Slate has a retrospective on the camera phone in their article (and podcast)…
The first commercial camera phones came out a few years later. And, of course, here in the US, we didn’t figure it out until just a few years ago. But, we certainly seemed to have gotten with the program since then, eh?
Have you ever wanted to get more precise information about your cell phone’s signal strength. This Popular Science article briefly describes what the Field Test Mode is and how to interpret its value.
Popular Science: Stop Dropped Calls
The article links to this 4-page PDF file that provides detailed instructions on how to find this value on dozens of phones.
wpsantennas.com Cellular Phone Field Test Modes (PDF file)
One of the innovations that came with Microsoft Windows Mobile 5 for Pocket PC users was non-volitile flash RAM and the storage of key Windows Mobile databases in this RAM. This meant that both Pocket PC users would no longer lose their contacts and calendars when a battery died. Since Microsoft presumed that Pocket PC users would no longer need to restore their system from a hard disk through ActiveSync, they removed the Backup and Restore function for Pocket PCs in ActiveSync!
IMHO, this was a truly bad idea. Let’s say you lose or badly damage your Pocket PC (or Smartphone for that matter since it was never able to Backup/Restore over ActiveSync since it always had non-volitile flash RAM for PIM data). You go ahead and get an identical new Pocket PC. You know have to rebuild the Pocket PC from scratch. Sure, ActiveSync will repartner with it and flow data from Outlook. But, you have to reinstall your applications, rebuild email definitions for Messaging (Inbox), type in your name, etc., etc. In other words, you end up wasting an hour or more rebuilding your setup. This is something that ActiveSync Restore could have handled mostly unattended in much less time and hassle.
Manufacturers didn’t help matters much either. Prior to Windows Mobile 5, many Pocket PCs came with manufacturer supplied backup-to-storage-card utilities. These utilities archived your system RAM contents to a storage card in a single file. This file could be easily copied to your hard drive and further archived on a CD-R, thumb drive, or network store. But, many WM5 Pocket PCs don’t have these add-on utilities in firmware.
So, now what? Fortunately, there are other people who, like me, believe that a simple single file archival backup is a good idea. I use Spb Backup from Sbp Software House on my i-Mate K-JAM Pocket PC Phone Edition. It’s simple, fast, and has a notification area on my Start window to let me know when I last performed a backup.
If you use a Windows Mobile Pocket PC, you might want to consider heading over to the recently launched…
This online destination is produced by Spb Software House which created and sells numerous Pocket PC and Smartphone applications. One of my must-have Pocket PC apps is Spb Backup. But, more on that tomorrow when I rant a bit about backup assumptions for the Pocket PC.
Joining this free online site gives you access to free Pocket PC ring tones, free Pocket PC themes, and access to support for Spb Windows Mobile products.
Here’s a tip for Microsoft Windows Mobile Smartphone users…
Go to Microsoft Outlook on your desktop and create a calendar appointment or task. Now type a mix of text and phone numbers in a note field. Just type them in as you might any note to yourself. Then, sync your Smartphone with the PC using ActiveSync.
Take a look at the phone numbers in the note field of the Calendar or Task event you created. They should be colored blue and underlined. Use your navigation pad to move the screen focus to one of the numbers then press return. Your phone should start dialing that number.
It turns out that Windows Mobile Smartphones assume any number grouping that resembles a phone number is in fact a phone number and makes it dialable by focusing on it and selecting it. This is incredibly useful for quickly entering a group (say for a business meeting, lunch with friends, or a parents’ meeting) where you might want to call a group of people quickly. Just store the names and numbers in a notes field somewhere and move the focus and dial each number as needed.
Unfortunately, this feature is not available for Windows Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition devices.
HTC seems produce most of the cool Windows Mobile phones on the market. Unfortunately, they also seem to have a bazillion code names for their models and I can never remember any of them. If you have a problem following the phone buzz in various news sites and forums, this HTCÂ sponsored wiki page may help you out.
HTC Community Wiki Smartphone Guides
It has photos, code names, and released product names for each of their products.