News
Features
Mar. 1, 2007
Rosie's Reviews
What do you call an out-of-the-box PPC? A good start.
By Sandra Rosenzweig
Tweaking Your PPC
Sold on a Windows gadget? Now make it yours.
So, did this month's "RAMblings" convince you to switch to a Windows-based Pocket PC (PPC)? Of course it did. Now, I'm going to divulge the perfect setup for both phone and nonphone Windows Mobile PPCs.
If you're converting from a Palm to a PPC, go to Chris De Herrera's online Pocket PC FAQ (www.pocketpcfaq.com) and click on Comparing to Palm, then click on Converting from Palm to Pocket PC in the right-hand column. And do what he says.
This will involve setting up the Microsoft ActiveSync program that installs programs and synchronizes with your desktop and downloads factoids from the outside world. Unfortunately, ActiveSync is fussy. But if you follow the instructions carefully, every change you make in either your desktop or mobile version of Pocket Outlook (the extremely limited calendar-contacts-and-to-do-list program distributed inside the Windows Mobile operating system) will be copied to the other side.
That done, play around with your PPC for a few minutes. You'll quickly discover that Pocket Outlook can't do much, and everything it does is clumsy. For example, Pocket Outlook generously puts onto your Today (or home) screen the total number of tasks and appointments you have each day. This is what you see every time you turn on your device. But what am I supposed to do after I read that I have ten tasks due today and three appointments? What tasks? Which appointments? Tap on a total and you'll travel to your calendar or your task list. So, what is the point of a home page, again?
I have a few PPC Rules to Live By: 1. Three taps to get a job done is two too many. (All the other rules have to do with memory.) 2. Because I need a ridiculous number of programs on my Dell 640MHz Axim X51v and Cingular 8125 (my current phone PDA), I must conserve RAM (random access memory), ROM (read-only memory), and REM (rapid eye memory?oops, movement). I make heavy use of memory expansion cards?removable SD, miniSD, and CF storage. 3. I also need frequently updated traffic and weather, news headlines, and the latest language-study podcast. Since these data will quickly chew up every bit of storage memory you have, set your PDA's programs to purge yesterday's traffic, weather, and news. 4. Put programs and files onto memory cards. 5. Delete each email message after you have read it and replied. Keep any keepers on a memory card, and that goes double for attachments.
So, on every new PPC, I install SBSH's Today plug-in, PocketBreeze ($14.95, www. sbsh.net). A plug-in is a program grafted onto a larger base product, such as a browser or a home page. On your Today screen, PocketBreeze displays up to 30 days of appointments, and tasks, messages, contacts, and notes (with details), and then it lets you edit them with one tap. (Don't worry, PocketBreeze does nothing to your original entries in Pocket Outlook?they're safely squirreled away, out of the reach of add-on programs.)
If you need to keep a journal of activities for any given client or want, perhaps, the ability to link notes to each client, you'll need a more powerful calendaring program to watch PocketBreeze's back.
I use two tools from Web Information Solutions (www.pocketinformant.com): Pocket Informant 2007 ($24.95) and Journal ActiveSync ($9.95) for its infinitely customizable features and layouts.
But you will probably have more than calendar and contacts programs on your PPC. Using the Start Menu, Programs, and then scrolling through a stack of icons gives me a stomachache. That's why I always install SBSH's iLauncher for one-tap management and access to all the programs on my device. iLauncher also provides a safe-mode reset, a way of regaining control of your PPC when an app repeatedly freezes your little system. iLauncher has a soft reset button. And a tiny screen-capture program. And meters to report on the levels of battery juice and memory you still have left.
Another essential is weather forecasts for business trips. After trying every weather app available for handhelds, I settled on SBSH's PocketWeather Today plug-in ($9.95). (No, SBSH doesn't stand for Sandra's Best Solutions for the Handheld?I just like their products. They are stable, imaginative, and backed by a group of very dedicated support people: I usually get a reply (or several) to a question within a few minutes?an hour at the most.) Every time I put my PPC on its cradle, PocketWeather connects to the Internet and downloads current forecasts, weather radar images, earthquakes of the day, and traffic reports.
