There are a number of caller ID utilities available for you to choose between. Many of them have been featured here at Inspect My Gadget. There is now another one on the scene which has been in steady development over the last 9 months. The result is a very polished caller ID utility that suits the impressive visuals of Vista.

Vista Caller ID shows you who is calling as you would expect from any caller ID utility. It shows you a box pop out of the task tray which looks very stylish, unlike many other packages I have used.

Vista Caller ID takes it even further. You can sync up with your Outlook contacts to utilise names and photos of your friends and family. It also has a talking alert feature which tells you who is calling. Unfortunately, Microsoft’s voices aren’t very impressive, but it sounds alright.

It supports multiple phone lines and a history log. The colours of the caller ID box can even be changed. What more could you want from it? If you feel something is missing, comments are welcomed.

This is a Beta release, but there are stable releases available which offer a few less features. There is even a Media Center Plugin. Keep an eye on this one as it is still under development. I would say they are winning the race so far.

Available for free from Vista Caller ID’s website.

Would you like to control your music player and powerpoint presentations from your phone? If you have a Sony or Nokia phone and a Bluetooth connection, you might be in luck.

JAM SE is a free mobile application for a range of Java enabled mobile phones that will allow you to control your music collection from your phone, using Bluetooth.

You can browse or search your music collection from your phone, as well as having control of the volume, play, skip, repeat and shuffle controls you would expect it to offer.

I use Winamp as my music player as I find it to be be quick and easy to use. This is fortunate as JAM SE currently only works with Winamp or XMMS.

Jam SE is skinnable so you can make it look just right to suit your needs. It runs on both Windows and Linux. It uses the Bemuser program as a backend. I couldn’t figure out what the difference between Bemuser and JAM SE is, but I found out about this via JAM SE, so they get the plug.

JAM SE is a bit of a hassle to install, though on their website there are videos and there is plenty of documentation that should help you through it. You will need to install components on your computer and on your phone and then configure the Bluetooth.

I have tested a number of programs that claim to do similar tasks, in the time of writing this website, but none have worked well enough for me to promote. JAM SE worked great for me straight up on a Nokia N70.

JAM SE is available for free from Sourceforge.

With the addition of Bluetooth technology in many mobile phone handsets, we are now able to create small networks in which we can pass around notes and files from one phone or computer to another.

While there are not really many practical reasons for doing this, it is free, easy, and fun to play with.

I think about a school classroom, where teenagers are texting each other messages in class, each time clocking up 15c on their phone bill. As they are in close range to each other, there is no need for this to cost money. If both their phones are fitted with Bluetooth, they are able to use this technology to send the notes for free.

This article will show you how to send messages and files from one phone to another over a short range for free, using Bluetooth technology. We can also send files such as ring tones, images and other audio files to one another using the same method. No additional software is required to make this work.

This article will show:

• A message/file sent from a Nokia N70 to a Windows Vista PC running Outlook 2007.
• A message/file sent from a Nokia N70 to a HP Ipaq rw6828
• A message/file sent from a HP Ipaq rw6828 to a Nokia N70

This should be possible on just about any Bluetooth enabled phone. The menus will be different, but the idea will be the same.

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In all Microsoft operating systems, there is a registry which loads as your computer starts up. The registry lets the operating system know what settings to to start your computer up with. Most settings on our computers are stored in the registry somewhere, we just need to know what to change to achieve what we want.

Windows Mobile devices also have a registry. We can customise many of the defaults on our devices to suit our needs. The structure is very similar to the Windows Registry structure, so if you are familiar with it, you will find this just as easy. If you have not yet delved into a registry, you will find this quite tricky.

This article will cover some of the changes we are able to make to our devices, through our devices registry. I hope to update this article as time goes on so please use the comments to report your own changes. These hacks are for Windows Mobile 5 devices, though some may work with other versions of Windows Mobile.

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There are a number of things that Windows Mobile devices are good for. I see a lot of people carrying around many devices with them such as iPods, cameras, GPS receivers and phones. Why bother when we can have all these devices packed into one neat unit that fits inside your pocket, allowing you to do more than all of the above gadgets combined.

I did not know the full power of my device when I first got it. My old Pocket PC was stolen and did not incorporate a phone so when insurance time came around, it was nice to be updated with a Ipaq rw6828.

This device has allowed me to experience Windows Mobile to its full potential and really find out what it can do for me in day to day life.

I have put together a list of features that you are able to use on your device. Many you already know about but it is nice to have them in one place and encourage non Windows Mobile users to make the leap, showing why Windows Mobile devices have advantages over other phone operating systems.

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