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Sunday, February 05, 2012

Personal blog for Pocket PC Phones

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5/9/2011 9:01 PM:

Root the Android- worth it for the backup

I was playing with my phone yesterday (trying to deal with the constant "low disk" message)- moving applications to the SD when all of a sudden, it rebooted and constantly went into a loop of the reboot. Nothing I could do would make it get past the Droid announcement and rotating eyes!!!

It was then that I remembered I had rooted my phone way back (using Unrevoked) and that as part of the process, I'd taken a backup!

. So, all things considered (I did not want to do a factory reset), I restored my backup from December 2010...it worked flawlessly! All I had to do then was re-install all the applications etc that I had installed since then (Amazon AppStore made that easy) and then resync...! Thank God for the inbuilt ClockworkMod recovery and backup application in the rooting...

Now I am going to make it part of my monthly routing to perform a full backup of the phone- I was amazed at how lost I felt when it was unavailable!!!

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3/29/2011 12:43 PM:

Amazon AppStore for Android- free apps!

Amazon have launched their AppStore for Android. For an unknown period of time they are offering "get a paid app for free every day"...what a great deal!!!

Head over soon to get the exclusive Angry Birds Rio- I have to admit I like this version better than the original or the seasons versions!

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1/17/2011 5:41 PM:

Wow- been a while...!

Just looked at the dates on this blog and realized it has been a while since I posted- probably because there was little that has excited me in the mobile phone market for quite some time (since I switched to Android).

I had the opportunity recently to "play" with one of the new Windows Mobile 7 phones- and I have to say I am still pleased that I made the switch to Android...I am still learning some of the nuances and love the sheer number of free applications that add power and features to the phone...I doubt I will ever go back to the "dark side"...LOL...

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10/2/2010 5:31 PM:

One month later...

So how do I feel making the move from Windows Mobile to Android a month later? Well, I can honestly say that I am still ecstatic...I have the phone with me CONSTANTLY (the swimming pool is the only exception)...!

I've been able to do everything that I wanted on the phone and sync with my PC by changing very little- some software that used to have a direct sync, I have used spreadsheet exports (as mentioned in my previous blog)...the ONLY thing I haven't been able to do is sync my MS Money accounts with the device...but as I have a "remote desktop" application, who needs that?

If you are looking for an alternative to the iPhone, the Droid Incredible is THE device!!!

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9/17/2010 6:52 PM:

Windows Media Server and Android...does not work

OK, I don't normally stream my music, videos and recorded TV to my phone but with my Windows Mobile phone I could use WebGuide (with my XP Media Center) and with it's trans-coder service, it worked GREAT...but it doesn't work with the Android!!! That got my blood boiling and determined to find a solution (even though I hardly use the damned feature)!

Well, last night I was able to get the Orb Caster up and running on my Media Center PC- actually very painless even setting up the live TV input...Then came seeing if it worked with the Android...

I downloaded the OrbLive Free client from the Android market place to see if it worked- while limited in it's features, it was easy to see that this WOULD stream my recorded TV content...so, for $9.99 I purchased the full client for the phone.

It works...what more can I say...the video image quality isn't amazing (better on WiFi) but if your running on the 3G network in the middle of no-where, what more do you need? The audio is excellent and having the home machine index even your iTunes library was a bonus for me!!! I'm happy!!!

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9/11/2010 5:45 PM:

A week later with the Droid Incredible...

OK so here is the low down a week later...

I still can't put the damned thing down...I have noticed though that the battery life is something to be wary of...not surprising though when you consider the amount of use and what I have been doing with the phone during the day- Facebook updates, web surfing, Pandora music streaming...!

I have turned off a lot of the "widgets" and decreased their update times from an average of an hour to 4 hours- that has helped the battery life considerably!

The support for my purchased Exchange Sync application (TouchDown) has been incredible- they WANT to work with you to get any bugs/ user errors in the open (and there have been a few of the "between the chair and the screen" errors and not software, trust me)!

It has helped that almost all my working colleagues have the same phone on the same provider as their personal phones- they have guided me into simple things like the "long key press on home" to bring up the recent applications- thank you all!!!

Bottom line- after a week, I think I made the right decision...I have been able to find substitutes or workarounds for pretty much all the "stuff" I had syncing with my WM phone- converting lists into spreadsheets (for example) is a small sacrifice to make...but the SPEED, full internet browsing etc has made me a very happy person...!

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9/5/2010 10:32 AM:

Bye bye Windows Mobile...

I am a Windows Mobile traitor...yesterday I made the switch to an Android based phone...

I've been playing with it now for almost 18 hours straight and I have to say that I am truly impressed...the speed is amazing!!! I have managed to sync with my Exchange server with the aid of TouchDown (a great replacement for email, calendar and TASKS)...

I'll post more later...back to playing...

P.S. I wrote this on it- something I could not have done on my WM6.1 device)...

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8/7/2010 10:58 AM:

Upgraded to Exchange 2010...

I have wanted to upgrade my Exchange Server from 2007 to 2010 for a while now...a simple task you would have thought- but no, Microsoft have made it so that a simple in-place upgrade is not possible. To that end, I've been putting it off until I had time to undertake the task...

Over the past two weeks, I have been able to achieve that task!!!

I finally got everything fully operational last night- mailboxes restored, ActiveSync fully working and the phones upgraded to take advantage of the new features (free/busy time, SMS sync, threaded conversations etc)...some of the new mobility features can be seen in here...

I have to admit, one of the hardest parts of the upgrade was removing the older Exchange 2007- as we only have a few accounts in the domain, I did a PST backup of all accounts, removed 2007 and installed 2010. A major headache was the delete of the 2007 Public Folders database (due to replication)...that was closely followed in frustration with the dreaded Outlook Sync Issue for the "Offline Address Book"...but by 10pm last night, I managed to fix it all...and not a single email/ calendar item etc lost!!!

A kudos must go out to all those that have put information on the internet- I can tell you that over the past two weeks, Google has been my mentor and friend- finding all the articles/ fixes that people have posted when they have problems...

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5/6/2010 4:07 PM:

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10- wow!!!

Not sure about the Android OS yet...but this is VERY tempting!!! Take a look at this baby and the full information page over at Sony Ericsson...it even has most of the USA covered for 3G etc:

GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
UMTS/HSPA 900/1700/2100
UMTS/HSPA 800/850/1900/2100

Now with a price tag expected around $600 (current quote from Expansys-USA), it's a little hard to swallow...but I can dream!

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5/6/2010 4:01 PM:

A good Twitter client for Windows Mobile...?

So Android has one, the Blackberry has one and (of course) the iPhone has one...but there are no impressive, fully functional Windows Mobile Twitter clients available (and I have tried LOTS)...that is until now!

moTweets from Panoramic Software Inc. has come up with a winner! Available in two versions...the free version is supported by advertising (minimal) with the the paid version costing $3.99...

Finally- enjoy!!!

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