Windows Media Player (WMP) has been upgraded to version 9. Aside from playing the usual .MP3 and .WAV files, I was able to play an WMP9 encoded file with no problems at all.

I did discover an interesting quirk. It seems that Microsoft has either changed the way they output video to the screen, or they totally rewrote the video driver hooks. In times past, I used to be able to use either Developer One's Pocket ScreenSnap to capture stills while WMP was in use, or I was able to see it using the Microsoft Remote Display Power tool. In Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC, I was unable to capture any screenshot or display anything using the Remote Display tool while WMP was active. This occurred with both the e755 and the e355, so the video chipset difference did not factor in this case.

Included with Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC is a new game called "Jawbreaker". It's kind of a Tetris-in-reverse type game in which you remove like colored circles to clear the board. It's easy to learn, and somewhat addicting.

At first glance, the new email client looks similar to prior versions. There are some improvements in the inbox client, however, that make it somewhat different than it's predecessors.

When you configure your inbox, you see the normal options of setting new accounts, choosing how email addresses are determined, and where to store attachments.

One new item that is familiar to hard core Outlook users is the addition of a signature. What's neat about this signature insertion tool is that it can insert different addresses for different email accounts.

Setting up your email account is very similar to previous versions, with one minor exception.

You now have the capability for the Inbox to auto configure the email address. This is useful for most internet email users. If your email setup uses a redirector (like mine does), you have to still manually configure your email account. One nice thing is that if your email server is Microsoft Exchange based, you can now enter in a domain name to help with authentication.

One interesting addition is that the Inbox application has the ability to send quick, preplanned messages - just like some of the Motorola text pagers.

Included with Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket pC is a new theme - Spiral

Despite the fact that Microsoft has done some huge improvements in the networking, browser, and email areas, other applications either got a minor cosmetic facelift, or were totally ignored.

The calendar now has color differentiation between weekdays and weekends

The contacts application can support v-cards and has faster searching capabilities by just entering in a few letters

The tasks application has a gotten a facelift, but is otherwise unchanged

And, worst of all, the Pocket Word and Pocket Excel applications are unchanged from previous versions. This is unfortunate, since the Pocket PC's competition can handle Word and Excel files far better and with no formatting loss, despite the use of third party programs.