Filip Norrgård’s blog @ filips.net
Filip’s blog about mobile technology, tech itself and other stuff

Nokia PC Suite Can Sync With Windows Vista!
16 January 2007 in Phones & Pocket PC | Comments (1)

The latest Nokia PC Suite version seems nicely compatible with Windows Vista. The surprise to me was to see it supporting Windows Vista’s Contacts synchronization already with calendar syncing maybe coming soon.

Now, will my Pocket PC ever sync again? I’ll have to see, but I’m not expecting a miracle since the Fujistu Siemens Pocket Loox 720 didn’t work in the RC1 and RC2 betas of Windows Vista.

Testing the Nokia Bluetooth Keyboard SU-8W
5 May 2005 in Phones & Pocket PC | Comments (3)

However, I can report on a new device that dropped in the mail a few days ago: the Nokia Wireless Keyboard SU-8W. Now, initially Nokia claimed that their keyboard would only work with their keyboards and still do so on their Finnish website (not their international .com site though).

Well, for those considering to buy the SU-8W, I can gladly report that the first Bluetooth keyboard from Nokia isn’t tied to their products only. It fully supports the Bluetooth HID profile and I’ve gotten the keyboard to work with my Nokia 6260, desktop PC and Pocket PC! Stay tuned for the review on PDAGold.com…

Hallelujah! The Pocket PC Emulator Is Alive Again!
26 April 2005 in Code-ing & Pocket PC | Comments (1)

I’ve been having hard times getting the Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition Pocket PC emulators (and all other versions) working in Visual Studio .NET 2003. I tried my usual remedy of uninstalling “Smart devices support” from both VB.net and C# and restarting, then reinstalling the support — but this time that didn’t solve my problem:

One or more files from the Emulator for Windows CE installation is missing. Please reinstall Emulator for Windows CE and try again.

So, I did a Goo… uhum, I mean a search for the error message and found this:

Workaround: Go to “Device Manager” (Right-click on “My Computer”, select Properties->Hardware and press the “Device Manager” button) and check whether “Virtual PC Application Services” is installed under the System Devices group. If the driver is not installed, install it by running “\CompactFrameworkSDK\ConnectionManager\Bin\DriverInstall\Smart Devices Emulator.msi”.

I tried it, and lo-and-behold it works instantly! A big thanks goes out to the Open NETCF Wiki where I found the solution!

Hacking The Pocket Loox 720 Camera Driver
25 February 2005 in Code-ing & Pocket PC | Comments (1)

One of the problems with using the integrated 1.3 megapixel camera on the Fujistu-Siemens Pocket Loox 720 in third party software was that there was no documentation available from FSC about the camera. FSC should follow HP’s example and put up a website with more info about their hardware for developers, but they still haven’t done so and I doubt that they will ever do that.

But hey, the camera needs a driver, and the DLL file goes by the name of HTXcamera1.dll, so why not do and swim around the OP codes of the driver? I did, using a freeware hex editor suitably named XVI32 (if you don’t get it, then think Roman numerals). What did I find? Well, the driver should allow external calls (not a surprise), but not in the same way as other HTC manufactured Pocket PCs, like the iMate Pocket PCs.

What I found were these methods that are probably possbile to call directly from the driver DLL:

Camera_Begin - Starts the camera, or takes a photo. Remains to be seen…
Camera_Deinit - Deinitializes the camera and probably shuts it down so it doesn’t eat the battery the whole day.
Camera_End - Sort of “closes the shutter” (if this was an analog camera)? Or calls the Deinit function?
Camera_FlashLight - Has got something to do with the LED flash (duh!).
Camera_GetProperty - Probably for getting the image quality currently set.
Camera_Init - Initializes the camera. (A no-brainer… )
Camera_SetProperty - Probably for setting the image quality to use, or if we want to record a video.

What I missed is a Camera_Start since there is a Camera_End function. Where is it, if not in the driver?

Oh well, with this info in the public, I hope that someone with more times on their hands can write a .NET class library for us to use in our .NET apps. I would write this myself, if I only had time for such things… Also, maybe someone with contacts should get this to Microsoft Research so that they can update Microsoft Portrait to use the Loox’s camera.

