Anything changed in the last year?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc (More info?)

I've owned an Ipaq 3835, 3950, 5450 and a Toshiba E740. They were all
fairly nice pdas but lacked IMO in the OS department. I have been
using a Sony UX50 for about 10 months and again IMO it's a very cool
PDA except it doesn't integrate as well with PC apps as I'd like. And
no multitasking... I'm sure you've heard it all before. Anyway, my
primary reason for getting it was (and still is) reliability. I use a
PDA mainly for a PIM. Appointments, tasks, and notes are what it's all
about and Palm OS has PPC OS beat (ahem, again IMHO),

So why am I here in PPC land you might ask? Basically I am thinking
about getting a new PDA just because and I am wondering what the "real
world" users (YOU) think about the improvements if any have been made
in the last 10 months? Specifically I have the following questions if
you don't mind.


1. If an alarm goes off on a PPC will you hear it? Are they reliable
now? ppc 2002 and when ppc 2003 first came out at least it was quite
often an alarm simply wouldn't work. Has it been fixed?

2.When a reminder pops up, is there a "goto" button that takes you to
the corresponding appointment / todo etc? Palm has always had this
feature. Outlook has always had this feature. But the PPC OS??? What
is more frustrating than not being able to go to the corresponding
appointment from the reminder? If it still isn't possible with the OS,
how about any third party apps?

Find - Palm has the ability to search ALL of it's builtin apps at
once, and with third party apps the ability to search just about any
app for an instance of a word. Say I want to search in every note,
todo appt, db, document, etc for the words John Smith, I can do it on
the Palm. Is this possible now in PPC?

3. Is the reset button still used frequently? Admittedly some of my
resets used to be due to 3rd party apps, but alot were because of
unexplained lockups to the tune of about 1-3 every two days.

Activesync.... umm never mind, I see there are still issues here.


Please don't think I came here just to bash Pocket PCs because I
didn't. I really am hoping some of, if not all of these issues have
been addressed so I can re-join the gang!

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc (More info?)

> 1. If an alarm goes off on a PPC will you hear it? Are they reliable
> now? ppc 2002 and when ppc 2003 first came out at least it was quite
> often an alarm simply wouldn't work. Has it been fixed?
>
There was a bug in the first version of WM2003 which caused alarms not to go
off. This was temporarilly solved with some freeware third party software,
and solved in the first or second (I can't remember) ROM update provided to
the OEMs by MS. Some OEMs released the update, some released only for their
higher models, and some did not release them at all.

> 2.When a reminder pops up, is there a "goto" button that takes you to
> the corresponding appointment / todo etc? Palm has always had this
> feature. Outlook has always had this feature. But the PPC OS??? What
> is more frustrating than not being able to go to the corresponding
> appointment from the reminder? If it still isn't possible with the OS,
> how about any third party apps?
>

To tell you the truth, it is nice to have, but I had never thought of it
before you wrote. This probably means at least I personally don't need it
much. Interesting to hear other people's opinion


> Find - Palm has the ability to search ALL of it's builtin apps at
> once, and with third party apps the ability to search just about any
> app for an instance of a word. Say I want to search in every note,
> todo appt, db, document, etc for the words John Smith, I can do it on
> the Palm. Is this possible now in PPC?
>

This one is very interesting, and has been covered by some party
applications that can create links between various types of items so that
when you get to one you get to all. But it is not present in the OS.

> 3. Is the reset button still used frequently? Admittedly some of my
> resets used to be due to 3rd party apps, but alot were because of
> unexplained lockups to the tune of about 1-3 every two days.

As you said: 3rd party. And even though, my average of pressing the reset
button is once every 2-3 weeks. I have an iMate Phone Edition, and I only
use the reset button when I install a program that requires it to complete
installation (or uninstallation) or as I said once every 2-3 weeks at my
initiative just to do a cleanup of the memory. My device doesn't lock,
doesn't stop responding and doesn't have any of these strange things
happening to it. But I must say that although I install and uninstall much
software at the device (I need to review it for my Website), I am very
selective on which applications I keep installed all the time at the device.

>
> Activesync.... umm never mind, I see there are still issues here.
>
Well, although I have never had problems myself with AS, I have helped many
people with problems, and I know that is a real pain.



--
Helio Diamant - MS/MVP Mobile Devices
http/www.pocketpcfreak.com

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc (More info?)

"Helio Diamant - MS/MVP, Mobile Devices"
<helio@nospam.pocketpcfreak.com> wrote in
news:uj5NUh3UEHA.1656@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl:


>> Find - Palm has the ability to search ALL of it's builtin apps at
>> once, and with third party apps the ability to search just about any
>> app for an instance of a word. Say I want to search in every note,
>> todo appt, db, document, etc for the words John Smith, I can do it on
>> the Palm. Is this possible now in PPC?
>>
>
> This one is very interesting, and has been covered by some party
> applications that can create links between various types of items so
> that when you get to one you get to all. But it is not present in the
> OS.

WM2003 has a Find function that will do this.

>

 

[marc]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc (More info?)

