Palm Centro arrives

No doubt you will all have seen and read the extensive coverage given to the new Centro on the big palm websites over the last day or two. It looks very nice and the slimmer, smaller form factor and 3g connectivity make it very appealing.

I’d love to get my hands on one but can’t. I’m sure there are quite a few existing 680 owners who would also like to trade up and if you’re not in the US or near the end of your current phone contract that is not an option yet.

Another Palm "exclusivity" deal for 3 months with a carrier, once again narrowing down the range of people who can get their hands on one of their recent releases. Seems a bit strange…they’re trying to get the smartphone to "the masses" yet cut out most of "the masses" for the first 4/5 months.

It’s all a bit frustrating for me. The Centro doesn’t appear to be GSM so it’s unlikely we will ever see it here in Europe, much like the 755p in fact. We do however get blessed with the Win-Mob version instead, probably not much use though for those who prefer to continue with the palm o/s.

iSilo 5

After what seems like an eternity, the latest update of the excellent iSilo is now out…version 5. So, what extra does this nifty little application add?

Version 5.0 adds the following new features: Is it worth the upgrade?

All platforms:

• Ability to annotate document text:
  • Copy mode changed to select mode. After text is selected, a context menu appears with option to Copy or Annotate.
  • Annotations have one of sixteen background colors to highlight the annotated text.
  • When not in select mode, holding the pen/mouse down on the annotated text shows one line of the associated comment and provides options for viewing/editing/deleting the annotation.
• Ability to associate any annotations file:
  • When adding an annotation to a document with no associated annotations file, the user is prompted to select one or create a new one, which defaults to the same directory as the document.
  • The user can optionally select an existing annotations file to associate with the document, thus giving the ability for a document to have different sets of annotations for different purposes.
  • Because the annotations file is separate from the document file, the annotations file can easily be shared with other users of the same document.

LifeShaker for mac – list type application

Link: Apple – Downloads – Productivity Tools – LifeShaker.

Just noticed this now available for mac lovers worldwide….

About LifeShaker

Does the world really need yet another to-do list program? We think so.
You see the problem with a traditional to-do list, whether on paper, a
computer screen or even a tablet of stone is…it’s a list and quite
frankly there’s nothing more uninspiring than a list of tasks.

LifeShaker revolutionises to-do lists with its unique interface and novel approach to getting stuff done:

– See nine goals at a glance in LifeShaker’s innovative grid view

– Shake up the grid to bring new goals into the mix

– Create categories for your goals and give them custom colours

– Break a goal down into steps and see only the next step in the grid

– Marvel at the top secret code that keeps the grid view fresh

– Prioritise your goals with our special stars

– Drag completed goals to the tick and hear the sweet sound of success

– Drop those pesky goals (that you’re avoiding) on the Backburner but mind your fingers…it’s hot!

– …and listen out for some nifty sound effects

iPhoto Buddy for mac

Link: iPhoto Buddy Home Page.

This both looks and sounds very interesting. Not only that but it is currently freeware.

What is iPhoto Buddy?

iPhoto
Buddy is a Mac OS X application (Universal) that allows you to easily
create, manage, and switch between multiple iPhoto Libraries. The
advantages of splitting your One Huge Photo Library into multiple,
smaller ones include improved iPhoto performance, increased flexibility
in organizing your digital photo collection, and a consistency with
most other Mac applications that allow their respective data to be
stored in as many documents (in this case, "Libraries") as you like.

iPhoto
Buddy uses a simple, streamlined interface that was inspired by iPhoto
itself. Anyone that has used iPhoto will immediately feel right at home
using iPhoto Buddy. It truly is a companion application–a real buddy!

iPhoto Buddy will never alter/move/delete your Libraries or your photo files.  It’s perfectly safe!

What can you do with it?

