home > hints & tips >

POCKET PC (iPAQ) HINTS & TIPS

Miscellaneous hints and tips for Pocket PC users

SCREEN PROTECTION

Even before switching the iPAQ on, I fitted a screen protector happily discovering that my Palm III-sized protectors were a good fit. I get mine in the UK from Widget:
http://www.widget.com (Ref. U914 - 10 pack, 60 x 81 mm, sold for the III, IIIx and Visor).

BODY PROTECTION

I carried a naked Palm III for three years without mishap, but that had a flip top which was very effective despite provoking the inevitable "Beam me up, Scotty" remarks. But the naked iPAQ would be unthinkably vulnerable (especially the screen) and its supplied slipcase soon demonstrates its inadequacy. It often triggers the record button, and then you have the problem of what to do with it whilst attempting to keep hold of the iPAQ's body which is as slippery as an eel. The answer is to buy a leather case and I ordered one from the Argentinian company, Vaja http://www.vajacases.com.

SETTINGS YOU MIGHT WANT TO ALTER

Turning down the system is an early reqirement unless you want to startle your fellow passengers and colleagues. (Settings, Sounds & Reminders, System Volume). You may also want to stop email truncating but this has to be done through ActiveSync on the PC, not on the palmtop itself. Finally, if you want to use the iPAQ away from home :-), you'll will need to set Screen Brightness to Automatic in order to conserve power (System, Settings, Backlight, Brightness). Power is your scarcest resource, and a bit of a shock after enjoying the frugality of the Palm and its switchable AAA batteries.

FINDING THINGS YOU MIGHT WANT TO KNOW IN A HURRY

To check remaining power: Settings, System, Power
Sound settings: Settings, Personal, Sounds & Reminders
To check remaining storage: Settings, System, Memory

USING WORD TO PREPARE HTML PAGES

My main purpose for using a palmtop is to write reviews destined for HTML. The best way I've found to do this is to use Pocket Word. Then, on the PC, open the documents in Word proper and save them as HTML. You can then import them into web authoring software and remove all the extraneous Word coding whilst retaining bold and italics. DreamWeaver has a special command for achieving this!

RIK - 11 September 2001