PointUI: Better than iPhone skin

Honestly having owned a Dopod 818 Pro for 2 years, there isn’t that many ways you get to woo your friends with your PDA other than everyone going “COOL phone”(from its physical appearance) or “Wow! You have Windows on your phone”. Sadly, it all ends there. It isn’t enough to convince them that owning a PDA is cool unless of course the person you’re showing it to is a true techy who’d be imagining all the hacks he could do if he owned one. I decided that there must be something cool out there that would make even laymen understand how cool a PDA is. So… I spent 2 days hacking my PDA and one of the biggest change which “wow”ed a lot of people is the interface!

No, I did not get an iPhoney interface because it isn’t really a skin. To those of you who are curious, there are 2 versions of the iPhone interface for Windows Mobile.

1) Just the surface
This version is actually more of just an application “layer” with a look-alike of the iphone screen. The buttons load the appropriate Windows Mobile applications when pressed on but the huge problem is when you do that, the interface is gone and you’re back to plain old Windows-looking app. In other words, you only have a “layer” on top of Windows Mobile and the interface is not integrated with any of your apps. Kills the excitement. However if you still want this skin, you can get it here along with instructions.
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2) Integrated iPhone skin
There is however a version of the iPhone skin here that integrates with Windows Mobile applications including cool stuff like sliding contacts, missed call and message notifications but it requires a LOT and a LOT and a LOT of hard work. I gave up half way through because I couldn’t get most of the files needed and things were getting complicated.
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3) PointUI Home
After many hours of tweaking and disappointment, I decided to abandon the iPhoney journey. Decided to find NORMAL Windows Mobile skins that would just make my PDA look cool and voila! I came across the fantastic PointUI which beats even the iPhone skin! (And a lot easier to install too!). Don’t believe it’s cool? See for yourself 😛

The demo is using v0.92 but I’m using v1.5 which has a waaay more sleek and sexy interface now:

Ok! So since I got this fully up and running as the “default” skin on my PDA, I’m going to post up the easy steps on how you can have this on your PDA as well here:

1. Download the .cab file from here
2. Transfer into PDA and run .cab file
3. PointUI is now installed. Everytime you want to run it, just go to Start > Programs > PointUI Home

Here’s the making it your default skin part: (Thanks to capt_harlock77 from the PointUI Forum)

1. Download MORT Script from here
2. Transfer the file into your PDA and run .cab file
3. Write this script in your favourite text editor

Run("Program Files\Pointui\Home\1.51a\Home.exe")
Run("Windows\StartUp\script2.mscr")

Change the path of the first line if you installed PointUI Home according to where you installed it. For me I installed it into the default location on my PDA’s memory

4. Save as script1.mscr
5. Transfer to PDA location “Windows\StartUp”
6. Write this script in your favourite text editor
WaitForActive("Desktop", -1)
If(WndExists("PointUI : Home") = 1)
Show("PointUI : Home")
Else
Exit
EndIf
Run("Windows\StartUp\script2.mscr")

7. Save as script2.mscr
8. Transfer to PDA and paste in location “Windows\StartUp”.
9. Restart your device and you’re done! 😉

Hope this helps! Enjoy your newfound “Windows Mobile”. Honestly, after going through this weekend I realized that Windows Mobile is actually a really powerful OS with lots of undiscovered potential. It also made me realize how software can make a huge difference on the impression it gives people of a device. The iPhone is not the only cool communication device out there after all. 😀

Update: Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that PointUI is better than the iPhone but rather better than the WM iPhone skins currently in existence out there. Also, I’m not comparing WM and the iPhone OS coz there are quite a number of features which WM has and iPhone doesn’t and vice versa. Hence depending on the type of user you are, you will prefer one over the other.
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On a side note, apart from all the tweaking and hacking I spent my weekend with a long-time friend Cheryl whom I’ve known since secondary school. We watched a really good band performance at The Esplanade by The Philharmonic Winds titled An Evening with Tim Reynish which was held in conjunction with Reynish’s 70th birthday. (He is 70 but jovial like a 35 year old). I really enjoyed the performance (loved 4 songs out of 6) as it was really fun hearing how the individual instruments came together while figuring out which instruments were playing the different phrases. It was a really good getaway from all the techy stuff I’m doing at work right now. Thanks lots to Jiin Joo for the performance and tickets!

Before I leave, here are some pictures!