We are the Geeky Boys

Comparing the iphone to a smartphone is pretty pointless when apple have clearly stated it’s not aiming to compete in this sector. Still. that shouldn’t stop those wacky windows lovers having a bit of top-class prod at poor old apple.
These geeky windows mobile boys can’t or won’t appreciate that not every device made is a smartphone or is trying to be one. Ironically, they seem to major on the email aspects of both devices…as if email on a windows device has been astonishingly innovative over the past 5 years.
I find myself defending a product I have no intention of buying or perhaps it is just the sheer lack of wit on the part of the "We are the Geeky Boys" crowd.

My Utopian World…

Saw this article posted via pda 24/7 and it is an interesting thought although personally I’m glad that not everyone has a palm pda. If so we’d all be at the mercy of those tossers who love to show (pretend) how busy they are…." mmm.. let’s see…I can just about squeeze you in at 6.46 for ten minutes" or you’d get every Tom, Dick and Harry trying to beam you their business card….spam city anyone?
Very much a case of "beam me up (and outa here) Scotty".

new Sony W880i out now

Expansys have stock of the new Sony w880i, the super slim walkman branded 3g phone. Super slim phones have at least one major drawback…they contain super slim batteries with a super slim capacity.

"Sony Ericsson Walkman® phones bring the ease of digital music players
to your mobile. So alongside all the usual advanced phone features, you
can also download, stream, store and play back music in your mobile.
One click starts the Walkman® music player. Now you can play, rewind,
fast forward, equalise, shuffle tracks and create playlists – just like
in any other digital music player. The Walkman® player supports several
file formats including MP3 and AAC.

Built-in digital camera with screen viewfinder, dedicated menus and
direct interaction with in-phone imaging and messaging features.

"The third generation of mobile networks brings the convenience of
broadband Internet to your mobile phone. Fast data transfer speeds – up
to 384 kbps – give you quick, easy access to a world of video calls,
audio and video streaming, Web surfing, multimedia messaging and email
wherever you go. Your 3G phone has an ‘always on’ Internet connection
with high-speed data transfer. Video call lets you see your caller in
the main display, and they can see you. Business conversations are
enhanced, and friends and families just got a whole lot closer.

Extend a device’s memory with the smallest memory card on the market,
Memory Stick Micro™ (M2™) (up to 1GB). Adaptors are available if you
want to use with Memory Stick PRO-compatible products"

Calendar Bar for WM

Calendar Bar 2 for WM has been released…priced $9.99. Some of these today screen plugins seem quite expensive for what they do.

""Use Calendar Bar to check on your next appointments, or simply to
check the calendar for future events. Tap the green icon to switch
displays, and the arrow keys to move between appointments or months.
Calendar Bar makes an excellent and compact replacement to the standard
Calendar plug-in."

windows mobile 6 & html email support

Response to the new updated WM6 has been a bit muted and circumspect on the various sites I’ve been perusing of late. Most reviewers seem to be saying it is more of a mild update to WM5 rather than a full blown new o/s. One aspect of it though appeals to me…full HTML support for emails…for two reasons. Firstly, email is probably the feature of any smartphone that I use most these days and secondly, I think it would be great to finally be able to see pics in emails…none of the previous email clients I have used on different mobile o/s’s such as Snappermail, Versamail or Outlook have been able to display in line pics.
I think, when I using a Nokia N80, that the email programme I paid for (profimail?) was able to do this and it was a nice bonus…more expensive for data costs but worthwhile all the same to be able to see the email in the way it was intended by the sender.

i-mate JAQ3 review

Shaun at pda 24/7 is looking into the prospect of moving back to windows mobile but he has some reservations. He has been reviewing one or two devices in the last week, the first one being the i-mate JAQ3 and he doesn’t seem all that impressed by it.
I keep coming back to this fad nay obsession that manufacturers currently have with slimness in a design. When the phone is trim all round slimness can be very appealing aesthectically…when the device looks like it’s been squashed by a herd of rampaging elephants it’s a different matter. At the weekend, I was in Orange trying to get a case for my Sony phone and had a quick gander at some of the devices in there, one of which was the Nokia E61. This thing looks awful, even bigger in the flesh than it does in pics and it’s not as if there is a fantastically large screen to compensate for its ludicrous and cartoon-like girth.
The i-mate JAQ3 falls into the same category for me.

Shaun also does an interesting comparison of the apps he uses on a palm and whether they are available for WM as for him, and for most of us, this is an important factor when deciding whether to make the switch or not.

3G apple iphone by 2008?