Now stop me before I recommend again.
Tweaking Your PPC
Sold on a Windows gadget? Now make it yours.
So, did this month's "RAMblings" convince you to switch to a Windows-based Pocket PC (PPC)? Of course it did. Now, I'm going to divulge the perfect setup for both phone and nonphone Windows Mobile PPCs.
If you're converting from a Palm to a PPC, go to Chris De Herrera's online Pocket PC FAQ (www.pocketpcfaq.com) and click on Comparing to Palm, then click on Converting from Palm to Pocket PC in the right-hand column. And do what he says.
This will involve setting up the Microsoft ActiveSync program that installs programs and synchronizes with your desktop and downloads factoids from the outside world. Unfortunately, ActiveSync is fussy. But if you follow the instructions carefully, every change you make in either your desktop or mobile version of Pocket Outlook (the extremely limited calendar-contacts-and-to-do-list program distributed inside the Windows Mobile operating system) will be copied to the other side.
That done, play around with your PPC for a few minutes. You'll quickly discover that Pocket Outlook can't do much, and everything it does is clumsy. For example, Pocket Outlook generously puts onto your Today (or home) screen the total number of tasks and appointments you have each day. This is what you see every time you turn on your device. But what am I supposed to do after I read that I have ten tasks due today and three appointments? What tasks? Which appointments? Tap on a total and you'll travel to your calendar or your task list. So, what is the point of a home page, again?
I have a few PPC Rules to Live By: 1. Three taps to get a job done is two too many. (All the other rules have to do with memory.) 2. Because I need a ridiculous number of programs on my Dell 640MHz Axim X51v and Cingular 8125 (my current phone PDA), I must conserve RAM (random access memory), ROM (read-only memory), and REM (rapid eye memory?oops, movement). I make heavy use of memory expansion cards?removable SD, miniSD, and CF storage. 3. I also need frequently updated traffic and weather, news headlines, and the latest language-study podcast. Since these data will quickly chew up every bit of storage memory you have, set your PDA's programs to purge yesterday's traffic, weather, and news. 4. Put programs and files onto memory cards. 5. Delete each email message after you have read it and replied. Keep any keepers on a memory card, and that goes double for attachments.
So, on every new PPC, I install SBSH's Today plug-in, PocketBreeze ($14.95, www. sbsh.net). A plug-in is a program grafted onto a larger base product, such as a browser or a home page. On your Today screen, PocketBreeze displays up to 30 days of appointments, and tasks, messages, contacts, and notes (with details), and then it lets you edit them with one tap. (Don't worry, PocketBreeze does nothing to your original entries in Pocket Outlook?they're safely squirreled away, out of the reach of add-on programs.)
If you need to keep a journal of activities for any given client or want, perhaps, the ability to link notes to each client, you'll need a more powerful calendaring program to watch PocketBreeze's back.
I use two tools from Web Information Solutions (www.pocketinformant.com): Pocket Informant 2007 ($24.95) and Journal ActiveSync ($9.95) for its infinitely customizable features and layouts.
But you will probably have more than calendar and contacts programs on your PPC. Using the Start Menu, Programs, and then scrolling through a stack of icons gives me a stomachache. That's why I always install SBSH's iLauncher for one-tap management and access to all the programs on my device. iLauncher also provides a safe-mode reset, a way of regaining control of your PPC when an app repeatedly freezes your little system. iLauncher has a soft reset button. And a tiny screen-capture program. And meters to report on the levels of battery juice and memory you still have left.
Another essential is weather forecasts for business trips. After trying every weather app available for handhelds, I settled on SBSH's PocketWeather Today plug-in ($9.95). (No, SBSH doesn't stand for Sandra's Best Solutions for the Handheld?I just like their products. They are stable, imaginative, and backed by a group of very dedicated support people: I usually get a reply (or several) to a question within a few minutes?an hour at the most.) Every time I put my PPC on its cradle, PocketWeather connects to the Internet and downloads current forecasts, weather radar images, earthquakes of the day, and traffic reports.
Now stop me before I recommend again.
#335425
Megan Kinneyn
Daily Journal Staff Writer
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