PDACorps.COM review

DotPocket v2.0 review

Aurorisoft describe DotPocket 2.0 as a 'powerful and easy to use tool that allows you to extend the visual capabilities of your PocketPC and integrate it with your desktop system'. It certainly sounds intriguing. How can the visual capabilities of the hardware be extended by a piece of software? And just what do they mean by 'integrate it with your desktop system'? Read on..

DotPocket comes in the form of one install file, but it actually contains two pieces of software. First there is the PocketPC element which I'll cover first, and then there's the desktop element. Note that all screenshots on page 1 (this page) of the review are taken from the PocketPC element. All screenshots on page 2 are from the PC element.

Going back to Aurorisofts claims about DotPocket, it is clear that it is the PocketPC element that is designed to 'extend the visual capabilities' of your device. One of the things that attracted us all to PocketPC's in the first place, is sometimes one of the more frustrating things about it - it's size. Or lack thereof. Most of the time we're quite happy with our 240x320 screen resolution and the limitations that brings. After all, the software we use was developed with such a screen size in mind, so GUI's are designed with that in mind meaning that on the whole, the PocketPC experience is a good one. Sometimes though there are times when nothing will do, other than a bigger screen, or more accurately a greater screen resolution. DotPocket can't provide that as we're clearly constrained by what our hardware can do, but what DotPocket does do is cleverly simulate a bigger screen. DotPocket is a display driver. It alters the way your device displays its output.

As you can see from the options screen (pictured) the first available option is 'disable driver'. In this mode DotPocket will not be in use at all. What follows then is a large list of preset resolutions and orientations (portrait or landscape). Underneath the list of presets are a couple of dropdown menus that enable you to make custom resolutions, but I found that the tried and tested presets were the best ones to use.

Once you have selected your choice of display, you will be prompted to soft reset your PPC. You have to follow this process each and every time that you switch resolution. I imagine this was something that just couldn't be avoided when coding the software. While it would have been nice to switch resolution 'on the fly' I suspect it just isn't possible. Once you PPC has restarted you'll immediately notice the results of DotPocket.

Once DotPocket is doing it's thing, the first thing you'll notice is a blue square on your screen that wasn't there before. This little square is your interface to DotPocket, and allows you to switch (on the fly this time) between it's two display modes. Firstly, there is the 'fit to screen' mode. The best way to describe this is to imagine your PPC screen 4 times bigger than it really is, then squashed back to it's original size. In other words, the screen size is just the same as normal, but now it is displaying a whole lot more information. The obvious effect of this is that information is smaller, often to the extent of being illegible. It's all a matter of choosing the sensible resolution for your purpose. What the 'fit to screen' mode does do is show you 'the bigger picture'. All those websites that look so bad in PIE because all you get to see at any given time is just a portion of the page can now be shown in their entirety. Excel works very well in this mode, as these screenshots show. Despite their size, they are PPC screenshots. Remember that these will be shrunk to fit the size of your PPC screen when viewed in 'fit to screen' mode, and will not be as legible as these screenshots are.

The other view mode is the 'zoom' mode. In this mode graphics are displayed at their normal size, but the screen resolution remains as you set it. Clearly something has to give here as again, your physical screen is too small. Enter the little blue square again. In zoom mode this square develops a number of arrows around it which enable you to scroll around your display. If you've ever used one of those old microfiche machines for viewing old records, you'll get the idea. Fortunately you can switch between zoom and fit to screen modes quickly and without the need for resetting. Used in combination like this actually makes for quite a powerful tool.

You must remember that a lot of PocketPC is designed to be non-sizable. That is, they are hard-coded to be displayed at 240x320 and there is nothing you can do about it. Similarly, a lot of software is not designed to be used in landscape mode. It takes trial and error to familiarise yourself with what does and what doesn't work well with DotPocket.

DotPocket also gives you the option to map your hardware buttons to run the screen navigator, DotPocket menu, device manager and instant screen scroll.

Well that pretty much covers the PocketPC element of DotPocket 2.0. Move on to the next page for the desktop element...

If you remember, Aurorisoft made two main claims about DotPocket. The first was that it 'allows you to extend the visual capabilities of your PocketPC', and the second was that you could 'integrate it [your ppc] with your desktop system'. As page one of this review showed, the PocketPC element of DotPocket covered the first claim, so it's down to the desktop element to cover the second of those claims.

