windows mobile software blog

The stuff we’ve looked at so far in this series has been cool, but my inner geek just freaks out when I think about the fact that I now have a managed API with which to integrate camera functionality into my applications.

Whether it’s for business or fun, getting to code against a camera, especially when that camera is part of your phone, brightens the little dark lump of coal that is my heart.

Hopefully it’ll do something similar for you, too.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I think Windows Mobile 5.0 is, like, the neatest thing in the Milky Way galaxy. And maybe other galaxies, too.

Screencasts In This Series:

- An Introduction To Windows Mobile Development

- Building a Simple Web Browser With the .NET CF 2.0

- A Simple Data Driven Windows Mobile App Using SQL Server Mobile

- Data Synching: Part One

- Data Synching: Part Two

- Windows Mobile 5.0: State Notification API

- Windows Mobile 5.0: Pocket Outlook Object Model

- Windows Mobile 5.0: Camera API

Watch the screencast(SWF)
Watch the screencast(WMV)

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Рубрики: CSharp, Windows+Mobile

I wasn’t kidding when I said my Cingular Audiovox SMT 5600 was obsolete. Verizon made it easy for me.  They dropped my employee discounted price to the “get off the fence” price point.  I picked up my Motorola Q at the local CircuitCity store a couple of days ago.  They have a rather large Verizon Wireless booth inside the store.  I printed off my employee pricing from the Verizon B2B Microsoft employee purchasing site and took it to the counter.  The reps were very polite and professional. They even went into the back of the store and found me the kewl leather case.  I hear horror stories all the time about customer service, but Matthew Stout and the rest of the VZW crew in Southlake, Texas are doing a great job.  They were able to do everything but give me the Unlimited PDA/Smartphone Microsoft Employee SKU.  I fixed that this morning with one email to my Verizon regional rep. 

I’ve been testing the phone to see if it really meets my needs.  It does.  It’s perfect, for me.  Some of my friends are scratching their heads.  You see, they are PocketPC touch screen fanboys.  I am not.  I love single handed Smartphone navigation and use. 

My phone number is currently in port transition as it migrates from Cingular to my device.  Naturally, it’s already been turned off at Cingular.  That happened very quickly.  Shocker.  My phone should be able to receive calls by lunch tomorrow.

So how many more services can a person get from Verizon?  I have Verizon Business FIOS.  I have Verizon Voicewing.  I have Verizon BroadbandAccess (for the remaining two months on my contract). Now I have Verizon Wireless.  Actually there is one service I want, that I can’t have.  I want FIOS HDTV.  I can’t get it unless I want to go back to a residential FIOS plan.  I don’t want it that bad.

UPDATE: My telephone number has been ported without issue.  All of the CSRs I’ve dealt with were very polite and professional.  Wait times for help was pretty low (less than five minutes).  The website immediately reflected the telephone number change.

For fun, I set my ActiveSync email check to five minutes and turned the GPS locator on fulltime.  That drained the standard battery in 24 hours as expected.  I also have the extended battery.  I’ll test it when I get back from vacation. 

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Рубрики: Cell Phones, FIOS, HDTV, Mobility, Windows Mobile

For the past six weeks, my phone has been displaying the roaming indicator.  It started to get a bit disconcerting because I would even see it here at my house.  It annoyed me a bit because like most of you, I had my ActiveSync settings tweaked so that it would only sync manually if roam was indicated.  No sense in jacking up the charges for a bunch of pesky email, right?

Well, I finally decided to call Cingular and ask them if my phone has an issues they can easily resolve.  I figured since I started the plan just before the AT&T Cingular merger, it was a SIM issue, back-end provisioning, or something simple. 

The lady I got on the phone looked at my account and said my phone was obsolete and would need to be replaced.

Does my phone look obsolete to you?

It works perfectly fine.  It has a nice 512meg MiniSD card.  It rings and I can answer phone calls.  Phones should definitely do that.  The keypad lock works better than most phones I’ve tried.  The form factor is very nice.  The screen is big enough to be kewl and by golly, you can almost read email.  The email delete button works perfectly.

So why in the world would my phone be obsolete?

It’s obsolete because my contract was for one year, and I’ve been month-to-month for a few months now.  Get it? 

Like many of you, I want the most value out of my hardware and software.  I pinch pennies, too.  I squirm thinking about spending $200 for a new phone.  Call me cheap.  Call me frugal. 

[UPDATE] I guess I wasn’t the only person unhappy with my treatment.  Sounds like class action litigation may be coming. 

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Рубрики: Cell Phones, Mobility, Windows Mobile

There are 3 types of memory cards used nowadays in Windows Mobile phones: regular SD card (full size SD card), mini-SD card and micro-SD card:

Sometimes it is useful to use memory card reader to transfer files to/from memory cards, because it is sometimes faster and it requires no connection of the Windows Mobile phone to […]

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Рубрики: Tips and Tricks