About this time last year I was in Alaska attending my niece's wedding.  She got married on the beach of a small village called Hope, Alaska. 

After the ceremony, the guests and wedding party walked down to the local community center for the wedding reception.

The salmon were running and there were quite a few tourists in the town (see the RVs parked at the end of the road?).  The wedding caught the attention of a tourist who was visiting from Germany who happened to be a professional photographer, and he approached me to ask if he could take some pictures.  During the reception, he took many pictures and before he left he gave me a CD of the pictures he had taken. 

Unfortunately the pictures were in a RAW format (CR2) and I had no way to view them.  I figured I could find some software to convert them to JPG format and a couple of months ago I decided to give it a go.  I looked around the internet for some software that would allow me to convert the pictures to JPG files and found some rather expensive software packages.  Since I am not a professional photographer or even a serious amateur photographer I did not want to purchase such an expensive software package just to convert a few pictures.

Then I decided to see if I could find some Pocket PC software to do the job, and I was surprised and delighted to learn that not only could I use XnView Pocket (v1.40) to view the pictures, but I could also use the software to convert the pictures into JPEG files.

XnView Pocket Features and Functionality

XnView Pocket is a decent picture organizer and viewer that also allows you to email pictures directly from the Pocket PC using any email account that is set up on the device.  (The HP Photosmart Mobile software which is included on my hw6925, is a crippled piece of software that allows me to view and email pictures from my device, but forces me to use the Outlook Email account, which I do not use).

The best part of XnView Pocket are the tools that allow you to modify and convert photographs directly on your mobile device.

Browse Folders
		The File option allows you to: Navigate to specific folders on the mobile device through the "Go to" option Create new folders, rename folders and delete folders; Cut, copy, paste, delete and rename photographs; and Select multiple photographs at a time

The View Menu

The View option allows you to Select the Mode you'd like to view your pictures in (see views below) Select the Sort by order (by name, date, type, size, image resolution in ascending or descending order) Select Recursive view to displays all pictures installed on the mobile device; or deselect recursive view to view only the pictures in the selected folder Show filename in thumbnail view Move between pages of photographs Adjust the viewing size of the photograph by zooming up or down or by selecting original size Automatically rotate pictures Size the picture to fit on the mobile device screen

Selecting View > Mode provides several different ways you can view your photographs. In addition to the views shown below, you can also choose to display your pictures in a timed slideshow.

Thumbnail view	List view	Detail view
Strip view	Image view	Full Screen view

The Tools Menu

It is under the Tools Menu where XnView Pocket really shines!  Here you can edit photographs directly on the mobile device: Convert photographs from one format to another.  You can convert photographs into JPEG, GIF, Bitmap, PNG, or TGA files. Crop photographs Resize, Adjust, Rotate, Sharpen or Smooth, and Batch Rename pictures (see screenshots below).  When you choose any of these options, the original pictures remains intact and a copy of the file is created.  You can choose to save the modified file as a JPEG, GIF, Bitmap, PNG, or TGA file, and you can specify the folder where the edited files will be saved.

Converting Pictures

Converting pictures from one format to another is quite easy.  You can convert individual pictures or a batch of pictures:

1) If you want to convert a batch of pictures, tap File > Selection and choose All or Multiple Selection

2) Then tap Tools > Convert	3) Tap Format and choose a preferred format	4) Choose the file prefix/suffix and folder where the converted file will be stored.

When you tap the Convert button, XnView Pocket will take several minutes to convert the files into their new format.  XnView does not change the original file, but creates a new file and places it in the folder you specified.

Modifying Pictures

XnView Pocket provides many different ways you can modify pictures directly on the mobile device.

Crop	Resize	Adjust
Rotate	Sharpen / Smooth	Batch Rename

The  Tools option also includes a delayed screen capture function and a search feature.

The Tools > MIscellaneous options includes some nice functionality:

• Send pictures by Email
• Send and receive pictures by Infrared - practically obsolete nowadays
• Create EXE slideshow or an album using selected images, all images in a specified folder or all images on the mobile device

Emailing Pictures

To email pictures, you first select a picture, then tap Tools > Misc > Send by Email

Service:  Tap the down arrow to the right of the box, you can choose from the POP3, IMAP, or ActiveSync messaging accounts you've configured within the mobile device's messaging application. Recipient:  If you know the email address you want to use, you can key it into the box.  Size:  You can change the size of the photograph be to 10%, 25%, 50%, 75% of the original size or just send the full sized picture Format:  You can email the picture in its original format or you can convert the format to PNG, high, medium or low quality JPEG or GIF.

