One of my favorite mobile apps is ShoZu. So when Julie asked me to do a piece on a *really* useful mobile app, I didn’t have to look too far.

What is ShoZu?

ShoZu sends/receives content (photos, videos, etc.) to/from your web-based services directly to/from your mobile phone. It completely cuts out the intermediary – your desktop – in the process. The best part about ShoZu is all of this happens in the background – invisibly and automatically.

ShoZu works with dozens of web-based services including Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, Blogger, Twitter, Picasa, etc.

Download, Installation and Setup

I loaded http://m.shozu.com on my mobile browser to begin the process of downloading and installing ShoZu

As you can see from the screenshots, the download/install process is pretty straight-forward. The installation is followed by a terse warning titled “Please be aware”.

I clicked OK to reach ShoZu’s main screen.

The main screen has 3 options
– “Share-it” is the outbound service – it’s what lets you upload content from your phone to the web.
– “ZuCasts” is the inbound service – it’s what lets you download content from the web to your phone.
– “Contacts” is the outbound contacts backup service that backs up your phonebook contacts to your web-based ShoZu.com account

But wait – before I can use any of this, I gotta setup a ShoZu account. The sign-up process is breezy – ShoZu doesn’t even ask for a username or password!

Share-It

I then proceeded to setup the “Share-It” service. Naturally, to use this service, I need to tell ShoZu what I want to share and where I want to share it (ShoZu calls them “destinations”).

ShoZu supports upwards of 30 such destinations. Each such destination supports different types of content. Here’s a snapshot of where you can share your content:

a)Photos: Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, Webshots, Twitter (through TwitPic), Box.net, Buzznet, Cellfish, Faces.com, Friendster, HotSMS, Hyves, Kodak EasyShare, Qipit (for conversion to PDF), Pikeo, ipernity, etc.
b)Videos: YouTube, Box.net, Dailymotion, blip.tv, Box.net, Buzznet, Cellfish, Seesmic, ipernity, etc.
c)Blogging: Twitter, Blogger, Dada.net, LiveJournal, MetaWeblog, Moblog, Typepad, Vox, Windows Live Spaces, WordPress

d)Citizen Journalism: BBC, CNN, ITV, Scoopt

Additionally, you can also specify email IDs and FTP account details for direct uploads to custom locations.
Phew! That’s a lot of coverage, isn’t it?

I chose to add Flickr as a destination first.

Immediately thereafter, I received a confirmation-seeking email from Flickr which completed the process of linking my Flickr account to my ShoZu account.

And then I added my YouTube account as a destination.

Right – adding destinations was easy – now, I am ready to upload.

Once I say ‘Yes’, the entire transfer process takes place invisibly in the background. Naturally, I don’t have any screenshots to share…

After that, the next time I click a photo using my mobile, ShoZu pops up soon after the capture – asking whether I’d like to upload it to Flickr or some other source.

I can also hand-pick existing photos and upload them to your destination(s) selectively.

I am allowed to add tags, titles and description to the photos before uploading.

If your phone as GPS (mine, didn’t unfortunately), ShoZu can also geo-tag your photos before uploading them. Now, isn’t that really cool!?

ShoZu allows uploading photos to multiple destinations in a single upload operation.

I can also ask ShoZu to auto-send photos. I can even ask it to compress photos to save time/data.

Although, ShoZu doesn’t really require you to login to your online account, I was curious to see how it looks…

My destinations were duly “synchronized” with my online account. There’s also an option to add destinations/sites from this web-based account.

ZuCasts and Contacts

Let’s look at ZuCasts now. ShoZu gave me an option to subscribe to 60 ZuCasts. I browsed through all my options…

… and chose to subscribe to the Webshots “Photo of the Day” ZuCast. Again, the process of subscribing to ZuCasts is so simple – there’s hardly anything to write about.

ZuCasts are downloaded invisibly. There’s an option to save ZuCasts in a “Saved files” folder.

You can also subscribe to your friends’ Flickr photo streams or Facebook updates as ZuCasts.

Let’s look at the Contacts service. Once you switch the service on, it keeps uploading contacts slowly, gradually and invisibly to your ShoZu.com account.

Data Transfer & Notification Management

As you have noticed so far, ShoZu is all about data transfer. The “Share-It” and “Contacts” services upload data and the “ZuCasts” service downloads data. Data charges in some parts of the world can be very steep, so you might want to be careful, particularly with ZuCasts.

ShoZu allows you to choose how you want to connect to the internet – I chose my GPRS account, but you want to use Wi-Fi instead.

Let’s look at two of ShoZu’s super-cool features.

One – ShoZu also has this magical ability to know when you’re roaming. In most parts of the world, data charges are higher when roaming – so ShoZu suspends all data transfers when you’re away from your home network.

Two – When ShoZu wants to notify you of something while it’s running in the background, I doesn’t throw a pop-up. It composes a local “text message” and ‘sends’ it to your SMS inbox, without ever using your mobile network.

As soon as I stepped out of my home network and began roaming, my phone buzzed and I was told I have a new text message. This text message turned out to be a local message from ShoZu…

The moment I entered my home network again, I saw another message…

Of course, at any point of time, you can see the transfer status to know just how much data ShoZu’s been consuming in the background.

Impressions

You simply cannot ignore ShoZu if you:
-upload mobile photos/videos on your photo/video sharing websites
-update your facebook status or tweet often
-blog while on the move
-send photos/videos to email or FTP accounts

ShoZu has been around for more than 3 years now and the maturity shows. The application is rock-solid and behaves exactly as expected without freezing or hanging-up.

Handset support is widespread, ranging from Windows Mobile to Symbian S60 to UIQ to Palm Treo to even the Blackberry – the iPhone is not supported yet, though.

It integrates beautifully with the phone’s camera application. So much so, that after a point, you forget it’s a 3rd party software you installed – you begin believing it’s a part of your phone’s native OS. It’s really that stable.

On the downside, like all powerful toys, ShoZu can hurt if not handled with care.

I’m sure there are a lot of ShoZu users who’ve chosen to auto-upload photos/videos and then forgotten about it. Some day, ShoZu might end up uploading something on their Facebook profile that they would rather not.

Moreover, if you choose to use your mobile network to connect ShoZu to the internet, you should be prepared for some heavy duty data consumption – particularly, if you end up subscribing to a lot of ZuCasts. In ShoZu’s defense, it does warn you about these perils from time to time, but hey!

Also, a powerful application like ShoZu can drag your phone a bit. You see, mobile phone processors don’t really have a lot of juice yet, unfortunately.

ShoZu “auto-starts” in the background and while that’s a convenient feature, it effectively means your phone takes slightly longer to start up.

Similarly, ShoZu has a larger-than-normal memory footprint, so lesser memory is available for other applications causing them to slow down a bit.

But then, ShoZu does so much for you – do you really those other applications?

Filed in categories: Windows Mobile related

Tagged: Palm, Palm OS related, Pocket PC, Software, Symbian, Symbian OS Related, Utility

ShoZu Mobile Photo and Video Sharing Application Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 16, 2008 at 6:00 pm.

One of the perpetually unresolved debates among web users and observers alike is, “Who among the big three – Yahoo Mail, Windows Live Hotmail and Gmail – has the best email service?”

Well, there’s no such debate as far as mobile web users are concerned – Gmail has the best mobile email client by far.

Sure, you can access your gmail account by loading up gmail.com on your mobile phone’s browser (just like you do on your desktop browser) – but mind you, we’re talking about the somewhat-oddly-named “gmail for mobile application” – a free downloadable email client for your gmail account. We’ll just call it GMA to keep things simple.

Let’s start…

Point your phone’s browser to http://gmail.com/app to download and install GMA on your mobile.

The process is simple and straight-forward. Within seconds, you see a message asking whether you want to start the application.

When you start GMA, you’re greeted by a “Java” splash-screen, reminding you that you’re using a Java MIDP software.

Immediately thereafter, you reach the familiar login screen. Please note that you cannot signup for a new gmail.com account from GMA – for that, you have to go to gmail.com from your desktop’s browser.

Once you login, you’re taken to your inbox.

One of the first things you’ll realize is that the look-and-feel of GMA is very similar to that on your desktop browser. – Complete with that trademark google clean-cut interface, that unmistakably friendly color scheme and the background-loading-of-the-second-email-while-you-read-the-first-one.

GMA even loads regular attachments like word files and images.

GMA supports the most frequently used gmail commands.

It even has mobile keypad shortcuts (just like keyboard shortcuts for gmail in your desktop’s browser).

#1 is the shortcut for search (works superbly)
#2 for compose
#3 for mark as unread
#4 for reply
#5 for reply all
#6 for forward
#7 for delete
#8 for report spam
#9 for archive
#0 for refresh inbox
* key for star/unstar
# key for view message

Sadly, you cannot label messages in the current version.

Reading and replying to emails is easy.

But we found a slight annoyance while composing a new email.

GMA does not allow entering email addresses in the “To:” field. When you click on “To”, instead of a text box, your contact list with your most frequently used contact loads.

If you wish to send an email to a not-so-frequently-used contact, you’ve got to choose “all contacts” from the menu. If you wish to send it to a new contact, you’ve got to choose “add new email address”.

The “Go To” menu can be customized to load messages with specific labels.

The settings menu has a few interesting and self-explanatory options. If you’re on an inexpensive data plan, we suggest you keep the “Preload unread mail to open faster” option checked. Yup, this is the same background loading feature that gmail first impressed all of us with 3 or 4 years ago.

There’s also an option to add a “sent from gmail for mobile” signature at the end of all messages, but this signature itself cannot be edited.

The engineers at google managed to fit in a help screen as well.

So, that’s gmail for mobile application for you, then. It’s a simple but powerful application that lets you do almost everything you need do with your gmail account.

Don’t you feel like taking it for a spin, right away?

Then, go ahead and load http://gmail.com/app on your mobile.

Filed in categories: Windows Mobile related

Tagged: Palm, Palm OS related, Pocket PC, Software, Symbian, Symbian OS Related, Utility

GMail Mobile originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 6, 2008 at 4:20 pm.

Released in November of last year, the latest offering of Opera Mini, version 4, hasn’t really sent shockwaves through the World of cell phones. Whilst the iPhone browser (which I think is very annoying!) has been hailed as a revolutionary success, Mini has taken the sidelines slightly, but as I have learned, this isn’t really a position it deserves.

Supported by any cell phone with Java, Opera Mini is extremely compatible, and very capable of turning an ordinary phone into one with the same web browsing facilities that one might only associate with a smartphone. The use of a Java interface slows start-up to a certain extent, but after getting used to this twenty or thirty second wait for the web, it really isn’t a problem.

For a free piece of software, Opera is very powerful indeed. For me, top of the list is the small-screen rendering. For a long while, I have been ever so slightly fed up of having pages squashed and having chunks missing when using other mobile browsers. Mini 4 shows the user a fullscreen overview of the page and then decides a good starting point, which it suggests you zoom to. Another feature that stands out is the synchronization with a PC. The browser uses a ‘mouse’ for the user to choose a point to zoom to, and by giving the option to synchronize bookmarks with your main browser, Opera allows you to move between your PC and mobile device without noticing too many interface differences.

Admittedly, this new found mouse does take a little getting used to, as do some of the shortcuts, which, as they are useful, bear no resemblance to those on conventional desktop browsers…

Oh, and what’s more, you can very quickly switch to the new landscape mode – very iPhone huh!

But on the subject of speed, I didn’t really notice much of a difference with a conventional mobile browser, but considering that the page is being rendered to the size of your screen, the average 16 seconds or so that it takes to load BBC News site (dependent on your connection…) is pretty impressive. The Mini browser works by sending your page to the Opera servers for ‘processing’, before being returned to your phone compressed, and therefore as a slightly smaller file. This will inevitably bring down data charges, however if you have a data plan this isn’t a problem, and at peak times, the Opera servers perform much slower.

There are the occasional niggly things that I have noticed though; the difficultly to save images, the menus are a bit annoying occasionally, and it has a fairly high crash rate. But no other browsers can offer quite what Opera Mini can, and for those reasons, I can look over these problems to a certain extent!

But overall, a real success… The browser was nice and easy to use, had a quick installation, and the compatibility with such a wide range of handsets is a real bonus. It is worth pointing out that the interface is greatly improved if you learn your shortcuts! )

And as for the desktop, I’m still a Firefox boy at heart…

Filed in categories: Windows Mobile related

Tagged: Palm, Palm OS related, Pocket PC, Software, Symbian, Symbian OS Related, Utility

Opera Mini v4 Mobile Web Browser originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 19, 2008 at 9:18 pm.

The HTC TyTn II is the successor to the powerful and popular TyTn Windows Mobile PDA phone (which Julie and I reviewed here last year). While it retains the original’s features, including 3G mobile broadband, WiFi, and a sliding keyboard, it adds new features such as a tiltable display and internal GPS. A customized version of it, called the “Tilt”, has recently been released in the USA by AT&T. Is the TyTn II a worthy successor to the original TyTn? Read on to find out.

Specifications

• Quad band (US/World) GSM and tri-band (US/World) UMTS
• EDGE and 3G HSDPA (3.6 mbps) data
• WiFi 802.11 b/g
• Bluetooth 2.0
• Built-in GPS with standalone and A-GPS capability
• 400 MHz Qualcomm CPU
• 128 MB RAM, 256 MB flash/ROM
• microSD (TransFlash) card slot
• 2.8” 240×320 pixel color touch display with LED backlight
• Slide-out keyboard and with display flip
• 3.15 megapixel camera with autofocus
• VGA camera on front for video conferencing [not on AT&T Tilt]
• 112 x 59 x 19 mm size
• 190 g weight
• Up to 400 hours standby or 6 hours talk time

In the Box

HTC seems to have taken note of packaging trends for high-end gadgets, as the TyTn II comes in a stylish black box with magnetic closure. Like its predecessor, the TyTn II comes with all the accessories you’ll need to get started, including a USB cable, stereo headset which plugs into the device’s special USB/audio port, and a belt holster case. As you can see from the picture, the TyTn II also comes with a copious amount of documentation and software — the manual is as thick as the device! They even threw in a screen protector. One welcome change in accessories is that the TyTn II’s case closes with velcro, while the original TyTn’s case had a magnet, which would often fool the TyTn into thinking the keyboard was open.

Ah, a fresh device nestled so peacefully in foam…

And here’s what was inside the box. Top row: documents, documents, documents… and a screen protector. Bottom row: AC adapter, belt case, TyTn II, headset, USB cable. And two discs of software.

Physical Design

The physical design of the TyTn II does not deviate much from that of its predecessor, but shows the sort of tweaks and improvements expected in a second-generation product. The most obvious change TyTn users will notice is that the keyboard now opens from the right of the display rather than the left, and once the keyboard is open you can flip the display up to angle it for better viewing. The buttons have been rearranged somewhat, with the two that were above the display now part of the cluster below, while the Comm Manager button has been removed completely. The SIM slot is now more accessible, behind the display instead of under the battery, and the memory slot has moved to the bottom end and gained a rubber cover.

The TyTn II is the same width and length as the TyTn, but is a couple of millimeters thinner. The slide now springs into place when you open or close it, and the combination of that plus subtle changes in the case design give the TyTn II a more solid feel than the original. Also contributing to this more solid feel is the new back; on the TyTn II the entire back slides on and off, rather than having the somewhat flimsy battery cover of the original.

Here you see the front of the TyTn II (sorry about the dusty screen, it’s in the air at my house). All the buttons are in the cluster at the bottom; it’s hard to see the markings in this picture, but the soft keys are above the Internet Explorer and messaging buttons. The circle up at the top left is the video conferencing camera. Not visible here are two LEDs in the speaker slot at the top; these blink various colors to let you know the status of the phone, WiFi, Bluetooth, and battery charging, just like on the original TyTn.

The back of the TyTn II is much cleaner than the original. The flat battery door is gone; now the entire back slides on and off, and it stays very firmly in place. The rubber piece near the top left is removable to expose a port for an external GPS antenna.

The TyTn II has the same buttons on its left side as the original TyTn, but they’ve been moved around a bit. The leftmost one in this picture activates the voice dialer, the one on the right is an “OK” button (one of several on the device), and in the middle is the clickable jog wheel. The horizontal piece in the middle is the outside edge of the SIM slot, which is accessible when the slide is open.

I’d had the TyTn II all of five minutes when I took these pictures, and already got fingerprints on it. They aren’t actually visible in normal light though; they show up rather prominently here because of the camera flash. Anyway, on the right side of the TyTn II are the power button and camera shutter button, which sticks out a bit due to having a half-pressed position for autofocus. If you had an original TyTn, you’ll note the absence of a dedicated Comm Manager button here.

On the bottom of the TyTn II is the USB connector (HTC’s special one that includes audio), lanyard slot, reset hole, and Micro SD slot. The memory card is behind a rubber cover, which is a nice improvement from the original TyTn which just left it sticking out of the side. Note the lack of an infrared port; I actually miss it a little, since I used to occasionally use a Palm IR keyboard with my TyTn.

Here we see the TyTn II with its slide open and the screen flipped up. As you can see this is much nicer when sitting on a table than the original TyTn was. The keyboard is the same as before, but if you look closely in the upper left corner you can see two LEDs which light up to show what shift state the keyboard is in — another small but nice refinement of the original. The only drawback I can find, compared to the original, is that with the screen flipped up there isn’t a lot of clearance between the display and the soft keys, making them hard to press with my fat thumbs.

GPS

While most of the TyTn IIs new features are upgrades to things the TyTn already had, the addition of a built-in GPS brings it a whole new range of possibilities. It is a true GPS, not an assisted system that requires access to the cell network, so it will work anywhere you could use a standalone GPS, and with any location-aware software that runs on Windows Mobile, including such things as Google Maps, Windows Live Search, and all types of navigation software. Using the TyTn IIs GPS is easy. Some software (Google Maps, for example) will just work, using Windows Mobile’s built-in location services, and for the rest the GPS is available on a COM port just as if it were connected externally.

The TyTn II’s uses the Qualcomm gpsOne chipset, and doesn’t seem to be quite as fast to lock nor as sensitive as the SIRFStar III based Bluetooth GPS I am used to using. But those differences seem to be quite minor, especially compared to the convenience of having it built right into the device. For best performance, you should make sure to use the included “QuickGPS” application to download ephemeris updates every week (it can do this automatically if you have an appropriate data plan), which makes the GPS start fast enough for impromptu Google Maps searches and the like.

Camera

The TyTn II sports a 3 megapixel, fixed focal length, autofocus camera. As with the original TyTn, the camera button is on the lower right side of the device, and the software assumes you’ll hold it sideways. The shutter button on the TyTn II works like the ones found on most digital cameras; pressing it halfway locks the focus and exposure, and pushing it the rest of the way snaps a picture.

The camera application on the TyTn II is very similar to the one on the TyTn. The most visible addition is a finger-tappable pop-up panel which lets you change commonly used settings and activate the self-timer. Another small, but potentially, improvement is the ability to take pictures with the front camera (if you have one).

Unfortunately, I am less than impressed with the quality of the camera in my TyTn II. Frankly, it’s bad enough that I wonder if there is a software bug, or if I just got a bad unit. Pictures from the main camera have some of the worst JPEG artifacting I’ve ever seen, with areas of broad gradual color change — clear skies for example — looking more like basket-weave. At first I thought I was simply expecting too much from a phone camera, but then I compared identical shots taken seconds apart on both the TyTn II and original TyTn, and the ones from the original TyTn are free of artifacts. I’m inclined to believe this is a software bug rather than a hardware issue, so hopefully it will be fixed. I’ve only included one sample picture below, but I think it shows the problem quite well. It doesn’t look too bad here, but if you download the full size version and look at it more closely, the artifacts should be obvious.

Another bug in the TyTn II’s camera application which you will notice right away is that while the software is designed with the intention that you’ll hold the device sideways to use the main camera, it doesn’t rotate the pictures accordingly. This is easy to correct, but slightly annoying. Also, the TyTn II does not have the LED “flash” that the original TyTn had; I’m not sure that was very useful, so I don’t really miss it.

Software and Performance

The TyTn II runs Windows Mobile 6 Professional, compared to the original’s Windows Mobile 5. Despite the bump in version numbers, the difference between the two is not as large as you might expect. For the most part, WM6 is exactly like WM5, and runs the same software. Most of the changes are incremental and not immediately obvious from a user perspective, but some of the ones you might notice include:

• Updated versions of mobile Office apps
• HTML support in e-mail
• Better Javascript and AJAX support in Internet Explorer
• Windows Live replaces MSN mobile application and messenger
• Push e-mail with Exchange servers (was also in later versions of WM5)
• Better searching in built-in PIM
• More functionality with Exchange 2007 servers (search, etc.)
• Internet Sharing using Bluetooth PAN
• Encrypted storage on memory cards
• Windows Update and customer feedback support (yes, you can disable this)
• .NET CF 2.0 and SQL built in, no more need to install them for some third party apps
• Improved Bluetooth stability

There is one negative change in Windows Mobile 6 (and later builds of Windows Mobile 5) that might cause problems for some users, and that is that Microsoft has removed support for Bluetooth dial-up networking (DUN). Although PAN is a far superior way of sharing a mobile Internet connection with a computer, the older DUN method of tethering is still used by a number of external devices including standalone TomTom GPS units and the Nokia 770 and 800 tablets.

The TyTn II has twice as much memory as the original — 256MB storage and 128MB RAM for running programs — which helps a lot with performance. Unfortunately, almost half of the storage is taken up by the OS, but that still leaves around 128MB for your files. The program memory is a much bigger improvement, though, because it means more applications can be open before the system starts to slow down. Furthermore, though the specs still say 400 MHz CPU speed, the TyTn II uses a different chipset than the original, and it seems to be faster — all in all the TyTn II feels quicker than the TyTn, even with Windows Mobile 6.

That isn’t the end of the changes in the TyTn II, however, as HTC has added even more customizations to the base OS than they did in the TyTn. One of the most visible HTC additions is on the home screen as soon as you turn the TyTn II on:

That’s the HTC home plugin, variants of which they are putting on all of their devices now. It’s meant to be finger-friendly, with tabs for the clock, weather (downloaded from the net), picture contacts, application launching, and turning the ringer on and off.

HTC’s attempts to make the TyTn II touchable don’t stop with the home plugin. The dialer and Comm Manager have been updated with larger buttons, and finger scrolling now works in the standard contacts and calendar apps as well as Internet Explorer. Unfortunately, the TyTn II’s support for finger operation doesn’t extend much farther than that; I would have liked a touchable on-screen keyboard as well, but that is easily remedied by adding one of several free third-party add-ons.

The software bundle on the TyTn II is similar to the TyTn, with several welcome additions. Note that the software described here is what comes on the HTC-branded TyTn II; if you get the AT&T 8925 (or any other carrier-branded version) you might get more, fewer, or simply different bundled applications. The bundled applications include:

• HTC Audio Manager – touch-friendly music player themed to match the rest of the HTC apps
• Streaming Media – audio/video streaming player for some formats not supported by WMP
• Adobe Reader LE – PDF viewer
• Esmertec Java Midlet Manager
• Voice Recorder
• Cyberon Voice Speed Dial
• ZIP – create and extract .zip archives
• WorldCard Mobile – take a picture of a business card to scan it into your contacts

One unexpected surprise in the TyTn II box is an applications CD containing a few add-ons that aren’t pre-loaded into the device. In addition to the TomTom “taster” mapping software I talked about above, the application disc also includes free copies of SPB GPRS Monitor and Sprite Backup.

SPB GPRS monitor tracks your data usage and shows a summary on your home screen. Tapping on its home plugin opens an application with all sorts of graphs and reports. You can set up details of your data plan — monthly base cost, overage, per-minute connection charges, and so forth — and it will keep track of how much your browsing habits are costing you, and warn you when you get close to your limit.

Sprite Backup allows you to back up your TyTn II’s internal memory to the storage card, and restore it later. I haven’t tested it extensively, but as near as I can tell the HTC edition of Sprite Backup is fully functional. Since backup tools are often the sort of thing people don’t buy until it’s already too late, having a good one in the box is a nice addition.

Conclusions

The TyTn II is an evolutionary change from the original TyTn, with the latest version of Windows Mobile and many improvements, both small and large. If you already have a TyTn, the question of whether to upgrade might be a tough one — while few of the changes are significant enough to warrant an $800 upgrade all by themselves, taken as a whole the TyTn II seems significantly better than its predecessor. The choice might be somewhat easier if you’re considering the AT&T Tilt, since the contract prices I’ve seen so far are quite good considering what you get. The TyTn II isn’t the perfect Windows Mobile device, but it gets darn close; it’s near the top of the current heap, at least, and I recommend it for anyone wanting a powerful PDA phone.

The price of this phone will vary depending if you purchase it unlocked, locked to a carrier and with or without a contract. The price of $799.95 quoted is the price Julie paid for the phone through Mobile Planet. It was unlocked and without a contract.

Filed in categories: Windows Mobile related

Tagged: Cellular, Phone, Pocket PC, Windows Mobile, Wireless

HTC TyTn II Windows Mobile 6 Professional Smartphone originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 15, 2007 at 6:56 am.

Since the advent of the handheld device, the quest for easy input of data while on-the-go was always the Holy Grail of mobile computing.  In my earlier Gadgeteer review, I went down that path, looking at the excellent handwriting recognition software, PhatWare’s Calligrapher.  Calligrapher did a great job of taking my scrawl and translating it into digital form, performing just as advertised.  However, just as there are all kinds of PDAs and handheld platforms today, so too are the means by which developers have devised ways to input your data. 

