Wireless Application Scenarios: What Do You Do?

[Jason Dunn]

I was contacted by someone at T-Mobile who was interested in starting a discussion about the usage of wireless data services. Using a wireless device to check your email is an obvious use - but what else? I know that Pocket PC Thoughts readers are some of the most creative people around, so what are you using your wireless device for? The focus here should be more on GPRS-type scenarios than WiFi, but barring that, anything is fair game. Show me how creative you are! :D

[jbradley]

Terminal Server is my big GPRS app. A little poky over T-Mobile network, but fast enough to get a few things done.

[kagayaki1]

When I get out of Wi-Fi range at my college campus, I like to sync up with Activesync using the WAN built into my phone. This works like this:

Bluetooth 3870 iPaq to Bluetooth Nokia 6310i to computer.

Works pretty well! Would be much better with an unlimited data plan. For T-Mobile customers, I guess the same scenario would work with a Nokia 3650.

-Jason

[danmanmayer]

I currently use:

e-mail
AIM
Wireless weblogging
Avanta Go updating

I have plans to use

Wireless games (chess and other likely to be other turn based games)
News Streams (XML feeds)
Other ways to automate website updating

[acronym]

I have t-mobile gprs, so at $20 for 5mb/month you can say I don't use it much.

[krisbrown]

The webcams on my WAP site are very popular, people just couldn't believe they could view so many in such detail.
One skiier from Austria was so made up that I posted a link to his favourite mountains webcam, which he could view on his PPC and Smartphone that he sent me 10 Euros!! :D
Checking your house security camera, downloading alarm status, even house temperatures, weather conditions, all very useful for people away from home.

[david291]

Online gaming. The use I'm specifically interested in is with an online game called MinuteWar (http://www.minutewar.org) that uses GPS receivers and requires travelling around your local area to make moves in the game. Having connectivity from the PocketPC would make playing that game easier (rather than returning home to a computer). I'd be the one writing the software, but a prerequisite is cheap and available cellular internet access.

[anthonymoody]

"I have t-mobile gprs, so at $20 for 5mb/month you can say I don't use it much."

Then you should go to TMobile and change your plan. $20 now gets you 10MB....

TM

[Brad Adrian]

I use it a lot for keeping in touch with my family using MSN Messenger when I'm in situations where I can't make a voice call. When I'm at conferences and sitting through session after session, it's indispensible.

I also use it a lot when we're out and spontaneously decide to do something like go to a movie. The Carmike Theaters Web site actually works fairly quickly on my Pocket PC Phone Edition.

[malcolmsharp]

If they are really interested, there are a few things that wouldn't cost too much that would work well.

1. Local, real time news. Partener up with a local news station (radio or TV... not newspaper. It needs to be with someone dealing with news real time), and offer a display of timely data.... traffic, weather, news alerts. You can get some of that seperately, but if you make it easier on the user to get to, you get a loyal user. You can also run a co-promotion of each other (the news mentions the service and phone company, the phone company mentions the news source).

2. e-mail service... as a service, not just pinging my pop3. I get tons of mail, and I would not want to deal with it on my phone. Offer a web based mail service that forward the mail that you WANT to deal with (based on sender, subject and such) to your phone, from any account. Also, that would allow an e-mail address tied to my phone that is NOT my phone number. I would hand out an e-mail address more than my phone number.

3. Find local blogs that comment on the area and news there and offer RSS feeds to the phones. I don't know if this would be a winner or not, but it couldn't be too expensive, and if you told the blogger about it, it would result in some free advertising. You could also get with a blog provider and offer blog updating from your phone, audio and text.

4. PIM data that can sync over the net, NOT though a cable. And no, not just reading it off the net, but syncing the phone up so when I'm not in a service area I can still see it. Of course, that would require a phone that was made to do that too.

5. REAL web browsing. Not just the sites you want us to see. Certianly offer us a list, so non-geeks can see what's out there without too much trouble, but let the people do what they want!

6. Give me web controls over everything. I hate typing in stuff on the phone, and if I can change my hotlist and such from my computer, I'll do it more often.

[Jason Dunn]

Things I use my Fido GPRS data for (some more than others):

- web access
- email
- Messenger (IM)
- Remote Desktop (Terminal Server)
- updating apps like MobiMate's WorldMate with new weather information
- Remote ActiveSync

If GPRS was faster, I could see myself using it more.

