I have the Motorola Q with WM5 and I think it is complete garbage. I had to hack my cell and overclock my cpu (thank you Howardforums) to make WM5 run a slight bit better. It still lags a handful of times a week and sometimes requires me to turn off my cell then back on. I will be switching to the Blackberry Thunder or 3g Iphone later this summer...biggest reason...Windows Mobile!

Idrive

Thanks, very useful.

malnourish

i don't get how i'm going to use this software. i downloaded the right version for my desktop pc, i double click the dvcemanager.exe.. An nothing happens, i just have a program in my tray that won't do anything. How am i going to emulate a windows mobile device using this?

ConstantinOS

@MercuryPDX:
My buddy has the blackjack and had problems shortly after he purchased it. The ear speaker ended up going out and had some other issues. I have not used WM6 so I cannot comment on it but WM5 is a complete piece of garbage...it blows my mind that they would put that on a PDA that costs what it did when I got it. Everyone I know that had the Iphone and Blackberries never once complains about usability of the software and/or phone itself...I can't wait to get rid of the Moto Q.

Idrive

@downstairs: Yay! The screen on the Q is bigger than the Blackjack. It was my leading choice of the two.

MercuryPDX

Actually, IDrive and MercuryPDX... Windows Mobile 6 beats the heck out of 5. Massive improvements. I have a Samsung i70, but MotoQ is good too (no stylus, smaller screen- but that works for some). Everything ships with version 6 now, so don't let the mistakes of 5 dissuade you.

I looooooove WM6.

downstairs

Wow... I was considering switching to either a Moto Q or Blackjack when my contract runs out next month. I guess you've help make my decision.

MercuryPDX

@ConstantinOS:
I have not tried it yet because it will take a while to download, but I think you also have to get an emulator image from here: [www.microsoft.com]

davidfg4

Knock WM all you want, but neither the BB or iPhone has the functionality of WM. Take that into consideration when making a purchase.

Back to this article. Could one presumably run this emulator an a netbook, then use software like Tomtom6 on the big screen? Would be an interesting thing to try, no?

Bittermormon

@davidfg4
This didn't seem to work. I got an msi installer , which installed a Cellular Emulator in the "Windows Mobile 6 SDK", but that wasn't what i was looking for. This is what was installed, clearly not the result we're looking for
[i62.photobucket.com]

Anybody got another idea?

ConstantinOS

@ConstantinOS: I got the same thing. Lifehacker, did you check the links on this one?

telepheedi

@MercuryPDX:
I recommend you go with a plan that allows you 30 (or whatever) days to try it, and return it free if you don't like it. Verizon does this, Sprint does not. We left the latter for the former.

/not a Verizon salesperson, just digs their service.

downstairs

Well, I got it working. My procedure was this:
1. Install Microsoft Device Emulator 3.0 from [www.microsoft.com]
2. Install Windows Mobile 6 Localized Emulator Image from [www.microsoft.com]
3. Install ActiveSync from [www.microsoft.com] (not sure if this is required, but I did it anyway)
4. Repair Windows Mobile 6 Localized Emulator Image by rerunning the installer

After I did that I could launch an emulator from Start > All Programs > Windows Mobile 6 SDK > Standalone emulator images

(My setup was an XP install running in VirtualBox)

davidfg4

I like my Q a LOT. One of my co-works just got a Blackjack and it's pretty much the same device except that it has GPS positioning which is awesome when combined with Google Maps!

I'll admit that Windows Mobile needs a serious re-vamp...the iPhone is sexy but incredibly crippled like the Blackberry.

I'm holding out for Android.