I Also Want to Play GPS::Tron!
31 January 2005 in Phones & Pocket PC | Comments (0)

Do you remember the game Tron from the days of playing it on the C64 and Amiga? Well, I do and can’t forget the fun that was. Now, someone with a bunch of sparetime on their hands have upped the ante for Tron gaming and brought it out from the 2 dimensional world to the 3D (or 4D if you believe in Einstein’s theories) and made it into GPS::Tron.

So, the game now takes place in the real world with GPS statellites tracking your movements and using GPRS (or some other datatransfer method) puts the location of you on a gaming server while retrieving the location of the opponent and updating your game view. This currently works only on Nokia and Siemens phones, but I assume that we’ll see this ported to many other platforms shortly (that is when this gets widely popular).

Now I’m just furious at the Finnish GSM operators for having some unusually high GPRS data prices for the moment. Maybe some more GPS::Tron gaming would bring the friggin’ price down…

Pocket PC Passion is sort of back
18 November 2004 in Pocket PC | Comments (0)

Just noticed that the Pocket PC fansite of the web: Pocket PC Passion is back… sort of, in the form of a blog. Dale Coffing’s Pocket PC website went down this summer and stayed down most of the time due to a monumential chain reaction of failures, mostly at the hard drive and the RAID controllers side!

For now, we have to settle with — uhh, more like “enjoy” when I think about it — Dale’s weblog over at the new old URI: http://www.pocketpcpassion.com/

Oh, I almost forgot: welcome back Dale!

REVIEW: Nokia Bluetooth Boom Headset HS-4W
27 October 2004 in Pocket PC | Comments (0)

My first review of a Bluetooth headset is up at PDAGold.com. It was the first time I also tried taking pictures of an accessory and therefore the pics aren’t anything near good, but only ‘OK’. I now know what I have to improve upon when trying to take macro shots: the light!

The intro goes like this:

One of the must-have accessories for Bluetooth fanatics to get must be the Bluetooth headset. The Bluetooth headset is almost the reason for getting Bluetooth phones in the first place. Since, it means that you are relieved of the tangles and webs of wires running to and from your headset, and no wires to get caught in. Now, let me take you through a review of Nokia’s bumerang-inspired Bluetooth headset and see how well it works with Pocket PCs and reality.

Read more…

Fujitsu Siemens Loox 720 Pictures
25 October 2004 in Pocket PC | Comments (0)

Interested in the Loox 720 camera and how well it performs? In my opinion, quite well but it is not replacement for a digital camera — at least not for the important picture moments.

I have put up an album of pictures taken with the Loox 720’s integrated 1.3 megapixel camera. The most noticiable problem is colorfringing which creates a strange, purple-ish halo around bright objects. The second is the focus which is equal to zero — since the Loox camera does not have an adjustable focus lens.

Other than those nit-pickety problems, the Loox is set to be a suitable camera for catching spontaneous shots, and doing some mobile blogging. The latter of which I will start to do really soon…

The Loox is finally HERE!
6 October 2004 in Pocket PC | Comments (0)

I’m happy that my brand new Loox 720 is here and happily running! Man, this thing is really beatiful and the screen is absolutely amazing. It is almost an unreal feeling staring at the screen with the soft images and texts. VGA screen definately rocks.

If you got any questions about the Loox 720, feel free to post a comment below. Meanwhile, I’ll let this beauty recharge and start writing some sort of a review…

Fujitsu Siemens Loox 720 coming my way?
4 October 2004 in Pocket PC | Comments (0)

It seems as if I might be getting my Loox 720 Pocket PC in the near days. *yey!* Today I got an automated email message from Multitronic (from where I ordered it) telling me that they have — lo and behold — as many as 1 in stock! (OK, I won’t be needing more than one piece)

When checking the Loox stock page at Multitronic, it shows that they’ve gotten 8 in stock at the importer! That’s way too little for little ol’ Finland, but I suppose that will have to do.

If it is “mine”, someone else’s remains, or a bug in the system to be seen tomorrow…