In looking at those other options available to us, I came up with three more “input methods” besides the recognition software:

1. Software on-screen keyboards like the Microsoft default OS keyboard and software add-ons like Fitaly
    
2. Physically attached keyboards or keyboards via cable/Bluetooth
    
3. PCs with a remote access programs like SOTI’s Pocket Controller Professional 

I tend to use all input types in my day-to-day usage, sometimes based on my needs and sometimes on my mood to do something different.  However for those times that I need to enter short amounts of data, like note-taking, email or web browsing, I have always defaulted back to the on-screen keyboards.  In the last year, I became aware of a product that is really simple in its approach to taking common data strings that you utilize in such tasks, allowing you to program them ahead of time for fast entry.

That brings us to DinarSoft’s TapText, software designed to make it a little easier to enter pre-determined and repetitive text entries on the PDA.
 

How it works…

The concept behind TapText is really simple, it is just a “copy and paste” type of operation.  The program is either started manually by the user or automatically via the options page within the program (will show that later down the page).  Once you open an application like Word, Notes, Email or the Internet Explorer, you place your cursor at the insert point or highlight the text to be replaced, then tap the TapText icon at the top of the screen which brings up a set of menus.  From there, you can select a Menu…Sub-Menu…Item from predefined text input that you have already setup.  That is all there is to it!

Here’s the TapText icon at the top of the today screen, which is movable when in instances like this were other icons may interfere with its mid-screen default placement.

Activating TapText is as easy as this! 
 

Options and Setup

The options portion of TapText is really straightforward and doesn’t take much effort, no manual required.  The hardest part is deciding ahead of time what are the areas in which you repeat a lot of text entries as well as how to categorize them via menus and submenus that make sense.

The screenshot above shows you the default categories/menus that come with TapText.  The boxes to the side allow you to move items up and down, move to menu/sub-menu status, edit, add and delete.  Note here’s where you can designate TapText starting up with the system.

Expanding the menus, you see more categories to select from and finally the “selectable item”. You can see the text associated with the item in the box below the menu items by tapping on that item.  The checkboxes allow one to activate and deactivate items that show up in a menu.

The above screenshot shows where you can edit the “selectable” item.  Those boxes to the side: the first one covering your typical copy/cut/paste commands, the next box is for insertion of special commands like Ctrl-B or Tab and the final two boxes cover date/time and format. 

If you are editing a menu item, this screenshot shows that you are given options of: 1) using the program default, 2) just popping up the menu selected (non-cascading) and of course, 3) cascading.  You’ll see examples of each shortly those menu types shortly.

Here’s an example of pre-defined text that takes actual dates and times from your PDA for input in the applications.  For example you can take notes on a call and at the start or end of the call, use TapText to input the date/time stamps.

Here’s the section with web URLs.

I’m not one to put quotes in the footer of an email but there are many that do (and you know who you are) but this would permit them to swap them out as the mood hits them.

In closing out this section, here’s a screenshot of the second options page where you set the overall defaults for the program.
 

TapText in use

Now that we’ve looked at the options/features, I thought it would be good to see a couple of the uses for TapText which may give you some ideas for its use as well.

Internet Explorer:

URL input – This one is pretty straightforward in its use.  Not really sure it saves more time/stokes as you have to highlight the “address” area and then proceed through the menu’s to your specific URL.  Seems to be just as fast as using IE’s Favorites but this may be more perception on my part.

Mobile Outlook:

Here I’ve opened up a “new” message and already used an email reply to start the message.  The next step is to tap the insertion point where I want to insert the email signature, then tap the email signature itself.

After my signature, I decide to put an inspirational quote to close out the email.

The reason for this screenshot is to show how the menu preference can be changed from the preceding cascading-type of menus we have seen to one that opens up boxes “one at a time”.  Note the bottom of the box menu with the return key to move back up a menu level when in this this style mode.

Ta-da…a completed email in just a few strokes of the pen!

Mobile Word:

It goes without saying, TapText works the same in Mobile Word and any Notes applications.  Just point to the insertion point and go through the TapText motions, in this case the default version of “Reports…Attendance”.
 

Installation and Program Performance

DinarSoft’s TapText installation comes in both EXE and CAB formats, with the EXE format weighing in at just 178kb!  It can be installed on any device storage medium…external memory cards, internal and in my case some stored on some “external” ROM on my JasJar.  It takes up about 150kb of storage once installed and the footprint in your RAM while running is a really small at 39.9KB which was one of the smallest running processes on my device. 

As far as performance, I have put it through its paces and have yet to see it stop or slow down.  Also, it never slowed down or interfered with other running applications but that’s to be expected as I noted with it’s memory footprint. 

Conclusion and Thoughts

I really cannot see any problems with DinarSoft’s TapText input software.  It’s small, does what it says it will do and is really customizable for each user’s specific needs.  It usefulness is up to your own imagination.  As for me, I go through periods where I will use one program and then switch to another as the mood hits.  I primarily really use my JasJar as a PIM and not as much for emails or notes, particularly those that have repetitive text/data entry therefore I don’t have as much use for TapText as some other users own experience might dictate.  That’s not to say I don’t find it useful, I do highly recommend TapText for what it does, just make sure that’s how you use your PDA and you will enjoy it too!

For some additional thoughts on TapText, I’d love to see them include some type of encrypted password protection areas.  I am a big user of eWallet and access that program daily for IDs and Passwords, cutting/pasting into various applications.  If there was a way to combine that functionality within TapText, I can see me using it a lot more!  It’s been over a year  since the developer last updated the program and I saw some user forum comments mentioning password protected/encrypted sections as a “wished for” feature…maybe we’ll see that in the future for this program.

Filed in categories: Windows Mobile related

Tagged: Pocket PC, Software, Utility

DinarSoft TapText – Windows Mobile Utility originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 23, 2007 at 5:28 pm.

Julie asked me a couple weeks ago if I would be interested in reviewing Easy PocketNAV’s OnCourse Navigator GPS software and I didn’t have to be asked twice!  Understand that I am a novice when it comes to GPS and GPS software but the technology behind it just fascinates me.  My previous experiences with GPS were with HP’s Navigation System (the GPS Bluetooth unit and software bundle) that I used with my HP hx4705 IPAQ and after I upgraded to Windows Mobile 5 on that unit, I bought OnCourse Navigator 5 (OCN5).  I have since sold my IPAQ and GPS unit over a year ago and I let the OCN software sit to the side…that is until now.

With the new OnCourse Navigator 6 (OCN6) on its way in the mail, I set about to purchase a new BT GPS unit to work with my JasJar.  After reading hours of research and reviews online, I came up with a neat little unit called the GPSlim240 Bluetooth GPS Receiver from Holux Technology, Inc.  They claim it is the “World’s Small GPS Receiver” and I have to say it is very small indeed.  Based upon the performance specs in reception and battery life, the ability to use the same charger as my JasJar (mini-USB) and the size/price were both small, this was the one to use. 

Size comparisons of the GPSlim 240 GPS Receiver and my Lexar USB Thumb Drive

How did it do?  I work in an office that is referred to as the “cave”.  It is in the middle of a small one story brick building with no outside windows.  Believe or not, it picked up close to a dozen satellites with strong signals!  While this isn’t a review on the GPS hardware, I will say that the Holux GPSlim 240′s reception was fantastic overall during testing and battery life was long.  Now back to the review…  

Easy PocketNAV’s Company History

Easy PocketNAV was established in 2002, creating e-commerce website marketing GPS solutions for business travelers and end users.  There e-commerce site, www.buyGPSnow.com was launched in January 2003.  From there they started another company called OnCourse Navigator and licensed OEM GPS software from NAVIGON to create their first GPS software, OnCourse Navigator GPS software for handhelds.  OnCourse Navigator followed up with another version in 2005 called OCN5 which eventually was Windows Mobile 5 compatible.  During this time, they garnered great industry reviews and high ratings from its end users.

I purchased OCN5 for myself in late Spring 2006.  Around that time, I remembered looking for support modifications/updates on the software and found out via their support forum that the partnership with NAVIGON was apparently coming to an end.  I distinctly remembering that because I was kicking myself for buying a great software package that was soon to be defunct.  It did not help that the company explanations at the time were not the most comforting as to their future direction either.  I eventually sold my IPAQ that summer with the GPS BT receiver and did not touch the OCN5 software again.

Well, I was surprised to learn that in March of this year, Easy PocketNAV announced a new version 6 of their OCN line along with a new partner, NavNGo, makers of the iGo navigation software for mobile devices.  The maps consisted of the latest navigational map software from TeleAtlas for both US and Canada.  Being please with their last product and now offered a chance to try it out for free on my newer PDA, I jumped at the chance to see if it was good as its predecessor.
 

OCN6 Program Features

OnCourse Navigator 6 has an extensive list of features that I think many users of GPS software can appreciate…

• “Plug and Go” – OCN6 provides the software on a micro-SD or mini-SD card with either a mini-SD/SD or SD card adapter for you to plug into your device; no more painful online activations.  They come in 1, 2 and now 4 Gigabyte flavors but more on that in a second.
   
• Intuitive User Menus – Most GPS software/hardware providers state this but I have to say I didn’t need the manual once and when I did, the on-screen help was very detailed and actually helpful!
   
• Visual and Voice Prompts – Nothing out of the ordinary here.  OCN6 provides voices in UK or US English, Spanish or French.  It will also adjust to “day/night” view based on the time at your actual location and the voice volume is dynamic in that it also adjusts up or down based on your rate of speed.
   
• An Extensive List of Points of Interests (POIs) – OCN6 has two versions as mentioned earlier in 1 and 2 GB cards with 3.5 and 12.5 million POIs respectively. You can also use the POIs to pinpoint and popup along your programmed route or just around your current GPS position.
   
• Seamless Coast-to-Coast Navigation – Since all the maps for the U.S. and Canada are loaded on the card, it is ready to use out of the box.  I can remember the old days where you had to load only the states traveled or in some cases, even the counties within the state!
   
• Smart Zoom – An OCN6 feature that will adjust the angle and magnification of the map displayed onscreen based on nearness to a directional change or even your travel rate of speed…more on that in a little bit in the Settings section.
   
• Unique Routing Options – Another OCN6 feature that I discuss in the Settings section with many variables to adjust based on your mode of transportation and how fast/slow/economical you want to get to your destination.

There are many more features listed on the company’s website but I think this give you a general flavor of what to expect from OCN6.

Installation

OnCourse Navigator’s Software Delivery System Combo: a micro-SD card (inside the mini-SD card adapter), mini-SD card adapter and SD adapter

This time around, Easy PocketNAV changed things around dramatically.  OnCourse Navigator 6 now comes complete with program and maps for either the U.S./Canada or Western Europe loaded onto a micro or mini-SD card with a micro-SD/SD card adapter.  There are two versions to choose from: a 1GB size called the Deluxe Edition and a 2GB size card called the Premium Edition.  The latter 2GB card version has more Points of Interests or POIs, 12.5 million versus 3.5 million for the 1GB card.  OCN has also released a 4GB Premium Edition version but that is only for North America and comes in a full-sized SD-only card format.

To start installation, you just pop the card into your PDA’s SD/mini-SD/micro-SD slot.  It will automatically begin the installation process if it has not been installed yet.  While we will get into the OCN system specs later, know that you will need almost 4MB of Storage RAM space on your device and a minimum of 9MB of Running Program RAM (12MB recommended) free to run.

Once you get past the obligatory EULA there are some additional pre-installation questions in which to set the program’s settings, like preferred written language, language spoken for directions, measurements, etc.  Finally it installs several files on your PDA’s main memory under My Documents for iGo (route data) and OnCourse (another database) both which are under 100k at least right now.  Lastly, it installs the executables under the Programs directory with the iGo executable and DLL’s coming in at just over 3.7MB. 

On a side note, I noticed there was no listing of the OCN6 program in the Uninstall Programs app on my PDA.  It does put an uninstall OCN program icon under the Programs tab in which to remove these files and seems to accomplish the same function.  Not sure why this occurs but no harm, no foul.

I know what you might be thinking at this point…I can just copy the OCN6 program onto my own larger 4GB SD card and not have to swap the cards out each time I want to use it.  Well, that doesn’t work and from what I gather on the OCN forums, it will disable the program as the license resides only on the card!

The good news with this method of copy protection is that you don’t have to go through the online activation hassle as other GPS software and what OCN used to do as well.  You can move it from device to device or do hard resets on those devices, never having to reactivate it again.  The downside is that when using the Windows Mobile device, you cannot be accessing other programs that rely on the storage card for its data source.  I used to use my device for both GPS and MP3 playing at the same time but unless I free up enough room to store the music, it can’t be done now.
 

Starting Up OCN6

The OCN Today Screen Plug-in and initial program splash screen as you load the program

Upon the completion of the installation process, OCN6 installs a Today Screen plug-in and the program will start up, loading maps and other data.  At this point, depending upon the version of OCN6 you obtain, it will or will not automatically load contacts from your Contacts.  In my case, I had an early version of the software in which the program would automatically search my contacts and load them as personal Points of Interest (POIs) for easy retrieval.  It warns you that it can slow down the program while running and I think that has to be a real understatement…I am talking DOG SLOW!! 

During my initial loading and review of the program, I had over 425 contacts and this slowed the reaction of the program to a point where I could tap the screen and it would literally take up to 30 seconds or longer to respond.  I was concerned this was going to be a bad review because while my JasJar was not the newest on the market, it had more than enough power to run most anything I’ve thrown at it. Next step, I went to the OCN forum for some answers. 

What I initially found on the OCN support forum concerned me.  It recommended all those users with large contacts lists, including one user with a couple thousand contacts, to leave it running overnight to import all those contacts!  In about 15 minutes more reading, I finally found that the initial release of the program had the loading of contacts upon startup as a default setting and it could be changed by modifying the settings.txt file to shut that feature off.

The screenshots above shows the latest version that I found on the OCN site and the second image is the new skin loaded upon startup. 

In my latter searches on the forum, I found that there was an update release to the program late this Spring of 2007 called OCN6 Plus. This added some fixes to the program, including shutting off the auto-load of Contacts to POIs default, a new skin shown above and some other tweaks.  I couldn’t find a full list of the changes to be had other than comments to read the forum for those changes. 

Undaunted with the help of my trusty card reader (and good instructions), I easily copied the “old” program in its entirety from the SD card to my PC as a backup, removed the program from my PDA, and unzipped the “new” version downloaded into the same directory on the SD card.  Upon re-installation with the new version, it ran like a CHAMP!  It was now very responsive.  No contact pre-loading to deal with and performance at a level that I had come to expect from a good piece of software. 

Important Note:  While I haven’t looked into this issue much deeper, there are evidently some issues remaining with the importation of contacts into the program.  It has to do with the parsing of the data from the Contacts DB where a comma or other like formatting issue can still throw off that process.  There were some suggestions from the company and users on particular workarounds including how to manually modify your contacts to be accepted by this parsing engine but it sounded like too much work .  Besides, it really wasn’t that important for me anyway.  If that’s a big issue for you, I’d suggest searching the OCN forums for the latest information in this area.

Looking Under The Hood…OCN6 Settings

Now I am armed with my brand new GPS BT receiver and loaded the OCN6 software into the SD slot of my trusty JasJar…truly a geek moment that I know many of you can relate! 

First, I decided to look at the OCN6 settings.  That’s one of my favorite parts in reviewing software.  It lets me see the detail of the programs, how granular the developers have taken it and my own ability to customize it to my own use.  In this case, OCN has done a very thorough job.  There are many settings in this program that you would expect for GPS software but I wanted to show you a few that I found of interest.

The first screen shows you the general “Settings” page.  This contains all the usual settings that you would expect in a GPS program, at least in my limited experience for such software.  However, the next two screenshots were of particular interest in what they offered.

In the Routing Parameters settings page, this has to be the most important of the Settings pages and has a few items to note.  The first is the “Method” slider which allows you to set how fast you want speed of the route calculation to be with the farthest to the right being the route that is most accurate.  Since OCN6 seems to be very fast, the only reason to use this would be for long routes.

The next item of interest on this page is the Route with the choice of: Shortest, Fastest and Economical.  I never really thought about it but the Shortest route is preferred by walkers, slow vehicles like trucks and cyclists according to the help section; guess that makes perfect sense.  Obviously, Fastest is just that when taking into account speed limits on the routes available. The last one, Economical, is a combination of the two and looks for ways to possibly save fuel.  Evidently, when Economical is selected, OCN6 will consider another route if it takes a little more time yet will cut the distance traveled.  In my personal testing, all my test trips have been 10 miles or less so this didn’t make sense, at least yet. 

Next is the Vehicle selection.  I don’t remember seeing such a setting on other GPS programs but seems a logical addition.  Here you can choose from Cars, Taxis, Buses, Bicycles, Emergency Vehicles and Pedestrians.  Based on the destination, it will look at the routes types and any restrictions on those routes.  In the U.S., pedestrians and bicycles are not allowed to be on the Interstate, hence that is not a path to be considered if pedestrians were selected in this option.  Also the 6 remaining buttons also add more/less restrictions that can be used to for the route calculations.

The last Settings page shown above was particularly interesting to me because of the Smart Zoom feature.  Smart Zoom is not just an automatic zoom you see with other GPS software but one in which it does so based on a couple different parameters.  In one case, if you are navigating a route and approaching a turn, it will not only zoom in but also raise the angle of the view and then with the next turn at a distance, it will zoom out and flatten the view to see more of the road ahead.  Another interesting twist is that the Smart Zoom will zoom in if you are driving slowly (like you are looking at the signs or for a specific address) and then zoom out when you start driving at a higher speed.  Again, I’m not an expert user of GPS software but I thought this aspect of viewing the road map on a handheld device was well thought out.

Time To Put OCN6 To Work…Literally!

Okay, lets try a local trip.  I thought I would see how well OCN6 maps a visit to my work office.  I’m currently driving around the neighborhood so I decide to stop a second (don’t want to run over someone) and I pull up the Find function on the map.  I could have hit the Work key at this point and it would have input my pre-entered work address as the destination but I wanted to put OCN6 through some additional work. 

Starting out, hitting the Address key brings up the Recent Cities list.  It takes note of my current city location and I tap on it.

The next 4 screen shots show you the “predictive” keyboard.  Based on the input, it will start to look in the map database and limit the available outputs based on that input.  In this case, as I start to type out “Court”.  Note how it shows to the right side the number of possible “search solutions” until it shows the actual Search Results.  Tapping on the “E Court Ave”, I receive the screen to input the address and then hit Done.  It’s that simple.

The following two screenshots show you the “Detailed Instructions” associated with the route from my home area (since I didn’t start right at my house) to my work office.  Next is the actual GPS Data screen that can be pulled up at any time to show you the various satellite tracking signals and associated data on my actual position and speed. 

The final two screens in this section are the actual routes shown.  The first screenshot is in the map mode with no route planned.  It simply shows my position on the map pulled to the side of my neighborhood road earlier in the day.  The next screen shows you the typical route map with directions displayed at the top and various travel distance/time at the bottom as found in other GPS programs.  Note the use of Smart Zoom that I mentioned earlier.  Here it has pulled out while slow/stopped and when “in-route”, it zooms in as I am nearing a turn close to the office.

Next Trip…Find The Grocery Store!

From my office, I decided to put the Points of Interest DB to work.  I had it look up a grocery store (Meijer’s) on the other side of town that I sometimes visit and one in which I could compare the routes in which I would normally travel.  Again, I hit the menu key on the map screen and to access the POI screen.  From there, I select Shopping, then Other Shopping (versus Malls & Shopping Centers).

Instead of paging through all 28 pages, I hit the Search key and again go use the predictive keyboard until I see the number of potential matches get low, then I hit the Done key. From there it gives me the list of all Meijer’s in the area and proximity to my current position.  I tap on the one that I want and I’m on my way.

The next four screens shows my travels from the office to Meijer’s Grocery Store.  The first view is what I would consider your typical GPS view while the second one is in “fly-over” mode where it puts the route in what I call a “5,000 foot view” that fits in the screen.  The third screen again shows my car is now closer to the destination and the Smart Zoom feature does its thing.  The last shot is the destination map once I’ve reached the site and having put it back in map mode to show the area in which I’m parked. 

Another nice feature shown on the next screenshot is display of nearby POIs.  I can tap on the screen at my location and it will give out addresses as well as other POIs like banks, restaurants and other establishments.  That would come in handy if I needed to get a phone number to see if a restaurant’s wait is long or not!

Now…For A Longer Trip

I decided to take a longer trip with OCN6 of 450 miles roundtrip to my sister-in-law’s home in Champaign, IL.  I live just outside of Louisville, KY, just across the river in Jeffersonville, IN and just a 1/2 mile from I-65.  As with the shorter trips, I input the address of my destination in Illinois just as pictured/described above in my local trips.  It took my trusty JasJar about 15 seconds to generate a route for me.  Having set the trip parameters to the “fastest” versus “economical” route, it had me on Interstate Highways all the way up through Indianapolis and over to Champaign/Urbana.  From the Interstate in Illinois, it did give me an alternative route which I don’t normally take because of stoplights but either the “stoplight gods” were smiling on me or just plain luck but it did cut a couple minutes off the route.

I found that the OCN6 system was continually updating the route and showing quick response to the GPS unit of my actual location on the highway along with the local overpasses and exchanges.  It’s funny but when you install the OCN6 software, it has a disclaimer about operating the unit and a vehicle at the same time for safety reasons and I can see why.  I was looking at the screen to compare with the surroundings, making my wife VERY nervous in the process to the point I needed to put it down for an hour or so! 

Some additional observations:  1) It did a very good job of point out the POIs for me including a local Mexican restaurant around the corner from where we were staying as well as some of the shopping areas when we needed to get something for the baby.  2) Just in case you were wondering, on the return trip to Indiana, I did play with the “economical” setting for route planning.  It really couldn’t find a better way since both endpoints were literally a few miles off the Interstate so your usage will vary based on your own destinations.  3) We took a side-trip to a relatives home not more than 30 miles from our home and 5 miles off the Interstate.  Instead of programming that into our travel itinerary, I choose to let it think we were off the planned route.  It kept nagging me to make a U-Turn (which can be modified in the settings) until I got to a point on a secondary state highway that parallels the Interstate.  From there, it then computed a new route in about 5-7 seconds on that highway until it got me back to the next Interstate exchange about 5 miles up the road.

Installation and Program Performance

Normally in this section, I would cover the installation package but I have already covered that aspect of the program in great detail. Again, I would make sure you have at least 4MB of Program Storage RAM and a good 12MB+ of available Running Program RAM.  It goes without saying that unless you need Contacts including in your personal POIs in the initial setup, don’t do it if you are in a hurry!  It really slowed down the entire device to a literal crawl.  If you do need them, then I would try the “leave it on overnight” approach to see how many Contacts can get through the parsing. 

If you are interested in the OCN6 program and curious if your mobile device can run it, OCN has provided a detailed spec list along with an extensive list of “compatible” devices in which this software should work.

Conclusion and Thoughts

While it may have been a little bumpy at first with the installation of the OCN6 software and its default handling of Contact importation to POIs, I have to say that once I got beyond that, it worked just like I expected.  There was a small booklet of a dozen or so pages that accompanied the program card but I never needed it beyond a brief scan of the installation process.  The screens and menu placement on this program are very intuitive.  When I needed help in the Settings section of the program, the built-in help screens were very detailed and actually very, very useful.  I did download the full OCN6 manual and “getting started” manual but I never needed them to operate the program.

My test trips have been short so far.  The travel was around my hometown and even if some might not think that’s enough to test a GPS program, I would argue that being a born native of the area with 45 years experience, I know about every which way to get somewhere and how long it should take.  Based on that, OCN6 navigated both the shortest and fastest routes with ease.  When I’d try to throw it off by deliberately missing turns, it would recalculate directions within 3-5 seconds at the most, prompting me with corrective driving directions to my original destination.

I didn’t get the opportunity to see how well OCN6 calculated an “Economical” route selection since that really calls for a much longer trip than my town trips.  I am planning a 600+ mile trip later this coming month and will give that a shot.  If it performs as well as the rest of the OnCourse Navigator 6 program has to date and if its of interest or adds to the discussion, I’ll do an addendum to this review.

I also liked the Points of Interest utilization in the GPS program.  The search function was very easy and again, intuitive in its use.  I obviously haven’t had the opportunity to go through all 12.5 million POIs but the selections I did over a couple days period seemed very extensive and actually up-to-date for locations built within the last couple years.  Now if OCN6 could only give me lodging, movie and restaurant reviews!

The only downside that I had with OCN6 was the SD card method of delivering the software and subsequent activation.  In the past, I would load the maps and software on my own 4GB SD card along with the rest of my applications, games and MP3/MPEG files.  If I want to multi-task by running some other programs now, I had to stop the GPS program and input my own SD storage card or make room on the PDA itself.

However on second thought, the OCN6 method of installation/running does save on activation hassles and moving it from one device to another easily, makings it a true “plug and go” software application.  Since I don’t travel long distances as I used to do, this really is not a big deal and I think I will ultimately like the ease in which the OCN6 system now works.  If I did have a problem, I guess I would just have to buy their 4GB SD card version now wouldn’t I!

