windows mobile
A touch interface for Windows Mobile
Ever since the iPhone came out, all Windows Mobile users have felt a little bit left out. I have always been a little bit mystified that even though PDAs have had touch interfaces for the past five years, it took the iPhone for developers to realise you could use your fingers to interact with a device.
Taking this on board, a software developer called Pointui introduced a user interface (actually a home screen plugin) for Windows Mobile devices in 2008, called Home. It was generally a good little app that gave access to weather forecasts, your appointments, applications and contacts.
Well, the developers have recently released details of Home 2 and from the looks of posts on their website, it seems they have been working closely with Microsoft and hardware manufacturers like HTC in the development of the next version of Windows Mobile.
Here is a video of a development version of Home 2 running on an HTC Diamond apparently itis an Xperia.
Finally us Windows Mobile users will be able to feel a little smug around those iPhone users (and you can already try out the original version of Home to whet your appetite).
How to manage your time with Windows Mobile
If you are like me and are a Windows Mobile user, you might feel a little left in the shadows by all the iPhone love out there. I use the HTC Vox (actually Orange’s SPV E650) and find it a great little app. It’s got a slide out keyboard and is nice and small.
SPV E650
I am always trying out new ways to best use this device, so I thought I would share what I currently have settled on. First off, a little background about what I want to achieve from this device. I, like most normal users, am stuck behind a desk most of the time, I am not a road warrior, so I only need my device to help me out, not run my life. I mainly use it to manage my time and make notes, not as my only work tool. Thus, I have concentrated on time management tools.
My main task management tool is WebIS’ PocketInformant, a replacement to the default Pocket Outlook installed on my phone. PocketInformant has a huge amount of options and allows you to define different calender views, add reminders about meetings, tasks and notes, as well as manage your contacts. My main use is to simply add any reminders that I need about project and task due dates, and also write notes about projects I am working on, alongside reminders for these notes.
PocketInformant
My next tool is SBSH’s Facade. This is a home screen plugin that alongside adding shortcuts to as many apps as you want, meters for various phone stats, it also adds a handy calender preview right on the home screen. You can use it to instantly check up on task that day, simply by unlocking the phone to operate the screen. I find it incredibly handy.
Facade
Finally, as a bonus, if you also have SBSH’s Pocket Weather, you get a weather forecast in your home screen to 
Pocket Weather
Finally, to help me manage all my thoughts and ideas I have when I am on the move, I simply whack them down into the phone’s built in notes application – or Pocket Word depending on how big my blabbing will be. Then, I transfer over the file and copy and paste into a tiddlywiki file. Not the most elegant of solutions and I could edit the tiddlywiki file on the phone, but it seems like PIE isn’t designed for such a java heavy page.
So, this is how I work and it works great for me.