Smartphone Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

I am sure you all have read by now that Mike Temporale has left Smartphone Thoughts as our Managing Editor. I know I for one was pretty saddened to hear the news as Mike has been with the team since I first came to this wonderful site looking for some help with my new Motorola MPx220 (I didn't know any better at the time!). Mike was always there to help me out with questions and point me in the right direction of resources I needed to make my Windows Mobile experience on a whole, a lot better. To be honest, if it wasn't for Mike, I most likely wouldn't have become the Windows Mobile enthusiast that I am and chances are I probably would never have been interested in becoming a news editor. While I enjoyed writing prior to joining our team, I never realized that it was something that I wanted to do and was reasonably good at! I never realized that one day, writing for Smartphone Thoughts, would be right up there on the top of my list of greatest passions – right next to Web Development. This community and what we do here at Smartphone Thoughts mean the world to me. I absolutely love our community and it still amazes me everyday that some of the most extraordinary, awesome, and down to earth people I have every met were right here on this very site.

This is why I am pleased to announce to all of you that I am taking over Mike's position as Managing Editor. As we all know, Mr. Temporale left some incredibly large shoes to fill, and while I might have to stuff the toes of those shoes with some tissue paper for a few weeks, I am confident that I will not let our readers down.

There will be a few changes here and there. For one, I will be the first person to admit that we have been slacking a bit on the content side of things. This will change ASAP. One of our main priorities now will be not only to bring our readers the latest and greatest on the Windows Mobile news front, but to bring you a ton of fresh product reviews and more thought pieces. Mike did an incredible job of doing this when he was our Managing Editor and I hope to follow in those same footsteps. My second priority, which I will need the help of our readers to accomplish, is to find out what you as visitors want from our site. This isn't just the news teams site, this site belongs to our readers because without you guys/gals, there would be no Smartphone Thoughts! So let us know what is on your mind and let us know where you would to see us take Smartphone Thoughts in the near future! Heck, you can even let me know if I ramble to much, I don’t mind!

Before I wrap this up, I want to take a second to thank Jason Dunn and our news team for giving me this opportunity as well as thank Mike Temporale for showing me the ropes and just plan ol' being there when I was a Smartphone Newbie. Thanks everyone!

"Osymo Smartphone Text Editor is carefully designed for easy text document editing, viewing and searching on any Windows Mobile Smartphone."



There's not much selection when you're looking for text editors that will run on a Smartphone. Thankfully, that's changing. Osymo has released a new Text Editor that supports Windows Mobile Smartphone devices - including those with landscape screens like the Q, Dash, and BlackJack. It supports standard functions like Copy/Paste, and it will open Text, HTML, XML etc. and even import Microsoft Office Rich Text Format based documents.

"With V2R Home Screen Editor you can add or remove all standard or 3rd party plug-ins, you can rearrange them in the desired order. Additionally you can add new themes or modify existing themes towards yor needs."



Mike reminded me I was just complaining (actually he used another word) about this very thing. Here is another one of those "rearrange the plug ins on your home screen" applications. This one will also let you insert ones that aren't yet there on the screen which is a cool feature. Those of us who use Facade know it will do most of this already. You can get a trial version or pick it up for $9.95 here at our affiliate store.

"VITO Ringtone Editor is the quickest way to create your own ringtones. All you need to do is listen to the melody and choose its part to assign as a ringtone. User-friendly intuitive interface simplifies the process greatly. While the melody is playing you mark the beginning and the end of a ringtone: just a matter of two presses. The ringtone is created! Now you can immediately assign it as a default ringtone or just save it. You can also replay or edit it."



This looks like the easiest tool to-date to create your own custom ringtone and what's even easier, is that you can do it from your phone. :D Check out our affiliate store for a demo version or to purchase a copy for $9.95.

"Sunnysoft Home Screen Editor for SmartPhones is a unique desktop PC application that lets you edit the home screen in your SmartPhone and customize it according to your personal preferences."



It looks like there is some new competition for Ruttensoft's Homescreen Designer. In much the same manner as Ruttensoft, this application is designed to allow you to create and customize your Smartphones homescreen from the comfort of your desktop computer. It's a little confusing to use at first, but it seems pretty powerful. I wish it had the drag and drop support for positioning controls on your homescreen. :( You can download the trial version or purchase a license for $25 from our affiliate store.

"Mobile Registry Editor is an application that can be used to edit the registry of your Pocket PC or Smartphone (Windows Mobile device). With it you can remotely edit the registry using your desktop keyboard and mouse as opposed to using your stylus/keypad on your PDA or phone. It's built as a Windows application which has been modeled after Regedit (with a few extra features such as favorites, value size, column sorting etc...) It has been tested with my PocketPC and Smartphone on Windows XP/2000 and requires the .NET Framework 1.1 to run."



This is a desktop based registry editor for your Windows Mobile device - both Pocket PC and Smartphone. ;) This version adds support for creating/deleting, and renaming keys and values, among other things. If you're looking for a single registry editor for all of your Windows Media needs, you might want to check this out.

"As its name might suggest Mobile Registry Editor is an application that can be used to edit the registry of Windows Mobile devices. I wrote it because I wanted an application that would allow me to browse the registry on my Smartphone from my PC. With it you can browse the registry, edit values, export keys and save your favorite keys. Features such as renaming, creating and deleting keys/values aren�t on the top of my priority list so I�ve left them out for now."

I don't know how useful this application will be if it's missing the ability to create, delete, and rename keys and values. :? If you're interested in trying out a PC-based registry editor, and for whatever reason, you don't want to use Smartione, then you might want to check out this app. :wink:

Now they aren't making a big deal about it yet. In fact there is no mention of it on the product page at all! Thanks to an astute source we find that the new version does indeed have a registry editor add on just like the Pocket PC version has always had. You have to go here to get it. The download link on the product page doesn't even get you the new version yet. I'm sure that their front page will catch up with their back page but until then you can check this out now. I have already downloaded it and it is a pleasure to use. :)

I'm not sure how many of us have a use for a Smartphone based registry editor anymore. Smartione has really changed how I access the Smartphone Registry. Regardless, Chris Wille has released a free registry editor including source code, for the Smartphone. I haven't installed it, but by the looks of things, I think it's safe to say that you'll need Windows Mobile 2003 to run it. You can download the registry editor here. 8)

Are you looking to do some basic image editing on your Smartphone? You should check out Pocket Image Editor. We've mentioned this program here in the past, but it was still a beta version back then. It's now reached version 1.0. It has a good selection of features including drawing various shapes, effects like Black & White and Lightness, Undo, and more. Best of all it's a free application!

Sadly, I must admit that my job at Microsoft and the conflicts of interest which come along with it have intruded on my ability to give Smartphone Thoughts the attention that it needs and deserves in my role as Manging Editor. The original plan was for my internship to end on Friday at which point I would be able refocus on this site. However, I have been asked to spend an additional three months as a Program Manager in the Windows Mobile Developer Experience team - and while that's good for my career, it's not good for this site. ;-)As of today, Mike Temporale will be taking over as the Managing Editor of Smartphone Thoughts and will be in charge of the day to day business of this site. Mike has consistently amazed us all with his passion and commitment to serving the Windows Mobile community. I have great confidence in his ability to drive Smartphone Thoughts to achieving further greatness. Please join me in congratulating Mike on his new role at Smartphone Thoughts!