Windows Mobile Pocket PC & Symbian Smartphone software and freeware, reviews, tips & tricks

Feb 04 How to get the most out of your today screen
Published by root in:Tips,

"These ideas are really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to making the most of your Today screen. Creative developers have come up with Today add-ins that can put everything from an extended weather forecast to up-to-the-minute RSS feeds right at your fingertips. All you have to do is decide which kinds of information you want to have at your fingertips, and in no time you can transform your Today screen from a boring home base to an information-packed productivity tool." - Says Brad Adrian (author of that great article recently posted at the Microsoft web site)

I used to take my Today screen for granted, not really paying attention to all it has to offer. Then, I found out how easy it is to transform it into both a great launching pad for all of my work and a time-saving synopsis of my Microsoft Outlook Mobile applications.

You can quickly make your Today screen much more functional by changing the way the Today screen items appear. Tap Start > Settings > Personal tab>. Tap Today, and then tap the Items tab. Here you can choose the items that show up on the Today screen, the order they appear in, and the display options for the items.

Changing the Calendar options on the Items tab really helps me keep track of my daily schedule. By tapping Calendar and then tapping Options, you can make sure that your Today screen Calendar shows not only your next appointment, but all of your upcoming appointments for that day.

If you like to keep all of the Today screen items displayed and have a lot of upcoming appointments, your Today screen can get cluttered pretty quickly—you might need scrollbars to see everything. But if you change the default text size on your Pocket PC, you can cram more items onto your Today screen. Tap Start > Settings > System tab, and tap the Screen icon. Then select the Text Size tab. By moving the slider, you can easily make the font size smaller (or larger, for that matter).

Personally, I find the next-to-smallest size works best for me; but if you've got a VGA device (and younger eyes than I do) the smallest text size might work for you.

A lot of Pocket PC users like to be able to easily see what their battery status and memory status are at all times, so adding some form of monitoring utility to the Today screen is fairly popular.

The screens that appear earlier in this article show Omega One's Battery Pack or Battery Pack Pro v 2.1, but others—like Battery Meter from Wireless Design Technologies and iPAQ Panel included with the RhinoSuite Software Collection from RhinoCode Technologies (iPAQ Panel comes pre-installed on some HP iPAQ devices)—work just as well.

Some utilities, like Omega One's Battery Pack Pro and PocketPlus from SPB Software House let you add both battery and memory status monitors and application shortcuts to your Today screen. I used to think that adding a bunch of shortcut icons to my Today screen made it look more cramped than Jimi Hendrix fans at Woodstock, but once it was clear how many screen taps could be saved each day, thanks to the shortcuts, I didn't mind a few more icons.

Now, if you really want to juice up your Today screen and tweak it to show as much information as possible, applications like Pocket Informant from WebIS , Agenda Fusion from Developer One, and Pocket Breeze from SBSH can help. With these applications, you can add things like scrollable and collapsible Calendar lists and searchable Contacts lists. As you can see, these kinds of applications can really fill up a Today screen, but they can also make it much easier to get to all the information you've got stored on your device.

Finally, using different themes and background images can spice up and personalize the appearance of your Today screen. There are tons of themes available online (don't ask me how many themes are in a ton) and you can even make your own, if you like. You can learn more about using themes on your Windows Mobile-powered Pocket PC in "Personalize Your Device."

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Feb 04 WayPoint Pocket Real Estate GPS-equipped PDA
Published by Vesselin Nerdeff in:Devices, GPS,

Mobile Crossing and Pocket Real Estate are teaming up to offer an innovative aid for real estate agents. The WayPoint Pocket Real Estate Edition provides a GPS navigation system for the user along with other basic PDA functions. The unit is primarily tailored for real estate agents, providing them with a virtual roadmap for home tours. Its QuickSearch feature can pinpoint properties through their address or MLS number.

The agent could even program a tour by specifying several places that would be covered by the activity. The device would then provide them with the directions in sequence or lay out indicated by the user. Aside from providing exact locations of properties, the device also gives the user an extensive map of the location. The unit’s ability to present an overview of the map would allow the estate broker to provide the client with an idea of what the whole neighborhood looks like.

Essential real estate brokering tools are also integrated in WayPoint. The unit could perform calculations or computations on home equity, loan balance, loan, mortgage, loan amortization. MLS information such as bed, bath, location, and price are also presented on the display.

Other WayPoint functions or capabilities include advanced prospect/customer profiling, contact management, market statistics, and hot sheets. You would also be able to view complete regional and US national maps without the need for attaching or installing memory modules.

