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

 
I've written here before about how I feel that voice interaction with Windows Mobile is a very useful, made possible in large part by Voice Command. Another voice service that expands the functionality of Windows Mobile is Jott. Here is how I use it. First, I created a contact called Jott so I initiate Voice Command by pressing the call button on my Bluetooth headset and say "Call Jott." Once the call is connected I am asked "Who do you want to Jott?" and I say, "Myself." After the beep I then say whatever it is that I want to remember and I hang up. Jott then translates what I wrote to text and sends it to my email address; it even sends me a text message using SMS. When I get to a computer and check my email my reminder is there in my inbox waiting for me, along with a link to the recording in case the speech to text translation isn't perfect.

You can use Jott with a number of other web applications like Google Calendar, or another one of my favorites, Sandy. Jott is free, I think a very useful tool to add to your mobile toolbox. Whenever I think of something that I want to remember, and I am on the go such as driving to work, I Jott myself.

Labels: 2008, tips

posted by Frank at 9:38 PM 0 comments Links to this post

 
Todd Ogasawara has written a good tip for how you can work with Word Mobile and Excel Mobile documents without syncing them to a desktop using ActiveSync or Windows Mobile Device Center. He suggests emailing them to a Google mail account and then importing them in to Google Docs.

Labels: 2007, tips

posted by Frank at 10:59 AM 0 comments Links to this post

 
Some Windows Mobile Professional devices have a customized appearance created by the provider, such as T-Mobile. If you would like to change that appearance, Pocketnow.com has a registery change that you can enter.

Labels: tips, Windows Mobile 6

posted by Frank at 4:05 PM 0 comments Links to this post

 
One frustration that many Pocket PC users have is with the stylus and that Windows Mobile for Pocket PCs is designed to be operated with a stylus. While Microsoft has made improvements over the years to make using a Pocket PC with one hand and without a stylus easier, it is still not as good as a Smartphone. Fortunately, there is software available that improves one hand operation.

I have been using Smartskey on my T-Mobile MDA and I strongly recommend it. It adds functionality to the left and right softkey so that if I press and hold the right key, it clicks OK; closing most windows. Press and hold the left softkey to open the Start menu. With these two functions you can access much of the information on the Pocket PC without touching the screen. As a bonus with Smartskey the volume slider provides page up and page down in Internet Explorer.

Spb Software House has just released Spb Mobile Shell which goes even further towards improving one hand operation. It re-defines the left and right soft keys on the Today screen, and provides a Today screen plug-in to quickly get at many functions. At $29 the program may seem a bit expensive, but I think the price is worth it for the functionality that it provides. Check it out.

Labels: tips

posted by Frank at 8:05 PM 0 comments Links to this post