WINDOWS MOBILE AND .

NET FRAMEWORK

INTRODUCTION
Windows Mobile is a mobile operating system developed by
Microsoft that was used in smartphones and mobile devices.It is superseded by Windows Phone 7. Originally appearing as the Pocket PC 2000 operating system, most Windows Mobile devices come with a stylus pen, which is used to enter commands by tapping it on the screen. It is the 5th most popular smartphone operating system, with a 5% share of the worldwide smartphone market (after Symbian, BlackBerry OS, Android and iPhone). Compact, Connectable, Compatible, Companion, and Efficient.

COMMON FEATURES
Screen shows the current date, owner

information, upcoming appointments, e-mail messages, and tasks. Office Mobile a suite of Mobile versions of Microsoft Office applications Outlook Mobile comes with Windows Mobile. Internet Explorer Mobile is an Internet browser. Windows Media Player for Windows Mobile. Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) which in mobile phones allows attached computers to share internet connections via USB and Bluetooth. Ability to multitask.

HARDWARE
Windows Mobile Professional runs on
smartphone with touchscreen. Windows Mobile Standard runs on phones with regular screens. Windows Mobile Classic which runs on 'Windows Mobile Classic devices' (Pocket PCs). .

Version History
Pocket PC 2000
Pocket PC 2000, originally codenamed "Rapier,was released on April 19, 2000, and was based on Windows CE 3.0. It was meant to be a successor to the operating system aboard Palm-Size PCs. Pocket PC 2000 was intended mainly for Pocket PC devices. Removable storage card formats that were supported were CompactFlash and MultiMediaCard. The original Pocket PC operating system was similar to Windows 98, Windows Me, and Windows 2000 operating systems.

Features:

Pocket Office pocket word,pocket excel,pocket outlook. Pocket Internet Explorer Windows Media Player Microsoft Reader
Infrared (IR) File beaming capability

Pocket PC 2002
Pocket PC 2002, originally codenamed "Merlin", was released in October 2001. Like Pocket PC 2000, it was powered by Windows CE 3.0. Pocket PC 2002 was also used for Pocket PC phones, and for the first time, Smartphones.These Pocket PC 2002 Smartphones were mainly GSM devices. FEATURES: Spell checker and Word count tool in Pocket Word Savable downloads and WAP in Pocket Internet Explorer Synchronization of folders MSN Messenger Windows Media Player 8 Microsoft Reader 2 Palm OS support

Windows mobile 2003

Windows Mobile 2003, originally codenamed "Ozone",was released on June 23, 2003. Windows Mobile 2003 was powered by Windows CE 4.20. It came in four editions: Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC Premium Edition Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC Professional Edition Windows Mobile 2003 for Smartphone Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC Phone Edition. FEATURES: Support for add-on keyboards Bluetooth headset support Pictures application with viewing, cropping, e-mail, and beaming Support. Enhanced Pocket Outlook Improved Pocket Internet Explorer Windows Media Player 9.0 SMS reply options for Phone Edition MIDI file support as ringtones in Phone Edition

Windows mobile 5
Windows Mobile 5.0, originally codenamed "Magneto",was released at Microsoft's Mobile and Embedded Developers Conference 2005 in Las Vegas, May 9 2005. Features: It used the .NET Compact Framework 1.0 WM 5.0 has increased battery life due to Persistent storage capability. Everything is backed up in the flash memory, so unlike prior devices, it does not loose data if power is lost. New version of Office called "Office Mobile" Windows Media Player 10 Mobile Photo Caller ID Picture and Video package Enhanced Bluetooth support Global Positioning System (GPS) management interface Default QWERTY keyboard-support Error reporting facility

Windows mobile 6
Windows Mobile 6, formerly codenamed "Crossbow", was released on February 12, 2007 at the 3GSM World Congress 2007. It comes in three different versions: Windows Mobile 6 Standard: Smartphones (phones without touchscreens) Windows Mobile 6 Professional: Pocket PCs with phone functionality Windows Mobile 6 Classic: Pocket PCs without cellular radios.

