WebIS released Flexmail 4 recently. I got the email yesterday. I’ve used the beta at a few intervals, but kept running into a minor problem of Flexmail refusing to download entire messages, preferring to truncate them instead. I decided to wait for the final release. I downloaded and installed it.

I’ve been using this product through a few versions and naming schemes. Around Christmas (or generic, unmentionable holiday) 2004, Handango was giving away a free application each week. One week, the application was WebIS Mail. For those of you who have used the Pocket Outlook client on Windows Mobile, you know that either the Windows Mobile developers are freaking lazy or have some kind of revenue sharing agreement with third party developers. I’ve used Windows Mobile 2002, 2003, 2003SE, and 2005. I’ve also used the update of WM 5 for my iPaq 4705. I honestly haven’t seen any improvement in Pocket Outlook whatsoever, forcing a power user to spend money on third party clients. The mail program is particularly useless. It took the Windows Mobile team up to Windows Mobile 6 to incorporate the ability for Pocket Outlook to work with html mail. WebIS Mail 2 had this feature on my iPaq 3765, which was running Windows Mobile 2002.

WebIS renamed the third version Flexmail, and released it as Flexmail 2007. I purchased it. I’ve watched the development of Flexmail 4. As I said, I keep running up against a truncation issue.

Sure enough, even though I set up my gmail folders to download the entire message and full attachments, I still found mail truncating. I decided to go back to Flexmail 2007, which I know works solidly on my phone. Perhaps I should do Alex (the developer) the courtesy of filing a bug report so he can look into it. In the meantime, here is a plug for his company. I’ve also used three versions of Pocket Informant, WebIS’s phenomenally powerful calendar, task, contact, and project management program. It is so good, I even bought Franklin Covey’s Plan Plus for Outlook to take advantage of all the features. If you have a Pocket PC, I highly recommend this. I know a Blackberry version is in the works, as is an iPhone version, although no details on that will be available until Apple lifts the NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement.) Pocket Informant is so good, if Alex ever developed a desktop client, I’d stop using Microsoft Outlook.

I’m going through my RSS feeds on Google Reader, and obviously most are about the iPhone. Even some of the Christian life and theology blogs that I follow are about the iPhone. I have my choice of which article to link for the purposes of this blog post, and for now, I’m going to go with Lifehacker. My reaction to iPhone features, new, improved, and unexpected, run the gamut from “Wow, that's cool!" to "I've been able to do that on Windows Mobile for years" to "Who cares?"

• Price- $199 for 8GB, $299 for 16GB- "Wow, that's cool!"
• 3G- "Wow, that's cool!" and "Windows Mobile phones (with the exception of mine) have had that for years."
• Integrated GPS "Mine can already do that." My iPaq 6945 came out of the box with the ability to geotag photos. When I'm using the camera application, I can activate the GPS, and with the GPS running all the pictures I take with have GPS information embedded in them. Welcome, iPhone users to the useful (but not often used) feature. One thing I have to warn about though is that a device with an internal GPS antenna doesn't always work that well.
• Headphone jack- sort of all three. The original iPhone had a recessed headphone jack. I forget the design logic for this, but I never understood the point, unless it was some kind of planned obsolescence plot. Apple releases a phone with such a stupid design, fixes it in the next release, and Apple fans bow down and worship. Oh, yeah, all of the Windows Mobile devices I've had did not have a recessed headphone jack, although my iPaq 6945 has a 2.5mm jack, but it came with headphones that fit. In this case, I have to say "who cares?" because the original iPhone should have been designed with a proper headphone jack.
• Camera- again, all three. It's a 2.0 Megapixel camera, which is better than the 1.3 Megapixel camera on my phone. Of course, I can zoom and shoot video on mine. I haven't seen if Apple integrated software allowing iPhone users to zoom and film video on the iPhone yet. I know that jailbroken iPhone can download a program that will take video from the camera.
• Mobile Me- "Wow, that's cool!" and "Who cares?" Mobile Me has a font that looks a lot like Windows ME. It's supposed to allow you to sync your mail, calendar, and contacts across PCs, Macs, and the iPhone. Basically it's Apple's .Mac service, rebranded, with PCs in mind and the same price. Let's see, I can already sync my email across multiple clients with gmail. I think Plaxo allows syncing of contacts. It would be nice to sync my calendar more easily though. Microsoft ActiveSuck likes to duplicate my Outlook tasks when I try to sync across multiple computers, and of course only allows syncing with two computers in the first place. Mobile Me doesn't sync Outlook tasks, or notes, so I don't have much use for it, especially at $99.
• Notes- "Who cares?" and "Windows Mobile has done this better all along." I haven't seen any indication that Apple improved the notes function on the iPhone. The iPhone/iPod Touch have a client that allows the user to take notes, but the only way to get the notes off the device is to email them. All along, I've had the ability to create notes in either Outlook or my device and synchronize them.

