If you want to customize your Smartphone 2003 Homescreen but want to jump into XML file coding, the RuttenSoft Homescreen Designer for PCs is what you need:

Homescreen Designer is a WYSIWYG-application for creating powerful Homescreens in a convenient way, right away from your PC with drag and drop support for the different elements:

If you want to power-up your Pocket PC and/or Smartphone with some great applications, Microsoft provides some good discounts for Pocket PC and Smartphone applications for software from PocketGear and Smartphone.net (both affiliate partners of PPCW.Net):

All discounts expires November 1, 2004:

Today I received a product reminder from T-Mobile's online shop, that their MDA III (aka HTC Blue Angel) is available commercially now. Until today, it was available for business customers only but now it's also available for consumers.

Depending on the 24 month contract, it costs from 399,95 Euro up to 469,95 Euro; without subscription it costs 779,95 Euro.

Do you remember one of my previous thoughts about how to remote control Apple AirTunes and AirPort Express with Media Center? Yesterday night I got an E-Mail from Matt of smashcasi who told me, that their RemoteAmp is supporting iTunes with version 2.0! :-)

The latest version of RemoteAmp now offers you the ability to remotely control iTunes for Windows. Listen to any of your iTunes playlists or create your own on the fly - right from your Pocket PC. Full synchronization with the iTunes music library is available so there are no worries about maintaining multiple music libraries, RemoteAmp does it all for you.

As you might have seen, the update frequency of PPCW.Net is low again and let me explain why Carlo and I are not that active right now: Carlo got some great orders (you might remember that he is a professional photographer in the Philippines and therefore he is also working for Smart and made the Smartphone photos for them). Right now he is doing some great stuff for the Pocket PC development in the Philippines as well as he has a regular job.

I for myself still working for a European carrier (on some UMTS stuff and more, nothing I'm allowed to talk about) which isn't the problem at all since I'm working for them 14+ hours only. But in my spare time, where I'm normally working on PPCW.Net I'm currently working on my 4th Pocket PC book (thanks Microsoft for such a update frequency which allows me to write one Pocket PC book per year) as well as I'm working with Calin on some great PPCW.Net changes you will notice later next months.

A couple of weeks ago, I've invited you to join Spb's Pocket PC survey which finished last week. Now I received the results and one of the most important features for me was the fact that Spb tracked from where the participants came which provides me the opportunity to compare the regular Pocket PC user with the PPCW.Net visitor and the result is more than promising since it clearly shows how well educated PPCW.Net visitors are and what's the most important for scenarios them.

This is probably the only Today Plugin available today that is faithful to the Microsoft design of the Today Screen. Calendar+ aims to give the user the ability to view upcoming appointments several days in advance and is pretty configurable to do more than that too.

The latest version of Calendar+ adds support for Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition and its support for landscape mode. It does a lovely job of wrapping long appointment descriptions so that they fit into the screen. Handling the appointments from portrait to landscape and back works pretty well too.

My last thought "And now? What's your favorite Pocket PC Phone Edition?" generated a couple of good questions and one was about the screen size of the different devices.
While I don't have all the new devices here to compare, at least two typical representatives of the next coming Pocket PC Phone Editions already arrived for testing:

• The o2 Xda III with the typical Pocket PC screen size of 3.5 inches
• The newly introduced screen size of 2.8 inches the Motorola MPx has.

In reality the difference is significant:

ACCESSORIES: BoxWave VersaCharger for Pocket PC and Smartphone

A new revolutionary charger is introduced by BoxWave, maker of miniSync. VersaCharger eliminates the need for multiple chargers! It combines both a car charger and a wall charger into one compact and simple design. Along with many other features, VersaCharger simplifies the task of charging your handheld!

VersaCharger works in any country across the globe. Designed with intelligent electronics, it automatically senses power standards and properly converts electrical voltages, frequencies, and standards to safely charge your handheld. You can take it anywhere to create the power source that you need!

MultiIE, one of my favorite and must have utilities for Pocket PCs got an update and is available as v3.1 now. The main purpose for the release is to support Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition devices (including VGA screens) and in addition some minor bugs were fixed as well as the core engine update which makse MultiIE 3.1 more efficient now to run faster on Windows Mobile 2003 devices as well.

Also included are some new features, Peter requested from you and he tried some of the most useful ones in 3.1, which are:

Today, the Munich Oktoberfest starts (the biggest beer-buzz in the world) and therefore, if you visit Munich and the Wiesn with a couple of friends, this update might comes right for you:

We've all been there, been out with friends and family. Dinners over and the dreaded bill arrives.

With Bill Now, simply tap in the bill cost, the percentage of tip you feel they deserve and the number of people the bill should be split by.

