MobileViews Blog

Category: Pocket PC/Phone Edition

Pocket PC or Pocket PC Phone Edition

  • T-Mobile Access Point Names & Wireless Modem Usage

    One of the nice things about T-Mobile’s GPRS/EDGE data service compared to others (such as Verizon Wireless) is that it lets you use your phone as a wireless modem. And, it worked fine until this past April. Up until this past April, I used internet2.voicestream.com (NAT) Access Point Name (APN). It stopped working at that time and I switched to internet3.voicestream.com (public IP). However, when using my phone as a wireless modem using a Bluetooth connection to my Pocket PC with a nice big QWERTY keyboard, I had to drop the connection from 115.2Kbps to 38.4Kbps. I had to use my phone as a wireless modem a bit over the past week. I played with the settings and verified that I was limited to 38.4Kbps. Then, I switched the APN back to internet3.voicestream.com. And, yep, I was able to set the Bluetooth serial connection speed back up to 115.2Kbps.

  • 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.

  • 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

  • Upgrading a Windows Mobile 2003 2nd Ed. Pocket PC to Media Player 10 Mobile

    Zack Whittaker over at MSBlog.org asks how to upgrade a Windows Mobile 2003 2nd Edition Pocket PC to Media Player 10 Mobile. And, the answer is:  Not from Microsoft. Windows Mobile devices are more like applicances than computers. The large ROM-based applications like Media Player must be burned-in rather than simply installed on top of whatever is there. These firmware based applications are updated by the device manufacturer (not Microsoft). It tends differ from manufacturer to manufacturer. My Dell Axim X50v device, for example, got its Media Player 10 Mobile upgrade with the large AKU2 upgrade Dell made available last year. HP and other firms provided similar upgrades.

  • HP iPAQ rx5915 Travel Companion

    HP iPAQ rx5915HP’s web site shows their soon-to-be-released GPS, WiFi (802.11b and 802.11g!), Bluetooth, music/photo/video playing, Windows Mobile 5 powered handheld device with a 3.5″ LCD screen (bigger than the Zune’s) with a price of $599.99.

    HP iPAQ rx5915 Travel Companion

    So, whatever happened to the $500 GPS-enabled UMPC anyway? In any case, CNET has a video review of this new GPS-enabled iPAQ available at the link below.

    HP iPaq rx5900 Travel Companion

    Too bad it doesn’t have a QWERTY keyboard of some kind…