[General Topics] Menneisyys:
Microsoft Portrait is one of the best VoIP / chatter app for the Pocket PC. Also, it’s the only Pocket PC application to offer video phoning capabilities. I’ve often elaborated on (see for example this) its excellent capabilities and compared them to the alternates (for example, 4Talk or Gphone).

Up to now (as of version 2.3), the biggest problem with MS Portrait was the absolutely lacking support of built-in cameras (old versions only supported external, CF- and SD-based cameras as can be seen in here and here). Fortunately, the excellent folks at Microsoft have listened to for example my complaints and have come out with a beta version that already supports some (but not all – more on this later) built-in cameras.

(This is the app showing the HTC Wizard in action, showing what the Universal is sending it; a Universal screenshot HERE while in active video phone connection with this Wizard)

It’s available HERE and is a free download.

Compatibility and co-existence with version 2.3

Upon testing interoperability between the old and new versions, I haven’t encountered any audio or video compatibility issues between them. Both video phoning and (even full-duplex) audio transmission worked OK between 2.3 and 3.0 clients.

Also, you can install both versions on the same (WM5) device (if you prefer having 2.3 on your device too); they can co-exist without any problems.

Audio – it is full duplex capable by default!

As far as the audio is concerned, there is a cryptic new “LH 48” audio codec listed in the selectable audio codec list. I don’t know what it’s referring to – I’m pretty much into audio codecs but, frankly, haven’t ever heard of this codec. Version 2.3 didn’t support it. Note that it haven’t worked when I’ve tested it as can also be seen in here – as with Mobile Voice 2.4, which has been removed from PPC2k2 (see this for more info on this) but is still (erroneously) listed in both versions: in both 2.3 running on PPC2k2+ and 3.0. MS should, finally, remove this item from there - it's only causing confusion for anyone not having read my Bible of Pocket PC Sound Recording.

Please note that while there is no Half / Full Duplex switching capabilities any more in the setup (as opposed to 2.3 as can be seen in here), 3.0 DOES support full duplex audio and it’s the non-overridable default. This is certainly good news for newbies / beginners that didn’t really know what to do when, for example, the warning dialog visible in the previous 2.3 screenshot was shown. With the full duplex by default approach, the new version is much easier to configure than before and, in this respect, 4Talk is not better any more.

Please note that, as usual, unless you use it on an, in addition to VoIP-optimized PPC’s like the Pocket Loox 720, PPC PE device (with a dedicated, low-volume, already acoustic feedback-free hardware), you may want to stick to using wired / Bluetooth headsets to make use this mode. Also remember to switch the “Select preferred manner for audio recording” drop-down list in the Audio tab to “Click to talk” mode; then, the two parties only need to click “Talk” once and, after that, both can simultaneously speak.

Caveats, problems

First, it’s WM5 only. Unfortunately, it seems Microsoft Research has forgotten previous operating systems at least as far as free tools / apps are concerned, as was the case with the also excellent Windows Mobile Network Analyzer PowerToy. That is, if you have a WM2003SE Pocket PC with a built-in camera (for example, the Pocket Loox 720), you won’t be able to use it.

Second and, given that the vast majority of current camera-enabled PPC devices run WM5, the more important is that it only supports backside cameras – not ones in the front (ones that are meant for video calls). While on Pocket PC’s with one camera only (for example the Wizard) this isn’t a problem, on more recent devices (and the HTC Universal) with two cameras, this is a real pain in the back.

On these two-camera devices, you can in no way activate the front camera. For example, on the Universal, the camera selector drop-down menu only has one item as can be seen in here (a Wizard screenshot is here; note that the Wizard only has one camera).

Finally, sometimes it’s very hard to activate the application after minimizing it – sometimes, when you try to switch back to it, only the program name or “ActiveMovie Window” is displayed on the taskbar. This can be a pain in the back because, in these cases, you will need to kill Portrait.