Smartphones and Cell Phones

One of the best camera feature phones I have ever tried was the Motorola ZINE ZN5 5-megapixel model from T-Mobile USA. T-Mobile may be trying to be the carrier with the best camera phones with the announcement today of the 8-megapixel Samsung Memoir SGH-t929. The Memoir is a full touch-screen phone similar in appearance to the Samsung Behold that has a 5-megapixel camera. The Memoir also supports T-Mobile USA's 1700 MHz 3G wireless data network, but does not have an integrated WiFi radio.

February 5, 2009 by Matthew Miller

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Since this particular reviews blog is focused on cell phones and smartphones I thought it was about time I start posting some reviews on feature phones and not just the higher end smartphones since there are millions who just want a good phone that makes calls. The first two phones I am taking a look at below each have something a little out of the ordinary that appealed to me to want to try them out. The Nokia 7510 works with T-Mobile UMA HotSpot technology and the Motorola Renew is constructed of recycled water bottles and is very eco-friendly. I have a video walk through for each phone below, along with an image gallery of the Nokia 7510. Both phones are available now on T-Mobile.

February 4, 2009 by Matthew Miller

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As detailed by Larry Dignan Google Latitude is now available for mobile devices and gives you some social networking capabilities. I mentioned that the T-Mobile G1 maintenance release (1.1 RC33) is rolling out to Android devices at this time. T-Mobile just sent a note along that the maintenance release contains the new Google Latitude features in the Google Maps for Mobile client. Google Search by voice is also part of the maintenance release.

February 4, 2009 by Matthew Miller

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I posted on the status of Windows Mobile 7 that the Motorola CEO spilled out in a recent earnings call. This really wasn't much of a surprise since it has been rumored for months, but this was the first public official acknowledgement of the upcoming OS. The Motorola CEO also talked about the Google Android OS during that earnings call and stated that Motorola was focusing on Android instead of Windows Mobile in 2009 because Android "is more competitive" this year than Windows Mobile will be. Since I have spent an extensive amount of time with both the T-Mobile G1 (see my review) and several Windows Mobile devices (see my HTC Fuze review) I think I can offer up a fair comparison between the two operating systems speaking from real-life experiences so that you can make an informed decision about which is the better OS to focus on at this time.

February 3, 2009 by Matthew Miller

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According to recent financial reports Motorola is not doing too well in mobile devices. Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha was on an earnings conference call and according to AppScout he stated that Microsoft will be releasing the rumored Windows Mobile 7 OS in 2010. You can view the full transcript of the call yourself to see what was stated. In addition to the Windows Mobile 7 statement, Android was also brought up quite a bit as a focus for Motorola in 2009.

February 3, 2009 by Matthew Miller

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All of us T-Mobile G1 owners are waiting for the cupcake update, but in the meantime TmoNews reports that the RC33 update is rolling out now and is NOT the cupcake update. The official word is that the update will appear OTA on devices from 5 February until 16 Februay, but some are reporting that it is already starting to arrive on their devices. It has not yet shown up on my G1 here in the Seattle area.

February 3, 2009 by Matthew Miller

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As readers know I do enjoy using Windows Mobile devices and think they still have a lot to offer, especially for Exchange users. I just read over on The Boy Genius Report that Toshiba may be getting back into the smartphone game with the TG01 Windows Mobile device. Toshiba has made some fantastic VGA devices in the past, but never was a huge player in the Windows Mobile space because they seemed to come in and out with devices and some earlier models did have issues.

February 2, 2009 by Matthew Miller

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Readers have asked me about the capability of tethering your devices to laptops and other devices and I decided to post a review of a very useful utility that lets you turn your Windows Mobile device into a WiFi hotspot. Of all the mobile operating systems around, I think Windows Mobile is the easiest to use as a wired or wireless modem for your laptop and other devices. Windows Mobile 6.1 includes the Internet Sharing utility that lets you connect via cable or Bluetooth to your laptop. However, with the use of Bluetooth PAN and USB it isn't that simple to connect things like the iPod touch or Nokia N810. WMWiFiRouter lets you turn your Windows Mobile device into a wireless hotspot that makes connecting virtually any device quick and easy.

February 1, 2009 by Matthew Miller

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I've been using a Slingbox and the SlingPlayer Mobile clients for years, but last year I moved to the Hava player because they have free Nokia Internet Tablet and S60 clients. Slingbox now has a SlingPlayer Mobile client for selected S60 devices, but it does not work on the very popular Nokia E71. Dave Zatz sent me an email notice about a new post he wrote on the apparent hesitancy of Sling Media to develop a SlingPlayer Mobile client for the upcoming Palm WebOS while they look to focus on the Google Android platform next.

February 1, 2009 by Matthew Miller

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I just mentioned some of my favorite applications on my G1 this morning and wrote that I have been using Last.fm and imeem to stream music. Back in early January, FlyCast announced an Android client was coming and I just received word that you can now find the application in the Android Market and give it a try.

January 30, 2009 by Matthew Miller

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