Microsoft formally announced the latest addition to the Pocket PC family at the 3GSM World Congress held in mid February in Cannes, France. Based on the Pocket PC 2002 software, the new Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition adds support for mobile phone capability, including voice communications and SMS (Short Message Service) text messaging, and supports existing communications capabilities such as e-mail, Web browsing, and Instant Messaging.

Microsoft is working with a number of hardware partners to bring the Phone Edition to market. As we went to press, Hewlett-Packard and O2 had already announced plans to build these devices. The first Pocket PC equipped with the Phone Edition software will be available in Europe sometime in the second quarter of 2002.

NEW SOFTWARE INTEGRATES PHONE FUNCTION WITH POCKET PC

Microsoft wanted to accomplish two things with this new release. They wanted to create a device with all the functionality of a great mobile phone. To accomplish this, they included standard features, such as an speed dialer, a call log, call notification features, speed dial, caller ID, and emergency calling capabilities. In addition, they included advance features such as SMS/Inbox integration and customizable ring tones using any .wav file. Microsoft also wanted to integrate the traditional Pocket PC software seamlessly with the new phone functionality. Towards this end they included one-touch dialing from Contacts, SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) migration services, and the ability to view and edit Pocket Outlook information from the Phone application. Let's look at some of the software features in more detail:

The most obvious software addition is the built-in Phone Dialer. This application (Screen 1) lets you use fingers or stylus to dial a phone number, access your speed dials, check for missed calls, and more. The speed dial function (Screen 2) presents a list of your most commonly-called numbers. Tap on an item in the list and the number is dialed. Speed dial lets you add up to 99 numbers to this list. You can add phone numbers directly to your speed dial list, or transfer them quickly from your Contacts list.

Screen 1: Phone Dialer lets you use your fingers or stylus to dial phone numbers.

Screen 2: The speed dial function lets you tap once to call commonly used phone numbers.

Phone Dialer also has a caller ID function that lets you screen your calls. To use this feature, your service provider must activate caller ID and this may require an additional fee. The application also has a call log (Screen 3), a function that lists the calls you've made and received. This list can be sorted by incoming, missed, or outgoing calls, as well as by the name of the caller. You can use theCall Log to call back any number on the list, check the date, time, and duration of a call, and modify contact information. You can even access notes associated with that call.

Screen 3: Call Log lists the calls you've made and received.

The Call Notes feature associates notes with a phone call. Launch the Pocket PC's Notes application during a call and a new note will pop up with the date and time of the call listed at the top of the note (Screen 4). The name, company, and phone number will also be listed if they are in your Contacts list. After you have entered your notes and closed the Call Notes document, it is saved in a special "calls" folder. You can synchronize these notes with your desktop PC, beam them to a friend, or leave them on your Pocket PC and access them with the Notes application or from the Call Log list described above.