Tapping the Send button places the email message and photo attachment in the Outbox of the email account you specified in the Service box. When I email pictures from XnView Pocket, I usually leave the Recipient field blank.  After I tap the send button, I open up the messaging application and edit the email to choose the contact I want to send the email to.  XnView Pocket automatically inputs its own subject line and some text in the body of the email, which I delete and replace with my own subject and message body text.

Creating a slideshow or album

XnView allows you to create an executable timed slideshow or album.  The difference between the two is that the slideshow can be run independent of any software on different devices and the album can only be run within XnView.  The way you create a slideshow or album is practically identical:

1) Select the pictures you want to include in the slideshow or album.	2) Selecting Next allows you to make some adjustments in your selection	3) Select Image size, rotation preferences & any corrections
4) Specify transition effects and delay period between pictures.  You can even include an audio file - music or words!	5) Specify the name of the Slideshow or Album and where you want the file created on the mobile device	6) Choose the quality of the pictures in the show - higher quality creates a larger file.  Tap Next > Create.

Creating a slideshow or album takes several minutes based on the number of pictures selected and the quality of the slideshow / album.

The Tools Menu also includes Information about pictures (if available), and provides an IPTC edit option.  The Information option is where you can view EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) and IPTC (International Press Telecommunications Council) information about your pictures. 

• EXIF information:  Most digital cameras automatically store EXIF information with each picture.  The EXIF information varies by camera used, but the kind of information you'll see includes information about the camera used, light source, the date the picture was taken and other information about the camera settings:
• IPTC Information:  According to Wikipedia, IPTC "represents a file structure and set of metadata attributes that can be applied to text, images and other media types.  IPTC was developed in the early 1990s to expedite the international exchange of news among newspapers and news agencies." 

Selecting the Information option allows you to view File and Image information as well as EXIF and IPTC information:

Info	EXIF	IPTC (after it has been input)

Selecting the IPTC edit option allows you to input Caption, Credit, Keyword, Category, and Origin information about your pictures into six different screens.

File	Caption	Credit
Keyword	Category	Origin

After you've input IPTC data into the screens above, return to the File screen (tap the file tab) and select the "Save as..." button.  Enter a name in the space provided, then select the X at the top of the page and you will be asked if you "want to write IPTC data."  Select OK.

Default Options

Selecting Tools > Options allows you to establish some default settings for XnView Pocket

• General tab establishes default settings in regards to: 
  • Home folder (where the software looks for pictures)
  • Display mode (thumbnail, list, details, strip, last used)
  • Language (supports numerous languages)
  • Start wizard screen:  If selected, every time you open the software you will start with the screen.  I turned this option off because most of the icons seemed to be disconnected from the related functions (for instance, when I selected the slideshow option I could not create a slideshow)
• Browser tab specifies thumbnail size (tiny, small, large, huge) and quality; turns on or off the filename and extension display; establishes font size for the folder tree and thumbnail list.
• Viewer tab options include Pen moves picture; use scrollbar, rotate to the left (instead to the right); show filename in fullscreen, play animated GIF, select background color
• Slideshow tab allows you to set default settings in regards to slideshow creation including the delay for the each slide, transition effects, background color, landscape/portrait mode, audio file, and loop
• Buttons tab allows you to assign actions to buttons
• Associations tab allows you to select the file types that will be associated with XnView Pocket.  XnView Pocket supports the following file types:

Suggestions for Improvement

XnView Pocket is a great application that seems a little unpolished to me.  My suggestions for improvement include:

• The software needs some user documentation and/or a decent help file
• Enhance the software to include a "Send by Bluetooth" option under Tools > Miscellaneous
• Enhance the "Send by Email" option by:
  • Including a down arrow to the right of the Recipient box that links to the Contacts application on the mobile device so email recipients can be selected from contacts from within XnView Pocket
  • Allow the user to input their own subject line and message body from within XnView Pocket. 
• Allow the Home folder to be changed from the My Documents folder in main memory to the user's preferred location - this seems to be a bug fix and not an enhancement request (this option is found under Tools > Options > General tab)
• Fix / test the Start Wizard screen to ensure that the icons, such as Open Album and Create Album, work properly. 
• Provide a way to return to the Start Wizard screen from within the application (currently there is no way to return to this screen without having to close the software and re-open it.

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