Overall, it seems that even with the changes that Easy PocketNAV has had in partnerships with GPS OEM software providers recently, OCN continues to provide a high quality product in OCN6 that should fit any persons need for GPS software on their Windows Mobile device.  I would not be surprised if it didn’t garner all those same industry awards for this product that they did for the OCN5 product.  All in all, I found very little to not like about OnCourse Navigator 6 and would highly recommend it with confidence!

Price:  $129.95 OCN6 for North America Deluxe Edition (1GB & 3.5 million POIs)
         $145.00 OCN6 for North America Premium Edition (2GB & 12.5 million POIs)
         $159.00 OCN6 for Western Europe (2GB version)
         $169.00 OCN6 for North America Premium Edition (4GB version in SD format only and 12.5 million POIs)

Version Tested:  OCN6 Plus (last updated on 3/26/07)

Tested on: Imate JasJar, PocketPC Phone Edition, WM5.0

Filed in categories: GPS, Windows Mobile related

Tagged: Pocket PC, Software, Utility

Easy PocketNAV’s OnCourse Navigator 6 GPS Software – Windows Mobile Utility originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 1, 2007 at 5:03 pm.

This month, my review focuses on another program that has a
large following in the PDA community…PhatWare’s
PhatNotes.  In earlier reviews on note-taking programs, I
mentioned that the PocketPC was made for note-taking.  Most
note applications are singular in their focus of taking
notes.  PhatWare took that one concept step further,
really giant steps forward, in how notes are taken and
organized.  The folks at PhatWare utilize the database
approach to organizing data, syncing it to outside platforms and
adding functionality within the “note” like voice or images. 
All in all, PhatNotes sets the standard for note-taking and
others to emulate.  Let me try to explain how I’ve come to
this conclusion…

PhatWare has four flavors of PhatNotes, basically
one for each type of user and user needs:

1. "http://www.phatware.com/phatnotes/hpcnotes3pro.html">PhatNotes
Professional ($39.95) – In my opinion, Professional is for
those users that are heavy users of a note program, has needs to
format them or even password protect them.  PhatWare
provides a desktop version of the note software and of course, it
syncs up with the PDA PhatNotes databases. It has a spell
checker called "http://www.phatware.com/phatspell.html">PhatSpell both on
the desktop and mobile device.

2. "http://www.phatware.com/phatnotes/hpcnotes3std.html">PhatNotes
Standard ($29.95) – The Standard version is for the casual
note user or ones that like to sync with Microsoft’s Outlook’s
Notes yet still wants some organizing capabilities.  The
program will sync up easily with Outlook and you will be able to
view the PhatNotes within the Outlook program.  You
still get the capability of setting up multiple note databases and
the I preferred this version over another Professional since I
didn’t have to use another standalone program to view a note on the
PC. 

3. "http://www.phatware.com/phatnotes/phatnotesphone.html">PhatNotes
Smartphone ($29.95) – The Smartphone version is just what
it says it is for…Smartphones.  It is similar to
PhatNotes Professional in that it also provides the user a
desktop notes programs.  It too provides you the ability to
format and protect the notes while being sync across platforms.

4. "http://www.phatware.com/phatnotes/hpcnotes3lit.html">PhatNotes
Lite ($19.95) – This is purely the PhatNotes version
for your Windows Mobile device and is not syncable with any other
device or program.  Other than that, it has everything
else!

For a much clearer description on each version, be sure to check
out the "http://www.phatware.com/phatnotes/compare.html">comparison
table provided by PhatWare.

PhatNotes Standard’s Description and Features

I’ve always been a believer in not reinventing the wheel (and
being the son of a lawyer, I don’t want to get a lawsuit from the
developer for misrepresenting their product either) so here’s a
brief description of PhatNotes Standard and its features
from PhatWare’s web site…

Description

PhatNotes Standard Edition is an
award-winning notes organizer for Microsoft Windows Powered Pocket
PCs. You can create notes providing them with type, subject,
creation and modification date, which helps to find required
information quickly and easily. With PhatNotes you can
search for specific text in a specific field and sort notes by
type, date, or subject. You can protect notes from unauthorized
access with a password and send e-mail messages directly from the
Note Editor. Interface to the Contacts Database enables you to pick
an e-mail address instead of typing it in. PhatNotes uses a
compressed database, saving limited storage space. The intuitive,
easy user interface lets you start using the program within
minutes. PhatNotes Standard Edition allows to synchronize
multiple Outlook folders with the mobile device. In addition, PhatNotes Lite Edition now
includes PhatSpell spell checker.

PhatNotes also offers a number of
advanced features, such as rich text editing, file attachments,
hyperlinks between notes, multiple notes databases (folders) with
tree-like view, hierarchical notes organizer, customizable views,
transfer via infrared, backup and restore, advanced filtering and
text search that supports regular expressions, and many
others

Features

• Organize your notes – by clicking on the column header buttons
  you can sort notes by creation date, modification date, subject and
  type.
• Compatibility – export and import notes as text files or
  transfer data to and from other applications using copy and
  paste.
• Efficiency – small size of the program and compressed database
  leaves plenty of storage space.
• Privacy – protect notes from unauthorized access with a
  password.
• Simple User Interface – intuitive user interface allows you to
  start using PhatNotes right away.
• Email capability – send email messages directly from the Note
  Editor by clicking on the Send Mail button.
• Customizable Views – provides a wide range of modifiable look
  and feel settings.
• Advanced Filters and Text Search – allows a user to search one
  or more notes databases for a specific text or a regular
  expression, and filter by category, creation, modification,
  authoring dates, color, and priority.
• Spell Checker – now includes full version of PhatSpell
  Spell Checker with the English dictionary (dictionaries for other
  supported languages can be downloaded from PhatWare web site
  free of charge).
• Today screen add-on – provides an easy access to
  PhatNotes application recently modified notes directly from
  the Pocket PC today screen.
• Microsoft Outlook Support – allows a user to synchronize
  multiple Outlook folders with PhatNotes application on the mobile
  device. Outlook 2000/2002(XP)/2003 supported.
• Hierarchical Notes Organizer – allows a user to group notes by
  creation or modification dates, type, color, and priority.
• Hyperlinks between Notes – allows a user to create links and
  cross references notes.
• File Attachments – up to 32 files can be linked to a note.
• Database Tree View – optional database view provides easy
  access to multiple notes databases.
• Authoring date – a new editable date field.
• Customizable Toolbars – choose from the selection of over 30
  buttons.
• Text Formatting – text formatting is now supported on Pocket
  PCs.
• Pocket PC 2003SE Compatible – supports full-VGA/screen rotation
  features.
• Windows Mobile 5.0 Compatible – supports Pocket PC 2005 devices
  screenshots
• PhatPad support – PhatNotes provides direct access to
  PhatPad, which allows a user to attach handwritten notes in
  just two taps.
   

PhatNotes Standard Screenshots:

PhatWare PhatNotes Standard from the start (when toggled)
will provide you a view of the notes database or databases, the
notes are shown by subject within that database and the actual text
within that note.  This is something that I prefer and set up
as soon as the program is loaded but you can choose whatever view
you like.

As I noted above, this view is not the “default” view but
using the toolbar, I select both the subject and the note views for
a more complete look at one glance.

From this startup database view, you have the standard menu
items.  Here’s the “Edit” button view.

The next view of the “View” button.  It’s here you
can organize and filter the notes.  I don’t have many here but
you can see how this would be helpful with lots of notes!

This screenshot shows the categories that you can sort
the notes in the subject window.

You can filter the notes by date, text or even color of the
note themselves.

Under the “Tools” tab, you can send notes via email or IR,
import/export, etc.

This screen shows you the database options like renaming,
emptying, or even group the databases.
 

Notes Screenshots

Now lets look at the note-taking screen which is obviously as
important as the whole database/subject/text views on the program
startup page.

Here’s your standard note page with toolbar that I have
customized set via the options page.

The “Note” tab.  Your typical tab with the exception
of the “Protect…” option at the bottom.  You can actually
encrypt the note but with the Standard version of PhatNotes,
you will get a warning about protecting a note.  That’s
because of the sync/conversion is not done between Outlook’s Note
and Phatnotes for protected notes.  Best off, leaving
that one alone or buying Professional or Smartphone versions if you
really need that feature.

Here’s the “Edit” tab, again pretty standard with the
exception of the spell checking option with PhatSpell which
comes with the Standard version.

The “View” tab. Note that this is where you can modify the
toolbar when in the note-taking portion of the application.

The last tab probably has the most functionality due to all
the shortcuts it provides and demonstrate on the next
screenshot.

Here’s a note where I have inserted the Date &
Time, a voice note as well as a Category and Subject line.  I
could also insert an image, ink or URL.  Also note we can set
alarms for notes on this page as well or do so via a shortcut on
the toolbar if you so desire.

Showing the drop down box for the Category.

Here’s the note properties tab when you hold down
the stylus on a note.  You can change the color, author date,
priority plus the reminder or protect.

Installation

The PhatWare PhatNotes
Standard installation setup .exe file (8.8MB) is easy to use
and they also have installation package via ZIP format
(8.1MB).  The program will take up approximately 740KB in
storage upon installation.  The running process RAM
utilization for this program while in operation was REALLY small,
only 35.8KB and starting a new file only bumped that up to
44KB.  I consider that very efficient use of my limited device
memory and who hasn’t struggled with that issue!  In my
testing, PhatNotes was installed on both internal memory and
on my 4GB SD card (my normal installation), neither setup presented
any problems.

Conclusion

PhatWare’s Standard Notes is probably one of the first 10
applications that I load on my PDA when I do a hard reset. 
While I don’t think I’d consider myself a notes “junkie” by any
stretch, I like to have all my notes presented to me in an orderly
fashion on my JasJar for easy lookup and review.  This
application works very well in that respect and it also integrates
well with Phatware’s excellent "http://www.phatware.com/phatpad/index.html">PhatPad and
"http://www.phatware.com/calligrapher/calligrapher8.html">CalliGrapher
programs which you would expect but it also plays well with my
all-time favorite PIM – "http://www.pocketinformant.com/">Pocket Informant. 
In the years that I have used this program or some version of it,
there have been only a few times that the program has given me
trouble and that is usually corrected by reloading the program,
assuming some type of DB corruption during the sync process.

Overall there is nothing that I can really complain about with
PhatNotes that would make me say, “don’t buy this
software.”  On the contrary, I say if you need note software
and are a serious note-taker with the need to keep your notes well
organized, I would highly recommend the PhatNotes suite of
programs as one will surely fit your specific needs.

Filed in categories: Windows Mobile related

Tagged: Pocket PC, Software, Utility

PhatWare’s PhatNotes Standard – Windows Mobile Utility originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 21, 2007 at 2:45 pm.

This software review is on PhatWare’s CalliGrapher which has to be on the “must-have” list of utilities for any serious PDA junkie’s collection. Setting aside the Casio B.O.S.S. I used only briefly, I consider my first handheld to be the Apple Newton MessagePad. What was the big attraction of the MessagePad device? It was its handwriting-to-text translation, the earliest ancestor of today’s CalliGrapher. The inventors of that software was not Apple but actually some creative Russian programmers and the company they eventually formed called Paragraph International.

CalliGrapher was and still is a revolutionary piece of software, well ahead of its time in terms of ability but lacking the hardware at that time to adequately support its functionality. Here was a utility that permitted you to actually input data via handwriting versus a keyboard which up to that point had been the only accepted method of input beyond the early punch-cards method or teletype machines front-ending those DEC/IBM mainframes.

Unfortunately, the marketing hype heralding the arrival of the Apple Newton MessagePad was actually much greater than the handwriting recognition software’s performance. Fair or not, this perception of a problem with handwriting recognition continued to dog the Apple Newton despite improvements made in subsequent releases of the Newton OS, so much so it would be ridiculed in the popular media of the day. Some of you may remember the Doonesbury cartoon strip lampooning the Newton’s handwriting capabilities with the word translation of “egg freckles” while the Simpson’s TV series character Dolph wrote on his Newton MessagePad to “Beat Up Martin” but it translates it to “Eat Up Martha”.

While the Newton was ultimately killed by Steve Jobs upon his return to Apple (don’t get me started on that swift move), the good news for all of us is that the developers at ParaGraph always kept the faith and continued to further develop the technology behind the application. Over time, Bill Gates and company saw the potential by licensing its use in the Tablet PC OS and of course, Windows CE. In 2001, PhatWare announces a development, support and management agreement for ParaGraph’s CalliGrapher and PenOffice so the rest seems to now be history.

A Better Mousetrap?

As I have alluded, the beginnings of handwriting recognition were shaky at best but thanks to the continued efforts of ParaGraph, we are blessed to have the fruits of their labor today. There are really two basic schools of thought behind handwriting recognition: 1) Interpretation of actual handwriting or digital ink input and 2) Interpretation of predetermined specific hand strokes or gestures.

Many people are familiar with the Palm Pilot and its history. The basic premise was to take the MessagePad, shrink it down to a more pocket-able size and permit hand gesture input in which the user mimics the internal database of predefined pen gestures. The software was called Graffiti and was developed by Palm. This software was eventually sold also as an add-on alternative to the MessagePad’s handwriting software and licensed by Microsoft as a “block recognizer” in the early CE days. For a quick look back on the rich history of Graffiti, you can check out the Palm Graffiti Wikipedia page for more information.

With PhatWare’s CalliGrapher, instead of relying on the brainpower of the user to learn the correct hand gestures, CalliGrapher went about putting that processing power back into the handheld device where it belonged. CalliGrapher is based on fuzzy logic that looked into a dictionary and statistically “guessed” the correct translation. Not only that, but the software improved the handwriting recognition engine and CalliGrapher’s own Statistical Analyzer (CSA) began to learn your handwriting over time and auto correcting it for the intended word output. While this is a rather simplistic description of the roots of CalliGrapher and how it works, I am glad to say that the old days of “egg freckles” are now long in our past.

CalliGrapher’s Description and Features

Here’s a brief description of CalliGrapher and its features from PhatWare’s web site…

Description

CalliGrapher is an award winning natural handwriting recognition software that supports all handwriting styles – cursive, PRINT or MIXed. In addition to handwriting recognition, CalliGrapher offers PenCommander (an easy-to-use PC navigation tool), ink color selection and customizable ink width, and a “Quick Correct” window for fast correction as the user writes.

CalliGrapher analyzes pen strokes written in any application window or on the designated Write Pad area, converts the pen strokes into text and sends the recognized text to a target application. Employing advanced fuzzy logic and neural net techniques; CalliGrapher recognizes arbitrary alphanumeric strings as well as words from its integrated dictionary.

CalliGrapher also offers a comprehensive spell checker for all applications on your mobile device. The application also includes PenCommander – a utility that allows users to create and execute command scripts by simply writing a word command and drawing a circle around it. CalliGrapher gives you the freedom to enter information quickly and efficiently into your mobile device. You can find the detailed information about CalliGrapher in the User’s Guide (PDF).

Features

Optimized to work with the latest Microsoft Windows powered Pocket PCs details
Write Pad Soft Input Panel (SIP) details
Write Anywhere SIP details
Improved handwriting recognition engine reliably recognizes cursive, print or mixed handwriting
Ready to Go Without Training
Seamlessly Integrates with most Pocket PC applications
Includes Spell Checker with Customizable User Dictionary
Includes PenCommander
Enhanced handwriting recognition engine details
Full on-screen keyboard with 13 pre-defined layouts for 10 Western European languages and autocomplete feature details
Built in vocabulary editor
Auto corrector
CalliGrapher Statistical Analyzer
Multilingual support
Customizable Toolbar
Customizable 24-key keyboard
Multilingual support
Configuration manager
Letter Shape Selector
Recognition Margins
Ink Color Selection and Customizable Ink Width
Enhanced Screen Orientation
Separate Letter Mode
Quick Correct Window

CalliGrapher’s Screenshots:

PhatWare CalliGrapher continues to be the leader in handwriting recognition software for handhelds for a reason…it is very intuitive in its ability read your handwriting and continues to improve as you use it with the CalliGrapher Statistical Analyzer “learning” your handwriting. As with all my reviews, I think pictures are always worth a thousand words in demonstrating any software and with CalliGrapher, that means so much more.

Upon Installation, CalliGrapher creates a folder in the “Programs” area with these four items: The Configuration Manager, Pen Commander and the two digital input mode preferences of Write Anywhere and Write Pad.

CalliGrapher Options

I always find that that the best place to gain some understanding of what a program can do is to look at the settings/options selections for that program. With CalliGrapher, you will see that you have a lot of settings to choose from!

This is the first tab for the CalliGrapher settings. US English is included with the CalliGrapher software package but English (UK) , Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish Language Packs are available for an extra fee. That’s ten languages, eleven if you count UK English as a separate language!

Tab two for the settings. For old dogs like me, I prefer the “Classic” menus versus the Mobile 5 and newer version 6 menus. I also don’t like to take up valuable today screen space so I turn off the SIP icon.

I’ve got this set to show me the toolbar when CalliGrapher is active. I like the option to access parts of the program at a click or twos notice which you’ll see a little later.

More settings to customize your experience with CalliGrapher. I told you there were a lot!

Here’s where you set the margins where CalliGrapher can recognize your “scribble”. Note that CalliGrapher will continue to work once you go over the set margins. For those of us that couldn’t color within the lines, this shows you the thought that PhatWare has put into this programs long development history!

As I alluded to early on in the review regarding the toolbar, I like to have the toolbar up when CalliGrapher is active. Here’s where you can customize which toolbar buttons appear as well as put those useful tools that CalliGrapher provides the user within easy reach once active.

I rarely reassign the buttons on my unit but for those that do (and you know who you are), here’s the place to do it.

Here’s where you start to customize CalliGrapher to your own writing style. I’m mostly a print versus cursive writer as well using acronyms common in the IT world. I leave this all checked (as default) but enabling or disabling can speed up or slow down as well as the output quality of the recognition engine.

Depending upon how you write on your device, unless you are always oriented in one specific direction when you write on the screen, it’s best to leave this one as is with all being “checked”.

The last tab is the typical “About” screen. Here’s the version and build I’m testing with. I started out writing this review earlier in March with version 8.4 but about the time I was about to send it in…a new 8.5 version came out. The changes didn’t really impact my use but it did open up CalliGrapher to the new Mobile 6 OS and the various display screens types/size on those new devices.

This is the screen you see when you activate CalliGrapher. Note the use of “quick gestures” which I found essential in using the program. Kind of reminds you of Graffiti a little doesn’t it?

Tuning Up CalliGrapher’s Recognition Engine

This section is found under the options sections once CalliGrapher has been activated. This is the heart of the handwriting recognition engine and you can tweak it to your own individual preferences. By modifying these settings, you can definitely speed up or slow down the recognition. For the most part, I used the default settings but if you know your style better, you can change it to your heart’s content!

Setting English (US version) as my language of choice.

Here’s where you can set output characteristics but more importantly the amount of delay between the time of input to it going through the recognition engine.

Remember that CalliGrapher not only recognizes your scribble, letter by letter but it also statistically determines via it’s “fuzzy” logic what that word might be based on words found in your dictionary.

More customization of the recognition engine as well as the Auto Corrector enabler. Auto Corrector replaces a word that is misspelled by the user with the correct one and it even allows you to add to that list of correctable words. There are just some words where I want to put “a” before “e” and vice versa when it’s not correct so this is where I can instruct CalliGrapher to correct my grammar!

As I mentioned early on in the review, The statistical analyzer is key to CalliGrapher “learning” your handwriting over time. This feature corrects those continual incorrect readings of your printed characters on the screen, like a “S” being recognized as an “2″ because of my lazy handwriting skills. Over time (2 to 3 weeks of continual use recommended by PhatWare), it will understand the error of your ways and interpret the scribble as you want it be interpreted. On a side note, the developers suggest that you will get more out of the CSA when using the Write Pad versus the Write Anywhere mode.

CalliGrapher still allows those who still need the crutch of a keyboard access to one.

Here’s the settings on the output of your pen on the screen.

PenCommander

This is accessed via the CalliGrapher folder in Programs. PenCommander allows the user to predefine a set of characters to represent specific text input much like the old-fashioned shorthand writing from years past. This next screen shot basically says it all…

PenCommander turns a word literally into one with a thousand meanings!

CalliGrapher In Use

Here I’m in the Write Anywhere mode using the Mobile Word program. Note the toolbar that provides me instant access to certain functions within CalliGrapher like the keyboard (4th button over) or accessing correcting function (5th button, the green checkmark). Again, this toolbar is customizable to the specific users’ needs.

CalliGrapher’s translation of my handwriting.

Here’s the same document in Mobile Word but I’m now using the Write Pad input mode. I prefer this mode most of all since it gives me a line to write and access to “tell” CalliGrapher what type of writing I’m doing, like all caps, print or cursive, numbers, etc. I also have quick access to the keyboard button which I still use as a crutch from time to time.

As you input your handwriting, the text translation is shown above it. If acceptable, then I hit the return key and that printed line is entered on the screen.

Once you hit the return key, it takes you back to the original CalliGrapher Word Pad screen.

Using the keyboard in CalliGrapher, the program shows you the possible words for my input. All you have to do is tap the correct word if it appears and it is entered on the screen.

Lastly, this screen shot is of the correction area of CalliGrapher. This is where you can assist CalliGrapher in learning your handwriting with the auto correction feature. There is so much more but I think you get the idea on the depth of this program.

Installation

The PhatWare CalliGrapher installation setup .exe file (6.7MB) is easy to use and they also have installation packages via ZIP and CAB files. The program will take up approximately 2.37MB in storage upon installation. The RAM used for this program looked to be around 800KB on my device and I’m sure there’s some CPU pull as it does it’s handwriting recognition but it did not seem to slow down my JasJar. In my testing, CalliGrapher was installed on both internal memory (my preferred method) and on my 4GB SD card, neither setup presented any problems.

Conclusion

I have used PhatWare’s CalliGrapher for years and I am still amazed by it’s ability to translate my “chicken scratch” into the words I intended to be displayed on the screen. Do I use it all the time…I go through spurts where I use CalliGrapher exclusively and other times, not at all. I find myself using CalliGrapher more with short notes or other short data entry work where I do not want to hunt and peck out the details. Where I don’t use CalliGrapher is in text entry that is either too long, complex or outside the normal dictionary verbiage. There I pull out the old BT keyboard or use SOTI Pocket Controller Professional remote control for longer entries.

I highly recommend CalliGrapher for those that take notes on their PDA, which is really where the PDA excels or where it really is impractical to use the keyboard whether on the device or on the screen. You just cannot get any better handwriting recognition software on the market today than PhatWare’s CalliGrapher!

Filed in categories: Windows Mobile related

Tagged: Pocket PC, Software, Utility

PhatWare’s Calligrapher v8.5 – Windows Mobile Utility originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 9, 2007 at 6:06 pm.

Here’s a review that I have been looking forward to doing…an application with some real life uses for my PocketPC! Being a “gadget junkie”, I am always looking for smart ways to use my device, something that is actually needed, not made up. That is the case with my review of Resco’s Audio Recorder.

One of the things that I have done for the past three years is volunteer work for a local leadership organization in southern Indiana called Leadership Southern Indiana. As part of my Board of Director’s duties, I chair an annual series of events that we call the “LSI Breakfast Series”. At these three events, we invite distinguished speakers in the Louisville, KY region and from all walks of life: leaders of businesses, non-profits and government. This year we had the top newspaper columnist from the Louisville newspapers, a well-known CEO/entrepreneur, president of the nationally renowned seminary and an extra event with the Governor of Indiana stopping by for a special visit. In previous years, someone from the local newspaper placed a recorder on the podium and he would give me a copy but this time, I wanted to do that myself with the Resco Audio Recorder!

Let me state up front that I’ve always been a big fan of the entire line of Resco’s products for as long as I can remember, including their File Explorer and Photo Viewer programs. In the past year, I purchased their Radio product which basically turns my PDA into a radio so now I can listen to streaming talk radio (or music radio for that matter) during my lunch at a local eatery with free WIFI access. So when it came time to look for a recording program for my JasJar, my first instinct was to check out Resco’s highly rated Audio Recorder and Julie was kind enough of to get the folks at Resco to supply me an evaluation copy.

Reasons for a better recorder…

If you have read any of my previous reviews on software, you will find that one constant thing that I gripe about is the lack of functionality in some of Microsoft’s basic OS applications. In this case, the voice recorder found in the built-in Notes applications is not real user friendly, takes up lots of storage memory with it’s WAV format and lacks many of the nicer functions you get in a standalone digital recorder. The only good thing is that what Microsoft doesn’t provide, there are plenty of good developers eager to fill the niche!

As I said before, I chose to go with Resco’s Audio Recorder because of my familiarity with their products for many years and this particular application is always a winner or finalist in PocketPC Magazine’s “Best of.” lists for many years running. First off, the install was very smooth and it also allows you to set some file associations like MP3 or WAV as well as other formats that I didn’t know even existed! With a little exploring and a glance at the the Help files installed on my JasJar, I was quickly on my way to recording my first Breakfast Series event with only 15 minutes effort.

