Transition issues moving from PPC to Smartphone

[Guest Donny Bahama]

Just got an Audiovox SMT5600 and was hoping to replace my Dell Pocket PC and Motorola cell phone with one device. But the transition is a difficult one...

When I want to enter a new appointment, I have to start the calendar app, go to the menu, then choose "New". The Pocket PC has a "New" menu that's pretty much always there... just tap "New" then choose Appointment, Contact, Task, Alarm Note, etc. This would be SO much more useful to me than the "Contacts" button to the right of the Start menu button.

Is there a way to change this? Software I can buy?

There are a lot more annoyances I've found so far, but we'll start with that one. I hope someone can help.

[Guest awarner [MVP]]

Welcome to the site :)

There are a few applications around but personally I only use Outlook and most of my contact editing is done on my PC rather than the device.

I know it's a bit late in the day but a PPC phone would have been more sutable such as the K-Jam from I-Mate as it's small enough to be a phone but also keeps all the qualities of the PPC.

Here is one example of an alternative application.

http://fairdeal.modaco.com/product.asp?id=416

[Guest Donny Bahama]

Welcome to the site :)

There are a few applications around but personally I only use Outlook and most of my contact editing is done on my PC rather than the device.

I know it's a bit late in the day but a PPC phone would have been more sutable such as the K-Jam from I-Mate as it's small enough to be a phone but also keeps all the qualities of the PPC.

Here is one example of an alternative application.

http://fairdeal.modaco.com/product.asp?id=416

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for the response! I've downloaded the trials and played with Power Calendar, Power Tasks, Oxios To-Do List and Papyrus. Most of them seem to be a significant improvement over Pocket Outlook (allowing you, for example, to set the alarm time for Tasks.)

But that really doesn't address my concern. Perhaps a PPC phone would be a better way (functionally) for me to go - and I am still within my 30-day period in which I can return the Audiovox - but I'm in the US, and my options don't seem to include the i-mate or K-jam. I'm limited to big, bulky PPCs with a hole at the top and another at the bottom to provide phone functionality. I bought the Audiovox because it's small enough to slip into my front pocket and carry with me all the time. There's also an issue of expense. PPC phones seem to go for USD400 and up - and that's with a 2-year contrac! The Audiovox was USD99. I already have a perfectly serviceable phone and PPC - I was just hoping to merge them into a single, smaller device. The Audiovox looks great, is nice and small, and the price was right, but ther are several things that are a few things that seem to make it very difficult (if not impossible) to make the adjustment from PPC to Smartphone...

1) There seems to be a distinct lack of configurability on my smartphone... I should be able to reassign the right softbutton to something else (preferably a "new" menu). Can this be done? If so, how?

2) I'm surprised that, when I'm in T9 input mode, it doesn't (as my PPC did) pop up the word(s) it thinks I'm typing after I've entered just the first few characters, saving me the time and trouble to type the whole thing. Is this a configuration option that I missed? If so, how do I enable this?

3) Configurability of the Start Menu- items and order of items. I've downloaded Tweaks2K2, but even that gives me only partial control over this. Is there something else that will help me with this?

4. When I press the "Home" key, the screen lights up, but the numeric keypad does not. If it's dark, I have to press a key to light the numeric keypad. If it turns out not to be the number I intended to press, I have to hit the backspace key, then press the right number. And, worse still, if I don't dial rather quickly, the backlighting on the numeric keypad shuts off before I get the number dialed! I would expect a configuration option for this somewhere! This can be largely circumvented using speed dial and/or voice dial, which seem to work great, but while we're on the subject of voice dialing...

5. I can't seem to find a way to setup either a speed dial entry or voice tag that will open up a new task, appointment, or contact. I can open the Calendar, Task List or Contacts, but I then have to navigate the menu to start a new item. This seems needlessly cumbersome to me.

I'm still trying to decide whether to keep this thing - I have 3+ weeks left to return it. If anyone can provide solutions (or good workarounds) for the issues I've listed, I'd be ever so grateful!

[Guest w411y]

Regarding your first trouble ... Try This!

It extends the right soft key and is fully customisable as to what options appear :)