In theory, you should be able to simply set up Internet Sharing on your Windows Mobile device with Bluetooth PAN. Then on your Mac, simply create a BlueTooth PAN connection. The problem with this is that you run the risk of eating up your mobile device’s battery much quicker as its using its 3G connection and its bluetooth connection simultaneouslly. Even though it should work, I never could get it going, anyways. Ideally, we want to plug the phone in via USB, so that it is charging while sharing its connection. OSX won’t support the standard ActiveSync USB Internet Sharing method, so you’ll need to do a little work to get it going.

First download these files

Unzip and Copy all three files to /Library/Modem Scripts

Back on your Windows Mobile device, in the USB connection settings, change USB to mode to MODEM instead of ActiveSync. You may get a warning here that ActiveSync won’t work when Modem is selected. Remember to change it back later when you are ready to sync up again with a Windows computer. Once you’ve selected modem, plug your device into your Mac via USB.

Now, go to your Network Preferences menu.

On the left side, you should see your list of Network Interfaces. Click the little “+” sign to add an interface. Click Interface drop down menu, and you should see a choice for “Samsung CDMA Technologies”. Go ahead and choose it, and click CREATE. it should populate itself on the left-hand pane now.

Highlight the new Samsung Entry, and on the right side make the following entries:

Configuration: Default

Telephone Number: wap.cingular

Account Name: WAP@CINGULARGPRS.COM

Password: CINGULAR1

Now click Advanced…

On the Modem Tab, make sure Vendor is Samsung and Model is GPRS (GSM/3G)

On the PPP tab:

For Session, Uncheck “Redial if Busy”

Next to Settings, choose CONFIGURATION and select “Send PPP echo packets” and uncheck: Use TCP header compression.

Apply all these changes and lock the Network Preferences, and you’re ready to test.

Its a good idea when testing to disable your Wi-Fi so you can be sure you’re genuinely using your mobile devices WAN.

Now, highlight the Samsung modem, and on the right side, click CONNECT. If all goes correct, you should see a little meter with your connection strength, and you should now be able to surf the web. Go for it!

In theory, you should be able to simply set up Internet Sharing on your Windows Mobile device with Bluetooth PAN. Then on your Mac, simply create a BlueTooth PAN connection. The problem with this is that you run the risk of eating up your mobile device’s battery much quicker as its using its 3G connection and its bluetooth connection simultaneouslly. Even though it should work, I never could get it going, anyways. Ideally, we want to plug the phone in via USB, so that it is charging while sharing its connection. OSX won’t support the standard ActiveSync USB Internet Sharing method, so you’ll need to do a little work to get it going.

First download these files

Unzip and Copy all three files to /Library/Modem Scripts

Back on your Windows Mobile device, in the USB connection settings, change USB to mode to MODEM instead of ActiveSync. You may get a warning here that ActiveSync won’t work when Modem is selected.  Remember to change it back later when you are ready to sync up again with a Windows computer. Once you’ve selected modem, plug your device into your Mac via USB.

Now, go to your Network Preferences menu.

On the left side, you should see your list of Network Interfaces.  Click the little “+” sign to add an interface. Click Interface drop down menu, and you should see a choice for “Samsung CDMA Technologies”. Go ahead and choose it, and click CREATE. it should populate itself on the left-hand pane now.

Highlight the new Samsung Entry, and on the right side make the following entries:

Configuration: Default

Telephone Number: wap.cingular

Account Name: WAP@CINGULARGPRS.COM

Password: CINGULAR1

Now click Advanced…

On the Modem Tab, make sure Vendor is Samsung and Model is GPRS (GSM/3G)

On the PPP tab:

For Session, Uncheck “Redial if Busy”

Next to Settings, choose CONFIGURATION and select “Send PPP echo packets” and uncheck: Use TCP header compression.

Apply all these changes and lock the Network Preferences, and you’re ready to test.

Its a good idea when testing to disable your Wi-Fi so you can be sure you’re genuinely using your mobile devices WAN.

Now, highlight the Samsung modem, and on the right side, click CONNECT. If all goes correct, you should see a little meter with your connection strength, and you should now be able to surf the web. Go for it!

I was waiting for them to release a windows mobile compatible version of their software for my BlackJack II as they just released it for the iPhone recently. Sure enough, if you visit the Pandora site, they have indeed released a version for Windows Mobile devices. However, unless you have one of the few supported devices (Blackjack 2 is not), it won’t let you grab the software. Thankfully, the folks over at xda-developers and PPC-Geeks  have the .cab file posted on their forums.  Grab it from the links below and transfer it to your BlackJack II via ActiveSync. Then find it in file explorer on your device and click to install. Open the app up and enjoy free Pandora streaming on your BlackJackII. You’ll need to have an active account set up on their website before you can enjoy the streaming tunes action. Granted, the sound quality is not quite as good as the website streaming. It sounds about 64 Kb to me, but who caares? It’s certainly listenable, and I’m sure in the future they’ll bump up the bitrate (probably for a fee!). Ive got my BlackJack II hooked up for sound in my car, and it’s sweet to listen to Pandora while driving – no commercials! With the relatively low bitrate, I can keep a stream going through my whole commute even when I drop from 3G to Edge.

