Tips: How to switch from AM to PM and vice versa in the Calendar.

Yesterday, I had someone asking me this question to switch between AM and PM on Windows Mobile Standard edition device, aka as non touchscreen device, with a QWERTY keyboard.
This applies specifically when setting up a reminder. Once you've setup the time, use the d-pad to move to AM or PM depending on the time you're creating your appointment. To avoid confusion, let's say it's 10:00AM and you want to set the time to 10:00PM. Select AM and and press "P" on the keyboard to switch to PM. Pressing A will revert to AM.

Sent from my Windows Mobile phone.

Free: CESnipURL 1.0

This is a nice utility that lets you wrap URLs you insert in text messages and emails. SMSs only allows for 160 characters and inserting long URLs limits further the number characters. CeSnipURL helps wrap the URL, thus leaving room for you to type any descriptive you want. It is very efficient since some URLs are long. Check out the URLs on HPs website for example. CeSnipURl is available for free from www.kosertech.com/blog/?p=55

Remove duplicates contacts with DupedeDupe

Paul, a fellow MVP, over at Modaco, has developed a "very very very simple application" that allows you to remove duplicate contacts on your Pocket PC and Smartphone. DupedeDupe is available as a free download from www.modaco.com/content/pocket-pc-software/267793/dupededupe-remove-duplicate-contacts/



Via http://blogs.msdn.com/jasonlan/

Press Release: Vito Technology releases new black skin for Audio Notes Touch

Below is the press release by Vito Technology.

VITO Technology releases new black skin for Audio Notes Touch with absolutely new finger-friendly interface for audio recording on Windows Mobile. Minor bugs have also been fixed.
There are many users longing for black HTC Touch like skins in new finger-friendly applications at http://iwindowsmobile.com. VITO Technology has received a great amount of letters from our customers asking for a black skin of HTC Touch style. Therefore we decided to meet our users' demands and make black skin for Audio Notes Touch. Enjoy stylish and blackish design of your favorite application!
Minor bug connected with the ability to record on storage cards is fixed. When in autorecord mode Audio Notes Touch closes after saving the recording of the phone call.
Audio Notes Touch is available for $14.95 at http://iwindowsmobile.com/mobile-audio-recorder.html.

Sent from my Windows Mobile phone.

Free: Windows Mobile SMS sync

For some reason, SMS or Text Messaging is not available as an item to sync. This is quite unfortunate because I see so many request for such a feature across many forums.
If you have been looking for such a feature, then search no more. Brain Hama over at www.brianhama.com, has a free application that he developed to do just that. Windows Mobile SMS Sync works on Windows Mobile 2003, 5 and 6 and requires the Microsoft .Net Compact Framwork 2.0.
As stated on Brian's website, "this application will create CSV files for each of your SMS folders in the My Documents\SMS folder on our device."

Sent from my Windows Mobile phone.

What makes Windows Mobile 6.1 fun: Internet Explorer (Part IV).

Internet Explorer Mobile has two new functionalities. While these new additions do improve IE usability, it still does not catch-up with competing browsers. But Microsoft has announced a complete overhaul of the software which should be released later this year.

The first visible change is the Zoom out softkey. It is very useful when trying to navigate to a specific section of a large webpage.

Internet Explorer Mobile allows you to copy/paste text from websites to a document for example. To do that, open Internet Explorer and access any website and click Menu - Copy/paste - Select Text. Place your cursor before the text you want to select and press the select softkey. Use the D-pad to highlight your text and press the Copy softkey. This is quite a lot of clicks for such a simple process. I assume this must be a lot easier on a touch screen device.

Posted from my Windows Mobile phone.

Astraware releases Platypus

The prolific developers of Astraware strikes back with another new game. Platypus is a point and shoot game type and is designed to work with Palm OS and both flavors of Windows Mobile.

Based on the cult classic for PC and Mac, Platypus is a fast, frantic and fun side-scrolling arcade shooter with a difference - the entire game is made from clay! The vast continent-spanning city of Collosatropolis has finally reached the limits of its expansion, and tall buildings cover every available space. The Collosotropolan leaders have decided the simplest solution is to invade the neighbouring country of Mungola. They don't anticipate much of a struggle - Mungolans are simple, earthy types without much love for industry. In fact, Mungola's entire defence force consists of a single squadron of fighter planes - the venerable F-27 'Platypus'.

Your mission is to pilot your trusty Platypus and save peaceful Mungola! Fly across the squashy fields and trees, avoid the snowy mountains and protect your planet. Shoot down the enemy ships and marvel as they disappear in a splat! Collect fruit bonuses and a range of power-ups to aid you in your quest!

