MobileViews Blog

Category: Pocket PC/Phone Edition

Pocket PC or Pocket PC Phone Edition

  • Ilium’s 10th Anniversary: Good Time to Get eWallet

    Sorry this post’s title sounds so much like an advertisement. But, you may have seen me mention their eWallet product (which I’ve used since version 1.0 on an HP 320LX Handheld PC) and rave about it here.

    So, if you’ve been thinking about getting Ilium Software’s eWallet (stores sensitive info in an encrypted file), their 10th anniversary celebration week would be a good time. Ilium has it on sale for $10 (regular $29.95) for the Professional Edition on their anniversary page:

    Ilium Software 10th Anniversary

    You can also read a bit more about their annivesary on their blog.

    I moved eWallet and NewsBreak when I migrated from my SDA smartphone to a Dash smartphone which was also a move from Windows Mobile 5 to 6. Both apps to seem to run ok though I’ve noticed a long pause in NewsBreak (RSS reader) that I didn’t see on the SDA WM5 smartphone. I’m trying to collect more details about this and will report the info to Ilium once I can see some pattern.

  • Pocket Sharp MT: No Go on a Windows Mobile 6 PDA

    I just tried Pocket Sharp MT 3.3 on a Pocket PC running Windows Mobile 6. It installs and starts up without any problem. However, it crashes immediately after I press the Refresh button after entering the information to post to this blog. I’ll try the Smartphone version on the Dash later to see if I have better luck with that platform.

  • Windows Mobile 6 Smartphone Lost Category in Calendar

    Windows Mobile 6 Smartphone Calender

    Microsoft has been telling us not to fret about not being able to sync Outlook subfolders and to use Categories instead. OK, fine. I’ve been doing that since 1997. But, um, look what’s missing in the Windows Mobile 6 Standard Edition (Smartphone) Calendar… Yep, the Category field is not there anymore. If I missed it, just let me know. ‘Cause I actually use Categories when I create an appointment. The Category field still exists in the Windows Mobile 6 Professional/Classic Editions (Pocket PC/Phone Edition) though. So, it is a little bit of a mystery why it was removed from the Smartphone. Maybe only “professionals” need categories for calendar events? I dunno.

  • Windows Mobile 6 Pocket PC

    Windows Mobile 6 Excel Mobile for Pocket PCI’ve got Windows Mobile 6 on a Pocket PC to compare with a Smartphone (or Professional and Standard Editions if you prefer). Word Mobile and Excel Mobile have obvious advantages on the larger Pocket PC format factor with a touchscreen. But, it is amazing how much nicer some features like word completion look on a Smartphone vs. a Pocket PC. You would think the more mature (from an editing perspective) Pocket PC would have the advantage. But, that is not the case from my point of view. Despite this, though, entering information in Word Mobile or Excel Mobile on the Pocket PC is still a much better and easier experience overall.

    And, ack, ack, ack, when is Microsoft going to bring the good ol’ calculator for the Pocket PC out of the 20th century and into this one? It looks awful and out of place compared to the rest of the Pocket PC and downright archaic compared to the small but reasonably effective UI they added for the Smartphone’s WM6 calculator.

  • ActiveSync vs. Hibernate & ActiveSync vs. Poke in the Eye

    If you think I rant about ActiveSync, check out my friend Ed Hansberry’s blog item on PocketPCThoughts.com titled…

    Windows Mobile Device Center Poked Me In The Eye

    …where he describes a particularly painful encounter with ActiveSync the Next Generation (aka Windows Mobile Device Center – WMDC) which deleted as he says: …about 90% of my files from both the PC and device, so there were really no files to be found. Ouch!

    In my effort to conserve energy and reduce my personal carbon footprint, I’ve been using Hibernate with both Windows XP and Windows Vista for the past two months or so (you can check out my new GreenTechies blog if you are interested in such things… One of my slogans is: You don’t need to believe in global warming to want to save money 🙂 And, guess what piece of software seems to get particularly confused by Hibernating a system? [In my best Mr. Rogers’ voice] You are right… I knew you could guess that… I don’t use my Vista PC to sync regularly with a Windows Mobile device (just for testing). So, I don’t really see it over there yet. But, Windows XP + Hibernate + ActiveSync 4.5 doesn’t paint a pretty picture. If you know how to stablize ActiveSync on a hibernating PC, please let me know.

  • Ack… Windows Mobile 6 Confusion By the Print Press

    Well, I knew this was bound to happen as soon as I heard Microsoft changed the names of the Windows Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition and Smartphone to Professional Edition and Standard Edition. It not only confuses the ordinary customer, it also confuses technology journalists.

    Take a look at page 22 in the May 2007 issue of PC World. The half-page article is titled: Windows Mobile 6: New E-Mail Options. Read the sentence (about half-way through): And now you can edit data in an Excel spreadsheet (you still can’t create formulas or new spreadsheets though). Um, what? Yep, we have one confused tech journalist here. So, if you hear/read this repeated somewhere, please try to spread the correct information back down the path (I’ll try to track down the writer’s email address and do the same).

    The Pocket PC/Phone Edition has had the ability to edit Word and Excel documents (though translation was required until Windows Mobile 5) since, hmm, the Pocket PC 2000 days. Windows Mobile 6 Professional Edition devices (Pocket PC Phone Edition) can still create and edit Word and Excel documents in their native formats (though not all functions are supported). The Smartphone (now called Standard Edition) never had any Microsoft-provided Word or Excel viewing capabilities at all up to and including Windows Mobile 5 Smartphones. Some vendors supplied third party tools to view documents, but Microsoft never provided the capability for the Smartphone. However, as I mentioned in a previous blog item, Windows Mobile 6 Standard Edition (Smartphone) does allow editing Word and Excel documents.

    Next, Excel Mobile for Standard Edition (Smartphone) does let you enter functions in a cell. It doesn’t provide an function list, but you can type it in yourself ( e.g., =SUM(A1:A3) ).

    Finally, yes, for some odd reason, Excel Mobile and Word Mobile do not let you create new documents on a Smartphone (let’s drop the Standard Edition stuff). However, there is a simple workaround. Just think about it for a moment and it will come to you 🙂