RANT: Why I still hate the new Pocket PC Inbox

[adamz]

Remember when Pocket PC 2002 came out? It was touted as having a "New and Improved" Inbox application. But the reality was that this new email program was missing functionality that the previous version excelled at. For example, Inbox versions prior to 2002 could function with an Outlook Add-in called Windows CE Inbox Transfer. The Inbox Transfer add-in gave you the ability to selectively transfer/copy email messages between any folder/account on your pocket PC and any email folder in Outlook. That INCLUDES draft emails! Yes, you could start writing an email in Outlook, transfer it to your Pocket PC, write some more while on the road and then send it when you got back to your desktop or internet connection. This was GREAT, and was one of the primary reasons I had bought a Windows CE device instead of a Palm Pilot back in the day. Well, those days are gone, since Pocket PC 2002 replaced the robust functionality of Inbox Transfer with a far more limited and bug-ridden Inbox syncing. Microsoft's solution (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q316421) is to use Inbox Syncing in Activesync, but this doesn't come anywhere close to the selective management functionality that Inbox Transfer offered. It doesn't work with draft emails either.

But that's not all folks. The new Inbox also broke the ActiveSync Backup/Restore function. If you restore your Pocket PC's memory from an ActiveSync backup (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;310903), any POP3/IMAP4 email accounts that you had previously set up will become corrupt. The only fix is to delete and re-configure the accounts. But you better do it before you do a send/receive because any mail received on those accounts will show up in the ActiveSync folder, even if you don't have Inbox Syncing turned on.

The Inbox in Windows Mobile 2003 still has these embarrassing limitations and the Phone Edition adds a few more along with the support of SMS messages. In addition to corrupting the email accounts when restoring from a backup, ActiveSync will also corrupt the SMS account. SMS messages can still be sent and received (thankfully), but third party management applications such as SmartPhone Studio will no longer be able to interface with the SMS account since the unique identifier in the database probably changed. That means you won't be able to archive your SMS messages after restoring from a backup. You'll have to do a hard reset in order to restore this functionality. Even third party Backup Applications are not able to restore the Pocket PC Inbox properly. The current version 2.1 of Sprite Backup (considered to be the best backup program for Pocket PCs) makes sending/receiving SMS messages impossible after a restore. I know Sprite is working on fixing this in their next version, but don't you think Microsoft's ActiveSync backup should work? When I do a restore, I expect my device to go back to the EXACT state it was in when I did the backup!

So what do we do about this? Don't bother backing up? Don't install any unstable software? Get used to completely rebuilding your device after a hard reset? Use a Palm device instead? If you have a third party backup program like Sprite Backup, then you can backup everything except the email accounts. Then you'll only have to rebuild those, but you'll lose your SMS messages and who knows if your unique identifiers will change on your SMS account.
Sometimes I really wish I could have the old Inbox back. That way backup/restores would work and Inbox Transfer would work too.

[ChrisSpera]

Amen, Brother Adam, amen!

However, I'm still trying to get my i700's cradle to work properly... the cradle has logic built into it. The cradle!

OY!

Different issue, same problem... Sometimes you really have to wonder who the heck is piloting the ship. Who the heck makes decisions like this, and why do we let them?

I really wish that pocketnow had an MVP. Our former Editor-in-Chief, Jared Miniman, was/ is an MS MVP; but he's not involved with the site any more. We need someone with an inside track to the Mobile Devices Team who might be able to work with them to resolve the issue(s). Lord knows, given the opportunity, I'd do it in a heart beat. The Inbox issues you've outlined are the main reason why I don't use it much. I also don't SMS much due to cost, but would if some of these were resolved (and the cost was reduced...)

Good rant... :D

[adamz]

Thanks Chris! I've been ranting about the 2002 Inbox for years, but it still has not gotten any less frustrating.

As if the restore corruption wasn't enough. Even after a restore, your partnership status is not restored to its state when the backup was run. That means when you do a sync after restore all your PIM info is duplicated!!!

Maybe you can tell I had to do a hard reset recently.

[ChrisSpera]

Yep... I know how it goes.

Honestly, while I have Sprite Backup (and take a backup every day...) I most always do a complete hard reset and rebuild rather than a restore. I've bumped into too many problems with duplicate data and with partnership problems to completely rely on a backup to pull my butt out of the fire.

What I would recommend to EVERYONE is, after a hard reset or before setting up a new device, connect to your PC as a Guest. Then install all of the software you want on the device. Once it is configured the way you want, take your back up with Sprite Backup, name it something like, "Fresh Device" and put it in a safe place.

If you need to rebuild the device, kill the partnership on the PC, hard reset the device, restore the Fresh Device backup to the device, and then reestablish your device's partnership. That might save you some time...

[adamz]

Agreed. I used to do that with my iPAQ H3900 and GSM/GPRS Expansion pack, because if you did a restore of a backup that was done after the Expansion pack was installed for the first time... then certain things would be corrupt (like Bluetooth). So I had a minimal backup of the H3970 pre-GSM/GPRS pack installation for restoration purposes.

But now with my XDA II, I've customized the ROM so that on a hard reset, my preferred applications are automatically installed. I even edited registry entries in certain CAB files such that my serial number and registration info is automatically entered during installation! Then I created another CAB file that will do some other registry hacks like shutting off the animated menus, installing a custom Media Player skin, and changing the Today Theme. I havn't figured out how to auto-configure ALL of my preferred settings with a CAB file, but we're getting there.

[ChrisSpera]

After you figure that out, you should put together a how-to article and publish it here on pnow...


Chris

[Pony99CA]

Originally posted by adamz

As if the restore corruption wasn't enough. Even after a restore, your partnership status is not restored to its state when the backup was run. That means when you do a sync after restore all your PIM info is duplicated!!!
That isn't so bad, actually. Just tell ActiveSync that you want to replace the PIM data on the PDA with the PC's data. That will avoid duplicate items. Because you can't back up unless you've synchronized, you shouldn't have a lot of unsynchronized data.

However, another issue caused by unique identifiers seems to be that you lose links in Pocket Informant. (PI 5 claims to allow backup and restore of links, but I don't have PI 5, so I can't say how well it works.)

I don't know why Microsoft has to name Inbox folders with obscure numeric identifiers, but it probably had something to do with preventing conflicts when separate accounts had folders with the same name.

It would be nice if Microsoft would at least explain the rationale behind these decisions. There may have been good reasons for them, but those decisions caused problems that weren't thought of.

Steve