The DinarSoft giveaway continues here at Eten Blog dot Com. Winners have been selected for MemMaid, TapText and HandySwitcher. If you have yet to win a prize, then fret not because this new week (or what is left of it), brings with it new chances.

The Bounty

Up for grabs this week is DinarSoft’s HandyMenu. With this software, all your shortcuts are just a tap away. No longer do you have to tap Start, tap Settings, tap System and finally tap Clock and Alarms to set the time because now you can do it with just 1 tap. You can even bind it to functions such as Screen Capture and Screen Off or even Soft Reset. Enhance the life of your hardware keys and screen because you will be pressing and tapping them less with HandyMenu.

The Rules

Rules are still the same. Valid comments made from October 1^st to 7^th 2007 will be considered. Cut-off time for submission will be 11.59pm (EST) on October 7th 2007 but you do not have to wait till then. Each valid comment counts as 1 entry so the more comments you make, the more your chances of winning. Trackbacks and linkbacks count as 5 entries a piece.

P.S. If you leave a comment and it does not show up, chances are it is held for moderation. Not to worry, I’ll approve it (if it is not spam) and you’ll soon see it.

A couple of weeks ago, I ran a poll asking readers of this blog if they were going to buy the Eten Glofiish X800. From the results, 59%20% said no and the last 21% were undecided. So I thought to myself, what made them choose the answers that they did? were planning to,

Those Buying The X800

Maybe these are the ones who embrace new gadgets and will be the first few to get their hands on one when it does come out. But because there was no time frame given, meaning they could buy it when it’s launched or wait a couple of months before committing to the purchase, that assumption is flawed. Looking at the bigger picture, I guess one of this factors came up.

Fed-Up With Other Brands

In the world of consumer electronics, it is so much easier to lose customers than to gain them. Providing a problematic device, bad customer service and/or poor support are just some of the ways a company can give their competitors an early Christmas gift.

The Perfect Device

Another important factor (though sometimes overlooked) is the buying of device to suit one’s needs. While the X800 is not for me (based on my current needs), I am sure there are those who would find this device to suit them to a T. The presence of a great GPS chipset (SirfStar III), the ability to make VoIP calls just like a normal call WITHOUT the headset, the high capacity ROM (256 MB) and 3.5G high speed connections will really serve the needs of the power user.

Lower Price

It’s not surprising that costs will always factor in your purchase decisions. Would you pay more for a car just because of the brand or would you buy a car that does what it needs to do? If you go for the latter, then the X800 would be perfect for you. Other brands such HTC have been known to inflate their prices such that when you compare specs for specs, you sometimes wonder why you are paying a couple of hundred dollars more for something less superior.

Those Passing On The X800

There are tons of reasons why people are not planning to buy this device and to list them would be never-ending. Besides opposites of the points covered above, here are some reasons which could have swayed them in this direction.

Unheard Of Brand

Would you buy a plasma TV from Panasonic or VaX (a fictional company which I made up)? The thing is, majority would go with the tried and tested version rather than uncharted territories. They’ll say that it’s better to spend more money because the company’s more established and thus better at it. The same goes for PDA.

Loyalty To A Certain Brand

I have to admit, when I was using cell phones, I only used a Nokia, no matter how much nicer or better other brands were. The reason was that I was really happy with the company with their products. No matter which model I got, it worked great, there were minimal or no problems and when I needed support, be it online or to a repair shop, it was always there. Plus the fact that I was also used to its interface and offerings. Thus, when it was time to replace my cell phone, Nokia was always the brand I searched for.

And Those Sitting On The Fence

Even after reading all the pros and cons of a device, they are still unsure why they should go and get the X800. Or not get it. It’s an ongoing battle as they try to justify why should or should not get it the moment it reaches stores. Reasons include:

Buggy First Version

Usually the case with electronics that break new ground for a company, the first version of the device is filled with bugs, be it software of hardware. For users of the HTC Hermes, you might have remembered the infamous misaligned screen. Before that, there was the pale screen of the HTC Magician. While not always the case, your chances of having to wait for a fix are higher if you take the lead and commit to a newly launched device.

A Whole List Of Reasons

Which I am unsure of. Those in this group will end up being in either of the group listed above and most probably for the reasons listed as well. It is just a matter of time before they make their decision. But what is holding them back? Maybe you can share them with me if you know of any.

Conclusion

The bottom line is that you do not have to rush into a decision. Just because a device is launching today does not mean you have to go out and get it. Do your research, analyze your needs and play around with the device if you get the chance. Be careful when you go to forums to seek opinions because people usually go to forums to discuss problems with their devices (which is common for any forum) and thus you might form a (negatively) bias opinion about the device.

Good luck with your purchase!!

Is your Program folder a long list of programs that you wish could be tidier? Would it not be great if you could put similar programs into folders? How about linking a software or file directly? Well you can do all that and easily.

