Microsoft Compact .NET Framework vCard Success Story

Recently I purchased a special purpose Windows Mobile tool that allows for import and export of contacts using the VCard standard. Produced by PocketKai, this utility makes excellent use of the Microsoft .NET compact framework. In fact, the installer footprint for the application is only 192KB, and the \Program Files\vCard Manager folder is only 114KB. (On my HTC PPC6700 device, memory is at a nuisance premium).

My requirements Before email became the killer app that it now is, and before spam mandated the presence of marketing email addresses in the address book, Activesync and other synchronizing tools were adequate. Now my address book is huge, with 2715 contacts (and counting). I need a small subset on the phone. Further, I have a different set of requirements for work vs. home contact management. The vCard is perfect for this. I can mark contacts by category, import/export by category and then synchronize a selected folder between mobile, desktop and cloud locations. On the mobile device, a zip of all 2800 contacts, in vCard format, can be stored in removeable flash memory (not subtracting from precious main memory). Then I can draw from that folder to insert / export a contact from Windows Mobile as needed. PocketKai, at the attractive price point of $8, does the trick.

Migration: TMobile Sidekick to Sprint PPC6700

After initial hardware problems with Sidekick two years ago, I have been happy with both the Sidekick and with TMobile's customer service. Sometimes TMobile's coverage in Long Island (including parts of the microcommunity where I live) or certain airports was weak or absent, but it's been satisfactory.

But it's an expensive proposition with all the voice and data features added into the service -- pushing $80/mo. So I'm consolidating with my family Sprint service and moving to a standardized PPC platform using their PPC6700. I've got an older Toshiba PPC (non-phone) that I've had for awhile, so that aspect isn't new.

I'll update these notes as I find time.

• Using Activesynch to move my Outlook address book resulted in an out of memory condition on the PPC6700 and I had to reset the device.
• Activesynch versions <4 inevitably created dozens of Valentines Day reminders. There seems to be no standard for handling "all day" events that works across platforms cleanly.
• Danger's Sidekick has excellent web integration, whereas PPC6700 (and all PPC's IMHO) assumes you are at a stationary desktop (with a Windows license, of course) to which you often return. I've gotten away from this model, and have little use for Outlook except at work. Reason: to hard to get at messages from various locations (e.g., homes of friends and family, and the phone itself). So there is no easy way to get my 700 names out of the Sidekick and into Outlook to push them at the PPC6700. TMobile used to support Intellisynch (Google has cached those pages), but I think when Nokia bought them, that went away. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I got tired of searching for another solution for this very old problem.
• The Sidekick transparently handles the Send/Receive for email. I assume this has to be set up in Pocket Outlook, as I wasn't getting email without poking the app.
• Sprint's customer service and/or customer service infrastructure is spotty. More on this later.