Can I run BitTorrent on my fancy new Windows Mobile Smartphone?

The answer is yes! Here's how:

1) Download the SPHelper application from here. To install, extract the ZIP file on your computer and use your USB cable to transfer the sphelper.exe and sphelper.ini to your Smartphone. Then, run the sphelper.exe program.

SPHelper is a program that runs in the background and simulates a mouse cursor and other features found in the Pocket PC (i.e. OK, cancel, and close buttons). The hotkeys you'll need for bittorrent are:

When cursor is displayed:
Right softkey: Menu of SPHelper
Joystick: Move cursor

When cursor is hidden:
Long press 0: Show virtual cursor

2) Download the WinMobile Torrent application from here. During the installation, it will ask you where to store the downloaded files. If you have miniSD/microSD card, you'll want to choose "Storage Card". Normally, wmTorrent would be running on Pocket PC and there would be an OK button at the top of the window to exit this screen. No such luck on the Smartphone. Here's where SPHelper comes in.

Hold down the 0 key until your virtual cursor appears. Now click the right softkey to view the SPHelper menu. Choose "Current Window" then "OK". This does the same thing as clicking that OK button on Pocket PC.

At this point, you're ready to go. On my Blackjack II, the display showed my today screen and a menu. Here's what I had to do to see the application. Hold down the 0 key again. Hit your right softkey, then choose "Current Window", then "Auto Adjust". This fits the window to the size of your display (which is probably smaller than the typical 240x320 Pocket PC). You will have to use the virtual cursor to switch between tabs in the wmTorrent program.

3) Connect to the network. Go to the wmTorrent menu using your right softkey. Go to "Tools then "Connect". You can now start grabbing torrents.

4) Download a .torrent file and start leaching. There's two ways to do this. Either you can use your internet browser to find the torrent, or you can enter the URL directly into the wmTorrent program.

Summary:

BitTorrent on the Windows Smartphone is awesome. If you enjoy it as much as I do, be sure to register the software. SPHelper costs $9.95 and wmTorrent runs $20 after the 14-day trial. Net neutrality is a hot topic right now.

While AT&T and Verizon have played nicely on their DSL service, they have been more aggressive regulating traffic on their wireless networks. I know that Verizon imposes a 5 gigabyte per month cap on their Broadband Access network cards. All carriers start to raise eyebrows when their "unlimited" PDA plans start transferring more than a gigabyte per month. AT&T Wireless has threatened to suspend service to any wireless subscriber caught using file-sharing applications.

8/14/2008 corvettekenny@gmail.com