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  • Happy 10th Anniversary Microsoft Windows Mobile

    HP320LX With BoxI don’t know the actual introduction date for the first Windows CE devices. But, I always considered their launch at Fall Comdex 1996 to be their public introduction. The original devices were pretty spartan by even my 1996 standards. So, I waited until early 1997 to buy my first Windows CE device: An HP 320LX Handheld PC. It was a step up from HP’x 300LX. The 320LX had 4MB RAM (compared to the 300LX’s 2MB), a backlit screen, and a CompactFlash slot as well as a PC Card slot. Unlike other Handheld PC, it also had a 640×240 grayscale (greenscale) screen. It was a great device and as you can see from the photos here, it still works! HP engineers really built stuff to last back then (I have a few choice words about the iPAQ line HP inherited from their Compaq merger in some other blog entry). I just stuck in a fresh pair of AA batteries and the HP 320LX fired up. Even the backlight still works fine.

    HP320LX with Compaq Aero 8000Microsoft’s manufacturing partners experimented with all kinds of Handheld PC form factors before the HPC bit the product life dust in 2000 (or thereabouts). You can see the Compaq Aero 8000 Handheld PC behemoth in the second photo. Yep, this monster is a Handheld PC too. It has a 800×600 color screen, built in modem, and a bunch of other interesting features. But, alas the instant-on notebook sized device concept never caught on. The Aero 8000 also suffered from a pitiful battery life. I recall not being able to get much more than an hour of use under battery power. The T-Mobile SDA phone in the photo is just there to help you get a feel of the size of the devices.

    HP320LX with Windows Mobile 5 DevicesAlthough the Handheld PC platform rode off into the sunset, a good idea never truly dies. We can see that current day Pocket PC Phone Edition devices like the JasJar, K-JAM (both pictured here), and host of QWERTY keyboard enabled Pocket PCs and Smartphones owe a great deal to the original Handheld PC design.

    I have to mention the first non-Microsoft Windows CE web site I found before signing off on this blog item: Craig Peacocks Windows CE Pages. I believe he created the site shortly after seeing the first Handheld PCs at Fall Comdex 1996. I didn’t attend that Comdex. But, I did go to Fall Comdex 1997 and was able to sync up with Craig in person. Craig’s work inspired me to get involved in getting a deeper working understanding of Windows CE and I ended up creating and then managing the MSN Computing Central Windows CE Forum for a number of years. Craig went on to much bigger and better things than I and is currently a key player in the Microsoft Windows Mobile product team!
    So, happy 10th anniversary Microsoft Windows Mobile! It will be a blast to see what happens in the next 10 years.

  • Freeware: XnView Pocket-Image Viewer for Pocket PC

    Ran across this freeware image viewer for the Pocket PC the other day…

    XnView Pocket

    Those of you with older Pocket PC devices might find it especially interesting since its creator provides versions for devices going back to the Pocket PC 2000.

  • DeveloperOne Agenda One for Smartphone

    DeveloperOne released their Agenda One for Smartphone last week and the Pocket PC version this week. I bought a much earlier version years ago for an early model Pocket PC and liked it quite a bit. But, moving from one device to another as I do, I lost my product registration and didn’t install it on subsequent devices. For the past 8 months or so I’ve been using a Windows Mobile Smartphone (T-Mobile SDA) as my primary device. This is quite a change for me since I usually prefer to use a Pocket PC Phone Edition (the i-Mate K-JAM was my previous phone). I still carry a Pocket PC around with me if I need to take notes since I still can’t enter text quickly enough using T9 on DTMF layout keyboard.

    My Smartphone currently only has two add-on applications: Ilium Software’s NewsBreak RSS newsfeed reader and Microsoft’s (now defunct) Pocket Streets (most of my data entry related work takes place on a Pocket PC). So, a lot of consideration goes into deciding whether or not to install and try an application on a Smartphone. The weak calendar viewing capabilities of Windows Mobile’s integrated calendar finally drove me to install Agenda One just to get an informative week-view on my phone.

    Agenda One provides alternate views for Contacts, Tasks, and other Calendar views too. But, for me the winning feature is the week-viewing feature. That alone may convince me to keep it on the Smartphone beyond a test period.