Maybe you remember my Acer Modem 56 Surf Bluetooth review from last December? I bought that modem to wire free the household of my girlfriend and there were two disappointments with this modem (a third came later):

The Acer Bluetooth modem hadn't Bluetooth PIN protection included, which means that you was able to pair with this device without any restrictions (good for you but even better for everybody else who found that modem) and it was supporting a range of 10 meters only.

Since this week, PPCW.Net is also available through Google's fantastic Google News

Google News presents information culled from approximately 4,500 news sources worldwide and automatically arranged to present the most relevant news first. Topics are updated continuously throughout the day, so you will see new stories each time you check the page. Google has developed an automated grouping process for Google News that pulls together related headlines and photos from thousands of sources worldwide -- enabling you to see how different news organizations are reporting the same story. You pick the item that interests you, then go directly to the site which published the account you wish to read.

"Socket WLAN Tools Mobile Edition is a new Socket wireless LAN utility that provides ease-of-use as well as advanced network statistics not normally seen in Pocket PC WLAN utilities. This new utility is intuitive and graphical in nature, making it very easy for new users to quickly determine if they are successfully connected to a wireless LAN. It also provides real-time monitoring of signal strength, link quality, Internet availability, data rate, packets sent/received, and duration of connection. The utility uses Microsoft's built-in Wireless Zero Configuration tool for wireless network configuration and profile management.

The past days were pretty exciting since we have heard about a lot of new Pocket PC Phone Editions from O2, T-Mobile, i-mate, even Vodafone and others. While all of them are going to release the HTC Blue Angel soon (they call O2 Xda IIs/III, T-Mobile MDA III, VPA III, etc), T-Mobile and i-mate are going to launch the HTC Magician as well (T-Mobile MDA Compact/i-mate JAM) while O2 is going to release a so far unknown Pocket PC Phone Edition (O2 Xda IIi) and I wonder what's your choice yet?

Is it the HTC Himalaya (Xda II/MDA II) sized Blue Angel with W-LAN support and thumb-keyboard, is it the smaller and lighter - iPod like - Magician or might it be the O2 Xda IIi where we know nothing, except it comes with the fastest CPU, megapixel camera and Wi-Fi support.

Do you remember my previous thought from December last year about Sony's weak (or should I better say non existing) Bluetooth implementation which made it impossible to use my Sony Vaio PCG-TR1MP to sync my Pocket PCs and Smartphones through ActiveSync via Bluetooth?

"While my Notebook works as a beauty to make a GPRS dial-up connection through my PPCW.Net i-Mate Smartphone2 (aka Orange SPV E200/HTC Voyager) this Bluetooth Sony software on the Notebook doesn't want to work as a serial connection with ActiveSync. While I first thought I'm to dumb, a Google search offered me some hints and the most important result is I'm not alone - as I found out at Geekzone."

Today, also o2 Germany confirmed the launch of its Blue Angel version later this year. Unlike O2 UK, o2 Germany will call it Xda III as mentioned before.
The specifications will be the same as announced by O2 UK last week - so it will includes the 400 MHz XScale CPU as well as 128 MB RAM, quad-band GSM/GPRS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. As a tribute to the localization, it will also include a QWERTZ thumbkeyboard instead of the QWERTY keyboard which will be released in UK.

You might remember my previous posting about spam in the PPCW.Net comments which continued during the last days and even increased. Therefore yesterday I had to remove around 80 comments, full of crap! 8O
As you guys said in the comments before, I shouldn't give up nor I should make the comments a closed system but hey, how worthy would PPCW.Net and the comments section become if it is flooded with 5 - 10 spam comments per article? Would you continues to enjoy PPCW.Net with all the dumb links, not to mention that these kind of links would give these idiots better Google ranking, etc?

Today seems to be T-Mobiles Windows Mobile day. After the official announcements of the MDA III, the SDA and the SDA Music, T-Mobile revealed another device as well: the T-Mobile MDA compact which is based on HTC's Margician Pocket PC Phone Edition.

The MDA compact - which is the same device as the previously announced i-mate JAM - is the smaller and lighter brother of the current MDA II and like its bigger brother it comes without W-LAN.

Today, also o2 Germany confirmed the launch of its first Microsoft Smartphone. However, unlike T-Mobile who is developing their Smartphones with HTC (who is also producing the O2 Xda's and the T-Mobile MDA's), o2 Germany teamed up with Motorola to release the MPx220 later this year (so far it's rumored to be released in November for less than 299 Euro).

Today, T-Mobile Germany officially revealed the launch of the SDA and the new SDA Music Smartphones, based on Windows Mobile 2003.
While the SDA is basically the Orange C500 (HTC Typhoon) with slightly modified buttons, the SDA Music is based on the "standard" SDA but includes three new buttons for easy Media Player access because they are play, rewind and forward buttons!