Here’s some links to the cab files so you can get your Pandora on. I haven’t noticed much difference between versions below, but there appear to be a few circulating.

1.1.10 – http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=23551&d=1234395930

1.1.4 and 1.0.25 http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=48458&highlight=pandora

Now I’m ready for a streaming Last.FM client for the BlackJack II. I know there’s one that will only scrobble. Anyone?

1. One of the great and sometimes not-so-great features of WinMo is true multitasking. You can have several applications running simultaneously. This can sometimes be a battery killer, but for better or worse, it’s nice to be able to stream music while checking google maps, switch to your web browser and back.
2. There are a TON of applications available for Windows Mobile. It’s been around for years and there is a strong developer base creating all kinds of applications.  Sure Apple has the App Store, but there are real robust enterprise productivity and business applications developed for WinMo – including Office. Most of the apps I’ve seen for the iPhone look fun or useful for about 5 minutes. If you do just want fun on your BlackJack2 or other device, there are apps like TCPMP (plays all those DIVX movies, mp3’s, etc.,) Opera, Google Maps, Live Search, Pandora, Last FM, Skyfire (which includes real FLASH support))…
3. GPS – Apple touts it’s GPS functionality like no one has ever used a GPS before. I use  Garmin software on my BlackJackII and it gives me turn-by-turn directions, gas prices, etc., Microsoft Live Search does Turn-by-turn text for free.
4. Exchange ActiveSync. Now, I know the iPhone  has this, but if you’re running an Exchange environment, its the best sync system out there. It works great, and it works best on a Windows Mobile device. Raise your hand if your Blackberry went down last year along with RIM?  Exchange ActiveSync leaves it in your (admin’s) hands.  Unless you bring the servers down it keeps running. Push Email to the masses. Not to mention Enterprise class features including AD management, remote Wipe, corporate policy restrictions for free.
5. Works with all types of form factors – Over the last several years, I’ve tried models with touchscreens, keyboards,  flip phone, candybars, Ruggedized. The OS adapts very well to multiple hardware designs.
6. Works with different manufacturers-One of the things I look forward to with Android is that multiple manufacturer’s will be producing handsets with it running.  I’ve used WinMo on devices from the likes of Samsung, HTC, Motorola, Pantech, HP and others. Although WinMo offers consistency among the devices, it leaves room for each OEM to tweak it to their liking. I think the compettion among them has pushed MS and them forward in the development of the Mobile OS.  If y you like the iPhone, for better or worse, you’re stuck with Apple.
7. Bluetooth Stereo (A2DP) – I love washing the car or riding my bike  listening to my Motorola-S9 bluetooth headphones
8. Tethering – I can tether my laptop via USB or bluetooth without any crazy hacks. This has been a lifesaver many times.
9. Familiar Windows Interface – Theres something nice and familiar, however boring it may be, to have that little old start button there to get you going.  Additionally, I like being able to simply drag and drop files onto the device once I’m synced.
10. Skype – Although there are 3rd Party apps to make this work on the iPhone, as far as I know, WinMo is still the only mobile OS that supports a true Skype Client.

I could just as easily write another article about 10 things I hate bout Windows Mobile, but we’ll leave  that for another day. Sure, the iPhone and Android have some of the features above, and do many of them even better; but neither of them have all of them. Hopefully Apple and Google have lit a fire under Microsoft’s ass and the next version of WinMo will rock.

To unlock the network settings so you can disable the proxy or change wap:

1. Open the File Explorer (found under Start \ All Programs \ Applications \ File Explorer) and browse to the Windows folder. Once in the Windows folder you are looking for an application called “UAMgr”. The quickest way to get to this file is to push the letter U on the keyboard and the phone will jump down to the files that start with U.
2. Run UAMgr by highlighting the file and pressing down on the action button. When the application opens you will see a screen that says “UAPMgr/Streaming” in the top title bar and “UA/Streaming Manager 2008″ in the center of the screen.
3. Press the Menu \ Tool \ Unlock ReadOnly. The phone will then present you with a confirmation screen indicating that Read Only has been unlocked. Press OK and then Close and you’re done.

To make Internet Tethering work on your BlackJack II:

Go to edit the network connections.  Edit AT&T ISP connection, changing the Access point to wap.cingular.

Then Internet Sharing should work for you now on your BlackJack 2.