At the time I was using an HTC Apache (6700) and it had a standard QVGA [240x320] screen. Now, however, I’m using a Samsung Omnia (SCH-i910) – with a WQVGA [240x400] screen, and moBlog is not compatible. Actually, I’ve looked into three other WinMo apps with very limited success – meaning two crashed instantly and the last took nearly 10 minutes to enter the setup screen, and then it crashed.

PocketPress is my own personal solution for the lack of WordPress publishing apps for the Windows Mobile platform.

For the past week, I’ve been coding PocketPress, and I couldn’t be happier with the way it is progressing. I hope to have it done soon, and I will probably be offering it for public consumption. The initial release will be targeted towards WQVGA devices, such as the Samsung Omnia, since that’s what I’m using. However, I’ve run a few tests and it would appear that porting PocketPress to other WM5 – WM6.x+ devices will be a piece of cake.

If anyone is interested in seeing a public release after completion, please leave a comment. Otherwise, I’ll probably just keep it to myself.

I had a small issue with my new wireless dongle that was causing it to disconnect from my router and become unable to reconnect to the same router without being reset – [disconnected|disabled] and [reconnected|re-enabled] – but it always happened while I was at work. This meant that I could not access my computer until I got home, and I could not access the internet until I reset the dongle.

I decided my best course of action would be to add a task to the Task Scheduler which would detect the error and disable then re-enable the dongle, thus fixing the problem without requiring my interaction. There was, however, one small hitch: Task Scheduler cannot interact directly with devices, and there is no built-in command line controller for the Device Manager in Vista.

This new issue led me to search for a command line interface for the Device Manager, and as luck would have it I found one. DevCon. And as my luck would have it, it is available for x86 and ia64 platforms only. Since ia64 is not the same as x64, and the x86 version cannot interact directly with x64 devices, I had come to a brick wall. Fortunately, I’m a resourceful person, and I found – through no small feat, I might add – an x64 version of DevCon. I now make this version of DevCon available to you. For information on the usage of DevCon, please refer to the Microsoft documentation page here.

You may download devcon_x64.zip below. It contains the x64 version of devcon.exe ONLY! This x64 version of devcon.exe will work on XP64 and Vista64 with AMD64 processors (e.g. Intel Core 2 / Intel Xeon and AMD Phenom / Athlon 64)  but WILL NOT WORK on Itanium (ia64) processors.

DevCon x64 (Version x64 (AMD64)) - 5200 Hits

While I can attest to the increased performance, I cannot confirm full functionality with WM6.1, as I do not have it.

Along with the general improvements with each update, the one thing I’ve been waiting for has been ever so slightly improved. I speak, of course, about power consumption.

I ran my own little benchmarking test for power consumption. The only differences in the tests were the phone status (normal or standby) and the status of AIM (not running or running), and the results are as follows.

Control 1: Normal, AIM not running

• Average: 80mA
• Total: 13mAh

Control 2: Standby, AIM not running

• Average: 18mA
• Total: 3mAh

Test 3: Normal, AIM running

• Average: 200mA
• Total: 34mAh

Test 4: Standby, AIM running

• Average: 53mA
• Total: 9mAh

Pretty much what you can expect is a largely decreased run time between charges with AIM running, and an even larger decrease while actively messaging others with AIM. The most noticeable thing is that running AIM while on standby still draws 3/4 of the power of running the phone normally without AIM running. However, even with a 1350mAh battery, I get around two hours of use between charges while messaging in AIM on and off. I’d still consider that a win, especially if you crave the use of AIM on the go.

The AIM for Windows Mobile page is here, and the direct download link is here.

Don’t expect any bells and whistles, however, as its simple design is good for only two functions. Sending and receiving IMs using your data plan instead of text messages, and – as of version 1.0.60.1 – checking your AOL/AIM email.

I’ve been using MobileAIM for a few weeks now, so here’s what I can say about it:

Pros:

• Starts quickly
• Supports buddy alerts and IM sounds
• Keeps history of conversations until you sign out
• IT’S FREE!!!

Cons:

• Requires just under 3300K for installation.
• Uses nearly 8MB of RAM at peak usage
• Only supports the AIM protocol
• Quickly drains the battery, even in the background

All things considered, you can’t really go wrong with AIM for WM. If you use AIM a lot and you’d like to use AIM on the go, but you don’t want to use up your text messages, AIM for WM is your best FREE solution.

You can get AIM for Windows Mobile at http://mobile.aol.com/AIM4WinMo.

I’ve used other IM software, and AIM for WM is by far the best. The other software includes Palringo and Gizmo5, but if you have another suggestion, please let me know.

This post, in fact, was written using the moBlog software. Since this is the first time I’ve used this software, I’m not sure of the outcome yet. However, even the worst-case scenario ends with me typing this whole post only to have it not get published. In that case, you wouldn’t be reading this, so I guess it works!

I plan to use this software to do much of my blogging, since I spend most of my life at work, so updates should be more frequent.