512MB MiniSD Finally Arrived

Like a watched pot left forgotten on the stove... the 512MB MiniSD card for my MPx220 finally arrived today. I had forgotten to call and check when the next "back-order" date would be for it and sure enough, it came. Nothing exciting to tell, it seems to hold 512MB so I copied a bunch of MP3's onto my phone. Since I now own the Motorola HS120 Stereo Headset (Headphones and microphone) I have a full blown 512MB MP3 player with me at all times. Sweet.

How to get SmartPhone Emulator 2003 SE in SmartPhone

So you are trying to develop a SmartPhone (Windows Mobile 2003 SE) application in Visual Studio .NET 2003 but the install of the extra emulators does nothing for you. I finally figured it out. Here is the deal.

1. Download the new Emulator packagefrom Microsoft.


2. Run the install


3. Copy everything from C:Program FilesSmartphone 2003 Second Edition EmulatorsWWESmartphone to C:Program FilesWindows CE Toolswce420SMARTPHONE 2003Emulation


4. Restart Visual Studio and check the available emulator images .

It took me forever but post me a comment if this works for you!

Smartphone CAB Creation

Found this little tidbit here. I've been playing around with the CabwizSP.exe and the .inf file for the whole night. Some quick points to note:

1. The Build Cab File button in VS.NET is not working for Smartphone development coz it's pointing to Cabwiz.exe but we have to use CabwizSP.exe instead.


2. Although it's not working, we can still press the button coz it'll help us the generate BuildCab.bat and AppName_SMP.inf


3. Manually change BuildCab.bat so that it points to "C:Program FilesWindows CE Toolswce420SMARTPHONE 2003Toolscabwizsp.exe".


4. Manually amend the .inf file and cut away all the ARMV4 and X86 sections, and amend the shortcuts as we like.


5. Run BuildCab.bat from command line, it'll generate 2 .cab files in the cabdebug directory. I just chose one of them and ftp to my server.


6. On a Smartphone or Smartphone emulator, use IE to access the cab file on the web server. It'll start downloading and install the app.


7. We can remove the app using the Remove Program option in the Start Menu.

SmartPoints for SmartPhone

I had a little down time today while I rested from coding my new project and decided to play with the Windows Mobile SDK. I was amazed at the development skills I was able to leverage thanks to the .NET Compact Framwork which, prepare to be amazed, is part of the OS in Windows Mobile 2003 SE. I love the old Weight Watchers point system and religiosly use my Palm to run wwcalc to keep track of my points. I wanted to see how hard it would be to rewrite the application for SmartPhone and it is coming along quite well. Here are some teaser screen shots:

Images gone after moving my blog.

Loving the MPx220

I didn't know what kind of impact having my Outlook Syncronized calendar and contacts was going to be. I already have it on my Palm M505 but it is amazing how much more convenient it is on my phone. Most times, my Palm (the case I use is my wallet) sits in my jacket pocket. I was coding away today when my phone vibrated on my hip, I checked it and it told me it was time to pick up the kids from school, now how handy is that!

Back in Business with MPx220 and Bluetooth

I finally broke down and re-purchased the MPx220 yesterday. I had returned the one I reported on earlier to Best Buy with no incidence. It pays to pack things perfectly back in their boxes. I am pleased to finally permanently own this great phone. I also wanted to try out the blue tooth adapter. Boy has that been miserable. The Actiontec support person had no clue and lots of research on the Internet shows that bluetooth PC interfaces appear to still be in their infancy and even XP only recently added native BT support to SP2.

Another week without the MPx220

So I returned the MPx220 a few weeks ago deciding that $1000 was too much for 2 phones and I would wait until the good days were back of a $50 MPx220. I thought it would surely be now, the week before Christmas but low and behold the rebates are still stuck at $150 off the phone with a 2-year contract. Lame. The other concern is that the rebate only applies to 1 of the 2 phones if I sign up for the family plan. We will see how the day after Chirstmas goes but at this rate I may have to settle for paying too much for the phone and getting two separate lines. I now have a case for the phone so what next?

Callvantage is in!

I got my MTA on Friday, it's a Linksys RT41P2-AT. I first attached it to one of the ports off of my switch but noticed a loud hum in the background so I connected it in front of my linux box and exposed it to the world. An unfortunate side effect was that I once again changed IP addresses so it was off to xname.org to get my DNS changes in. The hum is still there.