MacWorld UK are reporting that apple may be bringing out a 3g enabled iphone by the start of 2008.

text twist

David recommends this game over at his website, palmblogging. Must say it looks pretty decent although I get a bit panicky with timed games, I’m more of a relaxed-take-my-time-kinda guy…I wish the chaps at Astraware would send me some free stuff to review…in fact I wish ANYBODY would.

"Text Twist is the
highly-acclaimed word game based on the PC game by GameHouse. You’re
given a scrambled six letter word, and you have to see how many 3, 4, 5
and 6 letter words you can make in a limited time! If you manage to get
one (or more) six letter words by the end of the level, you get to play
again! Guess the words to score points. Longer words give you a better
score. Complete all the words in a level for a special points bonus.

If you’re stuck, Twist to shuffle the letters, and maybe it’ll give
you a clue! Text Twist is easy to play, and incredibly absorbing! Play
whenever you’ve got a spare couple of minutes! Even if you never
thought you were good at word games – you’ll love Text Twist!

who’s going to buy the iphone?

It looks great but with each passing week since launch I find myself more and more convinced that I’ll not be going for the iphone…this survey over at MacWorld UK suggest that it may be too expensive for most.

"US consumers aren’t willing to pay what Apple
may ask for the iPhone but if the price drops they’ll switch their
mobile service to AT&T in order to get it, according to results of
a survey released Thursday.

Online market research firm Compete surveyed 379 people in the US, most
of whom had heard of the iPhone and have shopped for an iPod, to find
out how interested they are in the device to produce the uncommissioned
report. The iPhone is a combined music player and cell phone that Apple plans to start selling in the US in June and in Europe by the end of the year.

it’s that time again

Having sold a couple of gadgets recently on ebay I find myself with some cash to splash from my paypal account. So, of course I am thinking of getting a new gadget which will come as a major surprise I’m sure to you all.
Question is…what to go for?
There’s not exactly a huge choice palm wise, I already own two of their most recent devices (TX and treo 680) so I am thinking once again about delving into the seedy, murky world of Windows Mobile. Mainly just to see if it is as disappointing as I remember it to be.
I have a shortlist.
HP iPAQ rw 6815 – that’s such a catchy name isn’t it? HP must have spent ages thinking up that one, it just rolls off the tongue. Why do I like this one? It’s chunky, small and has a built in (but removeable) flip screen. That’s about it…I just like the look of it and it has, what on paper anyway, seems like a fast processor…it also has apparantly, good battery life. No 3G though but that’s not the be all and end all for me nowadays. Both the ipaq and the HTC have wi-fi though…not that I’ve ever used it. There seems to be a shortage of programmable buttons on this device and I have a feeling that navigating around it could be a bit of a dog…heck why am I even looking at it?

HTC p3300v – this comes with built in GPS although the cheaper version has no software, the premium version (too expensive for me) comes with full Tom Tom western Europe maps. I’m not sure though that, for me anyway, getting a smartphone with GPS built in is a good idea as no doubt I won’t keep the device long (past history dictates this) thus when I sell it bang goes my GPS…I’d be better off with a seperate GPS in car thingy.
Again there is no 3G but it has a FM radio (which I like very much on my Sony phone) and it has that nice trackball/scrolling thing in place of a d-pad. This is also on the o2 mini atom device and gets good reviews.

So that’s it…a choice of two, unless someone can suggest something better, and as usual no particular scientific or logical reason for picking out these two devices…I just like the look of them! Oh dear..

i-mate ultimate website

you can get to it here...it
contains full specs of the devices. The one with the full keyboard
looks amazing. These are pretty impressive looking devices and what is
nice about it is that i-mate are basically introducing very similar
specced devices at different prices to appeal to most users.

Mac browser review in MacFormat

I’ve been using Firefox for ages now, ahead of Safari, but was very interested in the MacFormat group browser review this month.
They had a 6 browser shootout, 5 are freeware and Omniweb was the only shareware option but managed to come out on top which, as you need to pay for it, you would sort of hope & expect.
It scored high marks for its mac integration, pop up & content blocking abilities.

internet tablets…

I see that Nokia have a newish N800 out…this is one of those "internet tablets" designed for internet and email access first and foremost. They never seem to be terribly successful though do they? I can’t see the point in them because they are pretty bulky in comparison to a treo or windows mobile smartphone and don’t have phone capabilities so you would have to carry this around plus a phone. Big device ….small capability.
Nice big screen though.

