Smartphones and Cell Phones

It has been a few weeks since Kevin, James, and I have been able to get together for a podcast due to the holidays, CES, and other travel. We are now back in action and kicking off 2009 with a shorter, more focused plan for our podcasts. In this first new format podcast we spend most of the time talking about the big news at CES 2009, the Palm Pre and WebOS. We also mentioned the new Nokia N85 device I purchased over the holidays and the Agora Pro that will not be coming as the second Google Android device.

January 19, 2009 by Matthew Miller

Comments Vote

Last year RIM announced a $150 million development fund and then we heard about an upcoming BlackBerry application storefront. RIM just sent a notice to developers that they are now accepting applications for this new storefront so if you are a developer check out the Vendor Portal and get your application in. RIM will contact you regarding the results of their evaluation and the next steps to take.

January 19, 2009 by Matthew Miller

2 Comments Vote

My mobile device history dates back to 1997 with my US Robotics Pilot 1000 and I still have a few Palm OS applications that I enjoy using. If you have Palm OS applications that you still need to run and now have moved onto S60, UIQ, or Windows Mobile you can use StyleTap and still use most Palm applications. The Symbian (S60 and UIQ) version has been in closed beta for some time and according to the Symbian Guru the S60 version was just made available for trial and purchase (US$49.95).

January 16, 2009 by Matthew Miller

Comments Vote

I am a big fan of the Evernote clients and service and cast my vote for them in the recent Crunchie contest they won so I was particularly pleased to see that they keep improving the Windows Mobile client right along with the iPhone client. The latest release for Windows Mobile brings a host of new features that I can't wait to try out on my Palm Treo Pro and HTC Fuze.

January 16, 2009 by Matthew Miller

Comments Vote

The last we heard from a Microsoft source was that you would need to buy a new Windows Mobile device to get the Internet Explorer Mobile 6.1 web browser. WMExperts posted on the rumored Sprint Diamond ROM update that shows MSIE 6.0 in the list of new/different features. If the Sprint Touch Diamond can support IE Mobile 6 then there are a host of even more powerful devices (Touch Pro, XPERIA X1, etc.) that should be able to support it too with an update.

January 16, 2009 by Matthew Miller

Comments Vote

Years ago I tried using the ThunderHawk web browser on my Pocket PC to get a better browsing experience. ThunderHawk was developed by Bitstream and is a server-side browser like the new Skyfire browser that is under development. I just read over on CrackBerry.com that Bitstream is working on a new browser called Bolt for Java-enabled handsets. The Bolt browser is in beta right now and CrackBerry.com has 1,000 invites so get on over and sign up for the beta to test on your device.

January 16, 2009 by Matthew Miller

10 Comments Vote

For the most part I enjoy using my T-Mobile G1, but am looking forward to future hardware. When I saw the Agora Pro, I went ahead and ordered one in December. Many people doubted it would ever come to be, but I held out hope and it was actually shown off a bit at CES last week. A reader just emailed me this news that confirms the Agora and Agora Pro are delayed indefinitely and in all likelihood will never see the light of day.

January 15, 2009 by Matthew Miller

Comments Vote

Larry mentioned a list of Google services that are shutting down, but one he did not mention that is also being let go by Google is Jaiku. From what I understand Google will release the Jaiku code under the open source Apache license, so that somebody else can take it where they want to. I think Nokia should pick it up and carry it since it is highly focused on S60 users and would fit perfectly into their focus on providing services.

January 15, 2009 by Matthew Miller

Comments Vote

After Palm announced the Pre at CES you just knew the comparisons with existing devices was going to come out. Gizmodo posted a comparison between the Pre, iPhone, and G1 which is a pretty fair comparison given that these all run fairly new operating systems, use touch capacitive displays, and are the hottest devices in the mobile space at the moment. Gizmodo's bottom line is that the Pre gets the advantage in most all categories with the G1 only getting a partial kudos for copy and paste.

January 14, 2009 by Matthew Miller

9 Comments Vote

I was pleased at first to see the headline from Jason about web browsers on the Apple iPhone, but then after a bit more reading I found out that hell did not freeze over and it just cooled down a couple of degrees. As Steve O'Hear pointed out on last100.com these "browsers" are basically different skins for the Webkit browser engine on the iPhone. So if you were like me and hoping to see Opera Mobile, Skyfire, Chrome, or Firefox on the iPhone I think we really will have to wait until hell freezes over before we see a real browser battle on the iPhone.

January 13, 2009 by Matthew Miller

5 Comments Vote