Overview

Options

Listing the phone contents

Adding phone contacts

Editing phone contacts

Deleting phone contacts

Copying PC contacts to the phone

Copying phone contacts to the PC

Using a phone book range

Deleting PC contacts

Creating a new Category on the PC

Problems communicating with the phone

About phone books

Using phone number types

About phone book characters

Simple Phonebook is a Pocket PC application that manages the contacts list (name and telephone number) on a mobile phone by connecting to the phone via serial cable, infra red port or Bluetooth.

Most users will already have information in their Pocket PC Contacts database and Simple Phonebook can transfer this information quickly and easily to a mobile phone.

Simple Phonebook can also copy contacts from the mobile phone to the Pocket PC Contacts database and add/edit/delete contacts on the mobile phone.

To access the options dialogue select File > Options from the menu.

Name Order - Select "First then Last" or "Last then First" to display the Pocket PC contacts and read/write the contacts on the phone in the desired order.

When listing phone - Select "sort" to display the phone contacts listed in alphabetic order or "don't sort" to display the contacts in the order they are stored on the phone.

Limit Phone name length - Select this option to force a limit on the length of the name string in a contact or leave on Auto to allow the phone to set the name length.

Use (M) number type indicator - Click this option to append a one character letter in parentheses that indicates the phone number type. For example "John Smith" mobile phone number would be copied to the phone as "John Smith(M)". Any contacts on the phone with the number type appended will automatically store the number in the correct location if copied to the Pocket PC.

Use Ericsson number type indicator - Click this option to use the Ericsson number type indicator which allows for multiple numbers per contact. This system appends a / (forward slash) followed by a letter that indicates the phone number type. For example "John Smith" mobile phone number would be copied to the phone as "John Smith/M" and automatically stored in the contact called "John Smith" under the mobile number entry. Using this system allows storage of multiple numbers under one contact name. The type of numbers stored can be Home (/H), Work (/W), Mobile (/B), Fax (/F) and Other (/O). This system allows for one number per type only, any additional numbers of the same type for the same contact will overwrite the first number.

Remove (x) from contact numbers - Ticking this option will automatically remove numbers in parentheses from contact telephone numbers ie "+44 (0) 123 456789" will be displayed as "+44123456789".

Turn off sounds - Ticking this box disables the confirmation beeps associated with the Pocket PC to mobile phone communication.

Port - This drop down lisbox allows you to select the communication port to use when communicating with the phone. The description of each port will vary slightly dependent on the Pocket PC OS and hardware configuration but as a general guide:-

Serial Cable - Select "Serial Cable on COM1:" or similar.

Infra Red - Select "Infrared Port" on Pocket PC CE3.0 or "COM3" on Pocket PC 2002 or similar.

Bluetooth - Select "Bluetooth Phone" or similar

If you are communicating over a serial cable you must also click the "Setup" button and set the serial communications parameters (see the operating instructions for your particular phone for details).

1. Depending on how you have Simple Phonebook configured either connect your phone cable, align the IR port or make sure the Bluetooth link is functioning.

2. Select the location on the phone you wish to list from the "Location" drop down list box. See "About Phone Books" for more details on storage locations.

3. Tap the Actions > List Phone menu item.

4. Monitor the progress at the bottom of the display.

1. Depending on how you have Simple Phonebook configured either connect your phone cable, align the IR port or make sure the Bluetooth link is functioning.

2. Tap and hold anywhere in the "Phone" list box and select "Add contact" from the pop-up menu.

3. In the pop-up dialogue box enter the name with type extension if required (see "Using phone number types" for more details). Enter the phone number and tap "OK".

4. The new contact will now be copied to the phone.

5. Monitor the progress at the bottom of the display.

1. Depending on how you have Simple Phonebook configured either connect your phone cable, align the IR port or make sure the Bluetooth link is functioning.

2. From the "Phone" list select a contact you wish to edit, use Actions > List Phone if necessary.

3. Tap and hold anywhere in the "Phone" list box and select "Edit contact" from the pop-up menu.

4. In the pop-up dialogue box edit the name and number and tap "OK".

5. The edited contact will now be copied to the phone.

6. Monitor the progress at the bottom of the display.

1. Depending on how you have Simple Phonebook configured either connect your phone cable, align the IR port or make sure the Bluetooth link is functioning.

2. From the "Phone" list select the contacts you wish to delete, use Actions > List Phone if necessary.

3. Tap and hold anywhere in the "Phone" list box and select "Delete contacts" from the pop-up menu.

4. Monitor the progress at the bottom of the display.

1. Depending on how you have Simple Phonebook configured either connect your phone cable, align the IR port or make sure the Bluetooth link is functioning.

2. Select the location on the phone you wish to copy the contacts to using the phone location drop down list box.

3. From the "Pocket PC" list select the contacts you wish to copy. Use the "Category" drop down list box to limit your selections to a category

4. Tap and hold anywhere in the "Pocket PC" list box and select "Copy to phone" from the pop-up menu.

5. The contacts will be copied to the phone and have the telephone type added to the name ie (W) for a work number etc.

6. Monitor the progress at the bottom of the display.

1. Depending on how you have Simple Phonebook configured either connect your phone cable, align the IR port or make sure the Bluetooth link is functioning.