With
iPhoto Buddy, you can easily manage an entire list of iPhoto Libraries,
enabling you to quickly and easily open the Library of your choice for
viewing/editing/printing in iPhoto. You can easily switch between your
multiple Libraries, and iPhoto Buddy will automatically quit iPhoto and
instantly re-launch it with the newly selected Library (iPhoto can only
have one Library open at a time). There is no limit to the number of
Libraries, and they can be located in various locations–even on
external hard disk drives, network volumes, or encrypted disk images.
Each Library can be assigned its own name that differs from its folder
name in the Finder; each Library can be assigned a thumbnail image that
can help to remind you of its contents; and each Library can be
password protected for privacy/security.

iPhoto Buddy also
displays various details about your Libraries without launching iPhoto.
Information like each Library’s size and image count as well as a
complete listing of the Albums, Smart Albums, Folders, Books, Slide
Shows, etc. contained therein.

And in keeping with the enhanced
integration of the iApps that Apple introduced with the original iLife
package, iPhoto Buddy also allows you to open iMovie, iDVD, and iWeb
using any of your iPhoto Libraries for importing photos into your
Movies, DVDs and websites. In fact with iPhoto Buddy, any application
that contains a Media Browser for accessing your iPhoto Library, can
used with ANY of your iPhoto Libraries.

Get lost Palm…or is it Palm gets lost? Either is appropriate!!

Centro

available only through Sprint in the US..

woohhhhh…another new device….not available to 75% of those who might actually want to buy it.

Nice job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ilium Software Tipster

Link: Ilium Software Tipster.

Ilium make some great stuff such as ListPro for Palm and Win-Mob and NewsBreak RSS reader for Win-Mob. They have just announced an updated version of their free Tipster application which is available for both touchscreen and smartphone WM and Palm.
This should sort out any restaurant tipping probs you may have….

I just need to speak to Julie at Ilium about getting NewsBreak and ListPro onto the Blackberry platform and then I will be well sorted for the Curve, I’m sure they’re hard at work on this already…ahem…I wish.

hands on iphone experience…over here

I received an email recently from somebody who is UK based and he has managed to get his hands on an iphone…I’ll just quote what he says below as it makes extremely interesting reading.

Forget what all the niggling complainers say about the iPhone
(especially those who’ve never actually had hands on with one) – if
you get to handle it you will mysteriously find yourself offering up
your credit card without even taking your eyes of the iPhone, as you
repeatedly mutter ‘the screen, the screen…’
The experience of actually using it is astonishing. Screen looks like
litho-printed glossy magazine, can be easily read outdoors – even in
full sunlight. Build quality superb, thin, but with a satisfying weight.
OS behaves just like the magical Jobs presentation, this does not
disappoint.
I’ve used it outside too, as a phone, for mail and Google maps – not
bad for being on GPRS, useable.
But when you get onto wi-fi – yyyeeeehaaaa…

Definitely the best handheld I’ve ever seen, nothing else even close.

As Stephen Fry so accurately puts it: "Apple gets it, why don’t the
other bastards get it?"

Not all rosy in the garden of course, there are some puzzling
omissions from the iPhone features, hopefully to be resolved soon,
keyboard takes a bit of getting used to and I really wish it was 3G,
but overall still a stunning first version entry into the smartphone
world from Apple.
Hell, their competitiors are on versions 5+ with some of their
devices and look at the state of them.
And as I marvel at the integration of hardware, OS and software I
wonder again, what the blazes have the big guns of the handheld world
been doing these past two years while Apple quietly prepped an ‘every-
other-phone-killer’?

Immediately after using the iPhone al the other OS and interfaces
seems like quaint antiques. How utterly laughable are the dunderheads
who think that the iPhone OS is just a cosmetic ‘gloss’ over a device
no different from all the others, may their handhelds rest in peace.

All Splashed out

Just noticed this very well written post from Confused & Emotional. This blog has not been updated much of late as Bruce has been concentrating on his other main site which has a sailing focus. Nevertheless, this is a good post. I must say it surprises me when people go on about the likes of Splash ID and particularly SplashPhoto. The latter gets positively wiped out by, for example, Resco Pic Viewer both in terms of features and useability.
I really like SplashNotes but SplashNews is not very good, Splash ID, despite its recent update is barely better than it was. eWallet, to my mind is much better.

The worst thing for me though is this…if you have purchased a SplashData application, say SplashID, then the code you get is not related to your hotsync ID and thus can be used on any platform. For example, I was using SplashID for a while on both palm and win-mob using the same reg code. However, if you go onto the Splash site they offer "crossgrade" upgrades for $9.99 roughly to get a new reg code for an app for another platform & they must very patently know that the original code will work on that other platform anyway with there being no need to pay another $9.99. Now, you can say they should be entitled to do this if you are using an app on two different platforms as virtually every other developer charges for the same thing but it is more than just a little bit sneaky is it not?