I'm not trying to pick apart the iPhone. I think it's an amazing device and the coolness factor makes up for any limitations it may have. I enjoy my 32 GB iPod Touch, and I probably will pay the $10 to upgrade the firmware next month. In the words of Fake Steve Jobs, it restores a childlike sense of wonder to my life. This also isn't a comprehensive list, just what stood out to me the most.

I’ve been following some of the live blogging of Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference, hoping for word of the new iPhone. I’m finding Mac Rumours and Gizmodo are the best liveblogs of the event. I’m still torn on whether I want an iPhone or not. I recently heard that the iPhone will have integrated GPS. My iPaq 6945 has had it all along. The iPhone has 3G data, and mine only had EDGE, which is the speed of the current iPhone’s data. Talk time is good, and seven hours of browsing. That’s one serious weakness of my phone: battery life. I’ve heard rumors that the new iPhone will be subsidized, so prices will only be $199 with a 2 year contract. I already have AT&T, and although my wife hates them she seems to have no solution.

I did come up with a way to talk my wife into the iPhone. She never seems to remember to bring the charger for her phone. I charge all of my gadgets every night whether they need it or not, but we often leave the house and find her phone almost dead. If we both had iPhones, obviously I’d always have a compatible charger on me… I doubt it will work, but I’ll try anyway.

Lifehacker has a post today filled with speculation about the new iPhone, which is expected to be announced at the World Wide Developer Conference next week. Of course, Apple is a highly secretive company, so there is not telling, but Steve Jobs is known for his showmanship so we can only speculate about what will actually be announced.

The new iPhone is expected to have AT&T’s 3G mobile broadband rather than the EDGE network the current model has. It is also supposed to an integrated GPS. The GPS should allow for geotagging of pictures, or stamping a GPS location on them so you can later find what or where you took a picture.

Of course, my iPaq 6945 already does that. The iPhone is still cool though. About the only thing the new iPhone has (besides coolness) that my Windows Mobile device didn’t already have is 3G.

I recently went through a "soul searching" period with two coworkers selling used iPhones for $250. One was an 8 Gig, the other a 16 Gig. A 16 GB iPhone for $250 was worth having my wife angry at me for the next six months. I could have done plenty of surfing on the iPhone while she was yelling at me. I decided to stick with my iPaq 6945 Pocket PC phone for the time being though. I had a few reasons, but probably the biggest is that I finally figured out how to easily get eBooks onto my Pocket PC. For now, that can't be done with an iPhone. I also decided it's not worth having my wife that mad at me.

I've said before that I like Fake Steve Jobs. He has his off days, but generally he's hilarious and insightful. He linked to a video of Gary Krakaw of MSNBC saying that Apple needs to license Blackberry or Windows Mobile for the iPhone to succeed in the business world. I can't help but laugh when journalists start pontificating as to what tech companies "need" to do in order to be "successful." While journalists perform a very vital function, we need to remember that there is a huge difference between stating fact and expressing opinion. Of course, I guess most people turn to certain periodicals for the editorial positions of those news organs. I like John C. Dvorak for that very reason. I don't agree with him on a few things, but so what? I like his attitude and his analysis.

I seem to recall back in around, like, 1997, journalists were talking about how Apple would need to license Windows in order to survive. I think Apple has done just fine.

Just remember when reading journalism to differentiate between reported fact and stated opinion. In some cases, the difference is very, very subtle.Active reading is required to find the difference.

If you're looking for software, check out Illumsoft's sale this week. They sell a limited selection of software for Windows Mobile, Windows PC, and Palm. I didn't see anything that I wanted to buy for myself, but they do sell Pocket Informant on a partnering agreement, a highly powerful and useful calendar/task/information manager that I have been using for years and love. I would stop using Microsoft Outlook if Alex would release a Pocket Informant desktop client.

This will be quick as I have to get moving soon. I have a couple of numbers that are driving me nuts. Citibank calls me every single day, but when I attempt to answer, the call hangs up. Then it shows up as a missed call. If I call back, I get stuck in phone menu hell, although I have found that pressing * gets me into a long que to complain to somebody who should be able to fix the problem. I was told two weeks ago that my number would be removed, but it hasn't been. The number I'm getting called from is (800) 967-2400.

I'm also getting calls from (660) 626-1534. The number claims to be from a marketing or survey office that is immune and exempt from do not call lists. This number has been calling me lately as well. I needed a good, free way to block them.

Enter Call Firewall. I just installed it today, and put both of those numbers in. We'll see how it works. Call Firewall features 4 modes:

- Blacklist : All numbers here will be routed to phone messenger (just like your cellphone is off)
- My contacts only : Only incoming calls from your contact list are allowed. Other will be routed to phone messenger
- Whitelist : All numbers in this list will be allowed to incoming call. Others are rejected.
- Reject all calls : Guess what ??? ;)

Of course, all I want is for these two numbers, for now, to stop bothering me.

My Pocket PC phone has been driving me nuts lately. No, I'm not just trying to justify an iPhone. I keep telling my wife I'm just going to buy one and let her be mad at me for the next six months though. Lately my Pocket PC has been dragging itself to a crawl, and I constantly have to reboot.