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Feb 04 Emergency Medicine Manual PDA version released by Unbound Medicine
Published by Vesselin Nerdeff in:Software, Mobile News,

Unbound Medicine has just released the popular Emergency Medicine Manual for PDA. This hot new product covers the wide range of clinical problems seen by emergency physicians. Each topic gives explicit recommendations for diagnosis, management and drug therapy. New coverage includes sections on bioterrorism and weapons of mass destruction. Emergency Medicine Manual has been endorsed by the American College of Emergency Physicians.

Completely updated! The essential clinical guide for Emergency Medicine in a compact, accessible format. Diagnosis, management, drug information, and more -- endorsed by ACEP!
Emergency Medicine Manual, 6th edition puts a remarkable amount of clinically focused information at your fingertips. Newly updated for PDA, the manual delivers patient presentations, diagnoses, treatment strategies, indications for hospital admission, and appropriate follow-up--all organized for rapid reference

Features: * Step-by-step treatment guidelines
* NEW pharmacologic considerations with specific updated drug dosages
* 123 tables--easily seen with Unbound's unique table viewer
* Bioterrorism and weapons of mass destruction, infectious diseases, and more
* Endorsed by the American College of Emergency Physicians! The Emergency Medicine Manual is available for Palm and Pocket PC Devices. Below you can find requirements and download links.


Emergency Medicine Manual for Pocket PC
Requirements
Pocket PC 2000 or later
Windows Mobile 5.0 supported
ActiveSync 3.1 or later
Windows PC with Internet connection
Memory Cards Supported
2.7 Mb of handheld memory

Emergency Medicine Manual for Palm OS
Requirements
Palm OS 3.5 or later
Palm HotSync Manager 4.1 or later
Windows PC or Mac OS X with
Internet connection
Memory Cards Supported
2.7 Mb of handheld memory

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Feb 04 Images of Rumored HP rw6828 iPAQ ... Is it really the new Atom?
Published by Vesselin Nerdeff in:Mobile News, Atom, Smartphone, iPAQ,

Few hours ago our friends from mobilitytoday.com have received these images from an anonymous source. As it looks the source has already this new hp ipaq in his hands /the ipaq as we have told you allready is a rebrand of the O2 famous Atom/. The pictures he have taken are quite blurry but for me looks like it could really be the rumored rw6828...

So now the question that stands upon us is "Is this really the new HP version of XDA Atom and if it is not then what it is?" be sure you will get your answer soon.

You can read our previous articles about this rumor at
http://www.mobiletopsoft.com/board/view.php?newsid=552
http://www.mobiletopsoft.com/board/view.php?newsid=601 Via Mobilitytoday.com
http://mobilitytoday.com/news/rw6828_ipaq_photos.html

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Feb 04 Destinator PN for Pocket PC with Windows Mobile 5.0 support
Published by Vesselin Nerdeff in:Mobile News,

Finally Destinator have released upgrade version of Destinator PN with support for Windows Mobile 5.0 OS for Pocket PC which works at least with the HTC Universal and HTC Wizard. However, Arne Hess from Theunwired says that she can confirm it's also working well with the latest E-Ten M600 Windows Mobile 5.0 ROM.

The upgrade fixes the following problems:

* Installation of Destinator on Windows Mobile 5 devices is now possible
* The Destinator menu is now displayed correctly on the HTC Universal (aka T-Mobile MDA Pro, Qtek 9100, i-mate JasJar)
* Bluetooth-connections (with Windows Mobile 5.0 and Widcomm Bluetooth stack) are possible now
* The bug which reset the warning settings of the favorites every time the PDA was restarted has been fixed
* The "Storage card has been removed. Application will be closed" message seen after switching the PDA on and off should not appear anymore.
* It can take up to 5 seconds for Destinator to be ready again after switching on. This is due to the fact that the latency time of the device waiting for a reaction from the storage card has been increased.

For upgrading your current version or more info visit http://www.destinatortechnologies.com

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Feb 04 imov Instant Messenger for Pocket PC and Smartphone now FREE
Published by Vesselin Nerdeff in:Software,

imov Messenger is a Windows Mobile client for the Jabber (XMPP) instant messaging system. The Jabber platform is expected to be the dominant instant messaging system in the near future. imov Messenger is based on open standards and is fully interoperable with proprietary instant messaging systems as well as the open Jabber, as AOL, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo Messenger and Google Talk. There are two versions of imov Messenger: the "basic" version and the "Enterprise" version.

The new and FREE imov Messenger gives you the ability to instantly communicate with family and friends using the Internet wherever you are from you pocketpc or smartphone. The Jabber platform's extensibility allows imov Messenger to be compatible with multiple messaging systems. imov Messenger also provides significant enhancements including the ability to send messages to offline users and compose and send messages even when you are offline!

