I WOULD just like to share with you my Windows Mobile experience in Singapore where I'd just come from a recent trip.

It's amazing what connectivity can achieve! This was onboard the Singapore Bus Service (SBS) Transit and my wife and I were on our way back from Jurong East. We decided to take the SBS Transit bus #51 on the way back home. One thing I like about the SBS Transit is that they have free wi-fi on some of their buses, like Bus 51, 72 and 147.

The trip took about two hours to get to the destination; So I decided to pull out my HP IPaq 510 PDA phone, which runs on the Windows Mobile 6 operating system. This also means that it has both Windows Media Player and Windows Live Messenger.

So I decided to enable the Internet wi-fi on the PDA phone and connected to the free wi-fi on the bus. Once connected, I started Windows Media Player and listened to RMN news (Philippines) at this URL: mms://mirrors.martin.bitstop.ph/rmnnews.

Even at 4kbps bit rate, I was able to hear the newscast about the rally in the Philippines at that time (the February 29 rally in Makati). Furthermore, as the bus traveled along the route, there was no buffering and no dropped signals.

Next, I turned to testing Windows Live Messenger. I logged on to my account and used it to chat with my team back home. It so happened that I needed to give some instructions to Edmund who was currently doing the report for one of our clients in Philippine Call Center. I was able to chat with him on that same bus ride.

Next I chatted up Martin G of martin.bitstop.ph PARSEBGP project who was in Shanghai, and Benz C who was at St. Benilde in Manila. I actually found myself chatting with three parties at the same time. All while the bus was moving. I love being connected! I love Singapore! I love the SBS Transit!

Finally, when my fingers tired of having to type on the itsy-bitsy phonepad, I decided to use the voice clip feature of my HP Ipaq 510. I only had to record my voice, and then send it as a “Play” file to my chat-mates who were able to receive the “Play” file and listen to it.

Gadget and mobility expert Jojo Ayson, Senior Product Manager at Microsoft Philippines, attests to Windows Mobile 6’s advancements in terms of connectivity and mobile communication.

“Windows Mobile is focused on making sure people stay connected, entertained and informed. The latest version, which is Windows Mobile 6, automatically detects and easily connects to wi-fi networks. Wireless access certainly amps up the mobile user’s productivity, allowing them to view information, stay connected and keep in contact with co-workers,” says Ayson.

Now my only other wish is to be able to use the HP IPaq 510 to act as a VoIP SIP phone and connect to my SIP gateway. And then if I can do that, the next project would be to use the Virtual Private Network (VPN) feature of the phone and remotely log in to my servers. That would truly make everything connectedly seamlessly, with information and connectivity in the palm of my hand.