Taking a Look at Caller ID with Windows Mobile 5

[Mike Temporale]

I've used most of the Caller ID packages on the market, and for the most part, they are pretty good. However, they all suffer from the same flaw - difficulty of attaching a picture to a contact. Ideally, this should be something that could be easily managed on the desktop and then transfered over. Further more, they really should be managed through Outlook. After all, it's where your contacts are in the first place, and the contact card even has a place for a picture. The lack of integration between Caller ID and Outlook is something that I have complained about a number of times in the past. <br /><br />If you had a Windows Mobile 2003 SE based device, then you had Caller ID built-in. This was thanks to HTC's purchase of IA Style, which saved you having to buy an application. But it still didn't do Caller ID the right way. Thankfully, it's all changed. In Windows Mobile 5, Caller ID is baked into the OS and it is integrated with Outlook. It will display the picture that you have associated with a given contact using Outlook. :clap: You can assign a picture from your desktop or using the phone. What you can't do, is change the template that is used when that contact calls you. At least I haven't found a way to tell it to display a larger picture, or to display it in a different location. <br /><br /><img src="http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/Temporale-20051213-CallerID.jpg" alt="User submitted image" title="User submitted image"/> <br /><i>It's a good thing that I know who is in that picture, because there is no way that anyone else in the world will be able to identify them. Not from this picture! (The name and number has been removed to protect the innocent. ;) )</i><br /><br />While I have to applaud Microsoft for integrating Caller ID with Outlook Contacts, I feel they have more than dropped the ball when it comes to displaying that picture on incoming calls. The template/design is utterly useless and the picture ends up being no bigger than my fingernail. Just look at all the free space available below the callers telephone number, why not place a larger version of the picture here? :? <!> <br /><br />I've been told that this is just the default template for incoming calls and that Microsoft expects the device manufacturer to customize this screen. They had no answer for why the default screen wasn't more useful, especially when we routinely see these type of issues being over looked by the manufacturer. There was also no answer when asked if this is something that we could customize in the same fashion as the home screen.<br /><br />All in all, this ends up being one step forward followed by a couple massive steps backwards. It really makes you wonder what Microsoft was thinking when they made the default template so useless. :evil:

[dgage]

Pictures are nice but the majority of my business contacts don't have pictures associated with them. What I would really like is for the area code of the number be displayed if the caller isn't in my directory. I haven't found an app that has this feature yet. I do have Reverse Area Code but that doesn't help when someone is calling.

David

[Brandon Miniman]

I agree, Mike -- the calling screen has a huge amount of wasted white space.

I've fished through the registry trying to find where it specifies the size for the picture caller ID image, to no avail (it's gotta be in there somewhere, right?). Third party dev's -- come to the rescue!

[Mike Temporale]

Hey Brandon, welcome to SPT. :D

I don't know that it's in the registry. I think it's in a file someplace. Kind of like how the homescreen is done - at least that's my hope. This way it would be easy for people to customize things. Of course, I realize this is nothing more than a dream and the chances of this being the case are pretty slim. :(

[Neil]

Hee hee, every once and a while there's a post here that brings back memories :)

My team owned the design of "pictures in contacts", including where it showed up on the incoming call screen. This was a looong time ago, so bear with me as I try and remember the reasoning why you see what you see.

I agree, there's a ton of extra space. The main problem was we had to come up with a design that worked for portrait, landscape, and square screen. Ideally we'd be able to do radically different layouts for all three, but that takes both time and development/test resources, which are *always* in short supply.

As for the area code question, I'm not sure I understand. The number shown is what we get from the cellphone network. If there's no area code, then we didn't get the area code in Caller ID.

Neil

[Mike Temporale]

Hee hee, every once and a while there's a post here that brings back memories :)

Cool. Hopefully they're all nice memories. ;)

I agree, there's a ton of extra space. The main problem was we had to come up with a design that worked for portrait, landscape, and square screen.

Fair enough, if the picture was at the bottom, and you had a square screen, you might have to scroll down to view it. That wouldn't be very helpful to anyone.

Ideally we'd be able to do radically different layouts for all three, but that takes both time and development/test resources, which are *always* in short supply.

Ok, but can we do it? I was told that at Mobius that what we see here is just a default template and it was expected that the manufacturer or carrier would customize it. Is it something that we can customize after the fact, like the home screen?

