Pocket PC Explored – Help and Advice

This page contains information on Microsoft’s Pocket PC Operating System, with links to useful online web resources, frequently asked questions, reviews, and recommended software.

Total PDA

o2 XDA Orbit – Combined PDA and mobile phone
From the same manufacturer of the o2 XDA Mini, this is a high-spec mobile phone and PDA in one package. As well as being a GPRS-enabled mobile phone, it carries the latest Windows Mobile 5.0 software, has a built-in GPS receiver for satellite navigation, has built-in Wi-fi and Bluetooth, a 2 megapixel camera, and also supports USB connectivity. Released in November 2006, this is a top PDA/mobile in a tiny package.

Vital statistics:

  • OS: Windows Mobile 2005
  • Connectivity: Quad-band mobile, GPRS , Bluetooth , Wi-fi, USB
  • Camera: Built-in 2 Megapixel camera
  • Screen: Colour touchscreen
  • Memory: 64 MB SDRAM, 128 MB ROM

Available from O2’s online store (o2 XDA Orbit) or from T-Mobile (MDA Compact III), free on selected tariffs.See our o2 XDA Orbit for more details


o2 XDA Orbit

o2 XDA
Trion – Combined
PDA and mobile phone

The XDA Trion from mobile phone operator o2 follows in the line of o2‘s successful range of mobile phone / PDA devices. As well as being a high-powered Windows Mobile PDA, it’s also a
high-powered quad-band mobile phone with 3G and GPRS for Internet and Email access, has onboard Wi-fi, a megapixel camera and a nifty little sliding keyboard.

  • Connectivity: Quad Band mobile, 3G, GPRS , Bluetooth & Wi-fi
  • Camera: Built-in camera (stills and video)
  • Screen: Colour touchscreen
  • Dimensions: 112 x 58 x 22mm, Weight 176g
  • Processor: 400MHz

The o2 XDA Trion is available free on contract from www.o2.co.uk


o2 XDA Trion
Dell Axim X51
Pocket PC LOWEST
PRICE!

OS: Windows Mobile 5.0
Expansion: SD / CF card slot
Display: 3.5" (240×320 pixel) TFT touchscreen
Memory: 64MB models available
Power: Removable Li-ion battery
Connectivity: USB / Bluetooth and Wi-fi

Availability: Now, priced upwards of £209 inc. VAT & delivery
from Dell
consumer site.

For more, see our Dell Axim page

Dell Axim X51

T-Mobile
MDA Compact
This tiny
pocket PC / mobile phone from UK operator t-mobile
is a tri-band
device with Bluetooth, GPRS and a 1.3 megapixel camera. Comes
with Pocket PC versions of Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, Media
Player and Internet Explorer


OS: Windows Mobile 2003
Navigation: Touch screen, four-way navigator
Battery life: Rechargeable
Memory: 64Meg
Connectivity: USB cradle

The MDA Compact is currently available free on selected tariffs from t-mobile.co.uk


T-Mobile MDA Compact

Fujitsu Siemens
Pocket Loox

An excellent range of popular
Pocket PC devices. Here’s a summary of the models:

  • Pocket Loox 420
    – 400MhZ processor and 64Meg of RAM with Bluetooth and Wi-fi
  • Pocket
    Loox 610
    with Bluetooth and optional Wi-fi
  • Pocket
    Loox 710
    – Wi-fi and Bluetooth enabled
  • Pocket Loox 720
    – With camera and VGA screen

Availability:
Upwards of £200 from: Amazon
and PC
World


Pocket Loox 610

Buying
a Pocket PC?

Looking
to buy a Pocket PC? Try some of these links to make sure you get a good bargain…

  • If you’re looking to buy
    online, try the following mainstream stores first:
    PC
    World     and Amazon.
  • Kelkoo
    – Check out the best UK prices on new Pocket PC hardware.
  • eBay.co.uk
    or eBay.com
    – Bid for machines and accessories,
    and sell unwanted PDA stuff

 

Links:

Pocket PC Book

Screenshots:

A selection
of screenshots of the Pocket PC Operating System:

Today view
Excel
Internet Explorer
Notes
Email on the move
Media player video
MSN instant messanger
File browsing
Synching to a PC

 

Software
to check out:

Navigating with TomTom

TomTom
Navigator. Excellent routeplanning software from mobile
navigation experts, TomTom.

In-car navigation is big business with satellite navigation systems
running into thousands of pounds. If you happen to have a Pocket
PC, you can achieve the same results for a fraction of the cost,
thanks to TomTom Navigator.

You can use this software to replace your in-car map books, and
as a searchable street directory, but it comes into its own when
coupled with a GPS receiver. You can plan
a route to your chosen destination, and when your journey starts,
see a moving representation of your car as you travel – best of
all, you’ll get spoken turn-by-turn directions, so you can’t make
a wrong turn. Also runs on Symbian devices
and Palm OS PDAs.

