TamsPPC - the PocketPC Blog

Apple’s iPod touch debuted a new kind of thumb keyboard - whenever a key was tapped, a bigger picture of it appeared on the screen above. Vito Technologies now went one step further - their program not only displays the key, but also the surrounding area.

In case you wonder about how this looks - the image below shows the program working in default mode. Whenever you press one of the keys, the bubble containing the magnification is popped up:

The product includes a variety of layouts that can be chosen with th key on the left - the images below show English, numeric and German modes:

A menu can be opened to configure various aspects of the program:

Last but not least, ZoomBoard has a variety of different zoom modes:

This review looked at version 2.0 of the program on a hp ipaq rx4240 running Windows Mobile 5. The program automatically installs itself into the RAM when the cab is launched - no information about the file size is given(and the program cannot be installed onto an external memory card).

In the end, ZoomBoard succeeds in taking Apple’s thumb keyboard system one step further - here, the zoom view really helps when it comes to hitting characters. In case the concept outlined above sounds attractive to you, try out the free trial and purchase this 15$ app in the TamsShop if you like it…

P.S. The text in the screenshots is a short story written by Dr. Kohrs of abc texte. A big thank you goes out to her for permitting us to use it as sample!

Use the discount code SECUCHEAP to get 20% off SecuBox in the TamsShop! The code is also valid for the smartphone version of the program!

Nowadays, PocketPC handhelds can protect all data in RAM via the system password facility. However, data on a memory card can be accessed even if the system is locked - just remove the card, and voila. Aiko Solutions wants to put an end to this…do they succeed at making data thief’s days ugly?

SecuBox is centered around so-called storages. A storage is a fancy expression for a secure archive file; it can contain encrypted files and folders:

New storage files are created with a special wizard. The maximal storage capacity must be fixed while the storage is being created - once the storage is created, it can no longer be changed.:

Once this is done, the file can be mounted and unmounted in the startup screen. Mounted storage files can be accessed just like memory cards:

SecuBox protects the files with 256bit AES encryption, which is considered safe by the US military. The product contains a variety of options accessible via a menu of checkable icons(weird UI…) - for example, all mounted storages can be removed when the device goes to sleep(unfortunately, unmounting can not be tied to the password system(delay timer)):

Last but not least, the product ships with an excellent help system:

This review looked at version 1.4.2 of the program on an hp ipaq rx4240 running Windows Mobile 5. SecuBox was stable in the reviewing period - no issues here.

In the end, SecuBox provides an excellent(although slightly cumbersome) way to protect your memory card data. If the company would allow images to change their size automatically, security nirvana is reached. But even now, the product is an excellent choice - if you have sensitive data on your memory card, get the program NOW…

Microsoft did an excellent job with the implementation of the PocketPC’s input system - openly-accessible API’s have led to a plethora of input options coming from literally hundreds of software houses. Resco’s Keyboard Pro has recently seen an update - let’s see what it can do:

After installing Resco Keyboard Pro, the application immediately launches a small “setup wizard”. This wizard asks you a few questions in order to determine how you will use the application:

Version 5.0’s most-advertised new feature is called iSkin - a “fullscreen” keyboard that emulates the one found on an iPhone/iPod touch. Resco’s implementation is very faithful and works well, although typing can get a bit hard on the rx4240’s tiny screen:

The keyboard does an excellent job at adjusting to landscape mode:

By the way - Resco’s nifty baby calculator also made it iSkin - this is a feature that Apple didn’t implement into their devices as of now(I can hear someone in Cupertino firing up the copying machines):

As for the other layouts, they are rather plain and do not really adjust to landscape mode:

However, their gesture mode(can also be enabled for iSkin) is a real timesaver. Instead of forcing you to enter commas and spaces by tapping an extra key; gestures allow you to determine the next character by keeping the pen down after pressing a key and pulling it along the screen in a specified direction:

This review looked at a prerelease version of Resco Keyboard Pro 5.0 on a hp ipaq rx4240. The program needs 920KB of memory and can be installed onto a memory card without any issues.

Cutting a long story short: people who like to use the standard PocketPC keyboard will definitely love Resco Keyboard Pro as its gestures save loads of time. People looking for a real full-screen keyboard face a little dilemma: real fullscreen keyboard applications have bigger keys; but cover up the screen. Luckily, a free trial of Resco Keyboard Pro is available from Resco’s web page - head over and see if it saves you 20$ worth of time!

