Dell Axim x51v works with Windows 7

After doing a Google search and finding that most people seem to have had no luck in getting their Dell Axim x51v to work with Windows 7, I was really reluctant to try it and almost didn’t.  But today I decided to try and it worked. 

At first I was discouraged because I got a driver not installed correctly message.  I decided to try to manually add a device through the Devices & Printers in the Control Panel.  Not sure if that is what triggered to Windows Mobile Device Center to finally start and recognize it or it just took that long, because after it installed correctly the add a device box was still looking for devices. 

Anyway, it installed correctly and it syncs what I need to right now.  I ditched Outlook when I upgraded to Windows 7 because I only had Office XP/2002 which isn’t supposed to work with “7” and I rarely used it when I had Vista anyway.

Extracting Pocket Outlook recordings

I found this and it works great for me using Audacity.

(1) Copy .pwi (Note) file to PC

(2) Open Audacity

(3) Get the Note audio into Audacity by:

Project menu
Import as raw data

(4) Select all of the audio by clicking below its file name at left of the graphic of the file

(5) Click on dropdown menu (arrow next to file name)

Set Rate to 11025 Hz

(6) Convert to WAV by:

File menu
Export as wav

iGo Stowaway Ultra-Slim Bluetooth Keyboard

Over this Christmas Amazon had a deal for the iGo Stowaway Ultra-Slim Bluetooth Keyboard for Pocket PC's and bluetooth enabled phones for $30 that normally is around $150. That deal is no longer offered but here's one offer available there.

It is pretty compact and very easy to use and setup. I had no problems using it with my Dell X51v. I installed the software provided and it has worked great. I have also found that it is very good on battery drain and I haven't noticed any additional drain beyond what I experience during normal use.

I needed some minor adjustments in my typing skills, because it is a small keyboard some keys are used for three characters. For example the Q, 1, and ! are all on the same key. To use the extra characters there is a blue and a green Fn key that enables you to choose the appropriate character that you need.

I am very satisfied with the iGo Stowaway keyboard and I keep it with me wherever I go so that whenever I get a chance to write anything, I can at a moments notice. The letter recognizer or on screen keyboard on my Pocket PC are pretty easy to use but with the iGo Stowaway Ultra-Slim Bluetooth Keyboard it is even a lot faster and easier.

Microsoft Office Mobile 6.1

Microsoft released Microsoft Office Mobile 6.1: Upgrade for Microsoft Office 2007 file formats
this week.

It will allow Windows Mobile users to work with Office documents created in the Open XML formats. It is an upgrade for Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, and PowerPoint Mobile and allows viewing and editing of Word documents and Excel workbooks and viewing of PowerPoint slideshows created by using Microsoft Office 2007. Some other improvements are enhanced viewing experience for charts in Excel Mobile, the ability to view SmartArt in PowerPoint Mobile, and the ability to view and extract files from compressed (.zip) folders.

The upgrade is for Windows Mobile 5.0 software for Pocket PC and Windows Mobile 6.

Relevant articles:
PC World
Microsoft