I've recently been using an IPAQ Voice Messenger. It is the first Windows Mobile Standard device (no touch screen) I've used and I must say it is a really fantastic device.
Something unique about the Voice Messenger is the Adaptxt Options which are buried in the Voice Messenger's Settings (select Start > Settings > 0 More > Adaptxt Options to find them).
Quoting from the Help file for this software:
"Adaptxt is intelligent language software which provides text entry assistance. As soon as you start typing Adaptxt intelligently makes suggestions."
Now a really cool thing about Adaptxt is that you can buy inexpensive dictionaries for it. Adaptxt sells professional dictionaries and language dictionaries that are seamlessly integrated into the software. The dictionaries only cost a few dollars (well, I only reviewed the language dictionaries). You can purchase the dictionaries directly from your device! From this user's response (which is really what directed my attention to Adaptxt), you can see it's a great solution for users who are multilingual.
Adaptxt has devoted a page of its website to showcase this software on the IPAQ Voice Messenger. Here are several YouTube videos that are posted there that you may find interesting:
Adaptxt - Accessing the Add Ons Portal
My initial reaction is that Adaptxt is a fantastic, rich solution that can address many different user needs.
I've been exploring creative ways to use the camera on my Windows Mobile device to boost my productivity. Qipit provides a way to copy and email or fax documents to anyone at any time. Qipit is almost like having a scanner in my pocket.
The quality of the processing is dependent on the quality of the picture that is emailed to qipit, so make sure the lighting is good and set the resolution on the cellphone camera accordingly. Qipit's website provides the following recommendations:
"For your mobile phone: You need a camera that has at least a resolution of 1 MegaPixel. For creating copies of documents you will need to make sure your camera phone has auto-focus or a macro-mode and it is turn on. You do not need this for making copies of whiteboards and flip charts. Set the resoution to High quality to get the best results. Also, turn off MMS or picture resizing if your carrier give you the option.
For your digital camera: You don't need to use the maximum quality because you would generate pictures that need to be sized down. For example a resolution of 5 mega pixels is not required. Set the quality of your digital camera to 3 mega pixels and you will get a very good result."
Qipit processes the picture and turns it into a PDF file. It takes a few minutes for qipit to do this, but once completed Qipit will send you an email and let you know it's done.
Once the file is processed, you can download (view), email, or fax the file directly from qipit's website or you can go to qipit's mobile website from your mobile device
Qipit sends an email to let you know the file is ready to go once the file is processed. If you've got email set up on your mobile device, you can select the link in the email to go to qipit's mobile website.
| From Qipit's mobile website you can: | |
| Download the file (PDF) | View the original image (Image), |
| Email the file | Fax the file |
If you include email addresses or fax numbers in the body of your email to qipit, qipit will email or fax the files to those folks as soon as the files are processed into a digital PDF file. See "Why wait to send an email or fax? Qipit right from your phone!" for more information.
To start using qipit, all you need to do is register for an account and start taking pictures.
Lately I've been trying to simplify and consolidate some of my online web activities, and so I've been looking closely at Flickr. I've dabbled with a Flickr account for a couple of years, and I've discovered that Flickr works very well with Windows Mobile devices. In this article I share some of the useful and fun things you can do with Flickr from a mobile device. From any internet-enabled mobile device you can:
Flickr's mobile site uses the same account settings as those of your main flickr account, so you'll set these options on your computer through your main flickr account.
There's no way to upload pictures from a mobile device to flickr through its mobile website, but if you have the right software installed on your Windows Mobile device, you can post pictures directly to flickr:
See this link for detailed instruction on how to set up Resco Photo Viewer to upload photos to flickr. This method works well, but the initial connection to flickr (screenshot 3 above) is rather slow. Also when you post pictures to flickr, no information (title, description, tag) is posted along with the picture, so if you want to title, tag and post a description of the picture, you'll need to do that later from a computer.
You can email photos directly to your flickr account but first you need to find out what your unique email address is:
- Login to your flickr account
- Go to flickr.com/tools/mobile to find your unique flickr email address.
Then you can go to flicr.com/account/uploadbyemail and input the tag(s) you'd like flickr to automatically add to any emailed photographs. You can also input tags into the body of the email address, by adding a line in the body of your email, as follows:
tags: twitter, windows mobile
Once you know what your unique flickr email address is, just create a contact (called something like "flickr email photos") in your Windows Mobile contacts list. Then when you want to post a picture to your flickr account, you can open up whatever picture viewer you use, select the picture you want to send, and find the "Send To Email" option. Select the flickr contact from your contacts list and send the email. When you email pictures to your unique email address, flickr posts the email subject line as the title of your photo, and posts the email body as the description.
