Windows Mobile Louisville

Today I was reading through a special program book for the U.S. Open Championship which is taking place this weekend at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego.  As I was flipping through the pages, something familiar caught my eye - an HTC device featured in a section called Easy Viewing.  I snapped a picture of the page so I could post it here quickly (not near a scanner at the moment). 

Here is the text of the article:

Handheld Devices at the Open
LOCATED ONLY on site at the championship, this year we will offer fans both a handheld TV device (WiseDV) as well as a handheld scoring device (myLeaderboard).  All you need to be is an American Express cardholder and one of the first to visit the U.S. Open Experience, to the right of the first hole on the South Course, to claim your handheld device for the day…

They’re either taking advantage of a wireless carrier’s data plan, or using WiFi throughout the course - I don’t know - but either way, it is very cool to see the USGA utilizing a Windows Mobile device to leverage technology for the event!

PhatWare Corporation announced the release of a new version of its PhatNotes notes organizer for Windows Mobile devices and Windows based PCs. The new version features improved compatibility with Microsoft Windows Vista, two new UI themes, Windows taskbar menu, and improved autobackup feature.

PhatNotes allows users to easily create, search, and sort text-based notes on Windows-based Smartphones, Pocket PCs, and desktop PCs; it also allows synchronizing of notes between multiple platforms, giving users a powerful way to manage and access their personal information on-the-go. PhatNotes was named as Smartphone & Pocket PC Magazine’s “Best of Category” honors in the “Utilities-Notes” category for the seven straight years.

A key new feature added to PhatNotes 5.3 is the new Windows taskbar menu which provides a quick access to the PhatNotes application and all opened notes and allows users to hide PhatNotes popup windows when minimized, create new notes, and change other application settings. New Application options allow to toggle PhatNotes taskbar icons and change basic application behavior. The new version of PhatNotes has been updated to support Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and the latest mobile devices powered by Windows Mobile 6.1. In addition, the desktop potion of PhatNotes features two new UI themes and improved autobackup feature which allows creating multiple backup files and is now independent from the manual backup wizard.

“All improvements made in the new version of PhatNotes are based on the feedback that we’ve received from PhatNotes users” - said Stanislav Miasnikov, president of PhatWare Corp., — “We hope that all PhatNotes users, especially these who requested some of the new features, will be pleased with the new version.”

PhatNotes Pricing and Availability:
PhatNotes 5.3 is available now at the list price of $39.95. A free 30-day trial version of PhatNotes 5.2 is available here. PhatNotes 5.3 is a free upgrade for all registered uses of PhatNotes 5.X. Through the end of June 2008, all registered users of previous versions of PhatNotes can purchase the latest version for a discounted upgrade price of only $19.95 here.

Spb Software House has released Spb Backup 2.0 - a tool for making reserve copies of personal data and system settings for Windows Mobile phones.  Spb Backup safeguards from data loss, eliminates the pain of reinstalling applications after a hard reset, a ROM or device upgrade, and delivers a flawless restore experience.  The new Spb Backup 2.0 is smarter, twice as fast, and makes moving data between Windows Mobile phones as easy as unpacking an archive.

Spb Backup 2.0 will come to the rescue if a hard reset disaster strikes, or if the device is stolen or lost.  Spb Backup Sync makes it easy to keep a recent copy of all data and system settings at a secure desktop PC location.  Spb Backup 2.0 will restore from the archive, even if data has to be moved to a new device or ROM.  The backing up process itself is so easy, that regular backups will become second nature.  Spb Backup 2.0 works for both Pocket PCs and Smartphones and copies the entire device, including contacts, sms, emails, storage card files, and even preferences and shortcuts.

Originally, Spb Backup sprung up from Spb Clone technology - a product, trusted by thousands of enterprises for creating exact copies of “master” PDA devices.  The new Spb Backup 2.0 offers a handy desktop component - Spb Backup Unpack.  The tool allows viewing and exploring the backup archive on a desktop PC and pulling out single contacts, messages, and tasks.  During the restore process, Spb Backup will automatically detect if device or ROM upgrade is taking place and prompt to select the appropriate restore mode. Read the rest of this entry »

Steve Jobs is supposed to be unveiling the new 3G iPhone today, so Samsung has chosen a very interesting time to announce their latest Windows Mobile creation - the i900 Omnia. 

At first glance, I didn’t think this device ran WM (due to the proprietary-looking interface on the screen) but looking to the top of the screen set me straight.  The i900 will run WM 6.1 and does not have a hardware keyboard.  It’s 12.5mm thick and has a platinum-looking finish.  It features a 3.2″ WQVGA touchscreen, 5MP camera, GPS, FM radio, WiFi, and can handle a 16GB storage card.

