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Is there really a big delay when opening/closing the keyboard?

yes every day there is the same question and thing I'm doing, looking to the web for news about new MS mobile devices..and now thinking about buying the Vox. But the only thing so far I couldn't live with is that there should be big delay when opening or closing the keyboard.
How do you rate this?

Its a few seconds...maybe more if you have many apps running in the backround, but then everything runs slow when thats happening on any WM device... dosent bother me...
Regards - John

To be honest in my opinion its not as bad as other make it seem, as long you keep tabs on the programs you have running in the background every now and not running with only 1mb free memory then you shouldn't have a problem. One tip you can try is disabling the sound it plays when switching views in the settings. Made the switch slightly faster in my opinion.

Without the Sound it is maybe 2 times faster..

thanks guys for your prompt answers!!
Do you have a clou whether the important progs like PocketInformant or AgendaOne are running without problems in landscape mode?

fire00 said:
thanks guys for your prompt answers!!
Do you have a clou whether the important progs like PocketInformant or AgendaOne are running without problems in landscape mode?
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I use AgendaOne and I haev not had an issue with it switching orientation. However Documents to Go has a problem as does SmartPhoneNotes - they will not fill the screen, you get a scroll-bar on the righe, pretty much making it still portrate..
John

hi John
I thought one doesn't need smartphonenotes anymore as WM6 should have its own notes taking application?
As well as Office Mobile (doc, xls, ppt) should be on board, isn't ?

I really don't see what the fuss is about speed of the screen rotation. Its not like it takes several minutes. Approx 1-3 seconds depending on what's running in the background is perfectly fine.

hi guys, I don't want to make the Vox bad, I'm asking because I had the same issue with HTC Hermes, which was also quite ok after I disabled the sound. It also depends on how many applications are installed, loaded in memory, how much memory is free etc. But reading one of the serious reviews like the one from mobile-review - I rather ask for opinions of users before I buy it.
Thank you all
Can somebody tell how is it with the mobile office? Is it really not included with Vox as I read also somewhere? And is there a mobile note application synchronizing with Outlook?

fire00 said:
Can somebody tell how is it with the mobile office? Is it really not included with Vox as I read also somewhere?
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I have it installed. It includes, adobe reader LE, Excel Mobile, Calculator, Powerpoint Mobile, Voice notes and Word Mobile.
rgrds
Björn

You can edit existing documents but you cannot create ones, correct?
How about the notes application - possible to synchronize them with desktop?

fire00 said:
hi John
I thought one doesn't need smartphonenotes anymore as WM6 should have its own notes taking application?
As well as Office Mobile (doc, xls, ppt) should be on board, isn't ?
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Yes it has them...but WM6 does not allow for creation of new items in Office Mobile (although there is a hack to get around that) but I personally find Documents to Go a better offering than what MS gives you. I have word docs sent via email that dont load in Word mobile (on WM5 or WM6) yet have no problem in DTG...
There is also a 3rd party notes app - but no way to Sync to Outlook, thus I use SmartPhoneNotes.
Regards - John

pinussen said:
I have it installed. It includes, adobe reader LE, Excel Mobile, Calculator, Powerpoint Mobile, Voice notes and Word Mobile.
rgrds
Björn
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You know...not to go way off topic here, but I thought I was going crazy one night because I could not figure out why there was no Calculator on the VOX...it never crossed my mind that it would be under "Office Mobile".... Since I never go in there with DTG installed - makes no sense at all to me for it to be in there...
My 2 cents
John

this is really a place one should go to - getting answers by like-minded people.
RE notes / synchronization - you know that there is a new beta out there of phatnotes by phatware? It supports WM6, might be a solution also for the landscape issue with smartphonenotes described by John...?

chybinj said:
You know...not to go way off topic here, but I thought I was going crazy one night because I could not figure out why there was no Calculator on the VOX...it never crossed my mind that it would be under "Office Mobile".... Since I never go in there with DTG installed - makes no sense at all to me for it to be in there...
My 2 cents
John
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Hehe.. had the same problem, I had to hunt around for it a while before finding it.
rgrds
Björn

fire00 said:
this is really a place one should go to - getting answers by like-minded people.
RE notes / synchronization - you know that there is a new beta out there of phatnotes by phatware? It supports WM6, might be a solution also for the landscape issue with smartphonenotes described by John...?
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Didn't know about it to be honest, will have to swing by their site and look it up.
I guess I should note that DTG and Smartphonenotes are landscape aware, I used them just fine on my BlackJack...and I noticed today actually that if you start them in landscape mode they auto-rotate just fine....its only when you start in portrait mode that they go whacky...
Take care - John

Syncing with WIndows 7 prebeta?

Well, I'm glad I always back up stuff... I have installed Windows 7 on my laptop, and everything works well...except for syncing contacts and the calendar. It deleted everything I had on the WM unit (an Atom Life). All contacts and all appointments. It doesn't seem to work with Outlook 2003 at all. Anybody got this working, or am I just a too early adopter? I may of course set up a virtual machine with XP and run Outlook 2003 on that, but it's a bit of a hazzle.

