This post is designed as a way for me to test moBlog on my mobile. moBlog is a Windows Mobile program that allows you to blog remotely from your mobile. It is quite easy to set up and works with a variety of blogging services and allow you to have multiple profiles and muntiple blogs set up simultaniously!

The interface for writing blogs is in HTML but has a preview option to view the blog before uploading. The writing sceen is very simple and is literally a large text box but you do have limited formatting features which just allow you to insert the appropriate HTML tags for whatever formatting you want!

Examples of the formatting avaiable:

• Bold
• Italic
• Underline

Note: Bullet points are not avaiable but I know the HTML for them and using custom HTML tags seems to work even on the preview.

The last feature provided when writing a blog is the ability to insert pictures. If this works you should see a stock photo from my HTC Touch Pro bellow:

As a basic bloging programme, this is acceptable but there are some major flaws which make the program difficult to work with! My main issue is when you try to write a blog or use the software in landscape. Th way the screen reorganises is impractical and require lots of scrolling to navigate. Rather than resizing the input and preview boxes to a 480 x 640 screen, it simply adjusts the width for 640 keeping the height as it is when in portrait mode. This result in the software being appropriate for a 640 x 640 screen and since this does not fit on the screen, a second scroll bar is added so that you can navigate the larger area. So that this makes more sense I will upload some screenshots late

Although the formatting options are limited they are much greater than those offered by my alternative which is by using the browser and full sized WP admin panel. The advantage of using the WP admin panel is that although the WYSIWYG does not work in Opera Mobile 10, it is better than the preview in moBlogs as it shows a more precise representation of what the output will actually looks like! For example, in WordPress, I have notice that using line breaks in the HTML view results in a line break in the output however the preview in moBlog does not acount for this.

Another disadvantage of moBlog is that it is not very user friendly. It uses a basic Windows CE design and is not as asthetically pleasing as using the online interface.

Overall I would not recomend moBlog forf the mobile blogger as it just doesn’t provide all the nessasary features required by a blogger today.

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This is one of the first problems I discovered with my T-Mobile (UK) MDA Vario IV (the UK version of the HTC Touch Pro for sale on T-Mobile) and I cannot see that this is the only device that is affected by this. The issue was a problem where the caller ID would not be found for either SMS messages or Phone calls. This was because when I was receiving a phone call on T-Mobile the number would be displayed without the country code (e.g. 07123456789) and when I received a text from the same person their number would be displayed with the country code (e.g. +447123456789). The problem was that if the contact was saved without the country code their name would only be displayed only for their phone calls and if their number was saved with the country code then their name would only be displayed with their texts. If you also have this problem then this is how you can fix it:

1. Download and install the latest version of mdSoft CeRegEditor which can be found on the mdSoft CeRegEditor Download page
2. After installing you will need to connect your device via ActiveSync then start mdSoft CeRegEditor. (Please not that if you are using Windows 7 or Windows Vista then you may need to “Run as Administrator” for the connection to be successfully established by right clicking and clicking “Run as Administrator”)
3. To connect click F1 or click connect in the top left of mdSoft CeRegEditor.
   

   Make connection with device (Yes I have noticed the typo that mdSoft have made)

4. Either search for CallIDMatch or navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Phone and find CallIDMatch
   

   HKEY_CURRENT_USERControlPanelPhone:CallIDMatch

5. Double click CallIDMatch and then change the value to 10 (as far as I know this is the number of digits which must match for the caller ID to be assosiated – both +447123456789 and 07123456789 from our earlier example share 10 digits in  common so this is value that should be set)
   

   Set the Value data to 10

6. Click OK then close mdSoft CeRegEditor.
7. Safely remove your phone from the computer then reset your device.

After following those steps, it should be fixed! Simplest way to test is to get someone to phone you and then text you.

CrunchBase Information on T Mobile
CrunchBase Information on HTC
CrunchBase Information on CeRegEditor

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