The Nokia N800 is built to be constantly in use. Internet calling,
instant messaging and email keep you in touch with friends and family.
With stereo audio, media support and new ergonomic design the Nokia
N800 Internet Tablet is a portable Internet entertainment device; you
will enjoy streamed or downloaded content free away from fixed
location.

Building on the success of the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet, the
Nokia N800 introduces faster performance, full screen finger qwerty
keyboard, easier continuous connections through Wi-Fi or via Bluetooth
phone, integrated web camera as well as a new elegant design.

Like its predecessor, the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet is based on
Nokia’s desktop Linux based Operating System. The Maemo development
platform was launched in 2005 to provide Open Source developers with
the tools and opportunities to create innovative applications for use
on Nokia’s Internet Tablets. Users of the Nokia N800 will be able to
benefit from a wide range of third party applications.

more palm pda and treo cases

I keep coming across sites that offer pda caes just when you think there can’t surely be anymore….saw this company mentioned at palmaddicts…fortte…and they seem to do a pretty wide range of cases especially for the treo range.
This one is for the 680 and has a removeable front flip cover, which is a nice idea.

"Palm Treo 680 Dual Design Leather PDA Case

 

Dedicated Fit  for Palm Treo 680

Removable Flip cover protector & Open face in ONE case

Available WITH different clip options to suit any lifestyle or WITHOUT any clip.

Premium Full Grain Leather

Access to all side controls

Full screen visibility

Converged/deconverged/unconverged/convergeless

All this ongoing talk of being converged or not. If you have a treo you should be in the converged camp but oddly I find myself back to carrying two devices again…one of which is supposed to free you from this 2 gadget syndrome. Well, it would if it worked as a phone properly.
I use the treo more as a pda and the Sony as my everyday phone, it’s just very handy to have a pda that has an inbuilt modem that can access the internet, send texts and email without having to go through that awful bluetooth-phone-pairing palavar. In fact, it’s better than that…it’s great…and of course the treo makes a pretty decent pda, loads of memory, keyboard, quick o/s, hugely expandable in terms of 3rd party apps and not too big (well compared to a TX for example).
During working hours I take both with me and use them both…at home, if I’m heading out then I just take the treo as I rarely get calls out of working hours and I’m contactable via sms anyway. Besides, using the treo keyboard to send text messages is much easier than a normal phone keypad, particularly after 5 or 6 bottles of Stella.

HTC Ameo on t-mobile

This new "beast" will be coming to the UK later on.

"
By simply looking at the Athena/Ameo, it should be clear why this handheld is so appreciated. Its design reminds you of a mini-laptop, although the Ameo is just a little bit larger than a PDA phone.

The Ameo can be used with or without the QWERTY keyboard
it comes with, due to the fact that the keyboard attaches with a
magnetic connector and can be easily detached if it’s not needed.

Manufactured and designed by HTC, the Ameo provides everything its other HTC brothers include and much more. The Windows Mobile 5.0 powered handheld sports an Intel Xscale
processor running at 624 MHz, a 5 inch 65k color touchscreen with a 640
x 480 pixel resolution, 64MB RAM and 128/256 MB ROM, an internal GPS
module, stereo speakers, a 3 megapixel camera with autofocus and a 8GB
Micro Drive that should be roomy enough for anyone’s needs.

A built-in “G-sensor” will allow the user to scroll on-screen pages with hand gestures as well as save data if the device is dropped by accident.

According to T-Mobile Germany, Ameo is also compatible with Microsoft’s
Direct Push and RIM’s Blackberry Push email solutions. As for the phone
features, the Ameo will work on all the four GSM/GPRS/EDGE network
bands, 2100Mhz UMTS/HSPDA networks and 802.11b/g WiFi networks.
For connectivity, the handheld also features Bluetooth 2.0. Basically,
should this handheld not be advanced enough for your tastes, there’s a
pretty big chance that you won’t find anything better than this.

Maybe There’s Hope or jumping the gun

Perhpas the Daily Gadget is backtracking a little after their doom and gloom prophesising last week…

"Last week I wrote about two major Palm OS developers porting their
flagship Palm OS only applications to the Windows Mobile platform. I
was a bit upset about the future prospects for the Palm OS if premier
Palm OS developers are switching over WM. As it turns out I was just a
bit premature.