You may already use services like twitpic or mobypicture to share photos on Twitter, but if you want to maintain all your pictures in one web location, you can use Twittergram, another free web-based service, to share your flickr photos on Twitter, as follows:
- Post your picture to flickr either by posting the picture directly to flickr (see 2 above) or by emailing the picture to your special flickr email address (see 3 above)
- Be sure to assign a "twitter" tag to the photograph.
- Use Firefox to go to Twittergram (this link will not work in Internet Explorer). Then enter your flickr username and your Twitter username and password in the spaces provided.
Twittergram checks your flickr feed every 10 minutes and automatically posts a link to the most recent photograph to twitter.
If you maintain a weblog, you can use another unique email address that flickr provides to post pictures and text directly to your blog. Any photos that you email to that address will be posted to your blog automatically. Flickr posts the subject line of the email as the blog title, and any text it finds in the the email body along with the picture as the new blog entry.
Go to http://www.flickr.com/blogs_add.gne to designate your blog's specific parameters. Flickr supports the following types of weblogs:
- Blogger
- Typepad
- Movable Type
- LiveJournal
- WordPress
- Manila
- Atom Enabled
- BloggerAPI Enabled
- MetaWeblogAPI Enabled (this is the one I chose for my blog)
- Vox
You will be prompted to input the API Endpoint for your blog (for this blog, the API Endpoint is http://frommypocket.pocketprimer.com/metaweblog.aspx) as well as the username and password you've designated for remote blogging to your blog (this is an option I had to set up with my blog services).
You can designate the size of the picture you'd like to be posted to the blog: Thumbnail (100x75); Small (240 x180); or Medium (500 x375).
In addition to posting the picture to your blog, you can set an option in flickr to post any text it finds in the body of the email. Flickr will use the Subject line as the title of the blog entry and the email message and attached picture will be the included as the actual blog entry.
Once you've set up the blogging options, flickr will provide a unique email that you can use whenever you wish to post a picture and blog entry to your blog. Just create a contact (called something like "flickr email blog") in your Windows Mobile contacts list. Then when you want to post a blog entry to your flickr account, you can open up whatever picture viewer you use, select the picture you want to include with your blog entry, and find the "Send To Email" option. Select the flickr contact from your contacts list, input the subject and blog text in the email body and send the email.
NOTE: Emailed content inherits whatever default privacy settings you've set for your flickr account. So if you plan to use either of the unique email accounts for public viewing, you'll need to set the default privacy setting to "Anyone (Public)."
The WIFI connection settings options and input screens for WM6.1 devices are fairly similar to those on WM5.0 devices, with a few notable differences: WM6.1 allows you to connect to a network that uses WPA2 or WPA2-PSK authentication and AES data encryption.
To get to the device's WIFI configurations, Tap Start > Settings > Connections tab > WIFI. You'll be taken to the main Wireless Networks screen, which should look familiar to you if you have ever owned a Windows Mobile device.
Tapping Menu on the lower right hand side of the screen yields the following options:
Most of these options are self explanatory so do not provoke any further discussion, but the Advanced option is new and different:
The network adapters tab shows all the adapters that are installed on the device. I have never configured any of the network adapters on any of my mobile devices - the default settings work just fine for me.
If you tap an adapter and then select the Edit option you can change some IP address and some name server addresses. These screens are similar to those you'd find on a WM5.0 device.
Setting up my wireless network on the IPAQ 910c was very easy. When I turned the WIFI radio on, the IPAQ 910c detected my network and prompted me for my WEP encryption code. As soon as I entered the encryption code, the device was connected. I had hoped that I could copy and paste the WEP code from a note I have stored on the device (I can do this on my windows mobile 2003 device), but copying and pasting the encryption code didn't work on the IPAQ 910c.
Manually adding a network or editing an existing WIFI connection is similar to how you'd do it on most other windows mobile devices:
Tap Start > Settings > Connections tab > WIFI
Tapping Add New . . . or tapping any networks that are displayed in the screen take you though a series of Configure Wireless Network screens:
The ability to designate a network as hidden is new to WM6.1.
Tapping Next takes you to the Configure Network Authentication screen where you will select the type of authentication and data encryption used on the wireless network and where you can enter required encryption keys or passphrases.