Maybe Outlook 2003 is the problem...time to go office '07...trust me, it is so much better

Actually it's not. I really, really, really hate the interface. It's total crap, created for the mouse age and for people starting up with that version. I'm 40+ and firmly and forever stuck in the "everything worth doing is possible to do with a keyboard" age! And I have all shortcuts and menues in Office 2003 firmly in my fingers. I tried 2007 for two weeks, but I found out that I worked at least 40 % slower with that, after those weeks. That was of course better than the first few days, when everything took at least twice as long... But it still didn't seem to improve much more beyond the first week. So I went back to the image of my hard drive before I installed it.
But thanks a lot for the idea! It didn't occur to me that the problem could be there. I will try to install just Outlook 2007 and see if that helps! Maybe even the slightly newer version that comes with the Atom Life might help. I think I'll try that first. I'll let you know!
Edit: Make that slightly older... It's Outlook 2002 that comes with the Atom!

Solved! I wish everything was this easy (all though the easiest stuff can be the hardest to figure out). It only takes three steps to sync your WM unit with Windows 7 prebeta:
1. Download Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1 for Vista.
2. Install Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1 for Vista.
3. Sync.
That's all that was needed. I thought that was already built in, but it isn't. So now I'm syncing like crazy with my beloved Outlook 2003!

Mastiff said:
Actually it's not. I really, really, really hate the interface. It's total crap, created for the mouse age and for people starting up with that version. I'm 40+ and firmly and forever stuck in the "everything worth doing is possible to do with a keyboard" age! And I have all shortcuts and menues in Office 2003 firmly in my fingers. I tried 2007 for two weeks, but I found out that I worked at least 40 % slower with that, after those weeks. That was of course better than the first few days, when everything took at least twice as long... But it still didn't seem to improve much more beyond the first week. So I went back to the image of my hard drive before I installed it.
But thanks a lot for the idea! It didn't occur to me that the problem could be there. I will try to install just Outlook 2007 and see if that helps! Maybe even the slightly newer version that comes with the Atom Life might help. I think I'll try that first. I'll let you know!
Edit: Make that slightly older... It's Outlook 2002 that comes with the Atom!
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Gotta agree. The biggest problem to me is having successfully mastered the way Office was, learning the new Office isn't something I want to spend my time doing.

mastiff can to provide link by pm where u got the window 7 from.

WizardN00b said:
Gotta agree. The biggest problem to me is having successfully mastered the way Office was, learning the new Office isn't something I want to spend my time doing.
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Touche! I've been using Excel for years, took me about 5 minutes to find how to protect the data !

TheChampJT said:
Touche! I've been using Excel for years, took me about 5 minutes to find how to protect the data !
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The new Word and Powerpoint interfaces are totally different.

Mastiff said:
Well, I'm glad I always back up stuff... I have installed Windows 7 on my laptop, and everything works well...except for syncing contacts and the calendar. It deleted everything I had on the WM unit (an Atom Life). All contacts and all appointments. It doesn't seem to work with Outlook 2003 at all. Anybody got this working, or am I just a too early adopter? I may of course set up a virtual machine with XP and run Outlook 2003 on that, but it's a bit of a hazzle.
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Can you let us know where you downloaded windows 7?
Thanks,

can people not use google, torrent searches, demonoid or rapidshare searchers
well i think the above posts asking where it is answered my qustion

rorydaredkign said:
can people not use google, torrent searches, demonoid or rapidshare searchers
well i think the above posts asking where it is answered my qustion
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Hey, you don´t have to be that rude, we all know that sites, here the idea is to help, so if I ask this is to have the opinion from the one I´m asking to, so he can point me the site he downloaded and any other comments. So let´s try to be nice here.
This community is to help each other members, not to say how noob we are.
Good day to you

orb3000 said:
Can you let us know where you downloaded windows 7?
Thanks,
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he cant answer you because the beta version of windows 7 hasnt even been released yet!
the version going round the various torrent sites has not been officially released by microsoft stay clear till official beta is released sometime in dec 2008

I found that Windows Mobile Device Center would crash every time I attempted to sync with a Windows 7 computer, the only way round this so far is to set the compatability program to Windows Vista RTM.
Now the phone happily syncs (and for some reason much faster than it did on Vista) on Windows 7 pre BETA.

Not trying to argue here but one 60 minute session of training on the Ribbon was all I needed. I have increased my productivity within Office as a result. I find that every command I need is one click away where as older versions needed multiple clicks.
The gentlemen who mentioned all keyboard controls I can't argue with but for my touch screen Office work the ribbon is bomb.

Best PIM software, anyone?

I've been searching for a good PIM software forever. I loved the PIM software that came with the PalmOS. Since changed to Windows Mobile, I have not found one that can match up with the native Palm PIM. I am not looking for much. All I want, is simple "search" function added to the Calendar and Task (todo) programs that comes with Windows Mobile 6.1. Is that too much to ask for?
All the commercial software packages I've tried, either, too slow, use up too much memory, not hooked up with Windows Mobile environment well, or all of the above.
Any suggestions! thanks very much!