Motorola MPx220 Continued

I have been using the phone for about 2 days now and still think it is a great piece of technology. I am in desperate need for a holster but I have found some good ones online. There is the standard type holster as well as a little more protective cyber case. I usually don't care for cases because the clamshell design keeps the phone protected with so much exposed screen and camera on the 220, I think I would rather accept the added bulk of a case to protect it. I will probably order one of these in the next few days.

On with the review, I tested out the voice command/recognition. Out of the box it runs great. In 10 contacts I tried, it didn't miss one. The coolness of this feature finally matches its usefulness. Not only can you dial the contact, you can also rattle off a phone number and it recognizes the numbers and dials. I verified the 2 key features that my wife wants, customized ring tones for specific contacts as well as photo-caller id. You can actually use the external screen for taking pictures. I was pleased to see this feature since the resolutions are a little bit different and being able to see what the picture will look like is a good benefit.

Best Buy is running a new rebate today and the phone is down to $199 with activation. I would still love to see it back to the $49.

Bought the Motorola MPx220!

Well, the free headset did it. I just went out to Best Buy and bought the MPx220. What a nightmare. First the guy looks for the phone for a good 20 minutes to find out they are in lock-up instead of with the rest of the phones. I assume this must mean they are a hot item. Once he gets back he tells me it's no problem to sell me the phone without activation but it will cost me $500 each.

What the heck, if I like the phone, I can come back and do a return/rebuy with service. So he goes to ring them up and can't figure out how to ring them up without service and ends up telling me that Best Buy has a policy that they can't sell phones without service. He even calls the sales manager over to confirm this falsehood. I tell him I can't believe thats true and I start to walk. I get over to the phone display and there, at the bottom of the sign it says *$150 surcharge without activation. I point this out to him and another sales guy goes, "Oh ya, just hit this during the sale". So, $1000 later (ouch), I have two Motorola MPx220.

I got stuck in at an accident on the way home and decide to open the box and pop the battery and my SIM card from my T-Mobile phone in. Wow, it works, the phone boots (almost a full minute) and shows T-Mobile and my number on the display. Nice! I guess the rumors of this being a locked phone are greatly exagerated. I didn't find any problems with the sound as suggested elsewhere and actually had to turn it down at a few points. I tried the speaker phone and it worked great, unfortunately, as soon as I closed the phone to set it down on the dash, it hung-up. I will have to look into that later.

I got the unit home and started looking more closely. I had removed the troublesome plastic covers in the car and that made the speakerphone and ring volume work correctly. Next was a little charging and syncing. No problems there, I downloaded activesync (I didn't want to crack the seal on the CD in case that was grounds for not returning it later) and connected the included USB cable to the phone. Nicely enough it started charging. I can think this is good and bad for laptop users, nice to not have to bring one more cable but it would probably be hard on your battery life if you left it connected as the laptop and phone are sharing your laptop battery.

I decided to take a picture of Finn in time out. Yep, camera sucks, at least at full zoom. But, as most people say, I didn't buy the phone for the camera. I wouldn't have wasted the megapixel count but hey, it's a nice feature in a pinch. There is a conveniently placed button on the side that launches the phone app and then pressed again, takes the picture. Very slick. I was a little worried about putting too many minutes on the phone but can't find the minute counter for the life of me.

To Be Continued...

Free bluetooth headset with MPx220

So here I am patiently waiting for the updated firmware to come out to fix the sound problems on this phone and Motorola sends me an email offering the first 1000 registerers of their MPx220's a free bluetooth headset at https://secure.indigoproductions.com/motorola/MPx220/mpx220promo1k_reg.html. Man, that just isn't fair. *cry* Maybe I will just go buy the broken version so I can get the headset LOL.

New Cell Phones (Motorola MPx220)

We went to Best Buy last night and I am still not sure which way to go. The phone guy we talked to said he wouldn't recommend the Motorola MPx220 because of the speaker and microphone issues with it (way too quiet, you physically can't hear the ring 1 ft away in a loud room). He thinks the Motorola 551 is a much better choice. Definitely not as feature rich and I would really dig a phone that I could write apps for myself. We will see if they get the 1.30 firmware phones out while a good set of rebates is on.