A Day In My Windows Mobile Professional Phone’s Life. Or, How I Use My Mogul to Get Work Done While Having Fun Doing it.

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I’ve been reading and posting on PDA blogs for about six years. In fact, when I started doing this over at Aximsite, people still called our devices PDAs or Pocket PCs. Occasionally you’d be asked about your “Palm Pilot,” which would immediately cause any self-respecting Pocket PC user to sneer: “It’s a Pocket PC, not a Palm Pilot.”

Oh, those were the days. Innocence and non-convergence. Simple applications at rock-bottom prices. Many were free, or in the $4.95 to $10.95 range. Handango was even a site people gladly patronized.

But despite the many changes in this industry since 2002, some things never change. For instance…

Certain forum topics. No matter which site you surf, you see them. They’re sort of like finger-nails-on-the-chalkboard for the veteran reader.

You know the one’s I mean. Threads with titles like:

–Post a Screenshot of your Today Screen

–What Are Your Must Have Applications?

–Pocket Informant vs. Agenda Fusion/Agenda One/Agendus/Extreme Agenda, etc.

–Best Free Games

–Anyone Have an Unlock Code for __________: [IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWED BY THE “We don’t do that on this site” post, and of course, the resulting, Moderator Deleted/Locked Thread action.

–Goodbye. I’m Leaving the Site

They’re not necessarily BAD topics, nor without merit when thoughtful posters add to them. It’s just that they’re so hackneyed. When you read one you get the feeling that the topic starter thinks they’ve stumbled on a brilliant idea, a real masterpiece. Just give them time on the forums, and they’ll probably come to feel like the rest of us grizzled veterans.

So, it is with some trepidation that I enter the fray with my own variation of the groan-inducing thread: how I really use my device during a typical working day.

I must start by saying that my usage has varied tremendously over time. Not as to the big things, like the actual functions I perform. But, in how I do this. What particular software I use and how I set it up to do what I want done.

One of my biggest challenges is that I have too much great software. Different weather programs, different personal information managers, different music players. I have a hard time picking just one to keep on my device. So, how do I handle this “problem?” I tweak. I change. I am a software using addict! One week I might use PocketPlayer for my music, the next I might use CorePlayer. This sort of program rotation is common for me, but probably not for the normal user. (Sometimes I really wish I was normal, too. Much less time hunched over my Mogul, and more time to look and smell the roses of the oncoming Spring.)

Not to mention the fact that as the industry moves forward, some really clever developers are coming up with new tricks for our old WM dogs.

But, I digress. What is my Mogul to me? It’s really one of my most critical life tools. During the work week, it’s my primary business tool. Sort of like the modern professional’s jackhammer.

The basics of my setup:

My current device of choice is a Sprint Mogul WM6 Professional Phone. A beast if there ever was one. I love her! And, to make her that much more useful, I have an affordable unlimited data plan with enough talking minutes and text messages that I don’t need to check usage constantly.

My Typical Morning:

I don’t use my device as an alarm clock. While I could, I never have. And yet, I always install a third-party alarm clock application on the device, and often have other programs–beyond the built-in alarm clock– that could wake me with various sounds or songs.

Why don’t I use an alarm application? I think subconsciously I know that I might well smash my device if it ever dared to wake me from a sound sleep. Better to roll over and whack my old Sony alarm clock radio instead.

First thing to do with my Mogul? Power up the radios, to check my email (it’s pushed to me all day long) and any missed-calls or voice-mails. This is really how I kick-off my day.

Next up, a quick schedule check to remind myself of upcoming appointments and to-do’s for the day. This gets me in the right mind-set to either get busy and start a big day, or ease into it and enjoy a lighter pace.

While this is happening, my weather forecast is being updated automatically for current and future planning purposes.

I’m a news junkie, so I’ll also have my RSS reader download my 60+ news feeds so my Mogul will be a veritable newsstand.

After that, I do my household stuff (haven’t yet figured out a way for my Mogul to feed the dog, cat and fish, but I’m still working on it), and make my way to work. Mind you, my work is about 15 minutes from my house. Not a major commute. I still find ways to play with my Mogul.

As I drive, I’ll often play around with my built-in GPS to navigate me to court. I usually know where I’m going, but it’s fun to play with the GPS. My tax dollars helped pay for it, I may as well get some use out of it.)

Since the Mogul is a phone, I’ll also make a business call (if needed) and often a personal call or two, just to shoot-the-breeze and as an excuse to play with my Bluetooth Headset. I’ve gotten over the complete “dorkiness” of the thing, it’s just too much fun to leave my phone on the car seat, and to look like a crazy self-mutter to the drivers next to me.

At Work:

Once at work–usually court, as I’m an criminal defense attorney, I will sometimes need to do some last minute legal research. I can do this by reviewing the enormous legal library I keep on my 4GB storage card. PDFs and Word documents on my phone usually contain the answer to any questions that arise in court during the day. If I don’t already have it with me, I can also access a full legal library with my web browser on my phone. Of course surfing on the Mogul isn’t a substitute for a real PC, but if you’re in a jam, it’s nice to know you have this to fall back on.

In addition, if I need to review my prior work for a particular client, I keep a digital copy of my time records and activity notes with me in the form of Word documents.

One of the particular tasks I’ll regularly have to perform in my line of work is counting up the exact number of days a client has been held in jail while their case was being litigated. If it was a short time, it’s easy enough to count. But, when the time spans several months (which it sometimes does), a computerized date calculator will do the job easily.

During the course of the day I’ll continue to check my email, text messages and missed calls. Depending on what I’m doing that day, my phone might be set to vibrate, ring, or to be completely silent and not disturb the proceedings. In any case, I’ll respond as needed from the Mogul.

When cases are given future court dates, or when I schedule future client meetings with the clients I’m helping that day, I’ll immediately enter them in my PIM. I may also input a new phone number or email address, so that I can keep in touch with my client and with witnesses in our cases.

Once I complete the data-entry (I remain a stylus user, despite the plethora of great soft-keyboards for big fingers like mine), my Mogul will automatically sync the data over the air with my Exchange Server. Appointments are securely backed up without my needing to do anything aside from entering them on my device. This is one of my favorite features!

Waiting. More waiting. Even more waiting. This is an unavoidable part of waiting for your case to be called. How best to handle the boredom and/or tension?

Here’s where my Mogul can really help me to have some fun. I’ll sometimes play one of about ten games I have installed on my device.

But, what if I don’t want to play, but would rather just enjoy a more passive form of entertainment? I’ll Watch a movie I’ve shrunken down and downloaded to my phone. Perhaps I’ll just surf the web and do some online shopping or ebay bidding. If I’m feeling more productive, I can check out those news items I downloaded earlier, and updated automatically during the morning. I like to feel “up to date” in both my own life and in the bigger world around me.

If it’s a really long wait, and I’m out of the courtroom, I’ll sometimes use my Mogul as my .mp3 player. I’ll listen to some of my music, or even to some live streaming radio from anywhere in the world. I don’t Slingbox or Orb myself, but I know many others who do and enjoy the freedom of enjoying their content where and when they choose.

Afternoon:

After court, depending on the time of day, I’ll usually head home to take out the dog and have a quick visit with my kids, and then will usually head back to my office. During the drive I’ll check my email and text messages, pop in my BT Earpiece and make some calls. This is a good time to return client calls and share some “war stories” with colleagues from the day.

This is the time that I recheck my appointments and to-do’s, and see what else I need to do for the day, as well as to begin to do what needs to be done for tomorrow.

Sometimes I’ll listen to some streaming radio while in my car. I’m a talk radio listener, but if the local shows bore me, I can connect my Mogul to my wireless FM transmitter, and enjoy other hosts from around the country through my car’s speaker system. Much louder and easier to hear than with the built-in speaker.

Back at the Office:

At the office, I’ll do another sync on my own PC. For now this is a physical sync, via a USB cable. Once I add Bluetooth to my PC, I’ll be syncing via BT on that same computer.

My afternoon will usually involve meeting with clients, drafting some court documents, or doing some legal research on upcoming cases. Perhaps a call or two. My Mogul will usually get a bit of a rest here, as I’ll use my office telephone for most office calls. (Gotta get some use of my Vonage service, after all.)

Home & The End of the Workday:

Finally, the workday is basically over. Once at home I’ll usually have my device nearby, so that I can continue to monitor emails and phone calls.

At home, I’ll also do another sync on my home PC. Syncing my device to two different PC’s can be great, when it works, but a real pain when it doesn’t. Since things are working well at the moment, I wont say more, or else I risk jinxing the whole setup.

I usually let my Mogul rest for a while at this point. After all, it doesn’t need to eat dinner, but I do. While my kids seem to enjoy my Mogul, I think it is relieved that I keep them at arm’s-length, so they don’t drop her on the floor. A good aluminum hard-case is strong–but it’s not totally kid-proof!

Getting Sleepy, Bedtime Approaches:

I usually don’t touch my device much at this point until dinner is eaten, the dog is walked, the kids are asleep, and I’ve done whatever work needs doing for the next day. Of course, no night would be complete without a quick scan and perhaps a post or two, on one of my favorite Windows Mobile Technology Websites. But, eventually it’s time to make my way to bed.

Once in bed, I’ll usually read some more RSS feeds. Just to be sure I’m not missing anything really interesting or important. Like a good contest for free Mogul software!

Finally bedtime. I turn my Mogul’s radios off, shut off Push email, and it’s actually time for my phone and I to try and get a good 7 hours of rest before we start all over again.

That’s my routine. How about you?

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