Audio Recorder Features

Just so I don’t miss anything, here’s what the folks at Resco say about the Audio Recorder product on their web site…

Product Info
For recording and playback of sound tracks
A useful tool for recording of business meetings, voice memos, dialogues or concerts
A high quality single track and playlist player
A simple sound editor

Key Features
Exporting – allows you to export any existing recording into any format
Tags – easy and powerful audio editing
Playlists – full support for using, creating and editing M3U playlists
Files managing – rename/move/delete recordings easily
Display control – spares battery energy
Advanced protection – protects your device from unwanted pressing of buttons or touch screen
PDAudio
Favorites – list of favorite locations for fast access

Supported audio formats (* – requires XScale devices only):
WAV – For highest quality (8, 11, 12, 16, 22, 24, 32, 44 kHz sampling rates, 8/16 bits, stereo/mono)
MP3 – For good compression (all sampling rates, 8, 24, 32, 48, 56, 96, 160, 320 kbps)
Ogg Vorbis* – Higher quality than MP3 (all sampling rates, wide range of bitrates)
Speex* – Designed especially for speech, unbelievable long recording time — more than 278 hours on common 256 MB SD card
RAF – Format created by Resco, based on ADPCM technology, very reliable with good compression ratio

Product Modules include:
Sound Recorder – recorder uses your device’s microphone to record speech as well as music. Your choice of format and bit quality options are endless
Music Player – this application not only records but it lets you play back any supported file format
Sound Editor – a basic editor where you can tag, modify, erase and export
Voice Activated System (VAS) and Gain Control – VAS is useful when you have long gaps in recording when the sound drops below a preset level while Gain Control can help out when the sound needs a little extra help in pickup
Desktop Audio Recorder – This module basically allows you to export a file between PC and PDA as well as change the format export from one version to another (i.e. WAV to MP3)

Audio Recorder Screenshots:

As I mentioned earlier, Resco’s Audio Recorder was very easy to operate and I was running in no time! Let’s look at the screenshots as I walk the product through all its paces.

Audio Recorder & the VAS/GC Modules, Audio Recorder with a Playlist Module above.

Audio Recorder’s “Tools” menu selections… note the “Scheduler” function. I haven’t figured out where in real life I could use this feature but hey if need to schedule an unattended recording…now you can.

This is a great option page that keeps it easy for the novice user like myself since I do not need to know what format to use or what bit size to choose. It will also please the expert to modify the recording with the hundreds, if not thousands of different combinations.

This is the place to handle where the files will be stored and other aspects of your recording file management. I did not mention it before but this app is skinnable?

Button assignment tab…set it up the way you like it. There’s also a tab with all the file associations available for Audio Recorder.

Not sure about the whole PDAudio thing but evidently this software will link up with Core Sound’s PDAudio System hardware. Go to www.core-sournd.com for more information on this feature enhancement.

The heart of any player/recorder is the codex (Coder/Decoder) software. As you can see, Audio Recorder covers quite a few codex formats, more than enough for the average user!

Back to the main screen, the “Files” section….pretty straight forward but it can import M3U playlists. There’s also a basic edit module. You can create time-based tags, delete or export pieces of the file. The key word is basic as it will do some editing work but more on this feature later in the review

This screen shows the export functionality in the edit module along with the ability to change the format itself

Here’s the Desktop Component. You can take an audio file on your PC and copy it to your PDA with this utility. There’s also the ability convert a file’s format whether the destination is your PocketPC or PC.

Program Performance

Now let us talk about Audio Recorders usability in the real world…I have to say that the software did a great job of recording all three of my events thus far, each one averaging more than 55 minutes. I choose the MP3 – 8 bit format for my recordings and the clarity with less than 2 feet from PocketPC to the speaker was very clear. We also take questions from the crowd in these events, for the most part without a microphone and in a large room setting of 150+ people, all the sounds came through just fine. I probably could have adjusted the gain some but with the closeness of the speaker, I didn’t want to take a chance in distorting the main presentation just to bump up the reception of the crowd’s questions a notch.

When it comes to editor module, there was not a lot of documentation in the built-in help pages. After some playing around with it, I found it cumbersome to operate. On several of the MP3 files recorded with Audio Recorder, the program stated the elapsed time to be much shorter than it actually was so I didn’t have much confidence in the tag feature. In looking at Resco’s support forum , it could be the MP3 recording format I had chosen but figuring out those issues was well beyond the scope of this review and an “average” user like myself. I eventually found it to be easier to edit the files on my PC instead with a program designed specifically for editing audio files. A little off-subject but I found a great open-source program called Audacity and I would highly recommend that for your editing needs versus relying solely the Audio Recorder’s editing module.

Installation

The Resco Audio Recorder installation setup .exe file (1.72MB) is easy to use and they also have installation CAB files for ARM and XSCALE versions of handhelds (both weighing in at 3.38MB). The program will take up approximately 2.3MB in storage under the Resco product directory, which is where it stores all such Resco programs. The RAM used while this program is running was 1.86MB on my device and can be installed both internal or external storage. In my testing, Audio Recorder was installed on both internal memory and on my 4GB SD card, neither setup presented any problems.

Conclusion

Having put this program through its paces, I believe that Resco’s Audio Recorder does pretty much as advertised. I found it to be an excellent recorder that took some of the complexity of choosing a format and bit quality down a notch for an average user (like me) but I could also see if you were a power-user, you would find all the necessary options to make you satisfied too. The sound quality was very clear and the application well worth the price. Resco offers a 31-day trial so be sure to try it before you buy it!

I was a little disappointed in the operation of the editing module of the program. In my judgment, the editing module is only meant to be a basic audio editor in functionality despite the developer’s claim of Audio Recorder possessing a “powerful editor” and “a simple editor”. Then again, I did not expect Audio Recorder to be such a program based on my initial research and testing since its main goal as a product is to be a recorder first. I also would not recommend using Audio Recorder for a standalone audio file player of MP3 files as I found the implementation and operation of the player and playlists to be a little cumbersome in comparison to some of the “pure” MP3 audio player programs on the market.

As I said early on, I am a big fan of Resco’s products and would recommend this program for anyone looking for a good recorder add-on to their PDA experience. If you decide to purchase this or any other program from Resco, please be sure you understand their upgrade policy. Purchasing their programs entitles the buyer to one year’s worth of upgrades but the programs you load are not time-out based so you can use them from now until the end of days. After the first year, the cost for the upgrade renewal is 50% of the application’s current retail price. Being a repeat user of their products, I am accustomed to paying for Resco upgrades when needed because to me…all of Resco’s products seem to be worth it!

Filed in categories: Windows Mobile related

Tagged: Pocket PC, Software, Utility

Resco Audio Recorder – Windows Mobile Utility originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 25, 2007 at 2:11 pm.

In my opinion, this is one of those applications for which all PocketPC and Windows Mobile OS devices are specifically made for…taking notes on the spot! There is nothing more natural to me than to use these devices for such purposes and yet the basic Microsoft notepad is still lacking. I think the proof is in the dozens of notepad replacement products on the market today with each one having their own unique spin on how one takes notes. Vsnotepad from Virtual Spaghetti has its own simple philosophy on note-taking and may just be a worthy contender in this software category.

When evaluating notepad software, I have found that the software usually falls into a combination of product attributes from two main areas: 1) standalone or integrated products and 2) word processor or digital ink driven software. As I said earlier, each developer has his or her own way of taking notes and as such uses a combination of these attributes for their own products.

In the first category, the standalone products tend to be very simple or be built upon a their own database where you can do all sorts of filing and categorizing; where note-taking is a large part of one’s PDA usage. Integrated notepad applications are coded to work with other PDA applications like internal or second-party personal information managers (Pocket Information 2007 or Agenda Fusion 8 for example), possess integration links into PC programs like Microsoft Outlook’s Notes app or include their own standalone PC syncable apps. This category of programs are usually robust in feature offerings as well as more complex in their output including things like search functionality, note alarms or the attaching of audio/video “notes” to your original note.

The second product attribute for the majority of notepad products fall into either a word processor versus digital ink driven application category . Notepad programs in the digital ink realm (like Vsnotepad) takes your pen marks and “digitizes” it on the screen. They tend to be more visual in nature, allowing for different colors and even shapes to be drawn. Those programs that are word processor driven in their approach to note-taking utilize keyboard or cognitive handwriting/gesture inputs, providing a structured note-taking experience. I have found most notepad programs will exclusively use one or the other but there are a few that offer a mixture of both.

From my testing, Vsnotepad tends to fall into the “standalone – digital ink” version of notepad software. The developer states on his site that “the concept of Vsnotepad is to note, change pages and view your notes like a true notepad. Easy to use, powerful and complete.” As I put Vsnotepad though its paces, it is indeed simple and easy to use just like those wire-bound notepads from my pre-PDA laden days!

Above you see your typical notepad view. Go forwards or backwards by clicking on the turned up page corners. The key in the center exits the program, no minimizing or saving notes steps are required.

Notepad paper comes in 5 colors (see note below). This paper is the Vsnotepad “Classic” version.

Vsnotepad Features

Here are the features as Virtual Spaghetti describes them on their web site for Vsnotepad:

Compatible Windows Mobile 5.0
Compatible Square Screen
Designed to work like a true notepad
Optimized graphic Interface
Full screen Smoothed and detailed
Compatible QVGA/VGA/Square
Calculator tool
Graphic Tools
Color selector
Easy creation and change page method
Show Current Time
Detection of the level of battery
Compatible Phone Edition
English / French language enabled
Important note on paper color – there are five different “paper” color versions of Vsnotepad you can choose from:

Classic (the paper used for these screenshots)
Pink
White
Blue
Green
Vsnotepad gives you only get one choice of paper color per Vsnotepad program at the time of purchase. Each one is listed with the assigned paper color like Vsnotepad Classic, Vsnotepad Pink, Vsnotepad White, etc. Be sure to try out the trials versions to see which color works best for you before purchasing!

More Vsnotepad Screenshots:

Vsnotepad shape drawing features. There are 6 ink colors available, an “undo” button and an “Eraser” function that works well.

Don’t like the 6 ink choices… choose your own variation. Ink thickness is also a selectable item on the toolbar.

Handy calculator (Note that it does not paste results on the screen). You can delete all the pages or just one page within dozens of pages. There is a maximum of 99 pages in the commercial
version of the program.

Installation

Vsnotepad installation (397KB) is relatively straight-forward with an .exe setup file containing the CAB installation file, the uninstaller and setup.ini file that installs under the MS ActiveSync directory on your PC by default. I found Vsnotepad to work on both my internal and external/card storage memory. The program has a relatively large footprint of over 2MB on my PDA RAM/ROM (depending upon your memory configuration). I have 6 pages in my notebook which are stored in the same directory as the program by default (not changeable) with each page running about 150KB on average.

Conclusions

Vsnotepad is a nice little notepad program, as the developer seems to have kept it true to his idea of a simple notepad application. The price at $14,95 is about right for all that it offers and is in the ballpark with similarly featured notepad programs. As with any program you are thinking about buying, look at how you use notes today or plan to use it in the future. I think Vsnotepad is probably a great choice for those looking to jot down notes now and then as well as for those that don’t need to save, search or store them for later retrieval. If you do use the notes function in your PDA more often or need some type of structure to your note filing, then this program will not cut it for you. As always, download the available trial version and see for yourself if Vsnotepad is right for you!

Filed in categories: Windows Mobile related

Tagged: Pocket PC, Software, Utility

Vsnotepad – Windows Mobile Utility originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 26, 2006 at 10:50 am.

Are you the type of person that wants a great PDA that happens to also have a good phone built into it? Or would you rather have a great phone that just happens to also function as a good PDA? That’s almost always the question you have to ask yourself when you’re in the market for a smartphone. It seems that no matter which brand of phone/PDA that you look at, you can’t find a device that is both an excellent PDA and an excellent phone. Trade offs, gotta luv em…

For that very reason, this review is going to be approached by two different perspectives. I’m the type of person that wants a great phone first, and a great PDA second. Since Rob is the opposite, I thought he’d be the perfect person to help me out with this review. As a result, I got him a TyTN at the same time that I bought mine. So, let’s get this tag team review of HTC’s TyTN rolling!

Julie’s comments are in BLACK, Rob’s are in italicized BLUE.

In case you didn’t already know, HTC is the maker of a lot of phones / PDAs on the market today. From the original Compaq iPAQ to the current Palm Treo 750v, HTC has been around since 1997 and seems to really know what they are doing as far as creating devices with great hardware design. The TyTN is one of their latest Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC phones. With a slide out keyboard, WiFi, Bluetooth and a Quad band GSM radio, this device has a lot going for it.

Hardware Specs

Operating System: Windows Mobile 5.0
Memory: ROM 128MB / RAM 64MB SDRAM
Processor: 400MHz Samsung 2442 processor
Display: 240 X 320 2.8in TFT-LCD 65,536 colors
Radio: GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS radio, GSM bands: 850/900/1800/1900, UMTS bands: 850/1900/2100
Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0, WiFi 802.11b/g, Infrared (IR)
Expansion: MicroSD card slot
Camera: 2.0 megapixel with 8x digital zoom
Battery: Removable 1350 mAH Lithium-ion
Talk time: up to 4-5 hours GSM / 2-4 hours UMTS, Standby time: 120-250 hours
Power: AC adapter (Input 100-240AC, 50/60Hz 0.2A / Output 5V and 1A)
Size: 112.5 x 58 x 21.95 mm
Weight: 176 grams

One thing not mentioned in the official specs is that the TyTn also has an ATI media accelerator in it. I’m not sure how much it helps in practice, but this should allow video playback to be smoother and more battery-friendly than on PDAs which use the CPU for media decoding. Also worthy of special note is the support for the 850 and 1900 MHz UMTS bands; this is one of the first phones to support UMTS and HSDPA in North America.

Package Contents

HTC TyTN
Leather Belt case
Extra stylus
Li-ion battery
USB sync cable
AC charger with 2 country adapters (US and Asian)
Stereo headset / mic
Getting Started CD
Quick Start Guide
User Manual

Hardware Design
Front

The TyTN is shaped like a little rectangular rounded corner brick. Constructed almost entirely of grey plastic (except for a brushed aluminum inset on the front), this device feels solid and substantial in hand. It had no troubles passing my legendary gadgeteer squeeze test without rattling or flexing.

The 2.8 inch diagonal display is easy to read, with vivid colors and crisp text. But like almost every color PDA/Phone that I’ve tested over the years, the screen is almost unreadable in bright sunlight.

Along the top there are 2 buttons, a status LED bar and a front facing camera. The two buttons are mapped to the messaging application and Pocket IE web browser. The LED bar (you can see it right above the HTC logo in the image above) shows the status for battery charging, radio reception, Bluetooth and WiFi.

Regarding the front facing video camera, I’m not sure what it’s for because I don’t see anything in the software that references it.

I haven’t tried it yet, but apparently CoolCamera by Ateksoft supports it for taking pictures. Also of note is that Cingular’s 8525, their branded version of the TyTn, doesn’t have the front camera at all due to the lack of video calling support on their network.

At the bottom of the front, you will find the main button layout. There are buttons to Start a call, End a call, OK (exit applications), Windows Start Menu, Left softkey, Right softkey, 5-way navigation and the Video Call button.

Video calling doesn’t work in the United States, and probably won’t any time soon. If you’re on a UMTS network elsewhere, you can probably press the Video Call button (which is duplicated on the touch screen user interface) to turn on the front camera and videoconference with the person you’re talking to, provided, of course, that they have a video-capable phone on their end as well.

All of the buttons are flat and sit flush with the casing around it. Even so, they have great tactile feedback and are easy to press. The only issue that I have is trying to feel for a specific button with gloves on.

Since I’m a Treo user, I’ve grown very accustomed to having a thumbboard built into my PDA/Phone. This caused me a bit of frustration when I first started using the HTC. It almost felt like I was trying to use this device with one hand tied behind my back. That might sound strange since the TyTN does have a built in keyboard…

To access the keyboard you have to slide the screen to the right. I usually do this by rotating the device in my hands and then use my thumbs to slide the display up to expose the keyboard. The display will click in place securely and the onscreen image will automatically rotate to match the new orientation. When you slide the display back in place to hide the keyboard, the screen will rotate back into portrait mode automatically.

This reminds me a bit of the HP200LX and other keyboard-based handhelds of its day; landscape mode is nice for web browsing, email, and other text-oriented activities, and the TyTn’s automatic switching is seamless in most modern PocketPC applications.

Holding and using the PDA when the keyboard is exposed feels very comfortable and not awkward at all.

The keyboard itself has a cool blue backlight that is activated when you press one of its 41 keys.

See the spot above the ‘P’ key? That’s a light sensor, so that the backlight will not activate if you are, for example, outdoors in the middle of the day. I wonder if this actually saves battery life, or if it’s just one of those things that sounds cooler than it actually is.

Ha! I’m so glad you mentioned that, because I didn’t know what it was for. I actually tried pressing it with my stylus thinking it was a reset switch!

The keys are large and slightly dome shaped which makes typing for even long periods of time a pleasure. The Left and Right soft keys are even duplicated on the keyboard so that stylus use isn’t necessary.

Back

On the back of the TyTN you will find the camera lens, LED flash and speaker. There is also a little toggle slider switch to change the camera from macro to normal mode. In the very bottom right corner there is a small eyelet for a hand strap.

The built in camera is 2 megapixel, which is a better resolution than the majority of camera phones. I was hoping to be impressed by the camera due to the fact that it has an LED flash and a switch to toggle between macro and normal mode. Unfortunately, I am not impressed at all… The pictures (both macro and normal) are blurry. (

Indeed, the TyTn follows in the grand tradition of mediocre-at-best phone cameras. Oh well, I guess it can’t have everything, or else there would be nothing to improve in the next model.

This is the camera interface

There’s also the problem with the side button placement. When you turn the phone in landscape orientation to take a picture, your left thumb naturally rests along the button left edge of the phone where the jog wheel and OK button are located. These buttons are pretty sensitive, so it doesn’t take much effort to accidently activate them while you’re trying to take a picture.

Left to right: macro shot, normal shot. Click on thumbnail to see full size image

Left Side

The left side of the device has a jog dial, OK button, Voice command button and MicroSD slot. The jog dial allows you to scroll through various lists, menus and while in a call, it will allow you to adjust the volume level up and down. If you press the Voice command button, it will launch the Voice Speed Dial application. Pressing and holding the Voice command button will allow you to record a voice note.

On the Cingular version, this button apparently is hard-coded to activate a future Push To Talk service, and can’t be reassigned without additional software.

Regarding Voice Speed dialing… You actually have to set up an entry for each person that you want to dial. You do this by recording a command like “Call Rob’s TyTN”, and then link it to the appropriate contact phone number. It’s not surprising that I like the voice command app on the Treo 750v a lot better than the one on the TyTN. There’s nothing to setup on it. You can just hold the button and say “Call Julie at Home” or “Call Julie at Work” and it will verify what you asked and then if you say Yes, it will dial the number. You can also use it to interact with other applications.

The voice dialing software Julie mentioned is Microsoft Voice Command, which comes bundled with the Treo 750v but can be purchased separately for $40.

Right Side

On the right side of the TyTN you will find the Power button, Communications Manager launcher and Camera button. It’s no surprise that pressing the power button will toggle the power on and off. But, this actually just puts the phone into sleep mode. If you hold the power button for more than 5 seconds, it will completely shut down the device. This means that you will not receive calls or notifications until you turn the phone back on.

Top

There are no buttons or special features located on the top edge of the phone.

Bottom

If you look on the bottom edge of the TyTN, you will see the IR port, Battery cover lock, reset switch, microphone, USB sync / charge port and stylus silo. The USB connector doesn’t appear to be the normal shape for a mini USB plug, but never fear, plugging one in will work just fine. You can either charge using the supplied AC adapter, or via a standard USB mini cable. I use the last method.

If you’ve been paying attention, you might be wondering where the earphone jack is. Well, you have to use the earphone / mic that comes with the phone. It uses the special USB connector. I find this to be a little annoying. Not that I use my phone as a media player that often, but if I did, I’d want to use my own earbuds… even if I had to use a 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter.

If you’re willing to poke around a bit with a registry editor, it will apparently work with Bluetooth A2DP stereo headsets. Until that is better supported, however, I agree that the lack of a proper headset jack is an annoyance. A lot of recent phones are guilty of this, but that’s no excuse.

Battery life has been pretty good for me. I’m not a heavy user of both the phone or PDA features. I mainly make a couple short calls each day, check email once or twice, look up appointments, text notes, and maybe play a game for a few minutes. With that type of usage, I have been able to get away with charging every other day and sometimes every 3rd day.

I also don’t have any complaints about battery life. I’m pretty diligent about plugging things in every night, or at least once every couple of days and I don’t think I’ve seen the TyTn dip below 50% charge. And that includes some days of heavy WiFi and Bluetooth use, installing and trying out software, and the like.

Let’s talk a little more about the size of the TyTN. In hand it feels a little bulky because it is pretty thick. It doesn’t feel HUGE, but it does feel somewhat unphone-like to me. That said, it does feel way more like a phone than the HP hw6945!

Compared to the Treo 750v, it doesn’t look that much different in overall size does it?

The Treo is a little thinner which does make a big difference in how the device feels in your hand.

You can really see the thickness difference in the picture above…

As far as overall phone experience, this is where the TyTN falls a bit flat for me. As a PDA, I love the screen and built in WiFi. It’s a great little Pocket PC. But as a phone, the lack of the always accessible keyboard has made it feel just a little awkward for me. Although I have gotten used to it in the weeks since I’ve been reviewing this phone, I still find myself really missing the Treo keyboard. The Treo is a great one handed device; the TyTN requires the use of two hands for true text operation.

I was looking for more of a PDA with phone functionality, rather than the other way around, so I’m happy to trade the front keyboard for a rectangular screen. I still haven’t fully conquered my fear of directly touching a PDA display, but the between the finger-sized buttons on the dialer application, the jog wheel, and the front face buttons I don’t find it any harder to use one-handed than any other keyboard-less phone. One thing that helps a little with this is to get a phone pad input method, such as the one HTC provided for some of its other PDA phones, which gives you a thumb-friendly on-screen T9 predictive text input pad that works in all Windows Mobile applications. I don’t know why HTC didn’t include this in the TyTn’s ROM; it can be downloaded from a few places on the web, and while it wasn’t created for the TyTn it works just fine on it.

Besides keyboard use, the TyTN has very good reception. I don’t think I had one dropped call while using this phone. I’ve not had any issues with audio volume on either side of the conversation. The only thing I have noticed is that sometimes I can hear some static in the background of my calls. Have you noticed that Rob?

I can’t honestly say if I’ve noticed static, because I’m used to marginal quality on a lot of my calls regardless of what phone I’m using. I live in a semi-rural area and even the best phone suffers from a lot of audio glitches, if not completely dropped calls, if I try to use it indoors at home. (And that’s on Cingular 850 MHz; T-Mobile 1900 MHz is a lost cause.) The fact that the TyTn works here at all is a sign that it has reasonably good RF performance. I can walk around the house with it without finding any obvious dead spots, which is more than I can say for some phones I’ve tried. When I’m out and about I have had nothing to complain about.

The TyTN runs on a 400MHz processor. I haven’t had any real issues with application speed, but it isn’t unusual to see the little spinning wheel for a second or two when you launch some applications.

Now let’s talk a little bit about the software that powers the TyTN. This particular device uses Windows Mobile 5.0. Below you can see a list of all the applications that are included in ROM.

Software Installed On Device

ActiveSync
Alarm Clock
Bubble Breaker
Calculator
Camera
Communications Manager
Internet Explorer Mobile
File Explorer
Microsoft Office Outlook Mobile
- Email
- Calendar
- Contacts
- Tasks
- Notes
Microsoft Office Mobile
- Word Mobile
- Excel Mobile
- PowerPoint Mobile
Phone
Pictures and Video
ClearVue PDF Viewer
Download Agent
Pocket MSN
SAPSettings
Search
SIM Manager
SMS / MMS Messaging with chat view
Solitaire
Terminal Services Client
Voice Speed Dial
Windows Media Player 10 Mobile
Wireless Modem
Zip

Software on CD

ActiveSync 4.1 (for your desktop)
Outlook 2002 (for your desktop)

As you can see, this device doesn’t come with a typical software bundle that includes extra full and trial applications. I’m wondering what type of bundle the Cingular version (8525) comes with…

From what I understand, the Cingular version doesn’t add a lot to the basic bundle. The main additions are the clients for MobiTV and TeleNav, which take advantage of Cingular’s high speed network, but otherwise the software load is the same.

The TyTN doesn’t come with a bunch of today plug-ins that can slow down the device. However, there are two little additions to the bottom of the today screen. A battery level indicator, and a small icon that you can click on to launch the communications manager.

If you’re handy with a registry editor, you can also enable a hidden today plugin, apparently a standard part of Windows Mobile, which shows the name of your GSM carrier and the status of Bluetooth and WiFi. (You could also get this information by tapping the status icons up top, of course.) Why this isn’t available by default I don’t know.

I don’t really think the tray icons are all that useful. The communication manager has its own hardware button, while the battery icon is easily replaced (and improved upon) by one of the many task managers or today screen plugins out there. You can turn them off, but it requires poking around in the registry.

The communications manager can be accessed by the icon at the bottom of the today screen or by the button on the right side of the device. I like to use to this app to mute the speaker. It will remember the last cursor location, so I just leave it on the little speaker icon so that can easily toggle the status.

You are supposed to be able to use the TyTN as a modem for a PC or Notebook via USB, IR or Bluetooth. I tried this with my Powerbook and although I was able to pair the two devices, the Powerbook kept asking me for a user name, password and phone number. I’m not sure what settings are required to use the existing data plan on the phone though…

Surfing webpages using the phone itself is very comfortable. There are several zoom levels in Pocket Internet Explorer to enable a good chunk of text to be displayed. See some examples below.

