mobile

TechEd a couple of months ago was really fun and I am grateful to Microsoft folks for giving me an opportunity to be both part of the Keynote and also have a slot in the Architecture track. Sorry it has taken me a very long time to upload my TechEd talk “Building cross-platform Modern Apps: the Design perspective”. But as they say better late than never. 😏 You can download a copy of my presentation - Xamarin - Building cross-platform (pdf) ....

So I switched on my Bluetooth headset and discovered the Text to Speech feature that Mango has which works brilliantly. On the other hand, the reverse – speech to Text has a few short comings. Here is what was send to the missus when I replied to an SMS using this feature: “Okay calling amusing text to speech not speak to destitute lots of okay bye” And in case you were wondering, no I did not say that – but something quite different....

Pedro has build one of the best apps for Windows Phone 7 (WP7) that I have ever come across - TFS on the Road . As the application navigation map shows below it covers most aspects of TFS that you would be interested in – all packaged up in a very nice GUI. :) TFS on the Road App Best of all, the application is free and you can get it from WP7 Market Place or if you want the code then from CodePlex ....

So I am not the biggest fan of MS maps and prefer google maps. Any ideas if this is available instead of the default maps on Win 7 phone, and I don’t mean the web version :).

First post from my brand new Windows Mobile 7 - HTC 7 Pro. What free apps do you recommend? :)

I was planning on getting the Telegesis ETRX2USB and wanted to know if there are any open source (or shareware) open source ZigBee stacks that I can use with that? I also wanted to know if there is any opensource (or not too expensive), network management or network analyser for a ZigBee network? Essentially I want to be able to programatically view network and node information on the ZigBee network (e....

Over the last few weeks I have heard a lot of people complain about the HTC TyTn (and more so these days with the new iPhone out now). But the phone itself is not bad - but if you are still running Windows Mobile 5 on it then sorry you don’t get the rights to complain - that OS itself has loads of issues. So, if you are like me with a TyTn I would suggest you get on a Windows Mobile 6....

I currently have a HTC TyTn and was thinking of getting either the new HTC Diamond or the HTC Diamond Pro and was not sure how they stack up size wise; but that is there sizeasy.com come in the picture and help me see what the three of them look like together . Diamond Pro is a little thinner and lighter than the TyTn, the question for me is do I really need the keyboard or can I live with something like the Diamond....

I am thinking of getting the HTC Diamond. If you are interested in its features then check out these guys who have had it and been using it for a week and have been posting a daily video on what works and what does not.

Fellow Avanut David send the link to Point UI ; it essentially is a small skin application for your Windows Mobile 5/6 and somewhat emulates the iPhone interface. Before you roll your eyes and think “here is another iPhone-knockoff-wanna-be”, I’d suggest you take it for a spin. It is just bloody good! The interface is just simple and you can use fingers (my fat fingers also worked!); to me it seems a less of the iPhone and more of a combination of the HTC Touch and the new upcoming Windows Mobile 6....

Microsoft is giving away free ringtones (4 packs) for your Windows Mobile; don’t forget to read up on how to install these .

<p> <img src="images/WMDCHome1_thumb6.jpg" alt=""/> </p> About time if you ask me; WMDC (Windows Mobile Device Center) - Incase you have not heard, WMDC is the thing that replaces ActiveSync and is the new software that allows you to sync you mobile phone or Pocket PC/PDA with Vista has finally gone RTM. . I am glad this has gone live as that means, no more hacking to get this installed and working ....

Yep its true, Win CE 6 is released with lots of new features and Microsoft has released the complete (that is 100%) of the Kernel source code and legal - check it out .

Update: Microsoft has now publicly released the Beta 3 version of WMDC which you can get from here and you do not need to use the hack detailed below in this post. This beta 3 also supports Windows Mobile 2003! WMDC (Windows Mobile Device Centre), is the new software in Vista that replaces ActiveSync and you cannot even install ActiveSync on Vista. If you installed Vista RC1 and plugged in your Windows Mobile Phone (either Pocket PC or Smart Phone) and expected Outlook to start syncing you would be in for a rude shock....

If you have been trying to use Mobile 5.0 SDK on Vista and have been having some issues, then check out Fernando&rsquo;s tips on how to get around these issues on Vista.

[Update 1: Added the link for the Smartphone bits that you can download] [Update 2: Added a Bug and Troubleshooting section at the end of this post] [Update 3: Fixed a few small typos] One of the things that has bugged me for a bit is the lack of integration between the phone numbers in Outlook contacts and a smart device (such as a Pocket PC or a Smartphone) connected to the computer when it comes to making phone calls....

If you have a Windows Mobile 5.0 device like the one I recently got and were wondering how do I change the screen orientation, well its fairly easy. It is cool that the screen orientation changes between landscape and portrait when I slide out the keyboard. But, on rare occasions I want to change the orientation without sliding out the keyboard and it is a pity that there is no hardware button to do this....

Thanks to my colleague, Steve Butcher for this one. Instead of messing around with the registry, there a utility available that will allow you to make tweaks to the HTC TyTn ( the phone I got ). This was also called the HTC Hermes, among a host of other names by different vendors. As the site article says, the utility itself free, but you need to register and download it and the site is in German only....

Some of you have asked me what I think of the phone and how does it feel – msmobiles has lots of pictures of the phone I got (HTC TyTn) (via Nino’s blog ). I just think I am not brave enough now to run Linux on this phone quite yet; although I am sure Karan would beg to differ. 😉

After struggling thru the weekend, with a hit and a miss to get push email working it seems at the end of it, the problem was between the user and the keyb. 😄 I had active sync setup correctly, with the right Exchange settings. And when I was connected to my wireless (at home), using the mobile it was working. It took the effort of my colleague, Rick Pollak, to point out the obvious that I did not have a data account setup on the phone....