Requirements

You will need a file explorer. The generic one that comes with your Windows Mobile should work fine but I am using Total Commander for these operations. It’s free and filled with tons of features that you find in paid versions. Head over to their website to download the latest version. Install and you are good to go.

Set Up

The folder that you are going to play with will be \Windows\Start Menu\Programs. If you look in this folder, you will notice all the links to programs that you have installed. They are all links and not the actual programs (similar to the Windows you use on Desktop) so feel free to delete them if you want to. Now the fun begins.

Group All Your Programs

Say you want to create a folder for all your RPG Games. And you want that folder to be inside the Games folder. What you do is to go into your Games folder which should be \Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Games and tap File > MkDir which is short for Make Directory. A box will pop up and you enter the name of that folder (in this case RPG Games). Tap OK and the folder is created.

Now that the folder is created, you just need to go and search for the links to the games that you want in that folder. Tap and hold on the link and select Cut to clipboard. Go into the newly created RPG Games folder. Tap and hold again and this time when the menu comes up, select Paste Here (Move). The link will then be moved from the old location to your new location. Repeat for each folder/link until you get the desired result.

Create New Link

So how do you create a new link to a software or file? There are several ways but it does not get any easier than the one by Total Commander. Go to the location where the program is installed or where the file is. Tap File, select >>>>>, and choose Create shortcut. A pop up box will come up asking you where do you want the link. This is where you want the link to be placed, so enter the directory exactly or use Tree. Once you are satisfied with the location, tap OK and voila. When you go to that directory, you will see the link there.

You can also do this with files which you commonly use such as a shopping list in word document which saves you the trouble of multiple taps.

Deleting Links

If you have removed a software but the link still remains, you can also remove the icon from your Programs folder using the variations of the methods described. Tap and hold on the offensive icon and choose Delete. Link is gone and your Program folder looks much tidier.

Renaming Links

Sometimes you do not want people to find out what a software links to. Or even a file for that matter. Renaming the link solves that for you. Again you have to tap and hold on the link you want to change and choose Rename. The box will be highlighted just like in Windows but instead of renaming the whole link, make sure you leave the .lnk suffix behind. For example, if your link is here and you want to change it to there, the final look will be there.lnk. The .lnk is important as without it, the system will not recognize the link. Took me a while to figure that out

How do you manage your folder?

Who does not like free software? Especially if the free software is one that you would usually have to pay for? No I am not distributing pirated software but instead have a much better deal for you.

Every Friday it seems, Handango is giving away free software which you would otherwise have to pay for on other day. Today it’s CodeWallet Pro 6 For Pocket PC by DeveloperOne, the people behind the highly popular Agenda Fusion (now called Agenda One). Valued at USD$29.95, getting it FREE is definitely welcomed.

To claim your free copy, just head over to this link, click the ‘Get My Free App‘, fill up a brief survey and an email will be sent to you as to how to get your copy. I am going to claim my now so you better hurry too!

Have you claimed yours?

Update*: Looks like you have to use Internet Explorer to sign up because I got an error when I used FireFox. It was asking me to input a value for Device but there was no such option. When I switched to IE, the option then came up. Do take note.

Let’s face it. The default SIP in Windows Mobile does not really help with efficient text entry. If you want to do it relatively fast, you will most probably have to use 2 hands and if you want to use it with 1 hand, chances are, your entries will most likely be slow or not even accurate.

Over the years, many companies have tried to come up with a SIP that is both efficient and reliable for 1 handed operations. Even device manufacturers such as Eten have tried their hands with their EasyKeyboard but in my opinion, nothing comes close to HTC’s T9 input.

However, we now have a new choice when entering out data with TouchPal. It claims to be a fast, easy and convenient sot keyboard. I’ll let the video below explain more about the SIP.

The first thing that struck me when I saw this SIP was the keyboard of some Blackberry devices. At 300 characters word per minute, you can definitely get a lot of text entry done with this. Plus the fact that you can rearrange the keys to suit your style is really an option that is missing in many SIPs out there.

Whether it lives up to its claim is entirely up to the user. It will definitely take some getting used to. Why not give it a try and let me know. For now, you can download it for FREE but do hurry because I have no idea when that offer will end.

What do you think of this SIP?

Today is the day AT&T launches the much-hyped Tilt. The smartphone is better than most Windows Mobile devices simply because it has everything built-in that one could possible want (short of a headhone jack - what!?). While it’s a little sluggish at times, it’s a multi-tasking, event-juggling performer in the slow-and-steady sense.

It’s supposed to launch today, but a quick scan of the AT&T Wireless website shows it missing. We were finally able to locate it on the business side of the website, as it’s not aimed at consumers. Whatever, here’s a link, happy shopping.

Now available - AT&T Tilt [Product Page]