Medium zoom setting on left, smallest zoom on right

Landscape mode: medium zoom setting on left, smallest zoom on right

Images in webpages look pretty nice too.

The TyTN would make a great little web surfing device if you happen to live in an area with 3G coverage. Unfortunately for me, I just have Edge right now. Even so, surfing felt relatively snappy. I did use http://text.dslreports.com/mspeed to test my connection a couple of times, and came up with results of:

200k test:

133 kbit/sec, 0.893s latency
159 kbit/sec, 0.916s latency

Not too horrible )

I tried the same mobile speed test on my home WiFi network, it came up with a result that was pretty close to the speed of my DSL. I tried copying a large file to the storage card with Total Commander and the results were not as good; while it is nice to have 802.11g in a PDA, the rest of the hardware isn’t really capable of using that much bandwidth. For surfing and streaming, it works well both at home and at public hotspots.

This is the interface for the Voice Speed Dial app.

And last but not least, here is the Zip application that is also included with the TyTN. It’s a simple interface to allow you to zip up files to save storage space.

I have to say that the HTC TyTN is a great little device. With its nice display, Quad band GSM, WiFi, Bluetooth, and keyboard, it’s really hard to find many faults. Of course you know I have to complain about something, so here goes. The camera is less than stellar and for me, the phone experience just isn’t as good as… yes, you know what I’m going to type… the Treo. I can’t help it. I think I’m forever spoiled. Seriously, if you want a device that’s a little bit more PDA than Phone, this one is a great choice. If you’re the other way around then it might not be the perfect device for you. What do you think Rob?

I really like it. As I mentioned earlier, I was interested in something which was a PDA first and foremost. I was a bit wary of switching to the Windows Mobile platform, since I’ve had PocketPCs before and always found myself underwhelmed. But as a Windows PDA, the TyTn lacks for very little; about the only significant thing I could wish for is a bigger screen, and that would be impossible without making it less portable. I’ve switched completely over to the TyTn from my Palm TX, and I don’t think I’m going back.

I can’t yet say the same for myself. I am having a hard time deciding if I want to go back to Palm or stick with Windows Mobile. There are things that I like about both software platforms. As for the hardware, I’m still looking for my perfect Phone/PDA combo. The TyTN is close in some aspects, but not quite the one for me at this point. The quest continues…

Filed in categories: Windows Mobile related, Wireless

Tagged: Cellular, Phone, Pocket PC, Windows Mobile, Wireless

HTC TyTN Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC Phone originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 4, 2006 at 8:00 am.

Although I have had a Microsoft PocketPC since my Phillips Nino
days in 1998, I am new to the PocketPC Phone Edition – Windows
Mobile 5 world. I purchased an imate JasJar (aka the HTC
Universal) this past summer on eBay. I got it mostly for the
PocketPC side of things and thought I’d toy with the Phone side
when I had the time but that didn’t last long…say two days!

I wondered just what kind of new software was out there for the
PocketPC Phone Edition so I started “Googling”, scouring all the
PDA software sites and reading the “Best of List” from our friends
at PocketPC
Magazine. That’s when I came upon their software category for
“Phone and Fax”. One caught my eye and it was called
phoneAlarm from "http://www.pocketmax.net">pocketMax Software but I couldn’t
quite put my finger on what it exactly did. As usual, I see
there’s a trial version available from the developer so I bravely
loaded it that very minute.

Being new to the PDA/Phone combination, I was not sure why
phoneAlarm was so highly recommended in all those
user software reviews you read over at "http://www.handango.com/">Handango.com or "http://www.pocketgear.com/">PocketGear.com, that is until I
discovered the profiles portion of the program and that’s when it
clicked! While the today screen plug-in was a nice way to show me
calls that I missed, emails in my inbox or the convenient
battery/phone signal strength meters, it was the profiles that
truly made this program extremely useful. Here’s the way it looks
on your Today Screen…

The Today Screen plug-in at the bottom of the screen shows the active profile
(Night), Bluetooth On/Off Indicator (Off), Messages, Voicemails,
SMS, Email, Battery, Cell Carrier Signal and Options Access.

This is the default
VGA skin for the plug-in as well as the view of all the profiles
that you can select by tapping the profile button. Each profile
can be programmed and we’ll go through all those options a little
further down!

Now at the touch of a profile button (see second panel above),
phoneAlarm can change all kinds of system settings
into a pre-set device profile of your choosing. Not only can you
change profiles manually but you can also change those profiles
automatically based on the system clock on your device or where you
are currently located.

Here is what sold me…I now had a way for my JasJar to set
itself to “Night” mode so that all sound was mute, phone ring would
go to vibrate, backlight was at it’s next to lowest setting and
would shut it off after 30 seconds. No longer was a stray task
alarm on my JasJar going off in the middle of the night or some SMS
alerts that I have set up with some financial service sites
interrupting my sleep!

That got me to thinking…this is a VERY useful feature that is
needed on all Phone Editions and Smartphones as well as a limited
version for all PocketPCs in general. Why didn’t Microsoft ever
think of this in the first place! Then again, I’ve said that about
the built-in file explorer and task management system to name just
a few. Instead of beating that dead horse, let’s dive right in and
take a closer look at pocketMax’s phoneAlarm.

phoneAlarm Features

There are two versions of phoneAlarm: a “Full”
version and a “Lite” version. The feature list below for both
versions comes directly from the "http://www.virtualspaghetti.com">pocketMax Software web
site:

Features found in both Full and Lite versions:

• Provides repeating alarms on new SMS, Email, missed calls &
  voice messages
• 7 Custom Phone profiles with manual / time-based automatic
  switching.
• Alarm notification on weak battery and phone signal (WM 5.0
  only)
• Customize sound, volume and options for each alarm type in each
  profile
• Mute device and phone volume
• Skinnable user interface (How to create skins)
• Bluetooth and Flight mode control via profiles (also for
  Widcomm/Broadcomm stack)
• Auto-profile change on <’ActiveSync’> (Work) and
  <’Power – no ActiveSync’> (Car), also based on time or
  Appointment category
• 1-hand skin navigation and quick-dialer for last 10 numbers
  (only for WM 5.0 & WM 2003 SE)
• Icons provide direct access to Inbox, missed call history
  etc.
• Task-switcher pop-up to close running applications
• Option to cycle radio (off/on) to change user on dual SIM
• English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Danish, Norwegian,
  Dutch, Czech, Hungarian, Russian and Chinese user interface
• Supports VGA display
• Optimized for fast performance and maximum platform
  support
• Simple installation

Additional features ONLY in Full version:

• Billing calculation – keep track of your phone costs
• Detailed GPRS volume tracking
• Location-based information (change profile dependent on current
  location!)
• Call and SMS forwarding support in each profile WLAN control
  via profiles
• Skin rotator element to display actual information

More phoneAlarm Options:

As I alluded to earlier, the power of phoneAlarm
is in the profiles and the options that you can program for each
profile is where the fun really begins!

This is the “Display” screen where you can select the skins as well as the alarms you
want to receive. There are lots of alarm options!

Advanced Settings – Page 1 and 2

Here’s where you program the settings for each Profile. Lots of options…trust me!

And more… That’s quite a bit of customization that you can put into a specific
“Profile”.

Each profile can be
set to be automatically activated based on time/day. Here I’ve got
it set so all week it goes quiet at night (Night) and awaken in the
morning (Home) with a daytime weekdays setting (Work).

You can also
customize the name of the profile so based on your need for
profiles, I could see lots of variations on their uses and your own
PDA/Phone usage.

Nice feature here – you can import and export your settings. I’ve used there several
times when resetting. I haven’t really used
the Data Connections Setting yet as I don’t have the GPRS service
turned on but there are some advanced setting functionality
here.

If you want to track your carrier cost, input the cost structure from your carrier
contract here and… More cost input required!

I could keep going on and on about the options one can choose with
phoneAlarm but I think you get my point. There is so
much more to this program than what I have touched on here so I
would encourage you to review the "http://www.pocketmax.net/pA_User.pdf">User Guide posted on
pocketMax’s web site or just install the trial version to
see it for yourself.

I should also mention before closing out this review that there
multiple Today Screen skins available for the
phoneAlarm plug-in and are downloadable from
pocketMax. There come in a variety of colors, sizes and displayed
functions (meters, alerts, etc.) including some that work well with
higher resolution VGA screens. pocketMax has even provided a skin
editing tool if you are so inclined. I tried it and it does work
but the editing tool takes a little patience and lots of
trial-and-error testing. Whether you create your own skins or
download the works of others, this is a wonderful feature.

Installation

phoneAlarm installation .exe file (364KB) is relatively
straight-forward with an .exe setup file containing the CAB
installation file and setup.ini file that installs under the MS
ActiveSync directory on your PC by default. They also have
downloadable CAB files with the “Full” version running at 864KB and
the “Lite” version at 752KB for those that prefer that means of
installation. While phoneAlarm can be installed on
internal or external memory, it is highly recommended that you
install it on the internal memory. I had some issues with the
program installed on the card and seemed much more stable on
internal memory.

This program installs to two locations on your PDA, one under
it’s own directory (264KB) and under the Windows directory (269KB).
I didn’t see any huge chunks of memory being eaten up by
phoneAlarm while in operation. So other than installing
phoneAlarm on your internal memory, it seemed to have
little impact on the processes, CPU or services of my PDA.

Conclusions

I have to say that if you own a PocketPC-Phone Edition device,
phoneAlarm is a “must-have” program and one of the
first to be loaded on any device. It really adds to the overall
functionality of any PDA/Phone combination and probably something
Microsoft should consider adding as a default feature for future
version of the OS. While there are two versions but I recommend
getting the Full version ($24.95) over the Lite version ($18.95) as
it adds two more features that I think are useful: 1) Profiles that
change based on your location and 2) the Call/SMS forwarding
function. Lastly, I really like the skinnable feature of the
plug-in because I see more and more of the phoneAlarm
community adding new and exciting features to the Today Screen
plug-in on a regular basis. If this were a movie, I’d give it a
big TWO THUMBS UP!

Full Version is $24.95 and Lite Version is $18.95

Filed in categories: Windows Mobile related

Tagged: Pocket PC, Software, Utility

phoneAlarm – Windows Mobile Utility originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on November 20, 2006 at 4:08 pm.

11/17/06 Update (see info in Red)

Trying to find my perfect smartphone has been causing me the same frustration as trying to find my perfect gear bag. The quest just never ends because I’ve come to realize that there isn’t any one perfect phone (or gear bag) out there for me. The whole trick is to find one that comes as close as possible. This review is for the Hewlett Packard iPAQ hw6945 Mobile Messenger; a Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC phone. The question is, will it become my new “perfect” smartphone?

(I have also created an audio review of this phone in The Gadgeteer Podcast #2. This written review should be considered as a companion to it.)

Hardware Specs

Processor: Intel PXA270 processor 416MHz
Operating system: Windows Mobile 5.0 for Pocket PC, Phone Edition, with Messaging and Security Feature Pack
Memory: User Available 45MB available for persistent user storage 64MB SDRAM for running applications
Display: 3.0 inch (75 mm) Transflective TFT, 64K Colors
Built-in camera: 1.3 megapixel, 1280 x 1024 resolution
Battery: Removable, rechargeable Lithium-Ion (1200 mAh)
Expansion: Integrated mini-SD slot
Audio: Voice recording, built-in speakerphone, microphone, one 2.5 mm stereo headphone/microphone jack
Dimensions: 4.65″ x 2.8″ x 0.71″ (118 mm x 71 mm x 18 mm)
Weight: 6.33 oz. (179.45g) with battery; 5.28 oz. (149.69g) without battery

Package Contents

hw6945 Mobile Messenger
Universal cradle/charger
AC adapter
Flip cover
Holster
Wired ear bud headphones
HP product information guide
Software: Microsoft Outlook 2002, ActiveSync 4.1, HP ProtectTools, HP Photosmart Premier, HP Navigation Maps (60 day trial)

With WiFi, Bluetooth, a camera and even a GPS built in, the hw6945 has a lot of features packed into a relatively compact package. Let’s take a closer look.

Hardware Design
Front

Made of silver and dark grey plastic, this smartphone has a similar appearance to a Treo, due to the small thumb-board keyboard located directly below the display.

The keyboard has small flat hard plastic keys that exhibit good tactile feedback. Even though the keys are small and are practically flush with the face of the phone, they are still easy to press with your thumb tips.

Notice how flat the keys are on the HP phone compared to the Treo 750v seen stacked on top of the HP in the picture above.

Situated above the keyboard are 5 additional buttons. The outside buttons start and end calls, while the inside buttons map to the onscreen command buttons. Centered between them is a small joystick type button that allows scrolling in 4 directions and also selects items when pressed in.

The start and end buttons are backlit, but unfortunately the keyboard is not. However, the light from the start and end buttons does sort of leak through to the buttons beneath the phone buttons.

The keyboard does in fact light up. I had the “Disable all buttons except power button” setting turned on in the buttons settings dialog box. Apparently when this setting is on, it keeps the keyboard from lighting up…

Included with the phone is a plastic flip cover. Kinda retro huh? It does do a pretty good job as a screen protector if you aren’t the type of person to put your phone in a case.

Also located on the front of the hw6945 is the power button (top right corner) and two status LEDs beside it. One big problem that I have with this phone is the fact that the power button is the only way to power this device on. Pressing any of the other buttons including the green talk button has no effect. As a result, if you want to make an outgoing call when the device is turned off, you will have to press a minimum of 3 buttons. 1. Press the power button, 2. Press the green call button, 3. Press a speed dial key. You will also notice that the power button and green call button are separated by a good distance. Not very ergonomic at all.

Other buttons will in fact power on this device. I had the “Disable all buttons except power button” setting turned on in the buttons settings dialog box. This is apparently the default setting. Unchecking this option allows pressing of the Green call button to turn on the device and go directly to the phone / dial screen.

I’ve found the whole phone experience to be lacking when using this phone. Not only physically, but with the interface and reception. During calls, I will hear static in the background (people on the other end of the conversation have commented on hearing static too), and I have found that the signal strength is not as strong as other phones I have used.

Left Side

On the left side of the phone, you’ll find the volume adjustment slider switch, camera button and IR port. In the image above, you see the hw6945 on the bottom, with the Treo 750v on top. This gives you an idea of how the two phones compare in thickness.

Right Side

A mini-SD slot is located on the right side of the device. The stylus slot is also located on this side.

Back

On the back you will find the built in camera lens, self portrait mirror and LED flash. Next to the camera is the speaker grill.

The 1.3mp camera is only just so-so as far as picture quality goes. You will definitely NOT be using this device as your primary camera.

Click thumbnail to see full-size images

As you can see, the images are pretty fuzzy. The biggest problem though is that the camera software is slow. VERY slow. If you need to take a quick snapshot, you’ll most likely miss it. More about the image capture software later in the review. It is nice to have a flash for the camera though, even if it doesn’t flash automatically. You have to tap on the display to turn it on and off.

Bottom

A 2.5mm stereo headphone jack, microphone, charge/sync port and reset switch can be found along the bottom edge of the phone.

HP included a nice charge / sync cradle for the hw6945. You don’t see cradles being included with PDAs or phones these days, so I consider this a nice ‘gift’.

In hand, this phone feels pretty large. While it’s somewhat thinner than a Treo, it’s wider. The added width makes it look more like a PDA than a phone in my opinion.

Build quality is very good and this smartphone doesn’t have any problems passing the Gadgeteer squeeze / creak test.

Above you can see the hw6945 and the Treo 750v. The display on both devices has 240 x 240 pixel resolution, but the HP’s display is noticeably larger.

The display is crisp and easy to read, but it’s not quite as bright and vibrant as the Treo 750v’s display as shown below

Left to Right: hw6945, Treo 750v

This picture was taken without a flash and with both devices side by side and set to their individual highest brightness levels. Even though HP does have a dimmer screen, it isn’t something that you will notice without having another device with a brighter screen next to it to compare. So I don’t have much to complain about as far as the display goes, except for the 240 x 240 resolution.

One hardware feature that I have so far been unable to test, is the built-in GPS receiver. Out of the box, this device does not have any mapping software built in. The only feature that takes advantage of the GPS is the image capturing software. There is a setting to have it stamp coordinates on your pictures. If you want to use the GPS for mapping, you can install the 60-day trial software that is included on CD. It’s HP’s navigation software. Of course, it’s a Windows application, so I wasn’t able to install it at home using my iMac. I did try installing it with my XP laptop at work, and didn’t have a very good experience. The software has to connect to the HP in order to sync maps. When I would try this step, it continued to say that it could not find the device ID. I didn’t have any problem syncing with ActiveSync though… The software app did install on the HP, but it caused the phone/PDA to run extremely slow. I checked and had sufficient memory available, but the only way to fix the problem was to do a hard reset. My confidence level in the GPS / software went down the tubes at this point. I would be interested in hearing from hw6945 owners that have had a better experience than I have.

As far as power, I haven’t had any real issues with battery life while using this phone. For several calls, a little WiFi surfing, a few snapshots, etc. it will easily last the entire day with plenty of juice left over.

To wrap up the hardware section of this review, I would say that this device is more of a PDA, than a phone. I suppose that this might be beneficial to some people, but for me, I want a great phone that just happens to also have excellent PDA features. This one falls short in my opinion.

Software Installed on Device

ActiveSync
Bubble Breaker
Calculator
Download Agent
Internet Explorer Mobile
File Explorer
Get Good
Java
Microsoft Office Outlook Mobile
- Email
- Calendar
- Contacts
- Tasks
- Notes
Microsoft Office Mobile
- Word Mobile
- Excel Mobile
- PowerPoint Mobile
Modem Link
Phone
Photosmart Camera
Photosmart Mobile
Search
SIM Manager
Solitaire
Terminal Services
Windows Media Player 10 Mobile

Software Installed on CD

Adobe Reader (link for your desktop)
ActiveSync 4.2 (for your desktop)
Audible (link)
Avvenu (link)
Dynomite! By Astraware
Outlook 2002 (for your desktop)
Spritesoft Backup and restore
User Guide pdf

The today screen that comes pre-configured has a few plug-ins that allow you to easy see the status of your battery, free memory, free storage space and brightness level.

While the today screen looks pretty slick with these plugins, they really make the system sluggish. My advice is to just turn them off.

The hw6945 has a built-in 1.3mp camera. The camera software launch button / shutter button is mapped to the button on the left side of the phone.

When you press the button, the camera interface starts up and is flipped so that you have to turn the PDA 90 degrees clockwise. This makes the HP feel like a camera because the shutter button is then in the upper right corner. The interface itself is simple to use as you can see from the image above. But it’s also very slow…

There is a nice selection of user customizable settings available…

Too bad the image quality is only mediocre.

HP also includes a image viewer application. Nothing too special, but better than nothing.

There is also a phone setting manager app, ring tone app and profile setting application. All three are simple to use.

The iPAQ Wireless interface combines the phone, WiFi and Bluetooth setting dialogs all into one convenient location.

It’s hard to gripe about this product because it has so much to offer as far as features. But my whole problem with it is that it tries to be everything to everyone and doesn’t do a great job at any one thing. It’s not a great phone because it’s too big and has crummy ergonomics. It’s not a great PDA because the screen is small and has low resolution. It’s not a good camera because the interface is too slow and the pictures are not sharp enough. As far as the GPS feature goes, I can’t comment because I was unable to get the software to work. In a nut shell, I am disappointed with the hw6945 and am setting off again on my search for my perfect smartphone…

Filed in categories: Windows Mobile related, Wireless

Tagged: Cellular, Phone, Pocket PC, Windows Mobile, Wireless

HP iPAQ hw6945 Mobile Messenger originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on November 13, 2006 at 6:41 pm.

I’ve been a Palm Treo junkie since March of 2005 when I began my odyssey into the world of smartphones. It was a strange journey that began with a Sprint Treo 650 that had been hacked to work on the Verizon network. Then I switched carriers from Verizon to Cingular and purchased an unlocked 650, which I’ve been using as my main device ever since. In the past year, I have seen Palm release the 700p and 700w for non-GSM carriers. No joy for me! But, finally Palm has released a new GSM phone. The 750v is a quad band (850, 900, 1800, 1900) phone for the Vodafone network. Right now it is only available outside the US, but will eventually be available here. Of course you didn’t think that I would be patient enough to wait around for that day did you? Ummmm…. NO! A little googling turned me on to PhoneSource-USA.com and one day later I had an unlocked 750v in my hands.

Hardware Specs

Operating System: Windows Mobile 5.2

Memory: 128MB / 60MB nonvolatile flash memory available to user
Processor: 300MHz Samsung processor

Display: 240 x 240 16-bit color (65,000+) TFT touchscreen display

Radio: GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS radio, GSM bands: 850/900/1800/1900, UMTS bands: 850/1900/2100

Connectivity: Bluetooth 1.2 wireless technology, Infrared (IR)

Expansion: miniSD card slot

Camera: 1.3 megapixel with 2x digital zoom
Audio: 2.5mm headset jack is stereo headset compatible

Battery: Removable 1200 mAH Lithium-ion
Talk time: up to 4.5 hours GSM / 2.5 hours UMTS, Standby time: 10 days
Power: AC adapter (Input 100-120V ~ 50/60Hz 0.2A / Output +5.2V)
Size: 111mm x 58mm x 213mm
Weight: 5.4 ounces / 154 grams

Package Contents

Treo 750v
Li-ion battery
AC charger with 4 country adapters
Stereo headset / mic
USB sync cable
Getting Started CD
Quick Start Guide
User Manual

The design of the 750v hasn’t changed radically from the original Treo 600, 650 and 700 models. That said, there have been some subtle changes, so let’s take a look.

Hardware Design
Front

The first obvious thing that you will notice about the 750v is its lack of an external antenna on the upper left corner. You might worry that a lack of an external antenna might cause reception to suffer. I’ve actually found that the 750v gets better reception than my 650. I’ve been able to use the 750v in places where my 650 would have problems with dropped calls and bad audio.

Everything else about this phone looks very familiar, which is both good and boring. I guess Palm didn’t want to mess with a good thing considering how popular the Treo has become. Personally, I wouldn’t mind a little innovation…

Compared to the 650, the 750v has slightly larger buttons and keyboard keys. It also has more rounded corners, which makes it feel smaller in your hand. But if we compare the size of both devices, there really isn’t a big difference. The 750v is 1 ounce lighter than the 650 and feels solid. This phone passes the Gadgeteer squeeze test with nary a creak or flex.

The thumb board keys are square with rounded corners and seem to be a bit flatter than the 650 keys. The tactile feedback is good and the layout is identical to the 650, so the learning curve is nil if you’re someone that is upgrading from a previous Treo device. The 5 way navigation button and phone buttons are shaped a bit differently and the call Answer / Start button and call End / OK button are actually 2 buttons now instead of 4. Each set is a rocker button instead of an individual button. I haven’t found this to be a problem so far.

The keyboard and other keys light up when activated. You will notice that the 4 points of the nav button do not light up though like they do on the 650. Not a big deal, just pointing it out.

Let’s talk about the display… The resolution is 240 x 240, which is a step down from what I’ve been used to with the 650 (320 x 320). I was worried that this would bother me, but so far I’m not noticing a huge difference. Granted, so far I’m mainly just using the built in set of core applications. We’ll see what happens when I get to the software section of the review.

Left to Right: Treo 650, Treo 750v

Besides the resolution issue, the display itself is easy to read, the colors bright and the text crisp.

Back

The stylus silo, camera and speaker are located on the back of the phone. You’ll also notice that the outer shell of the 750v is a deep Blue. What you can’t see, is that it is rubberized. This is a nice improvement over the 650, which I’ve always found to be a bit slippery.

The back side has ridges (hard to see in the picture) along the sides that give the phone a thinner feeling in hand.

The built in speaker on the back of the device is loud enough for demoing an MP3 to a friend and definitely loud enough to be used as an alarm clock.

The camera built into the 750v seems to be worse than the crummy camera built into the 650. Which seems odd to me because the 650 is only a .3 megapixel and the 750v is a 1.3 megapixel. I’ll let you judge for yourself though.

Left to Right: 750v, 650. Click thumbnail to view full size image

Left to Right: 750v, 650. Click thumbnail to view full size image

The images on the left was taken with the 750v, the ones on the right the 650. Both were taken within seconds of each other from the same distance. The only thing I did was to set the 750v to snap at 640 x 480, since that is the max resolution of the 650. As you can see, the image taken with the 750v is noticeably blurrier. Disappointing…

Hey, does anyone really use these tiny self-portrait mirrors? I mean, how can you even see yourself in these things?

The stylus included with the 750v is typical skinny stylus.

The battery cover pops off without much trouble, and reveals the battery compartment and SIM card slot. The battery included with the 750v is 1200mAH. The 650 has a 1800mAH battery. I tried my 650 battery in the 750v and it does work. But, it’s too thick to allow the battery cover to snap back on. I’ve yet to really test the battery life of this new phone, so I’m not sure how the difference in capacity really compares.

Left Side

The left side of the phone has a volume adjustment rocker button, and a user definable button. I prefer the shape of the volume rocker on the 650. The ends of the 650 button are raised so that your thumb can easily find the right end to press for adjustment. Volume level through the earphone on the front of the phone seems a lot louder than the 650. I’m used to keeping the 650 set to max volume, I don’t need to do this with the 750v.