"In addition to just Instant Messaging, imov Messenger supports the RSS standard for content delivery,” says Stephen Pendleton. "This is of interest to enterprise users since now content can be pushed to Windows CE based mobile users. In addition, the technology built into imov Messenger includes a seamless online/offline mode where messages can be composed and put into a queue to be sent to a user even if a live network connection is not available, which is a common situation for wireless users. Once a connection becomes available, messages will be automatically delivered to the connected user."

imov Messenger lets you communicate with anyone who uses any of these systems:

* AOL Instant Messenger
* MSN Instant Messenger
* Yahoo! Messenger
* ICQ
* Jabber
* Google Talk

imov Messenger works on all newer WindowsCE devices, including all PocketPC, Smartphone, HPC Professional and HPC/2000 devices. This version only works on a PocketPC2003 or Windows Mobile 2005 device. If you have an non-upgraded PocketPC device, please purchase the PocketPC2002 version instead.

Features

* Communicate with Google Talk, AOL, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo! Messenger and Jabber users!
* Easy setup and use
* Wireless capable
* Encrypted communications (SSL) support
* Support for most Windows CE devices-including the PocketPC and Microsoft Windows Powered Smartphones!
* Automatic new version notifications
* Offline message queuing
* SOCKS5 proxy server support
* Seamless offline/online operation
* Location Based Services support
* Free!

To download and try this universal messenger for yourself click here

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Feb 03 Goodbye from Smartphones for PDA
Published by Vesselin Nerdeff in:Mobile News, Smartphone,

Relentless growth of converged devices such as Symbian S60 smart phones is contrasting sharply with plummeting sales of traditional handheld mobile devices, for example PDAs, research from IDC reveals. According to IDC, the Western European mobile device market – including stand-alone handhelds and converged devices – grew 26pc year on year in the final quarter of 2005. Total shipments reached 4.5 million in the fourth quarter as the relentless growth of Symbian S60 throughout 2005 was maintained to drive total mobile device shipments of 13.9 million units for the year

Compared with 8.9m in 2004, it's representing year-on-year growth of 56pc.


However, while record S60 shipments contributed significantly towards market performance in the fourth quarter of 2005, final quarter growth represented the most disappointing year-on-year volume increases of all quarters in 2005 for both converged and handheld device categories.

“With intense competition from rival consumer electronics over the festive period contributing to an abrupt halt in the growth witnessed by the handheld category in 2005, growth was highly reliant on a converged device segment in the fourth quarter of 2005 that itself witnessed disappointing growth outside the consumer-centric Symbian S60 platform,” said Jean-Philippe Bouchard, senior research analyst, IDC European Mobile Devices.

Most significantly, despite growing 31pc sequentially the standalone handheld segment suffered negative year-on-year growth of -17pc as shipments reached just 839,000 units compared to volumes in excess of a million in the corresponding quarter of 2004.

“Disappointing growth for handhelds in the high-volume final quarter has reinforced the belief that global positioning system [GPS] bundling in isolation could not maintain positive growth indefinitely despite portfolio refreshes and aggressive price cuts by leading vendors such as Hewlett-Packard [HP] and Palm,” said Geoff Blaber, research analyst, IDC European Mobile Devices.

“The multi-application superiority of converged devices and heavily subsidized price points, combined with aggressively-priced dedicated GPS systems, triggered the decline in the fourth quarter of 2005, presenting a bleak outlook for the market in 2006.”

With the exception of Acer and Medion, all top five handheld vendors suffered negative growth in the fourth quarter of 2005. However, substantial price cuts by HP and Palm to counter the competitive threat from Acer and other low-cost Windows Mobile vendors fuelled rejuvenation in market share from previous quarters. Palm led the market for the first time since the first quarter of 2004, with 23pc, and was followed by HP, proving that despite a dominant European preference for Microsoft's OS, demand remains for Palm OS devices positioned in specific segments at competitive price points.

In contrast to handhelds, converged devices exhibited market growth of 42pc, driving shipments of 3.6 million units to push total shipments for 2005 to just under 11 million units, representing year-on-year growth of 80pc.

However, growth fell below expectations in the final quarter as major vendors such as Motorola and Sony Ericsson saw a substantial slowdown in shipments as devices such as the MPx220, A1000, and P910i reached the end of their life cycles and the channel was cleared for new launches in the opening quarter of 2006. As a consequence, the market continued to be dominated by Nokia S60 shipments as the launch of the N70 further invigorated demand, assisted by extensive 3G service/content promotion by operators in anticipation of the Christmas period.

The Finnish vendor consolidated a 76pc market share, followed by RIM, which maintained momentum to ship 215,000 units. The prolonged absence of the push email capability for Windows Mobile 5.0 platform combined with the launch of RIM's EDGE-capable 8700 device presents a positive outlook for the Canadian vendor in year 2006.

