Windows Mobile – No Secrets

Twolf has made a very interesting Flash program that thanks to Flash Lite can be used in virtualy any Windows Mobile 6.1 device or after installing in any WM 6 / 5.0 and 2003 devices.

With this you can handle your images and photos with your fingers or stylus almost lie you would with a Microsoft Surface table.

As the author describes:

Press and drag the pictures to move them around.
Click the right-bottom tip to strech it.
Click the top-left tip to rotate it (still some bugs here).
With the extra EXE you can add your own pictures.
Keypad up/down for high/low quality.
Press enter to exit the application.
To add your own pictures, just place img_1.jpg (1,2,3... maximum 8) with 320x240 px in this folder:
> For WM6 (not sure about WM5) the folder is /Application Data/Volatile/FotoFlash
> For WM2003 the folder is /temp/FotoFlash
If for some reason this is not the folder, run it once and search for a folder called FotoFlash with your Explorer application.
As always, sourcecode and EXE's included in the zip.

To download this free app and its sources click here.

You can find some more nice apps from twolf such as rpplies WaterRipple and Flash Fixe here.

I have been looking for quite a while for a solution that would allow me to share folders located on my Windows Mobile device and make them available to my PC.

Unbelievably most solutions help you accessing you PC from you device, but the opposite is much more hard to find.

Nevertheless I have found a free software that allows the access to the Windows Mobile file system from the network.

It is called Mocha FTP and acts just like an FTP server, allowing users to connect via the IP address.

This is quite useful if you wish to exchange files between a PC and a WM device.

In order to keep all your documents safe you can configure the access to be anonymous or authenticated and define a user and password.

To download this great freeware click here

On one of my dwellings over at free cabs I found this very interesting program that could proove usefull if for instance you wish to move your applications and programs from the main memory to your SD card.

you can find this and many more at free cabs.

I have been pointed out to a very interesting device that would allow me to play games on my Samsung i780 very well.

The Zeemote Js1 conttroler is a very fancy joystick that will allow you to control your character or car in games that are prepared.

But since this device uses Bluetooth standards I wonder if it might be usable as a mouse aswell.

The design and general idea are quite interesting and there are allready tens of companies partnering up with this solution for mobile gaming, and an SDK avaliable for developers.

To learn more visit Zeemote’s website.

I just go a hold on the Windows Mobile 6.1 ROM for my Q9h and i can tell you it looks tremendous!

I have been trying it for the past few days, and totaly fell in love with the sliding panels and the blue AT&T theme.

I also like the Windows Media Panel that allows me to play musics from the Home Screen.

The auto-completion for e-mail addresses is also great.

All in all Windows Mobile Standard just got better.

Finally I found a piece of software that allows mw t create blog posts right from my mobile device. I tested others but none worked with community server blogs, and because I am currently on vacation this feature is quite welcome to me.
Pretty cool is also the fact that it supports sending and publishing images.
The software is free and is called Diarist. I am leaving you a screenshot of the writing of this bkog entry so you can see how it looks like to make a blog entry from this neet software.
You can get Diarist here.

iGate is a very nice software that incorporates in only one screen several functions like time, date, missed calls, text messages and more.

It also allows a quick and efficient way to unlock your device by using a numeric pad on the bottom of the screen.

You can try this software over at PocketGear, or buy for 9,95€

The new version of Opera 9.51b1 for Windows Mobile 5/6 Pocket PC is now avaliable.

Donwload it here.

I have made a short video using SOTI Pocket Controller about the great today plugin that comes with the LG KS20.

Although it doesn’t have the bells and whistles of other comercial plugins avaliable I can tell you its quite pratical and helps the one hand use of the device.

I am also demoing in the video a very very cool application that comes with this device and is called PSNote.

PSNote allows you to take notes of course, but it has a built in character recognizer that I can tell you that works just great.

You can also insert movie clips, images, and audio in your notes, and make colourfull drawings.

To me this is one of the most complete and interesting notes application.

I have been lucky enough to recieve a brand new LG KS20, which I am right now exploring.

A few features I am liking allot are:

• Wifi
• Weight – only 92.5 grams!!
• Fast – 400Mhz processor
• Very nice screen – though not as bright as my Samsung i780
• FM Radio
• Stylish

On the down side:

• Only proprietary audio output and AC plug
• Windows Mobile 6 instead of 6.1

I am leaving you a picture and hope to have more tomorrow along with a video about the interface and extra apps.

Acording to the author of this freeware, LCMinutes is designed to monitor phone usage: how many free minutes, free long distance minutes, free SMS allowance, and free data allowance have been used? what is the current charge? Or for prepaid plan, what's the current balance and its expire date?

So as you see this can be quite usefull to avoid huge bills..

Download PocketPC or Smartphone version.

Yet another Windows Mobile 6 device seems that will recieve the update for Wimo 6.1 this turn is the spectacular I-mate 9502.