Office Mobile support for Smartphones Improved Remote Desktop access. Windows Mobile 6 was meant to be similar toWindows Vista. Smartfilter for searching within programs Improved Internet Sharing HTML email support .NET Compact Framework Microsoft Office OneNote

Features:

Windows mobile 6.1

Windows Mobile 6.1 was announced April 1, 2008. It is a minor upgrade to the existing Windows
Mobile 6 platform It brings with it a redesigned Home screen featuring horizontal tiles. Full page zooming in Internet Explorer It creates automatic links for telephone numbers in Tasks and Appointments, which allows for the easier click and dial of stored telephone numbers

Windows mobile 6.5

Version 6.5 is an upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.1 that was released to manufacturers on May 11, 2009, and the first devices running the operating system debuted in late October '09. Features: Screen with vertically scrollable labels Internet Explorer Mobile 6 browser decreased page load time. improved memory management. finger-friendly user interface with use of Multitouch complete touch control i.e. no need for a stylus.

Windows7
Windows Phone 7 was launched in Europe, Singapore and Australia on October 21, 2010, and in the US & Canada on November 8, 2010, with the rest of the world to follow in 2011. Microsoft decided to create a new mobile OS platform and officially announced Windows Phone 7 Series in its place.

Microsoft revealed details of Windows Phone 7,

which features a new operating system and integration with Xbox Live and Zune services. It has been built from scratch and bears no resemblance to its predecessors.

Features:

.NET Framework
The .NET Framework (pronounced dot net) is a software framework
developed by Microsoft that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and provides language interoperability (each language can use code written in other languages) across several programming languages. Programs written for the .NET Framework execute in a software environment (as contrasted to hardware environment), known as the Common Language Runtime (CLR), an application virtual machine that provides services such as security, memory management, and exception handling. The class library and the CLR together constitute the .NET Framework. The .NET Framework's Base Class Library provides user interface, data access, database connectivity, cryptography, web application development, numeric algorithms, and network communications. Programmers produce software by combining their own source code with the .NET Framework and other libraries. The .NET Framework is intended to be used by most new applications created for the Windows platform. Microsoft also produces an integrated development environment largely for .NET software called Visual Studio.

DESIGN FEATURES

 Interoperability : Because computer systems commonly require

interaction between newer and older applications, the .NET Framework provides means to access functionality implemented in newer and older programs that execute outside the .NET environment. Access to COM components is provided in the System.Runtime.InteropServices and System.EnterpriseServices namespaces of the framework; access to other functionality is achieved using the P/Invoke feature. Common Language Runtime engine :The Common Language Runtime (CLR) serves as the execution engine of the .NET Framework. All .NET programs execute under the supervision of the CLR, guaranteeing certain properties and behaviors in the areas of memory management, security, and exception handling. Language independence :The .NET Framework introduces a Common Type System, or CTS. The CTS specification defines all possible datatypes and programming constructs supported by the CLR and how they may or may not interact with each other conforming to the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) specification. Because of this feature, the .NET Framework supports the exchange of types and object instances between libraries and applications written using any conforming .NET language. Base Class Library :The Base Class Library (BCL), part of the Framework Class Library (FCL), is a library of functionality available to all languages using the .NET Framework. The BCL provides classes that encapsulate a number of common functions, including file reading and writing, graphic rendering, database interaction, XML document manipulation, and so on. It consists of classes, interfaces of reusable types that integrates with CLR(Common Language Runtime).