This week I received this little bit of info from one of my favorite developers:

Astraware also announced it has joined the ACCESS Connect Ecosystem
(ACE) Global Partner Program as a charter member. ACCESS’ recently
announced ACE partner program is designed to create an ecosystem of
world-class partners that will unleash the potential of the digital
life generation by driving development and adoption of new mobile and
converged technologies and solutions"

It would be easy to say…told you so, so I will. Personally, I am filled with optimism at the moment for the future of palm and announcements like this show why..when things have been pretty low for a while then the only way is up.

windows vista..

click to see the cartoon in full glory

taken of course from the marvellous Joy of Tech site

Treo 750v, the palm touch & some thoughts on WM

Just been reading a couple of treo 750 reviews on the web, from windows based sites, and it struck me how complementary they were about the so called palm improvements.
Of course these palm touches are things that we palm users are well used to & sort of expect to find in any palm based device.
From my 750v useage a few months ago, to be honest, I didn’t leave thinking this device is so easy to use thanks to the subtle palm enhancements…no, it still felt very much like a wm device…powerful but slow & clunky and relatively unintuitive, certainly in comparison to a palm o/s treo.
I think with the majority of devices these days there is a degree of compromise involved. For us palm users we compromise by accepting lower specs in return for a device that is simple to use & quick and which, for the majority of users, gets the jobs for which it was bought done with minimum hassle.
Windows Mobile users? They compromise by grabbing the extra specs of things they think they need (multitasking) but don’t actually in return for an o/s that bizarrely penalises them for the self same benefits….system slowdown & memory hogging.
It’s all very well being able to go from tasks to calender to email to video watching to ebook reading but then, when you want to send a text message & the system has ground to a relative halt thus necessitating rapid backtracking to close running apps….well, that’s the compromise. One of the major upsides, rather sadly these days and which is rapidly becoming an annoying palm
trait, is increased reliabilty via less crashing & more system stability…a feature that would have seemed incomprehensible to palm devotees a few years back.
At this moment in time I still feel I can get the mobile tasks that I need to perform done as well on a palm device as I could on a WM one. But that’s just me & covers my regular pda useage.
I’d have no qualms about going back to WM at some point in the future…the range of devices out there is at times breathtaking in comparison to the paucity of choice on the palm front but at times I feel this is more about pda envy than anything else….but for now the palm o/s & treo device is still very sufficient for my needs.
Not only that but I genuinely can’t think of any killer app that may or may not be out there or which may be forthcoming that would make me want to change…..for now.

The fact is…windows mobile gives the impression to me that it was designed by some nerdy geeks whose sole purpose was to show how clever they are with little thought as to how the end user would actually find the experience. Sure, that’s changing now but there’s still a fair bit to go before its ease of use matches palms.
And so back to my original topic…the 750v. I was left with the overriding impression not of how much easier this smartphone is to use but rather, this is still very much a WM device made only marginally less hard to use by the addition of one or two enhancements that frankly, should have been there in the first place.

TamsPalm

I wish I’d known about this site earlier on…there is some truly excellent stuff on it and Tam doesn’t mince his words or his views about all things palm…for example

‘My 3 commandments for all Palm OS Garnet owners

By Tam Hanna

The
news about Palm’s buyback of OS5 rights has slowly but surely sunk in –
we now have two Palm OS ‘owners’. The current version of Garnet has a
few quirks, but is a reliable platform…this is what its owners should
do to it 2007 to keep it competitive:

Get a GOOD web browser
Face it, all current Palm Os web browsers suck badly. OK, the Treo 680
version of Blazer/Netfront is said to be decently usable at the least –
but it still lacks many features in comparison to PDA browsers for
other platforms.

This point should be really simple for Access – all they need to do
is add a few features to their old Sony Clie Palm OS NetFront browser.
Alternatively, Palm could bug Opera or buy up the Universe3 project
before it ships.

Give Garnet a competitive UI
Face it – Garnet looks ugly compared to Windows Mobile. Ok, black on
white means great contrast, but the average user doesn’t give a f***
about a few nits more. Instead, he wants a cool-looking device…

This is also a no-brainer for a licensee. Buy up either SkinUI or its competitor(probably cheaper) – and party.

Unlock the multitasking API/ARM development API
First of all – I got much of this information from a reliable source
inside a Palm OS licencee. However, I cannot disclose the name for
obvious reasons.

Palm OS’s core is multitasking capable – people like Dmitry Grinberg
have used the Kernel for quite some time. The problem is somewhere else
– Palm’s original license for the Kadak kernel forbade them to publicly
release the multitasking API(Kadak sold such an SDK, fyi only).

Now, if Palm owns the complete rights to the OS, what speaks against
looking at the kernel rights once again and maybe opening up
multitasking in one sort or the other? And if you are already at it,
why not unlock the ARM native stuff, too?