In the image above, you can see how the thickness of the 750v compares to a 650.

Right Side

On the right side, you’ll notice the new location for the IR port and memory expansion slot.

The 750v doesn’t have an SD card. Instead, it has a slot for a MiniSD card. The change from SD to MiniSD isn’t a big deal, except for one issue… the ability to easily add WiFi to the 750v. MiniSD WiFi cards are coming to market, there is at least one available now: the Spectec SDW-822. But the the problem with that one is that the card sticks out of the slot, making it easy to accidentally break off the door. For me the lack of WiFi really isn’t that big of a deal. If I want to surf, I just use my mobile data plan.

It’s hard to see in the image above, but at the bottom right corner under the card slot, there is a reset switch. This location is more convenient than under the battery door like previous Treo models.

Top

The top of the 750v has the speaker on/off switch. When you switch it to the off position, the Treo will vibrate to remind you of the setting.

Bottom

Nothing much has changed along the bottom edge of the 750v. You can see the 2.5mm audio jack, sync and power connections and the microphone, which has moved to a new location to the Right of the power port.

Speaking of power, when I first pulled out the AC adapter, I was reminded that this phone is from the UK and not the US. I wasn’t too concerned due to the fact that a USB charge/sync cable was also included. But then I noticed some plastic slugs at the bottom of the box that included outlet prong configurations for power outlets of different countries. Great for world travelers!

As far as the hardware, this Treo is on par with previous models. The build quality feels rugged enough for typical day to day abuse. I do wish the camera were better and that the resolution of the display was higher. So far these are my only two gripes, but I’ve only been using this phone for a few days.

Now let’s take a look at the software side of the 750v. I’m not going to cover every application because that would make this already long review into a novel. But I will talk about the phone application and a few other things that people have asked me about.

Software Installed On Device

ActiveSync
Alarm Clock
Bubble Breaker
Calculator
Camera
Internet Explorer Mobile
File Explorer
Microsoft Office Outlook Mobile
- Email
- Calendar
- Contacts
- Tasks
- Notes
Microsoft Office Mobile
- Word Mobile
- Excel Mobile
- PowerPoint Mobile
Modem Link
Phone
Pictures and Video
Picsel PDF Viewer
Quick Tour
Search
Setup email for Vodafone
SIM Manager
SMS / MMS Messaging with chat view
Solitaire
Sounds and Notifications Manager
Terminal Services Client
Voice Command
Windows Media Player 10 Mobile
Wired Car Kit Support

Software on CD

Adobe Reader (link for your desktop)
ActiveSync 4.2 (for your desktop)
Audible (link)
Avvenu (link)
Dynomite! By Astraware
Outlook 2002 (for your desktop)
Spritesoft Backup and restore
User Guide pdf

First of all, as a Mac user, I have been syncing my phone using MissingSync for Windows Mobile 5 from Mark/Space. I’ve been very happy with it. The only feature it lacks is the ability to sync notes files.

The screen that you’ll be viewing most of the time on the Treo 750v, is the Today screen.

Included with the phone are 3 or 4 themes, like the one you see above. Like all Windows Mobile devices, you can configure it to show your upcoming appointments, status of tasks, emails, etc.

There are several ways to make calls. If you press the Green Talk button, you’ll get a popup showing your most recent contacts. From there, you can initiate a call. Pressing the Menu key (button above the Red End Call button), will give you access to various settings.

If you just start typing a number or a name, a search box will display that will filter based on the numbers / letters that you type. Once you find the person you want to call, you can then press Select to dial.

Yet another way to make a phone call, is to configure the speed dial feature. With this feature, you can have text buttons, or pictures. The picture above on the left, gives you an example of both. It’s interesting to note that you can’t customize your Today screen to have no speed dial buttons. At a minimum, the Voicemail button has to be there. Hmmmmm…

There’s always the good old dial pad. Not sure why you would want to use this, when you can press the keys, but it’s there if you so desire. For reference, the Treo 650 dial pad is shown on the right.

The call log is accessible my pressing the menu button from the Today screen.

The log can be filtered by different criteria. You can also access the call timer screen, which basically tells you how many calls you’ve placed and how much time you’ve talked since the log was last reset.

For reference, I’ve included the call log screens from the Treo 650 above.

When a call comes into the 750v, a small popup with the caller’s name (if a member of your contact list) will display at the bottom of the screen. If you have a picture associated with that person, it will display along with the name.

If you don’t want to answer the call, you can ignore or ignore with a text message. A selection of messages are available from a popup list or you can create your own. Missed calls have the dialog box as shown above on the right.

Text messages display at the bottom of the Today screen. Multiple messages are threaded. Clicking on the block will show the threaded conversation.

You can even add emoticons. ) This threaded chat feature was first available on the Treo 650. Below are screenshots of the 650 chat app.

As you can see, the 750v chat application is very similar.

Surfing the web on the 750v has been similar to what I’ve been used to with the 650. The screen is small, so the experience isn’t exactly wonderful. That said, it’s fine for reading text and sites optimized for mobile devices.

The pictures above give you an idea of how much information you’re able to view per screen. You can view in fullscreen mode, which does offer a few more viewable lines of text.

Watching movies on the 750v is doable, but not advised. I say this because the 300MHz processor isn’t really up to the task. Yes, you can watch movies, but I found that they do pause and stutter here and there. Also, the screen is just too small for comfortable viewing. In full screen mode widescreen formatted videos are stretched and look pretty fuzzy and pixelated.

Due to the size of the 750v’s display, applications made for higher resolution Pocket PCs, will not always display correctly on the Treo’s display. A lot of times you have to scroll down to see the bottom of the screen. For this fact, it’s always best to download the latest versions of your favorite apps, as they will have probably taken the smaller display into consideration and will compensate.

Comparing the 750v to the 650 isn’t quite fair, as they do run different operating systems. But, I will say that the 650 feels snappier than the 750v. Not by a huge margin, but I do notice a difference. Other than the speed issue, I’ve been surprised that I’ve easily made the transition from Palm OS to Windows Mobile. At this point, I’m not entirely sure the move is going to stick, but I’m going to give it a good try.

I have been asked a few questions concerning the 750. I thought it best to include them below:

Q. When is this freakin’ phone going to hit the Cingular market?
A. Good question. I wish I knew the answer too…

Q. Will the Cingular phone have HSDPA? Or just UMTS?
A. The 750v has UMTS, but HSDPA can be enabled through software. When the phone comes out for Cingular, it will most likely be enabled.

Q. Because you have used both (650 and 750v) Which one do you prefer when it comes to the phone app and using your Treo as a phone?
A. The 750v because it has a little better reception and many ways to make calls.

Q. I don’t think it’s fair to set the 750v to take a picture at 640×480 and compare
them that way. I understand what you were trying to do — compare apples to apples.
A. Hmmm, good point. I’ll take some more shots in the next couple of days and add them to the review.

This phone is not yet available here in the US… You can find it on some import sites if you are willing to pay a premium. I got mine from PhoneSource-USA.com. The price was an insane $759.95.

Filed in categories: Windows Mobile related

Tagged: Cellular, Mobile Phone, Phone, Pocket PC, Windows Mobile, Wireless

Palm Treo 750v Windows Mobile Smartphone originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 27, 2006 at 12:00 pm.

Today’s review is on a category of software that isn’t very exciting or sexy but something that everyone who really uses their PocketPC device needs each and every day…it’s the File Explorer utility. If you are like me, you are constantly working on the internals of your PDA, moving files between cards and internal memory, accessing hidden registry files or just doing some old fashion housekeeping. I believe a truly great File Explorer can be worth every cent if it makes these functions easier for me!

As most of you know, the current built-in File Explorer provided by Microsoft on the majority of devices today still falls short of being all it could be for such an important functional application. As a result, there are literally dozens of alternative programs that have cropped up to fill that void both from the commercial marketplace as well as in the freeware world, many of which have a large following themselves. Some do this function very well while others just fall short of expectations.

That is where Voyager comes in. Voyager is a freeware version of the File Explorer utility and was created by Harold-Rene Flasch of hfrmobile.com. It is built upon the .NET Compact Framework that seems to be popping up all over the place as developers learn more about its capabilities and incorporate those uses into everyday applications like this. Voyager was easy to install and relatively straight-forward to operate without too much effort or advanced “Help” reading.

Feature overview from Voyager’s Help Screen:

GUI which is easy to use
Directory/File operations: Copy & Paste, Copy & Paste Shortcut, Delete, Rename, New Directory
Execute and Execute With
File/Shortcut properties dialog
Configurable user interface
View Modes (Large, Small List and Details
File type icons
File type icon indicators
Sort Modes: By Name, By Size, By Last Change
File attribute column
CCrryyppttoo Integration
Favorites directory as menu items

As you can see, it has all the basics of Microsoft’s File Explorer but it also has an added feature of an encryption module called CCrryyppttoo. The program states it will encrypt and decrypt files, which does work, but I cannot find any documentation as to the level of encryption or the limits to what can be encrypted with the exception of NOT encrypting files that are converted during ActiveSync with the PC. Having said that, it is probably not something a normal IT shop might find acceptable as security but for everyday encryption, I’m sure it will serve the purpose it is designed.

Voyager Screenshots

Left: “About” screen with version. Note the .NET utilization
Right: View of files under “Detail” view. The “..” permits you to back up one folder level while the “!” executes whatever is highlighted under the “Name” column

Left: This was my view under “Large Icons” for all my folders at the root level; I’m not sure why this occurred. I contacted the developer but no response or fix was provided prior to the completion of this review.
Right: This was another view under “Large Icons” from My Documents folder. Still no folder icons but icons do appear for the individual files. Here it shows default icons of some sort for each file.

Left: These are the individual action options available when holding down the stylus on the file name; typical fare for a File Explorer utility
Right: This is the “Execute” option for a selected file

Left: Here is your typical file “Properties” screen
Right: This shows what is under the “File” tab. Note the encryption module that comes with the program

Left: Next is the “View” tab and “Sort” options
Right: Here is the “Tools” tab.

The CCrryyppttoo Encryption Module with Voyager:

Left: The CCrryyppttoo encryption module of Voyager; first you activate it by selecting the password
Right: Here you set the password

Left: Now that you have set the password, the “Encrypt” function was activated for use on a file
Right: Here’s the warning about the file encryption

My attempt to access an encrypted Excel file. I did not attempt to “crack” the file so if you plan on using this module for more serious purposes, I would do a little more research first before relying too much on it

Voyager Program Options:

Left: Not much new here…but what would expect?
Right: Same here…

Options are limited on CCrryyppttoo

Installation:

Voyager installation is downloadable from the developer’s web site in your typical zip file format containing both the readme text and CAB installation file. Since this is built on the .NET Compact Framework, you will need to have it installed for the program to work. The zip file is really small, coming in under 80KB and the program expands to 210KB on the PDA itself. I installed and ran it on both the internal memory and a 4GB SD card with no problems. As with other .NET programs, Voyager does seem to have a larger footprint, coming in around 1.1MB on my i-mate JasJar’s RAM while running.

Conclusions:

As I said at the start of this review, a good File Explorer is worth every cent. In this case, Voyager is a decent File Explorer substitute for a freeware program. It does pretty much what it says it will do and tries to offer a little extra with the CCrryyppttoo encryption module. In the end, I think Voyager really falls short on documentation, support and functionality in its present state of development. Granted it is freeware so what do you really expect for no cost!

Having said all that, Voyager is not a bad program, just one of many freeware alternatives out there that are “okay” but not something that will make the administration of my PDA much easier. I’m sure there are other freeware versions of the File Explorer out there but I haven’t come upon one yet but I’m sure now that I said that, someone will point out the error of my ways!

Particularly for those less technically inclined, I would likely recommend to most people that are open to the expense to consider a commercial good File Explorer substitute. I have been using Resco’s File Explorer for many years. Besides the basics, it has a useful registry editing module, its network capable and has many other well documented features plus a good reputation for support. Another good option that I have tried is a shareware program called Total Commander. TC seems to have a large following on many PDA boards that I visit and it too many usable features like FTP, LAN access, Registry Editing and much more. You can’t go wrong with either of these two if you don’t mind the expense.

Filed in categories: Windows Mobile related

Tagged: Pocket PC, Software, Utility

Voyager – Pocket PC File Explorer originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 16, 2006 at 5:05 pm.

Every decade or so, there comes certain fashions, foods, oreven
dances (remember the Macarena!) that transcend international
boundaries and becomes popular just about everywhere on the planet.
I would put sudoku in that category. Just in case you’ve been
living under a rock, sudoku has done just that by becoming popular
with the crossword puzzle crowd to dominate every bookstore shelf,
grace the pages of many newspapers and periodicals and of course,
the thousands of fan web sites around the world devoted to the
game.

I do not plan on going into too much detail on sudoku itself as
you can read all about it on "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudoku">Wikipedia but let me give
you a little glimpse into its origins. The game was invented by a
man in Indianapolis, IN around 1979 for Dell magazines (no Michael
Dell was still in high school at that time!) and these magazines
were popular for crossword puzzles and other types of mind games
they offered readers. This number puzzle was called Number Place
and pretty much existed there until a Japanese publisher
rediscovered the format and published them in 1986. It was at that
time that the game took the new name of su-do-ku which is an
abbreviation for the Japanese phrase, “the digits must remain
single”. The rest is history as there are hundreds of sudoku
publications on the market today, even a UK TV program based on the
game so there’s no question as to its growing popularity.

The rules of the game are really quite simple and that is why it
so addicting! You start out with have 9 large boxes stacked 3 x 3
with 9 smaller boxes within those large boxes. Scattered throughout
the puzzle are the seemingly random placement of numbers upon which
you are to solve the puzzle;the higher the difficulty game level,
the fewer the numbers provided. From here, you are to use the
numbers 1 through 9 only once within those boxes and here is where
it gets difficult, you can only use them once in that row and
column too!

If you are still confused, take a look at the completed puzzle
below on the left and note that the darkened numbers to see what I
mean about the numbers being unique to that column, row and box.
Now if you are just cocky enough or just a glutton for punishment,
take it one step further and try solving a Sudoku puzzle where
instead of numbers you use images or other graphics in place of
numbers!

Now that we have talked about the basics of sudoku, let’s talk
about why we are here today: SuperDoku. If you do a search for
sudoku puzzles on the numerous PDA software sites, you will find
dozens and dozens in both payware and freeware offerings. Each one
is a little different offering various features like entering your
own puzzles (say from a magazine or newspaper), more random
puzzles, various graphic options and skins but they all honor the
basics of the game. Having played sudoku for the past year with one
of the more popular payware applications and having trialed many
others, I have to say that SuperDoku is really a first-rate sudoku
game application.

Overview of SuperDoku Features:

• There are eight different difficulty levels where each level is
  randomly generated each time you start a new puzzle. There is no
  “beat the clock” component in SuperDoku like some of the other ones
  on the market.
• There is a “graduated” difficulty factor where you have to
  complete the lower levels without any hints or you cannot move on
  to the next higher level. The developer can provide you a cheat
  code to get past this feature.
• SuperDoku can help you solve entered-in puzzles from your books
  or magazines by using the “Burn Grid as New Game” tool.
• Comes with an “Auto-Save” option as well as a “Load” and “Save”
  function allowing you to save up to 5 sudokus to be worked on
  later.
• It permits “Pencil Marks” which you can use as reminders in
  squares where a combination of numbers may possibly be correct.
  Just so you know, “Ink Marks” are the larger semi-permanent numbers
  but are correctable…and that’s my final answer Regis!
• SuperDoku offers “Crayon Marks.” You can draw notes right onto
  the screen in 4 different colors, and 3 different thicknesses. As
  the author states in his game description, this may be unique to
  his program and I’ve illustrated at least one use that I found for
  them down below in the screenshots.
• There are two types of hints: spoiler and non-spoiler. The
  first one can show you the location of a square that can be
  narrowed down to one option, or it can fill in the square for you.
  NOTE: If you use hints, though, you won’t earn access to higher
  difficulty levels without the cheat code.
• The typical “Reveal Mistakes” is also found in SuperDoku and it
  lets you know if you are on the right track by blinking incorrect
  squares. If any mistakes are revealed, you won’t earn access to
  higher difficulty levels.
• “Bolding Selected” is a game feature that when you select a
  number to input, it will bold all those same numbers across the
  entire puzzle. This is REALLY handy for solving the puzzle a little
  faster and helps for those that don’t need the extra step of the
  crayon like I’ve demonstrated below.
• As I mentioned early on in the review, another feature allows
  you to substitute numbers for graphical images. You can choose
  Letters, Hieroglyphics, Hebrew, Alchemy and Zodiac symbols as well
  as other color variations of the number set.

SuperDoku Screenshots

Installation

SuperDoku installation is relatively straight-forward with a zip
file containing both the readme and CAB installation file which
works on internal or external/card storage memory You need to have
the .NET Compact Framework from Microsoft installed for the program
to work. If you get an error message that your OS version is not
supported, missing files or a similar type of error; you are
probably lacking the .NET software installed on your PDA. Just go
to Microsoft’s website, look for it and install it. I would
reinstall SuperDoku to be on the safe side that all is good. The
zip file is only 200KB and the program expanded is just 325KB on
the PDA itself. It does have a footprint of 1.7MB in my PDA RAM/ROM
(depending upon your memory configuration) while in operation which
I think is a little high for the type of application but not being
the programming expert, I’ll leave that for others to decide.

Conclusions

While I’m not a sudoku aficionado, I have to say I found
SuperDoku offered all the basic features that one would find in all
the other sudoku titles as well as many other advanced features
with some unique tweaks that made this application a lot of fun. I
really like the “Bold” feature when you select a number as that
really helped in visualizing the solution possibilities and the
program not erasing my old pencil marks when I go back and change
an “Ink Mark”. I also found the leveling function of completing a
level without hints or showing errors to be a great challenge but I
can also see where this may become a limiting factor if you get
stuck; maybe an option versus a cheat code would be a good thing.
Lastly, I’d also like a time clock mode too where I could keep
track of the stats on how fast I can solve a particular puzzle
level. These aren’t killer issues and the game is great as is.

Mike
Miller’s website shows that he is working on a version 2.0
which will address VGA, QVGA, Square Screen issues as well as other
features that will make SuperDoku even better. He is looking for
some beta testers so if you are so inclined, drop him a line
today.

Now if you are a sudoku junkie, you are probably asking
yourself, do I really need another sudoku program? Only you can
answer that one but I think you will find that SuperDoku is really
a great program with all the features and then some you didn’t know
you could do without. If you are new to sudoku, SuperDoku comes at
a great price…its FREE so download it today but remember your
college days and slip the guy a couple bucks too!!!

Filed in categories: Windows Mobile related

Tagged: Entertainment, Pocket PC, Software

SuperDoku for Pocket PC originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 21, 2006 at 6:32 pm.

Most of the time, I find that the i-mate JasJar’s 1620mAh factory original
battery is sufficient to make it through a typical day. However when I am using
the built-in wireless extensively, when I am traveling, or when I am not able to
recharge at some point during the day, I have noticed a definite need for a
backup power solution. That’s why I was very interested to learn that
Lion Battery was carrying a
4800mAh Mugen
Power Battery replacement for the HTC Universal / i-mate JasJar.

Included in the package are the 4800mAh battery and a replacement battery
door.

As anyone that has ever owned an extended battery can tell you, there are
trade-offs involved in their use…well, really just one: in return for better
than double the original battery life, the extended battery will be at least
double the size of the original. This generally means that a somewhat svelte
device will acquire what amounts to a rather noticeable beer gut.

Exhibit A: In this picture we see the JasJar, already one of the
larger and heavier Pocket PCs, measuring 5.175" tall x 3.134" wide x 0.932"
thick and weighing 10.2 ounces.

The stock battery keeps the back of the device as level as possible.

The battery cover is a flat piece of plastic that reiterates the lower height
of the battery it covers.

Exhibit B: Here is a photo of the JasJar with the 4800mAh Mugen
battery installed. It now measures 5.175" tall x 3.134" wide by 1.24"
thick, and it now weighs 12.2 ounces.

There is now a 0.34" protrusion rising above the JasJar’s metal back.

The battery cover is 0.376" deep, reflecting the need to conceal the 0.5"
thick Mugen Battery.

The addition of the extended battery does not interfere with using the
Universal’s keyboard, in fact I found it provided a comfortable and almost
contoured resting place for my fingers on the previously flat back of the
device. Of course, cases made for the Universal will no longer fit when the
Mugen Battery is in place.

Have I scared you off yet? I hope not…because if you need better battery
life than the factory original provides, then this is definitely the way to go.
Take a look at the results I obtained when using

BatteryBench.NET, a free battery life measurement utility. Both tests were
conducted with the backlight on medium the entire time the utility ran. Running
the media player, WiFi, BT, or another battery intensive application might lower
these numbers by as much as half.

Regular battery test: 303 minutes, or approximately 5 hours

Extended battery test: 890 minutes, or close to 15 hours

Pretty impressive, wouldn’t you agree?

If you are someone that sits at your desk all day, never venturing far from a
power outlet, then you probably have no use for an extended battery. But if you
are always on the go – traveling, visiting job sites, or commuting, then you
have most likely felt the sting of an unexpected and unwanted low battery
warning. The
4800mAh Mugen Power Battery was made for you. It enables and supports
the word "mobile" in Windows Mobile Computing.

Filed in categories: Windows Mobile related

Tagged: Pocket PC

4800mAh Mugen Battery Replacement for the HTC Universal / i-mate JasJar originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 5, 2006 at 8:54 am.

I am going to take a tiny bit of credit for the product that I’ll be
reviewing today, so if you like it, let me know. If you don’t like it…well,
what’s not to like?

Here’s the story: Soon after I purchased my

PPC-6700, also known as the HTC Apache, I contacted Vaja and asked when we
could expect a case from them this popular Windows Mobile 5 enabled Pocket PC
Phone Edition. Their reply was that they probably wouldn’t be making one.
However, they were already planning a pouch for the Qtek 9100 (HTC Wizard), and
they thought it might be easy enough to modify the case to accept both devices.
They did not have access to a PPC-6700 however, so I offered to purchase them a
dummy phone.

Several months later, I was the first reviewer to be sent the new
Vaja

HT41 Pouch for HTC Apache & Wizard. The first thing that I noticed about the
pouches I received, beyond the usual yummy smell of the Argentinean leather and
the gorgeous fall colors used to create my custom cases, was that the pouch
added surprisingly little bulk to my PPC-6700. Naked, the PPC-6700 measures
4.25" tall (not counting antenna) x 2.3" wide x 0.92" thick.

In the case, the 6700 measures 4.52" long (not counting antenna) x 2.5" wide
x 1.3" thick. An HTC Wizard would have the same appearance, but without the
protruding antenna. In hand, the case is smooth and elegant, with the appearance
of a tailored clutch.

The HT41 is a custom Vaja case, which means that the person ordering has the
option of choosing which leathers – vitelino or aniline – will be used, as well
as their choice of color combinations. I asked for the

vitelino olive with vitelino latte accent stripe. Some of the options
available were the addition of a belt loop (free) and personalization which can
add $10 to $30 depending upon the type chosen.

The only branding present anywhere on the case is the subtle and distinctive
Vaja logo, which appears to erupt from the bottom front corner of the case.

The main difference between aniline and vitelino, is that vitelino has the
beautiful "cracked" appearance shown here, which is created by using extreme
pressure from glass rollers to polish the leather. Aniline is a finish that
leaves the natural features of the leather intact.

The interior of the case is lined in a soft tan leather. Two magnetic snaps
keep the cover securely shut, yet allow for quick and easy access.

Inside the cover are three miniSD slots. I am not usually a fan of card
holders in my PDA cases, but since Vaja did not place the holders so that the
inserted cards would come in direct contact with the PDA’s screen, I have no
complaints.

The base price of this pouch is $65, and using the pricier vitelino leather
adds an additional $6, for a total of $71 as shown.

Granted this case has one caveat: the pouch only offers protection to the
device when it is inserted. When making calls, charging and syncing, or using
the PDA functions, the PDA Phone must be removed and it will be unprotected.
However, the pouch will offer excellent storage protection in the users pocket,
briefcase, bag or on their belt.

I was also sent a

golden ochre aniline with brown aniline case. Except for the leather type,
this case is exactly the same as the previous one discussed…

…with the addition of a fixed belt loop, a free option, which can
accommodate up to a 1.25" strap.

My case is special – instead of matching stitching, Vaja used contrasting
brown.

This case is $65, because the aniline leather does not carry an added
premium.

I have to admit that the entire process was a bit bittersweet because by the
time I received these gorgeous cases, the PPC-6700 was no longer my main phone
nor was it my main PDA. Having such beautiful cases that will only fit my 6700
has made me sad, but not sad enough to stop using my JasJar (HTC Universal).

If you are using an HTC Apache or HTC Wizard, and you like the idea of being
able to keep your device in a protective and beautiful pouch, then I highly
recommend the Vaja HT41. Now I want something similar to protect my JasJar when
it is rolling around in the bottom of my bag…

Filed in categories: Windows Mobile related

Tagged: Case, Leather, Pocket PC

Vaja HT41 Pouch for HTC Apache & Wizard originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 6, 2006 at 12:43 pm.