Some people are not happy with Microsoft’s standard UI of Windows Mobile. They say it is too complicated or too slow. Although Windows Mobile 6 is more stable and perhaps also faster than older versions (especially WM2003, 2003SE and 5), many users prefer, for example, Palm OS, which is more simple and also faster. Now the developers of Pointui want to create a stable, efficient and simple user interface which runs on Windows Mobile devices.

The home screen shows a status bar displaying your mobile provider, active data sessions, battery status and so on. Below there is a big widget which can be changed. Currently you can choose between an analog or digital clock, a calendar, a task (or appointment) list or the weather. In the lower line there are some four to programs.

When you start it the first time, it offers you a tour through its features:

The application uses the same scrolling method through the widgets or lists like TouchFLO or Picsel Browser. Furthermore, you can handle this application using your fingers as all buttons are big enough.

The next screenshots show other home screen widgets. Unfortunately, only one widget can be displayed at a time:

It has also a built-in keylock. If you tap onto the lock icon, it is activated. You can open it the same way like in Slide2Unlock (or at the iPhone).

Using the other icons in the top bar, you can view and edit some system settings:

Turning on and off worked for the phone and Bluetooth adapter, but not for the Wireless LAN module. But this doesn’t necessarily need to be the fault of this program, as my MDA III (running Windows Mobile 6.0) has some Wireless LAN problems. It is also strange that these pages (and some others) don’t appear in the standard (blue) colour theme.

In the second part of this article we will go further into details and cover other features, e. g. the support of the phone or the cooperation with standard Windows Mobile applications.

You can find more information and downloads on the developer’s site.

The last time I reported about FTouchFlo, it was available in version alpha 3. In the meantime, the developer was quite busy, and he published already the version 1.2. Here are all changes since version alpha 3:

1. Fixed bug with memory allocation which for 99.99999% was a reason for devices freezing. To avoid possible huge problems (even hardreset might be required sometimes!) with your devices I would recommend uninstall FTouchFlo 1.0 and 1.1 if you have them installed.
2. To avoid changing ‘/’ to ‘\’ in gestures parameters you have to put parameter value in brackets:
[will be changed]: UpDownAppCmdLine:/Program files/123.exe
[will not be changed]:UpDownAppCmdLine:”/cmd_line_parameter”

3. Devices freezing (I really hope!)
4. Slash - Backslash problem in configuration file. You can put there anything you want and FTouchFlo will change all / to \.
5. Excluded programs: sometimes currently active application wasn’t recognized and excluded.
6. User activity notification added. Before that when you’re just scrolling, windows didn’t know about your activities.

7. Horizontal scrolling in Programs, Settings, Office etc. solved.
8. Problem with excluded applications list solved.
9. Many improvements had been done in scrolling together with bugs fixing.
10. Problem with a few instances of FTouchFlo running at the same time solved. You’ll not start more than one instance now.
11. Problem with forwarding stylus events to gwes in scrolling mode solved. It was the reason of a unstable scrolling.
12. Problem with memory leaks when starting applications solved.

What’s new:

1. Possibility to set up initial mode: “Scrolling” or “Launching”.
There is additional parameter int the config file:
;Initial mode (S - scroll, L - launch)
InitialMode:S

2. Now you’ll see small icon at top of your screen showing current FTouchFlo mode.
S - scrolling, L - launching and D - disabled (application is in excluded apps list).

You can now switch between modes by tapping at the icon.

3. A few more or less bugs found and killed (of course some new bugs introduced )

Source: xda-developers.com

For more instructions how to use this tool, please visit the original thread at xda-developers! Very good work from eFrost, so please consider a little donation

Download FTouchFlo 1.2 here

SPB Software has just released the latest edition of Pocket Plus. We were provided a prerelease version for evaluation - this review is based on the release candidate version!

The PocketPC platform has often been ridiculed for enormous lags and delays. When these reports are examined closely, it usually comes down to users installing a plethora of small and tiny ’system enhancements’ that eat up CPU power and memory. SPB Pocket Plus is a collection of system enhancements - can it stack up?

Like most other applications of this type, SPB Pocket Plus is controlled from the system settings:

Here are a few of the gadgets I consider especially noteworthy:
Battery state indicator
The line visible on the top of all the screenshots in this review is the ‘battery indicator’. It allows you to keep an eye on your PocketPC’s energy supply at all times.

