I've been using the HP Glisten since January and I'm impressed at what a fine Windows Phone it is.  The 3G signal I get with the HP Glisten is better and more consistent than any of my other 3G phones and I haven't experienced any disconnection problems with it.

The HP Glisten is definitely a business device. It's a fairly pristine phone insofar as it doesn't have many superfluous applications already installed to it.  I prefer a barebones phone over one that is loaded with lots of third party software that cannot be deleted or updated, so I don't consider this a drawback. Nevertheless, I was surprised to discover that the Glisten does not include some software that I have come to expect on a mobile device:  Google Maps, Instant Messenger, Windows My Phone.

If you get the Glisten, you'll probability want to install some software to it to make it functional enough to meet your needs.  Here are mobile links to the "must have" software I've installed to my Glisten:

Free Applications

Opera Mobile:  One of the best Windows Mobile browsers around. Just input m.opera.com into your phone's mobile browser to tap the link to download the software directly to your phone. 

 

YouTube: I don't watch much YouTube on my computer, and hardly ever watch YouTube on my phone, but this seems to be a popular thing to do on a windows mobile device, given the number of threads I see about it on the HP IPAQ forum and other windows mobile forums. Just input m.youtube.com into your phone's mobile browser to find a link that you can click to install the software directly to your phone. (See "Viewing YouTube on a Windows Phone" if you need more information.)

 

My Phone is Microsoft's free web-based backup service.  You can backup contacts, appointments, tasks, pictures, text messages, and other documents to this service, although it is not a complete replacement for Outlook & ActiveSync syncing - so you should still plan to sync your device to your computer. See these articles for more information about Microsoft My Phone:

• My Phone: Creating a Partnership
• My Phone: Stopping the Service
• My Phone makes it easier than ever to share your pictures with your social networks

 

Live Mesh is one of Microsoft's "cloud" computing services.  Live Mesh allows me to synchronize files from my HP Glisten to my computer through the cloud.  It's an easy way for me to keep my most used files available and up-to-date on any computer or most windows mobile devices.  See "Cloud Computing with Windows Live Mesh" for more information.

 

Total Commander 2.52 beta 2 is a great file management software and one of the first applications I install to all my Windows Mobile devices.  See "Take Charge of Your Files" for more information about this software.

 

PockeTwit: I tried out a couple of different twitter applications on my windows phones, but I always come back to PockeTwit.

 

Null Keyboard doesn't do much except prevent the onscreen keyboard from popping up.

 

Palringo is a nice, free instant messaging client that lets you login to multiple instant messengers (MSN, GTalk, iChat, Yahoo, AIM, GG/Gadu-Gadu, AOL ICQ, XMPP/Jabber, and Facebook chat) at the same time. Just input www.palringo.mobi into your mobile browser to download and install the application directly to your phone.

 

Of course, if you are a fan of Windows Live you can also go to Windows Live for Mobile and get Windows Live Messenger:

 

Purchased Applications

Profile applications: Today screen plug-ins are not needed if you plan to use the Windows Default today screen, but you'll probably want to install some kind of profile manager to automate the ringer and other things on your phone.  I used Phone Alarm on the IPAQ hw6925, but I installed Phone Weaver on the Glisten

SKTools is my Windows Mobile Swiss army knife.  I've written several articles about this wonderful application and I find new uses for it all the time.  SKTools is an indispensable application that I highly recommend.

AgendaOne is a fine PIM application that is easy to navigate either through the 5 directional toggle or by finger scrolling through the option.  Here are screenshots of the Contacts, Tasks, Agenda, Daily, Weekly and Monthly views.

 

Mobile Navigator 7 is my GPS software of choice for the HP Glisten.  You can purchase Mobile Navigator 7 at PocketGear or Smartphone.net, and it's on sale for under $50 until 6/14/2010!  Mobile Navigator is all inclusive, which means you don't need an "always on" data connection to use the software - the maps are stored on the windows phone so you'll need to reserve 1.5 GB free on your SD card for the maps.

 

 

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Sometimes to gain some functionality on a Windows Mobile device you may need to modify its registry. There are several different registry editors you could use to do this, such as SKTools or Total Commander's registry editor. 

For this article, I will use PHM Registry Editor to modify the registry of a WM6.5 phone so that all email messages and related attachments are stored on the installed storage card (by default these items are stored in main memory).  The required registry changes are:

• To store EMAIL messages to the storage card:  HKLM\System\Inbox\Settings\PropertyPath - Create a new string value called PropertyPath, if necessary, and input the new path to use for Email messages (i.e., \Storage Card\Windows\Messaging)
• For store Email attachments to the storage card: HKLM\System\Inbox\Settings\AttachPath  - Create a new string value called AttachPath, if necessary, and input the new path to use for email attachments (i.e., \Storage Card\Windows\Messaging\Attachments)

Making the Changes

Open up PHM Registry Editor and select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE (referred to as HKLM).  Navigate to System > Inbox > Settings.  Then tap Edit > New String Value.

 

Replace the default value name to PropertyPath or AttachPath (depending on which string you are creating) and input the entire path where you want to store your email messages and email attachments. 

NOTE: You need to create these folders before you can use them.  See "Take Charge of your Files" to learn about the software you could use to create folders and to manage files on your windows mobile device.

 

After you've created these keys, exit the registry editor and soft reset your device.

Caution! Caution! Caution! Caution!

Before you start poking around in the registry, be sure to backup the entire contents of your mobile device.  Then be very careful when messing around in the registry and don't experiment unless you know what you are doing.  Deleting or modifying registry keys could render the device useless, requirement a hard reset to return the device to working order.

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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.

 

Open up SKTools, tap Category > Files	Tap Move Data
Tap Move Application	Scroll down and find the application you want to move
Tap Action > Move Application	Navigate to the location where you want to move the application > tap OK
SKTools prompts for confirmation.  Tap Yes to move the application	SKTools relocates all files and modifies the registry to relocate relevant references to the software
SKTools will request final confirmation. Tap OK	After all files have been relocated and registry entries redirected to the new location, SKTools reports the end result

 

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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

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I've been blogging here at From My Pocket for just over two years now.  When I set the blog up, I also licensed the pocketprimer.com domain name.  My intention all along has been to use the pocketprimer website as a landing page for the blog. 

Late last week, I finally got around to creating the pocketprimer.com website.  It is still under development, but check it out (www.pocketprimer.com) and then post a comment here, letting me know what you think.

A few weeks ago I was in Seattle attending the Microsoft MVP summit.  It was great to meet other Windows Mobile enthusiasts (aka MVPs), and I got pretty pumped up at what I learned there.  Microsoft's got a lot of neat things in the works and we all have a lot to look forward to.  Some things you can check out now include:

Microsoft My Phone beta

Here's a new free service that is in beta testing and is only available by invitation. You'll have to sign up for the service and wait for an invitation from Microsoft.  My Phone syncs the data from a windows mobile phone (contacts, appointments and tasks) to a secure website that only you can access. Once the data is synced from your windows mobile phone to the web you can sync it to a new device.  I don' think you'll have to wait too long for an invitation.