"Now
Confused+Emotional is a huge SplashData fan of long standing, so it’s
always a shame when things go wrong, but we can’t help think this is
indicative of a new overly-commercial approach by SplashData. When we
first encountered the company, back in the day, they appeared to be a
developer-led company of great talent, producing software that filled a
need and met with great success. We’re proud to own SplashID,
SplashPhoto & to a degree, SplashTravel. Regular updates provided
welcome improvements and increased functionality, and they were always
a company to watch"

Upgrade/Downgrade/Sidegrade

Two contrasting posts here, the first from the venerable SJM at Palmaddicts who advises people to stick with a device rather than turfing it early doors, and the second from pda247. The latter is talking about someone being disappointed by a newer device in comparison to their old one. I must admit I tend to give new devices a limited amount of time, if they can’t cut the mustard after a couple of days I tend to abandon all hope of ever making them the grade…mind you, having said that, I wasn’t too impressed with the Curve initially and look what has transpired there. Looks like ol’ Sammy boy is spot on.

Most people would generally expect a newer device, the one they are upgrading to, to be better than the older one. Certainly, invariably, that is true in terms of specs and features but as we all know features do not necessarily "maketh the phone". Useability does and hence the reason why I think the Curve is such a good device. Features wise, things are a bit sparse with no 3g or gps (not that that bothes me one iota) or wifi (again that doesn’t concern me) but it makes up for this by just being so utterly useable, loads of keyboard shortcuts, no silly memory management issues, very stable with no crashes yet, easy to use built in apps and the nicest form factor of any device I have used to date. This is why I get so annoyed about people harping on about bloody features and processor speeds as if they are the be all and end all of matters…far from it. Hence also the reason why I have been palming it with the 680 for the last 2 months nearly…it just does the things I need to get done quicker and with less fuss than other handhelds (less maintenance too)

For me then, going with the Curve, and I have used it almost exclusively over the past month, has been an on paper downgrade from the more powerful windows mobile devices but an in reality upgrade.

Blackjack 2 Rocks Touchscreen? – WMExperts

Link: Blackjack 2 Rocks Touchscreen? – WMExperts.

Interesting looking device this, a Blackjack with WM6 instead of the smartphone version. There’s a short video clip linked to in the post which shows that it has plenty of memory and GPS built in. One or two people mention the similarity to the treo range.

It’s funny how there have been a few devices out of late that do bear a striking resemblance to the treo…my Curve for one and now this.

I wonder if it as thin as the current Blackjack? That device tended to suffer from poor battery life, surprisingly enough, but was decent enough. I never managed to get mine to sync with activesync so I had to return it to expansys. I also felt that the screen looked far too small.

T-Mobile MDA Vario 111

Otherwise known of course as the TyTn 1. It will be available from the endish of September and will be available free on their Flex 50 package.

Now, forgive me for being pedantic here but in futherance of my debate with others regarding the iphone pricing, let me point out the following.

The iphone is £269 upfront. The o2 minimum contract is £35pm and that gives UNLIMITED data plus 200 minutes and 200 texts a months which I think is pretty good for £35pm. That totals £899.

The T-Mobile Flex50 package gives you more texts and minutes per month but no data so you need to add on £7.50pm extra per month to get that. This makes a cost of £57.50pm (currently on special offer tho at £45pm) which over an eighteen month period makes it more expensive than the iphone….another £135 in fact at £1035. Do you hear anybody saying "ooooooh that’s really expensive"?

Halo Dolly

So, the big day has come and after all that waiting, Halo lovers can finally get their hands on the new Halo 3 game. I’m still playing BioShock and will wait until that is completed before purchasing. I wonder, if Halo 3 is disappointing, will anyone have the guts to say so? There seems to be a lot of bottom licking with regard to the developers, Bungie. I hope it doesn’t let us down and suspect it won’t.

