T hanks to the new wireless personal-digital-assistant capabilities of Windows Mobile 6, there are some great new gadgets available for professionals, workaholics and techies on the go. Windows Mobile 6 is the latest incarnation of Microsoft's cell phone/PDA operating system, which incorporates "small-screen" versions of many of the most used programs on your PC including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Internet Explorer and, of course, Outlook e-mail, as well as some third-party applications specifically geared toward mobile users. While PDAs of all sorts are essential organizational tools for mobile workers, Windows Mobile 6 wireless devices differentiate themselves from others such as Palm, BlackBerry and the new iPhone by delivering a very intuitive user interface that closely resembles the Windows XP or Vista PC operating system.
It dampens the learning curve for users already familiar with Windows PCs. Setup is also easy. The Outlook e-mail application can be automatically configured to work with AOL, Yahoo!
, Hotmail and others simply by entering your username and password. It is also compatible with corporate e-mail even if your company has a BlackBerry e-mail server. Some of the cool programs available for Windows Mobile 6 devices include TelNav, a subscription-based service for GPS-capable mobile devices, which gives users real-time, audible, turn-by-turn instructions at a cost of about $10 per month depending on the carrier.
One free program that I particularly like is Live Search, which is the equivalent of having a Yellow Pages directory for every town in the country in your pocket. Another benefit of the Windows Mobile platform is that it is just that - Windows. So, developers can easily create programs specifically designed for the operating system and know that they will work on a wide range of handsets.
Clarence Williams is the president of JOE NERD, the Bradenton-based, on-site computer-service company responsible for providing IT solutions for small-business and residential customers throughout Florida and the United States. JOE NERD can be reached at 1-800-563-6373. TECHNOLOGY Clarence Williams x www.
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