I've used My Phone to sync my data to the web and it works great.  I am looking forward to Microsoft's continued refinement of this service in the coming months.  You can check out Microsoft's My Phone forum here.

Live Mesh beta

Another free service that is in beta testing.  You may have already used live mesh to link together your multiple computers to keep them in sync with one another, but did you know that you can also connect a windows mobile device to the mesh?  This is a fantastic way to keep things in sync, and also to access important files from any other connected computer on the web.

I've recently been giving Live Mesh a test drive and I'm liking what I've seen so far.  I've set up my mesh to sync my desktop computers with my UMPC (this is the computer I carry to work and travel with).  I've hooked my windows mobile device into the mesh too.  I'm still feeling my way around this service, but see lots of potential here.  Check out Microsoft's Live Mesh Mobile forum here.

Microsoft Tag beta

Microsoft Tag provides a way to create and read two dimensional bar codes that can be used in numerous scenarios.  I'll admit, I'm not sure how much I'll use this software, but I see lots of potential.  Here's what Microsoft says about Microsoft Tag:

"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"

 

Microsoft Recite

Here's a neat free application that allows you to record short notes to yourself and then search through them later on (verbally).   I am intrigued by this software and look forward to installing it on my handheld and playing around with it some. 

Things to Look Forward To This Year

Windows Mobile 6.5

Of course, you've probably all heard about Windows Mobile 6.5 and maybe seen some screenshots and early videos of it.  I can't say much more about Windows Mobile 6.5, but I think you'll like it once it's finally released.

Windows Mobile Marketplace for Mobile

Windows Mobile Marketplace will be a place that users can go to purchase and download certified software for their mobile devices.  You can learn the specifics of the Marketplace on the Windows Mobile Team Blog.

Windows Mobile Widgets

Windows Mobile 6.5 will include a widget platform that will provide an easier (and prettier) user interface.  You can learn more about Windows Mobile Widgets and see some sample screenshots on the Windows Mobile Team Blog.


I returned home energized and enthusiastic about Windows Mobile and my blog. 

Lately I've been thinking about the blog and where I'd like to take it over the next year.  You may have noticed that over the last week I've been posting a series of short articles about SKTools.  I think I can post useful content in regular, short articles like these while at the same time I work on the longer more meaty articles that I've typically written for the blog.

Thanks to you all for reading my blog!

        

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.

Format a Storage Card

You'll find this option to format a storage card under the Maintenance module	Scroll down to the Storage Cards option
Select the Storage Card.  You'll notice that you can also view information about the storage card in the lower window	Choose Format (choosing Empty will simply delete the contents of the storage card without formatting the card)

Rename a Storage Card

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.

While you are here, you can tap the Tools option on the lower right hand side of the screen and then tap Settings	In this screen you can change the default formatting options: Format with options include FAT32, FAT16 or FAT12 Cluster size options range from 0.5K to 64K
Scroll down the page and you see a list of potential storage names	If you want to rename a storage card, tap the card and enter the new name in the space provided

After you've changed the storage card name, Exit SKTools completely and perform a soft reset to apply the settings.

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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.

 

Open up SKTools and tap Category > PIM	Scroll down and tap "Delete PIM information"
If you want to delete one of these data types (appointments, contacts OR tasks), place a checkmark in the box next to it.**	Then tap the Action link on the bottom of the page and select Delete Marked items
**You can also delete a messaging account on this screen (see (MSG type?)

SKTool Maintenance: Gain full control of your system

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

 

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Have you ever attempted to install an application to your windows mobile device and been frustrated by the following message?

"Installation was unsuccessful. The program cannot be installed because it is not digitally signed with a trusted certificate."

With Windows Mobile 5, Microsoft introduced tighter security requirements for software. These security requirements lock down the device's installer to trusted applications (applications that are packaged with a valid certificate from a trusted source). I was contacted recently by a reader who encountered this message when attempting to install the latest version of Google Maps.

You can change these settings by editing the Windows Mobile device registry directly:

• Use a Windows Mobile-based registry editor to navigate to HKLM > Security > Policies > Policies > 0000101a
• Change the key value from 0 to 1

SKTools allows you to make this registry change from a safe, controlled menu option:

Open up SKTools, tap Tune UP! Tap the right arrow that is shown on the lower right hand side of the screen until you see the Security tab	To remove the security requirement, tap "Disable warning when installing non-certified applications" Tap the down arrow to the right of the selection box and select Yes
	.

After you've changed the keys, tap Done to return to the main SKTools menu, then exit the application either by tapping OK at the top of the screen or by tapping Tools > Exit.  Perform a soft reset to apply the settings.

To turn the security requirement back on, you can go back to the Security screen and change the setting back to No.

See "Default Security Policy Settings for Windows Mobile-Based Devices" for a complete list of registry settings that manage the default security policy settings for Windows Mobile devices.

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By default, the Windows Mobile Calendar application assumes an 8:00am work start time and a 5:00pm work end time.  While it is easy enough to change these settings within Outlook on your computer, there's no way to change these times within the mobile device's Calendar application.  Fortunately you can use SKTools Tune Up! option to edit these times to match your true work hours. 

Open up SKTools Select TuneUP! (found under the System Tweaks category)	Scroll to and select the PIM tab Select Work hours start Tap the down arrow to the right of the Work hours start field and choose your preferred Start Time Select Work hours end Tap the down arrow to the right of the Work hours end field and choose your preferred End Time

After you changed the work start and end times, exit the application and perform a soft reset to apply the settings.

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Many Windows Mobile devices include non-programmable soft keys (these are the tappable options you'll see on the bottom of the Today screen).  Changing the software designation of these soft keys requires some registry tweaking, that is, unless you've got SKTools installed on your device	Open up SKTools, tap Tune UP! Tap the right arrow that is shown on the lower right hand side of the screen until you see the Buttons tab Select each Soft Key item and change as desired
	.
Enter the name of the application in the label field	Tap the three periods to the right of the Soft Key path box and navigate to the application's exe file you wish to open

After you've changed the keys, tap Done  to  return to the main SKTools menu, Then exit the application either by tapping OK at the top of the screen or by tapping Tools > Exit.  Perform a soft reset to apply the settings.

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If you've ever had to reset your windows mobile device to its original factory settings, you'll probably agree with me when I say it requires yoga-flexible fingers and a touch of the Vulcan Death Grip to perform this operation.  But SKTools provides a much easier way!

By default, the Hard Reset option is not enabled in SKTools, so the first thing you have to do is enable it:

• Open up SKTools
• Tap Tools > Settings > Main Settings > scroll down and highlight "Allow Hard Reset"
• Tap the down arrow to the right of the Allow Hard Reset box and select "Yes" (see Figure 1)
• Tap OK to go back to the main SKTools menu

Now, when you tap Tools > Reset > you'll find a Hard Reset option there (see Figure 2).  When you tap Hard Reset, you'll be asked to verify that you want to perform the reset. 