[bdegroodt]

-SSH
-Email
-Web
-When MSNBC was showing the war in real time, I used WMP to watch some of that while out of the house (Wait. Wasn't the reason I left the house to get away from that? :? )

Pretty much the same things I use a desktop data connection for.

[mty]

I have t-mobile gprs, so at $20 for 5mb/month you can say I don't use it much.

current rate is 10mb for $20--call customer service and they will make sure you are updated

[egoz]

CRM, using my company's web-app.

.rob

[Ed Hansberry]

Far and away email is my biggie. After that:

• Instant Messaging
• Check out PPCT
• Avantgo updates
• Pocket RSS updates
• Citrix and/or Terminal server
• ActiveSync
• Yes, I even have updated Audible via GRPS and VPN to my laptop. Too expensive to do this much though as each Audible file is nearly 1.5MB.

[mty]

I use the t-mobile during business meetings to pull down info and get answers from all over the Web, as well as getting info from the source in AIM, to base business decisions on real data instead of the usual blah blah blah and procrastination.

I also use PPC AIM during conference calls to have side conversations with colleagues in other locations to direct where the conversation goes.

Just so you won't think I'm complety boring, I've been known to surf the Web for fun in boring calls and conference sessions...

During the war I did the daily news round-up visiting sites in Spain, France, UK, Mexico, and US to see what version of the news the press was feeding people in different countries. (Did you know 2 nobel peace prize winners were arrested outside the white house during the war...that was front page news in other countries, not so here even in the washington post).

Also have Norah Jones on the SD as well as Snails and Art Heist games and Pocket Artist...just the thing for that flight back after a long day.

I'm raising by kids bilingual (spanish/english), so I use SloveEd dictionary to grab words when I need them, like yesterday in the woods when I was looking for the Spanish word for moss (musgo, si quieres saber).

Oops that wasn't all wireless. Oh well.

--MTY

[onepieceman]

Great for resolving pointless disputes in the pub. Very sad I know, but Google does a great job delivering a wireless answer to most pointless questions...

[slothdog]

Here's one that might be a bit "out there"....

Recently I've been selling off old CDs/DVDs on Amazon, which is pretty painless and rather fun to get a few $'s out of something I'm not using anyway. I was thinking it would be a great idea to go into a used CD shop and punch in UPC codes into a device, which would then tell me what that item is selling for (used) on Amazon or ebay.

[stjohn1335]

-Yahoo maps and driving directions
-www.traffic.tann.net--real-time traffic updates graphically displayed and optimized for PocketPC
-last minute decisions on the road, such as:
-movie theater locations and times
-finding local restaruants
-finding the nearest ATM
-finding the next Taco Bell on a long road trip
-online dictionaries/encyclopedias
-When Mapopolis ClearRoute comes out, real-time traffic re-routing

[qgman]

I would think that weather updates would be an excellent use. I check it using Wi-Fi, but an always on internet service to see full-screen radar shots would be very nice (espically out on the golf course).

[Jhokur2k]

Email of course
Instant Messaging
Blog updates
Photo uploads *Nikon camera w/ CF card*
Mapping for trips
VNC into my server for maintenance
Random purchases, such as movie tickets on the way to the theater

Granted, some of these are more bandwidth intensive than others, which is why I haven't even signed up for GPRS service yet (I use T-mobile for my cel). If there was a larger chunk, or even unlimited GPRS, maybe I would consider it.

[nirav28]

for world domination!!!!!!


Ok maybe not...But I would if they provided a larger data chunk a month for a reasonable price or unlimited usage. How much are you guys willing to pay?..Considering..My area will probably never get the new re-born richochet anytime soon....I'm willing to pay T-mobile $75 for unlimited GPRS access with decent speeds. Heck if I get 33k/sec I will be happy for that price.

I do a lot of server administration and development. So connecting to my servers remotely and doing basic stuff like giving reboot commands , starting/stopping services , and also to do instant messaging , checking the news and email would be needed. I do want a completely office, but I do want to be connected while away from home.

[disconnected]

Email, and occasional browing -- checking sports scores, finding stores or restaurants, occasionally downloading books from Peanut Press.

I have Sprint's Vision on my phone, which I connect to my iPAQ with a Supplynet cable -- really more trouble than it's worth most of the time (I REALLY hope PIE in PPC 2003 will get back to being at least as fast and readable as it was in PPC 2000).