Brad

For those of you that still can't get it working after davidfg4's instructions, my suggestion is to create your own windows shortcut.

where the target path is "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Device Emulator\1.0\DeviceEmulator.exe" /memsize 256 "C:\Program Files\Windows Mobile 6 SDK\PocketPC\DeviceemulationV610\0409\YourSelectedBinFile"

where "YourSelectedBinFile" is the image you want to use.
Program
and the "Start in" path is "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Device Emulator\1.0\"

Once your emulator is running, if you want to connect it to ActiveSync, you may have to go to your Device Emulator window and click on File > Configure > Network
and enable the "Enable NE2000 PCMCIA network adapter and bind to:" and chose your network adapter on your computer.

Then go to the Device Emulator Manager and right click on the instance of for your emulated phone and select "Cradle". The emulated phone's instance will look somthing like "{20816EB4-EA7D-4D3A-A6DA-3E04CCV023D8}"

Also, FYI for those of you thinking you have to install ActiveSync in order to transfer files to your emulated PPC, you don't. You can just use the Device Emulator to do it. Just go to File > General and select the folder where you want to transfer your files from your PC. It will be emulated as a SD Card on your PPC. So you can browse it by going to your emulated PPC and click on START > PROGRAMS > FILE EXPLORER and change the location from My Device > Personal to My Device > Storage Card.

Good Luck!

fuderyuu

I think Lifehacker should do a Hive Five for PDA/Smartphone OS. I know there are only a few options, but there are at least six if you include the Nokia 810 (iPhone, Symbian, Blackberry, WM6, Palm).

Granted, my reasons are completely selfish: I'm eligible for a "new every 2" discount from Verizon, and I'm trying to choose between Palm Treo (I've had Palm PDAs for almost a decade, but I think the OS is a sinking ship - and I really want Wi-Fi), WM6 (the only Verizon offerings with Wi-Fi use WM6), and Blackberry.

joelena

Disregard that last post...

jayschell

From the readme...

"The Windows Mobile 6 Localized Emulator Images package adds localized emulator images to Visual Studio 2005 that let you test applications for Windows Mobile 6 on different locales."

So is Visual Studio required?

jayschell

@fuderyuu: Thanks for the info. Works like a charm. Any idea why they aren't showing up automagically on the start menu?

jayschell

Someone has to stand up for the Blackjack.

I have the BJ II and LOVE IT! Granted, I had to get some hacks done to be completely satisfied, but all around it's a great phone. GPS without a data plan (Garmin Mobile X), Voice control (Microsoft Voice Command), Windows Mobile 6,.. what's not to love!

eclipse785

@jayschell:

Not a clue. Only things I can think of are that I think I installed the software out of sequence, I don't use the default Program Files path - I only used the C:\Program Files path in my examples as that would make most sense to everyone.
Either way - glad it helped!

It would be to everyone's benefit if someone could please post in a zip file on Rapidshare (or similar service) the shortcuts that are created by the installers in the Start Menu, so that we don't have to recreate every bin file command.

fuderyuu

I have had both the original Q and now the 9c both with Verizon and I love them. To really know how to use them check out www.everythingq.com There are alot of helpful people on there.

mbrevard

@ConstantinOS:

You have the cellular emulator. You'll also need this:
[www.microsoft.com]

choose this one:
0409\Windows Mobile 6 Professional Images (USA).msi

Run that. You'll need to have Microsoft Virtual PC as a backend though, for the network to work.

Once installed you can even cradle the Virtual phone and use ActiveSync.

Also gives you access to your pc through what would be the SD card, by specifying a folder location in the settings of the emulator.

simpletim

You'll definitely need an emulator image. We use this in my office for testing and support. I have it set up with wm6 and the tower emulator. You can send fake calls and even text messages to your virtual phone. Once set up it's pretty awesome.

simpletim

Links are fine, but you need much more than just that. Follow this much better guide on the MS Exchange Team Blog which guides you though all of it...

[msexchangeteam.com]

motand

This is not new at all. This Device Emulator has been out for years. This might be a newer version. I have used this before for testing purposes.

For those people just that only installed the DEVICE EMULATOR. You need to also download the WM Emulator image to work.

nahcyrag