The types of Authentication that are supported under WM6.1 are:
Data Encryption options that are supported under WM6.1 differ based on the type authentication selected for the wireless network:
WPA2 and WPA2-PSK authentication and AES data encryption is new to WM6.1
Tapping Next takes you to another Configure Network Authentication screen
If you use IEEE 801.1x network access control, you can select Smart Card or Certificate or PEAP and set up any related properties by tapping the Properties button.
Internet Explorer runs much faster on the IPAQ 901c than on my IPAQ hw6925, but the application itself hasn't changed much from WM5.0. There are a few nice additions to Internet Explorer on this WM6.1 device.
The Menu option has been changed to include more efficient access to commonly used options:
The Zoom Out option is new and seems useful
All in all, other than moving options around and changing some of the menu options, nothing seems to have changed much from WM5.0.
| IPAQ hx2415 | IPAQ hw6925 | IPAQ 900 | HTC Fuze | |
| Windows Mobile Operating System | Windows Mobile 2003se | WM5.0 | WM6.1 | WM6.1 |
| Bluetooth Stack | Widcomm | Widcomm | Microsoft | Microsoft |
| Generic Access Profile (GAP) | x | x | x | |
| Generic Object Exchange Profile (GOEP) | x | x | x | |
| Hands Free Profile (HFP) | x | x | x | |
| Handset Profile (HSP) | x | x | x | |
| Headset Profile | x | |||
| Human Interface Device (HID) Profile Host | x | x | ||
| Object Push Profile (OPP) | x | x | x | x |
| Personal Area Networking (PAN) Profile | x | x | x | x |
| Serial Port Profile (SPP) | x | x | x | x |
| ActiveSync Over Bluetooth | x | |||
| Advance Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) | x | x | x | |
| Audio/Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP) Client | x | x | x | |
| Generic Audio/Video Distribution Profile (GAVDP) | x | |||
| Phone Book Access Profile (PBAP) | x | x | ||
| File Transfer Profile (FTP) | x | x | x | x |
| Basic Printing Profile (BPP) | x | x | x | x |
| Basic Image Push Profile (BIP) | x | |||
| SIM Access Profile (SAP) | x | |||
| Dial-up Networking (DUN) | x | x | x | |
| Service Discovery Application Profile (SDAP) | x | x | x | |
| LAN Access Profile | x | x | ||
| Hard Copy Replacement Profile (printing) | x |
Bluetooth is enabled on a device through the inclusion of a Bluetooth radio (hardware) and a Bluetooth stack. A "Bluetooth stack refers to an implementation of the Bluetooth protocol stack" or, in my probably not completely accurate words, a Bluetooth stack are the cluster of drivers that are loaded on a device that support the various Bluetooth profiles.
The two most common Bluetooth stacks you'll find in a Windows Mobile device is the Widcomm stack (Widcomm was acquired by Broadcom in April 2004) and the Microsoft stack. You will encounter varying degrees of compatibility with other Bluetooth enabled devices depending on the stack that is installed on the Windows Mobile device since there seem to be fundamental differences in the way Bluetooth services are delivered on a Widcomm stack versus a Microsoft stack. Many believe the Microsoft stack is somewhat crippled, but I don't have an opinion or preference for either since I have never encountered limitations using either of these stacks on my Windows Mobile devices.
I've written a few articles that profile how to use Bluetooth on a windows mobile 2003 or WM5.0 device and you can find them here:
The Bluetooth settings under WM6.1 are quite a bit different than earlier Windows Mobile operating systems. Setting up partnerships is much simpler, requiring a minimum of screen taps, but I found the simplified settings a little disorienting. So far I've set up the following partnerships on the IPAQ 910c:
To access Bluetooth Settings, tap Start > Settings > Connection tab > Bluetooth. Within Bluetooth Settings, you'll find tabbed options. These options vary, based on the WM6.1 device you have. For instance:
The screenshots in this article were made on the IPAQ 910c.
There is no Connection Wizard where you choose the type of device or connection. Instead the Bluetooth manager searches for Bluetooth devices, automatically determines the type of connection and chooses the appropriate profile (assuming the Windows Mobile device supports it).
Tapping on a device shows the Partnership Settings that can be used on the device. For instance, if I tap the DB-BT10CX device (which is my Sony A2DB headset), I see these Partnership Settings:
This tab is self-explanatory. When you connect other Bluetooth devices, you'll need to make sure you turn Bluetooth on and make the Windows Mobile device visible to other devices.
So far I have not set anything up on this screen. These COM Ports were automatically assigned when I created partnerships with these devices. The Avalon partnership refers to my IPAQ hw6925 and the Motorola HS820 refers to my very basic earpiece.