The desktop software can be set to launch automatically as soon as ActiveSync recognises that your PPC has been connected to your PC, or it can just be launched manually as and when you wish to use it. It can best be regarded as a 'remote control' for your PPC. Note that the PPC element of DotPocket does not have to be running in order for the connection to be made. The connection is made via ActiveSync or by TCP/IP. The PPC version of DotPocket can be used to identify your PPCs IP address.

When ActiveSync connects (or when you launch DotPocket manually, depending on your settings), you are quickly presented with a view of your PocketPC on your desktop PC. The first screenshot on this page is my PC's desktop with DotPocket running and displaying what's on my PocketPC which was in the cradle. DotPocket was not running on the PPC when the first screenshot was taken, so you are seeing the PPC at its default resolution of 240x320. The second picture shows the same thing, but this time DotPocket is running on the PPC with a landscaped 800x600 resolution.

Once you have your PPC connected to your PC in this way, you are free to use the PPC via the PC using your mouse in place of the stylus! Everything you do on the PC is mirrored on the PPC. Likewise, anything you do with the stylus on the PPC is reflected on the PC. There is obviously a small amount of delay between the two, but this is only to be expected when accessing another machine remotely. It's all very clever, and certainly has a bit of a 'wow' factor, but why would you want to do this? Read on...

Have you ever tried writing with your stylus while your PPC is in its cradle? Personally I find this nigh on impossible. With DotPocket you have an extra form of input - your PCs keyboard! The existing input methods on the PPC are great, but if you're a fast typist, nothing beats the good old keyboard. This is already looking like it's starting to live up to Aurorisoft's claim.

So what else can the desktop version of DotPocket 2.0 do? The icons along the top invoke the connection and disconnection with the PocketPC and the connection settings, but there are a few other useful buttons available. First up is the screenshot button. One press of this and a snapshot image of your PPC screen is taken and the standard 'save as' dialog appears asking you where to save the resulting bitmap (on your PC). It couldn't really be easier than that, and will certainly help the likes of myself who takes TONS of screenshots for this site. Normally I'd take the screenshot on the PPC and transfer it to the PC. Now it's on the PC straight away in the very folder that I want it in!

Taking the snapshot image facility a stage further, there is the ability to record videos of your PPC! This is done with a click of the 'start recording' and ended by a click of the 'stop recording' button. Again you are presented with a 'save as' dialog asking you where to save the video on your PC. One minutes worth of video equates to about 3.85Mb. I haven't provided a video for download for bandwidth reasons, but they are of good quality and don't appear to suffer from compression 'artefacts'.

The final feature of the desktop element of DotPocket is the File Transfer tool. You'll no doubt be familiar with opening two instances of Explorer on your PC so you can copy files to/from your PocketPC. Well, Aurorisoft's file transfer tool neatly does the same thing in one simple to use interface (see screenshot). You can drag files from one side to the other or you can simply right click on a file and choose 'transfer to pc' or 'transfer to ppc' depending where the file you clicked on is. You can also use this tool to rename or delete files.

To sum up, Aurorisoft have made a very nice package in DotPocket. I think both the PPC and PC elements would stand up in their own right as separate applications but to get them bundled together as one product is a real bonus. The biggest gripe has to go toward the PPC version, but not because of anything wrong with DotPocket so much as with the fact that using software that isn't designed to be run on a higher resolution or in landscape more can be ugly. It is possible to get yourself in quite a mess with some programs, but if you persevere you'll learn when is best to use DotPocket and when is best not to. Don't think you'll be permanently running your device at 800x600 landscape mode from now on. It's also a shame you have to soft reset after every change in screen resolution (although the zoom function does overcome the need to change it somewhat) but as I said earlier, I suspect that it wasn't possible to make DotPocket switch resolutions 'on the fly'. These non-direct criticisms considered, DotPocket is still a very useful piece of software in both of its forms.

It should be noted that owners of the following devices are currently not recommended to try using the PocketPC element of DotPocket as they are incompatible:

• Fujitsu/Siemense Pocket Loox;
• Cassiopea E-200;
• Dell Axim;
• iPAQ 1900;
• Packard Bell/NECMobilePro 300E;
• Mitsubishi Trium Mondo.

Final Comments -

DotPocket 2.0 promised a lot, and I think it's probably delivered to the best that it could have done, hardware restrictions considered. At the time of writing this software is priced at $30 and considering this gets you both the PPC and the PC software along with all the features they collectively bring, I think this represents good value for money. Check out the evaluation version, but pay careful attention to whether your device is compatible or not first.