It certainly couldn’t be any worse than Gears of War, possibly the most over-rated videogame in the history of…errr…videogames. I still haven’t finished it, not because I’m stuck but rather I just can’t be bothered and lost interest in it months ago. Go into a room…kill the baddies…move onto next room…kill more baddies…then some variation…go OUTSIDE…kill some baddies…then back indoors and kill some more baddies. Yawn.

Still, it’s been massively popular for the online gamers who can blast each other to smithereens…both inside and outside.

Anyway, there’s already a sort of review of Halo 3 avilable for reading here...

So, Halo 3 has a lot to answer for. I won’t spoil the story, but Halo 3 picks up exactly where Halo 2
left off: Cortana (the Master Chief’s AI) is missing, the Prophet of
Truth is leading an attack on earth, and the Master Chief is rocketing
towards the planet on an ancient Forerunner ship. Again, we had to rush
through it a bit to get it finished, but by the time the game draws to
a close, all loose ends have been tied and questions answered.

Light and easy

A few months ago I was positively salivating at the prospect of the forthcoming, at the time, TyTn11. Now, with the device having been out for a month or so, I’m still TyTn-less through choice and that pleases me for several reasons. Firstly, it means that I’ve saved nearly £500 which if you think about it is a hell of a price for a phone…I could almost get a macbook for that sort of cost..well, nearly.

Secondly, it means that the seams in my trouser pockets are still intact. I can’t stomach at the moment the idea of carrying around a bruiser like that…190g especially having got used to the delights of a nice, light phone like the Curve. You barely notice it is in your pocket. It may be a sooper dooper all powerful and all conquering smartphone but right now I’m not convinced I need something like that. I certainly don’t need GPS on a phone and I think the slide out keyboards on these sort of devices are a bit gimmicky. I think you see them and think that because they are much bigger than the likes of the treo one they must be better and easier to use. But they’re not. The keyboard on the treo 750v and Curve are by some way the best mobile QWERTY pads I’ve ever used. If only the Curve had a dedicated full stop button like the treo….

Lastly, I’m starting to think that I don’t need all those power features. I tend to use only certain types of applications and these I can do jolly well on the treo and Curve as it is. Why pay out a lot extra just to have one or two features that I’ll invariably barely end up using?

I really like the Curve. It’s the only non-touchscreen device I’ve used that is truly stylus free in operation. WM smartphone comes close but at times I found myself pining for a stylus, particularly when using the web, more than the once. With the Curve, I’ve never had that feeling as navigation around it is so straightforward….it’s so palm-like it’s uncanny. Unfortunately for palm though, RIM have kept advancing this useability and are now at the stage where I think they are ahead of the game on this front. Certainly MILES ahead of Pocket PC for example.

FlexMail for WM updated

WebIS have continued their updating of their heavyweight email application for both Windows Mobile and Smartphone edition. I used this on both my treo 750v and HTC Vox as it offers a whole host of advantages over the built in email app although it can run slow…Nonetheless, those looking for a more fully featured and configurable email client should have a look.

Bring the power of Windows Mobile 6 to your Pocket PC today. Go
beyond the basics of Windows Mobile 6 and upgrade to FlexMail! Winner
of the multiple awards in 2004/2005/2006 from the Shareware Industry
Conference and Pocket PC Magazine, FlexMail is a full fledged email
client for your Pocket PC. It supports reading and replying to
ActiveSync email for basic operations or through its infinitely more
powerful POP3/IMAP4 services to your email server. With support for
industry standard SSL and SOCKS proxies, you can connect to almost any
email provider including GMail!

Now, I used Flexmail on and off for a while, off because I found it frustratingly unreliable and slow and on because it is immeasurably better than the inbuilt email client. When it was good it was good and when it was bad it was a right royal pain in the derriere…Perhaps the latest update has resolved some of the probs I had, if so it is well worth considering.

 

How To: Learn Mobile RSS and Why It Matters – WMExperts

Link: How To: Learn Mobile RSS and Why It Matters – WMExperts.

Very very useful little guide to all there is to know about RSS from WMExperts. Incidentally, the main man there Dieter, despite being of the Win Mob persuasion for which I can forgive him, is also a treo man and routinely advocates the advantages of using a treo device in terms of useablity.