2. Select the category you wish to copy the phone contacts to using the Pocket PC category drop down list box.

3. From the "Phone" list select the contacts you wish to copy, use Actions > List Phone if necessary.

4. Tap and hold anywhere in the "Phone" list box and select "Copy to PC" from the pop-up menu.

5. The contacts will be copied to the Pocket PC and if they contain a valid telephone type extension ie (W) for a work number, will have this extension removed and the number stored in the correct location on the Pocket PC. Contacts that do not contain a valid type extension will be stored in the home telephone location on the Pocket PC.

6. Monitor the progress at the bottom of the display.

When working with a phone that provides a large phone book or if you wish to store contacts in a specific phone book area you will need to use a phone book range.

To use a phone book range select any of the phone book locations that end with "#" ie "Phone #" or "SIM #". Selecting one of these locations will allow you to enter the starting and ending index to use when working with this phone book

For example if your phone stored speed dial numbers in the first 20 locations of the SIM and you wanted to work only with that area you would first select "SIM #" as the phone book. Then type in "1" in the "S" edit box and "20" in the "E" edit box. Simple Phonebook will now use only the locations 1 to 20 when working with the SIM phone book.

If you are unsure of the size of the phone book, first select a location without the "#" ie "Phone" or "SIM" and tap Actions > List Phone this will show the starting and ending indexes in the "S" and "E" boxes.

Use the Pocket PC "Contacts" application to delete Pocket PC contacts.

It can be useful to create a seperate category for mobile phone numbers. To do this use the Pocket PC "Contacts" application as follows:-

1. From the Pocket PC "Contacts" application main window select "New".

2. From the list of new contact details scroll down to and tap the "Categories" entry.

3. From the categories selection window select the "Add/Delete" tab at the bottom.

4. Type in the category name you wish to use say "Mobile Phone" then select "Add" and "OK".

5. Select "OK" again to create this contact.

6. If you selected only the category for this new contact it will now show as "Unnamed" in your list of contacts and you can now delete it if you wish.

Now when you run Simple Phonebook this category will appear in the drop down list box and you can copy any contacts from the phone to it.

If you are experiencing problems communicating with the phone some points to consider are:-

1. The phone is busy especially if just powered up and talking on air. After powering on the phone leave for 2-3 mins before using Simple SMS.

2. The Pocket PC is still connected to the desktop PC. This will slow the performance and may prevent Infra Red access altogether if using the same COM port.

3. Other Infra Red or Bluetooth devices/phones are in range.

4. Sometimes the phone can get confused and think it still has a connection try powering the phone off and on.

5. The Infra Red or Bluetooth has turned off on the phone because it has not been used for a fixed period.

6. Most phones allow you to turn on the Infra Red or Bluetooth permanently, because of intermittent access it maybe best set to always on while using Simple SMS.

7. Low power on the phone battery or Pocket PC will cause the Infra Red or Bluetooth to shut down.

A "phone book" is a collection of names and numbers on a mobile phone. Most phones have a phone book on the SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) chip and also on the phone itself. You can access these phone books individually ie "Phone" or "SIM" and on some phones as one book ie "Phone+SIM". Each phone book has limits on the number of entries you can have and also on the amount of text you can use for a name and a number. These limits are phone and location dependent ie the "SIM" location may limit you to 12 characters for a name where as the "Phone" location may allow 16 characters. You will be warned if you go over these text limits and the text will be clipped to the maximum allowable length.

The Pocket PC Contacts database stores phone numbers in locations that have names to reflect the type of number ie Business, Mobile, etc.

When Pocket PC Contacts shows a list of contacts a letter is appended to indicate what type of phone number is being displayed.

Simple Phonebook uses the same letters in capitals and the list below shows what letters are used in Pocket PC Contacts and Simple Phonebook.

When contacts are copied to the mobile phone the type letter can be appended in brackets to the contact name ie "Mary Smith" home number becomes "Mary Smith(H)" etc.

When contacts are copied from the phone to the Pocket PC the name is scanned for an appended type and if a valid type is found ie (M) the phone number will be stored in the relevent location ie the contact "Mary Smith(M),123456789" when copied to the Pocket PC will create a contact name of "Mary Smith" with the phone number "123456789" stored in the "Mobile Tel." location.

If no valid type is found the number will default to the "Home" location.

Simple Phonebook supports the full GSM character set this consists of the following 127 characters:-

Formatting characters Line Feed (LF), Carriage Return (CR) and space (SP).

A to Z

a to z

0 to 9

@ ? ¡ ¿ £ _ ! $ F " ¥ G # è ? ¤ é O

% ù ? ? ' ò S ( Ç T ) ? * : Ø + ;

Ä ä ø Æ , < Ö l ö æ - = Ñ ñ Å ß

. > Ü ü å É / ? § o à

Some phones do not support the full GSM character set and will either refuse the contact or remove the characters it does not support.

Characters known to cause problems are @ (at sign), " (quote), ; (semi colon). If a contact fails to be stored on the phone, try removing any unusual characters.