I think that many HTC Apache owners would agree that they use
their PDA Phone without a headset more often than not. Even though
the 6700 is a little brick, it can comfortably be held to the face
when talking without making its owner look like a complete tool.
For that reason alone, I think that many 6700 owners have held off
on buying a case because there are so few that allow easy access to
the device when making or receiving calls. Not everyone wants a
flip-lid that they will have to wrestle when they need access to
their screen; not everyone is willing to put up with a sheet of
plastic covering their screen, as was the case with the one

play-through model I reviewed which didn’t have a flip lid.

I had just about given up on ever seeing a molded play-through
case with an easy access screen until the "http://www.ebcases.com/StoreFront.bok">EB Cases "http://www.ebcases.com/Detail.bok?no=3351">eNOVO PPC6700
arrived. When I first opened the box, I thought that the eNOVO was
simply a better than usual looking molded case, but I soon learned
that this model had a few tricks up its sleeve. The eNOVO 6700 is
available in black, red or brown. I was sent the brown, which has a
nice caramel color that is accented by its tan stitching. The front
of the case features a subtle and tasteful EB metal plaque, which
at 0.4″ tall comprises the only branding present on the case.

In the case, the 6700 measures 4.4″ tall x 2.5″ wide x 1.3″
thick and weighs 8 ounces flat; in contrast, the naked 6700
measures 4.3″ tall (not counting the antenna) x 2.3″ wide x 0.9″
thick when naked, and it weighs 6.6 ounces.

This picture of the eNOVO’s back side should begin to explain
what I mean when I call the eNOVO “molded”. I’ll talk a bit more on
that shortly. In the meantime, this picture shows that there is
access to the speaker and the little mirror on the back of the PDA
when the flip-lid is in place. Note the slight bump at the bottom
of the case which accommodates the non-slip ridge on the 6700′s
back. Also note the molded leather box next to the speaker. This is
an integral part of what makes this case so special.

When it is in place, the flip-lid covers the camera lens and the
miniSD slot on the 6700. There is still easy access to the voice
recorder, volume slider and Explorer button, as well as the
Infrared port.

Unlike the typical machine sewn case which somewhat follows the
curves of a device, the main body of the eNOVO appears to be two
perfectly molded pieces of plastic which have been covered in
leather. These give the eNOVO a custom contoured and fitted look.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to access the 6700′s keyboard
when it is in the case, so that will be a major caveat for
some.

These pictures show that the camera button and all of the ports
on the bottom of the 6700 are still available when the 6700 is in
the case. It is not possible to use the cradle without removing the
PDA from the case, but using a sync/charge cable works perfectly.
Because the molded eNOVO fits so tightly and perfectly, it is only
possible to use the PDA with its standard battery when using this
case.

The flip-lid of the eNOVO is held in place by the use of two
magnets and reciprocal pieces of steel located in the bottom.
Inside the flip-lid is a pocket for a miniSD card as well as a slot
for folded money or a business card. It is not recommended that IDs
or credit cards be stored in this slot because of the close
proximity to the magnets.

Now we come to what made me really appreciate the thought that
went into the eNOVO: the removable flip-lid. If you will recall the
molded box that I pointed out earlier on the rear of the case, here
you can see its opposite side – a loop to which the hook located on
the base of the flip-lid attaches.

With one simple motion, the flip-lid’s hook can be disengaged,
and the case suddenly becomes a play-through case with unfettered
screen access. Worth noting is the black fuzzy material that lines
the interior of the case in any place that will touch the 6700.

With the flip-lid removed, the eNOVO allows the 6700 to be
carried in a manner that is most easy to use for phone calls. With no flip-lid in the way to bag against the user’s hand or face, the case quickly becomes a natural extension of the PDA.

The lidless case now allows easy access to everything but
the keyboard. The bottom two corners of the PDA are completely
protected, as is much of the remaining device.

Carrying the 6700 in this case is the next best thing to
carrying it with no case at all. The addition of a good screen
protector makes the eNOVO a great solution for people that use
their phone without a headset. The molded leather feels very good
in hand, and use of the PDA is not limited in any manner at all -
except for those that reply extensively on the use of the sliding
keyboard.

Whether or not the eNOVO will be your favorite case will greatly
depend on how you use your 6700. If you are constantly sliding out
the keyboard and jotting off emails, then this case will probably
not be the right one for you. However, if you are proficient in
using onscreen input methods and you don’t regularly access the
6700s keyboard, this may be your perfect solution.

The eNOVO
6700 with belt clip is available here.

Filed in categories: Windows Mobile related

Tagged: Case, Leather, Pocket PC

EB Cases eNOVO PPC6700 for the HTC Apache / PPC-6700 originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 17, 2006 at 10:41 am.

Looking for the perfect HTC Apache case has turned into an
obsession for quite a few of the device’s owners. But what is
perfect for one person may be the ultimate deal-breaker for
another. Some people want a case that protects every corner and
surface, while others want the thinnest possible design – one that
adds very little additional bulk or weight. Others are more
concerned with getting the maximum screen protection without losing
the ability to use the Phone Edition’s keyboard while it is in the
case. Still others want the simplest case possible, something that
basically carries the phone on their belt, protecting it from
accidental bumps and drops when it is not being used. Picking the
correct case for one’s device is a personal decision, and I
am sure that there are as many personal case requirements as there
are users. That’s why it is helpful that manufacturers are finally
starting to offer choices for this particular PDA Phone.

Today, I am going to take a look at the "http://www.fortte.com/">Fortte "http://www.fortte.com/scr/showproduct.php/150?type=0">HTC
Apache/PPC-6700 Book Model PDA Case. I’ll say up front that if
you are looking for a solution that will cover every corner
completely, one that will offer maximum corner protection during
drops, this one probably won’t be it. But if you are looking for a
case that offers maximum screen protection and the ability to use
the sliding keyboard without removing the PDA from the case, read
on…

Fortte offers the basic Book Model PDA Case in a smooth grained
black leather. These cases are made in Bolivia, and their aromatic
black leather is complemented with matching stitches. The word
“fortte” is embossed under a metal badge containing their logo, a
castle turret.

"/assets/fortte-6700-book-style-case1.jpg"/>

The back of the case has proper cutouts to allow access to the
camera, speaker and mirror. The embossing on the bottom of the case
says “Genuine Leather, "http://www.unic.it/verapelle/en/index.php">Vera Pelle” A snap
fastened in the upper left side is what’s visible of a leather
strap wrapped around the antenna nub; it is part of the means for
securing the PDA in the case.

"/assets/fortte-6700-book-style-case2.jpg"/>

In the case, the HTC Apache measures 4.5″ tall x 2.7″ wide x
1.5″ thick, and it weighs 8.8 ounces. For comparison sake, when
naked the PDA Phone measures 4.3″ tall x 2.3″ wide x 0.9″ thick,
and it weighs 6.6 ounces.

As this picture shows, when in the case the corners of the
PPC-6700 are left a bit exposed, although its front and back sides
are completely covered. The open design of the case’s sides allows
unfettered access to the voice recorder button and the volume
control slider. When the tab is open, the Explorer button and the
Infrared port are exposed.

"/assets/fortte-6700-book-style-case3.jpg"/>

The two leather covered prongs seen at the base of the 6700 are part of the
holster system, and their placement allows access to the reset
button, sync & charge port and the headphone jack on the bottom
of the PDA.

"/assets/fortte-6700-book-style-case4.jpg"/>

The top of the case allows easy access to the power button,
miniSD slot and the stylus silo in the antenna. There is a leather covered “bumper” which rests against the top of the PDA, helping to keep
the 6700 in place.

"/assets/fortte-6700-book-style-case5.jpg"/>

The right side of the case has a cutout design which allows the
camera button to be operated whether or not the case’s flap is
open.

"/assets/fortte-6700-book-style-case6.jpg"/>

The case is held shut with a magnetic snap on the end of a
leather tab. The cover is 0.22″ inches thick, and it is reinforced
with a molded plastic insert. It should be more than adequate to
protect the 6700′s screen.

"/assets/fortte-6700-book-style-case7.jpg"/>

Those that use the 6700 without a headset may not like that the
case must be opened in order to place or answer calls. While the
opened case can certainly be folded back to allow holding the PDA
to the user’s face during calls, it can be a little awkward.

Inside the case is the holster system which consists of the
previously seen “bumpers”, two small leather covered tabs on
either side of the PDA…

"/assets/fortte-6700-book-style-case8.jpg"/>

…and the leather strap fitted around the antenna. I found that
once seated my 6700 sat solidly in the holster. As long as the
leather strap stays snapped around the antenna, the PDA will stay
safely ensconced.

"/assets/fortte-6700-book-style-case9.jpg"/>

On the back wall of the screen protecting flap, there is a small
black and green cloth Fortte label, with two recessed miniSD card
slots. I generally don’t like to carry memory cards where they
might come into contact with my PDA’s screen, but the way the slots
are recessed works in tandem with the leather edge of the case and
the plastic frame around the PDA’s screen. Even with pressure on
the top of the case’s cover, the cards do not come into contact
with the 6700′s screen.

Because of the case’s design, the 6700′s sliding keyboard can be
easy opened or closed. When thumb-typing, I kept the leather tab
closure out of the way by holding it behind the case with my
pinkie.

"/assets/fortte-6700-book-style-case10.jpg"/>

Fortte cases are available with or without a removable
360º swivel belt clip, and for an
additional $8.00 to $20.00 the user can select one of their

other available premium leathers and color combinations. There
is no need to play it safe and stick with plain black or brown;
those that want a bright splash of color can get “ "http://www.fortte.com/images/pda-cases/zoom-colors/watermelon.jpg">watermelon“.
For an additional $15, the user’s name can be embossed, or for an
additional $25 a company logo can be used instead. One could
basically double the price of the case by adding options, but in
the end it would be a truly personalized case.

If you have been looking for an HTC Apache case that offers maximum screen protection, unobstructed use of all of the PDA’s features, personalization options and a reasonable price, then you may want to take a look at Fortte.

Filed in categories: Windows Mobile related

Tagged: Case, Leather, Pocket PC

Fortte HTC Apache/PPC-6700 Book Model PDA Case originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 9, 2006 at 9:00 am.

Many new cars come with GPS navigation
systems. But what if you don’t have one? Adding it might not be
practical-perhaps you drive more than one vehicle, travel and rent
often, or just don’t want an expensive piece of electronics
permanently and visibly stuck to your dash. Today’s smartphones and
PDAs are powerful enough to do the same job, with a little help
from software and a pocketable GPS
receiver. CoPilot Live by
ALK Technologies is a complete
GPS navigation system for Bluetooth-ready
handhelds, which provides on-the-go routing with voice prompts.

Package Contents

The CoPilot Live system is available in a variety of different
configurations, with versions tailored for Windows Mobile
Smartphones, Pocket PCs, laptops, and the Treo 700W. The software
is available by itself or with a Bluetooth "caps">GPS receiver, and bundles are available that also
include a 1GB memory card for map storage. The package I evaluated
is the Smartphone version with GPS
receiver; I used it with an iMate SP5m Windows Mobile 5
Smartphone.

The box includes:

• CoPilot Live software
• CoPilot Bluetooth GPS receiver
• 12V car adapter for GPS receiver
• Power splitter
• Vent mounting clip for phone

The power splitter is an extension cable which connects to the
12V adapter and provides power to both the "caps">GPS and phone (through a mini-USB plug), so you can
use the system on long trips without running down either device’s
battery.

Software

The CoPilot Live software for handhelds has two parts: an
application for your PDA or smartphone
that handles in-car navigation, and a map downloader for your
Windows desktop. The handheld software is the most important part
of this package, so I’ll cover it first. Please note that I only
reviewed the Windows Mobile Smartphone version; the others should
have the same features but a somewhat different user interface.

The CoPilot smartphone application is a complete navigation
system; the only thing you have to use the desktop for is
downloading maps, and if you have a large enough memory card (1GB
or more) you probably only need to do that once. On a smartphone it
is somewhat cumbersome to enter addresses to search for (it’s much
easier on a Pocket PC, I’m sure) but you can bookmark your favorite
locations and use addresses from your contacts as well. Once you’ve
entered a destination, CoPilot will figure out a route.

"/assets/copilot-route.jpg" alt=""/>

Once you’re on the move, the map display tracks your location.
Both two- and three-dimensional maps are available. In the screens
below, notice the markers on the 3-D view of a highway interchange;
the CoPilot point of interest database is quite extensive and you
can easily search for gas stations, restaurants, and other such
places, or get a voice alert when you get close.

"/assets/copilot-map3d.jpg" alt=""/> "/assets/copilot-poisearch.jpg" alt=""/>

CoPilot’s voice alerts are clear and, providing your smartphone
has a decent speaker, loud. You can choose male or female voices in
a number of different languages, downloading only the one you want
to your memory card.

"/assets/copilot-poioptions.jpg" alt=""/>

I didn’t get a chance to test CoPilot in a truly unfamiliar
place, but in testing it on routes I knew well I found that it did
a good job of figuring out where to go. When I deliberately went
the wrong way, it handled rerouting quickly and accurately, even
when I persistently ignored its suggestions of where to turn.

One notable feature of CoPilot Live is, as the name implies,
live tracking. With live tracking enabled, authorized users can see
your location on a web-based map and send text messages and
location updates while you are driving. There is not, as far as I
can tell, any extra cost for this feature other than whatever you
pay for mobile data. (Click the thumbnail below to see a full size
image of the live tracking web site.)

"/assets/copilot-liveweb-small.jpg" alt=""/>

The Windows desktop software is used primarily to download maps,
points of interest, and voices to the handheld. It can be used to
plan trips as well, but it isn’t required for that; the handheld
software can do that on its own. One thing of note is that maps are
not directly downloaded through ActiveSync; the software writes
them to a directory on disk which you can drag and drop into
ActiveSync’s explorer. You can download maps by region, selected
area, or a radius around a zip code. As you can see from the
screenshots below, a single city map is not very large at all, so
if you don’t drive cross-country and don’t mind downloading a new
map when you travel, you might not even need a memory card. On the
other hand, a 1GB card is big enough to hold maps of the entire
continental USA.

"/assets/copilot-windows1-sm.jpg" alt=""/> "/assets/copilot-windows2.png"> "/assets/copilot-windows2-sm.jpg" alt=""/> "/assets/copilot-windows3.png"> "/assets/copilot-windows3-sm.jpg" alt=""/>

(Click on screens above to see them at full size.)

GPS Receiver

The CoPilot GPS receiver is a compact
black box, about as thick as a deck of cards but somewhat narrower,
which communicates with a PDA,
smartphone, or laptop using Bluetooth. Operating it is simple: turn
it on and put it somewhere with a view of the sky, and run the
CoPilot software on your handheld or laptop. It is completely
wireless, unless you tether it to its 12 volt power adapter or
attach an external antenna.

"/assets/copilot-stack.jpg" alt=""/>

The performance of the CoPilot GPS is
quite good. It starts fast and lasts a long time on its internal
battery, and it seems to usually get a better fix than the other
Bluetooth GPS (a Nokia LD-1W) I currently
have to compare it to. (GPS geeks will probably want to know that
it is a 20-channel receiver with WAAS and
uses the SIRFStar III chipset.) It
outputs standard NMEA position
information so you can use it with any "caps">GPS-ready device and application.

Conclusions

I quite like both parts of the CoPilot Live navigation system.
The smartphone software is easy to use, looks nice, and works well.
The GPS receiver has good battery life
and seems to be quite sensitive and accurate. What I like most is
the portability of it. The receiver is much less cumbersome than a
dedicated unit, the software does more than a typical handheld GPS,
and it goes with you in whatever vehicle you’re driving. Also, if
you already have a smartphone or PDA (and
if you’re reading this, you probably do) the price of CoPilot Live
is less than a standalone navigation system. Although the CoPilot
system is good enough to deserve a recommendation just based on its
core performance, the live tracking features add an interesting
dimension which you can’t get from a standalone "caps">GPS navigator.

The CoPilot Live software is available directly from "http://www.alk.com/copilot/">ALK
Technologies for $199, or bundled with the Bluetooth
GPS receiver for $299.

Filed in categories: GPS, Windows Mobile related, Wireless

Tagged: Bluetooth Gear, GPS, Pocket PC, Software, Utility

CoPilot Live GPS Navigation System originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 12, 2006 at 6:00 am.

It totally figures that about the time I am ready to move on
from a device, its accessories will start becoming available. Ah
well, such is the life of an early adopter…

Case in point, I recently received the new "http://www.pdair.com/scripts/main/viewitem_v2.php?itemid=2555&pdaid=209">
PDair aluminum case for the "http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/review/htc_apache_ppc_6700_pocket_pc_phone_edition">
HTC Apache/PPC-6700. I have long been a fan of this company’s
hard cases, so I was looking forward to pairing their latest
aluminum offering with my PDA Phone. As some of you may recall from
my PPC-6700 review, one of my concerns regarding the PPC-6700 was
its plastic body and the lack of overall protection should the
device ever be dropped. Those concerns are definitely quieted with
the introduction of this type case, but there are a coupe of
caveats which we will explore in this review…

The PDair metal case is composed of aircraft-grade aluminum
which has been lined in springy black neoprene. The case measures
4.4″ tall x 2.7′ wide x 1.2″ thick, and it weighs 1.7 ounces. The
6700 that it will cover measures 4.3″ tall (not counting the
antenna) x 2.3″ wide x 0.93″ thick when naked, and it weighs 6.6
ounces, so adding the case will add a bit of bulk to an already
blocky device.

The case is opened by popping the tension clip on the right
side. A 1.5″ hinge is on the let side, so in effect the case opens
like a book being started from the wrong end.

The PPC-6700 sits inside the case snugly, and at first glance it
might appear that the screen is completely left uncovered and thus
unprotected. However, that is not so. I’ll talk about that in a
moment.

"0"/>

In the meantime, take a look at how the left side has a cutout
which allows access to the recorder button, volume slider, Explorer
button and Infrared port. The buttons can be a little tricky to get
to for those with larger fingers; even though the cutout is large
enough, the buttons are at the top edge where the two halves of the
case come together. The Explorer button is directly under the
corner of the hinge, so it can be the most tricky to press.

"/assets/pdair-aluminum-6700-case10.jpg"/>

The right side of the case features the snap closure and a
cutout for the camera button

"/assets/pdair-aluminum-6700-case11.jpg"/>

In the case, the 6700′s screen is completely covered by a sheet
of plastic which has been built into the viewing area. This means
that anytime the power button on the phone is pressed the screen
will be immediately viewable, and as calls come in everything can
be operated as if the phone were not in a case at all. There are
cutouts which allow the unfettered use of the front button cluster
and joystick.

"0"/>

An unexpected side effect of having the plastic cover over the
PDA screen, and in conjunction with all of the necessary cutouts
around the case, meant that dust and other airborne “floaters” were
always getting between the case’s clear screen and the PDA’s
screen. This drive me crazy! While it was great to have the
protection, it almost seemed like more trouble than it was worth at
times.

As I mentioned in my February 25 diary entry, not having
immediate access to the touch screen did help me to further develop
my “one handed operation of the phone” skills, because I now had to
rely on using the hard buttons below the screen in tandem with the
joystick. That doesn’t mean that I grew to like it or that it was
ever easy. It just had to be done as it was not always practical to
pop the case open to look for a number. This is definitely a time
when using Voice Command would come in handy – both for phone calls
and for application opening.

The top of the case has cutouts so that the antenna, miniSD card
slot and power button are all exposed. The design of the case is
clever in that even though all buttons are exposed, all corners are
covered. In the even of a fall, the PDA would be much better
protected than if it were not in the case.

The back of the case has cutouts to allow the use of the
external antenna port, the camera, the LED light and the mirrored
rear speaker. There is also a hole which can be used to attach the
included removable belt clip.

"0"/>

Adding the belt clip is a simple matter of screwing the
receiving nub into the hole, and then attaching the clip.

The bottom of the case has a cutout for the reset button, sync
and charge port, the headphone jack and the microphone. The case
can not be used in conjunction with the cradle, but it works
perfectly well with a sync and charge cable.

Perhaps the most innovative and exciting feature of this case is
that it opens to allow full use of the sliding keyboard. The
only problem is that I can’t help but think that the hinge should
have been placed on the opposite side of the case. Wouldn’t it have
made more sense if the side of the case that flops useless when
using the keyboard could have been under the sliding screen,
instead of directly under the keyboard?

"0"/>

I thought maybe it might be an issue of clearance, since the
sliding portion of the screen would have to pass directly over the
case’s hinge, but it appears that there is enough room. Perhaps a
later version will place the hinge on the opposite side.

Overall the PDair case is an effective way to protect the
expensive and fragile HTC Apache. It is the only case at
this time which allows the use of the keyboard while the PDA is in
place, but the hinge being on the “wrong” side makes use of the
keyboard less comfortable. The clear plastic window does provide
good protection for the screen, but it also hinders typical PDA use
and allows the collection of unwanted dust and debris. PPC-6700
users that need the protection a case such as this can offer will
simply have to decide whether or not they can live with the
caveats. For now, it is my PPC-6700′s home.

Filed in categories: Windows Mobile related

Tagged: Case, Metal, Pocket PC

PDair Aluminium Case for HTC Apache / Sprint PPC-6700 originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 29, 2006 at 6:53 am.

First I want to thank Judie for this opportunity. I love the
Gadgeteer site and this was a great chance to contribute.
(Shameless sucking up finished, now to the review);

I just got the Qtek 9100 Windows Mobile phone and was looking
for a case for it when I read the post asking for a reviewer from
someone. It was like fate. I was blessed. Judie sent me the case
and I opened it up and was immediately disappointed. I will explain
a bit more later.

First Impressions:

My first impression upon opening the package containing the
"http://www.proporta.com/F02/PPF02P05.php?t_id=1402&t_mode=des">
Alu-Leather Flip Type Case for the HTC Wizard was that I was
impressed with the quality. This was my first non-aluminum case
from Proporta and was
pleasantly surprised by the quality. The case is a very supple
smooth black leather with perfect stitches. All the stitches are
tight, evenly spaced and seem of high quality thread. It also has
the embossed Proporta logo on the front, very nicely done and very
high quality as well. The box contains the case, an instruction
sheet, the belt clip and the swivel screw for the back of the case
to connect to the belt clip. The case has that great smell of a new
leather product. You can just hold it up to your nose and smell it
all day. Quality…

"/assets/proporta-alu-leather-case-htc-wizard1.JPG"/>

"/assets/proporta-alu-leather-case-htc-wizard2.JPG"/>

The belt clip is the standard type that you can put onto your
belt with a push button release to quickly remove it without
fighting with the clip.

Standard Belt Clip and swivel screw.

"/assets/proporta-alu-leather-case-htc-wizard3.jpg"/>

Here you can see both the hole for the camera lens and where the
swivel screw gets attached. You have to remove the small plastic
screw to put the swivel in.

"/assets/proporta-alu-leather-case-htc-wizard22.JPG"/>

And here we have the swivel screw attached. It only screws in.
It appears to be ok but I have had one of these work loose in the
past and cause my phone to fall off my belt. Now I am paranoid
about it. This one seems to tighten up nicely though.

"/assets/proporta-alu-leather-case-htc-wizard23.JPG"/>

Attached to the case on the back. It seems pretty secure but I
would hate for my phone to fall off my belt. (Again)

"/assets/proporta-alu-leather-case-htc-wizard24.JPG"/>

Depress it and it will release the case.

"/assets/proporta-alu-leather-case-htc-wizard25.JPG"/>

"/assets/proporta-alu-leather-case-htc-wizard27.jpg"/>

More Details:

The case flips open from the top and has two MiniSD card slots
on the top of the case. The left side has the clear plastic which
secures the phone into the case. This is where I was beginning to
be disappointed as I suspected how this would hold the phone to the
case.

"/assets/proporta-alu-leather-case-htc-wizard5.jpg"/>

The case is held closed by the use of a small flip over magnetic
catch. The magnet is very strong and I don’t believe you would ever
have to worry about it coming loose accidentally.

"/assets/proporta-alu-leather-case-htc-wizard4.jpg"/>

The top also has the Alu referred to in the type of case
Alu-Leather. This is padded on the outside and has a fairly thick
sheet of aluminum in between the leather. It will provide excellent
protection to the screen.

"/assets/proporta-alu-leather-case-htc-wizard6.jpg"/>

Here is a close up of the interior plastic holder for the
phone.

"/assets/proporta-alu-leather-case-htc-wizard7.jpg"/>

As you can see, the case will add very little overall to the
size of the phone. Most people complain that the phone is to thick
already, This will not help them to feel any better but to me it is
not an issue. Side by side.

"/assets/proporta-alu-leather-case-htc-wizard8.jpg"/>

Side shot in the case to show thickness. Again, this is not to
thick to me. This is the left side of the phone. As you can see all
the buttons on this side are easily accessible with only the camera
button being difficult to get to. As I don’t use the camera on my
cell phone, I don’t care about that. The reset button is covered
completely. This is the velcro closure so it is not that giant of a
deal but it is an inconvenience to have to undo it to push the
reset button.

"/assets/proporta-alu-leather-case-htc-wizard16.JPG"/>

This is the right side of the phone in the case. The buttons are
easy to use on this side.

"/assets/proporta-alu-leather-case-htc-wizard17.jpg"/>

Front view with the phone in the case and it is closed. The
phone is completely covered. You have pretty good protection
overall from the normal daily bumps but I still would not want to
drop my phone in this case as the sides are exposed and
unprotected. The case closed pretty snug over the phone in this
case. The buttons must be set to not be active while the phone is
off or you will accidentally press them with the tightness of the
case at the top where it contacts the phone. In this picture the
top of your phone is as the bottom of the picture where the clasp
is.

