by Frank McPherson, author of How To Do Everything With Windows Mobile

 
Today HTC officially announced the HTC Touch Diamond. Check out the video, the device is pretty sexy, and with no keyboard I am sure it is very thin. The battery size is small, so I suspect battery life is going to be a problem. It won't be available in the U.S. until later this year, and I am wondering about how much it is going to cost.

Labels: 2008

posted by Frank at 11:10 AM 0 comments Links to this post

 
Another web browser has become available for Windows Mobile Professional devices. TouchBrowser from Makayama is mimicing many of the features of Safari on the iPhone. Check out the YouTube video, it looks interesting but it is too bad they don't have a trial version to download.

Labels: 2008, software

posted by Frank at 10:01 PM 0 comments Links to this post

 

Labels: 2008

posted by Frank at 9:46 AM 0 comments Links to this post

 
I just read this information on Microsoft's MSDN site about Windows Mobile 6.1, which provides more information about new features that corporations will like. Of the features, I think the on-device encryption and the bandwidth optimizations will be the most appealing. These features do require Exchange 2007, SP1.

Labels: 2008, Windows Mobile 6.1

posted by Frank at 12:59 PM 0 comments Links to this post

 
One thing that I lost when I gave up the Blackberry and switched to Windows Mobile was the ability to have custom alerts for email from specific users. By default a Blackberry either vibrates or plays a sound whenever you receive an email. I immediately found that behavior annoying and I turned off those notifications, however the downside is that then I may miss an important email.

A co-worker showed me how I could create rules using the Blackberry desktop software so that I could have the Blackberry vibrate whenever I received an email from a specific person. I therefore created rules to vibrate when I received emails from my boss, or when I received emails flagged for high importance.

Unfortunately, Windows Mobile does not have a similar feature built-in. You can configure text messages and email separately, and I played around with creating rules to have Exchange send me a text message whenever I received an email from a specific address, but I couldn't figure out a way to either not forward the entire message to my phone or not send a copy of the text message to the person who originally sent me the email.

Watchflag is a new program for Windows Mobile that provides the ability to create custom alerts for email messages. You can create rules that alert you for email received from specific addresses, or with certain words in the From field, and you can create rules that have certain words in the subject. The rules can also be specific to whether you receive email marked for high importance.

Watchflag provides several different alert options, including Light Up The Screen, Wait For Acknowledgement with or without a repeating alert, Vibrate, light the LED, or play a sound. You can define different sounds for different rules, and the sounds can be MP3 files in the /My Documents/My Music folder on the device. One thing I think the program should do is use the /My Documents/Ringtones folder for alerts as well since ringtones are usually smaller in length. The program also doesn't provide a way to only make rules active during specific times, though the program's author has stated this is a feature they plan to add.

I've been using this program for about a week now and have been pleased with the results. It does seem as though there is a small hit on battery life, which the program author acknowledges particularly if you have rules including Wait For Acknowledgement, which I have found seems to be needed to be sure you actually notice a vibrating alert. If you transitioned to Windows Mobile from Blackberry you might want to try this program out!

Labels: 2008, software

posted by Frank at 6:33 PM 0 comments Links to this post

 
One of the worst kept secrets has been the pending release of Version 6.1 of Windows Mobile. Today Microsoft officially announced it at CTIA, and according to reports new devices sporting this version may be available within a couple of months. The timing of the announcement with device availability is an improvement over the past where such an announcement came as much as six months in advance of one's ability to actually get your hands on the software.

PocketNow has a very comprehensive overview of the changes, which while not earth shattering are what I think are very useful and good improvements. No word on how much it will cost people who own devices targeted for upgrades, such as the AT&T Tilt, but if the upgrade is cheap or free it looks like it will be worth the upgrade.

To me the upgrade boils down to two major improvements: changes to the Today screen to make information navigation faster, and a new version of Internet Explorer to improve navigation on web pages. The Today screen changes are similar to the Neo changes that I have been experiencing with my T-Mobile Shadow. From what I read the improvements may be better than what HTC came up with. I am curious to know whether HTC will improve upon Neo or abandon it for what Microsoft provides.

Internet Explorer now has zoom out and zoom in capability so that you can see an entire page, albeit as a thumbnail, on one page. Obviously this change was inspired by the iPhone and it remains to be seen whether it as nice browsing with IE as it is using Safari on the iPhone.

Several smaller, but welcome changes are also included in 6.1. For example, you can now cut, copy, and paste in Windows Mobile Standard. (Finally!!) Heavy text messaging users will like the threaded SMS client.

Now the wait begins for when upgrades will be available as well as new devices. Matt Miller reports on the HTC Dual to be released in the U.S. that will sport 6.1 and will be sold SIM-unlocked via BestBuy. Very interesting, I am wondering how much it will cost? I am looking forward to getting the upgrade for my Tytnn II when it becomes available.

Labels: 2008, Windows Mobile 6.1

posted by Frank at 8:47 PM 0 comments Links to this post

 
I've been reading James', Kevin, and Matt's posts on the Celio Redfly with interest. As I read their experiences with the device I am finding myself thinking that it could be useful. Adding a full size keyboard and larger screen could increase my use of Windows Mobile devices from occasional use devices for looking up info, triaging email, or making a phone call, to a pro-long use device for longer text entry such as long email or larger documents. It sounds like the Redfly is small enough to carry around, just as I found my Eee PC to be a perfect size to carry to meetings. However, the big obstacle is price. I can't justify $500 for what amounts to a phone accessory. By this I mean the device is useless unless you have a Windows Mobile device in hand because it has no processor, no operating system, and no storage. It just has a display, keyboard, ROM chip with software to connect and handle the display and input and some USB and VGA out ports. Now, if the price drops to $200 I think it is a no-brainer basically as a replacement to a Stowaway keyboard. I wouldn't mind playing with one; I am particularly intrigued by the Bluetooth connectivity.