And as for development/test resources - :clap: Right here, look at me! WooHoo... ;)

[cingular2125]

And as for development/test resources - Right here, look at me! WooHoo...

(In an Arnold horshack kind of voice) OOOOO OOOOO OOOOO Me Too!!!! :D :D

I am dieing for this and have been scrubbing the net to do this. Is it an xml file that could be edited? Or is it a standalone application? How could it be edited.

[Neil]

I don't believe there's a way for end users to tweak it. It's not an XML file like the home screen. Sorry :(

If you're really interested in being a development/test resource on Windows Mobile, check out the job listings at www.microsoft.com/jobs/. Look for either "Software Development Engineer" or "Software Development Engineer in Test" positions in the "Pocket PC and Smartphone" or "Windows CE" products.

Neil

[cingular2125]

Neil do you work for Microsoft?

Being that I am gainfully employed by another technology firm (Hardware related) I think I will pass on the job. I was seriously willing to be a beta tester or other if the opportunity presented itself for this.

Since this is not a customizable app does Microsft then view this as a deficiency that they need to fix or release a patch for? I think it is very counter productive for Outlook to allow for contacts to be attached, Activesync to sync it up, and then WM 5.0 to simply present the pic as small as humanly visible.

I am sure there is a valid reason for this originally, but you should offer a couple of options for this app being that it is very important for phone users. All the other 3rd party apps for Smartphone require you to add your own full size pics to be able to accomplish the same thing that could be inherint to WM.

Even if the pic would only be displayed the same size when viewing the contact, that would be a drastic improvement over the current way.

In reality I had something like this working with my Motorola (crappy as it was) phone. It was imbedded. But as with the 3rd party apps for WM I had to load the images one-by-one onto the phone.

With all due respect, the idea of having a single location such as Outlook to store ALL contact info is great, but without the ability to choose how the image is presented for caller ID is short sighted and the app is essentially useless.

Make it customizeable. Display at 25%, 50%, 100% of size.

What is the size of the image as it is store on the phone?

[Mike Temporale]

Neil do you work for Microsoft?


...

Neil
_________________
Neil Enns
Program Manager
Microsoft Visual Studio for Devices


:wink:

[Mike Temporale]

I don't believe there's a way for end users to tweak it. It's not an XML file like the home screen. Sorry :(

That's a shame. Now we're stuck with a broken experience. It's nice to have everything managed in Outlook, but the Caller ID template is worthless. No offense, but it's really not worth using.

If you're really interested in being a development/test resource on Windows Mobile, check out the job listings at www.microsoft.com/jobs/. Look for either "Software Development Engineer" or "Software Development Engineer in Test" positions in the "Pocket PC and Smartphone" or "Windows CE" products.

I am interested, just now sure if I'm ready to move my family across the continent and into the US.

[Mike Temporale]

Since this is not a customizable app does Microsft then view this as a deficiency that they need to fix or release a patch for? I think it is very counter productive for Outlook to allow for contacts to be attached, Activesync to sync it up, and then WM 5.0 to simply present the pic as small as humanly visible.

Microsoft doesn't issue patches or updates to the consumer. They don't sell Windows Mobile to the consumer. They sell it to ODMs like Samsung, iMate, Motorola, etc... They issue patches and updates to these guys, and they do it all the time. Must of the ODMs however, don't bother to release the update to their consumers. There can be a large amount of testing involved, and the cost is typically too much to warrant the work required. So, while Microsoft may be addressing this, chances are you won't see any change on your existing phone. :(

I am sure there is a valid reason for this originally,

There is, see Neil's first post above. ;)

What is the size of the image as it is store on the phone?

It's actually embedded in the PIM for the contact. I'm not really sure what the size is for it. But it displays much larger in email than caller ID.

[Neil]

I forget who asked, but yes, I do work at Microsoft although my signature is woefully out of date. I haven't worked in Windows Mobile for almost two years, so unfortunately I can't really do anything to change the caller ID display in later releases.

The photo is, if I recall correctly, stored in whatever size it was originally in the contact. It gets scaled at display time, not at "add to contact time" so there should be plenty of image data there for other uses.

Neil

[servoisgod]

I have a question. Maybe I'm just overlooking it, but my pictures are not syncing at all?

I have the Cingular 2125 and I have pictures in my Outlook, but nothing when I go to my phone?

Am I missing something?

Thanks,
Aaron