Whether you want to do product research, have your questions answered, read back issues of the magazine, or read the latest news, you will appreciate SmartphoneMag.com. There you will find:

Daily blog posts from our online experts

Support forums

11 years of magazine archives

Hundreds of tips and how-to's

VIP drawings, plus software and hardware discounts from Handango and eXpansys for subscribers

Winners from last year's Best Software Awards

Our Encyclopedia of Software and Accessories with over 5,000 products listed

Specifications for current and past Windows Mobile PDAs and smartphones

Directories of best Web sites for Windows Mobile users

Weekly software downloads

Four free weekly newsletters (Jim Karpen's Web Happenings, Windows Mobile Update, New Products, Games)

Mobile Site

More

How SmartphoneMag.com evolved

We started the site in 1999 as HpcMag.com. Each year we would add one or two new features. We did so in layers using different programmers, different programming languages, and different off-the-shelf Web applications. Consequently, when you go to our site, you'll see different looks throughout. As you might imagine, maintaining and expanding the site has become a major challenge.

For over two years and through several false starts, we have been working to clean things up, inside and out.

Creating the new SmartphoneMag.com

We finally realized we needed a single underlying platform—a Content Management System (CMS) comprehensive enough to include the various parts of the site. Such a site would be easier to maintain and enhance. All the site content would be in database tables, so the same information could be viewed from different perspectives. Using the CMS, we would maintain a common look and interface throughout.

The best software for our purposes was Drupal (drupal.org), an open source CMS with a robust, active programming community to support it. Drupal lets you view all the content of the site from either a desktop browser or mobile browser. That means that, for example, you will be able to interact with the forums from your smartphone.

Where we're at

The new look of the magazine archives (left/middle) and our Experts Online (right).

You can find the content of all back issues starting with the first (May/June 2000) issue of Pocket PC magazine in the new format. We hope to get the 1998-2000 issues of Handheld PC Magazine up soon. And by the time you read this, our blog site "Experts Online" will be up.

The forums will follow soon after the blogs. With the new system, you will be able to comment not only in the forum, but on Experts Online posts, magazine articles, and most of our other content.