Memoirs of a Developer

This weekend I finally found the time to give the Windows Mobile 5 APIs a look (had read a ibt about them a while ago but between work and studies i never found the time to read a bit more in depth about them). I’m not too pleased that there is no means of updating my iPAQ 4150 to Windows Mobile 5 but i have to admit after reading the hardware specifications required to run this new operating system i put my heart at rest.

I think that the more prominent feature in the new OS which every developer is excited about are the new APIs. Developing on Windows Mobile 2003 was fun and quite simple especially now with the introduction of .Net Compact Framework 2 compatibility for these devices, but Windows Mobile 5 takes all this to a new level.

Most of the first Windows Mobile phones relied on Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition. To the casual user Windows Mobile 5 would hardly look as an upgrade, but when it boils down to the developer’s world, Windows Mobile 5 opens whole lot of new possibilities. With the old APIs, it was possible to use native calls on the device to perform tasks like send SMSs or to open bluetooth ports. Windows Mobile 5 took these native APIs and wrote a wrapper such that these calls can now be done through managed code!

Windows Mobile 5 also introduces the new Camera and GPS APIs which will allow developers to program applications which can make use of the inbuilt cameras. This feature should help boot the ever growing market of camera phone applications.

A more important API which Microsoft has added is that of the Direct 3D, DirectDraw, DirectShow APIs. With the introduction of a rudimentary for of Direct 3d onto such small devices i would not be amazed if in the not so far off future we were to see a port of Halo for Pocket PCs.

I have been developing embedded applications for quite a while now (For the last 3 years) and I think that the world of Pocket PCs will keep on expanding for quite a while longer and at a fast rate. Up till a few years ago it would have been unthinkable to see any one running around with a state of the art pda, now you can see teenagers using them virtually anywhere.

Links:

• Microsoft
• Windows Mobile 5
• Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition
• New Windows Mobile APIs
• iPAQ 4150 Review