How to emulate the HTC HD Mini in Visual Studio

(Windows Mobile 6.1 & 6.5)

With the release of HTC's HD Mini, Windows Mobile developers now have another resolution to worry about. And its not unreasonable to assume that HTC will be able to move a large number of these devices with the popularity of the HD and HD2.

You can take a look at the specifications here:
http://www.htc.com/www/product/hdmini/specification.html

What's important to note is the screen resolution of 320x480 - this is the only Windows Mobile device that I know of that uses this resolution. What's also important is the screen DPI - which is most likely 128. QVGA devices like the Touch are 96dpi and VGA and WVGA devices are 192dpi.

Its also worth noting that this device has a height to width ratio of 3 to 2 where normal devices are 4:3 and the wide devices are 5:3 so you may need to make some minor alternations to your GUI code when supporting the mini.

Now I haven't been able to find an emulator for this device but fortunately we can fake it using the Windows Mobile 6 SDK. I had a clever friend that works in Redmond help me out with this so I big thanks to her.

Fortunately we can use the Microsoft Device Emulator to launch a recompiled emulator image and change the display properties. Now remember I mentioned 128dpi? There is only one emulator image that supports this and that is the 320x320 Square QVGA emulator image. You can try other images but the resources will be incorrect and the sizes of menus, icons, etc will be either too big or too small.

So lets cut to the chase, assuming you have Visual Studio 2005 or 2008 installed and the Windows Mobile 6.1 SDK you can launch the emulator from the command line or by using a Batch file with the following command:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Device Emulator\1.0\DeviceEmulator.exe" "C:\Program Files\Windows Mobile 6 SDK\PocketPC\DeviceemulationV610\0409\PPC_USA_GSM_QVGA_VR.BIN" /memsize 256 /hostkey Left-Alt /video 320x480x16

or for 64 bit systems:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Device Emulator\1.0\DeviceEmulator.exe" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Mobile 6 SDK\PocketPC\DeviceemulationV610\0409\PPC_USA_GSM_QVGA_VR.BIN" /memsize 256 /hostkey Left-Alt /video 320x480x16


(Launching the emulator at 320x480 - Windows Mobile 6.1)

You can also try the 6.5 image but I wasn't able to get the start menu working, presumably there are additional resources needed for the 480 high screen:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Device Emulator\1.0\DeviceEmulator.exe" "C:\Program Files\Windows Mobile 6 SDK\PocketPC\DeviceemulationV650\0409\PPC_USA_GSM_320x320_VR.BIN" /memsize 256 /hostkey Left-Alt /video 320x480x16


Once you have it up and running, you can cradle it just like any other emulator, it will show up in the Device Manager at the bottom with an ID string in the "Others" section.


(Custom emulator shown in the Device Manager)


(Debugging Calc Pro with the custom launched emulator)


Good luck and feel free to post questions

Further reading:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb630224.aspx

Panoramic Guitar Suite updated to verion 1.3.0

Panoramic Software Inc has just released a new version of Guitar Suite for Windows Mobile.

The big news is Guitar Suite now supports Dutch, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Japanese.

If you haven't checked out Guitar Suite in a while it supports more than just Guitars now, you can also select Bass Guitar, Banjo, Lute or Ukulele tunings.

Check it out here:

http://www.panoramicsoft.com/mobileapps/guitarsuite/GuitarSuite.php

Panoramic Software is now on Facebook

If you want an easy way to keep up to date with Panoramic Software products and features you just might want to become a fan of the new facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/panoramicsoft.com

Its also a great way to interact with the developers. A user recently requested KenKen for Sudoku and it made it into the latest release so don't be afraid to post.

Panoramic Ultimate Sudoku updated

Panoramic Ultimate Sudoku has been updated to version 1.1.0

Along with a number of minor tweaks and improvements it now contains "Genius" level puzzles for regular Sudoku, a new game mode called KenKen, and support for five new languages: Dutch, French, German, Spanish, & Portuguese.

It supports all Windows Mobile touch screen devices (5.0 and up including 6.5.3).

