Windows mobile 6.1 & exchange activesync

That is, when you sync your exchange over-the-air, via GPRS / 3G whatever...

For some reason - a bug no doubt - wm6.1 wouldn't sync and gave me error 0x8503001C. It seems a lot of people have this, and there's a lot of google results which suggest all manner of crazy solutions. This seemed to happen only with either email or calendar chosen.

Mine? don't sync with the webmail address (of the exchange server), use the 'proper' address for it. This, unfortunately, requires you to setup a specific work connection (i.e. a private APN, not the normal internet connection), which causes other hiccups. Saying that, it does work with direct push, which webmail address didn't.

Google Mail App & Treo / Centro

Google Mail: Help Centre - Can I use the Google Mail application on my Treo?

This page pretty much explains it all - except for a few things.

So, instructions are:
1 - install JVM
2 - REBOOT!!!! it won't have the hooks from Blazer [browser] to JVM unless you do this (take the battery off)
3 - point browser (not JVM) at http://www.gmail.com/app/v1.0.0/en/gm-Palm-Treo_650.jad (or http://gmail.com/app/v1.0.0/en/gm-Generic-Advanced_MIDP2.jad - this generic version has rather dull default buttons, the Treo one has nicer buttons)
also, for now, gmail web browsing does link to 'faster gmail' at the top of the web version, which links to app download, but after the link it notes that Palm OS 5 isn't supported - i.e. you don't get link to java jad file
4 - browser will ask to SAVE it, do so
5 - have a look at JVM, it should be doing install stuff
6 - wait til it finishes, and change prefs of JVM

Done.

Annoyingly enough anyway, the URL form in the JVM install app doesn't let you type underscores (or other special characters probably) nor does it allow you to copy/paste into that form. The easiest way to get the URL onto the palm is to email it to yourself and click the link from the email...

Treo, Versamail & Exchange Activesync - Smartphone resets or displays error message when checking email with VersaMail's Exchange ActiveSync

Smartphone resets or displays error message when checking email with VersaMail's Exchange ActiveSync

Ok, so it says username and/or password is wrong, but the detailed error message is rather misleading when it talks of "Unauthorized content".

Not sure why it does this, I think the ActiveSync server password life is less than the XP domain password (they're synced here at work).

Solution: change XP password, and it updates both. Enter new one on Treo, fixed...

M600i sync with outlook

Product support - - Sony Ericsson

This page doesn't really help so much, and most of the problems are with Intuwave's m-router software imho.

So, syncing with a Dell Latitude D4010 laptop, now with SP2 - the SE/// software needs SP2, so in that went...

The general sunny day scheme appears to be:
a) normal USB or Bluetooth [COM] ports exist
b) mRouter 'controls' those ports
c) mRouter then passes control to SE/// Sync Manager

mRouter has a number of config items in 'Advanced', which lets you choose which ports for it to keep an eye on.

First of all, USB. The phone has a USB setting that can be changed when it's not plugged in; either 'Phone Mode' or 'File Transfer'. File transfer mode basically makes it show up as a normal disk drive, although it doesn't seem to allow moving files...

I can't get it to do a sync in Phone Mode, even though mRouter is told to look at USB; in fact, it shows "MCCI (Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB)". It also shows "Palm" for my Treo...

Next step then Bluetooth - which is always always always a pain in the behind. The secret which I discovered was that the mRouter software doesn't recognise my standard Dell bluetooth driver (which is by Toshiba..).

This is evident when you use mRouter 'General Settings' tab, there's a 'Setup Wizard'. In my case, choosing this creates a popup, shows some general (misleading) text, and a 'Finish' button only. The documentation shows a 'Next'.

How to make it work then...
1) use your normal bluetooth software to discover your M600i
obviously turn on bluetooth, discoverable, etc. on the phone..
2) create a new connection but do it custom
3) in the popup, choose the serial connection
4) sort out whatever PINs and pairing are required
5) once paired, choose 'Detail' for the device
6) this will show whichever COM port is used for that serial service, in my case 40 (yes, 40...)
7) go back to mRouter, and select 'Advanced Settings' tab
8) choose the setup for 'Additional COM ports'
9) choose the port noted in step 6 (e.g. 40), the save/close
10) go back to bluetooth software, and 'connect' to the device
11) after a few seconds, it will connect up bluetooth serial
12) after a few more, the mRouter taskbar icon will go green (not red)
13) open the SE/// sync manager (the taskbar icon will probably still have the red cross/unconnected symbol)
14) wait, and it'll say 'Connected to XXXX'
15) choose sync

Repeat steps 10 to 15 every time you want to sync....

XP, Outlook & fonts

More hassle.

Sometimes I get emails from people (in Outlook) that render awfully. The same people, about a handful of them. Everyone else, including me, is fine (we all use Arial). They use Helvetica 45 Light as a default font, and that makes the journey across to me. Except my Outlook decides to render this font on screen as italic. And it's a pig to read.

If I select a part of the italic text, Format->Font, it shows as 'Regular'. If I change it to 'Italic', the screen rendering doesn't change. If I change it back to 'Regular', it still doesn't change.

However, if I select the whole mail, then cycle the fonts as above it renders normally, in an upright 'regular' font way.

Solution: delete the Helvetica 46 Light Italic font from the Font widget in Control Panel. For some reason, Outlook prefers it to the 45 Light (non-italic), so deleting it forces it to match for the much more reasonable font - the one the email is written in.

XP, Outlook & incoming message digital signatures

I started to get a let of emails that Outlook didn't like the look of. It's just In the sense that it complained it didn't know who signed them, and encouraged me to open it anyway.

All of these emails are from people in a closely related organisation, so I trust them. It's one of those commonplace organisational / IT snafus, where their IT group decide to faff about with their signatures, and not tell anyone else. Hooray for coordination.

The offending emails didn't open in the preview pane, I had to open a sub-window and choose 'View message', which is awkward.

From here, I found out the problem was that the signing was done ultimately from an unknown CA (they'd changed something...).

Solution:

1. by viewing the details of the message, and escalating the trust level, find the root (a whole lot of sub-windows are required for this...)
2. save this certificate to disk somewhere
3. open 'internet options' from control panel, and choose the 'content' tab
4. choose the 'Certificates...' button in the middle Certificates section
5. choose the 'Trusted Root Certification Authorities' tab
6. choose 'Import...'
7. browse to the cert file above, and choose it
8. accept the rather odd warning
9. close all windows
10. close then open Outlook
11. all messages appear as expected, but do have the signed 'rosetta' look about them

Treo 650 and Gmail

Ok, Treo 600 does not natively support POP & SMTP with Gmail.

Treo 650 does, and config is easy. See the google document on the settings required.

Running the account wizard;

1. Choose Mail Service = 'Other' and Protocol = 'POP'.
2. Username and password is the full gmail stuff, inc. @gmail.com.
3. Email address is the same, with pop.gmail.com and smtp.gmail.com as incoming/outgoing servers.
4. Basic setup is done, choose 'Advanced'
5. Incoming Server, use port 995, and select 'Use Secure Connection (SSL)', but not the other one ('Use Authentication (APOP)').
6. Outgoing Server, user port 587, and select both 'Use Secure Connection (SSL)' and 'Use authentication (ESMTP)'
7. The username/password dialogue should appear, and be populated with the username/password as above.

Click done, and everything is good.