[General Topics] Menneisyys:
I’ve long been promising a full comparison, benchmark and (compared to alternative solutions) pros/cons list of SHAPE Services’ RDM+, a really decent, multiplatform remote desktop controlling / accessor solution. Now that they have a MASSIVE rebate, I dedicated some time for some thorough testing on no less than four different mobile platforms: Windows Mobile Pocket PC (with touch screens), Windows Mobile Smartphone (without touch screens), Symbian S60 (Nokia N95) and BlackBerry (BB 8800). Sorry for being four-platform again: a geek like me just loves toys and wants to play with all the major gadgets and major mobile operating systems available (not only Windows Mobile).

Note that SHAPE Services have another, purely Java-based (meaning there's NO native Windows Mobile client and you must use a MIDlet manager) remote access client, TSMobiles. I'll review it VERY soon.

Please note that this isn’t a full review, just a “list” of the pros and cons and my benchmark results and a complete comparison of the (in some respects, pretty different) implementations on the different platforms. You’ll want to read my previous Windows Mobile Remote Desktop Controller Bible to get more information on what for example the benchmark results stand for, what the different features really mean etc. Again, I will NOT explain anything in here already explained in the Bible. Read it to get a picture of what I’m referring to in the current article.

Note that the current, tested versions are as follows: 3.6.6 (Windows Mobile); 3.6.8 (Symbian / Java; BlackBerry). By the time you read this review (probably months or even years later), it may be heavily outdated. Of course, I’ll try to keep it up-to-date by constantly posting “UPDATE” sections at the bottom. Make sure you check them out. Also make sure you check out the links in this article: they link to a lot of screenshots.

1. Bandwidth usage benchmarks

Using exactly the same method as with the old benchmarks, with exactly the same set-up so that the bandwidth usage results can be directly compared:

(On Windows Mobile [on Blackberries, it's 24 bit], default) 8 bit color depth; measured twice

8k/970k (up/down)

6k/966k (up/down) (both quite good)

(exactly the same results with smooth scrolling – this is excellent)

1 bit color depth (that is, monochrome): 5k/556k (that is, almost half of the bandwidth required in the default, 8-bit mode)

24 bit color depth: 6k/1MB

Idling (without anything happening: no visible animations, cursor etc): 3k/10k a minute (excellent result – compare it to the very bad results of, say, GoToMyPC or, even worse, PPC Tablet)

Cursor blink test: 2k/11k a minute (again, excellent – compare this to the very bad results of I’m InTouch)

The transfer speed is excellent on Pocket PC’s via a Wi-Fi connection; I had no screen refresh problems even with 0.5s waiting between the page down events on a VGA (!) device, in Landscape mode, using 800*600 desktop resolution. The Java client running on the Nokia N95 was pretty fast, too. It’s only on (current) BlackBerries that you might encounter somewhat slower screen updates, it seems.

2. Pros

Fully compatible with the MS Smartphone platform (and with Symbian / BlackBerry / the iPhone)

Pretty good bandwidth usage (in no way so good as GotoMyPC though) – about in the same class as RDP 5, RemotelyAnywhere, LogMeIn and Tight VNC and much better than less-sophisticated clients like Z2Remote.

absolutely no cursor blink or smooth scroll overhead

very fast transfer of new screen contents, unlike with, say, I’m InTouch

processes, services (with the same functionality as in the Windows XP admin tools – see THIS and THIS)!, windows list, system info, hardware info

GUI-based remote system restart / logout / shutdown

native console window with access to all tools like ipconfig (example screenshots: 1 2); copying the contents of this dialog to the clipboard works with the on-screen keyboard

very cheap if you only plan to deploy it on one client machine

no yearly fees, unlike with most of the commercial, Internet-based alternatives

file up/download (still NOT available on BlackBerries) – screenshots: 1 2

support for all special keys (both from menu and on-screen keyboard): 1 2 3 4

support for all mouse buttons (but NO hardware button support – see below)

doesn’t lock out the remote desktop user, unlike RDP-based solutions; it doesn’t force a forced screen resolution either

multiple clients are allowed to access the desktop at the same time

traffic meter (just to be on the safe side) with both “total” and “last session” meters

connections (along with their password) are saved in an address book (screenshot HERE, also showing the main address book menu); no need to re-enter them

message sending from server to (all) connected client(s) in a dedicated window; this will be shown in a dedicated message box on the client(s). Note that there’s a Send Text feature in the mobile client too (on all platforms); it, however, just sends the text in as pure text (no dedicated dialog box will be shown on the desktop). On non-Windows Mobile platforms, there's an additional way of sending messages which will be presented in a dialog window on the desktop.

supports both Portrait and Landscape (switched on the OS level) – good news for for example Dell Axim x50v / x51v users suffering from the Landscape polarization issues of the low-quality screen

a lot of predefined keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl-Alt-Del etc.) – screenshots: 1 2

average memory usage (25M) on the desktop (screenshot showing this HERE) – there’re much worse titles in this respect (for example, the latest I’m InTouch version)