Just Jeff

Just got Windows Mobile 6.1 on my at&t Motorola Q9h this afternoon.  Overall, an nice step up from WM 6.0 that was on before, but so far, I’m not blown away by all the features. 

Home Screen

Pretty, but not as configurable as the old home screen model was.  I found that things like the time take up far too much space, and its harder to see at a glance how many messages you have.  The calendar plugin is pretty slick though.  You can page through your next set of appointments and the icons indicate if you Accepted or are Tentative for the meeting.  I also find that the new home page stuff (called CHome) is actually pretty slow on this device.

Another thing they got rid of was the MRU list.  Instead of recently used apps appearing on the home screen, they made the first click of the Start menu go to this recent programs screen. Not a huge fan of this.  Also, you can’t put this into list view.

You also can’t add extra custom plugins to the home screen if it’s using the new look and feel.  I miss my Oxios Tasks plugin.  Another nitpicky detail; when you click up on the d-pad, the focus goes to the top, and then wraps around to the bottom.  Don’t like this; I like being able to click up-up-up, and know I’m ending up at the top, which is my MRU list.

Ultimately, I went back to my old home screen. I have it configured so that all the data I want fits onto one screen.  Perfect. 

The new CHome system shows promise, but there needs to be some more customization options.  All I could find was here: http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile/archive/2008/06/03/customizing-the-sliding-panel-homescreen.aspx.

Threaded SMS

OMG, I just luv threaded SMS!  (ahem…back to being 30).  Pretty slick UX actually.  Makes it feel like you’re in an IM chat.  Only thing that’s a bit odd is things like Twitter where you get many SMS from the same number, but they’re not really part of a conversation. 

Copy / Paste

Back in 1997, I got my first Palm Pilot; it had 256kb of RAM or something, a black and white screen, and copy/paste!  Only took us 11 years to catch up.  UX isn’t wonderful; hard to do on a non-touch device, but not bad:

IE Zoom

Haven’t played much with this yet, but IE seems to have a Zoom Out feature.  Frankly, kind of ridiculous seeing as it doesn’t render the content properly anyway.

In addition to the stuff above, there are some small niceties, such as the icon for having a new SMS message is different than for having a new EMail message.  They also merged SMS and MMS into the same account, so you have less accounts in the system.  It also seems that Internet Connection Sharing is now present in the start menu without you having to make a shortcut yourself.

I’m also noticing that Opera is loading faster than before…perhaps I may actually use it now.

This site is a proving ground for ideas that come from regular employees and interns who work anywhere in Microsoft.  Most of the code prototypes are developed by the Office Labs team in partnership with the teams that make the products.  After all, they produce most of the ideas. Some of the things you find here will be web-based, others are downloads.  Some will be a combination, something we call "software + services."

As always, Barbados was a great vacation.  It's not often that we have a Steinbok family reunion...I think this is the 3rd time in 20 years or so that all 6 of my dad's brothers and sisters were on the island at the same time.  At any rate, there's not much to say about the trip, other than it was excellent.  Best to simply describe in photos...

Aaron was a natural water baby.  He preferred the swimming pool at uncle Joe's because it was really warm, but he liked the sea too.

Four generations of Steinboks....pretty neat, or pretty scary...you decide.

A hilight for me was the Ocean Racing challenge.  Though not much of a race, or a challenge, I got to take the helm of an 80ft America's Cup racing yacht.  Not surprisingly, in the 15kts of wind we had, it handled very very nicely.

For those of you who use FolderShare, they've quietly released an update to the client as well as the website.  You can read more about it on their blog.

Quote

Introducing the new FolderShare!

Hello, and welcome to the blog for Windows Live FolderShare. It's a big day for us here at Windows Live HQ, and not just because we’re launching this new blog. We also have updated FolderShare, and published an all-new FolderShare website…at last!

Today we're unveiling:

• A new website designed to makes managing your FolderShare libraries and computers even easier.
• A new FolderShare with a better setup, a better system tray menu, and better performance on Windows Vista.
• Improvements on the backend to keep FolderShare running more smoothly and reliably.

(And of course, it's still free.)

To all the users who already have fallen in love with FolderShare, we thank you! We hope all the new users equally enjoy the features FolderShare has to offer: syncing files across your computers; sharing files with friends and family; and accessing your files from anywhere on the Internet. 

We’re proud of this release, and we really hope you like it. So without further ado, check out the new website, install the new FolderShare, and let us know what you think!

- The FolderShare Team