[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] marioval:
My thoughts on this app.

First off, I am running a Verizon Samsung Omnia i910 with Windows Mobile 6.5. My screen display is WQVGA.

I installed the first version of iMulator when it first came out. it took a few tries to get it installed and the best I could get was an error message as soon as it started. It wouldn't uninstall either. I had to delete the program folder, delete the start menu shortcut, and delete the registry entries manually. Overall not a good experience.

I just installed the latest version and I must say though still not quiet there, huge improvement from the first version. Installed fine and launches fine. After first run it scanned and added all 800 of my mp3's rather quickly.

One of the first things I test out on any music player is how it responds to the the power button being presses while music is playing. Kinoma completely bombs, S2P handles it perfectly, Nitrogen bombs but does have a button on the touch interface that handles the screen perfect, PocketPlayer handles it perfect. iMulator does a good job but not great. The music keeps playing though there is a quick stutter. The problem is when I press the power button again to turn the screen back on. I am taken to the wm6.5 lock screen and I have to slide to unlock my screen before going back to iMulator. I have to use S2P as a comparison here. In S2P the screen goes off without stuttering and the screen comes back to S2P, not the lock screen. Also the volume rocker on the side of the phone does not work while the screen is off.

I also am not too happy with the shuffle option for 2 reasons. First reason is that is buried 3 clicks deep. You have to click "File" then click "Loop", then click "Shuffle. There should be a shuffle button right on the "Now Playing" screen OR there should be a "Shuffle All" option while you are in the media browser mode (like S2P and pocketplayer). The second reason I don't like the shuffle is because the option does not stick when you restart the app, you have to go through the 3 steps to enable it everytime you run the app.

Another problem is that clicking on "File" then "Options" doesn't bring up any options, nothing happens at all. I'm not sure if this is a bug or just my device or what? It's very possible that all my complaints about this app are tweakable but I can't get to the options so who knows?

**EDIT**

I just noticed on page 9 that the options page is not implemebted yet.

Also app will not completely close, has to be terminated from task manager.

One thing I really do like is the media browser mode. The rows are nice and thick whick make for easy finger navigation. Much better than s2p which has very skinny rows. Also all the buttons in the "Now Playing" are nice and big and easy to access, again much better than s2p's tiny buttons. I should also note that that the thumbnails for the albums are not saved or cached so they will need to reload everytime the app is launched. Not a big deal but the thumbnails do take a while to rebuild.

I also really like the scrolling, extremely smooth and responsive even while music is playing.

I think if the shuffle is improved and the screen on/off worked better, I would definately use this as my primary mp3 player but not ready yet.