By the way, krisbrown, do you have a link to your site with the webcams? I used to enjoy the Canon Livescope ones, but the software doesn't seem to work any more.

[Deralict]

I run a vertical-market software development firm and our whole business model revoles around wireless Internet, which solves a real industry need--which is to expediate the settlement of insurance claims. The ability to communicate data from a loss site back to our server, in order to make it available to the insured, the contractor, etc. in "real time" is replacing the current method of recording data on paper, then driving back to an office with a PC and a wired Internet connection.

[GregWard]

Mobile email is by far and away the biggest for me - but I do mean MOBILE email. There's loads of newsletters and stuff that I get but don't want to see until I'm back in the office.

What I'm really waiting for is "smarter" mobile email. So I only get what I need while I'm out and about - and I need it to be intelligent enough to know which e-mails I've already seen.

I used to set a "remove after 7 days" option on my PC so that emails received by the PC, whilst I'm away from my desk, don't get deleted on the server before I had a chance to check them remotely. But the email Client on my 9210 is soooo stupid. It took ages to delete each old email (on the device) individually before even bothering to look for new ones. Then it would show me the last 6 1/2 days (or whatever) that I'd already seen before - FINALLY - showing anything new.

So I gave up on that!

Now I have a freebie wap email address. When I'm out of the office I turn on a rule on the PC that forwards everything (except the newsletters etc) to the wap address.

It works - but it's a kludge and vulnerable to any problems on the PC.

This is without getting into the added complication where - ideally - I'd like to be able to check for e-mails on a suitable phone AND a PDA and would like to avoid sync'ing twice with a mail server. Why can't the two devices talk to each other (via Bluetooth) and only get new stuff?

So - my point - there's a lot to sort out on email before doing anything else! For me - at least. :D

Other ways I currently use are :-

SMS (well it's still data!)

Checking the news

Update on currency conversions when I'm travelling (I use Monnaie from Kylom on the 9210).

[ericdo]

Loads of mail. Just getting very annoyed that PPC2002 disconnects after checking the mail, which means that when I want to check my second account, I have to reconnect.

Standard web type stuff - loads of ebay. Nice to have available web access when auctions are about to close. Other typical web stuff is yell.co.uk to look up phone numbers, live cricket scores etc.

Really cool I stuff I like to show off is connecting to web servers within my house to interface with home automation system like switching lights on and off. Also being able to tell my TiVo to record something later that night. Very handy.

Grocery shopping. Tesco offer a great app whereby you download the items and prices in a store, then walk around the house (or sit on a train) filling your shopping cart, and then complete the purchase via GPRS. So I can plan what I want on the way to work, and have it delivered just after I get home! This is a brilliant and very innovative piece of work from Tesco.

I've also used this app in France shopping for beer, wine and other things, and could instantly compare the price back in the UK to work out if it's cheaper in France.

Then syncing AvantGo and Currencies/Weather with World Mate.

Must agree with the earlier comment about solving arguments in a pub. I've done that a few times - always nice to win!

All in all I can't live without GPRS. My 6310 is dying - time to buy new toys!

[whydidnt]

I often find myself checking flight schedules and departure/arrival times when I'm delayed at the airport (which happens far too often lately). It's great to see if your connecting flight is delayed or not. Then I take advantage of my "convergence" device to call the airline and get rebooked on a different flight or airline. No standing in line for me! :)

I'd love to be able to pull up a mobile site, plug in a departure and arrival city and see all flights that match that data for the day AND their current status.

[heliod]

I use it for:

1. Downloading email
2. IM
3. Following Newsgroups
4. Connecting via PIE to my company's CRM application.

These are the main uses.

[digitalh2o]

Driving maps -- I get lost a lot! Of course my main use is email though!

[Julius Ang]

Using bespoke app for salesmen on the road which enables them to
- download latest stock information, availability and pricing
- upload sales order taken on pocket pc, enabling immediate despatch

[Glisson]

Just wanted to get in to be sure to get notified of new posts. The guy d/l Audible content has really got a set huh?

Glisson

[bdegroodt]

Just wanted to get in to be sure to get notified of new posts. The guy d/l Audible content has really got a set huh?

Glisson

You can do that without posting. Just click the "Watch this topic for replies" link at the bottom of any thread. :)