  • Microsoft 10 (on10.net) Adds Zune Video Format Downloads

    I’m not sure when they added this, but the Microsoft 10 consumer video blogging site (sort of a consumer version of Microsoft’s Channel9 site for developers) added the option to download video in the Zune format.  It also provides versions for the Apple iPod, Sony PSP, as well as WMV (Windows Media Video).

  • Windows Mobile Loses Features With Each Upgrade???

    The Microsoft Windows Mobile platform turns 10 years old next week (more on this topic next week). Mike Calligaro’s most recent blog item which bravely (Mike blogs about a lot of hot button topics on behalf of Microsoft) tries to explain Microsoft’s rationale for removing the ability to use ActiveSync over Ethernet (wired or wireless) reminded me of an interesting fact about Windows Mobile: It may be one of the few products that actually lost functions across a series of upgrades. Let’s take a look at just the features I can remember losing in no particular order (I don’t claim this is a comprehensive list. So, feel free to let me know about lost features I neglect to mention).

    • ActiveSync over Ethernet
    • Microsoft Access Database Importation
    • Printing (with add-on driver)
    • Microsoft Reader
    • Creating a Media Player Playlist on the Device Itself
    • Ability to Manually Disconnect from ActiveSync while connected over USB
    • AvantGo Reader in firmware
    • Menus at the bottom of the screen (replaced by two giant soft-buttons)
    • Ability to add to Tasks on the device (Smartphone)
    • Ability to encrypt Word or Excel documents/spreadsheets
    • Backup entire device to PC using ActiveSync
    • Pocket Money (add-on Microsoft application)
    • Pocket Streets (add-on Microsoft application)

    The Windows Mobile Pocket PC (perhaps soon to disappear in non-phone configurations based on sales declines) and Smartphone are still my mobile devices of choice. But, even with explanations from people like Microsoft’s Mike Calligaro about various design choices, it is difficult for an ordinary end-user like me to understand why I’m losing features and options (even software add-ons) which each new Windows Mobile generation of devices.

  • Q&A: Excel Mobile Unsupported Content & Formatting

    Reader P.L. asks: I just purchased a Treo 700W from Verizon. Excel Mobile will not let me save updates to most of the Excel files that I have synced to the handheld. It gives me a window that says unsupported content and formatting will be lost if I save the workbook and then it will not let me save it. I’m forced into a ‘Save As’ function. I cannot figure out what is unsupported and cannot find any documentation on the subject. Can you help?

    I’m guessing a few details are missing from this story and will assume the following additional details…

    • The problem spreadsheets were created using a full version of Excel on a desktop or notebook.
    • This spreadsheet was copied to the Pocket PC Phone Edition (Treo 700w)
    • The spreadsheet was modified (new data and/or change existing data in cells)

    If this is the case, then this is, believe it or not, normal (though undesirable). Word Mobile and Excel Mobile only provide small subsets of the features available in the full version for Windows XP. And, despite years of pleading from many users (including me), neither Mobile application provides what is called non-destructive round-tripping. So, if you use, for example, unsupported features like macros or unsupported statistical functions on the original version created using the full version of Excel 2003, these features will not be preserved if the spreadsheet is modified on the Pocket PC and then saved back to the same file.

    The workaround is to adopt a workflow model that takes this into account. For example, let’s say we have an Excel 2003 spreadsheet file named FOO.XLS. Instead of copying it directly to the Pocket PC, we make a copy named FOO-MOBILE.XLS on the desktop first. This renamed copy is copied over to the Pocket PC where it is worked on. When saving the modified spreadsheet back to the Pocket PC, you can ignore the warning and save it. This modified FOO-MOBILE.XLS is then copied back to the desktop PC where the data can either be manually or automatically (using additional macros or VBA scripts) merged back into the original version.

    I am not pleased with this situation either. A number of people including me have been telling Microsoft’s Windows Mobile product management group that it is critical to have non-destructive round-tripping for Excel Mobile and Word Mobile. However, we have always been told that major customers have not identified this as a high priority issue. If this is an issue for you (as it is for me), you should definitely let Microsoft know through your Microsoft account executives, at conferences, or the Microsoft wish request.