a spin on my HTC EVO 4G phone, and find it to be as useful as it is gorgeous.

The app is not cheap at $14.95, but given all of the functionality inside many will find it worth it. Once installed on the Android phone, and it is simply an app like any other, it completely takes over the Android interface. The home screens are still there inside a 3D carrousel that shows a lot of information on the screen at a time. The carrousel can spin around at a fast speed with a simple swipe on the screen. Stop it on the screen you want by tapping it, which opens up the static version of that screen with all of the widgets and apps available.

Tapping on any home screen opens it up in standard 2D mode for interaction. You can add any widget, app shortcut or folder. You can swipe left and right to move around the home screens while in 2D mode too.

Spb includes quite a few widgets for placement on any desired screen. They are fully 3D-enabled and are very well implemented. All regular Android widgets are available for placement, too. It is a very rich environment with lots of potential.

Spb Shell 3D works on Android phones running version 2.1 and up. I have tested it on two devices running Froyo (2.2) and had no problems with either. Spb states that the app is only for smartphones, and that it will not work on tablets. I suspect they mean Honeycomb tablets as it is running just fine on my Galaxy Tab as demonstrated in the video. Bear in mind that Spb will probably not support the app on tablets if you have trouble.

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Topics: Mobility, Android, Google, Hardware, Smartphones

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8 comments
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  • RE: Top Android app of the day: Spb Shell 3D (on video)

    No big deal... this was something which was already with WiMo 5 and 6. They re-cooked it for android.
    owlnet
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Top Android app of the day: Spb Shell 3D (on video)

      @owlnet
      Yes, completely agree with you. In fact my HTC Advantage runs on SPB Shell 3D only. I removed the HTC Sense from it and installed my own version of cooked ROM removing all crapware and SPB runs on it. I was using it mainly for Wifi routing. No, Android never can achieve the power of WM in near future. Period.
      Ram U
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Top Android app of the day: Spb Shell 3D (on video)

    This looks like a bunch of unnecessary bells and whistles, what's the point if your android comes with a host of widget screens already you can simply move between them with a swipe of your finger and add widgets and do exactly what this does without draining your battery.
    shiner840
    Reply Vote

  • Design for design's sake; while Apple is often accused of that by ignorant

    ... people, they would never do such interface; it is less productive.
    DDERSSS
    Reply Vote

  • Doesn't even have a facebook or mail widget

    For the money, one would expect a great app and good customer service. This one lacks either. LPP gives you way more functionality and is less expensive to boot.

    The only reason we ended up with this expensive, yet half-cooked app, is because SPB was shooting for loftier contracts with Phone providers, and could not deliver past the shiny exterior.

    No thanks, from this gadget fan.
    Umgeleitet
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Top Android app of the day: Spb Shell 3D (on video)

    I saw a brilliant demo last year for SPB Mobile Shell 5.0 - it seemed to be another leap forward in design, but there has been no sign of it since. I have wondered whether they were trying to entice a phone manufacturer to take up the programme and install on phones as the default choice.

    I have been using the SPB Shell on Windows 5 and 6.5 as my interface of choice.
    Philhellene
    Reply Vote

  • Not worth the price tag

    I was a user of Mobile Shell when I had a WinMo device and I loved it. I was looking forward to it. I was disappointed though. There are some bugs still. Some phone users are having problems with android widgets disappearing from the screen after rebooting the phone. It is not as customizable as the WinMo version, no live wallpaper support. Normally this wouldn't be an issue but I had just discovered the weblive wallpaper app. Scrollable widgets is not allowed. It does use a lot of memory. Some of the the settings are not clear. You can change the color of the panel. That does not mean it will change how it looks on the desktop but only how it looks when go to the 3d wheel. As a long time Mobile Shell users I was disappointed. As a customer I felt I didn't get what I paid for.
    tommcd64
    Reply Vote

  • So the only feature is that it's shiny!

    So you say it has lots of great functions... like you can use your existing apps... Wow.
    david.hunt@...
    Reply Vote
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