Read more at http://www.astraware.com/platypus

Posted from my Windows Mobile phone.

What makes Windows Mobile 6.1 fun: Start Menu (Part III).

There is only one noteworthy change with the Start Menu and that is the Recent Program list.

The Recent Program list appears when you press the Start button. It displays the last 8 applications that you used recently. To browse the Start menu as you would normally do, press the All Programs softkey.

This feature can be disabled as you can see in the screen above. To do that, access the Start - Settings - Home screen and remove the check before Show Recent Programs.

TouchBrowser for Pocket PC

TouchBrowser is a nice application that lets you use your finger to scroll when browsing the web on your device. It does not replace Internet Explorer Mobile, but is an addin. TouchBrowser also include an on-screen keyboard for entering URLs and make searches. Learn more from www.makayama.com/touchbrowser.html

Posted from my Windows Mobile phone.

What makes Windows Mobile 6.1 fun: Messaging (Part II).

Let's now see the new additions in the Messaging application. The new features affect both Text and E-mail.
Windows Mobile 6 Standard edition lacked the ability for multiple selection and deletion of emails/text messages. I know what a pain it is to delete them individually every day, not to mention move them to another folder. Good news, a new menu has been added that allows for
multiple selections of emails. You now have a new "Select Messages" option in the Menu with three choices: All, All Below and Several. Non-contiguous selection is still not supported.


Text size has also been an issue and previous version of Windows Mobile Standard suffered from the inability to modify text size. People with eye problems will be happy to learn that it now possible to change the text size while reading an email using the Text size feature in the View menu.


Another much needed addition is the Copy/Paste feature. Yes, it is now possible to select text in an e-mail/text and copy/paste them elsewhere, in a word document for example. You have to switch to edit mode for this to work. Copy/Paste also works in Internet Explorer and Office.


Text messaging has been revamped to include threaded sms. Now it's easier to track of conversations. Threaded messaging was first introduced on the Windows Mobile platform by Palm. It's nice to see that this feature is now native to Windows Mobile.


Next article will be about the Start menu.

What makes Windows Mobile 6.1 fun: Sliding Panel Homescreen(Part I).

I have been playing with WM6.1 for a while on a non-touchscreen device and though it is considered by many to be just a minor upgrade, it is one that brings long requested features to the OS. The Windows Mobile team is listening to customers and that bodes well for future releases.

The first visible improvement is the Sliding Panel homescreen. Quite frankly, I love it. It makes accessing the applications I use most very easy, requiring a few keystrokes.

Almost every task can be done right from the homescreen. Notice the right softkey changes to Compose when the Messaging slide is selected. Creating new emails or text messages is just a click away.

Using the D-pad, I can easily switch from one account to another. The more account you add to your device and it will automatically appear on the slide. By default the slide contains, Missed calls, Voice Mail and Text Messages.

The slides are not customizable and that is an issue. It would have been handy to be able to add/remove applications to and from the slides. I had to switch back to WM6 default homescreen after I installed Google Search on my device to make it appear on the homescreen.

The other slides allows you to access/view Calendar/Appointment; Windows Live (Live Search, Messenger etc); Windows Media player (only if you chose the Sliding Panel Media as the Home screen layout); My Photos slide displays all photos on your device; Settings slide offers access to Profile, Wireless Manager, Ringtone, Background image and Task Manager.

The sliding panel makes navigating the device very easy and fun. On the other hand, it would have been great to be able to customize it. In part II, we'll take a look at what's new in Messaging.

Download Windows Live

Microsoft has Windows Live available as a free download on their website. Jason Langridge, Microsoft Mr. Mobile, posted a link to it on his blog. This version of Windows Live does not contain Messenger, but you'll be able to get push Hotmail/MSN and Live Contacts on your device. Windows Live can be downloaded via Jason's blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/jasonlan/archive/2008/04/07/has-your-mobile-operator-removed-windows-live-hotmail-access.aspx. Or directly from Microsoft website at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/mobile/wl/download-en-us.mspx

Download Opera Mini 4.1 beta

A new version of the popular Opera mini is available for download. The new features include automatic completion of web addresses, tools for attaching files to web-based email, uploading photos to blogs or sites, downloading attachments to phone and saving and viewing pages offline. To download, visit www.operamini.com/beta/

Windows Mobile 6.1 is here.

