Mobility Moments

DeveloperOne (http://www.developerone.com) has been creating software for Windows Mobile devices for as long as we've been publishing this magazine. Their products are consistent winners or finalists in our annual best software awards. In early April, DeveloperOne asked its newsletter subscribers to submit short descriptions of their favorite (or not-so-favorite) "mobility moments." Our thanks go to the individuals who submitted these mobility moments and to John Psuik of DeveloperOne for allowing us to reprint excerpts from the responses he received. The complete list is available online (http://www.developerone.com/news/your_mobility_stories.htm).

Protect your device with a good case

I am in the United States Navy, and my Dell Axim Pocket PC is my life blood, especially while deployed at sea. The sheer number of meetings and tasks that I have to keep track of is hard to manage, especially for someone of my age (with my addled memory). One day while at sea I was hurrying down a ladder to the 7th deck. (You literally could see 6 decks straight down!) My Axim flew out of the pocket of my coveralls and bounced over the side of the ladder, falling 50 feet to the deck below. Crack! Tinkle! NOOOOOOOOOO!

There I was, stuck in the middle of the Persian Gulf, and ALL my contacts, addresses, and task lists—dutifully filed in Agenda Fusion—were gone. All I was able to salvage was my memory card. After a frantic e-mail home to my wife, she was able to send me out a replacement device, but that took over a month and a half to get out there. Let me just say that a pocket full of sticky notes is NO replacement for a good handheld with excellent software on it.

What's the moral of the story? Get a nice heavy duty case for your handheld if you work in a rough environment.

Lost (and found) in Venice

I went to Venice, Italy last year. I had been told before I left that even the locals get confused by the streets and waterways and tend to get turned around and lost. So before I departed, I downloaded maps of Venice into my Smartphone. Boy, was I glad I did that. I got lost one afternoon and all I had to do was turn on my GPS to see where I was. I was able to find my way back to my hotel with the map and the help of a kind Italian teenager who spoke English and translated my directions to a gondola boatman. I have traveled to 39 nations, and I never go without my Pocket PC phone.

Synced my HP iPAQ after the car ran over it

My worst Pocket PC disaster occurred during a mail run. I pulled into the ice-covered parking lot at a local Kansas City post office, grabbed a stack of mail, and got out of the car. The second I started to straighten up, I heard the sickening sound of my HP iPAQ 2200 sliding across the parking lot to my left. I looked up and saw that it had landed behind the tire of a parked car and watched in horror as the driver backed out of the space, running over my Pocket PC with both the rear and front tires!

I picked up the broken body of my little assistant, looked at the spider web of broken glass and plastic, and with a bit of trepidation, pressed the power on button. A rainbow of colors appeared on the broken LCD screen, but I couldn't read anything. Back at my office, I connected the device to my PC and was able to do a final sync to save the data! I reported the incident to my insurance company and they replaced my device.

The gift that keeps on giving

When I get a new device I donate my old one to someone who has never thought about getting a handheld. It's fun to watch them become technically adept with it. After a while, they can't live without it either. And when they upgrade to a new device, they pass it on to someone else—it's the gift that keeps on giving.

Settling disagreements, reviewing restaurant menus, and more