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User Tips and Tools
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Mobile Words-to-Go (freeware) 
http://www.freewarepalm.com/docs/mobilewords-to-go.shtml
For beginners (or those only loosely interested in the buzzwords) this little document contains the mobile and wireless business definitions. Use the freeware reader below to read it.
related:
Here is a similar application, with words discussing various Instant Messaging terms and tools:
http://www.freewarepalm.com/docs/mobilewords-to-go_instantmessaging.shtml
Mobile Words To Go
This freeware Palm Reader v2.4.3, can be used to read these documents, as well as others described in this newsletter.
Emoticons
Google SMS  
http://www.google.com/sms/
Google has a new beta service called Google SMS.
What you can do is send Google an SMS message containing a query, and get a response back via SMS. The idea is to save the time it takes to connect wirelessly to the net, opening the full Google site to do any "Googling" -- by just sending (and receiving) a message back instead. One useful reason for this -- is to be able to easily check product prices while in a store.
A full description of how to set this up and use it, is shown on the page above.
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Google SMS
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Hand/RSS Newsfeeds for Palm OSŪ v.1.17 ($)
http://standalone.com/palmos/hand_rss/
This one costs a little bit ($15USD) -- but is interesting. HandRSS allows you to pull news feeds from a number of websites, such as the BBC News, CNet News, Fark.com, SlashDot, The Register, Wired, etc.
HandRSS
US Constitution (freeware)
http://www.pilotzone.com/palm/preview/33754.html
While we are covering downloadable docs, here is the U.S. constitution (and amendments), which can be read with the above Palm Reader. Here is a Pocket PC version of the same information.
All Current Symbian OS phones
http://www.symbian.com/phones/
http://www.symbian.exvn.com/page.cfm?article=0x896d84f6aaa451fc4d3cc2d3c9afec8c.1.3224
Full descriptions of all Symbian-equipped phones (the Sony Ericsson P910 is now out!).
All Symbian Phones
Mac to Pocket PC Sync Tools ($)
http://www.pdantic.com/reviews/macs2ppcs.htm
This one costs something, but if you are working on a MAC, the choices to move information back and forth with a PPC are "limited"...This tool is appropriately called "The Missing Sync".
Pocket PC 2002 Bugs (and fixes!)
http://www.cewindows.net/bugs/pocketpc2002.htm
An excellent piece of an overall excellent website, this page describes a variety of PPC 2002 problems, as well as official (and unofficial) fixes. There are also pages covering Mobile 2003 bugs and fixes, and pages on specific vendor devices.
While you are there, check out the commentary on PPC User Interface issues.
http://www.cewindows.net/commentary/userinterface.htm
PPC 2002 bugs/fixes
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Development Tips and Tools
(Sites with content most valuable to developers)
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nsbasic source and examples (freeware)
http://thelabwiz.home.mindspring.com/nsbsource.html
This page contains a variety of NSBASIC application examples, in source code form. In particular, this electric meter app has actual value to most users. (From the site):
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"Ever wonder if your electric meter provides any information that might be useful to ordinary humans? What if it could tell you how much power a specific appliance uses?
How do you read the meter? You don't have to. KW Calculator uses the time it takes for the moving dial to make one revolution to compute the total current power being used. Turning one appliance on or off and taking another reading will tell you how much power that appliance uses.
You need to get the Kh factor from the faceplate of the electric meter. It will be indicated by a "Kh" marking and be something like 6.3 or 7.2. This is an indicator of how much power is required to turn the disk one full revolution. Combining this factor with the time it takes for the dial to make one revolution will give the current load. See Watt's Your Power? for more information.
To make the timing easy, the program includes a timer that can track clock ticks. It's accurate to +/- 0.1 second. "
Electric KW Calculator
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Also see:
http://www.earth.uni.edu/EECP/elem/mod2_math.html for how can you use your home's electric meter to measure the total power of all the electric devices operating at any given point in time.
NS Basic Enhancements and Fixes in 4.4.1 (software update)
http://www.nsbasic.com
While we're at it, we might mention that NSBASIC has a recent update, that adds/changes the following items:
- Form Update event handling improved to fix odd errors.
- Format("nn.n") changed to work like Format("nn.0:).
- PlaySound: will no longer error on certain Sony models.
- Samples: IRTest updated.
- Samples: Controls updated.
