The Mobile Genealogist

The Web Browser that comes with the Apple iPhone has gotten a lot of good press for it’s usability, something that can’t really be said for the version of Internet Explorer that comes with Windows Mobile.    However, there is a new free downloadable (beta) for a browser that sounds like a huge improvement for the Windows Mobile platform.

Information about the Skyfire web browser can be found at the following sites:

Brighthand calls it “far and away the best browser for Windows Mobile I’ve ever seen”… article can be found HERE.

Engadget calls it “game changing”, article can be found HERE.

Mobility Site calls it “promising” and has a video demo HERE.

Pocket PC Thoughts give their thoughts on the Skyfire HERE.

the::unwired says Skyfire “Delivers the PC Web experience on phones” and their article can be found HERE.

WMExperts says it “Beats the Pants Off the iPhone — No Foolin” and their article can be found HERE.

In order to sign up for the beta, you need a Windows Mobile 5 or 6 phone and have a U.S. phone number although if you are outside the U.S., you can still sign up and they will notify you when it’s available for your country.

Sign up HERE.

Mobility Site has information about the (free) Microsoft Office 6.1 upgrade which adds support for Office 2007 file formats to your mobile device.

The original article can be found HERE.

An update to the article indicating where it can be purchased if Office Mobile did not come on your device can be found HERE.

Brighthand has an article about the 2.0 (beta) version of Google Maps which will be useful for those Smartphone users who don’t have a GPS with their phone.   It uses cellular towers to determine the phones location accurate to about 1000 meters.

The Brighthand article can be found HERE.

Smartphone and Pocket PC magazine has announced the winners in the 2007 Best Software Awards.   For the fourth straight year Pocket Genealogist has won the best Genealogy software for Pocket PC. 

Information about the awards including the other winners for 2007 can be found HERE.

Pocket Genealogist also supports Smartphone devices (without a touchscreen).  There is no Genealogy category for Smartphones in the awards since Pocket Genealogist is the only software available in that category.

More information about Pocket Genealogist can be found HERE.

If you have a “connected” device such as a Smartphone or a Wi-Fi enabled device with Windows Mobile 2003 or newer, you may be interested in Windows Live Search.

Click HERE to go to the article on WMExperts including a video of Windows Live Search in action.

Kevin Phillips

The SIP (Soft Input Panel) is the on-screen keypad found on PocketPC’s.  Windows Mobile comes with 4 different styles:

1. Block Recognizer
2. Keyboard
3. Letter Recognizer
4. Transcriber 

But did you know that you can install other SIP’s as well?   PocketNow has an article and video of “TouchPal”, a new SIP from CooTek.   And until December 8th, “TouchPal” is a free download.  Head over to PocketNow for the video and CooTek to get the SIP.

Kevin Phillips

While we are mentioning the WMExperts site, they also have a new article discussing what they consider ”Must have software”.   (What?  No Pocket Genealogist!?!  The horror!)  

Both free and commercial sofware is listed HERE.

Kevin Phillips

WMExperts has an article about installing, uninstalling and transferring files to a Windows Mobile Device.   A lot of the information is not pertinent to Pocket Genealogist since we have a “packaged” install that does both the desktop and the device, but other Windows Mobile software may be a little more manually intensive.

Worth a read if you aren’t that familiar with the process and have a need to install other applications. 

Click HERE for the article.

Kevin Phillips

Pocket Genealogist 3.11 is now available, another free update for registered Version 3 users.  The downloads can be found HERE.  As will all new releases, simply run the install to replace the V3 version you currently have installed. 

Changes in 3.11

• Initial support for Family Tree Maker 2008 imports (using GEDCOM).   The PAF/FTM add-on does not yet work with FTM 2008 but Wholly Genes Software is working on adding support.

• Ancestor and Descendant Tree Views now work better with regards to adding individuals to the “History List”.

• Ancestor and Descendant Tree View buttons will “highlight” depending on which view is selected. (button will have a yellow background when “highlighted”)  This helps determine which tree view is in use.

• Fix to “Find by Relationship” button and the Relationship calculator so that it honors what is selected on the 3-gen, Individual or Tree views.

• Family Historian: Fix to GEDCOM export for Research List notes.

• Fix to relationship calculator to process a full 10 generations.  (Was only going out 9 generations)

• Change to 3-gen screen to show the complete given name IF 2 line display.  (Name on one line, dates on another… for example PocketPC Landscape mode)

• Smartphones: Fix to Individual and Tree Views to work properly when switching to another program and back to Pocket Genealogist.

• Smartphones: Fix to properly translate menu for tree views.

• Smartphones: Change to allow “back” button to operate as a “backspace” when on an edit field.  (Motorola Q for example does not have a backspace button)

• Allow install on Windows 98 and ME, but no guarantee Pocket Genealogist will work properly on those systems.

• 30 Day trial now more strongly enforced.

Kevin Phillips