 Simplified deployment :The .NET Framework includes

design features and tools which help manage the installation of computer software to ensure it does not interfere with previously installed software, and it conforms to security requirements. Security : The design addresses some of the vulnerabilities, such as buffer overflows, which have been exploited by malicious software. Additionally, .NET provides a common security model for all applications. Portability : While Microsoft has never implemented the full framework on any system except Microsoft Windows, it has engineered the framework to be platform-agnostic,[3] and cross-platform implementations are available for other operating systems . Microsoft submitted the specifications for the Common Language Infrastructure (which includes the core class libraries, Common Type System, and the Common Intermediate Language), the C# language, and the C++/CLI language to both ECMA and the ISO, making them available as official standards. This makes it possible for third parties to create compatible implementations of the framework and its languages on other platforms.

Microsoft .Net Architecture

MICROSOFT .NET COMPACT FRAMEWORK

The Microsoft .NET Compact Framework (.NET CF) is a
version of the .NET Framework that is designed to run on resource constrained mobile/embedded devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, factory controllers, set-top boxes, etc. The .NET Compact Framework uses some of the same class libraries as the full .NET Framework and also a few libraries designed specifically for mobile devices such as .NET Compact Framework controls. However, the libraries are not exact copies of the .NET Framework; they are scaled down to use less space.

Microsoft .Net Compact Framework

.Net CF is for Mobile

Devices .Net Compact Framework is Subset of Full .Net Very Small Footprint (4MB for v2.0) Feature that are Not Included in the Compact Framework are Shaded

Development
It is possible to develop applications that use the .NET Compact Framework
in Visual Studio .NET 2003, in Visual Studio 2005 and in Visual Studio 2008, in C# or Visual Basic .NET. Applications developed with Basic4ppc are also eventually compiled for the .NET CF. The resulting applications are designed to run on a special, mobile-device, high performance JIT compiler.

The Microsoft .NET Compact Framework 3.5 Redistributable contains the

common language runtime and class libraries built for the .NET Compact Framework. In addition to version 3.5 support, it also supports applications developed for version 1.0 and 2.0. The .NET Compact Framework 3.5 provides new features such as Windows Communication Foundation, LINQ, SoundPlayer, new runtime tool support, and many other features.
The UI development is based on Windows Forms which is also available on the desktop version of the .NET Framework. User interfaces can easily be created with Visual Studio by placing .NET Compact Framework controls like buttons, text boxes, etc. on the forms. Also features like data binding are available for the .NET CF. A major disadvantage of the UI development is that modern looking applications with support for finger-based touch screen interaction are not that easy to implement. This is mainly due to the desktop-oriented user interface concept on which Windows Forms is based, although some third party libraries with custom controls for this purpose are available.

Default Threads in .Net CF Applications

Primary Thread of the Application A Thread to Track Active TCP/IP

Interfaces A Thread to Call finalizers at the Time of Garbage Collection A Thread to Control Timers

Typical Configuration of a Device Running Windows Mobile 6.0

CRITICISM
Versions of Windows Mobile prior to 6.5.3 did not recognize multi-touch

screens. Windows Mobile does not allow users to view file properties from File Explorer and so a third-party file explorer is needed to remove the "readonly" or "Hidden File" attributes applied to files. Hidden files can be viewed. Windows Mobile does not allow users to view file extensions of unknown file types Windows Mobile devices can easily be used and reset by unauthorised users, such as thieves, Many Windows Mobile business applications were designed for a stylus-pen input, and are difficult or impossible to use on a capacitative multi-touch screen. Unlike Windows for desktop computers, the Windows Mobile operating system cannot be upgraded by users. A 2009 survey showed that Windows Mobile users had a low level of customer satisfaction when compared to users of other smartphones. Out of a possible 100 points, Windows Mobile rated only 66, compared with BlackBerry (73), Pal Pre (77), Google Android (77), and iPhone (83).

CONCLUSION
WINDOWS MOBILE: Is constantly improving; Is a challenge for developers (C++); Great IDE; Has great potential; Improved user interface.

REFERENCES
[1] Microsoft Mobile Development Handbook by Andy Wigley, Daniel MothandPeter [2] How to Do Everything with Your Smartphone, Windows Mobile Edition BY Jason R. Rich
[3] Writing Mobile Code BY Ivo Salmre