Zhiing purports to be a Window s Mobile based “meet me” app complete with directions and access to various online messaging services such as Twitter.
The basic idea is that the user sends a message through Twitter, Blogger, LiveJournal or Tumblr via Zhiing to their intended contact when lost or en route to a meeting. The “zhiing buddy” then receives the message and a map complete with directions to the sender or the sender’s selected meeting place.
It’s an interesting idea and apparently the software is currently used by Android, iPhone, Blackberry, and Symbian users around the world.
By utilizing SMS to send directions, Zhiing can provide turn-by-turn instructions to users without the application being installed on their phones.
You can get a copy of Zhiing from FreewarePocketPC.net – it’s designed to run on any Windows Mobile 6.x device without any additional software.
Installation is via the common CAB method – simply copy the download file from your PC to your Windows Mobile device and run it to begin the install procedure. Alternatively you might opt to download the CAB file directly to your Windows Phone – again however the installer will need to be run once this has been done.
Note also that your phone will need to be GPS equipped in order to use the Zhiing application and require a generous data plan for the web-based elements of the tool.
Zhiing is such a great idea – however so far on the Windows Mobile platform results have been decidedly sketchy. Some users have reported issues with their phones after installation, while others have been unable to use GPS.
There are also devices that Zhiing has successfully worked on, so it’s not all bad news.
Sadly this reviewer’s experience of Zhiing was a poor one – following installation the application helped itself to a slot in Pocket Outlook, removing the Hotmail account while also eating up a huge portion of system resources.
Resetting my Sony Ericsson Xperia X1i didn’t help either – leaving me with no choice but to go back to my factory defaults and lose everything on my Windows Mobile device.
As such I cannot recommend this ostensibly useful but nevertheless unfinished application. Attributing faults such as this to differences in Windows Mobile hardware is all very well, but that is what Microsoft’s .NET Compact Framework 3.5 is there to prevent.