Where to get started with my Touch-Pro

[pierhogunn]

I Haven't used a win-mo device in about 5 years when I had my old Ipaq

I am sure that I am not the only one who will be jumping back into the win-mo pool and need a refresher / guide for hacking, and updating the roms, and the benefits of one rom or another for our new devices

Where do I go to get started, something simple, straight forward,etc . . .

[Cicatrize]

I would recommend for any first-time or first-time-in-a-long-time user to first go to Start -> Settings, and go through every single setting to make sure they have things the way they like it. After that, go to Programs and check out the stuff the device is loaded up with.

As for new ROM's, it's still in development for the Touch Pro, so we'll have to wait on that.

[pierhogunn]

will the new roms update the radio, I tried a diamond a day ago, and it doesn't get any reception where a mogul got 3 bars earlier this year.

those are the sort of things that interest me most

[calebb]

Originally Posted by pierhogunn

I Haven't used a win-mo device in about 5 years when I had my old Ipaq

I am sure that I am not the only one who will be jumping back into the win-mo pool and need a refresher / guide for hacking, and updating the roms, and the benefits of one rom or another for our new devices

Where do I go to get started, something simple, straight forward,etc . . .

So, you were probably using a Pocket PC 2002 or Windows Mobile 2003 device? Likely a 400MHz XScale processor?

Here's a random anecdote:
With Windows Mobile 6.1 you now have phone support (heh), much better Wi-Fi and networking support, many more community apps and a much better (forum) community than 5 years ago.

But... 5-6 years ago, a PPC 2002 device, for example, had plenty of muscle to emulate an SNES game like Chrono Trigger at 15-20FPS with room to spare. Now days, even with faster/more advanced processors, all the extra features have really taken a toll on Windows Mobile devices. You'll be lucky to run an NES game at 10FPS now days.

http://freewareppc.com/ is still alive and kicking and a great resource for freeware apps

Have fun!

[TurboFool]

One other note as to the differences since those old ones: Used to be that they contained only RAM which was shared between storage and system memory, and a slider allowed you to adjust your division point, while a backup battery protected the data in case your main battery failed. The new ones have separate ROM and RAM for these purposes, increasing flexibility and preserving data better.

[darkshadow46236]

I was in the same boat last year. First, congrats - if you know a older pocket pc device you know about 80% of any current WM device. Basically, other than the ram/rom difference:

* much larger community.

* lots of little apps and fixes for annoyances in WM. I used to use the ipaq 5500 and wished I had half of the cabs or changes we have now. Screen tweaks to make it more sensitive, office apps that work better, able to open html emails, rules for emails, etc.
* keyboards - much nicer software keyboards. Took long enough.

* storage - all but standard microSD cards up to 16gb in size now.

* if you used a old device you likely could feel that little plastic film on top of the screen? it was the touch sensitive layer - after awhile I always could notice it. Newer devices don't have that obvious layer anymore (some do)

* flush screens. Much nicer for reaching into the corners.
* finger friendly interfaces. older devices could be used with your fingers just fine, but things like creating a appointment was annoying. Now we have decent finger interfaces for all the normal stuff.

* roms. Load up a custom rom with lots of these tweaks and apps already installed. I've learned about a whole load of useful apps because they were bundled with the rom.

* working, easy java support. the ipaqs had java bundled for awhile (nice of HP back then) but it was hard to install on anything else. Now java isn't a big issue, and we can use just about any mobile java app.

* browsers - much better alternatives then pocket IE now. Opera Mini, Opera 9.5 beta, and skyfire. Pocket IE is better now too, but it still does not hold a candle to these three.

* push mail support. Needs exchange, or something like emoze, but it works, and mail2web offers free exchange accounts for mobile devices.


I'd go to the XDA-developers forum and poke around the development and hacking section for a few days. You can get a pretty good idea of the overall changes from looking there. Also look at the section for your own device, there will be tutorials (here and there) for how to load the roms, and you can read the debates about which is best.

Good Luck, and welcome back.