j7xx's j7xxUtil 1.2
Henri Spagnolo, the webmaster of j7xx, is also one of the best application
writers in the H/PC community. Henri's applications are small in size and highly
useful. Some of them, like j7xxUtil, almost prompt us to think "why wasn't
this thought of before?" Once again, Henri has a big hit with this application
and it easily falls into the essential category of applications an H/PC owner
must have.
J7xxUtil is a small application that gives users instant access to commonly
used system functions on their Handheld PC. Residing in the System Tray when
minimized, j7xxUtil allows users too easily and quickly change their Control
Panel, memory settings, volume settings, see how much battery life they have
left and power off or soft reset the device. All of this is in an application
that has a footprint of only 77 Kilobytes.
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| j7xxUtil resides in the System Tray when in use.
Tapping it will bring up the menu |
To install j7xxUtil, download the application from j7xx and unzip the file,
dragging the install file to the Active Sync synchronization folder. Once it
is copied to the H/PC, double-tap the executable to install. Users can install
the application in the devices main memory or on a Storage Card. Henri includes
an installation text file to help clear up any questions related to the install.
Once it is installed, tap the application off of the Start - Programs menu and
it will be loaded into the System Tray. To access the menu just tap the icon
and it will present the menu of items that can be adjusted or done to the H/PC.
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| The j7xxUtil menu |
The first menu item tells users how much battery power remains on their H/PC.
This is shown as a percentage when on battery power and displays AC when on
electrical power.
The next item allows users to quickly access the Control Panel with one tap.
When this option is opened, a second menu displays the categories of the Control
Panel. Tapping one of these will open the actual Control Panel applet, allowing
for that property to be changed.
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| Accessing your H/PCs Control Panel is only one tap
when using j7xxUtil |
The third item allows users to adjust the memory allocations on the H/PC. Simply
tap the menu and a dialog box is shown which allows memory to be adjusted via
a slide bar. While on some H/PCs this may seem redundant - the Jornada 720 and
728 are fairly easy to access and change this setting - it is convenient and
faster than try to access the built-in applet on most H/PCs. Unlike most built-in
applets, j7xxUtil also shows the current amount of memory load on the H/PC.
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| Adjust the memory of the H/PC via the slide bar
and also see what your current memory load is in the device |
Similar to the memory adjustment, the volume adjustment allows for easy volume
changing on the device via a slide bar. The application plays the default sound
of the device as it is adjusted so users will know how loud or soft the sound
is instantly.
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| Set Volume menu in j7xxUtil |
The next three items on the j7xxUtil menu allow for users to turn off the display
of their device thus saving precious battery power. This is done with a simple
tap of the option on the menu. To bring the screen back to life just tap the
screen. Likewise the Power Off and Soft Reset options are self explanatory but
again provide easy access to these commonly used features.
While j7xxUtil simplistic in nature, it is a well written and easy-to-use application.
The quick access to commonly used adjustments to H/PC devices makes it a real
necessity for any handheld owner. In my testing of the product it never failed
or locked up my device and there are no issues with the application. The install
is smooth but it would be nice to see this go to a desktop-based install instead
of the somewhat clunky copy/move process. Hopefully that will happen in future
versions.
J7xxUtil is currently at version 1.2 and is available in a demonstration version
from the j7xx site. The full version is only $5.99 USD (£3.60 GBP, €5.25
EUD, ¥659 JPY est) which makes its "bang-for-buck" ratio well
above the average. The application is available for MIPS and StrongARM processor-based
H/PCs. Henri offers great support for his applications and is easy to reach
via email, Yahoo! Messenger and ICQ.
System Requirements:
Windows CE 3.0 (HPC2000)
StrongARM, MIPS
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J7xxutil 1.2 can be found at the following URL.
http://www.yetanotherhomepage.com/
Clinton Fitch
Chief Reviews Editor
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