Windows Mobile Louisville

Another video from the Windows Phone Team website.

Do you enjoy flashing your Windows Phones with updated ROMs?  If so, I’m sure you’ve experienced the need to reinstall all of your applications and setting up the device the way you want it. Ugh!  It’s a time-consuming experience and most of us don’t want to go through the headaches. There are helpful tools out there to lessen the pain and make it much easier to handle.

Some of the ROM developers are using UC, which stands for User Customization.  All of the cellular providers use that tool built into the system to install their customizing software, so why can’t you?  What it does is automatically install some of the applications onto the device when it’s been hard reset.  I have used it in the past, but it had some limitations.  I had to write scripts to copy files where I wanted them put and it wasn’t easy.   I then checked out Sashimi.

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This is a very broad generalization and no real survey has been taken, but from my own observations, it amazes me how little new smartphone users know about their device!   Allow me to explain:

It seems that no matter where you turn, if someone has a smartphone in their hands, chances are it is a Blackberry or an iPhone.  That’s a bitter pill to swallow, being a long-time Windows Mobile user, but it’s the truth.  Anymore, I am hard-pressed to find someone carrying a Windows phone, and when I do, it’s cause for celebration!  But I digress - back to my unofficial survey!

Of those countless people I run into who are using either a BB or an iPhone, I have begun asking them questions to see how much they use their device as a personal digital assistant (remember that word? PDA?).  For the most part, the only PIM function the majority are using is Contacts.  Using Calendar? Nah.  How about Tasks? What?!   And as far as backing up data, 4 out of 5 people I asked had no clue how to back up their info, so in the event they lost their device, they are screwed! 

To so many of these new users, this is still just a phone that has a lot of fun stuff on it.  For the majority, this is their first forray into a truly smart device, and so much of the power the smartphone remains untapped.  Yes, the apps have opened up all sorts of possibilities, particularly for iPhone users - there’s an app for just about anything - but there is still an overriding sense of ignorance to some of the core functions!  At my place of work alone, I have found over a dozen people (with iPhone, BB and Pre) who have not entered thing one into their calendar!  When their phone rings in the middle of a meeting, I tell them that can be avoided by entering their appointments & meetings into their device, they say it never occurred to them!  Helllooo!

The other night I was at a meeting outside of work, and the guy who was running the meeting had an iPhone and was presenting on a Mac.  All the while, I took notes on my Touch Pro2 using Evernote, and at the end, he came over to me and said, “Wow, were you taking notes on that thing?!”  as if it was some new amazing technique!  Obviously he has never done such a thing on his iToy!

I challenge you to do your own unofficial survey.  I think you too, will find that amongst new users of smartphones, the majority have no clue.  Yes, I know I am a geek and ahead of the curve, but my survey has reminded me how devices have now reached the masses, which means the overall IQ of the mobile population has taken a steep dive! 

 Chime in here!

Our monthly Windows phone meeting is this Tuesday, November 24 at Peak 10 Data Center on Barret Ave.  The meeting begins at 6:30 and runs until about 9pm.

We’ll have a demo of Inesoft Calendar, a very finger-friendly calendar app that allows you to look not only at your Outlook calendar, but your Google Calendar as well.  There will be copies of Inesoft Calendar to give away!

Continuing in the cloud computing theme, we’ll also have a demo of using a Fujitsu ScanSnap to scan documents into Evernote.  See how fast paper can end up in the cloud!

 And, as usual, we’ll have plenty of Q&A and discussion about all things mobile!

Perhaps you’ve heard of Grooveshark, and if not, you need to check it out on your PC!

A developer over at XDA-Developers has created an app called Groovefish which is built upon Grooveshark, and (right now, anyway), this is the only app that does this!

So, now is the time to install Groovefish and walk up to all your iPhone and Blackberry friends and say, “Hey, can you do this?  Pick a song, any song!!” and you can play it for them!

If you are wondering if this is a legit way to listen to tunes, read up on it over at Grooveshark.  They’ve got a business model built around all this.

I received my Touch Pro2 on the Friday before Labor Day weekend, which was perfect timing.  It allowed me the entire weekend to get acquainted with the device, install apps and prepare this “first impressions” review.

On Friday, I just played around with the new device in it’s native state - I didn’t install or change anything.  I wanted to check out the changes to TouchFLO3D and other enhancements before I began installing things.

I ordered a car mount, a case and a spare battery in advance of getting the TP2.  The mount and case arrived earlier in the week - I’m still waiting on the battery.  The HAiCOM car mount is just like the one I have for my original Touch Pro (all that’s different is the clip) and it works great. Cost me $12.95, which is a really decent price.  I got the case from Expansys for a whopping $4.49, and while it’s not the fanciest case, at least I have one - Sprint didn’t include a case in the box (more on that later).  The device fits snugly in the case, and it has a magnetic closure (more on that later too).

Read on after the break! (more…)

There used to an advert in the UK saying “How do you eat yours?” (it was for Cadbury’s Cream eggs).

So, how do you use yours? (that is, your Windows phone)?

In this article, I will explain how I use my Windows Phone.  I will be making this a two-part article, as I don’t want to overload one article with too much information!   In the first part, I will be looking at who am I and a basic overview of how I use my device (e.g. headset, screen protector, eGrips).  

Specifically Part I will be covering the hardware I use, plus the following: 

• Email
• Camera
• Spb Time
• Evernote

In Part II, I will cover:

• Live Mesh
• Spb Mobile Shell, 3.0 2.0
• RRS Hub
• Spb Wallet
• Pocket Bible
• Audio books
• Spb Radio
• WikiPock (Pocket Wikipeda)

Read on after the break! (more…)