Harvey ROWSON's PPC/WM5/HTC TyTN stuff

HTC TyTN PocketPC

Step 1: Choosing

First thing after you've fallen for the PPC marketing and decided to buy one is to choose one. For this, my criteria were:

 Must have it all the time with me and available. A good solution to this is to also use it as your GSM, so it must be small and have all phone capabilities. This is important because I thought that occasions when the PPC will be really necessary are quite rare, so the last thing you want is to miss them.

 Must allow to really be used as a Pocket PC, for me this implies having a big enough screen to edit and view documents comfortably (let's say 12 words a line (approx a book) and 12 lines on screen) and surf the WEB (not only WAP), be reactive and maybe most important, have productive input capabilities. For me this last point implies having a proper keyboard. I understand that I won't be as fast as typing on a real keyboard, but I don't want to be too slow either compared to hand writing.

 Last important criteria for me, as I use windows on my PC, was to have something as close and compatible as possible to my desktop PC.

Given these criteria, my choice went on the HTC TyTN. It has WM5 with Mobile Word/Excel for compatibility with my desktop PC. It has phone capabilities and a descent screen and lastly its retractable keyboard makes it small (the full keyboard slides under the screen) to carry and ergonomic for using.

Step 2: Get it set up

Second step after receiving the new PPC is to get it set up while getting used to it (this is my first PPC experience). The manual is worth thorough reading, as it overviews most subjects without really entering into detail (which I guess would be way to long, given all the possibilities and software). For me setting up was mainly getting on my personal WiFi network and configuring ActiveSync (to synchronise stuff with the PC). It also turned out later that setting up also included installing PQzII (see below).

Some first 'user' comments here:

 The missing 'ctrl' key soon becomes a real nuisance for productivity. Luckily there is a very good solution with many other benefits to this. PQzII is a must have. First it allows defining a 'ctrl' and 'alt' key on an existing key (personally I used the Windows key, and to have the start menu I use 'ctrl'+'w'). Then it has many MANY other productivity focused features such as a TaskManager (like 'alt'+'tab' in Windows XP), keyboard shortcuts of all kinds (inserting text, running programs with parameters, generating key codes, ...). You'll really like this. Plus, the developer is really nice and helpful (but do take time to try and read the forums before asking him directly).

NICQUE Freeware

http://www.nicque.com/PQz

Microsoft MVP Awardees

http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/communities/mvp.aspx?name=Tomohiro+Nagakubo&ln=eng

 ActiveSync disappointed me a little. But maybe I wasn't expecting the right thing. I thought that ActiveSync would allow me to 'simply' select files on my PC which I would like to sync with files on the PPC. But this in fact isn't the case. All the files you want to sync must be in a special folder decided by ActiveSync (you can create subfolders) which in fact reflects the PPC 'My Documents' file structure (I'm not a fan of 'My Documents' MS flat file tree vision). So, as I already had an organised file system I decided to write some scripts which I run before and after ActiveSync in order to map from its folders to mine. In the end this is quite comfortable as it allows me to check the synchronised files before copying them.

 A final comment I'll make here: the compatibility between Office and Mobile Office is 'relative'. I mean it isn't perfect, and in most my cases I had to rework the documents before having versions I could really share between the two platforms without loosing format.

Step 3: Find a usage for it

This might be the hardest step for many buyers as they often get seduced by the attractive look of the gadget and the apparent obvious necessities to have one (the marketing hype you can easily find). In fact, for many people it is worth thinking twice, because the TyTN is quite expensive and you must add to that the price of your GSM/3G subscription which can soon be outrageous if you really want to stay online... Also, many people buy a PPC to subsequently realise that they don't really need one because they work on a desktop PC all day and they have a PC at home, thus leaving no room for the PPC.

Concerning me, my main usage for now is typing my web articles (which I generally write in cafés during lunch like this one) and keeping with me my agenda, contacts, accounts and a few other personal documents (so I can access them and update them at all times, for example I have an active "present/gift list" to avoid falling short of ideas at Christmas and birthdays…).

I also found I use the camera more than I would have expected (take a quick picture of my daughter during a walk, ...). I only use the WEB when I have WiFi access (at home for now, I wouldn't mind finding some cafes which have one for my lunch time writing) because I figure for now it is too expensive to surf the web with my GSM/3G subscription.

Conclusion

For now I find my TyTN really handy and I'm pleased with it. I use it quite a lot (especially for writing). I think the best test for it will be the test of time. If in 6 months I only use it as a phone I'll consider I lost my money. So we'll see.

I'll try to update this page then to provide some long term feedback.