Figure 1: Enable the hard reset option	Figure 2: Perform a Hard Reset

I am not sure if this option factory resets every device, but I have used it several times to factory reset my hw6925.

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If you've read many of my articles on this blog you'll notice that I recommend SKTools a lot.  I do not have any kind of financial interest in SKTools and only recommend this software because it is an exceptionally useful utility to have on a mobile device.  I consider it my windows mobile swiss army knife and it is one of the first applications I install to any device I get.

In previous articles I've demonstrated how you can use SKTools to:

• Fix notification errors
• Benchmark a windows mobile device's performance
• Delete duplicate contacts, appointments, or tasks
• Copy contacts from your SIM card to your Windows Mobile device
• Copy multiple contacts from your Windows Mobile device to your SIM card
• Lock the memory slider on a Windows Mobile 2003 (or earlier) device

Did you know that you can also use SKTools to:

1. Factory Reset a Device
2. Reassign Soft Keys
3. Change Working Hour Start and End Times
4. Resolve Windows Mobile program installation security failures
5. Delete all Contacts, Appointments or Tasks in One Fell Swoop
6. Reformat a Storage Card
7. Rename a Storage Card

Stay tuned!  Over the next several days, I'll post articles here that demonstrate how you can use SKTools to do all these things and more!

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I thought I would pass on some links I've recently bookmarked:

Newegg has some great deals on storage cards

• Here's a 4 GB SD card (not SDHC card) by Transcend that's the lowest price I've ever seen. 
• UPDATE (11/02/2008):  I bought this SD card and got it a few days ago.  The card arrived unformatted, so I had to format it in my computer.  My computer has an SD card slot, but every time I attempted to format the card on my computer, I got an error message that the card could not be formatted.  After searching around the internet I concluded that the SD slot on my laptop was the problem.  I could not find a driver update to fix the problem, but I was able to use SKTools to format the card in my Pocket PC.  Even after formatting, I could not use the SD slot on my laptop to transfer data to the card.  However, I have no problem transferring data to the card when it is installed in the Pocket PC through ActiveSync connection or when I use a USB card reader.  My issue is with the SD slot on the laptop, (I never had a problem working with my 4 GB A-Data card in the SD slot on this computer)
• Here's a 32 GB CF card by A-Data that I'm considering

Some free software I recently discovered:

QDz by Nicque:  I've been searching for a more efficient speed dial software than the one that's already installed on the hw6925.  The current speed dial function takes three taps with the stylus and there's no way that I know of to place speed dial calls without having to use the stylus.  I installed QDz by Nicque and assigned the application to the Contacts softkey (use SKTOOLS to do this).  Now I can press the Contacts button and navigate to the specific contact I wish to call without ever having to use my stylus.

UPDATE (11/02/2008): One reader asked me how to use SKTOOLS to assign the application to the Contacts softkey:

• Open up SKTOOLS on the pocket pc
• Tap View > System Tweaks > Tune UP! > tap the right arrow until you see the Buttons tab
• Tap the Buttons tab > choose the SOFKey1 path option > in the window tap the three dots and navigate to the \Windows\Start Menu\Programs\ folder > find the QDzII.lnk file and tap it > tap OK > Done

SRS WOW HD: I've used SRS Audio Sandbox software on my laptop and UMPC for several months now and was really blown away at how much the software improved audio on those little speakers, so I was excited to find the SRS WOW HD driver for Pocket PCs.  I installed the software to the hw6925 and, WOW, what a difference it makes to the sound quality.  The write-up for the software says it is for WM6.0 devices, but it works great on my WM5.0 hw6925. 

To install the software, just copy the CAB file directly to your mobile device, navigate to it, then click on it and the software will install. Then perform a soft reset.  The installation places two files in the windows folder of the device (WOWHD_ARM_Panel.cpl & WOWHD_ARM_Driver.dll) and adds several registry items to the registry.  You can manipulate the settings by tapping Start > Settings > System tab > WOW HD Settings. (To be safe, be sure to backup your mobile device before installing the software).

One thing I've noticed is that the Bluetooth high quality profile does not connect to my Bluetooth stereo headset any more.  I haven't played around with it enough to figure out a work around yet, but I prefer to use a wired headset when listening to music.  The Bluetooth headset profile which I use for placing and receiving calls still works fine.

HP IPAQ hw6900 USB Modem Driver Update:  One of the readers here emailed me a link to a driver that allows the hw6900 to be used as a USB modem for a Vista machine == Thanks Hari!

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The IPAQ Classic Handheld 110 is a great, moderately priced Pocket PC in HP's newest line of WM6.0 devices. The IPAQ 110's 16 Bit 246k 240 x320 pixel screen is brilliant and beautiful and with its Marvell PXA310, 624 MHz processor, it's performance is nothing less than impressive. Compared to the 64 MB of ROM and 32 MB SDRAM on the IPAQ rx1955, the 256 MB ROM and the 64MB of RAM on the IPAQ 110 is amazing.<< MORE >>

Benchmarks, that is....SKTOOLs includes a Benchmark option that benchmarks 6 different Pocket PC operations. I've not paid much attention to benchmarks, but someone recently asked me to post benchmarks for my hw6925, so I ran SKTOOLs benchmarks on three of my Pocket PCs and here they are. << MORE >>

From time to time you may wind up with duplicate contacts, appointments or tasks either on your Desktop computer or on your Pocket PC. To delete this data, you could manually go through each record and delete the duplicates but this can be quite tedious. Here are some tools you can use to find and delete duplicate records on your computer and your Pocket PC. << MORE >>

I recently broke the ActiveSync connection to my rx1950. Now this is not really unusual since I add and remove software, play around with my PIM data and dink around with the rx1950 all the time. Since it is not my "production" Pocket PC, I really don't take many precautions with it, that is, I don't back it up very often because I know if I ever really mess things up I can just perform a clean reset and get it working again. And the truth of the matter is, the only time I've really messed up the rx1950 so bad that I had to perform a clean reset was when I accidentally deleted the notification queue when I was researching to write the Notifications & Alerts article.<< MORE >>

All of the contact, appointment, task, category and other PIM data on a WM5.0 Pocket PC is stored in a database, called pim.vol, which can be found in the Pocket PC's root directory. You can back up this data by copying the pim.vol file to a storage card or to your computer. Then if you perform a factory reset of your Pocket PC, you can restore the data to the Pocket PC by simply copying the pim.vol file from your computer back to the root directory of the Pocket PC. << MORE >>

The hw6900s include a preinstalled application, called SIM Manager, that can be used to copy SIM contacts to the Pocket PC's Contacts application. . .<< MORE >>

You can use the Outlook Contacts application to copy individual contacts from the Pocket PC to the SIM card . . .<< MORE >>

Pocket PC's that use the Windows Mobile 2003 or earlier operating systems include a memory slider that can be used to allocate available memory between Storage memory and Program memory<< MORE >>

You need to set an option in the Messaging application to store your email attachments on an installed storage card: << MORE >>

When I first started using Pocket PCs, I spent many happy hours looking for and dinking around with software.  Over the last couple of years, I've probably installed and uninstalled hundreds of applications to my Pocket PCs.  Sometimes, I've hunted for software that performed really specific functions just to see if it existed!  I really enjoy discovering and playing with new software.