As previously rumored, Microsoft did make an announcement yesterday about the release of Windows Mobile 6.1 at CTIA 2008. "Windows Mobile is improving smartphones to better meet people's rapidly expanding work and personal needs, Microsoft Corp. today announced. At CTIA Wireless 2008, the company unveiled the newest version of Internet Explorer Mobile, which adds desktop-grade Web browsing to Windows Mobile phones. In addition, Microsoft announced Windows Mobile 6.1, an update for its Windows Mobile software that includes new time-saving features, easier phone navigation and management, and increased security safeguards".
Note that WM 6.1 is just a minor upgrade offering some nice improvements, most of which seems to be mostly for the Standard Edition of Windows Mobile. I list some of the new features below:
* Threaded SMS
* New home screen design using Sliding Panel for ease of access to
emails, music etc
* Getting Started application
* Multiple selection in Messaging
* Ability to turn on/off the "Show Recent programs".
* Copy/Paste feature for Standard edition
* Zoom feature in IE Mobile

Read Microsoft release about the release of Windows Mobile 6.1:

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/apr08/04-01WM61PR.mspx

Read a review:

http://www.pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=reviews&id=1050&p=1

Vito Technology releases EyePhoto.

VITO Technology releases new application EyePhoto designed specially forviewing photos on Pocket PC Windows Mobile. Slide your photos with finger and enjoy watching them. User-friendly interface oriented on gestures is one of the main features. The program shows only the folders that include jpeg pictures. It is likely to become a photo album that allows you to watch all your photos at once.
EyePhoto organises all your photos into photo albums. Having started the program you face all folders containing jpeg pictures in the main memory and on a storage card. Upon opening a folder you are presented withphoto tiles displayed in one finger-scrollable window. Everything is done for your convenience. The preview window with photo tiles can helpyou find the photo you need just in a moment.
Tapping a photo tile opens a full screen photo. Now you can slide the screen with your finer to flip through the photos just like with a real photo album. Zooming in and out can be done by double tapping the image.
Tapping the photo only once will bring forward upper menu which shows the number of photos, the back arrow to go back to the list with tiles and the button for changing the view mode: landscape or portrait. When in landscape mode photos can be moved aflat, when in portrait - upright. Download a trial version from http://iwindowsmobile.com.

Free: Octro Mobile Instant Messaging with voice integration

This is a nice software that supports GoogleTalk/Jabber, MSN, AIM, ICQ, and Yahoo. Among other features is the ability to share files through Automatic file transfer, remotely access your PC etc. Learn more from www.octro.com

Astraware releases two games: Hexic and Mozaki

Astraware adds two more games to its already impressive library. Hexic and Mozaki are based on popular MSN games. Hexis is a fantastic twist on the match three genre by famed Tetris designer, Alexey Pajitnov. Hexic is deceptively simple to begin with - just rotate any trio of hexes in order to form a cluster of three or more same color pieces.
Mozaki is a classic brain-teasing strategy puzzler. Grab a piece from the stack and place it on the board, connect pieces of the same color to make an unbroken line from the colored edge to the centre of the screen, and connect the required number of lines and win the level. Read more and download a trial from http://www.astraware.com/.

Alerts on new emails in subfolders

This is a great find by Jason Langridge. Watchflag is an application that will alert you when new emails reach your subfolders. The default alert on our devices only warns us of new emails reaching the default inbox. This is not convenient if you rules set on the server to have emails from your boss sent to a subfolder called Boss. You'll end up missing important emails that could cost you your job.
Fortunately there is Watchflag. Read more on Jason's blog at

http://blogs.msdn.com/jasonlan/archive/2008/03/26/alerting-on-new-email-in-subfolders.aspx

Tips: How to compose new email from the Calendar

Last year I blogged about dialing a phone number right from the Notes section in the Calendar. Read the article in the link to learn more: http://pocketpcmauritius.blogspot.com/2007/11/tips-how-to-dial-phone-number-from.html. Today, a user asked me how to compose an email by tapping or clicking an email address from the same location. This requires that the email address be entered using the following format: Mailto:email@myemail.com. Tap the email address to start composing your new email.

Tips: remove your email address from a Reply All email

There is this annoying feature in Outlook Mobile e-mail whereby when you select Reply All, it also includes your email address. Therefore, you end up with a copy of the email in your Inbox. There is a way to remove this feature.
Open Activesync on your Pocket PC. Click Menu - Options. Select Email and click Settings. Tap the Advanced button and enter your email address in the My e-mail address box. Click OK.
The steps for Smartphones or non touchscreen devices are the same except after selecting Email and pressing the Settings softkey, you need to click Menu - Advanced. After entering the email address, press Done.