Take a look here:

http://www.panoramicsoft.com/mobilegames/sudoku/Sudoku.php

And while you're there enter the contest to win a free copy.

Panoramic Calc Pro for Windows XP/Vista/7

Panoramic Software has finally brought Calc Pro to desktop PCs. It has been carefully developed to work on desktop PCs, laptops, net books and tablets.

Along with all of the features of the Windows Mobile version:

• Standard calculator


• Scientific


• Financial with 10 worksheets


• 130+ daily updated currency conversions


• Thousands of Unit conversions


• Thousands of scientific constants


• Graphing


• Multiple skins


• Highly configurable calculator settings including RPN


• Much more

The Windows version also allows for 4 size selections which allows it to work great on 1080p displays and tiny net book displays as small as 640x480.

For more information, purchasing or a free trial go here:

http://www.panoramicsoft.com/desktop/calcpro/CalcproDesktop.php

How to get support for your mobile applications and games

This sounds like a pretty straight forward topic but after being in the industry for almost a decade I know that some people could use some assistance.

Step One - Ensure there really is a problem:
Read on screen messages, take a quick look if you received an email with your purchase with further instructions, etc.


Step Two - Make sure its not your phone:
If you know how, perform a soft reset and try again. If you're trying to install software and you have the option, download it again. Occasionally the download can get corrupted.


Step Three - Prepare your support question:
No one likes software that doesn't work we all want it fixed as quickly as possible so gather the following information:
- Application name
- Make a model of your phone
- Sales transaction ID, reference number, etc
- Description of the problem (be concise)
- Description of any error messages (be precise)
You'll almost always be asked for this information anyways so you might as well save some back and forth.

Sending "software doesn't work" isn't going to get you to a quick resolution.


Step Four - decide who to contact:
If your problem is downloading the software you'll need to contact the company/website that sold you the software. There's no point calling Sony for support if Best Buy hasn't delivered TV. Contact the software development company for everything else, it'll be faster.


Step Five - send the email:
This part is easy if you've done the above, I just have one more bit of advice - "Be Polite". As a developer I avoid support as much as possible but it still falls in my lap. We've always maintained a policy of being polite and helpful to everyone. However its much more pleasant for us to deal with polite customers and we're more likely go out of our way to help them (for example, over the weekend) than a belligerent customer. You may at times be dealing with a big corporation but there's always a person on the other end that has to read your message.

Also be realistic about your expectations, you're not likely to find companies are willing to call you long distance and spend hours on the phone with you for a product that costs 99 cents.


Step Six - follow up:
Hopefully this isn't necessary but don't be afraid to follow up a couple of times. If you're not getting a response try sending from another email account and don't use excessive smiley face images. Do your part to ensure your message isn't getting caught in a SPAM filter and make sure your filters aren't blocking the response. Be polite but let them know your previous email has gone unanswered.

If you're not getting the help you need contact the sales website and request a refund. You deserve to have a working product and most of these companies will issue you a refund without much hassle assuming you've already attempted to solve the problem.


Good Luck!

Windows Mobile powered Blackberry? BlackGrape i9000

We recently dealt with a support issue for one our games and the user was reporting very odd behavior (random screen orientation changes, touch screen not working, etc). I finally asked what device they were using and they curtly responded "BlackGrape 9000". Wow.

A quick google search and I was able to find some basic information. It appears to be running Windows Mobile 6.1 and the device is a poor copy of the Blackberry Bold.

I DO NOT recommend buying these devices, this is an obvious infringement on RIM's intellectual property and I am confident that Microsoft would not give permission to create this device so it most likely means that the operating system (Windows Mobile) and any software installed on the device are not being legally obtained or distributed (ie pirated).

And if you morally don't have an issue with it, remember that this device will not run software designed for the Blackberry Bold and it sounds like it won't even run Windows Mobile software correctly either.

That being said I find the concept quite entertaining.

You can read more here and buy what appears to be a LOT of other bootleg phones running Windows Mobile .... just terrible.
http://www.fastcardtech.com/goods-3671-BlackGrape+i9000+ARM9+524MHZ+CPUBuilt+in+GPSQWERT+Full+Keyboardorbit+ball.html