Close icon power-up
Tapping on the close icon for a long time pops up the following menu:

Additionally, the program allows you to ‘really close’ applications via their x button…this means that they won’t continue to run in the background.

Common Dialog update
The open/close file dialogs of the Windows Mobile operating system have classically been limited to just the My Documents folder. Pocket Plus breaks this barrier, allowing every application to save its data wherever it wants to:

File explorer update
A small menu is added to the PocketPC’s file explorer, allowing you to zip and encrypt files. While this could be helpful for some, I prefer a dedicated file manager like Resco’s.

Safe mode
Safe mode allows you to disable a variety of programs normally run at startup in order to diagnose bugs.

Tabs for Pocket Internet Explorer
Pocket Plus can enhance Pocket IE to support multiple tabs open simultaneously:

Today plug-in
Last but not least, what would a PPC toolkit be without a today screen plugin - images of their launcheresque tool below:

This review looked at a prerelease version of Pocket Plus 4 on a hp ipaq rx4240. The program needs 3MB of memory and has been pretty stable in the testing period.

Cutting a long story short, SPB Pocket Plus is a nice package of potentially useful, well-programmed gadgets. Some will find them incredibly useful, others will detest them. So, why not download the free trial software and play around a bit…if you see yourself using the gadgets often, purchase the app for approx. 30$ in the TamsShop(owners of v3 pay just 15$ via SPB customer care)!

eFrost from the XDA-Developers forum released a new version of the modified TouchFlo hack. I made a mistake in the last post and wrote “for all HTC PDAs”… This is wrong, because this will work on nearly every PDA running Windows Mobile!!

And here are the changes since Alpha1:

1. Improved calibration routine.
2. Excluded applications list added.
3. FTouchFlo doesn’t work if SIP is working.
4. Delay before “standard windows behavior” function decreased to 100ms.
5. Improved speed and reliability.

6. Before installing alpha 2 it is necessary to uninstall previous version. Calibration.dat file you shouldn’t delete because it is the same for alpha and alpha2.
7. FTouchFlo reloads configuration file (with excluded programs list) each time you’re opening new application, so after you add new application to exclusion list, keep in mind that FTouchFlo will start ignoring it after you switch to other application and then switch back.

8. Solved problem with iContact and other applications without name of window. Just put name of exe file into excluded programs list.
9. Delay function added to configuration: delay time in milliseconds before “standard windows behavior”.
10. Launch applications function added.
FTouchFlo now has 2 operation modes: scrolling and launching.
To toggle between operation modes you should use up-down gesture. If mode has been toggled you’ll hear a beep.
You can use GestureWaitingDelay parameter in the config file to set up how much time FTouchFlo will be waiting for gesture. So, for example, if you’ll set up there 1000 ms, FTouchFlo in the scrolling mode will be waiting 1000ms before start scrolling. As less GuestureWaitingDelay, as fast you should move your finger. Try to find suitable value for you.

You see, the creater is really busy getting this work!!  In the upcoming versions, we can except more reliability and usability. If you really like the program, you can help the developer with a small donation Donate

And here is the link to the original thread at xda-developers

DOWNLOAD FTouchFLO alpha 3 here

You are owner of a HTC PDA, but don’t have the cool TouchFLO feature of the HTC Touch? Here is the solution for you!

Just download the cab-file below and install it. After a short calibration, you are only able to scroll with you fingers in every application with a scroll bar. The application is still alpha, so there could be some bugs.

The developer spend much of his free time porting the application to any HTC Device, so he would be happy if you could donate him: donate

Download it here.  It is definitly worth it.

Welcome back to the TamsPPC StyleTap review. Part 1 looked at the installation and setup process of StyleTap - now that StyleTap is running, let’s see how a bunch of popular Palm OS apps like it:

AcidImage
An old version of AcidImage laying around on a memory card worked and displayed images in QVGA mode - however, the program had a bunch of weird display quirks:

Discovery
PalmSource’s ever-popular bluetooth device scanner does not work with StyleTap - apparently, the program does not support bluetooth(yet):

Documents To Go 9
DocumentsToGo 9 worked well in StyleTap. Parts of the application even appeared in native resolutions - but other parts of the suite had incredible display problems leading to parts of the UI being displayed entirely in red:

PocketTunes
PocketTunes worked well in StyleTap - it could even run in the background.