“The release of Windows Mobile 5.0 and the influx of new devices that is fueling promises to invigorate the market in 2006, particularly within the enterprise space,” said Andrew Brown, program manager, European Mobile Devices and Computing.

“However, Symbian’s positioning as an OS and flexibility to enable low-cost implementation in multimedia or enterprise-centric devices means Microsoft faces a significant challenge to rival the dominance that Symbian has established to date.”

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Feb 02 New Treo 800p with wifi option out March 15th?
Published by root in:Devices, Palm, Treo, WiFi,

Rumors are spreading arround about an upcomming Treo 800p release in mid March this year.Current features in the new Treo 800p will include 128MB RAM (thats sweet:) , a WiFi option (not mentioned if it will be integrated), SD card, Bluetooth 2, EVDO, enhanced 320x320 screen, slimmer form factor and antenna, will use the same accessories as the 650 and of cource 3.2 MP camera. No pictures are available for now, stay tuned for updated !

via TreoCentral
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Feb 01 Backup data solutions for Windows Mobile 5.0
Published by Vesselin Nerdeff in:Tips, Software,

There are quite much reason to get you data deleted or lost - depleted batteries, system errors, etc... In these or some other cases you may need backup applications for the new operating system ( windows mobile 5.0 ), particularly if you often install new programs and/or use misbehaving applications that may irrecoverably crash your system, resulting in a need for a hard reset.

Right now, we can offer you three great applications that can do this job for You. These pocket pc programs with support for WM5 devices are : Spb Backup

Summary:Spb Backup is a utility for saving your Pocket PC content to a storage card for backup purposes. Spb Backup is based upon the proven cloning technology used in Spb Clone. Thousands of users in enterprise environments use Spb Clone to create exact copies of their "master" PDA devices. Spb Backup creates a self-restoring image file that can be restored even without installing the main Spb Backup application. The backup file can be compressed and password protected with strong 128-bit AES algorithm. Spb Backup offers an attractive and simple-to-use interface. Sprite Backup WM5 Beta

Summary: Backup your Pocket PC to a Storage Card, CF Card, host PC or Network Share. Fast, simple, reliable.

Detailed information about Sprite Backup Beta At our previous article

Beta version download links Non VGA CAB:
http://www.spritesoftware.com/downloads/SpriteBackup_WM2005_nonvga.CAB VGA CAB:
http://www.spritesoftware.com/downloads/SpriteBackup_WM2005-VGA.CAB



SunnySoft Backup Manager



Summary: Sunnysoft Backup Manager is a strong backup tool for your PDA.

Detailed Applications description and download links here

"
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Feb 01 i-teq BOND aka g-smart PPC phone from Gigabyte in English language
Published by Vesselin Nerdeff in:Devices,

This is the same device which was released in Taiwan during last December and it is known as Gigabyte g-smart. In West Countries and Middle East this device will be known as i-teq BOND and it will be released here in Dubai in February 15, 2006. This is the first Pocket PC Phone with built-in TV and it comes with FM radio as well. Exclusive software applications bundled with this device including Pocket Guide and Pocket Flight from Mobile Times and Imaginet Arabic software bundle.

Apart from ETEN and Quanta, now also Gigabyte - another Taiwanese company - is releasing fantastic Windows Mobile that is direct competition to HTC made phones.
Specifications

System information:

* Operating System: Windows Mobile 5.0
* Processor: Intel PXA 272 416 MHz
* Memory: 64 MBROM, 64MB RAM

Size:

* Dimensions (mm): 109 x 53.5 x 24 mm
* Weight (in grams): 153g

Batteries:

* Battery Capacity: 840 mAh Li-Ion Battery (1500 mAh optional)

Charging time:

* Charger: 2.5 hours

Display Characteristics:

* Type: 2.4 inch, 260K TFT LCD touch screen (Actual OS display 65K pixels)
* Resolution: 240 x 320

Band:

* GSM 900/1800/1900

Connectivity:

* Bluetooth: BT 1.2.1
* WLAN: 802.11b
* IR
* MMS
* GPRS: Class A/B, GPRS Uplink/Downlink Class 10
* WAP: 2.0
* CSD: Y
* Modem dial-up: Y
* USB: Mini USB 1.1
* Push e-mail

Image:

* Format: JPEG, GIF, Animated GIF files, PNG, BMP

Audio:

* Format: WMA, MP3, 3GP, MID, AMR, WAV

Camera:

* 2.1 Megapixel Camera (CMOS)

Others:

* Mini-SD card slot
* 3D stereo speaker
* FM Radio built-in
* TV tuner built-in
* Stereo audio over Bluetooth

Previous article about Gigabyte's g-smart ppc phone here

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