Birthdays, Letter Recognizer, manual?!?

[lkawamot]

OK, so I'm still trying to get used to the iPAQ but I've got some questions that I'm pretty sure y'all can answer for me prettty fast...

1. When I enter birthday information for my contacts, is there a way to get the calendar to automatically remind me of upcoming birthdays? I've added contacts and their birthdays but nothing new is showing up on my calendar.

2. Where can I find information on how the Letter Recognizer works? It seems to me I have to scrawl in a graffiti-ish way... but I've never learned graffiti so I don't know the scribble pattern for some of the letters

3. Is the PDF file included on the HP cd (H2200Series.pdf) the only user manual? It seems a bit lacking in how to use certain things (like the letter recognizer)

[taxus]

Can't say. It's my understanding that it's only upon synch-ing with the PC that the birthday reminders are created, presumably by ActiveSync, and I know of no way to control the process. In my case though, I use the today plugin tAgenda (http://www001.upp.so-net.ne.jp/kohgo/index_en.html), which I prefer to the default calendar plugin. tAgenda displays upcoming birthdays on the today screen.
there is sufficient help on the PocketPC itself. Click on the question mark in the bottom right corner of the letter recognizer area; a demo will show you how to write each letter. After 5 years on Palms I was pretty good at grafiti, but for some reason couldn't master it as well on the PocketPC. I tried letter recognizer for a while, but converted to Transcriber. If you crank quality to maximum in the options, it's pretty decent. I'm dying to buy a keyboard though. :drool:
I guess HP feels confident that the Windows Mobile online help is sufficient. I've had a look at the manual (going to buy the h2210 too), and it seems a pretty standard PocketPC manual.

[lkawamot]

Thanks for the info taxus!

I normally use the transcriber -- which, BTW, looks an awful like the handwriting recognition of the Netwon MessagePad! But once in a while I've felt that the letter recognizer might be a better method. Things like entering data in the contacts manager (addresses and email addresses).

Sounds like the iPAQ counts on the desktop Outlook's calendar to add the birthdays as an event and then have it sync'd onto the iPAQ.... hmmm if you use tAgenda as well, do you end up with double notifications? Once from the calendar (via the sync process) and once with tAgenda...

I wish HP would've provided us with a printed manual and/or a more detailed PDF... I personally *hate* online help for anything more than simple instructions and quick start info... *sigh* oh well, I can't really complain -- this PDA is pretty darn impressive.

[lkawamot]

Oh yeah, one more thing -- is tAgenda Mobile 2003 compatible?? Are there any issues because it is listed on their website as "Pocket PC, Pocket PC 2002" but no mention for 2003 compatibility.

[gary]

tAgenda works for WM2003 at least on my 2215. I love it!

[taxus]

Sounds like the iPAQ counts on the desktop Outlook's calendar to add the birthdays as an event and then have it sync'd onto the iPAQ.... hmmm if you use tAgenda as well, do you end up with double notifications? Once from the calendar (via the sync process) and once with tAgenda...

Oh no, tAgenda is just a plugin that displays the Pocket Outlook information, it's not meant as a Pocket Outlook replacement. The regular Calendar plugin doesn't display "day long" events like the birthdays (I think, I haven't used it very long), but tAgenda does. As well as tasks.

Glad to learn it works with the 2210. I'm switching to the 2210 next week myself, as soon as my favourite e-seller has the French OS version. (CAN$25 cheaper than HP.ca)