04-19-2006, 01:00 PM
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Executive Editor, Android Thoughts
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 3,233
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The Most Innovative Use For Your Pocket PC?
"I had an interesting experience with a cool Windows Mobile app last night. I was invited for dinner to someone's house for the first time. While driving to their house, I remembered good etiquette and decided to pick up a small gift...Someone once gave my family an indoor plant, and I thought that was a very thoughtful gesture. So I drove up to a Fred Meyer store and started looking in the plants department. I found some great looking plants but then began to wonder if it really is an appropriate gift. Some people spend way too much time growing things around their house while others simply neglect plants. If only I could peek at this family's backyard or landscaping, I might be able to guess whether they're "plant people". Oh, and do they even have a yard? What kind of house is it � an apartment, condo, townhouse or something larger? While pondering all this, I suddenly remembered having Virtual Earth Mobile installed on my Pocket PC. So I quickly loaded it up and entered my host's address (from an email invitation). In a few seconds I had a direct bird's eye view of their home and neighborhood. "
Mel Sampat wrote the above entry in the Windows Mobile Team Blog earlier this year, giving a great example of using a cool program for an innovative and unexpected use (After all, Virtual Earth Mobile probably wasn't designed to allow you to give better gifts!). It got me wondering just what kinds of innovative, outside-the-box ideas our community has had and executed on a Windows Mobile device. What have you done that has stretched your Pocket PC (or its applications) beyond their original purposes, and has it worked?
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Dr. Jon Westfall, MCSE, MS-MVP
Executive Editor - Android Thoughts
News Editor - Windows Phone Thoughts
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04-19-2006, 01:53 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 13
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Innovative?
Maybe this is not innovative, but I have used it as a cookbook. I collect recipes on the web, cut and paste them to OutLook notes and they are always there when I sync them. I also save recipes for kitchen science experiments for the kids.
The first time I ever did the science experiments, I was dealing with my 2.5 year old daughter who was acting very cranky on a cold rainy day. I suddenl yremembered I had a copy of a homemade playdough recipe in Notes on my Axim. I grabbed the unit, fired it up and cooked up some playdough.
She was quiet for hours with the stuff.
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04-19-2006, 02:40 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 68
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The iPAQ 2215 had built-in consumer grade infrared and came with that cool universal remote control software. I work for a large and boring government agency that loves to have large and boring meetings. I used to dial in the make and model of the overhead projector and turn it off, change channels, and just mess with the presenter. People would look around, wondering what was up, and it would appear as if I was hard at work on my PDA. Fun! 
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Ray
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04-19-2006, 03:06 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 717
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OK I think we are stretching the truth a bit here. Even on Google Earth Pro you can hardly make out anything from 1000 feet up so this whole notion of let's see if they are plant people by using Virtual Earth Mobile seems like a lot of hot steam.
At best you can make out a green blob where the grass would be and see the trees if they are large enough. Come on people I think Creative should in this case mean realistic not imaginary.
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04-19-2006, 03:06 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 20
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by bigray327
The iPAQ 2215 had built-in consumer grade infrared and came with that cool universal remote control software. ... Fun! |
I Had one for a couple weeks and tried it in a sports bar... I will leave it at that. I returned the 2215 for a 4155 before I endangered my health any more.
I know others have used their PocketPC to help build a home (Jason comes to mind), I used mine extensively as well. Along with the usual calendar/task/contact duties, I used it to keep a copy of the blueprints at hand at all times using the included image viewer ability to pan around the digital images. Even though items were on the blue prints, I also used it to show contractors pictures of items/features we wanted that were not normal in our area. But I can tell you a picture is not always worth a 1000 words, in any language, if the contractor doesn't care or does not have the mental flexibility to interpret the picture. I downloaded PDF manuals for items we were installing for on-site reference (we did the electrical/low voltage ourselves). In later stages I kept pitures of the wiring on-board for reference when the sheetrock was up and the wiring hidden. Yes, the wires were labeled, but some were incomplete or labeled above the box. ListPro and Word played a big role in keeping notes and lists of course. I think the contractor almost got to the point of running away when I approached with my 'pocket gizmo'. Not because we were adding something new or changing something (we had less than 5 changes/adds on the entire build!), but because I caught something else he had missed. I just wish I had my ppc-6700 back then!
warptime
iPAQ 4155 >> PPC-6700 (Sprint)
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04-19-2006, 03:23 PM
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Contributing Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,389
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by szamot
OK I think we are stretching the truth a bit here. Even on Google Earth Pro you can hardly make out anything from 1000 feet up so this whole notion of let's see if they are plant people by using Virtual Earth Mobile seems like a lot of hot steam.
At best you can make out a green blob where the grass would be and see the trees if they are large enough. Come on people I think Creative should in this case mean realistic not imaginary.
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It could be possible. The map details vary greatly. The pictures of southwest missouri are not that great. I think that fuzzy blob in the street is my car... maybe.
higher population areas seem to have much better detail. I was looking at tokyo and could actually count the people at tokyo disney. I could read writing on top of buildings. very high detail.
So maybe his friend lives in a higher population area.
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04-19-2006, 03:24 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 17
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by szamot
OK I think we are stretching the truth a bit here. Even on Google Earth Pro you can hardly make out anything from 1000 feet up so this whole notion of let's see if they are plant people by using Virtual Earth Mobile seems like a lot of hot steam.
At best you can make out a green blob where the grass would be and see the trees if they are large enough. Come on people I think Creative should in this case mean realistic not imaginary.
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This is what I saw:
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04-19-2006, 05:29 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 113
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Efficiency
Often at a conference I will take notes via my Bluetooth keyboard on my PDA. It sure saves me lugging a laptop to overthing. But sometimes the speaker or conference is so good that I use NoteM (Freeware) to record it as an mp3 for review later and make better notes. I set up NoteM as a hotkey so I just press the button and start recording.
I have arthritus in my back so I sometimes have to soak in a hot-tub. While doing that I surf the web, listen to wifi radio, play music, etc. (Always careful not to drop the PPC in the water!)
I used it on Easter Sunday during worship because I ahve the Book of Common Prayer as a MS Reader file, and open to the Scripture reading for the day.
I use the Bluetooth to beam phone numbers and pictures to my cell phone.
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"This is nothing like anything we have yet to experience." - Bob & Ray
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04-19-2006, 07:57 PM
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Executive Editor, Android Thoughts
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 3,233
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Re: Efficiency
Quote:
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Originally Posted by azhiker
I have arthritus in my back so I sometimes have to soak in a hot-tub. While doing that I surf the web, listen to wifi radio, play music, etc. (Always careful not to drop the PPC in the water!)
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I use a plastic ziploc bag to keep water away from my PPC while using a hot tub, although if I ever started doing this more than occassionally I'd probably invest in a water-proof case.
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Dr. Jon Westfall, MCSE, MS-MVP
Executive Editor - Android Thoughts
News Editor - Windows Phone Thoughts
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04-19-2006, 08:06 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 717
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This is what I saw:
[/quote]
Really the only thing you can get out of this picture is an average suburbia, in an average neighborhood, with a taken patch of grass for each resident and not a tree in sight some small bushes though. You tell a nice story but the facts just don�t add up.
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Linear Mode