Resco Explorer
Resco Explorer worked flawlessly, although it had its issues with the display resolution:

SrcEdit
Jogn Wilund’s source code editor works with StyleTap - as long as custom fonts stay disabled:

VersaMail 2.7.1
Palm’s ever-popular, always-crashing email client works in StyleTap but does not display the emails in list mode. This could be due to a missing file though…as the rest of the program works fine:

Overall, most Palm OS applications worked pretty well(although in lowres - Palm developers rarely support QVGA natively). Some applications still have minor but annoying quirks - however, the manufacturer is busily chasing these down. Tune in soon to find out more about compatibility with games!

For anyone who has ever needed to write product documentation for a mobile application, or write a review on a piece of software on a PocketPC or Palm device, one of the most laborious tasks is having to get the screengrabs that show off the applications various features and abilities. Fortunately, a great developer by the name of MTUX has come up with an application to remedy that.

It’s called My Mobiler, and it goes way beyond just taking a screenshot of what is currently displayed on the device. Essentially, it allows you to do everything you would normally do with a stylus and onscreen keyboard on your main computer, no more having to reply to an SMS using the stylus to peck at tiny letters. On top of all those great features, My Mobiler supports connecting to the IP of your handheld, so you can leave it in it’s cradle in another room and connect via WiFi. I was unable to try this, but the functionality is there.

However, My Mobiler was not without fault, I did find it fairly slow to respond to mouse clicks, and I was often able to type faster than it could transfer to the PocketPC. Even with those small flaws I’d still be more than happy to recommend My Mobiler to anyone who needs to control their PocketPC without wanting to pull out a stylus and start pecking away.

WM5torage is a free application for PDAs and smartphone with Windows Mobile / MS Smartphone 5.0 and 6.0. Using this application, your PDA acts as a USB mass storage device and you computer will detect it as an external drive (like USB sticks, card readers, MP3 player and so on).

You just have to connect your device to a computer (via USB connection), start WM5torage and activate it. Then your computer should detect a USB mass storage device and will mount it as an own drive. While WM5torage is connected to the computer, your memory card / flash memory is unavailible on the PDA because it needs to be unmounted.

There are different additional options, for example whether your computer may write or only read on it. Also, LED and vibration can show read / write activity. Multiple cards are supported, but only  one can be choosen at a time. You can even mount your Flash memory and data memory, but this can be problematic: When these memories are mounted at PC (= unmounted on PDA), your PDA may crash.

The application worked fine on my MDA III running Windows Mobile 6. I could mount my data memory and memory card; mounting my flash memory crashed the device. While mounting my memory card worked fine (4,1 MBs are transfered in ~ 8 seconds), mounting the data memory was very slow and almost crashed my computer.

The user interface of mobile devices has been targeted around usability for years…until the iPhone came and introduced stylish user interfaces. Dynamo is intended to replace the standard task manager - but can it stack up?

Essentially, the program presents the running programs as a list of little thumbnails that are arranged on-screen and get updated automatically:

Single applications can be closed with a tap at the top-right icon:

All applications can be closed at the same time by opening the menu:

The same menu can also be used for setting a few options - the look of the program can be customized(icons, background color,…):

Dynamo works best when a hardkey is assigned to it - that way, the start menu doesn’t obscur the open applications. However, the integrated button assigner doesn’t work:

Also, the program has issues with the landscape mode of my ipaq rx4240:

This review looked at version 2.0 of the program on a HP ipaq rx4240, a cab file is available from Aspecto Software. The program needs about 2MB of RAM and can be installed onto an expansion card!

Overall, Dynamo is a great application that really makes your PocketPC look cool(if you can live with the landscape mode quirks). The program seems to be freeware…if you already have the .NET CF installed and a hardkey to spare, give it a whirl by all means!