The Omnia is quad-band GSM, 7.2 Mbps HSDPA.  It will be released abroad first.  No word yet on a U.S. release date.

We are happy to announce that there is finally an RSS feed for the new version of the Discussion Forum!

As you can see over in the navigation panel on the right side of the page, the 5 most recent posts from the forum are posted there.  You can also add this feed to any RSS reader that you might use, such as Newsbreak, Spb Insight, or any of the multitude of readers available on the desktop PC!  This will allow readers to easily spot discussions that might be of interest. 

This is in addition to the RSS link at the top of the page, which gives you the latest posts here on the main part of the site.  I highly recommend using both feeds, to stay on top of the latest with Windows Mobile Louisville!

Thanks to John Foland for being the fire under my butt to get this RSS feed up & running for the new forum!

Back in mid-May, we posted that Live Search was updated, and we highlighted the obvious new features such as Weather, Collections and Web Search, but since then, I happened upon something else they added which is really cool: integration into the Contacts menu.

Previously, this was something that only Google Maps “inserted” into the Contacts menu, and I found it very handy (though it would error sometimes because it would try to find an address including the Country/Region).  Live Search is now offering the same addition to the menu - Show On Map.  So far, on every contact I have tried, it works flawlessly, so apparently Live Search is looking at the contact info correctly, whereas Google Maps occasionally errs…

I am very excited about this find, as it adds a feature that I thought was lacking in Live Search.   Previously, I had both Google Maps and Live Search installed,  so I could have the best of both apps.  Now I just have Live Search on my Mogul.

I hope one of the next things they address is the live navigation - it works nicely, but I wish they’d force the map to turn so where you’re heading is at the top of the screen. Currently, the map always stays with North on top, so if you have your device in a mount in your vehicle, the actual route you are seeing could be pointing in any direction, which is confusing.  It needs to resemble how other GPS’s display navigation, even if it’s only 2D and not 3D like so many GPS’s nowadays.

Windows Mobile users will be happy to know that they finally have their own mobile Facebook app - something Blackberry owners have enjoyed for some time.

The new app is called Snap2Face and it focuses on uploading photos to Facebook on the go as well as letting you view your friend’s albums. That will be useful for WiMo users who want an easy want to upload pictures taken with their phone’s camera, but it’s disappointing that you can’t use the app to see status info, pokes, or anything else. Hopefully, the developers will add these features in the future (fingers crossed!). 

It does have one other cool feature - you can use the app to import your friends’ profile photos to your Outlook contacts.

 Source: Sarah Perez over at on10.net

I am proud to announce that Ian Husk from Windows Mobile Louisville has been selected to join me as a Judge for the 8th Annual Smartphone & Pocket PC Magazine Best Software Awards!

It is an honor to be on the Board of Experts, and I know that Ian is thrilled to be on the Board as well.

He and I are currently working through the list of software categories, ensuring that we cover a nice range of software between the two of us.

Nominations will be finalized by July 21, then judging takes place through August.  Finalists will be announced on their site by late September and the winners will be announced by late October.  Winners and finalists will be published in the 2009 Smartphone & Pocket PC Buyers Guide.

My first mobile device was a Philips Nino, way back in the last century (’99).  When the new fleet of Pocket PC’s came out in 2001 (from players such as HP, Compaq, Toshiba, etc), Philips was not present.

Fast-forward 7 years to 2008 and Philips is back with a very iPhone-looking device, the Xenium X-Connect.  According to Philips, it will run Windows Mobile 6 and will have a large 3-inch display.  Here are some other details:

• GPRS/UMTS/HSDPA
• Will not have WiFi
• Integrated GPS
• Bluetooth
• MicroSD memory card slot

Philips Xenium X-Connect
Photo source: gsmarena.

Mobilityflow has released version 3.1 of Touch Commander Suite for Pocket PC Phones, a recognized solution for manipulating a mobile device with fingertips. The new version offers more functionally with less complexity.

New Features:

• Finger-friendly pop-up menus at most applications
• Touch Task Manger : the X-button replacement
• Skins support for Touch today plug-in

The new Touch Pop-up Menus component enhances functionality enabling finger-friendly context menus that work in most applications. Also the new version introduces the Touch Task Manager to let you close and switch applications on the go.

The app now uses less RAM, which makes the tool more lightweight.

Touch Commander Suite for Pocket PC Phones runs under Windows Mobile 5 & 6 and costs $29.95 (USD) for a single-user license.  Windows Mobile 5 requires .NET Compact Framework 2.0 to be installed.  Licensed customers get the fully-functional version of the product, free technical support and free minor upgrades.  Touch Commander Suite for Pocket PC is available here.