There are several applications that I consider absolute keepers and I have installed them to all my Pocket PCs.  I thought you might like to know what my favorite software is and what's installed in my Pocket. 

So what ...<< MORE >>

I have read so many urgent threads from users who encountered some kind of irreversible problem with their Pocket PCs and either lost all their data or had to perform a full reset to restore the Pocket PC to working order.  Given the urgency of their requests for assistance and their reluctance to follow through on offered advice (often times the advice being to perform a full reset of the device), I have come to believe that many users do not backup their Pocket PCs as frequently as they should (if ever).

At a minimum, you should backup your ...<< MORE >>

When I started using my first Pocket PC, I bought a 128 mb SanDisk SD card. I installed about 20 different applications to the card and also set up my POP3 accounts to store all email attachments to the card. Things started getting crowded and I started thinking about upgrading to a larger storage card. So I bought a 1 GB PNY SD card. Since I had installed so many applications to the 128 mb SD card and since I'm a bit lazy, I didn't want to uninstall all these applications and reinstall them to my new SD ...<< MORE >>

Has your Pocket PC ever sounded an alarm for no apparent reason? And then continued to sound the alarm even after you turned it off? Or have you ever set an alarm that never triggered? From time-to-time, the Pocket PC’s alarms and notifications get whacked out and if you call your Pocket PC’s support desk, you’ll probably be advised to perform a full reset of your pocket to set things right. Alarms, notifications, and other internal time related processes are managed by the Pocket PC’s notification queue, so if your alarms and notifications ...<< MORE >>

December 2008

3G & the IPAQ 910c

I've been using an IPAQ 910c for a couple of months now and was unimpressed by 3G.  When I got the 910c  I took the SIM card out of my IPAQ hw6925, found that it was a 3G card, and inserted it into the IPAQ 910c.  I live in the Atlanta metropolitan area and, according to AT&T's 3G map, I live just on the edge of a high 3G coverage area.  The IPAQ never connected to 3G at my home and it looked like I would still be stuck with Edge. <<MORE>>

Cooking in the Mobile Cloud

I'm a pretty good cook and, even though I don't cook a lot, I enjoy trying out new recipes.  I've clipped recipes, searched for recipes on the web, and amassed quite a collection of cookbooks over the years.  Recently I decided to organize my recipes into an electronic cookbook.  My requirements for an electronic cookbook included menu planning, automatic creation of a shopping list, and easy integration of recipes and shopping lists with my Pocket PC.  After trying out a few applications I settled on Big Oven.  <<MORE>>

October 2008

From My Pocket Goes Mobile!

It only  makes sense that a blog about mobile devices provide a mobile version of itself, don't you think?  I'm excited to finally announce that you can now read From My Pocket on your mobile device.well you could before, but it wasn't very pretty. <<MORE>>

Looking for a Good Email Application?  Check out nPOPuk

nPOPuk is a powerful, full featured email alternative to the messaging software that is currently included on windows mobile devices.  Features I especially like about it include. . . <<MORE>>

Passing on some great finds

I thought I would pass on some links I've recently bookmarked. Newegg has some great deals on storage cards. . . <<MORE>>

August 2008

Fixing network share problems

I have a small wireless network at home consisting of one desktop computer (this one is wired into my network), two laptops, several pocket pcs, a UMPC, and a visiting laptop (from work).  The computers run a combination of XP home edition, XP tablet edition, and XP Media Center. (NOTE: none of the computers run Vista or XP Professional).  Some months ago, something in my wireless network broke down.  I realized that I could no longer see my computers on my network from my laptop and vice versa.  <<MORE>>

Using Bluetooth to sync your WM6.1 mobile device

Using Bluetooth to sync your Pocket PC is easier than ever under WM6.1.  All you need to do is prepare your computer, create the Bluetooth partnership and sync. <<MORE>>

Staying Informed with NewsGatort Go!

NewsGator Go! for Mobiles is a free News Reader that allows you to track and manage all your RSS feeds directly from your mobile device.  Installing, configuring and using the software is quite easy.  Once the software is installed to your mobile device, you can sync your device to your NewsGators online account through an ActiveSync internet passthrough connection, WIFI connection or through a GPRS/EDGE/3G connection, disconnect from the internet and take your news with you to read at your convenience without having to maintain a continuous connection to the internet. <<MORE>>

Bookmarks, RSS feeds & email subscriptions

Thanks for visiting From My Pocket! I hope you find some useful Pocket PC tips here and that you'll check back frequently for updated content.  To be sure you stay informed of updated content and new articles, you can bookmark the website, subscribe to its RSS feed, or subscribe via email.  <<MORE>>

July 2008

Viewing and Editing Photos with XnView Pocket

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). <<MORE>>

Printing on the go with PrintBoy 7

PrintBoy 7.0 Windows Mobile printing software allows you to print directly to a printer via Infrared, WIFI, Bluetooth or Serial connection. With PrintBoy you won't need to use another computer's print connection to print, but it is somewhat limited in the file formats it supports: Word Mobile (native .doc files); Text files (.txt); Adobe PDF files (.pdf); and Pocket Outlook (Mail). <<MORE>>

Smartphone & Pocket PC Best Software Awards 2008:  Here's my list. . .

Here's the final list of software I'll be judging in this year's software awards.  With six categories consisting of 37 applications, it's a big list but I'm trying to get an early start.  It's a smaller list than last year, and I'm looking at some of the same software, but I hope to perform a fairly comprehensive and comparative review of the software, which I will share will you. <<MORE>>

June 2008

Smartphone & Pocket PC Best Software Awards 2008

The preliminary list of nominees for the Best Software Awards for 2008 have been posted and are open for review and feedback for the next three weeks. If you have the time, review the list and make some recommendations of software that you think should be included in the list. All recommendations received before July 16th will be considered and the list will be finalized on July 21st.<< MORE >>

Gmail's Java application works on the Pocket PC

Have you noticed that many of the free Java applications all seem to be geared to be distributed to the more conventional cell phones?  To get many of these applications you have to use your cellphone to navigate to a website that will determine if the application is ...<< MORE >>

Get threaded text messaging now..No update required

One of the things WM6.1 brings to the table for mobile devices is threaded text messaging. Threaded text messaging organizes text messages together into a single conversation, so when you text with a friend or colleague, you can view the entire conversation as you type - your text messages are not interspersed with all the other text messages you might have on your mobile device.<< MORE >>

Windows Live Search GPS Option

If you have a GPS enabled mobile device and you want to use Windows Live Search's GPS option, all you need to do is set the correct GPS COM port in Windows Live Search so it matches the COM port that your mobile device's GPS radio uses. For the hw6925, the GPS COM port is COM Port 7<< MORE >>

