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How to Setup the Free Microsoft Smart-Phone Emulator for a Demonstration of Direct-Push Email

If you've never used a Windows Mobile device before, or seen Direct Push email working, then the emulator program, that Microsoft has made available for free, is a great way to get some hands-on experience before actually buying one or signing up to a push email service.

The emulator can do everything that a real mobile device can do except make phone calls and fit into your pocket (it's permanently stuck to the screen of the Desktop PC you are running it on).

We've also setup an account on our server that you can use for free to link to the virtual Smart-Phone so you can see Direct Push in action.

Downloading the PDA Emulator Files

Microsoft's emulator is available here.
Near the bottom of the page, you need to download these files:-
efp.msi
and
V1Emulator.zip

Just above the Files in This Download section on that page is a link to a third file you need, a Virtual Machine Network Driver file called:-
netsvwrap.msi

The total size of the files to download is 60mb.
If you have any problems getting these files, you can download them, in a single ZIP file, from our site here - but try the Microsoft site first, as their version may be more up-to-date.

Installing the Emulator

Setting Up the Emulator

After completing the installation, click:-

This emulator is for Windows Mobile 5.
Windows Mobile 6 has now been released and Microsoft also has an emulator for this, details here, however it's harder to setup than the Windows Mobile 5 emulator described on this page.

Start - All Programs - Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 MSFT Emulator Images - PocketPC - Coldboot

If you subsequently save the state before you close the emulator then, the next time you start the emulator, choose:-

Start - All Programs - Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 MSFT Emulator Images - PocketPC - Savestate

You could also choose to start one of the Smartphone emulators instead.
These have a smaller screen, no touch-screen (screen won't respond to mouse-clicks), no Mobile Word, Excel or PowerPoint but the phone features are more prominent.
If you are considering buying a mobile device, this is a good way to see the differences between a Pocket PC and a Smartphone.

In the outer emulator window click:-
File - Configure
On the General tab in Shared Folder browse to a folder on your PC, perhaps select your Desktop.
Your PC's Desktop will then appear as the contents of the Pocket PC's Storage Card which will help if you need to transfer files.
When the PocketPC has booted up, click on the "transmitter mast" on the top line and click Connect

Check that the PocketPC is connected to the Internet:-
Click Start - Internet Explorer and go to the following page which is specifically designed for mobile devices:-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mobile/index.wml?

Setting Up an ActiveSync Connection to our Server

Once you've confirmed that the PocktPC has Internet access, click:-
Start - Programs - ActiveSync - Menu - Add Server Source…

Click Next

Fill in the User name, Password and Domain as shown below and put a tick in
"Save password"

This is a publicly accessible account so we keep changing the password.

You'll find the current password here.

Click Advanced…
There's nothing to do on the first page so click Next
Click on Calendar - Settings
and set how far back into the past you want to see your events - 2 Weeks is the default. Click OK
Click on Email - Settings and change the options here if you wish.
Click Advanced and put john.smith@arrowmail.co.uk as the Primary e-mail address

(Use Shift+2 to get an @ symbol)
Click OK - OK - Finish to get back to the main ActiveSync screen and the Pocket PC should then synchronise with the Inbox on the server.
Click Menu - Schedule
This is where you set how often to synchronise with the server.
As they arrive means Direct Push.
Here you can also set different actions for peak and off-peak times as well as defining peak times.
On a real device, where you are paying for the amount of data transferred, we recommend setting off-peak times of between, say, 8.00pm and 8.00am each day when Push is disabled.

Click OK

Close ActiveSync, plus any other program that's open, until you're back at the PocketPC's Desktop.

Configuring Mobile Outlook

Click on the "envelope" icon on the Desktop to open Mobile Outlook.
Click on Menu - Tools - Options
On the Accounts tab you can set a signature for outgoing emails and on the Message tab you can choose whether to include the body of the original message in Replies.
Back on the main Outlook screen, Click on Menu - Tools - Manage Folders…
and select any additional folders that you want to keep synchronised on the PocketPC besides the default Deleted Items, Drafts, Inbox and Outbox.

Other Settings

To get the email delivery times showing correctly click:-
Start - Setting - System - Regional Settings and chose the correct location, such as English (United Kingdom).
Even with the correct Regional Settings location, when you input text to the PocketPC emulator using your PC's keyboard, it assumes the keyboard has the US layout so, for example, to enter an @ symbol you will need to press shift+2.
This is just a problem with how the emulator maps to the PC's keyboard and doesn't apply to real devices.

Configuring New Email Notification

There no point having Push Email if you're not alerted when new email arrives.
Click:-
Start - Settings - Sounds and Notifications and set the options as shown below:-

Click the Notifications tab and set the actions for the event Messaging: New e-mail message as shown below:-

On my real device there is also the option to Vibrate and, although I can't find where this is set, if I ignore the first email warning, when subsequent emails arrive a shorter sound is played.

Testing Push Email

If you leave the Mobile Outlook Inbox as the front-most window then, although new emails will pop into the inbox, the new email notification won't sound so close Mobile Outlook and any other open programs to get back to the PocketPC's desktop.
Use a PC to send an email to john.smith@arrowmail.co.uk and as soon as it arrives at our servers you should get a new email notification on the PocketPC:-

Be aware that because this is a publicly accessible account, by sending an email to it, you may be revealing your email address to others.

Use Outlook Mobile Access (OMA) to Check Email

To try out Outlook Mobile Access, click:-
Start - Internet Explorer and go to the page:-
https://exchange.arrowmail.co.uk/oma
Log On as shown below using the current password:-

Outlook Mobile Access is certainly not as impressive as Direct Push but it can be useful to check Outlook folders that you haven't selected for automatic synchronisation.

OMA is also the only way to change your password and set your

"out-of-office" status from a mobile device.

When you've finished with the PocketPC emulator you can save your settings by clicking:-
File - Save State and Exit on the outer emulator window.

If you change some setting and find you've lost Internet access on the emulator, in order to get things working again, it can be quicker to click File - Reset - Hard on the outer emulator window and set everything up again from scratch.

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