MacBook

Three months on and I still haven’t bought a MacBook yet. I was holding off until the Foleo came out but of course that is pointless now. Instead, I’ve been delaying further because I keep reading about the possibility of a new revised and slimmer mac laptops being in the pipeline. There’d be nothing worse than splashing out on a current model only for a better one to come out two weeks later…ouch.

Taken from 9to5mac…

• Black aluminum and silver aluminum (like MacBook Pros) have been seen
• They are considerably slimmer than current MacBook and even a bit more than MacBook Pros
• The screen reaches much closer to the edges than current MacBooks
  but is the same size as current MacBooks – indicating a somewhat
  smaller footprint
• The keyboards resemble Apple’s new Bluetooth Keyboard
• There is something strange about the touchpad (more on this to come)
• They are set to be priced extremely aggressively
• While they are dense, overall they are lighter than the current MacBooks

On the train down to London last week, I was amazed at the number of people using laptops. They were all Windows ones however, Toshiba’s, Sony’s etc etc and I was thinking, god forgive me, perhaps I should get a windows one then I could use it to sync my windows mob, Blackberry and other handhelds. It would be easier too for installing apps and many other things. Then I thought…nope, I just couldn’t do it. I’d feel like  a traitor plus I’d be running two different home operating systems and I’m not sure I could be bothered with that. Still, there’s a lot to be said for it. Another reason for not choosing a Windows laptop is my inbuilt snobbery…I’d hate the thought of people looking at me and thinking I was a by-choice windows person….probably the most important reason for sticking with macs methinks.

Rather worringly too, I was amazed at how many people in London had Blackberrys. I saw very few win-mob or palm smartphones…by very few I actually mean none..whereas I saw loads of Curves and Pearls being used. I even saw a few Nokia E61’s in action, one was being used with a laptop, presumably acting as a modem?

Setting The Treo Record Straight | Treonauts

Link: Setting The Treo Record Straight | Treonauts.

Good to see someone sticking up for the old treo and also producing some very interesting facts. For example, did you know that the treo is still the lightest and smallest touchscreened and full qwerty keyboarded device on sale? Neither did I. Read more at the above link for a staunch defence..

People have repeatedly complained about the relatively bulky Treo form factor but in this respect there is a surprising little fact that you should know about your Treo that nobody has bothered to ever mention before.  Namely:

The Treo 680, 750 and 755p are still the smallest and
lightest smartphones featuring both a large high resolution touchscreen
and full QWERTY keyboard on the market today!!! 
[The Treo weighs 5.4 ounces while competing devices in this category are between 5.6 and 6.33 ounces.]

Pocket Day Lists for Blackberry

I noticed by chance that this application has recently been updated so fired it up on the Curve and gave it a workout. I’m pleased to report that the disappearing cursor problem has been sorted and now it looks and works just like a proper list manager app should.

Whilst it will never have the ease of use or features of the likes of ListPro for Win Mob or Palm it is still far and away the best option for Blackberry users.

• Complete List
  Management

• Create an
  unlimited number of Lists

• Alarms
  (vibrate and tones) with Snooze features

• Copy / Move
  items between lists

• Complete
  Searching

• Design your
  own lists

  • Fonts

  • Custom Fields
    (Date,Time,Checkbox,Text,Number,URL)

  • Customize the
    list display

• Templates

  • Built in
    templates for ToDo’s, Passwords, Shopping, Expenses

  • Create your
    own templates

    • Create the
      perfect list and save it as a template

• Email lists
  to anyone (easily import into Excel)

• Sort Lists by
  Priority, Category, Due Date, Alphabetical or Manual Sort

T.H.E I. P.H.O.N.E I.S N.O.T. A S.M.A.R.T.P.H.O.N.E

See, I’ve spelt it out for those windows mobile guys…now, repeat 50 times..T.H.E  .I P.H.O.N.E  I.S  N.O.T. A  S.M.A.R.T.P.H.O.N.E   T.H.E  .I P.H.O.N.E  I.S  N.O.T. A  S.M.A.R.T.P.H.O.N.E   T.H.E  .I P.H.O.N.E  I.S  N.O.T. A  S.M.A.R.T.P.H.O.N.E. Not a smartphone according to my definition anyway.

and so on. Ahhhhh…that feels better. Now, I have been away for a few days on business down to London and have been catching up on the news on the great and big "world wide web". Surprisingly, the sites are awash with the sound of windows mobile luddites whimpering behind their ipaqs and whatever…but first, a surprising voice of reasonable reason from a UK based site..