Mike Moseng wrote:
> 3. Is the reset button still used frequently? Admittedly some of my
> resets used to be due to 3rd party apps, but alot were because of
> unexplained lockups to the tune of about 1-3 every two days.

Windows Mobile 2003 (or PocketPC) for some reason keeps applications
open - even when you've clicked the cross button. So much for trying to
keep things the same as desktop Windows. Why this is, I don't know.

Palm doesn't keep applications open, instead they save their state so
they appear to be still running when you return to them. The downside is
that although the Windows Mobile o/s will quit a program as memory
becomes low, and more programs are started - it often fails to do this
with any intelligence. I find if I leave task management to the o/s - i
will have to reset daily. On the other hand, if I use iTask to close
applications manually I never need to reset.

Of course some programs like Media Player need to be kept running, but
why all programs by default? - I can't understand the logic behind this.

The alarm in WM2003 seems to work with the ROM update, although it often
juters where the system is starting and trying to play a sound at the
same time. It wakes me up usually, but the problem is that I often lower
the volume for earphone usage and forget to turn it back up. To overcome
this I have the volume at max, and just lower the volume in Media
Player. Of course I get deafened when a reminder pops up and I'm sat on
the bus chillin to Pink Floyd. Which leads me to another complain, why
does the volume control in Media Player pause and start the song as the
volume is changed? I can't see any technical reason why it does this,
nor any other reason.

Over, I chose PPC over Palm and I'm glad I did. The o/s looks better,
has better file management features which is what I wanted.

Marc

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc (More info?)

while I can't explain why there is not a better built in function for
managing tasks, the first thing I would ever install after a hard reset
would be wisbar (or another taskbar application) its free, its simple, it
looks great (compared to the standard taskbar) and ads functionality - like
being able to choose between minimize and close.

as for the volume control in media player pausing the song ??? guess I
don't understand. if your talking about the system volume, make sure in
windows media player you go to tools, settings, audio & video, and under
"audio" set the "while using other programs" to "continue playback". if
your talking about the volume in windows media player itself, I have never
had the music/video pause while adjusting volume.

as for the original post, you might want to hold out a few more months until
windows mobile 2003 second edition hits. With adjustable screen resolution
and screen rotation built in to the OS as well as supposedly "true
multitasking" with multiple windows, it might be enough to push you back to
PPC. I would also suggest, right behind wisbar, I could/would not live
without pocket informant. It is a very nice PIM replacement and adds tons
of options, layouts and functionality to your calendar, contacts, notes,
etc...

"Marc" <no.s-p-a-m.marcus@imarc.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1087392453.21779.0@nnrp-t71-03.news.uk.clara.net...
Mike Moseng wrote:
> 3. Is the reset button still used frequently? Admittedly some of my
> resets used to be due to 3rd party apps, but alot were because of
> unexplained lockups to the tune of about 1-3 every two days.

Windows Mobile 2003 (or PocketPC) for some reason keeps applications
open - even when you've clicked the cross button. So much for trying to
keep things the same as desktop Windows. Why this is, I don't know.

Palm doesn't keep applications open, instead they save their state so
they appear to be still running when you return to them. The downside is
that although the Windows Mobile o/s will quit a program as memory
becomes low, and more programs are started - it often fails to do this
with any intelligence. I find if I leave task management to the o/s - i
will have to reset daily. On the other hand, if I use iTask to close
applications manually I never need to reset.

Of course some programs like Media Player need to be kept running, but
why all programs by default? - I can't understand the logic behind this.

The alarm in WM2003 seems to work with the ROM update, although it often
juters where the system is starting and trying to play a sound at the
same time. It wakes me up usually, but the problem is that I often lower
the volume for earphone usage and forget to turn it back up. To overcome
this I have the volume at max, and just lower the volume in Media
Player. Of course I get deafened when a reminder pops up and I'm sat on
the bus chillin to Pink Floyd. Which leads me to another complain, why
does the volume control in Media Player pause and start the song as the
volume is changed? I can't see any technical reason why it does this,
nor any other reason.

Over, I chose PPC over Palm and I'm glad I did. The o/s looks better,
has better file management features which is what I wanted.

Marc

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc (More info?)

I used it when studying the device, and never more, so I forgot it was there
....

What shows how important this issue was to me

--
Helio Diamant - MS/MVP Mobile Devices
http/www.pocketpcfreak.com


"Asher N" <compguy666@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns950A59222CDEFanadamyahoocom@66.185.95.104...
> "Helio Diamant - MS/MVP, Mobile Devices"
> <helio@nospam.pocketpcfreak.com> wrote in
> news:uj5NUh3UEHA.1656@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl:
>
>
> >> Find - Palm has the ability to search ALL of it's builtin apps at
> >> once, and with third party apps the ability to search just about any
> >> app for an instance of a word. Say I want to search in every note,
> >> todo appt, db, document, etc for the words John Smith, I can do it on
> >> the Palm. Is this possible now in PPC?
> >>
> >
> > This one is very interesting, and has been covered by some party
> > applications that can create links between various types of items so
> > that when you get to one you get to all. But it is not present in the
> > OS.
>
> WM2003 has a Find function that will do this.
>
> >
>