Have Your Windows Mobile Device Give You a Wake Up Call

Some of us were born to be Windows Mobile geeks. But if you aren't numbered among us then perhaps you purchased a Windows Mobile device because you're always on the go and need to keep in touch with your home base via phone, email, etc. If you belong to this latter category of Windows Mobile users you might also be the sort of person who travels a lot and spends a fair amount of time in hotels.

If so, you may want to consider adding Wake & Watch, from NoviiMedia to your Windows Mobile arsenal.

What This Program Does

Wake & Watch (or "WAWA" for short) is designed for one simple purpose: to wake you up at a user-defined time by turning on your television, turning it to a particular channel, etc. In other words, it's the Windows Mobile equivalent of a wake up call from the front desk of a hotel (or from your boss if you've overslept).

How It Works

Setting up an alarm is very simple thanks to the nice user interface. When you start the program, begin by pressing the "Add alarm" button, which brings up this screen:

As you can see, from this screen you can create a description of your alarm, set the time it should go off, specify the days on which it should go off, specify whether or not it should occur one time only or be repeated, etc.

Once you've done this, check the box that says "Beam infrared signals" and then tap on the corresponding "Settings" button. Doing so will bring up a screen that allows you to add remote control button presses you want to execute once the alarm goes off. WAWA easily learns the commands when you press the "learn" button, point the remote control at your device, and then press the button on the remote control. The program can then emulate the remote control button presses once the alarm goes off.

Other Features

• Snooze function
• Can play a .wav file when an alarm goes off
• Create unlimited alarms

Pros

The first thing that struck me about this program was its flexibility. When testing the program, I used it to turn on my TV, turn to channel 6, and then turn up the volume. But the possibilities are only limited by what your remote control can do. Indeed, you can use this program to turn on your DVD player, TiVo, a radio, CD player, or anything else that has a remote control. Additionally, WAWA takes into account the fact that different TVs work in different ways and therefore allows you to create pauses between actions, repeat certain actions, and more.

The second thing that struck me about WAWA was the ease of use. I didn't need to look at any manuals or help guides at all. Using the program was simple and straightforward.

Cons

I think that WAWA will only appeal to those that are constantly traveling and spending the night in hotels, because everyone I know has an alarm clock at home. If you aren't a frequent traveler then you'd probably only use WAWA once every few months.

In light of this, I think the price is slightly too high. The developer's website lists WAWA at $14.99 (although PocketGear lists it for $11.99 and if you use NoviiRemote, you can get WAWA for 50% off through the developer's website). IMHO, a Windows Mobile program that I'm only going to use once every few months should cost less than $10. [PLEASE NOTE: THIS PARAGRAPH NO LONGER APPLIES....SEE COMMENT BELOW].

Conclusion

Wake & Watch does everything I would want a program like this to do, and it delivers this flexibility without sacrificing ease of use. I recommend it to all of you world travelers out there. But if you're the sort of person who hasn't been in a hotel in the past year, you probably don't really need it.