6/7/2008: What's captured my interest this week

Here's a list of some of my favorite landing places, the mobile software I'm trying out, and new websites I've bookmarked this week that I'd like to share with you.  Enjoy!  You may have noticed the Goals I posted in the Sidebar to the left.  About a month or so << MORE >>

Comparing PDF Readers

If you want to read PDF files on your Pocket PC, you have a couple of choices in PDF Readers.  In this article I will evaluate and compare the three most popular PDF Readers for << MORE >>

I just unlocked my hw6925

I bought the hw6925 from AT&T and have been using it now for about a year and a half.  Since I am planning a trip to  The Netherlands next year, I decided to look into unlocking the hw6925 so I can use a prepaid Holland-based SIM card in ...<< MORE >>

May 2008

Java Applications on the IPAQ hw6900

If you want to run Java applications on a Pocket PC, you need to install a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) to manage and run the applications and the Java applications.  I don't know much about Java, but I recently installed two different Java based applications (or MIDlets) to my hw6925 and discovered that the IPAQ hw6900s already include a Java Virtual Machine in their set of preinstalled applications.  <<MORE>>

Syncing to a Vista computer

Syncing a Pocket PC to a Vista computer should be pretty easy.  But from the forum threads I've read, it seems to be more trouble than syncing with ActiveSync.  Before you try to sync to a Vista computer, make sure you've got a compatible mobile device and compatible software.  Also be sure you've installed the right syncing software to your computer. . . <<MORE>>

FAQs: Do I need to be concerned about Viruses or Spyware on my Pocket PC

I am not concerned about viruses or spyware invading my Pocket PC and I don't think you need to be overly concerned about them either for a couple of reasons:  Pocket PCs run a distinctly different operating system than a Windows computer so the viruses and spyware that affect computers do not affect Pocket PCs. . .   MORE

Tracking the Weather

Last night some more severe weather, with the threat of tornados, swept through Georgia.  In the community where I live (which is about 35 miles away from Atlanta), the tornado sirens went off a couple of times early this morning.  At 4:30 am, a tornado had been sighted only a few miles from my home.  Luckily, the tornado steered clear of my neighborhood, but last night's excitement got me searching for a quick weather update solution for my Pocket PC and I found a really great free application called Weather Watcher Mobile.. .  MORE

Using the IPAQ hw6900 as a USB Modem

Most of the time when I am away from my home network I have easy access to free WIFI.  But I don't like being chained to locations that provide free WIFI.  I subscribe to an unlimited data plan through AT&T and decided to explore using the hw6925 as a modem for my new UMPC. . . MORE

Basic GPS

One of the really nice features of the IPAQ hw6900 family of Pocket PCs is that they include a built-in GPS receiver.  I was a GPS virgin when I bought my hw6925.  I had heard of GPS and had a vague notion of what it was, but I had never seen GPS in action and had no idea how versatile, convenient, and sometimes frustrating it could be.  Since I don't travel much these days and I almost always know where I am going, I didn't think I needed GPS or that I would use it, so the GPS receiver was not the reason I purchased the hw6925.  For a long time I was indifferent to the GPS capability of my Pocket PC, but over time, I've come to enjoy using it.  However, as a new user, my initial GPS experience was confusing, frustrating and a bit disorienting. . . MORE

APRIL 2008

Finally! A way to block spam text messages on my AT&T cell phone.

Last time I checked, I could not find a way to block spam text messages through my AT&T account.  Today, I received another spam text message, so I decided to look around again, and I was delighted to discover that AT&T now provides a way to selectively block text messages.  I have no idea when AT&T started providing this option - I never received any kind of announcement of it and I haven't seen anyone blogging about it, so I think it is a little known, probably recently released, option . . . MORE

Getting into Shape with my Pocket PC - Running with GPS

I must confess...I am not in good shape!  Running up and down the hills around where I live is a miserable experience.  But I've gotten into shape before on these hills, and I know I can do it again.  For tonight's run, I ran down the hill that is close to where I live.  Unfortunately, running down a hill means I've got to run up the hill to get back home.  That hill is a thorn in my side every time I start back running and, like tonight, I usually wind up walking up it. . . . MORE 

Getting into Shape with my Pocket PC - Day 1

Over the years, I've been an on again/off again runner.  It's been several months since I was consistent with my running routine and I think my Pocket PC will give me the kick in the pants I need to get off my duff, away from the computer and out on the road again.  Today I installed VidaOne's My Sport Training and its companion software, GPS for Pocket PC, to my hw6925. . . MORE

MARCH 2008

A Pocket Full of Books

I have always been an avid reader.  Every bookshelf in my home is filled to capacity (and I have a lot of book cases).  Lately I've been exploring electronic options (no bookshelves needed ), and I'm delighted to report that I have loaded up my SD card with books.  Now, whenever I'm standing in line, waiting for an appointment, or just hanging out, I've always got a miniature library with me to keep me occupied. . . . MORE

Pocket PC Tech's Lil' Sync USB Mobile Pack

The other day I took my IPAQ hx2415 out of my bag and it wouldn't turn on because I had inadvertently allowed the battery to get too low.  I was disappointed that I would not be able to use my Pocket PC that day until I remembered that I had the Lil' Sync USB Mobile Power Pack in my gadget bag. . . . MORE

Microsoft's Comprehensive DST patch for Pocket PCs

On Sunday all of my Pocket PCs, except for my rx1950, adjusted for DST.  I think the problem could have been caused by the Real Time Clock update that I installed to the rx1950 a few days prior to the DST time change.  I fixed the problem by uninstalling the DST patch on the rx1950 that . . . MORE

My Pocket PC Missed Leap Year

I turned on my HP IPAQ h1945 and my rx1950 yesterday and found that the date was wrong by just one day. Apparently these two Pocket PCs did not recognize that this is a leap year. After looking around HP's website, I found some patches, called the Real Time Clock Update, for the h1900, the rx1950/rx1955 and the rx3700 that HP posted on February 20th to . . . MORE

FEBRUARY 2008

A Guided Tour of the IPAQ Classic 110 Handheld (Video)

In this video, I take you through several different screens and options as I explore this WM6.0 Pocket PC . . . MORE

Adapting to Office 2007

I started using Office 2007 last Fall.  I liked Office 2003, knew my way around it pretty well, and had no intention of upgrading to Office 2007, but when I showed up to teach class on the first day of the Fall semester, I found that the university had updated all the classroom computers to Office 2007.  I use Excel extensively in one of the courses I teach (Business Analysis) and it was near impossible to teach my class without first figuring out how to navigate . . . MORE

The IPAQ Classic Handheld 110: A Gem of a Pocket PC

The IPAQ Classic Handheld 110 is a great, moderately priced Pocket PC in HP's newest line of WM6.0 devices. The IPAQ 110's 16 Bit 246k 240 x320 pixel screen is brilliant and beautiful and with its Marvell PXA310, 624 MHz processor, it's performance is nothing less than impressive. Compared to the 64 MB of ROM and 32 MB SDRAM on the IPAQ rx1955, the 256 MB ROM and the 64MB of RAM on the IPAQ 110 is amazing . . . MORE

