QUESTION:
How easy is the touch pad to use when you configure it to act as a joystick-type control?

ANSWER:
The touch screen cannot be configured to act as a joystick.  If you are referring to the Navigation Control, located near the center of the Epix, it may serve as either a mouse pointing device or a 4-way navigation control.  Please be aware that the Epix features an optical navigation control.  As a result, one merely swipes a finger across the surface of the control in order to navigate.  Some find this interface a bit too sensitive to the touch while others, like me, find it to be the greatest thing since pockets.  (Smile) 

QUESTION:
Are there numerous advantages to purchasing an Epix over the older Blackjack II?  I haven’t seen an unlocked Epix for anywhere under $400, but the older Blackjack is significantly cheaper.

ANSWER:
The answer to this question is not as simple as you may expect.  It’s all a matter of perspective and need.  As a wireless device enthusiasts, the Epix is superior to the Blackjack II in many, many ways including the fact that it is almost 3 times faster than the BJ2, it has both a Bluetooth and WiFi transmitter, and the internal GPS receiver is much more powerful than the one inside the BJ2.  To address the remainder of this question, I see no reason to purchase an unlocked Epix because if you buy the device from AT&T Wireless, you may request the hardware unlock code almost immediately.

QUESTION:
I note that Mobile Speak makes a distinction between smartphones and touch screen phones.  Do Windows Mobile applications also have a similar distinction?  For example, would an application designed for a smartphone not necessarily work on a touch screen phone?  Or is the above distinction merely necessary for the correct operation of a screen reader like Mobile Speak?

ANSWER:
This is a good question.  In short, it depends upon how the program was designed and what interface it requires.  There is no set rule.  For example, while Code Factory has two flavors of Mobile Speak, one for a non touch-screen device and another for a touch-screen device, it’s flagship Windows Mobile GPS navigation software solution, Mobile Geo, is designed to run on either type of Windows Mobile device.