Moving from the simple Palm OS to Windows Mobile was not an easy decision. It has, of course, been tempered by the knowledge that I can go back any time I want. The biggest downside is that the move has cost me my casino money for the next three months, and I haven't begun to buy accessories yet.
The most difficult part of the entire experience has been converting to Outlook. I have successfully avoided Outlook for years, but there is no simple way to sync a WM device without it. I have quite contentedly been using the Palm desktop for all my hotsync needs for years. I initiated a sync when I was ready, and all my pim data was always safe. With WM, not only do you get the pleasure of using Outlook (she said sarcastically), but the joy of ActiveSync.
I must confess, I don't truly grok ActiveSync. Yes, I understand that it's nice to keep my handheld and my desktop in constant sync, but I'd rather have just a little more control over it. What if I just want to charge my device? What if I'm trouble-shooting an app and adding meetings or contacts just for testing purposes and don't actually want to save them? Better yet, what if I have the ability to take more control over ActiveSync and make it PASSIVE sync, and just haven't figured out how yet?! Being a newbie is no fun.
So the first day (prior to actual receipt of my Treo 800w) was spent moving my pim data from the Palm desktop to Outlook. Palm made that simple enough. I just don't particularly care for Outlook - it's too busy. One of the things I will be looking for over the next few days/weeks is an alternative. When my Treo 800w finally arrived, it was as simple as plugging it in to the usb port on my laptop, establishing a partnership (sounds like a legal agreement to me!) with ActiveSync, and populating my new device with my old data.
The next step was to make it look and feel as familiar as possible by arranging the Today screen (replacing my friendly Palm os launcher) and buttons. Arranging the Today screen was easy enough. Mine now almost looks like my Centro using UltimatePhone. My first real disappointment (outside of Outlook) was that I lose the one-handed capability that I loved so much with Palm os using the hard keys. Why must I press and hold the option button before tapping the mail key on WM? That requires both hands. Why can't I press option followed by mail to go to messaging? I understand that we hold key combinations on a pc, but a handheld isn't a pc and shouldn't be constrained by desktop configurations.
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This concludes my initial observations on making the change from Palm to WM. I welcome suggestions, advice, corrections…in other words, any help anyone is willing to offer. Next time: applications.
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