Good news for Germany's o2 customers! Today I had the chance to play a little bit with o2's Motorola MPx220 and no wonder at all - but worth to post: it's supporting o2's Home- and Cityzone indication! Finally! :-)

If you are not living in Germany you might not know the concept behind Homezone and Cityzone:

Homezone is based on a standard GSM cellular phone only, no cordless equipment is required or used. While you are on the road, you can make phone calls with your mobile phone as with every mobile phone, also you are available under the o2 mobile number. Outbound calls are charged with the normal tariff, which is, more or less equal, too the other mobile tariffs, available from other operators.

You now my opinion about spammer, they waste my time because I have to delete their mails I've never read, they waste my money because I'm downloading their useless E-Mails through GPRS (in worst case while in international roaming) and now, this sick spammers entered the next stage of sickness: comment spamming.

During the day, I don't now, they've added around 15 - 20 spam comments here at PPCW.Net - all of them with the same useles links:

It seems to be time to clarify the one or the other thing about O2's recently announced Xda Pocket PC Phone Edition series devices:

First of all, the recently announced O2 Xda IIs (s = slider? aka HTC Blue Angel aka T-Mobile MDA III) will be called Xda IIs in UK and Ireland only. For Germany, o2 will follow the common naming conversion and here it is called o2 Xda III as well, as an o2 spokesman confirmed PPCW.Net. In addition, for the German market, the Xda III will also has a QWERTZ keyboard instead of the English QWERTY keyboard of the Xda IIs.

Carrier Devices, maker of HTC based Windows Mobile Pocket PCs and Smartphones yesterday announced the launch of its new GPRS product range, the i-mate SP3, the i-mate PDA2k, the i-mate SP3i and the i-mate JAM. Now in their final stages of development, the new i-mate range will be available to Australian customers in October.

Each new i-mate product is powered by the latest Microsoft Windows Mobile software. They're stylish and compact, yet very clever. The new i-mate products have been specifically designed to be easily incorporated into people's everyday lives; at work or at play. In Sydney, founder and CEO of i-mate - Jim Morrison - said "We're focused on delivering smart products, but in a smaller, more stylish, and more affordable form. The higher spec of mobile functionality should be on offer to a broader range of customers and not just the select few who can afford the top end devices. I expect these new products will have wide ranging appeal as they offer unbeatable value to everyone. This is our most exciting range yet.

If Outlook isn't fooling me (and it happened before...), today is Carlo's day, our fellow PPCW.Net editor and my fellow MVP and friend since today is Carlo's birthday! :-)

I wish you all the best, health, luck and whatever you wish yourself!

Stay as you are (well, don't think you will change anything anyway - due to your age ;-)).

So far, RIM's (Research in Motion) BlackBerry devices looked more like a PDA than a phone and was a kind of bulky. However, RIM will change this with its phone-styled BlackBerry 7100 series handsets, recently announced:

BlackBerry 7100 Series handsets provide the best combined wireless phone, email and data experience for users who prefer a smaller handset design. They offer complete BlackBerry functionality, wirelessly connecting users with important communications and information. The BlackBerry 7100t also puts top-of-the-line features, such as speakerphone, Bluetooth, polyphonic ringtones and an advanced call log, into a sleek and stylish handset.

O2 UK is building on the popularity of the highly acclaimed Xda II by adding to its Xda portfolio with the launch of two new devices the Xda IIs (Xda III) and Xda IIi. The handsets feature the latest cutting edge technology and contemporary design all at affordable prices, making a perfect Christmas present for business professionals.

The Xda IIs will be available in the UK and Germany before Christmas 2004 with the Xda IIi to follow in early 2005.

Pocket Slides has been a long favourite in the Pocket PC world as a PowerPoint solution for Pocket PCs. In the past versions we have seen them enhance their synchronization features to enable 2-way synching between Pocket PC and PC and the ability to support transitions in their presentations.

Conduits has just announced that Pocket Slides has just entered the beta mode for version 2. We will see more advanced features in version 2 as well as support for...

2004 ALK Technologies Ltd, leading developer of navigation systems, today announced the worldwide availability of CoPilot Live GPS Navigation for mobile phones.

The new system transforms a compatible Microsoft Windows Mobile-based Smartphone into a powerful, ultra-portable in-car Sat Nav system, integrating the same award-winning CoPilot technology as is currently available for Laptops and Windows Mobile-based Pocket PC PDAs.

Amazing, the Microsoft Windows Mobile Smartphone platform is still that young (1 3/4 years only) but we already have the 3rd generation Smartphones in the market or to hit the market soon:

The Motorola MPx220, the Orange SPV C500 (aka HTC Typhoon) and the Sagem MyS-7.