Labels: 2008

posted by Frank at 6:48 PM 0 comments Links to this post

 
It can be good sport right now to speculate on what Microsoft is going to do with Windows Mobile. First there was a leadership change, then the announcement that Microsoft was acquiring Danger, who makes a popular mobile device called the Sidekick that does not run Windows Mobile. The latest to chew on is Len Kawell's hiring at Microsoft and this bit of information:

Kawell is also working on scaling Windows Mobile to “new kinds of devices with larger screens and faster processors — also known as Mobile Internet Devices, or MIDS,” his bio adds.

Labels: 2008

posted by Frank at 6:41 PM 0 comments Links to this post

 
Yesterday I wrote about TrueConnect and how I discovered it could be used to copy and paste information from eWallet on my Pocket PC to my desktop computer. Wingman wrote a comment asking if I had tried MyMobiler, which I did not know about. One big benefit it has over TrueConnect is that it is free. Another big benefit is that it supports IP-based connectivity, meaning that you can connect the Pocket PC to a desktop computer using a LAN connection like Wi-Fi. It doesn't support connections via ActiveSync & Bluetooth, but a posting in the forums suggests that it works with Bluetooth PAN connections, which I have to try.

MyMobiler also has a built-in Explorer for transferring files and a skin that includes buttons for quickly accessing Messaging, Contacts, and more on the Pocket PC. I assume that the skin can be changed, which I may consider doing if I keep using this program because the icons are a light gray that is a bit hard to see on the black background.

The negatives of MyMobiler versus TrueConnect is that it doesn't have integration with SMS, so you can't use it to send SMS messages from Outlook. For me I find that to not be a required feature of TrueConnect, and I think there are some other options to provide such functionality. MyMobiler also doesn't provide a button for enlarging the display, but I think that can be changed by editing a text file for settings. You can maximize the display which puts the Pocket PC window at the middle of the desktop and blanks out the background, which is useful for giving presentations.

The big negative for me for using MyMobiler is that it doesn't work well with eWallet. In eWallet you can tap and hold on the user name or password fields and tap copy in the pop-up menu to copy those items to the clipboard, which TrueConnect transfers to the Windows desktop clipboard. MyMobiler doesn't work with these pop-up options, instead I have to edit a card, select text, and then copy it to get it on the clipboard and over to the PC, which is many more steps that I would have to take over TrueConnect. I have posted a message on the forum at the MyMobiler web site to see whether the program author is willing make the program work with eWallet.

I'll be keeping my eye on the forum to see what type of response I get. Nevertheless, if you are looking for a way to connect your Pocket PC with a desktop computer for transfering information I can recommend that you check out MyMobiler.

Labels: 2008, software

posted by Frank at 8:36 PM 2 comments Links to this post

 
I've written often of how Ilium Software's eWallet is perhaps the most important Windows Mobile application for me. I use it to securely store all bits of information, particularly passwords, to the numerous web sites that I subscribe to. Most often I will find myself at a web site that I need to log in to, reaching for my Pocket PC to retrieve my user id and password for that site. When this happens I am reminded of something that I really wish I could to, which is to highlight text in a card, tap-and-hold and use Bluetooth to transfer the text over to my desktop PC precisely at the cursor location.

Yesterday I discovered a program called TrueConnect that brings my vision for sharing information between my handhelds and desktop PCs closer to reality. To use the software you connect a Windows Mobile device to a Windows PC and after the connection is made you can do one of two things. You can move the mouse cursor off the right edge of the screen (or any other edge depending on how you configure the software) and the cursor appears on the device, where you can then manipulate the device using the mouse and keyboard. Imagine using this feature with a Pocket PC sitting in a cradle right next to your computer, it allows you to manipulate the device without ever having take the Pocket PC out of the cradle.

Another feature that TrueConnect provides is to display the Pocket PC screen on your desktop computer, again you can operate the device using the keyboard and mouse on the desktop computer. You can enlarge the display even as large as the entire size of your computer monitor, though at full screen QVGA displays are pretty pixelated. The 2x enlargement is very legible and about the right size for a window on the screen. I tested the full size display using my Tablet PC in portrait mode and it was decent, and a bit funky manipulating the device using the Tablet PC stylus.

Now, here is the feature I really like. TrueConnect allows the sharing of clipboard contents between Pocket PCs and desktop computers. So, back to the beginning of this article I described my vision for squirting information between my device and computer, with TrueConnect I can highlight text, copy it to the clipboard, then move the cursor over to the browser window on my desktop and paste the content. With eWallet I click and hold the mouse (simulating tap and hold) on the user id and password fields on the Internet site cards and click copy user id or copy password in the context menu that pops up. (Unfortunately, this only works on Pocket PCs, or Windows Mobile Professional devices because SmartPhones, or Windows Mobile Standard devices do not have clipboards to support copy and paste, an odd lacking given how so many SmartPhones now come with QWERTY keyboards.)

My vision is not completely realized, unfortunately, because to use TrueConnect you must have the device physically connected using a USB cable. So far I have not seen any documentation saying that you can use Bluetooth, but given how Bluetooth connections are made for ActiveSync connections, it may be possible but I have not had time to test it out. Ideally I would like a tap and hold feature that would just send the text to the desktop and insert it without further interaction on my part, but I can live with copy and paste.

Labels: 2008, software

posted by Frank at 5:54 PM 1 comments Links to this post