JANUARY 2008

Using a Bluetooth Personal Area Network

I've played around with the Bluetooth profiles on my Pocket PCs and have figured out how to use most of them.  One profile that never understood how to use is the Bluetooth Personal Area Network profile.  I could connect two Bluetooth enabled devices together and create a Personal Area Network, I just couldn't figure out what to do once the network was established.  I recently discovered a piece of software . . . MORE

Adobe Reader for Pocket PC

I often see threads on Pocket PC forums where users report issues installing Adobe Reader to their WM5.0 Pocket PC.  Because of these difficulties, there is a misperception that Adobe Reader for Pocket PCs is not compatible with WM5.0 devices.  But I have installed Adobe Reader to both of my WM5.0 devices and the software works fine.  I encountered a problem when I installed . . . MORE

NOVEMBER 2007

Jott to Twitter: An Elegant Solution

I teach a class at 7:30 am every Monday and I am on the road to school around 6:30 am.  I live 35 miles away from school and part of my commute spans a stretch of highway that is prone to gridlock at all hours of the day and night.  I am always concerned about being late to class with no good way to communicate with my students.  Then I heard about Jott and how I could use . . . MORE

If I show you mine, will you show me yours?

SKTOOLs includes a Benchmark option that benchmarks 6 different Pocket PC operations.   I honestly don't know much about these benchmarks, but here's what SKTOOLs writes about them . . . MORE

The Case of the Missing Contacts

I just solved a mystery that's been plaguing me for the longest time.  My Pocket PCs seem to lose contacts temporarily!  When I enter a new appointment in my Pocket PC, I'd like to tap the Attendees field and select the appropriate contact(s) with whom I will be meeting.  Many times when I tap the Attendees field to select a contact, the contact is not displayed in the ensuing pick list.  If I open up the Contacts application on my Pocket PC, I can find the contact, but since the contact is not available for selection when I tap the . . . MORE

Phone Alarm: A must have application for every Pocket PC / phone combo

Phone Alarm is a really great, full featured application for Pocket PCs, particularly for Pocket PCs that include a phone function (also known as converged devices).  When installed, the application includes a today screen plug-in that displays information about missed calls, new emails, new text messages, and new voicemail messages.  The plug-in also includes icons that turn Bluetooth and WIFI on and off, as well as change the Pocket PC's active profile that controls how rings and notifications are handled. . . . MORE

OCTOBER 2007

New Zealand Daylight Savings Changes

On September 30th at 2:00 am, Daylight Savings kicked in for New Zealand.  For New Zealanders, DST starts one week earlier and ends two weeks later (3:00 A.M. on 6th April 2008) than past years.  Microsoft has posted patches to address these changes for both Windows . . . MORE

Deleting Duplicate Data

From time to time you may wind up with duplicate contacts, appointments or tasks either on your Desktop computer or on your Pocket PC.  To delete this data, you could manually go through each record and delete the duplicates but this can be quite tedious.  Here are some tools you can use to find and delete duplicate records on your computer and your Pocket PC. . . . MORE

Fixing my ActiveSync connection again!

recently broke the ActiveSync connection to my rx1950.  Now this is not really unusual since I add and remove software, play around with my PIM data and dink around with the rx1950 all the time.  Since it is not my "production" Pocket PC, I really don't take many precautions with it, that is, I don't back it up very often because I know if I ever really mess things up I can just perform a clean reset and get it working again.  And the truth of the matter is, the only time I've really messed up the rx1950 so bad that I had . . . MORE

SEPTEMBER 2007

Backing up and Deleting PIM Data

All of the contact, appointment, task, category and other PIM data on a WM5.0 Pocket PC is stored in a database, called pim.vol, which can be found in the Pocket PC's root directory.  You can back up this data by copying the pim.vol file to a storage card or to your computer.  Then if you perform a factory reset of your Pocket PC, you can restore the data to the Pocket PC by simply copying the pim.vol file from your computer back to the root directory of the Pocket PC. . . MORE

Using Dialing Patterns on a Pocket PC

I recently replaced one of my landlines with an internet-based phone number that rings directly into voicemail.  I signed up for PrivatePhone by NetZero.  PrivatePhone gives me a free local phone number that rings directly to a voice mailbox that can store up to 10,000 voicemail messages.  Whenever anyone leaves a message in the mailbox, I receive a text message on my cellphone.  I can then call my voice mailbox to retrieve my messages or I can login to my personal email account to listen to . . . MORE

A Car Charger, Cradle, and a 4GB mini-SD card for my hw6925

I finally bit the bullet and bought the ProClip car charger and cradle for my hw6925.  It wasn't cheap, but I've got to say, I really love it!  The ProClip cradle comes in two parts . . . MORE

Microsoft's Sync Toy

This article does not have anything to do with Pocket PCs, but for some time now I've been using this wonderful free tool that I downloaded from Microsoft's website and just have to share!  Microsoft's free SyncToy helps keep me organized! It is a great piece of software that is easy to learn and very versatile. I teach college courses, and prepare all my lecture materials . . . MORE

Sirius on my Pocket PC

I'm a radio girl.  I grew up listening to the radio and I enjoy listening to a variety of music, not just my private collection of CDs.  Unfortunately, since radio stations nowadays waste so much time on commercials and senseless yakking and devote less time to playing music, I've practically stopped listening to the radio.  Lately, I've been thinking about giving satellite radio a whirl. . . MORE

AUGUST 2007

Speech & Voice Commander / Dialer Applications (podcast)

Many of you know that I am a Judge in the Smartphone & Pocket PC Software Awards.  I have signed up to evaluate and judge over 60 different applications in 15 different categories.  In this podcast, I discuss the applications in the Utilities-Speech & Voice Commander/Dialer category: Microsoft Voice Command 1.6; Voice2Go by Vito Technology; Fonix Voice Central 3.1. . . MORE

FAQs: Email

JULY 2007

Q&A: How do I copy contacts form the Pocket PC to the SIM card?

Q&A: How do I copy contacts from the SIM card to the Pocket PC?

Smartphones & Pocket PC Best Software Awards 2007:  Here is my list

It's about time for me to start download and installing software to my Pocket PCs.  I'm getting myself organized and have compiled the list of software I'll be reviewing over the next several weeks.  I thought I'd share the list with you!  I have marked the software I already use with an asterisk....you can see I'm going to be quite busy!     MORE

Q&A: How do I use the memory slider on my Windows Mobile 2003 (or earlier) OS Pocket PC?

Q&A: What does Standby in my Pocket PC's power settings mean?

Q&A: How do I save email attachments to a storage card?