To provide you a better overview which device looks how, compared to the other, bellow you can find a couple of exclusive comparison shots:

German news site heise online was able to preview/pre-test the recently leaked T-Mobile SDA Smartphone and has published their impressions here.

Nothin new so far except pricing and availability. According to heise online, the SDA should cost without a contract 369 Euro, with a two years subscription around 100 Euro.

As Socket announced today, they are having count weeks from now until October 31, 2004 which includes US$ 30 off for CompactFlash - Wireless LAN Card and Connection Kit with Bluetooth Wireless Technology and US$ 20 off for SDIO - Wireless LAN Card and Connection Kit with Bluetooth Wireless Technology.

This is a mail-in rebate and as always valid for North-Americans only. :-( However, if you plan to buy either a W-LAN or Bluetooth card for your Pocket PC, this might be a good deal!

Turn your Smartphone into an in-car navigator with TomTom Mobile for Windows Mobile Smartphones!

Dutch TomTom today updated their website with their latest product - TomTom Mobile for smart phones including Windows Mobile Smartphones:

Wow, pretty amazing! The HTC Blue Angel (better known as Xda III or MDA III) isn't available yet, Spanish Piel Frama already announced the fitting leather case for it:

This leather case incorporates Piel Frama's new belt clip system (with or without belt clip and knob) and features:

Spb Software House the leading Pocket PC software developer has started "Spb Pocket PC Survey" a global survey for the Pocket PC community. All survey participants will be entered into a drawing to win either a HP iPAQ hx4700 or 1 of 3 $100 PocketGear software certificates. Contributions to the Pocket PC community, like Pocket PC Developer Network and Spb Benchmark, are a big part of Spb Software House's strategy. In keeping with this vision, Spb will make the statistical results of this survey publicly available.

This survey will be the first broad source of information about community Pocket PC users: how they use their Pocket PCs, what they like and dislike in Pocket PCs, etc. Spb Pocket PC Survey will be conducted annually in September in order to see changes in the Pocket PC community from year to year.

Rey Vegafria, webmaster of airfagev, the home of proud Pinoy smartphone uses recently released a couple of great freeware applications for the Windows Mobile Smartphone: SendContact, SecureInbox, iMenu and RJV Clock SP2003.

Except RJV Clock SP2003 and iMenu, all applications are available in a Smartphone 2002 and Smartphone 2003 version:

The Microsoft Smart Personal Objects Technology (SPOT) group is looking for talented developers to create 'Channel' applications for the Smart Watch initiative - with payment of up to $10,000.

What is this RFP (Request for Proposal) for? Microsoft is looking for smart developers, to create smart channels, for the Smart Watch. The applications would run as a channel on the watch, much like the existing channels, and sync channel data via USB from the PC down to the watches or sync data over-the-air.

As reported on German smartphone-web, T-Mobile Germany is introducing it's first Windows Mobile Smartphone later this month. After o2 Germany revealed its first Smartphone in its current shop-flyer, now T-Mobile did the same but with a complete unknown device - the T-Mobile SDA.

The T-Mobile SDA is based on the HTC Typhoon but pretty carrier tweaked and therefore it's the first Microsoft Smartphone which features carrier specific hardware buttons:

With release of Windows Media Player 10, Portable Media Center, and MSN Music preview, Microsoft's digital-media strategy supports a fundamental transformation in the way people create, access and share entertainment.

REDMOND, Wash., Sept. 2, 2004 - Every once in a while, the dance between trends and technology achieves an almost perfect state of synchronicity that changes the way we experience the world. This may be one of those times. Among the trends: five years ago, less than 13 percent of Internet users had a digital-music file on their computer. Now, 70 percent of computer users listen to music on their PCs. And that is just the tip of the iceberg. Last year, more than 100 million digital photos were taken. More and more people are using PCs to view videos. By the end of this year, 9.5 million TV tuner cards will have shipped.

Piel Frama today announced the availability of their latest leather case for the HP iPAQ H6300 series Pocket PC Phone Edition and the Fujitsu-Siemens Loox 700 series.

Both leather cases are available from now in brown or red and features:

It took a while that Motorola finally announced their long awaited Motorola MPx220 Smartphone a couple of weeks ago and so far there wasn't any confirmed information available which carrier will release it.
Today, when I was in a local o2 shop, I picked up their latest shop-flyer, valid from 1. October until 14. October and for my surprise I found the following information:

On page 13, o2 Germany provides a forecast about upcoming devices for Christmas (Christmas - already ?) and beside two new UMTS terminals from Motorola and Nokia and Nokia's latest Communicator, o2 Germany also pre-announced the Motorola MPx220!