"/assets/proporta-alu-leather-case-htc-wizard18.jpg"/>

Here the case is open to use the phone. The screen cover hangs
down and would be hanging beside your face while talking, this was
very annoying. Your choices were to let it all hang out or hold it
up behind the phone. Neither was very comfortable to me.
Additionally, you must open the case to plug in your sync cable.
While not a big deal it is an inconvenience. After market cradles
are available but you would have to remove the phone from the case
to use them. Big pain with the mounting design.

"/assets/proporta-alu-leather-case-htc-wizard19.JPG"/>

And now the part I really hated. To put the phone in the case
you slide it open and put the keyboard part into the plastic
holder. This was a tight fit.

"/assets/proporta-alu-leather-case-htc-wizard10.jpg"/>

Then you have to put the velcro tab between the keyboard and the
screen. It was a really tight fit and did not want to go. Work it
back and forth and it will slide through.

"/assets/proporta-alu-leather-case-htc-wizard11.jpg"/>

From the bottom side of the screen you pull the velcro tab
completely through and pull it tight.

"/assets/proporta-alu-leather-case-htc-wizard12.jpg"/>

Here it can fasten to the side tab to secure the phone into the
case.

"/assets/proporta-alu-leather-case-htc-wizard13.jpg"/>

Now the phone is pretty secure in the case. It would take a
small force of nature to make the phone fall out of the case. Now
this seems like a good thing but I had two major issues with this
design. The first was that the use of the keyboard is hindered in
my opinion. You lose some of the tactile feedback of the keys
because of the plastic over them.

"/assets/proporta-alu-leather-case-htc-wizard14.jpg"/>

When you slide the screen closed the second issue I had with
this design cropped up. It made the sliding of the keyboard more
difficult. The slide action is no longer smooth and easy. It
requires a small degree of force now. I really hated this because
it felt like there was undue pressure on the sliding action
now.

"/assets/proporta-alu-leather-case-htc-wizard15.JPG"/>.

Circled in red is the area where the plastic is between the two
halves of the phone. It is very hard to see here but the very tiny
space is now completely filled with the plastic. It really did
hinder the smooth slide action of the screen. Additionally, I
noticed tiny scratched in the plastic on the case that holds the
phone. Over time I believe this would only wear more and more. I am
unsure of the long term effect of this on the sliding
mechanism.

"/assets/proporta-alu-leather-case-htc-wizard20.JPG"/>

This case has some really nice qualities. It’s build quality and
workmanship is superb and a very good attempt for this phone. I
will say I am sympathetic to the difficulties of designing a case
for this sliding screen design. It is near impossible. I think this
was a good effort but not one I am willing to use due to the issues
mentioned above. I would say if you want a good case and can live
with the pressure between the screen and the body and the keys
being covered by plastic then this is the case for you. If you want
a great case that does not put pressures where they do not belong
then I have to say, keep looking.

Filed in categories: Windows Mobile related

Tagged: Case, Leather, Pocket PC

Proporta Alu-Leather Flip-Type Case for the HTC Wizard originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 28, 2006 at 10:33 pm.

Early last year, when the first rumors began to swirl that
HTC would be introducing a
Pocket PC Phone Edition made with the mini-laptop form factor of
the "http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/review/sony_cli_peg_ux50_u_review">CLIÉ
UX50 and "http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/review/sharp_zaurus_sl_c3100">Zaurus
SL-C3100, my interest was immediately piqued. After all, I had
long been bemoaning the fact that as of yet there were no similarly
styled Pocket PCs. As more details began to surface, there was no
question that the upcoming device would have impressive
specifications and be capable of much more than the average PDA,
but there was some concern that it might not be readily available
in the United States, or that even if it was its various features
wouldn’t perform properly.

According to an "http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/30/the-htc-universal-gets-back-in-black/">
early Engadget report, the Universal would sport Windows Mobile
5.0, built-in QWERTY keyboard, UMTS/WCDMA, a large, rotating VGA
touch screen, 1.3 megapixel digital camera, 96MB of ROM, 128MB of
RAM, 520MHz Intel XScale processor, SD memory card slot, WiFi, and
Bluetooth. Knowing that this PDA would be in the “thousand dollar
and up” range, I could feel the urge to splurge coming on. But I
was worried that I either wouldn’t be able to get one, or if I
could get one, it would not operate properly where I live. That
fear would serve to be my undoing…

I should digress for just a moment and point out for those who
weren’t aware, that HTC is a hardware manufacturer based in Taiwan.
They are the world’s largest producer of Pocket PC OS-based PDAs,
and they design many of the "http://www.htc.com.tw/company/index.html">Pocket PCs and mobile
phones that are on the market today, but they never brand them
with their name. Instead, the designs are outsourced to other
companies like Hewlett Packard, i-mate, Audiovox, and others. The
Universal,
as the new device was named, was quickly picked up by "http://www.imate.com/">i-mate and dubbed the "http://www.imate.com/t-DETAILS_JASJAR.aspx">JASJAR; various
other names soon followed including the MDA Pro and the Qtek
9000.

The HTC Universal was designed to best operate on European and
Asian GSM/GPRS/UMTS networks. In the United States its use is a bit
limited as it is only compatible with the 1900MHz GSM/GPRS-networks
of T-Mobile and Cingular. That means if someone lives in a part of
the country where Cingular uses the 850MHz bandwidth, like Julie in
her part of Indiana, they are out of luck. For UMTS, the Universal
requires the European or Asian 2100MHz bandwidth, rather than the
bandwidth Cingular uses for its United States 3G UMTS networks. The
Universal is not EDGE capable, and it will not operate at all on
the Sprint and Verizon’s CDMA networks.

With such a list of qualifiers, those living in the US might
decide that it would be easier to forget about the Universal and
instead pick up an "http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/review/htc_apache_ppc_6700_pocket_pc_phone_edition">
HTC Apache or "http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/review/i_mate_k_jam_htc_wizard_pocket_pc_phone">
HTC Wizard depending upon their preferred mobile network. In
fact, that is what I wound up doing. I bought the PPC-6700 because
it seemed more practical since I already had a Sprint account, and
I put the Universal out of my mind until I saw it at the "http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/article/mobius_2005_trip_report">Microsoft
Mobius event last December.

Even with the raggedy protective plastic across its top and the
ugly paper on its backside, there is no denying this interesting
hybrid’s appeal. Smaller than a laptop, larger than the typical PDA
and definitely larger than even the most generously sized smart
phone, the Universal is a breed unto itself. Within a few moments
of handling one I could immediately see that there would be those
who would dislike its larger than usual form factor, but because I
have never shied away from larger PDAs it should come as no
surprise to our readers that I was having a hard time keeping the
drool wiped from my chin…

"0" src="/assets/htc-universal2.jpg"/>

John Starkweather, our host at Mobius, saw my undisguised gadget
lust and kindly offered to loan me one of Microsoft’s demo units;
so of course I jumped at the chance. In February he made good on
his offer, and I was sent a review unit with the understanding that
I could use it for a month then take a week to write about my
experience. Well, my time is up.

In that month, the Universal has been my daily driver in every
way except one – it was never really my main phone. Because I am
currently a Sprint CDMA customer, under contract until November, I
couldn’t just pop my existing SIM card with my current mobile phone
number into the device and go. I still had to carry my existing
mobile phone, which happens to be the PPC-6700. I just made sure
that I never used my PDA phone for anything other than voice calls.
Text messages, email, surfing, reading eBooks, working on databases
and spreadsheets while on the go, all of that would have to be done
on the Universal. Because I wanted the full experience, I went
ahead signed up for an unlimited T-Mobile data account at $29.99 a
month with voice calls costing an additional 20¢ a minute. Let
me tell you, surfing and reading eBooks on the PPC-6700 will never
be the same after once again getting used to a large glorious VGA
screen…but I am getting ahead of myself.

Being a demo unit, the Universal which I was sent came with no
frills whatsoever. The plain brown cardboard box literally included
the device, a wired headset, a miniUSB to USB cable and an AC power
cord. Those that buy their Universal from i-mate, T-Mobile Germany,
or wherever else will be in for a slightly different first
impression.

Specifications:
Battery Type: User removable / rechargeable 1620mAh Li-Ion
Battery life: Up to 5 hours talk time, up to 200 hours standby
Measurements: (with a micrometer) 5.2″ x 3.1″ x 0.93″
Weight: 10.2 ounces
Processor: Intel 520 MHz
Wireless: Dual-Mode UMTS/GSM, GSM/GPRS (900/1800/1900) + WCDMA
(UMTS) (2100 MHz), Bluetooth (v1.2) and WiFi, IrDA FIR
Platform: Windows Mobile 5.0
Expansion Card: MMC/SDIO
Memory: Flash ROM – 128MB / RAM 64MB SDRAM
Screen: 3.73″
640 x 480 Transflective TFT-LCD with
back-light LEDs, 65K Color touch screen
Audio: Dual Receivers/Speakers, Hands-Free supported,
microphone
Camera: 1.3 mega pixels CMOS, with video light

The Universal measures 5.2” long x 3.1” wide x
0.93” thick, and it weighs 10.2 ounces. Some of this
device’s weight may be attributed to its deep gray metal
casing, which gives the device a solid, substantial and what is in
my opinion a desirable feel. The overall impression I get
when holding the Universal is that it is very solidly built.
The case will flex a bit when squeezed on either end due to the
design of the hinged swivel screen, however I would be hard pressed
to find one flaw with the device’s clamshell design in regard to
how it feels when I have it in my hand.

Yes, the Universal is larger than average, but it is actually
smaller than my "http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/review/hp_ipaq_hx4700_pocket_pc_review">
iPAQ 4700 with its extended battery installed…

…the Universal seems even more reasonably sized when compared
to the 4700 in its usual "http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/review/innopocket_metal_deluxe_case_for_hp_ipaq_hx4700_4705_with_extended_battery">
metal Innopocket case.

Considering that the Universal’s metallic body and clamshell
design negates the absolute need for a screen-protecting case, this
is as large as the Universal might ever need be. However, it is not
exactly fair to compare the Universal to a non-PPC Phone Edition,
so here are a couple of pictures of it next to my PPC 6700. Yes, it
makes the 6700 look absolutely petite, but the trade off is that
the Universal’s screen and keyboard are substantially larger. For
those that need or want a larger screen area, the trade will be
well worth considering.

So let’s take a look at the Universal’s hardware…

The front is a wide expanse of smooth gray metal, broken up by
an inlay of lighter gray brushed metal. The graduated slashes are
the grill for the external speaker. Why does there need to be an
external speaker? So that calls may be answered when the PDA is
closed like this…! Hey, at least it keeps the user from getting
face-goo on the screen. The downside is that there is no way to see
who is calling; in order to do that the device must be opened.

Although voice calls are definitely possible when used in this
manner, I didn’t think that the experience was that great. The
person I was speaking to said I sounded staticky, and I could
barely hear them.

Secretly we all want to be the guy in
that "http://www.mvc.co.uk/product_images/11/44/69/11446982.jpg">
Trigger Happy TV skit

I seriously think that using a Bluetooth headset is the way to
go if one is using the Universal as their primary phone. When a
headset is used, the sound is as clear as we have grown used to
expecting from our mobile phones.

When the lid is swiveled around and laid flat in tablet mode,
the 3.7″ VGA screen is revealed, along with another speaker, the
interior video camera and the four way touchpad with center
button.

The back is mainly composed of a smooth gray metal frame
surrounding the textured black plastic battery cover. Located at
the upper end is the 1.3 megapixel digital camera lens and the
white LED video light.

The left side of the Universal has the stylus silo, two ports
for external GSM and 3G antennas, the phone on and phone off
buttons, the miniUSB port, the reset button and a 3.5mm
headphone jack. Yes, you can use your favorite set of earphones
with this phone because there is no need for an adapter dongle.

A close-up of the phone buttons shows how they illuminate when
the main screen is on. I expected them to also light up while in
clamshell mode as calls came in, but they don’t.

Here is another shot of the stylus silo and the external antenna
ports.

The right side has small grilled stereo speakers on each end,
sandwiching buttons for the camera and voice recorder, the infrared
port, a brightness button (which I could not get to control
anything) and a sliding volume bar. These speakers are used when
Media player is running, or when the Universal is in laptop mode
with the speaker-phone on.

The top edge of the device has nothing but the corner of the
stylus silo. The bottom edge has the power button, SD slot, and
circled in red is the microphone.

The Universal’s hinge is very similar to that of the Sony
CLIÉ’s in that it allows the screen to be opened like a
laptop, then rotated at a 180º angle
so that it can lay flat in tablet mode as I have already shown.
Here are some shots of the screen in action…

The 62 button keyboard is considerably larger than that of the
PPC-6700. Because of the way it opens and because of its larger
size, there are more keys and thus less doubling up of the keys’
functions. The square shaped buttons are slightly raised in their
centers, giving each an individual feel that goes along nicely with
their tactile feedback when pressed. My favorite thing about this
keyboard is that there are dedicated numbers, with their QWERTY
keyboard correlating alter-egos exposed with the press of the
Function key. It all just feels more intuitive and less crowded
than the more compact PPC-6700′s keyboard.

I was worried that the larger keyboard would be harder to thumb
type on, but after a couple hours of use I was completely in the
swing. The beveled edges of the lower keyboard fit comfortably in
my palms, and the Universal is cradled against my curled fingers
while my thumbs can type merrily away.

For comparison, a shot of the Universal’s keyboard exposed next
to the PPC-6700′s…

When the keyboard is in use, everything is backlit by red LEDs,
including the special function characters. The red backlight is
very easy on the eyes, and equally visible in little to no
light.

If one were to think of the Universal as a book, then in the
portion which makes up the spine I would like to point out the two
multicolored LED indicator lights.

When the phone is charging the topmost LED will glow solid
orange, changing to a solid green once a full charge has been
achieved.

These LEDs also indicate various stages of wireless use, such as
a green blinking light when the GSM signal is being received, and
an alternate side blinking green to indicate that WiFi is turned
on.

A blue LED will glow when Bluetooth is working.

The Universal’s stylus is a 3.75″ metal-bodied instrument with a
black plastic topper.

This slightly wider than average stylus is much more comfortable
to use than the toothpick that the 6700 sports. However for long
periods of writing an aftermarket pen-style stylus would be most
comfortable.

The battery compartment door is released by sliding the black
plastic tab on the bottom of the back side. Once exposed, a red
plastic lock must be disengaged so that the battery may be
removed.

Underneath the 1620mAh Li-Ion battery is the SIM compartment. I
confess to being more than a little bit paranoid that I will forget
to remove my card before I ship the Universal back to
Microsoft!

Other than the lack of branding on this device and the large
white sticker on its back, the true indicator that I was sent a
demo unit is here, in the start up screen seen after a soft
reset.

As the Universal also operates as a phone, here are a couple of
screen shots showing what can be expected in portrait mode…

…and in landscape.

The Windows Mobile 5 Contacts screen beautifully integrates
pictures of the contact and makes for an easy experience when
making a call or sending email and text messages.

Past incoming and outgoing calls are tabulated for easy
retrieval.

Volume level choices are accessed either by tapping the volume
icon (shown in vibrate mode here) or by adjusting the slider on the
front edge of the device when it is in laptop mode.

Tapping the signal strength bar allows the option of turning off
the phone radio for in-flight use.

The HTC Universal has two integrated digital cameras. The main
camera, which is also the better one, is located on the back side
of the device. It supports 1280×1024 pixels (1.3 megapixels) as
well as the lower resolutions of 640×480, 320×240 and 160×120.

Here are two 480 x 640 pictures taken indoors with morning
light…

…and here are two more, also 480 x 620, that were taken
outdoors in morning light.

In other words, the camera is not the best, but it is certainly
more than adequate.

One of the more interesting 3G features of the Universal is it’s
ability to make and receive videophone calls. Unfortunately, this
feature is not supported in the US, so I was not able to test
it.

The Wireless Manager screen is a central location which allows
the user to decide which if any wireless options to run.

I covered Windows Mobile 5 software previously in the PPC-6700
review, so I’ll just repeat some of the highlights.

Instead of the adjustable slider most Pocket PC Users have grown
used to, memory is now managed on a non-user adjustable screen. The
total main memory is no longer displayed; instead, the user is told
how many MBs are available for storage, and how many are left for
running programs.

WM5 now stores all installed programs in Flash ROM, so if the
PDAs battery dies, none of the stored info or programs will be
lost.

The Today Screen features a set of icons on the upper menu bar
showing on screen tappable buttons which access further features
and information. From left to right, are the Start Menu which opens
a list of pinned programs as well as recently opened applications,
the call status/connectivity information icon which displays what
mobile network is available or if the PPC is tethered to a computer
via ActiveSync, as is the case in this photo. The next icon shows
the phone’s signal strength in “bars”, and when tapped will display
network status and related options. There is an option to turn off
the phone, also knows as “turning on” Flight Mode. Pressing
Settings will take the user to a screen which allows the
customization of various phone settings. The speaker status icon is
directly controlled by the volume up and down slider on the front
edge (or right side) of the phone, and it is also accessible by
tapping the screen icon. There are two sets of volume controlled by
this icon, the phones and the PDA’s. Each may be set to “On” and
then different independent volumes may be set, or they may be set
to Vibrate or Off. The same slider button will also control the
volume of a call in progress if accessed during the call. The last
icon is Time and Next Appointment, which when tapped displays the
date, time, remaining battery life and next appointment.

The Universal comes with a built-in Voice Speed Dial, which is
quite easy to set up. A contact is selected…

The number that will receive a “Voice Tag” is chosen…

…and after a tag has been made, this screen will appear. Tags
may even be set up for the applications on the Universal, which I
find incredibly convenient. There is nothing like saying the word
“eReader” and having my latest eBook opened. Hey, I know it is a
gimmick, but I like it! :0)

In order to use the tagged contacts or applications, a button
will need to be assigned to the Voice Speed Dial Application. From
then on, when that button is pressed, the code words assigned to
each contact or application may be spoken which will then either
call the contact or open the application. After saying the code
words, a confirmation in the user’s own voice will play, repeating
the programmed words and indicating which contact or application is
about to be accessed.

This is truly one of the first voice recognition programs I have
ever enjoyed using, because it always seems to work!

Just like the PPC-6700, the Universal has a lot of cool
phone features, but in my opinion it is first and foremost a
PDA. One of the main reasons why I will be so sorry to send the
Universal back to Microsoft is that I will miss its laptop form
factor and the large VGA screen. Using the Universal to work on
spread sheets and databases has been a joy…

What’s amazing is that even without a case, I felt comfortable
using the Universal just about everywhere – even when at the ranch.
Being able to fold the screen so that it was protected inside the
clam shell allowed a freedom that I had forgotten since my
CLIÉ days. Now that I have been reminded, I can definitely
say that of them all, this is my favorite PDA form factor.

I have heard complaints from Universal owners about slow startup
times, but since I had already learned with my PPC-6700 to keep my
Today Screen plug-ins to a minimum that has not been a problem.
Overall performance has seemed similar to my iPAQ 4700, never
particularly sluggish – but then, it’s not like I am ever running
the PDA equivalent to Photoshop on my handheld.

But above all, whether it be via WiFi or GSM, the Universal
rocks as an internet surfing device. In the last month I
have made good use of the unlimited data plan I purchased. Here are
some examples of how the browser looks on a site that has been
optimized for mobile browsing. In this picture, the text is the
largest size and the full screen option is on.

Once again, text is the largest size, but this time the full
screen option is off.

Here are a couple of shots of the text on the smallest setting,
shown here with the full screen option on…

…and with the full screen option off.

Even non-optimized pages look decent. Here is Yahoo, a “busy”
site with lots of pictures and sections. Shown here is the largest
text size with the full screen option off.

Here’s where it gets really good though – this is Yahoo with the
smallest size print and the full screen option off…

…and best yet, smallest text with the full screen option on.
This feels pretty close to surfing with a laptop, and while the GSM
speed clocks in at an average of only 31.4Kbps according to

this speed test, It seems sufficiently fast for visiting
optimized sites..

Can you tell that the Universal is the PDA that I wish I had
purchased in the beginning? Since I am locked into my Sprint
contract at this time and would not be able to transfer my number
even if I weren’t, and since my current mobile number is the one
everyone knows to use for reaching me, it makes sense for me to
continue carrying a Sprint phone as my primary mobile phone.
However, I would have no problem going back to two devices
if one of them was the HTC Universal with the T-Mobile data
plan.

In the meantime I will continue to use my PPC-6700, which
somehow seems to have lost some of its luster…
<sniff!>:0(

Filed in categories: Windows Mobile related

Tagged: Cellular, Phone, Pocket PC, Windows Mobile, Wireless

HTC Universal Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC Phone originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 10, 2006 at 2:50 pm.

I’ve been eagerly awaiting the appearance of cases for the HTC Apache since I
bought mine, and I am happy to report that they are finally starting to appear.
That’s not to say that pouch-style versions haven’t been available for some
time, but what I really wanted was a case in which I could keep my 6700 while it
was in use. Today I am going to take a take a look at the Piel Frama
Smooth Leather Case for the
HTC Apache / Audiovox PPC-6700, which is the first play-through case
available for this PDA Phone.

Included in the gift box is the case, the

rotateable and removable belt clip and the kit for
adding the removable belt clip knob.

The Piel Frama case is composed of smooth cowhide, and it is available in
black, tan, red and a combination of black and tan. I was sent the solid black
version. When inserted in the case, the 6700 measures 4.5" tall x 2.4" wide x
1.4" thick. When not in the case, the 6700 measures 4.25" tall x 2.3" wide x
0.92" thick, so while the case does add a bit of bulk to the PDA, it is not an
unreasonable amount.

The black case has complimentary black stitching, and there are cutouts on
the rear for the camera, LED flash and the speaker-mirror. A removable black
metal nub is in the center, and it acts as the catch point for the belt-clip
system. The case is kept shut with a snap that is affixed to the flip-lid’s tab.

The belt-clip system includes a heavy black plastic 2.5" long x 1" wide
spring loaded clip which attaches to the nub on the back of the case. Those that
do not use a belt-clip can simply unscrew the nub, and insert one of the three
included small plastic plugs to fill the hole left in the leather. I like that
the user is not locked into either type case, and that there is an option for
completely removing the clip altogether.

Once inserted, the 6700′s screen is protected by a double layer of leather
reinforced with ABS plastic in the case’s flip lid. This should be sufficient
protection to stop most bumps and shocks from damaging the screen. On the right
side, the case has a U-shaped cutout for the 6700′s antenna, as well as one for
the camera button. The camera button appears to be cut at a bit of an angle, it
is slightly more rhombus than rectangle.

Here is a shot showing the left side of the case. When in the case, there is
access to the 6700′s recorder button, volume slider and Explorer button, as well
as the IR port further down. Once again, the cutouts are more rhombus than
rectangle, and there is a bit of a gaping gap between the Explorer button and
volume slider.

Here is another shot of the gap. It is possible that the gap will calm down
over time as the case is used, but I can’t say for sure that this will be true –
or that every case shipped will have this exact gap.

The bottom of the case has cutouts for the reset button, miniUSB port,
headphone jack and microphone. The 6700 can be left in the case when a sync and
charge cable is used, but it must be removed by those that are using the OEM
cradle. Notice all of the paint that has flaked off the miniUSB port? That is
from using the 6700′s cradle for approximately four months; I have since
stopped. Once again, the miniUSB port cutout is slightly more rhombus than
rectangle.

When closed, the tab of the flip-lid covers the miniUSB port and the
headphone jack, which may be an issue for someone that is using the wired
headset that came with the phone.

The interior of the case’s cradle is lined in soft tan leather, and the
reinforced flip-lid features an approximately 2.25" wide x 3.75" deep open slash
pocket suitable for holding a bill or two. The inside of the flip-lid has two
built in miniSD card slots, which should be kept from rubbing the screen
due to the padding afforded by the leather around the screen. With that said, I
tend to never use these slots because I am paranoid that the inserted cards will
defy their buffer and rub against my PDA’s screen. Call me paranoid…

Here is a close-up of the two card slots…

The leather holster which cradles the PDA has cutouts for the button cluster
on the lower front as well as the screen. My only objection to the cutouts is
that the bar between the button cluster and the screen seems a bit low – almost
like it should be raised a couple of millimeters. The bar across the top of the
PDA screen also seems like it should be raised a couple of millimeters, so
perhaps a general shift up of a couple of millimeters would solve the
slight claustrophobic feeling I get when using the screen.

The biggest complaint I have against this particular case is that it does not
allow for the use of the sliding keyboard when the 6700 is inserted. While I am
sure that there are 6700 owners that rarely if ever actually use the keyboard, I
happen to be one that does.

Overall, the Piel Frama is not "my" perfect case. For its price, I would have
liked to have seen more rectangular cutouts, a better framing of the PDA’s
screen, and no gap on the left side cutout. The limitation of having to remove
the PDA and reinsert it every time the keyboard feature is accessed is a
deal-breaker for me.

The 6700 case is available for 70 Euros from Piel Frama, but it can be found
for less in the US by ordering from
Cases.com.

Filed in categories: Windows Mobile related

Tagged: Case, Leather, Pocket PC

Piel Frama Smooth Leather Case for the HTC Apache / Audiovox PPC-6700 originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 7, 2006 at 9:01 am.