Two steps
forward
. . . and maybe three back
Love and hate with the Compaq Pocket PC 2002 Upgrade
After almost a year with the original Ipaq 3630 and Windows CE 3.0 operating system aided and abetted by a ROM upgrade or two and numerous extra programmes, I just about had everything working to my satisfaction. I am a heavy e-mail user handling anything up to fifty mails a day, and when I am travelling, particularly outside of the UK, it is the Ipaq that hides in my pocket away from the eyes of thieves, and keeps me in touch.
Despite all the improvements to the original system there were still a few very annoying quirks which no-one seemed able to remedy, such as an inability to display some e-mails types, and a tendency for the system to crash when Internet Explorer was connected to certain web pages, and especially to the AvantGo server. But all in all a brilliant solution to my needs. So I looked forward to the upgrade to 2002 with all the promised remedies and improvements, in fact I ordered it the moment Compaq displayed the means to do so, way back in October.
The CD finally arrived in January and it wasn't long before the normal workload was being pushed back into the afternoon hours as the temptation to install grew by the hour. Little did I know that I was about to return myself to the prehistoric ages of pre-Ipaq days, and even pre-Psion days of the 1980's. In fact as far as mobile computing was concerned I became well and truly static.
Three weeks or so later, I can smile again and be pleased at what is possible with such a small silver device, but this day has not come without it's struggles and mental gymnastics. Let me tell you the headlines of the story.
OK, overall Pocket PC 2002 is a major improvement, although the upgrade is a disappointingly cut down version of what is being offered with new Pocket PC products. The quirks that I had become used to have gone, but annoyingly new ones have come. There are still various kinds of html e-mails which do not display, surprisingly including the html messages from Microsoft's own highly popular hotmail.com service.
2002 connects you faster to the Internet, it's faster to browse the web and faster to send and collect e-mails and much more reliable - once that is, that you have managed to configure the dialling system, and worked your way through the quite complicated set-up and log-in procedures. Not for the inexperienced, faint-hearted or people pressed for time. The all new Wizard seemed to be lacking a touch from Harry Potter on the day I opened his door so I quickly said goodbye.
The installation itself seemed to be straightforward enough and finished in half an hour or so, but so many things didn't seem to make sense or couldn't be found, that I repeated the whole procedure again, followed by a couple of soft resets and then a hard reset. That did the trick but by now morning coffee had given way to afternoon tea, and much of the days work was still to be done.
This week I re-installed Autosynch 3.5 because 2002 seemed to be making it difficult for the PC to close down, and that seems to have done the trick. Don't ask me why.
Being honest, lots of the initial struggles and frustrations that filled the first few days of 2002 can be put down to the new atmosphere and working environment that 2002 brings. Little thingsbut crucual ones are just not the same, and somehow I expected them to be. So some relearning had to take place, even to the extent of consulting the instructions!
The Agenda is better, AvantGo connects first time every time and doesn't cause a crash, I-Task is so nice but I still look for the Q screen button to touch and would like it back to enter I-Task. Microsoft Money 2002 now displays my balances on the Today page.
So two steps forward and three steps back ? Why is that ? For me it is down to one change for the worse which is incomprehensible for a manufacturers trying to sell to the mobile PC market. In the original system it was possible to configure Outlook to not download files or attachments as clearly, trying to do so over a mobile phone connection at 9,600 kbs is a long and expensive process which may never be completed as the lines tend to drop.
Incredibly in Pocket PC 2002 that facility has been removed and nothing you do, and no advice that you follow from Compaq USA or UK, seems to be able to stop Outlook attempting to download every file attachment in the mailbox, every bit of Spam, every virus and every photo of the kids that people send to you. The facility to just see the headers and choose to download is for me, at least, an unreliable and unpredictable procedure compared to the original ease given by Outlook 2000.
Compaq finally admitted to me that is no way to prevent the downloading of files. Astonishing - and this alone takes me back three steps or more, because if the file attachment happens to be in e-mail number one or two in the mailbox with ten simple e-mails behind it, you are stuck unless you have a landline and a 56K modem. Then it's a doddle but when you are in the styx or in your car with no such facilities - oh dear me.
Add to that the extra power drain caused by Pocket Outlook 2002 and the delay in being able to use invaluable programmes like HPC Notes and HPC Spell until they are adapted to the new OS, and one wonders how much one has really been gained by spending £35. I installed the WISBar I had become so used to and it worked fine, until I realised that it obscured the connection icon which is the only means of disconnecting from the phone line. Eventually I pulled the modem card out which had the same effect but how clumsy!
In time and with a little patience no doubt all these things will be attended to, some minor ones in fact already have, by the issue of Service Pack 1 from Compaq.
I quickly found that 2002 scrambled or reversed DNS numbers and, although it would connect to some ISP's it would not display a page or send an e-mail and no amount of harsh looks or even harsher under the breath threats would persuade it to do so. NTL in the UK was particularly affected by this quirk which the Service Pack solved in the nick of time, before the Compaq support lines in Ireland went into terminal meltdown. "I don't know what to suggest," the kind man said after playing his music for 15 minutes or so.
So there we are, love it lots - and hate it even more some days, when there is a file in the mailbox or the power has gone all too quickly. It will get better, but then again I sometimes see a Psion 3c or Super Revo in someone's hand and a wave of nostalgia sweeps over me. I just wonder how much further I am on after hundreds of pounds of investment in style, design and colour. I wouldn't really go back, but least I could stop those rotten file attachments back in the prehistoric nineties and my 2 AA batteries lasted for months.
Best wishes,
Les Norman.
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1st February, 2002
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