- Samples: New NSBiQueGPS_Test.
- Samples: New NSBPinMgr_Test.
- SerialSet("IR",2) enables IR and turns off receiving.
Porting a registry viewer application from PPC to Smartphone 2002
http://www.codeproject.com/ce/porting_to_smartphone.asp
Shows the code (and the both the user-interface, such as no touch-screen on the phone, and the coding issues involved) in moving an application from WinCE to a Smartphone-sized interface. Note in particular, the Back key processing described on this page.
Porting WinCE code
Microsoft Mobility Kit ("Trial"-ware)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/mobility/thekit/
The Mobile Application Development Toolkit provides all the resources you need to start building mobile applications for Windows Mobile-based Smartphone and Pocket PC devices. Visual Studio .NET 2003 and the .NET Compact Framework enable you to build Windows Mobile-based applications quickly. Make sure to install this only on a test machine, as components such as Visual Studio .NET 2003 Professional will disable after 60 days. This protects you from a falling into a "forced-upgrade" scenario.
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FO News
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foAudits now supports advanced lists and several new controls. See the new foAudits site for more information on this survey/inspection tool for gathering data.
The migrant education support app version of foAudits is now available as well.
See http://www.fo.com/palm/me.htm for more information on MigrantEd.
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foAudits.com |
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Product Reviews
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Palm Zire 72
Facts about the PalmOne Zire 72
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Zire 72 |
Zire 71 |
| Operating System |
5.2.8 |
5.1.1 |
| CPU |
312 MHz Intel PXA270 |
144 MHz ARM |
| Memory |
8mb ROM |
4mb ROM |
| 32mb RAM (24 useable) |
16mb RAM (13 useable) |
| Size (HxWxD) |
11.68cm x 7.40cm x 1.7cm |
11.4cm x 7.4cm x 1.7cm |
| Weight |
4.8 ounces |
5.3 ounces |
| Camera |
photo: 1.2M pixel, 2x zoom.
video: 320 x 240 |
photo: 0.3M pixel
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| Connectivity |
Bluetooth
USB
Infrared
MMC, SD, and SDIO cards |
USB
Infrared
MMC, SD and SDIO cards
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| Display |
16bit, 320x320 |
| Battery |
Rechargeable Lithium 950mAh battery |
Rechargeable Lithium Polymer 900mAh battery |
| Palm Universal Connector |
No |
Yes |
| Price |
$299USD |
 
Things We Love (as compared to the Zire 71)
- Smaller.
- Faster.
- More memory.
- A voice recorder.
- Not more expensive.
Things we Like
- The feel/heft of the 72 is just, much better than the 71's.
- Integrated Bluetooth Wireless. This is actually more of an Okay item. Wi-Fi 802.11b (is 802.11g to much to even hope for?) support would be much more welcome on the road than Bluetooth, which PalmOne continues to hold to as a wireless answer.
- The unwieldy slider covering the 71's camera is gone, replaced with an always present 1.2-megapixel CMOS sensor with a fixed focus of 5 feet and a 2x (albeit, digital) zoom.
Things we Don't Like
- Somewhere a Palm (er, PalmOne) designer is happy that this unit won't come on easily in someone's pocket. Unfortunately, it is just as hard to turn it on/off even when you want to do so.
- a Toss-up? The Color. It comes in only Blue and some people hate it, while most like it. However, at least on the early models, this color comes in paint that flakes off the units, with only minor wear. A cheesy feature of an otherwise solid unit.
- The user cannot replace the battery.
Things we Hate
- No Palm Universal Connector. We are reminded of the Seinfeld episode at the car rental counter, where Jerry says "You know how to Take a reservation, you just can't Keep the reservation". Why Palm(One) has bounced back and forth about this universal connection thing (and related add-on peripheral support) is mystifying.
- No cradle. It is just annoying to:
- Have to piddle around with a PDA on the desk while it lays flat.
- Have to purchase the cradle separately anyway (paying for shipping again to get it, etc.)
- The paint chipping off, while not critical, nearly falls in this category. If the paint comes off, it makes one question the internals.
Summary
Overall -- it feels right. Fast enough for business use and a camera for emergency snapshots. The voice recorder makes it all worthwhile.
See also,
The BargainPDA review.
The PDA Buyer's Guide Review.
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Subscribe, Unsubscribe & Comments
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