Pocket PC Networking

Once you've got your Pocket PC connected to your WIFI network, you can use the Pocket PC to view and copy shared files from your networked computers through your network connection.  However, this is a one way connection.  The computer does not register your Pocket PC as a network device, so you can not use your computer to view and copy files from your Pocket PC.   Also, if you have the right software installed on your Pocket PC, you can use the Pocket PC to edit documents, play music, and watch videos that are stored on the network computer . . . MORE

WM5.0 Giveth & WM5.0 Taketh Away

When WM5.0 was rolled out a few years ago, users were relieved to know that they no longer had to keep such a vigilant eye on the battery meter of their Pocket PCs.  If the battery goes flat on a WM5.0 device, user data is protected against loss because it is stored in persistent memory.  This is a great feature and it works very well, but it didn't take long for users to become disappointed by the things they gave up with their WM5.0 devices.  Key functionality lost in the upgrade from Windows Mobile 2003 to WM5.0 include . . . MORE

Exploring the hw6925 Phone Settings

The hw6900 Pocket PC series come with a Phone Settings application that can be used to view and change some of your cellular phone services.  You can access this application by tapping Start > Settings > Personal tab > Phone . . . MORE

Connect your Pocket PC to a WIFI Access Point

If your Pocket PC is WIFI enabled, you can connect to the internet via a WIFI access point.  To verify that your Pocket PC is WIFI enabled, tap Start > Settings > System tab > Asset Viewer.  If you find a Wireless LAN module, then your Pocket PC is WIFI enabled.  If your Pocket PC is not WIFI enabled, there are SDIO WIFI cards you can purchase to make the Pocket PC WIFI enabled. . . . MORE

Questions, Comments, Requests?

Okay, I've been blogging now for almost 6 months (5 months, 29 days to be exact).  I've learned quite a few things about this not-so-new blogging world since I started.  I have not been as consistent as I would have liked to be, but (no surprise to me) writing these articles take quite a bit of time and I do have other priorities (a paying job) that get in the way.  And, until recently, I was fighting with the technology . .  . MORE

How do I connect my Pocket PC to the Internet?

There are three common ways to get your Pocket PC online: By using the WIFI radio on your Pocket PC to connect directly to a WIFI access point; By connecting to your cellular provider's data network; and by using ActiveSync's internet passthrough connection. . . MORE

Software you might need

I frequently see postings on the Pocket PC forums from users looking for software.  In this article, you will find links to some of this frequently requested software: ActiveSync 3.8, ActiveSync 4.5; Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1, Microsoft Embedded Visual Basic Runtime, .NET Compact Framework 2.0 Service Pack 2, Macromedia Flash Player 7 for Pocket PC. . . . MORE 

2007 Nominations for the Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine's Best Software Awards are Ready for Public Feedback

Throughout June, Nominations Manager, Werner ("Menneisyys") Ruotsalainen, and the 2007 Board of Experts developed the nominations list. Now, the preliminary list of nominees for Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine's 7th annual Best Software Awards are ready for public viewing and comment.

. . . MORE

JUNE 2007

Posting to the blog from a Pocket PC

I've been on a hunt to gather better tools to facilitate posting to my personal blog and recently started using Microsoft Live Writer - a really great application and one that will probably save me hours of work and hassle! I am a much happier camper.  I recently found a free application that allows me to post to the blog from my Pocket PC (similar to the way Live Writer works on the computer). . . . MORE

Q&A: How do I send attachments with emails?

Q&A: How do I delete an email account that I created on my Pocket PC?

Q&A: How do I open an email attachment on my Pocket PC?

Q&A: How many messaging accounts can I create on my Pocket PC?

Q&A: Why can't I send email message from my Pocket PC?

Q&A: Why doesn't my Pocket PC notify me when I receive new email?

Alert: Don't install ROM or Firmware updates from a Vista machine

HP has not posted any kind of alert about this on its website, but HP's existing ROM and Firmware updates are not compatible with the Vista operating system and they will not install from a Vista machine.  You must use an XP machine to install these updates. . . MORE

Handling email on your Pocket PC

There are two different ways to handle email on a Pocket PC. The first method is to use the "Outlook Email" account that is set up, by default, to be handled through an ActiveSync connection. If you use this method email messages are retrieved and sent whenever you sync the Pocket PC to your computer. . . . MORE

Instant Messaging mobilinks

Your Pocket PC probably came preinstalled with MSN instant messaging software, but here are some links to help you use some other popular instant messaging services on your Pocket PC: Yahoo Instant Messenger, AIM, ICQ . . . MORE

Introducing Microsoft's Live Search for mobile

If you have ready access to the internet on your Pocket PC either through WIFI or GPRS/Edge connection, then let me introduce you to Microsoft Live Search for mobile.  Microsoft Live Search for mobile provides some great, relevant information while you are on the move.  Live Search for mobile is free, except for any text messaging and/or data charges you might incur through your wireless service provider.  Live Search for mobile consists of three components . . . MORE

What's in my Pocket?

When I first started using Pocket PCs, I spent many happy hours looking for and dinking around with software.  Over the last couple of years, I've probably installed and uninstalled hundreds of applications to my Pocket PCs.  Sometimes, I've hunted for software that performed really specific functions just to see if it existed!  I really enjoy discovering and playing with new software. . . . MORE

Need a Task Manager? How 'bout iTask?

iTask is a flexible task manager that comes preinstalled on many different IPAQs (the h2200, h3800, h4150, h4350, h5100, h5400, h5500, rx3000, hx2000, hx4700  series Pocket PCs) .  iTask was developed by ThumbsUpSoft and privately branded for HP.  It can be customized for any user's specific needs, but unfortunately it is poorly documented, so many users are unaware of its uses and do not know . . . MORE

MAY 2007

Software, Software, Software!

have recently been asked to act as a Judge on Smartphone & Pocket PC Magazine's 7th Annual Best Software Awards!  For the next several weeks, nominations for software will be taken, with the nominations frozen around the middle of July.  Then from the end of July through the end of August, the fun begins!  I'll get to play around with all kinds of software . . . MORE

"24" in my Pocket (or ripping DVDs for a Pocket PC)

I was on holiday last week and spent it in lovely Seattle, WA.  The flight from Atlanta to Seattle is about 5 hours long, so I decided to bring my own entertainment with me to help pass the time. 
In anticipation of my trip, I purchased a Transcend Ultra-Speed 8 GB CF card and an 2880mah Extended Lithium Ion battery for my hx2415. . . . MORE

APRIL 2007

Another Backup option!

In my previous article about backing up your pocket pc, I mentioned three applications that would work on a WM5.0 device.  In the last few days, I've learned of another, newly released application called Mobile Backup for Windows Mobile (cost $19.99). Today, I downloaded the trial version of it and installed it to my rx1950 . . . MORE

For Peace of Mind . . . Backup your Pocket PC

I have read so many urgent threads from users who encountered some kind of irreversible problem with their Pocket PCs and either lost all their data or had to perform a full reset to restore the Pocket PC to working order.  Given the urgency of their requests for assistance and their reluctance to follow through on offered advice (often times the advice being to perform a full reset of the device), I have come to believe that many users do not backup their Pocket PCs as frequently as they should (if ever). At a minimum, you should backup your Pocket PC before . . . MORE

MARCH 2007

A case & a bluetooth headset for the hw6925

I don't usually buy cases for my Pocket PCs because I don't like the way they bulk them up, but I recently bought a FlexiSkin from Boxwave for the hw6925 and like it quite a lot.   Boxwave does not make a FlexiSkin especially for the hw6925, so I got the one for the hw6500.  It fits really well, except the slot for the mini-sd card is not in the right spot, so I have to remove the cover whenever I wish to remove my SD card. . . . MORE

Basic Navigation through the ActiveSync minefield

ActiveSync presents a huge minefield of issues for me and many users on the forums that I visit.  Because I am always messing around with my Pocket PCs, I often encounter synching issues.  So far, I've been able to resolve my issues fairly quickly.  Here are the strategies I use when I screw up my ActiveSync partnership. . . MORE

FEBRUARY 2007

Moving to a larger storage card

When I started using my first Pocket PC, I bought a 128 mb SanDisk SD card. I installed about 20 different applications to the card and also set up my POP3 accounts to store all email attachments to the card. Things started getting crowded and I started thinking about upgrading to a larger storage card. So I bought a 1 GB PNY SD card. Since I had installed so many applications to the 128 mb SD card and since I'm a bit lazy, I didn't want to uninstall all these applications and reinstall them to my new SD card. So . . . MORE

Tap Into Your Converged Pocket PC

In a previous article, I discussed how to attach a Bluetooth enabled Pocket PC with a Bluetooth enabled cellphone and use the phone's GPRS / EDGE connection to get the Pocket PC online.  This article will describe how to do the same thing with a converged pocket pc, that is a handheld that is both a pocket pc and a cellular phone.  It is much simpler to access your cellular provider's GPRS / EDGE network from a converged device because there is no need for Bluetooth pairing and no number to dial.  To gain access . . . MORE

Don't be late for Daylight Savings

On March 11th at 2:00 am, Daylight Savings kicks in for Canada, Mexico and the United States. DST starts three weeks earlier and ends a week later than previous years.  In previous years, DST started the first Sunday in April and ended on the last Sunday in October, but now it starts the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.  Microsoft provided some guidelines about how the Pocket PC's . . . MORE

An Almost Stylus-Free Experience

I love my Pocket PC, but I don't like having to use a stylus for every simple operation.  This is especially problematic when I am driving my car.  Even though I installed Microsoft's Voice Commander on my hw6925, there is the documented limitation of not being able to issue commands through my Bluetooth ear piece.  With my hw6925 cradled, it is very difficult to press the little button to issue a command!  Furthermore, making GPS adjustments is difficult while driving.  Even when I plan my trip ahead . . . MORE

Notifications & Alerts

Has your Pocket PC ever sounded an alarm for no apparent reason?  And then continued to sound the alarm even after you turned it off?  Or have you ever set an alarm that never triggered?  From time-to-time, the Pocket PC's alarms and notifications get whacked out and if you call your Pocket PC's support desk, you'll probably be advised to perform a full reset of your pocket to set things right. Alarms, notifications, and other internal time related processes are managed . . . MORE

JANUARY 2007

A Fool's Luck!

I did a dumb thing yesterday....but managed to recover nicely.  The university where I teach sent out an email letting everyone know that they are now able to accommodate handheld devices.  That is, they now have a way for those of us who use Pocket PCs to sync to the university's GroupWise mail, appointments, tasks, contacts, and notes.  The email provided a link where we could download the Intellisyn software directly to our Pocket PCs.  MORE

Exorcise the ghosts in your Pocket PC

Have you ever noticed your Pocket PC turn on all by itself?  Have you ever left your Pocket PC in your bag for the night and the next morning discovered that the handheld's battery was flat?  What happened?  Well, two things can cause this type of behavior: Some default settings on new devices have caused the Pocket PC to power on in regular intervals to perform some automatic function. . . MORE

Use your Mobile Phone to get your Pocket PC Online

When you are not at home or not close to a WIFI hotspot and you need to check your email messages or look something up on the internet, you may be able to use your mobile phone's GPRS connection to get your Pocket PC online.  To get online, all you need is a Bluetooth enabled mobile phone and your Bluetooth enabled Pocket PC. . . MORE

Use Bluetooth to Sync Your Pocket PC

Syncing your Pocket PC to your computer through a Bluetooth connection is convenient and easy.   To do it, you'll need a computer that is Bluetooth enabled - you can use a Bluetooth USB dongle if your computer does not have Bluetooth installed in it. For this article, I used a Kensington USB dongle, my h1945, my hx2415, my hw6925 Pocket PCs and ActiveSync 4.2. . . MORE

My new hw6925

I replaced my cell phone last month with an hw6925. I always said I didn't think I would ever use a converged device, so now I am eating my words.  I had some reservations. I'd read so many negative comments about the hw6515 that I didn't think it was possible to have a great Pocket PC that was also a great phone, but I have been proven wrong. I guess the only negative thing I could say is, "It's a little hard to get used to having a smaller square screen. . . MORE

Take charge of your files

Maybe it's just me, but it seems I spend a lot of time moving files around on my Pocket PC. For this reason, one of the most used applications on my Pocket PC is my File Management system.  Every Pocket PC comes with a mobile version of File Explorer already installed. I have found this application to be barely adequate and extremely limited. Early on in my forays into everything Pocket PC, I discovered a superior File Management application that also happens to be free: Total Commander. . . MORE

Taking Shortcuts

You open most of the applications on your handheld by tapping Start > Programs and then tapping an icon. The icons you see on the Programs page represent shortcuts that reside in the handheld's \Windows\Start Menu\Programs folder.  Take a few moments to familiarize yourself with the Pocket PC's file structure by tapping Start > Programs > File Explorer icon. . . MORE

I bought a piece of software, now what do I do?

A really great feature of Pocket PCs is that you can install a myriad of software products on them, ranging from games, to personal information managers, to business applications (such as project management and database management software), to hobby oriented software. Some of my favorite software includes a guitar tuner, a running log, a shopping list, and a really great alarm clock. . . . MORE

ROM and Firmware updates

From time to time HP posts updates to a particular pocket pc model's Support & Drivers page (located on HP's website) to fix known problems, enhance performance and to add greater functionality or update pre-installed applications.  Several months ago, HP posted several BIOS updates that resolve the battery drainage/power on problems that I described in yesterday's blog entry.  For example, if you check HP's support & drivers page for the rx1950, you'll find a ROM and Firmware update that, according to HP's description . . . MORE

Battery drainage, ActiveSync and the dummy server fix

The battery drainage issue is a widely documented issue that affects Pocket PCs running the WM5.0 operating system, specifically the rx1950, rx1955, hx2490, hx2495, hx2790, and hx2795 Pocket PCs.  I'm not really sure what the specific cause of the problem is but it seems to be caused by some kind of interaction between the operating system, ActiveSync and installed SD cards.  . . . MORE

About Me and From My Pocket

Hello! and Welcome to From My Pocket.  I've got a lot of ideas about what I want to do here and, truthfully, it's all a bit overwhelming.  But my greatest hope is that I will provide an entrée into the world of Pocket PCs for those who want to know more about what these delightful devices can do. MORE