pocketnow.com Discussion - pocketnow News: DataPlay is Here Proving that some things actually do make it to market, PocketNow reports a device capable of playing DataPlay disks is made it to market. DataPlay was shown at Comdex several years ago, and at that time rumors (and hopes) were that there would be a way to use them with Pocket PCs since they promised to provide 500 MB disks for a low price. I wonder if the lower price of CompactFlash and Secure Digital cards have made DataPlay irrelevant?
posted by Frank McPherson 1:22 PM |
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PocketPCTools.com reports that MobilePlanet has the Zayo line of Pocket PCs and accessories available for pre-order. What I find interesting about this, is that it makes it only the second Pocket PC to come to market that is not from a big name company. Unfortunately, the first one was UR There's Pocket PC devices that turned out be be of very poor quality. As Pocket PC enthusiasts we get enamored with the designs of these devices, but perhaps we ought to be giving more thought and concern to build quality.
At any rate, I hope the Zayo is successful. The hardware looks cool and you can't help but root for the underdog.
posted by Frank McPherson 1:14 PM |
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Guess the Pocket PC geek and get your name on the Pocket PC Thoughts front page.
posted by Frank McPherson 1:06 PM |
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Arne has posted an article about pocketBlueChat, which you can use to chat using two Bluetooth-capable Pocket PCs.
posted by Frank McPherson 12:22 PM |
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datanywhere.com Sync-N-Charge USB Cable for T-Mobile/O2 XDA I got this cable yesterday, and took it in to work today to hook up to my IBM T21 Thinkpad notebook, and it works as advertised. AFAIK, if you need a second USB connection to a desktop this cable is the only one you can buy since the T-Mobile accessories aren't shipping. The added benefit is that this cable also charges the device, so you don't need a separate power adapter. I was surprised to find that the charging even works through my Belkin USB hub, which I have plugged in to an AC adapter.
posted by Frank McPherson 12:19 PM |
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datanywhere.com Universal Accessory Adapter iPaq3600 to PocketPC Phone Cool, the T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone just became even more functional thanks to this adapter that will let you use iPAQ 3600 accessories, like the Targus Stowaway keyboard, and the Travroute Pocket CoPilot. The accessory will be available at the end of this month.
posted by Frank McPherson 12:09 PM |
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Yahoo! News - Dell Exec Says May Launch Handhelds in Mid 2003 Looks to me like Dell is waffling on the idea of selling handhelds.
posted by Frank McPherson 2:33 PM |
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Pocket PC Phone Edition supports up to 99 speed dials. To use a one digit speed dial, press and hold the number, and within a few seconds the speed dial number will be called. For two digit speed dials, press the first number, and then press and hold the second number.
There are several ways to assign speed dials. You can tap the Speed Dial button on the phone application, or you can assign any contact to a speed dial by tapping and holding a contact, and then tap the Add Speed Dial option on the pop-up menu. You can only assign phone numbers from contacts to a speed dial. If you want to create a speed dial for something that is not in contacts, you will have to create a contact first.
The Phone application checks the speed dial each time you use it to see if it is in contacts. (My guess is that it actually uses the contacts database to retrieve phone numbers.) If you delete a contact assigned to a speed dial, the Phone app will tell you that it can't find a contact and tell you to re-assign the speed dial. You also cannot change the name of the speed dial. For example, I assign the number 2 to my home phone number on all my mobile phones. I first tried to manually create the speed dial, but discovered that I couldn't create one, it only allows me to select a contact to assign. I don't have a contact record for Home, but I do have a contact record for wife on which I have our home phone number. So I select her contact, and select the home phone number. The Phone app let me change the name of the speed dial from my wife's name to home, and I tapped OK. At this point I think I got exactly what I want until I try the speed dial. Instead of dialing the number for Home, Phone app displays a dialog saying that it can't find the contact for Home.
I understand the thinking behind the way Microsoft did this. Basically, why re-create an addressbook for speed dials when you have phone numbers and names in contacts. Yet at the same time, I don't know if I want my Outlook contacts strewn with all sorts of generic entries that make sense for just having phone numbers with no addresses. And I really get frustrated when computers don't let me do what I want to do.
posted by Frank McPherson 9:53 AM |
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I figured out how to get the T-Mobile phone to work with my voice mail at work. Basically, I created a new contact for calling VME and used commas to pause before entering all the appropriate codes. I then assigned that contact to one of the speed dials, and I am as good as the T39. One of the things I want to do is try and see if I can find some software that will dial the phone with voice commands.
posted by Frank McPherson 11:40 PM |
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I know it seems like such a small thing, but I really dig the ring tone functionality of Pocket PC Phone Edition. Microsoft provides some free ring tones as part of the Pocket PC power toys download. I found out about this power toy by reading Pocket PC Magic's Pocket PC Phone ebook, which I bought and installed on the storage card in my T-mobile device. Download the setup program on the web page and have the setup install the ring tone wav files to the storage card. Then to select the individual ring tones that you want, use the Ring Tone setting by tapping Start, Settings, System, Add Ring Tone. The setting collects all WAV files on the device and storage card, and provides a way to play the WAV. You can select the files you want, and when you tap OK the files will be copied to the \Windows\Rings folder, where you can then select them using the phone settings. There are several ways to get to the phone settings, such as Start, Settings, Phone, or tapping the T-Mobile icon at the bottom of the today screen and tapping Phone settings, or tapping Tools, Options while in the phone application.
I chuckled when I heard the voice ring tones, and knew right away that I had to install those on my Pocket PC Phone.
posted by Frank McPherson 2:10 PM |
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Yesterday I wrote that in order to switch the T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone edition to vibrate you have to go into the phone settings. I have found that is not the only way to switch to vibrate because you can also tap the volume icon at the top of the screen, which displays a pop-up menu for changing the volume, or turning the volume on or off, or switching to vibrate.
Better yet, you can use the volume button on the side of the T-Mobile to switch to vibrate. As you press the button the volume increases. When it gets to the very top press the button three times, on the fourth press the volume will be turned off. Press it again and it will switch to vibrate. Press again and it turns the volume back on, and then keep pressing the button to increase the volume. You don't what to just press and hold the button thinking it will repeat because for me it just sticks at the top. If you press. release and press again you can scroll through all the settings of the volume pop-up. So, eventually as you press the volume button it will cycle through all the settings, allowing you to turn the volume down.
posted by Frank McPherson 1:48 PM |
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