This seems however to be a Beta, so if you wish to give it a try head over to the i-mate forums.

Source: pocketnow.com

On this month’s Total Access newsletter you can get access to recieve a free issue of Smartphone Magazine.

I have just requested mine and I sure hope they send me the printed version :)

Get yours here

Subscribe Total Access here

I just read over at WMExperts that Samsung has just released the Windows Mobile 6.1 update for the Samsung i760.

Thats great news especialy for Verizon clients who have one, and will also see some major bug correction:

Here is the link for the update: one for Vista PC’s and other for XP users;

I am still sitting and waiting for the i780 and the Moto Q9 update for Windows Mobile 6.1, so when they come out I will be sure to announce them here.

The Treo 800w is now on sale from Sprint in the United States, and David Ciccone from Mobility Today has made a quite interesting review of the device where he points out its pros and cons.

As a recent Treo 750w user I really liked the experience that the device gave me, but it lacked the GPS and the Wifi. The Treo 800w comes to fill this gap.

To see the whole review check out Mobility Today’s website.

Chris Craft a fellow MVP as put himself to a challenge: developing 30 diferent application for Windows Mobile in 30 days.

He wanted to do this in order to show novice programmers how easy it is to make a small app for Windows Mobile using the .NET Compact Framework.

Because whenever I can I also do some programming, I found this challenge very interesting and I also believe many of you will, so hean on to Chris Craft’s Weblog and learn more about all the 30 app he made with the source code.

Much has been written and said about the iPhone, many criticism has been cast at Microsoft for allegedly not being able to provide such a satisfying, simple and consumer driven user experience as the iPhone.

In my view people are overlooking the main issues: while Windows Mobile started as business product and is now growing stronger in the consumer market, the iPhone was from the beginning projected for the consumer and general audience.

Because of this Windows Mobile has still some user interface issues it needs to address, that came from the early versions of Windows CE. Although the Smartphone version is now (version 6.1) more user friendly a more consumer focused, the mainstream version has received little or no attention in this area.

Back in February at Barcelona I had the opportunity to question Robert Bach at the press-conference in the Plaza Hotel about Microsoft’s strategy regarding both versions of Wimo. I asked, from what I had seen and the new Sliding Panels, if the Standard version would be the consumer flagship and the Professional the business oriented version. The answer was not what I expected but is in fact logical: both versions serve both purposes.

However I still defend that there should be a specific version for each audience. I also defend that some OEM’s are in part damaging the platform image and ultimately Microsoft’s.

I have had hundreds of different devices from all forms and factors, from the widest variety of makers you can imagine. I have seen great working devices where OEM’s make Windows Mobile fit like a glove and unfortunately I have seen the reverse: promising devices that when launched are buggy, unusable, and provide a poor user experience, recent example amongst others the new Toshiba G910.

In most cases what saves their face are some hacking communities (like xda-developers and others) that for free take the device to the next level fixing bugs, improving and designing applications based on the incomplete and poor work of others.

The iPhone has risen the bar for the consumer devices, and consumers are now more and more demanding.

I strongly believe that if Microsoft needs to take the task into their own hands, especially if they wish to reach the more and more demanding and critical consumer audience, since figures show that in the business area they are at the moment the first runner up.

Perhaps a Microsoft branding device would do the trick, or a closer tracking and support to OEM’s, and a more demanding certification of Windows Mobile Devices.

The road that lies ahead has many paths, and each very valid, however strategies must evolve to fulfill costumers expectations.

Either way Microsoft is not dormant and recent company acquisitions and figure changes inside MSFT point out to a bright future for all things mobile.

Portuguese mobile carrier TMN is prepping DVB-SH network for operation in 2009.

Meanwhile successfull tests have been made on a Samsung i900 aka the Omnia.

As you can see from the video, the i900 has great playback and video processing capabilites and it also looks hot!

Francisco Viana from Pocketpt.net has made a great home screen application that provides Q9 owners a big clock.

Some features:

-Big clock ( H:M:S)
-Application launcher
-Direct access to profiles
-Date (D-M-Y)
-Full screen clock.
-Works on the background

This piece of software is free, so please enjoy it and download here.

Meet the Ted Baker Needle wich is no more than a slighlty redesigned HTC Touch.

“Ted Baker Needle is the smallest Windows Mobile PDA phone in its class. Technology wise, its 2.8" screen makes surfing the Web a joy. What's more it can run two email accounts, so it's perfect for business and pleasure. With the HTC TouchFLO^TM 3D interactive interface.“

The Ted Baker Needle is avaliable from Car Phone Warehouse in the UK

You can buy it from free with an operator deal, and the color is lilac.

PS: I do believe Windows Mobile can run up to 8 e-mail accounts, but perhaps stars and fashion designers only have two ;)