... to the
October edition of our user and developer PDA tips newsletter.
The focus of this issue is Treo-related news sites and tips -- and includes several FO items that we think are exciting; such as our now directly offering Symbol hardware and our partnering with NSBasic to provide enterprise-level synchronization.
Please feel free to submit requests or ideas
through the links at the bottom
of this page. This is also where you will find subscription and
removal information.
Each item in our newsletter is marked with
icon(s), so that you can focus on your own areas of
interest.
The icons that we use
are:
PalmOS
Pocket PC/WinCE items
Phone-related PDA tips
Wi-Fi items
Please note: This
newsletter contains tips and tools that can alter your PDA. These
items are offered here "as is" and without any warranty or support
from FO. Please consider them carefully before using or trying them
(and as always ... backup, backup, backup first -- before
making any changes).
Thank
you, Bill
Shadish, Principal
HOT Stuff
A New News Section We have found that there is SO much handheld news anymore -- that it is difficult for a lot of users to know where to turn first. So we have included a new section that will point out a few of the hottest items that affect both users And developers. The two big news items this time are:
Windows Mobile 5 http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/default.mspx
Windows Mobile 5.0 now offers file formats that are the same on the PDA as they are on the desktop, rather than the limited (like no tables in Word) versions found in Pocket PC and Windows Mobile 3 devices. Future updates to Windows Mobile 5 will allow users to make changes to documents directly on the corporate server(s).
The Windows Mobile Treo (sic)
If you clicked the above Windows Mobile 5 link, you might have noticed a Palm Treo device prominently displayed at the top of that Microsoft page. Suffice it to say -- that this is a transition point in the handheld industry, as Palm and Microsoft jointly announce Treos that run Windows Mobile 5. Due out in the first half of 2006, they will only be available on the Verizon network to start, but, as you might expect -- it will soon be on other carriers as well. Details are covered in the Treo section below.
Palm Information about the WinMobile Treo
...Oh, why bother with the Palm angle on this? ...
User Tips and Tools
Run PalmOS apps on Windows Mobile? (shareware) http://styletap.com/
StyleTap allows you to run PalmOS applications directly on a Windows Mobile device.
One item of note is that you create and save PalmOS app files using StyleTap, but there is no way to get the data back off of the Windows device short of copy&paste.
StyleTap doesn't support Hotsync over ActiveSync. So, while a nice utility -- StyleTap is best suited to running PalmOS games | calculators | and those sorts of apps.
DateBk5 running on WinMob5
Treo 700w | 670w (actually unnamed as of yet)
The Windows Mobile Treo. Palm and Microsoft developers worked together (for years, per the announcement) to integrate portions of Windows Mobile 5 and Palm's best software features together. Some of the initial features on this device include:
Intel processor.
VCR-like buttons mapped to individual phone mail systems, so that regardless of the individual phone system controls when you call one, it all works the same to the Treo user.
Photos easily mapped to phone numbers; and Palm's dial-by-name feature moved to WinMob.
Push mail, push calendars from the server to the PDA.
Integrated well with exchange server and Outlook.
EVDO (Evolution Data Only or Evolution Data Optimized) radio (Verizon's). For a good discussion about EVDO vs. WiFi click here.
Palm plans (or even desire) to consider Symbian or Linux on future Treo devices.
HTC (High Tech Computer in Taiwan) who manufactures the 650 and now this phone -- also makes smartphone units for Orange, T-Mobile and other carriers.
An early (good) WinMob Treo review at engadget http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000867059961/
A very nice review of the upcoming Windows Mobile-based Treo. There is a very large list of user/reader comments at the end of this article that provides some interesting reading as well.
PalmOS DOC file converters (freeware,shareware)
Feeling a little trapped with that proprietary document reader formatted file, and want to convert it to something more flexible? Here are a couple of places to turn.
Word-Doc Converter II (WDC2) converts iSilo PalmOS docs to HTML or other formats. This is a Word add-in that converts to/from Word, iSilo and RichReader formats: http://www.deepwave.net/ref/palm-wdc2/
HANDebooks
Contains tools and links to convert PDBs (iSilo, Plucker, PalmReader, Adobe, PalmDoc, Lit) to and fro prcs, html, text and so on. Covers a lot of the bases: http://www.handebooks.com/converters/
mytreo.net -- Treo stuff (freeware) http://mytreo.net/downloads/
A popular site, there is a lot here; from clocks to fitness. Of particular interest is the firmware download section, with this 650 page as an example (http://mytreo.net/downloads/cat109.html). A Site drawback: You have to log in to download things.
mo:Blog
mo:Blog (shareware) http://www.tektonica.com/projects/moblog/index.html
A tool for mobile blogging. Supports the
blogger,
metaWeblog and
MoveableType blogging APIs and works with the following
blogging sites:
blogger.com, wordpress.com,
MoveableType,
Typepad.com.
Download blogs/categories, has an HTML editor and more.
PCS Intelligence http://www.pcsintel.com/
Just a quick note about a site that provides interesting news and insight into Sprint PCS and other carrier's devices.
Spybot - Search & Destroy for cellphones 0.3.0 (donationware) http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html
This very popular PC spyware detection (among other things) program is now available for Symbian UIQ-based phones.
iPAQ hx4705/hx4700
http://www.mobiletechreview.com/iPAQ_hx4705.htm
Both Dell and HP now provide devices with 640x480 resolution. This site contains a good review of the IPAQ hx4700 -- and a discussion of the tools used to enhance a display to take advantage of all these extra pixels...