WM6.1 includes native Bluetooth printing capabilities which I have not yet explored because I do not have a Bluetooth enabled printer. But if you have a Bluetooth enabled printer, you can print from a WM6.1 device to the printer without having to purchase additional third party software.
This tab simply allows you to change the default folder where Bluetooth transferred files will be placed on the device.
The Security tab is self explanatory. Setting an authorization password here prevents anyone from secretly transferring files to your device. [what do you think of the typo on this page?]
Another self-explanatory tab, but a new setting that is unique to WM6.1.
Setting up Bluetooth partnerships on WM6.1 devices is easier than it has been for any of my older devices. For the purposes of demonstrating how you would create a Bluetooth partnership, I deleted the existing partnership with my Sony A2DP headset and recreated it here. All you need to do is:
Place the device you wish to connect to into discoverable mode,
Then on the WM6.1 device:
Turn on the Bluetooth radio
Open up the Bluetooth Settings Devices screen tapping Menu > Bluetooth Settings > Devices tab
Tap the Add new device.. option. The mobile device will search for Bluetooth devices and return the devices it finds in the next screen:
Tap the device to set up the device you wish to connect and tap Next. Enter a Passcode that will be shared between the devices (if appropriate) and tap Next.
You will receive confirmation message that the connection was successful and then be prompted if you want to connect with the device.
On conventional cell phones, pressing a button on a Bluetooth headset activates voice command software so you can issue commands directly to the device without having to touch the cell phone. Previous to WM6.1, voice commands could not be issued in this way and so you could not make truly hands free calls through a Bluetooth headset. Under WM6.1, you can now place handsfree calls through a Bluetooth headset.
Setting up a Bluetooth ActiveSync partnership was easy but required a different approach. See "Using Bluetooth to sync your WM6.1 mobile device" for detailed instructions on how to create a Bluetooth ActiveSync partnership.
Used to be if you installed an application to main memory and then needed more storage space on the device, you'd probably wind up uninstalling applications and then reinstalling them to a storage card. SKTools now includes an easy way to move data, including applications, around on a Mobile Device.
If your Windows Mobile device has encountered the notification issues that were detailed in this article, Notifications & Alerts, you may have been able to fix them by deleting erroneous or duplicate notifications in the device's notification queue. When I was working out the solution to these types of problems, I accidentally deleted some important notifications and was not able to sync my device to my computer. At the time, the only way I could restore the device to syncing order was by performing a factory reset (OUCH!).
After I performed the hard reset on that device, I discovered that SKTools provides a quick and easy way to rebuild these important ActiveSync-related notifications.
| Open up SKTools, then select the Maintenance tools Category | Tap Notifications Queue |
| Select the Action link on the left hand side of the screen, then tap Recreate ActiveSync | |
"Microsoft Tag creates unlimited possibilities for making interactive communications an instant, entertaining part of life. They transform physical media (print advertising, billboards, product packages, information signs, in-store merchandising, or even video images)—into live links for accessing information and entertainment online.
With the Microsoft Tag application, just aim your camera phone at a Tag and instantly access mobile content, videos, music, contact information, maps, social networks, promotions, and more. Nothing to type, no browsers to launch"

The last time I purchased an SD card, the card was not formatted. For some reason, I could not format the card in my computer - the formatting utility errored out each time I tried. Luckily, I remembered that SKTools provides an option to format storage cards.
There have been a few occasions when I needed to rename my storage card. Thankfully, SKTools makes it really easy to rename a storage card.
After you've changed the storage card name, Exit SKTools completely and perform a soft reset to apply the settings.
Appointment, contact, and tasks data is stored in the PIM.vol file that is found in the root directory of WM5.0 and WM6.0 devices. To erase all PIM-related data on the device, you can use File Explorer to navigate to the PIM.vol file and delete it.
Email and text messaging data is stored in several different, generically named databases and files (For a thorough discussion of messaging organization and file structure on a windows mobile device, see Werner Ruotsalainen's article entitled "How does the WindowsCE system databases (WinCE DB's for short) store mail-related information? )
SKTools provides some tools that allow you to delete all of your contacts, appointments, tasks and POP3 or IMAP accounts, either individually, by data type, or all data types at the same time.
Another way to selectively delete this data can be found in SKTools' Maintenance module. NOTE: Be very careful when deleting things here, and don't delete anything you are unsure of. System databases can be manipulated in this area, and if you delete something in error, you may have to perform a full reset to get your device working properly again.
| Open up SKTools and tap Category > Maintenance | Scroll down and tap Databases |
| Scroll to find and select the Appointments, Contacts, or Tasks database, | Tap Action > Empty |