Sunday, October 8, 2006
We Need Profiles Built Into Windows Mobile for Pocket PC
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "THOUGHT" @ 09:00 AM
The best thing I ever did in the world of mobile computing was switch to a converged device. The capabilities of my iMate PDA2K took me way beyond what I could do with my iPAQ 2210 and bluetooth linked cell phone. The "always on" data connection is perfect for keeping emails up to date - and a must for the push email of Exchange 2003. My K-Jam is even better since it, at the same time, has a larger keyboard in a smaller form factor. However, there are some serious drawbacks now to this all-in-one device and many could be resolved with a well thought out way to manage profiles.
Normally, I have my phone set to ring at the loudest level and all other system sounds are two notches above muted. The K-Jam has a trick where you can press and hold on the Comm Manager button (upper left side) and it will put the device in vibrate mode and mute all sounds. That's good for popping in meetings, church or movie theaters, but it is still very limited.
Guess what happens if I am listening to music or a podcast through earbuds and the phone rings? Instant deafness. The device should automatically detect Windows Media Player is working and replace things like alarms and ringers with gentle electronic tones, enough to let you know you need to look at the device and deal with something. Or pause the music/video playback and verbally tell you a phone call is coming in or an alert is going off. We already get that with Voice Command, so it isn't like the bits haven't been written for that. As it is, I simply don't listen to my device as a media player anymore because I'd have to manually mute the other sounds, and that can make it difficult to have WMP loud enough on an airplane or a busy street. So, I always carry an MP3 player with me for my music and podcast choices, which is a shame. I listen to a minimum of 2 hrs of podcasts/Audible each day on my commute. Why should I need to fiddle so much with the sounds to enable this?
I also use my device as an alarm clock, or at least I did until I got a converged device. Who wants the email tone going off all night long, or SMS news alert waking you up, or even the phone ringing? Not me. So, I mute the device totally. No sound at all and no vibration. This is two taps at night from the speaker icon, and two more in the morning, so not much of a problem, except now I can't use the alarm clock function. So, my 2210 still gets used for this. I should be able to put the device into an alarm clock profile and then have a variety of choices, because everyone is different. I would turn off all messaging sounds (email, MMS, SMS) and phone sounds. I'd leave the alerts working. Some of you may leave the phone ringer on, but perhaps at a much reduced level. You might even want one of your email accounts to remain on if an emergency message came through. The configuration for this would need to take all of this into account, but it wouldn't be too difficult to work with - which is not the same as saying it wouldn't be difficult to program. :wink: When you configure the alarm profile, a nice list of your messaging accounts, a box for reminders, and boxes for other apps that could plug into this would be listed - apps that run automatically and alert you for specific reasons, like NewsBreak. You simply check what you want to still work and then whether it works at normal or a reduced volume level. Your alarm would still be able to wake the dead, but the joke email from uncle Ned would just silently pass into your inbox for review the next morning.
I've tried a number of third party profile apps. Most do a half-hearted job of this, and one had the audacity to change my sound preferences with that of the developer! That app was gone as soon as I discovered that. I have no clue how well it worked. But it really doesn't matter. I suspect such a feature, if implemented well, would have to work deeply with the operating system and is going to work best if it comes from the Windows Mobile development group. Until then, I don't see how anyone can effectively take advantage of all of the features a Windows Mobile device is capable of.
Normally, I have my phone set to ring at the loudest level and all other system sounds are two notches above muted. The K-Jam has a trick where you can press and hold on the Comm Manager button (upper left side) and it will put the device in vibrate mode and mute all sounds. That's good for popping in meetings, church or movie theaters, but it is still very limited.Guess what happens if I am listening to music or a podcast through earbuds and the phone rings? Instant deafness. The device should automatically detect Windows Media Player is working and replace things like alarms and ringers with gentle electronic tones, enough to let you know you need to look at the device and deal with something. Or pause the music/video playback and verbally tell you a phone call is coming in or an alert is going off. We already get that with Voice Command, so it isn't like the bits haven't been written for that. As it is, I simply don't listen to my device as a media player anymore because I'd have to manually mute the other sounds, and that can make it difficult to have WMP loud enough on an airplane or a busy street. So, I always carry an MP3 player with me for my music and podcast choices, which is a shame. I listen to a minimum of 2 hrs of podcasts/Audible each day on my commute. Why should I need to fiddle so much with the sounds to enable this?
I also use my device as an alarm clock, or at least I did until I got a converged device. Who wants the email tone going off all night long, or SMS news alert waking you up, or even the phone ringing? Not me. So, I mute the device totally. No sound at all and no vibration. This is two taps at night from the speaker icon, and two more in the morning, so not much of a problem, except now I can't use the alarm clock function. So, my 2210 still gets used for this. I should be able to put the device into an alarm clock profile and then have a variety of choices, because everyone is different. I would turn off all messaging sounds (email, MMS, SMS) and phone sounds. I'd leave the alerts working. Some of you may leave the phone ringer on, but perhaps at a much reduced level. You might even want one of your email accounts to remain on if an emergency message came through. The configuration for this would need to take all of this into account, but it wouldn't be too difficult to work with - which is not the same as saying it wouldn't be difficult to program. :wink: When you configure the alarm profile, a nice list of your messaging accounts, a box for reminders, and boxes for other apps that could plug into this would be listed - apps that run automatically and alert you for specific reasons, like NewsBreak. You simply check what you want to still work and then whether it works at normal or a reduced volume level. Your alarm would still be able to wake the dead, but the joke email from uncle Ned would just silently pass into your inbox for review the next morning.
I've tried a number of third party profile apps. Most do a half-hearted job of this, and one had the audacity to change my sound preferences with that of the developer! That app was gone as soon as I discovered that. I have no clue how well it worked. But it really doesn't matter. I suspect such a feature, if implemented well, would have to work deeply with the operating system and is going to work best if it comes from the Windows Mobile development group. Until then, I don't see how anyone can effectively take advantage of all of the features a Windows Mobile device is capable of.