It seems that the issue may be in WebIS FlexMail 2007. I've been using FlexMail, and it's predecessor WebIS Mail, for years. I guess the problem is centered around my data connection. Since I enabled it, I was leaving FlexMail running all the time. My phone would vibrate when I get new email. This was very valuable the last week with our previous realtor as I knew when a new email came in and I could respond. It's getting annoying now though, as I have to keep rebooting. The program starts up fine, but opening and closing mail can take forever.

I finally stopped using Flexmail yesterday. I've been running a trial of Opera Mobile, and I keep a tab open to gmail. Sure, I don't get the vibrating notification when new mail comes in, but at least I don't have to reboot my device 20 times a day.

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/news/show/88388/microsoft-ditches-windows-mobile-goes-iphone.html

If this isn't an April Fool's joke, I don't know what is. I know what I would like to see though: a Pocket PC that actually gets better over time. Seriously, I've been using Windows Mobile since I got an iPaq 3765 in 2003, and the devices have not really improved since then. I've had 4 Pocket PC's, including one as a phone, and have not seen much real improvement. OK, from my first iPaq, adding wi-fi and BlueTooth were major improvements, but I've had 3 units with those.

I called my dad Friday afternoon, and asked if he'd like to buy me an iPod Touch for my birthday. The Apple iPhone sounds really good, but I just talked him into buying an iPaq 6945 Windows Mobile phone last October as a graduation present. I'm slowly moving my old posts over from Blogger, so maybe I'll get to that one eventually.

After wasting an entire day at work, I needed something to make me feel better. Since my mom passed away, my dad and my brother live in what must amount to a bachelor's paradise. I figured that buying my own present (on my rewards Visa) and having him send the check was easiest all around. I checked Circuit City's website, and found that the 32 GB iPod Touches aren't carried by 2 of 3 local stores and are out of stock in the third. I have never been successful in getting my wife into an Apple store, so off we went to Marlton. I told my kids we were going to a store the sells Apples like my computers. I have an old iMac 333Mhz G3 and an iBook G3 600 Mhz, so they've grown up around outdated Apples (of course my 80 Gig video iPod is already obsolete.)

I am impressed by the Apple store. The store was crowded, but I was met right away by a "genius". I think that's what the Apple store calls them, but I know it's what bloggers call them. I actually wanted a minute to screw with the Macbook Air demo units, but when the employee met me I said "I'm looking for the 32 Gig iPod Touch." He led me right to the wall with the cases, which I had thought about anyway. I loved the case on my 80 GB video iPod, especially when working on the house and and yard, because I had an arm sleeve that I can put the iPod on. I picked out a case for the iPod Touch, then the genius went into the back to get the touch. He then took a handheld unit, swiped my credit card, and I signed off. Wow, that was fast. In the meantime, my wife was going out of her mind trying to keep Joshua and Caleb from crashing two iMacs on display, but both seemed to be running children's applications anyway. She was expecting a long wait, as there were a bunch of people in line. I told her I was already done. Then we went to Trader Joe's for her to do some shopping. Everybody won Friday night.

It took me a while to get all of my content synced. I need to watch some of the video that I've built up. It all fit on an 80 Gig video iPod, but not on a 32 Gig iPod Touch. I'll have to make an effort to watch some of the shows I've converted and some of the video podcasts I've built up.

Overall, I love the iPod Touch. It's phenomenal. It came preconfigured with gmail imap settings, so I just entered my email login and password and it was there. It picked up my home wireless network right away also. Seriously, this is amazing! I still have my iPaq 6945 Windows Mobile phone, and the iPod Touch is showing me some glaring limitations of Windows Mobile. Maybe not limitations, and the Touch has many of them as well, but a media player with wi-fi, email, and full featured web browsing is not something to complain about. It would take me several minutes while leaving the house to get my 6945 to connect to wireless, bring up Flexmail 2007 (as Pocket Outlook is too limited for my tastes), download messages, then close Flexmail and turn off wireless. I can whip out my iPod Touch and check email in seconds on my way out the door. Pocket Internet Explorer is about useless, but Safari on the Touch is pretty good for keeping up on my Google Reader feeds of looking things up online sitting on the couch.

I'm not sure if I'd want to jump straight to an iPhone, but the Touch will definitely make up for email and surfing limitations on my WM Phone.

I wrote this past Saturday about how the iPhone is everything that I wish Windows Mobile had been. Last October, I bought the Windows Mobile 5 update for my iPaq hx4700 Pocket PC simply because I don't like not having the latest and greatest if I can do anything about it. The problem is that although this device is capable of running WM2005, it doesn't run efficiently. I finally got fed up and restored the Pocket PC to Windows Mobile 2003SE. I got my performance, but of course not my functionality.

This morning, I read about a new ROM containing Windows Mobile 2005 for the hx4700 on Pocket PC Thoughts. I downloaded it and I am currently installing it. Let's see if this will give me the performance of WM2003SE and the functionality of WM2005. I'll update later. That link contains a complete tutorial as well as links to all of the file needed and some other tips.