The first few times that Microsoft sponsored conferences for mobile developers, all attendees were required to sign non-disclosure agreements (known as NDAs) before their money was accepted and they were allowed to attend. These early Windows CE Developer Conferences were relatively small, packed with the type of information developers needed in order to prepare for the next generation of devices. But when the conferences started getting bigger, Microsoft started to worry more about information leaks. So in the last few years, the NDAs are gone, but sadly, so is the inside information about what’s coming next.
In my own, rather unscientific, polling of fellow attendees, I knew that Microsoft must have been reading a lot of dissatisfaction in the feedback forms. Developers cried for information on the newer products that they would need to plan for. And Microsoft took the message to heart. This year’s Mobile Developer Conference, held in San Francisco, was all about the future. Given the time it takes to develop a first-class application, this look at the next generation of mobile devices and their software was very welcome.
Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition
The big news for developers was the announcement of a “refresh” of the Windows Mobile operating system used by both the Pocket PC and the Smartphone. The most visible feature of Second Edition is support for more screen resolution options. For the Pocket PC, the new options include two square screen resolutions (240x240 or 480x480 pixels) and full VGA (640x480 pixel) displays, while the Smartphone adds support for the same quarter-VGA (320x240 pixel) resolution as the current Pocket PCs. Additionally, Pocket PCs with Second Edition will natively support both the current vertical “portrait” view and a new horizontal “landscape” mode (this feature will not be available on Second Edition Smartphones). While third-party utilities such as Nyditot (http://www.nyditot.com) allow landscape viewing and higher resolution views, the functionality built into Second Edition provides a more polished look and feel.
The new look of the Today screen in landscape orientation with Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition.
When applications are scaled to the higher resolution screens, the pixels are not just doubled: fonts and borders are smoothed to provide a sharper image than simple magnification would provide.
Each attendee was provided with a preview copy of the software development kit (SDK) for Second Edition. There was also an opportunity for owners of certain model Pocket PCs and Smartphones to get them upgraded to an early build of Second Edition. This was a one-time offer and certainly an “at your own risk” offer, but quite a pleasant surprise—one that I hope is repeated at future developer events.
A new tool set
Along with Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition, Microsoft announced that there will be a new version of the Visual Studio tools to be called Visual Studio 2005. It includes important new features for developing mobile applications.
First, there are new form design tools that will provide a much more accurate view of what the form will ultimately look like on the mobile device. The forms designer will even allow the user to work with both the portrait and landscape views of a Pocket PC form. Forms developed for mobile devices will also support “anchoring” controls to the sides of the form. This is something that has been available in Windows Forms for the desktop, but is new for mobile devices. Anchoring will allow a control to move relative to the sides of the form as the user switches from one orientation to another. For example, a button anchored to the lower right corner of the form will stay the same distance from that corner whether in portrait or landscape mode.
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