Set up your Windows Mobile Device
(freeware) https://www.mywindowsmobile.com/?pn=Region
Helps you to configure email, locate PDA-oriented websites and download software for a Windows Mobile Smartphone or PDA.
Included here will be PalmOS; WinCe/Pocket PC/Windows Mobile; Smartphones and calling plan comparisons. We will keep and update this set of device lists in future newsletters, as a way to help users comparing hardware to purchase.
Development Tips and Tools (Sites with
content most valuable to developers)
Windows Mobile 5 Developer's Eval kit ($5USD) http://msdn.microsoft.com/mobility/windowsmobile/howto/resourcekit/default.aspx Microsofts' complete developer toolkit -- but note that some of the components are still in Beta. Includes Visual Studio 2005 - WinMob5 SDKs, Active Sync 4, white papers and FAQs on a DVD (only way offered to get it).
There are a couple of exciting FO news items to share in this issue. Well, Ok, Exciting at least to us...
FO has partnered with NSBasic to provide a version of our enterprise-level sync engine (foSync) to NSBasic developers. This tool provides ODBC database synchronization over an IP connection, without using Conduits or complex data setups.
FO is now an official Symbol Technologies reseller.
This enables us to offer the best possible prices to our customers, on laser barcode scanning-units like the PalmOS Symbol SPT-1800 and the Windows Mobile-based Symbol MC50, as well as Symbol's rapidly evolving RFID products.
Reader
Tips
TIP: Tricks to install the new Palm wireless Keyboard driver Submitted by Harold Goldner Philadelphia, PA.
Installing the 1.08 Palm Keyboard driver
Version 1.08 of the Palm Universal Keyboard Driver is extremely
finicky. It works perfectly on most units (mine is a Tungsten T|3), but
you need to know 2 things:
You should not actually access the driver (i.e., attempt to click on
it and change settings) this will nearly always produce a fatal error requiring a reset.
Simply go to the program in which you want to use the keyboard, put
the Palm device in the keyboard and begin typing. The driver should work fine.
Crummy coding [on Palms' part], but it works when you just *ignore* it.
Editors' notes:
The Palm Universal keyboard driver can be found here.
The Pocket PC driver (UWKeyboardPPC.zip) that operates the same keyboard can be found here.
Another issue reported that causes some level of problem with this keyboard is when using
the keyboard near some types of fluorescent lights (this confirmed by Palm Tech Support) which can cause the Palm to freeze.
TIP: Graffiti Tips Submitted by Andy Dent Gwelup,
Western Australia.
I upgraded to a Zire 71 and found Graffiti 2 not only hard to learn
but annoyingly slow. There's a way to install Graffiti 1 on most OS 5
devices, not sure if it will work for your lifedrive - see "Replace Graffiti 2 with Original Graffiti" (http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_story.asp?ID=5830).
A great freeware that goes well with Graffiti 1 is Capitalizer which gives
you, amongst other things, the G2 style of writing across the
alpha/numeric boundary to enter capital letters: http://sourceforge.net/projects/handypalmstuff/.
TIP: Free Ways to Test Connection Speed Submitted by Susan First Montréal, Canada.
You had a tip a few issues back [ie: Volume 5, Issue 3] about testing pda dial-up connection speeds. I just wanted to share a few others that offer high-speed connection tests as well. They are YourSpeed v2.3 (www.numion.com/YourSpeed/), BandWidthTest (bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/) and DSL Reports (www.dslreports.com/stest). DSL Reports has a separate mobile device test.
Susan F.
Editor's notes:
There are a few caveats that go with All of these tests. Most work by downloading a file from a site "near" to you -- or in emulating opening a number of websites concurrently. The results are not only dependent upon your actual connection speed; but also in the distance (the number of hops or connections between you and where the test is being conducted from); the number of users in the process of running your same test; as well as the general volume of internet traffic along the way. For example, a lunch-time test in the North East USA Will bring a slower result than if you ran the same test at 3AM.
Other factors include the size of files being downloaded and uploaded, and the amount of time that the test takes to run.
Our own tests show as much as 300% difference in the numbers reported, just by running the test at different times of the day. So, your results may likely vary...
re: YourSpeed v2.3 http://www.numion.com/YourSpeed/
Meaures using normal surfing behavior (which can be vary a good deal, as people tend to surf the web in small bursts).
YourSpeed opens a number of sites -- and does provide a wide array of statistics -- such as Bytes per second, Kilobits per second, time to each of the opened sites, times as compared with the general speed of the internet, and more. But this site only allows US users to connect to one unknown USA location and does not take into account regional differences (or smooth the hops issue).
A plus is that you can vary the amount of time of the tests, and auto-repeat them.
re: Bandwidth Speed Test
bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/
This one is the same (different URL) as the bandwidthplace site listed in
the Volume 5, Issue 3 newsletter.
This test is one of the simplest and best -- including the least in the way of ads. The free tests on this site are limited to 3 per month.
Bandwidth Speed Tests
re: Speed tests
www.dslreports.com/stest
Interesting -- but a bit intrusive. It works via a Java applette, that it Must load to
run. We tested the New Jersey USA site, as it was the closest, but a page simply saying "sorry" was returned, rather than results. The CA, USA site returned these results:
Information (Plan Comparisons) This site provides
high speed plan comparisons. Be careful with the info you provide in order to get the comparisons -- a throw-away email is recommended.
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