MobileViews Blog

Author: todd

  • Microsoft Windows Mobile + LEGO Mindstorms NXT = WiMo

    Ever wonder what would happen if you mashed up a LEGO Mindstorms NXT robotics kit and a Windows Mobile Smartphone? Apparently so did Microsoft’s Brian Cross. You can find his source code and other information about his work on…

    WiMo: The Windows Mobile Robot

    You can find a video demonstration of an early version (May 2006) of this project by Mel Sampat and Brian on MSDN Channel 9 at:

    Mel Sampat and Brian Cross – Microsoft Mobile App Compat

  • Q&A: Windows Mobile 5 Printer Support?

    Reader OdL asks:

    As a simple programmer of our laboratory, i’ve made a handy PDA application for our fieldworkers so they can: 
    • retrieve projectinformation from our database
    • walk through a wizzerd to fill in information
    • make a CAD-drawing, saved as WMF
    • print report including the drawing “on the spot” (HP Deskjet 450, IRDa)
    • transmit information & drawings, so the server can generate certificates for authoriation
    This all works as a charm, except for the printing part.
    We were using “HP Mobile Printing” software, which is now discontinued.
    Now comes the time we have to purchase new printers that are not supported by “HP Mobile Printer” software, and so we’re looking for a new solution as well.
     
    The current reports we use for mobile printing, are basically generated HTML-templates with jpg’s, printed from InternetExplorer.
     
    What I wanted to ask from a PDA-expert, what can be the best mobile print solutions for our situation?
     
    I was thinking about using PIEprint from fieldsoftware.com, but the quality kind’a sucks.
    Hmm. I haven’t looked at that issue in a long time (since Windows Mobile 5 came out, basically). Here’s what I found after a quick look-see this evening though.
    Please let me know if either of this work (or not) for you. I think other people will be interested to learn your findings.

  • Q&A: Windows Mobile Pocket PC Web Database Interaction

    Reader R.L. asks: came across your Blog and similarly O’Reilly articles. Wonder if you
    could help please. Looking for a PDA Application (Mobile Windows) that
    has the potential to push and pull data to and from a Web Server based
    Database. Effectively allowing such aspects as ‘Search’ (via some nice
    GUI tools) that then checks Server (assuming WIFI and/or GPRS enabled)
    and brings relevant data about that ‘Object’ to the PDA App screen.
    Hope you can help; much appreciated.

    You are going to have to build it yourself. Here are a couple of Windows Mobile database tools that might do the trick for you.

    Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Mobile Edition

    Syware’s suite of mobile development products

    db40

  • MSNBC’s Krakow Raves about the T-Mobile Dash

    MSNBC’s Gary Krakow gave the soon-to-be-released T-Mobile Dash (AKA HTC Excalibur) a rave review in…

    T-Mobile’s Dash: Head-turning smartphone

    I’d like to make a correction to his article though. He says Dash runs on the latest version of the Windows Mobile operating system. That means you get the portable versions of Outlook, Word, Excel, Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player and lots more.

    Dash is a Windows Mobile based Smartphone, not a Pocket PC Phone Edition. So, it does not have features like Excel Mobile and Word Mobile.

    You can find more information about the Dash on T-Mobile site at…

    T-Mobile Dashâ„¢

    The first things you’ll notice about it is its QWERTY thumb-keyboard and QVGA landscape format screen (320×240). I sure hope it is affordable because I now want to replace my T-Mobile SDA smartphone with the Dash. Its scheduled availability date is October 25.

  • Bye Bye ActiveSync, Hello Windows Mobile Device Center

    Bye bye, ActiveSync! Hello, Windows Mobile Device Center (at least for Vista). If you plan on using a Windows Mobile based Pocket PC or Smartphone with Windows Vista, you will need to learn a new and more unmemorable name for the software that syncs with mobile devices. You can find the download for it at…
    Microsoft ® Windows Mobile ® Device Center Beta 3 for Windows Vista™ (x86)

  • Microsoft Explains Why X Doesn’t Exit Windows Mobile Applications

    You wouldn’t think a simple X in the upper right hand corner of a Microsoft Windows Mobile Pocket PC/Phone Edition would cause so much heated discussion. But, it does. The reason? A Windows Mobile Pocket PC somewhat resembles its older and larger sibling: Microsoft Windows. In all its various versions (from 1.0 to Vista), clicking the X in the upper right hand corner causes the application to close (most of them, anyway).

    This doesn’t happen on a Windows Mobile Pocket PC. Clicking the X on a Pocket PC simply leaves the application running in the background and brings the previous application placed in the background to the foreground (makes it visible). Mike Calligaro, of the Microsoft Windows Mobile Team, explains the rationale behind this design choice in his blog entry…

    The Emperor Has No Close