"
When I started this site in 2002 people were buying the Orange SPV
because it stood for "Sound, Pictures and Video" – it was an innovative
handset for the masses, but now there’s real danger that the "masses"
will completely ignore Windows Mobile and plumb for an Apple iPhone which is developing at a much faster rate"
Coolsmartphone

Sadly, there’s not so much reason elswhere…

"Buy an iPhone – ha ha ha ha -no A2DP ha ha ha – no 3.5G – ha ha ha – no
GPS – ha ha ha – poor PIM – ha ha ha – no push email – ha ha ha ha ha
ha ha – £800 overall cost – ha ha ha ha"

that is my personal fave…like the sort of people who will want an
iphone will be really bothered it doesn’t have GPS or push email….and if you think about it…TyTn11 unlocked £480 plus 18 months contract and unlimited data plan circa £720 equals a total of £1200!! Or, on likely T-Mobile rates…£100 if you take £40pm contract that still equates to £820 over an 18 month period and doesn’t include 18 months of web’n’walk on top…so ha ha ha you, young sir. Honestly, some of these windows mobile "my processor is bigger than yours" brigade really do my head in at times.

Now from Smartphone Thoughts where I’ve quoted from the wonderful Rocco before..

"Apple
managed to strong arm themselves into an arrangement that not only gave
the one trick pony of a company a large profit margin on their
handsets, but also gives them a cut of the profit AT&T makes each
month by forcing customer to activate their phones with data packages
that they might not even use or want!"

One trick pony!! Like Microsoft with Windows hasn’t been a one trick pony for 30 years? Sorry, I forgot to mention the Zune. He talks of Apple strong arming themselves….hmmmm….and Microsoft have never done that with Windows ever, have they? They never forced computer manufacturers to install Microsoft apps on their devices, noooooo…never. Oh dear..pot..kettle…etc.

There’s lots more like this around the sites and it’s quite funny to read. I even read somewhere, can’t remember where, some guy saying that the HTC Touch was the true innovative device of this year…no, don’t laugh, I think he was serious. I don’t know why they are so hostile towards the iphone as the latter will be aiming for a different market sector, sure there will be some overlap but not to any huge extent.

Anyway, what is the point of all this mirth and merriment? Just to say really that to compare the iPhone with some of the high powered Win-Mob stuff out there is unfair and foolish. They’re aimed at two entirely different sectors and I’d be surprised if all of a sudden the majority of HTC TyTn owners were to suddenly form a queue outside o2 shops in the same manner that I don’t expect iPod users to suddenly start swamping the expansys Pocket PC website section. If you’re used to powering it up on the apps and features front the iPhone will seem like a 2nd division toy. Conversely, if you’re sick of the awfulness that is Windows Media Player and multimedia is your sole reason for having a "smartphone then the iPhone is going to look rather attractive as it will handle that sort of stuff immeasurably better out of the box than any windows mobile device, no matter whether the latter comes equipped with a processor the size of Tower Bridge.

 

Missing Sync for Symbian coming…not very soon

Markspace have announced the Missing Sync for Symbian but you won’t be able to buy it until the first quarter of 2008. I don’t get this announce a new product thing but don’t make it available for another 6 months which seems to have become all the rage this year.

There was Apple of course with the iphone at the start of this year, a couple of weeks ago Palm "launched" their treo 500v which will not be avilable to the general public for months and then I spotted that Dataviz have already announced Doctogo for Blackberry…"coming soon"…yeah, it’s been that way for ages now and this is an app I am desperate to get. How frustrating.

I’m an impatient bugger at the best of times but having to wait nearly 6 months to get my grubby paws on a treo 500v is the icing on the cake in the impatient stakes. Why announce these things at all? But back to the MS for Symbian which will be a welcome bonus for mac and Sony, Nokia and Motorola users. At last, a way to get your contacts, music and photos to name but a few from your mac onto your phone.