In the Palm OS world, so-called replacement “launchers” drop dime a dozen. For PocketPC, user interface replacements are rather rare. SPB’s Mobile Shell is one of them, offering a new launcher, a today plug-in with various features and - last but not least - a new “overview” screen which shows time, appointments, etc. TamsPPC had the opportunity to play with the just-released version 1.5 of the product:

After installing Mobile Shell, the program lets you choose between ‘classic’ and the new ‘professional’ layout:

The first part of the program is a so-called “today popup”. This window can get popped up whenever the PocketPC gets turned on - useful for providing a quick overview of what’s up next:

Mobile Shell also contains a today plugin. This plugin shows a list of the last-run programs; programs that get used often can be “pinned” to the top of the list. It can also show weather information, contacts and the current time in various cities. However, the contacts on my ipaq rx4240 were not accepted:

The today plugin also contains a task manager. This task manager is useful, as it allows you to manage the running programs flexibly. However, once more than 5 programs are open, scrolling gets a bit tedious. SPB should integrate a scrollbar into the list to simplify finding apps…

The third part of Mobile Shell is SPB menu. This is a graphic replacement for the default program launcher, and displays only nine icons at a time:

SPB Menu can be configured to that your favorite applications can be reached with just one tap. However, once more than 9 apps are in a folder, navigating gets tedious due to the lack of a scrollbar:

Last but not least, the program ships with a few pretty cool-looking themes for your PocketPC:

Overall, SPB’s Mobile Shell is a program that has the potential to save loads of time once set up correctly. However, it is not a silver bullet for time saving - and the consistent lack of scroll bars is annoying(for me, although it could be argued as a design choice). The program costs 30$, a free trial is available!

Use the coupon code FULLKEYBOARD at the TamsShop to get 20% off the list price until the 5th of June
Palm’s Treo series is very popular and useful(for me) because of its integrated QWERTY keyboard - it really speeds up data entry compared to most stylus based input methods. Since my hp ipaq rx4240 had no keyboard and only a German dictionary for Transcriber, entering data was a pain. SPB Full Screen Keyboard promises to help…but can the product stack up?

After installation, the program takes you to the hardware button configuration screen. You can then assign a “toggle” button - pressing this button opens the keyboard.

Using SPB Full Screen Keyboard is easy - tap the field you want to enter data into, and press the button assigned. And voila - here’s the keyboard. Press the bottom left button to close the keyboard and enter the text… . SPB includes an English dictionary into the program. This allows Full Screen Keyboard to propose words as you type - very handy, especially on handhelds with a non-German Windows CE dictionary installed.

Configuring the program is a bit hairy, as you cannot access the configuration dialog except via the “input” panel in the System Control Panel. However, the effort pays - a variety of options can be configured there:

Full Screen Keyboard can be customized with a variety of skins - here are a few examples:

This review looked at version 3.0.1 of SPB Full Screen Keyboard on a hp ipaq rx4240. The program is extremely stable and needs about 1.2MB of RAM.

To cut a long story short, this app has increased the usefulness of my ipaq rx4240 by at least 200%. If you enter data on your handheld, get this application by all means. You will save LOADS of time and stress. Typing is very comfortable on my small-screened ipaq, people who dislike to use their fingers for typing will benefit from the bigger keys. The price of 9.95$ is a true steal - this is a must have!

Resco has just released Resco Explorer 2007 - an update on the new features will come soon. The program’s price has risen to 30$; but the program is currently on special offer in the TamsShop at just 25$.

Resco Explorer’s file management functions(Resco Explorer review part 1) alone are worth the 15$ admission fee. But Resco goes even further and adds in a few free plugins that shoudln’t be overlooked - let’s go!

Today Plugin
The Today plugin for Resco Explorer adds a variety of features to the today screen. First of all, it displays battery and memory statuses(sort of like HP’s plugin above does):

However, this plugin goes even further. Resco Explorer allows you to ’send folders’ and bind applications to the plugin. They can then be accessed right from the Today screen. Clicking the checkbox opens a list of currently running programs - click the X to close one of them.

System Info
System Info shows the memory and battery statuses. Additionally, it sometimes provides a ‘eta’ of the remaining run time:

Resco Registry
Resco Registry is regedit for PocketPC - a registry editor for the PocketPC’s registry. The program has a ‘tree view’ mode where the registry structure can be inspected:

Tapping a folder shows the contained keys:

The various types of key can be edited easily:

Last but not least, the so-called FTP plugin allows Resco Explorer to access FTP folders…

Overall, Resco Explorer alone is a must-have for the PocketPC platform. The addons make Resco Explorer a bargain for the price of 15$. Resco’s Today Plugin will really save time - if brightness and wireless toggles would be integrated too, it could easily be a product of its own. Congratulation to Resco PPC - well done, no eekers found!