First impressions from using Smartphone 2003 operating system in hardware (not just in emulator)
October 25, 2003 [MS Smartphone] | By anonymous 1.
See some screenshots and read about our first hands-on impressions
from using Smartphone 2003 operating system in Compal AR11 (aka Everlink
Wireless SC1100) cell phone. Upgrade to new OS for this phone has become available yesterday and we have been writing about it in detail here. Here we present just impressions from hands-on usage, but if you wish to see full list of new features in Smartphone 2003 then click here.
Interestingly after switching the phone on, no longer "Microsoft Windows Powered" logo appears (click here to see how it looks like in Smartphone 2002) in the new system, but just this "Windows Mobile" logo appears:
Here are screenshots from the About dialog, that show exactly which version
of Smartphone operating system we have tested:
Our impressions from using of Smartphone 2003 in hardware:
- behavior of Pocket IE (Internet Explorer) is more natural:
you can browse in IE, hit "Home" key and then the IE icon again and you go to the page you were browsing...not the "favorites" page.
- itīs faster
you can feel that usage of the phone is faster due to another, new,
underlying core OS; however the busy cursor still appears from time to time
- fonts are bolder, thicker but smoother
it looks like ClearType is switched on and anti-aliasing is always
switched on; see screenshots above to get a feeling about what we are
talking about
- folder "IPSM" is now called "Storage"
- itīs the place where files are stored, that can survive soft reset (
not hard reset) and that can survive switching the phone on and off;
sometimes to ensure backwards compatibility with old smartphone
applications it is good to create 2 folders "/IPSM" and "/IPSM/My
Documents"
- home screen by default shows also date, not just time:
- the initial left soft-button is called "Start", not "Programs"
- allways ready to receive IR transmissions
in menu Settings / Beam (new position in Settings menu) one can set
checkbox "Receive incoming beams" which allows your data beamed from other
devices. It is very handy for exchange of files and
contacts - it eliminates the need to start manually the "Infrared Receive"
application, that was also removed
- Pocket MSN added in the menu with typical butterfly icon:
- another new position in Settings menu: Certificates
... where one can view Personal and Root certificates
- old applications from Smartphone 2002 generally run well in the
Smartphone 2003 although games with complicated graphics and programs that
have the path "IPSM" in a hardcoded form, may have problems; generally we advise hereby developers to recompile software with eVC++ 4.0 and test it again in the new OS
- new game added: Jawbreaker
- Pocket Internet Explorer got new menu position "Layout"
... that has positions "One Column" and "Desktop", that facilitate
Internet browsing
- when starting/installing some unsigned application for the first time,
the system is asking if this application should be executed, because it
comes from the unknown source; user can select "Yes" and "No"
- problems (please note: we used early version of Smartphone 2003
released only for developer phones, not to consumer market):
- problems in connecting with PC over USB - ActiveSync is not
recognizing the phone - sometimes connects (very rarely) but mostly no
connection
- when phone is connected through USB to PC then it is not being
charged although powered-on icon appears
- infrared reception is not working - file is being transferred but is
not being saved to the file system
- sometimes strange error messages appear after applications are being
closed
-
- T9 input method is not working
one cannnot get to T9 input no matter how long the "*" is being hold down
Conclusion: the Windows Mobiles 2003 for Smartphone is a significant
improvement over MS Smartphone 2002 and constitutes good basis for
market success of Microsoft smartphone platform.
If you have some suggestions from your own experiences with Smartphone 2003
and notice some points missing from the list above, or if you are
interested in some points not mentioned above, then give your feedback here.
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