Yes, me too. Since my Psion revo, I've not found anything similar. The one thing I miss is multiple diaries. With WM6 everything has to be on one diary. I would like to seperate my work and personal diaries (without use of 'categories'). I've looked and looked. Everything seems to be simply a 'front end' to the WM one, but nothing unique.

I had a great plug in on my PalmV that gave me a week view of my calendar on the screen just like a paper diary, why has no-one done this for the Pocket PC?

66mustang said:
I had a great plug in on my PalmV that gave me a week view of my calendar on the screen just like a paper diary, why has no-one done this for the Pocket PC?
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Check out ThumbCal, the latest version has an option for "Week view".

anyone know of real PIM s/w. not just a today front-end, but something that has it's own database/sync?

JonMorgan said:
anyone know of real PIM s/w. not just a today front-end, but something that has it's own database/sync?
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Sorry but forget about PPC not even for WIn PC exist a nice/good PIM.

Outlook...Skin?...Replace?...Make Finger Friendly?

I think most of us would agree that outlook is pretty old school in its appearance and usage. Having done a search it seems that this has been asked quite a few times before and not solved, so is there a good alternative or a way to skin it. Look at the work being done here for SMS, isn't there something that can be done similar to this with emails?

Yeah totally agree with you on that one. I cannot believe MS or anyone else has not developed something new for Outlook. Win 6.5 is pretty much the same I believe, slightly bigger if anything (?)
The existing layout is just not finger friendly.

Outlook in the Win Mo 6.5 is dissapointingly simmilar....
as you say a little bigger, so much so that most menu's need to scroll, and generally means you get way less on each screen, but notibly for me... it does not ADD to any usability... the outlook contacts list does have thumbnail for your contact's picture though, which is nice, but still a really hard to use contacts list, and not much more finger friendly, I guess M$ just keep their head in the sand?? surely you'd listen to the user community if you ran such a company, and move with the times, wouldn't you??
sh500 said:
Yeah totally agree with you on that one. I cannot believe MS or anyone else has not developed something new for Outlook. Win 6.5 is pretty much the same I believe, slightly bigger if anything (?)
The existing layout is just not finger friendly.
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Best mobile OS for staying organized?

I just wanted to know what are people's thoughts about what they think is the most effective OS for mobile phones in terms of staying organized (task manager, agendas, etc.)...
Would this go to Blackberry OS?
I used to have a Nokia phone running Symbian S60, and I thought that the list of upcoming calendar entries on the homescreen, along with recent emails was really convenient.
As much as I love Android, I just find it a little underwhelming in terms of staying organized... and I can't quite put my finger on it, but the standard calendar app just seems really difficult to use.

No idea about RIM, but I would go with older versions of winmo, or palm os

cmstackar said:
No idea about RIM, but I would go with older versions of winmo, or palm os
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By Palm OS, does that also mean Web OS on the Pre?

WinMo 6.1 or 6.5
I'm using both WinMo & Android.
In my opinion, WinMo 6.1 or 6.5 help me stay organized better. I like apps like Notes & Tasks from WinMo, & those are default apps out of the box.

Plain old WinMo today screen (no Sense or Titanium) might fit with what you are looking for well.
Just a simple list of upcomming appointments and tasks on your home screen. I've always found the default WinMo calander app to be powerful and easy enough to use even if it is not the most finger friendly thing in the world. And there are many today screen plugins out there to help you customize it exactly to your needs.

I prefer Android and a calendar widget from the market...

You could also consider using Pocket Informant on iPhone. No jailbreaking needed. If you want all critical information at one glacé on the lockscreen, then jailbreak and use lockinfo, or intelliscreen.
Surprised that you don't like Android. I would expect it to be quite good due to it's wizards and notifications features. The stock calendar and todo feature might be lacking but surely there are 3rd party software to make up for the deficiencies.
It's not the OS but the applications that you be conceremed eith IMHO.

Windows mobile 6.5.X all the time!

I will have to say the tp2 imo

Thanks for all the suggestions. I took these few days to check out some of the phones running on Windows Mobile, but many of them are very... bulky (compared to something like the Nexus One or even the Nokia that I had before).

Android Agenda Widget keeps a list of upcoming tasks on your homescreen.

I tried BlackBerry and I'm back on Windows Mobile due to the lack of capability for my needs on the BB platform. Certain things that I expected coming from WM and Palm long ago, just do not exist on the BB platform. The default task app on WM is not up to the size of my task list, but PocketInformant fills the PIM function nicely and has been developed for so long there is just nothing close that I have found. I was able to find a good task application (good functionality, but terrible aesthetics). On the BB calendar there isn't even a category field, so there is no way to differentiate your various appointment (icons, color, etc.) like you can easily do in WM. There are alternative calendar application, but they are not as feature rich as you will find on WM and many lack the ability to sync the extra features (icons, colors, categories, etc) to Outlook due to their reliance on standard BlackBerry sync. Also realize that the capability of the BlackBerry on BIS is very different than on BES. BIS just lacks way to much in my opinion and I was never able to try on BES. My wife is using Android and it works well for her, but the lack of tasks was a deal breaker for me. I have high hopes for Android and hope it improves quickly.