One of the side benefits with starting a new job, is that you have the opportunity to upgrade your various tools. You get the latest computer, install the latest versions of software, get a new business cellphone and, if you work out of your house, upgrade your home network.
A cool piece of technology that I adopted was a Windows Mobile based cellphone. These are called Smartphones and the model I selected was the Motorola MPx220. I picked mine up from eBay for a pretty reasonable price. As I said, this phone runs Windows Mobile, which is basically Windows CE and supports versions of many applications that you may already be running on your laptop. The small screen and limited keyboard make it impractical to run applications like Word and Excel, but it is excellent for Outlook and a few other programs. It can use an external keyboard, but I haven't done that. It can hold a mini-SD card to expand the usable memory and I picked up a 1.0GB card for about US$100. That gives me a lot of room for music, video files, photos, etc. For more storage, I could carry a couple of these cards if I wanted, as they slip in and out very easily.
Synchronizing with my laptop Outlook is easy and fast. That allows me to maintain all my contacts and appointments within either tool. I've chosen not to synchronize my email Inbox yet, but I may enable that. You can also configure the phone to send and receive emails using POP and SMTP through the phone's GPRS connection. I'll probably do that in a couple months, as I travel quite a bit and it is really handy to read your emails between flights or when you have a couple minutes to spare. I miss the real-time aspect of the BlackBerry I used to carry, but I can easily accomplish the same functionality with this phone.
You can also use the phone as a modem for your laptop by taking advantage of the built-in Bluetooth, a USB cable or Infrared. I haven't done that yet, but will experiment with it, soon. The catch here is that data through your phone can be expensive depending upon your provider and contract.
Now for the coup-de-gras. The guys and gals where I used to work, pooled their money and gave me a "CoPilot Live for Smartphone" package as a "bon voyage" gift. This includes a Bluetooth GPS and software for the phone (and your laptop). To use it, I turn on the GPS and place it on the dash (or clip it to a vent) when I'm driving, and launch the CoPilot software on the phone. I'm now equipped with a full function GPS navigation system similar to the Garmin or Magellan products. Some of the features include:
- very long battery life.
- clear and legible voice prompts through the phone's speaker.
- it can update CoPilot's website with my current location so friends and family know how I've progressed on my trip. This uses the phone's GPRS connection to talk to CoPilot's Web Service.
- download traffic and accident information to the phone real-time so it can plan a better route and I can avoid the problem areas. This uses the phone's GPRS connection to talk to CoPilot's Web Service.
- the GPS receiver is small and takes up almost no room in my laptop bag.
I've just completed a short trip to three cities and I'm really happy with the phone and GPS navigation. No complaints at all.
A cool piece of technology that I adopted was a Windows Mobile based cellphone. These are called Smartphones and the model I selected was the Motorola MPx220. I picked mine up from eBay for a pretty reasonable price. As I said, this phone runs Windows Mobile, which is basically Windows CE and supports versions of many applications that you may already be running on your laptop. The small screen and limited keyboard make it impractical to run applications like Word and Excel, but it is excellent for Outlook and a few other programs. It can use an external keyboard, but I haven't done that. It can hold a mini-SD card to expand the usable memory and I picked up a 1.0GB card for about US$100. That gives me a lot of room for music, video files, photos, etc. For more storage, I could carry a couple of these cards if I wanted, as they slip in and out very easily.
Synchronizing with my laptop Outlook is easy and fast. That allows me to maintain all my contacts and appointments within either tool. I've chosen not to synchronize my email Inbox yet, but I may enable that. You can also configure the phone to send and receive emails using POP and SMTP through the phone's GPRS connection. I'll probably do that in a couple months, as I travel quite a bit and it is really handy to read your emails between flights or when you have a couple minutes to spare. I miss the real-time aspect of the BlackBerry I used to carry, but I can easily accomplish the same functionality with this phone.
You can also use the phone as a modem for your laptop by taking advantage of the built-in Bluetooth, a USB cable or Infrared. I haven't done that yet, but will experiment with it, soon. The catch here is that data through your phone can be expensive depending upon your provider and contract.
Now for the coup-de-gras. The guys and gals where I used to work, pooled their money and gave me a "CoPilot Live for Smartphone" package as a "bon voyage" gift. This includes a Bluetooth GPS and software for the phone (and your laptop). To use it, I turn on the GPS and place it on the dash (or clip it to a vent) when I'm driving, and launch the CoPilot software on the phone. I'm now equipped with a full function GPS navigation system similar to the Garmin or Magellan products. Some of the features include:
- very long battery life.
- clear and legible voice prompts through the phone's speaker.
- it can update CoPilot's website with my current location so friends and family know how I've progressed on my trip. This uses the phone's GPRS connection to talk to CoPilot's Web Service.
- download traffic and accident information to the phone real-time so it can plan a better route and I can avoid the problem areas. This uses the phone's GPRS connection to talk to CoPilot's Web Service.
- the GPS receiver is small and takes up almost no room in my laptop bag.
I've just completed a short trip to three cities and I'm really happy with the phone and GPS navigation. No complaints at all.
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