For more, see our TomTom Navigator apge.
DigiGuide
 DigiGuide, via Avantgo
– Forget buying
TV listings magazines, or struggling with the TV section of the
daily newspaper, by getting daily TV and radio listings synched
to your Pocket PC or Palm PDA. There are two offerings, the Radio
Times handheld, or DigiGuide. Our favourite is the digiguide offering.
Firstly, it’s cheaper than the BBC’s offering, but it offers up
to a month’s worth of programme listings, allows you to mark your
favourite shows (and get an email reminder if you like), and it
has a companion online service, so you can search listings from
your web browser. Best still, if you have a complex channel line-up
(such as a Sky package), you can type in names of favourite series
(past and present), and see if and when they get repeated on any
channel – occasionally that old classic sitcom will get repeated
somewhere – and you’ll be in the know.
For details, see the Radio
& Telly Guide page

FAQs

How
can I transfer data from another PDA?		 Moving
data from one PDA to another, or trying to convert a non-standard
file into Pocket PC format can be troublesome. As it’s such a common
question, we’ve created a dedicated conversion
page. If the information on this page isn’t useful, or we’re
missing a format, please let us know.
Looking
for software?		 Check out www.handango.com for one of the widest ranges of Pocket PC software out there.
If they don’t have what you need, try www.pocketgear.com.
Installing
software		 Looking for
help with software installation, or ActiveSync? See our dedicated
ActiveSync page
Copying
files to a Pocket PC

If you have files on your
computer that you’d like to copy to your Pocket PC, there are
several ways to achieve this:

  • PPC Mobile DeviceActiveSync
    – Certainly the easiest option, you make use of the Pocket PC’s
    ActiveSync software supplied with your Pocket PC. When your
    Pocket PC is docked with the desktop, you’ll find you can use
    the connection to copy files using drag-and-drop. Go to Windows
    "My Computer", and you should see a "Mobile Device"
    icon. Double-click on this icon, and it should open up the files
    and folders on the Pocket PC.
  • Infrared
    – If your Pocket PC and desktop computer (or other PDA, phone,
    etc) both have infrared, you can beam files to and from your
    Pocket PC. It’s a case of lining up the infrared windows and
    using the apporpriate software the beam files
  • Bluetooth –
    If your desktop computer and Pocket PC have Bluetooth, you can
    beam files in either direction. For more on Bluetooth, see our
    Bluetooth Pocket PC section
  • Memory card –
    If your Pocket PC takes memory cards (such as MMC
    or SD), you could get a card
    reader     for your PC, and use that to transfer files
  • Email –
    A last resort, but you could email files to an email account,
    and then configure the Pocket PC to download emails from that
    account. Not ideal, but may help if you’re trying to get a small
    file and away from your normal desktop. More on using Email
    on our connectivity page.
Looking
for accessories?		 For a good range of Pocket PC spares and accessories, we recommend
you try Partmaster
– Spare styli, cases, Memory cards,
leads and batteries can all be found on the Partmaster site for
to-the-door delivery. Also recommended for accessories, is Dabs.com or you can try bidding for a bargain on eBay.co.uk
Activesync problems

For problems with ActiveSync, see our page dedicated to Microsoft’s PC synchronisation solution, Activesync
I
need help connecting

We offer some pages of
help on this, as follows:
Help
with Bluetooth		 Pocket PCBluetooth
allows you to connect to mobile phones, PCs and other compatible
devices without wires. Some Pocket PC devices come with Bluetooth
built-in, and some can use attachable, CF or SD card Bluetooth modules.
For help with Bluetooth connectivity for your Pocket PC, see our
Bluetooth page.
Help
with Wi-fi		 If
you’re looking to set your Pocket PC up to connect to the Internet
or to your desktop PC using 802.11 wireless networking, see our
dedicated WiFi page.
Where
are my backups stored on the PC		 Try: c:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application
Data\Microsoft\ActiveSync\Profiles
ARM,
MIPS, SH3, SH4 , PXA?

You may come across Pocket
PC software asking you to pick one of these options. These acyronyms represent the processor (CPU) type that powers each model of Pocket PC, and the options represent
earlier days of Pocket PC development, where an application had
to be compiled for a specific processor.

Just about all of the
more recent Pocket PC 2002 / 2003 / Windows Mobile devices are either ‘ARM’ or ‘PXA’ (Intel XScale), and in just about all cases, ARM apps should also work on XScale processors.
Early Casio Cassiopeia devices were MIPS and the early HP Jornadas were
SH3.

If you see software making this distinction, it may indicate that the
software may have been complied a few years ago, and therefore
may not run on the latest machines. If in doubt, check with the
software author.

Text input

A Pocket PC keyboardPocket PC devices support a number of different text input methods. When you’re in a place where you can type text (such as the Word or Notes applications), you should see an icon in the middle of the bottom toolbar – a picture of a pen or a ketyboard. Tap this to open a pop-up menu that offers the following input methods:

  • Keyboard – A small tappable keyboard
  • Transcriber – Supports handwriting recognition
  • Block Recogniser and Letter Recogniser – Two different ways of inputting text, one letter as a time, as you draw them on the screen

 
How
can I take screenshots?		 If
you need to capture a sample of a Pocket PC screen, for inclusion
on a website, for a magazine, or for technical support reasons,
there are two shareware products that we recommend – Screen
Capture Utility from ValkSoft, or PocketShot
Free up some memory If you’re finding your Pocket PC is grinding to a halt or running low on memory, it’s worth noting that when you close an application with the button in the top right of the display, you’re not actually closing the application, just minimising it, so it’s easy to fill up your memory with open applications.
To solve this, there are several Task Manager applications out there (including the excellent Battery Pack Pro), but our favourite is Magic Button, which replaces the Close (minimise) button with a Close (and exit) button. Magic Button is available for free from www.trancreative.com.
Pocket
PC switch on		 Noticed
that your Pocket PC has the habit of switching on and off of its
own accord? This could be that you’re using ActiveSync v3.7 or higher.
By default, the Pocket PC will try to connect to a server every
5 minutes. Go onto the Pocket PC ActiveSync app, and go to ‘Tools’,
‘Options’ and the ‘Schedule’ tab, and see what the current setting
is. It may need tweaking.

Envirofone - cash for your old mobile phones
Need help with your Pocket PC? Ask in our forum

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *