pre-Windows Mobile 5

Windows Mobile smartphones have a variety of ways that you can make phone calls. Here are the three primary ways:

The green Talk key has three different functions:

• While the phone is ringing, press Talk to answer the call.
• If you press Talk when there is no call in progress, the Call History screen will open where you can select a call to bring up the person’s contact information (if available).
• During a call, you can press and hold Talk to switch to speakerphone mode if your phone has this capability.

Microsoft made a customized Home Page for Internet Explorer on Windows Mobile devices that featured a search bar and a drop-down list for Favorites and History. Some of the newer devices come set up with a default carrier version of the Home Page which may not be as useful as Microsoft’s. If you want to set up your device to use Microsoft’s Home Page, do the following (for touch screen devices):

If you use the Transcriber option for entering text into your touch screen device, you can make the process easier by using the Shorthand feature so that any shorthand text that you write on the screen (e.g. “app”) will appear as the full (longhand) word typed out (“application”). Here’s how you do it:

Werner Ruotsalainen describes in detail how you can use your smartphone as a modem for a computer. Click here for the article.

If your Programs folder is cluttered with numerous application icons that you have amassed over a long period of time, you can organize it by creating new folders within Programs to arrange different apps by their type. For example, if you have installed a number of system tools, you could create a “Tools” folder and move their icons in that folder. Here’s how you create folders:

When receiving new e-mail and MMS messages or if you have a missed phone call on your Windows Mobile device, a “Notification” may appear in the lower left corner of the Today screen. Once you tap on the notification, you will have the option to either “Hide” or “Dismiss” it—tapping Hide will place it in the background, and it will remain on the bottom task bar; tapping Dismiss will permanently get rid of it.

When changing your e-mail settings in Messaging, remember that there are two places to do so: in the Options menu in ActiveSync or Windows Mobile Device Center on your desktop PC, and in the Options menu in Messaging on your device.

Most phone-enabled devices can be powered down (completely turned off) to conserve battery power. This is accomplished by pressing and holding the power on/off button (or the red End Call button if your device has no power button). Note that powering down a device is different from leaving the device in suspend mode (which means that the screen is off but the device is still using power and its phone and other core operations are still running). Pressing the power button once on a touch screen device will put it into suspend mode (pressing it once again will turn it back on).

In a pinch, the LED backlight in the screens of Windows Mobile devices (and other mobile phones) can be used as a light in dark environments (such as lighting a darkened hallway, going up or down unfamiliar steps, or using it as a reading lamp if someone else is asleep in the same room). Here are some points to keep in mind:

When conserving power to extend battery life, every little bit helps. One way to conserve a little more power is to turn the volume down to the lowest setting that is bearable for you.

Mologogo is offering free GPS tracking software for Windows Mobile 6 GPS-enabled touch screen smartphones. Mologogo can be used to keep track of friends or kids, share your location on the Web, find your phone if it gets lost, and more. Mologogo can be downloaded at wm.mologogo.com.

Microsoft has created a new site that offers free Windows Mobile downloads (windowsmobile.com/coolstuff). The site includes Ringtones, Wallpapers, Themes, Games, and Maps, Directions, Traffic.

Non-touch screen smartphones have a “Profiles” menu that allows you to switch your phone into different sound modes, depending upon how you want your phone to sound when you are receiving a call or another notification. To view or change these sound modes, or "Profiles," go to Start >Settings >Profiles. Note that different smartphones have different Profiles built in, depending on the make and model. The following Profiles are the ones shared by most smartphones: