Smartphones and Cell Phones

We put together our Holiday Guide on Smartphones to help you see what some of the great devices are available this holiday season. Airwide posted a press release that presents some considerations you will want to consider as you try to figure out which smartphone is best for you. As I evaluate and post reviews on mobile phones here on the blog, I try to give you a complete understanding of the device and how it works for me. Smartphone purchases are personal and there will never be a single device that is the best for everyone.

December 8, 2008 by Matthew Miller

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I have been very pleased with my Sunset BlackBerry Curve on T-Mobile and was very impressed with the BlackBerry Bold that I had for a couple of weeks. Today, RIM and Rogers announced the BlackBerry Curve 8900 (aka Javelin) that has been known to be coming for a few months. The Curve 8900 builds upon the Curve and offers a device that isn't as large as the Bold for those still looking for a more compact QWERTY keyboard BlackBerry device.

December 8, 2008 by Matthew Miller

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It's Monday morning so what better way to start off the week than with a bit of mobile phone rumor news. Jenn at Pocketables posted a photo and some information on a possible new Palm device that some are calling the Quatro. Jenn was wondering if it was some kind of new UMPC/MID concept design and now others are saying it may be a future smartphone. The similarity of the keyboard to the Palm Treo Pro and Centro devices indicate it may be a Palm device.

December 7, 2008 by Matthew Miller

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I have way too many phones as it is now, but one device that keeps drawing me closer is the Sony XPERIA X1 and a couple of new reviews aren't helping to keep it out of my hands. Lisa Gade posted an excellent and detailed review (aren't they always great?) on MobileTechReview and Joel Evans chimed in with some initial impressions on Geek.com. Both of these mobile phone enthusiasts are quite pleased with the device and agree that it may be the best current Windows Mobile Professional (touch screen) device on the market.

December 6, 2008 by Matthew Miller

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I am pretty pleased with my T-Mobile G1 Google Android device (see my review) and in a couple of months I understand I will be able to unlock it and use it with my AT&T SIM card or overseas too. If you want an unlocked G1 now, according to Engadget you can buy one for just $424 right now. The G1 is US$399 and then you have to register as a developer and pay the US$25 fee to get access to the purchase option from T-Mobile USA.

December 6, 2008 by Matthew Miller

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The big news of the week, at least from Nokia's perspective, was the announcement of the Nokia N97. James, Kevin, and I offered our opinion on the device on MobileTechRoundup show #156 and while it looks like a fantastic Nseries device, we were expecting something different from Nokia. The N97 discussion also brought up the issue of capacitive and resistive touch screen devices on mobile phones. As these high end devices all tend to have the same specifications today, the features do not seem to mean as much as the user experience. Apple iPhone sales have taken off over the past year and Apple has now passed up Windows Mobile while Nokia dropped below 50% worldwide share for the year. Kevin also mentioned a new iPhone freeware that you really need to try out.

December 6, 2008 by Matthew Miller

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An AT&T executive at the Symbian partner event made a statement (Yahoo! News article) that Symbian is "a very credible and likely candidate" to become the single smartphone OS of choice in the future for the wirless carrier. However, there are caveats to that statement that make the news really a non-event IMHO. AT&T stated this consolidation into a single OS is focused on AT&T branded devices. The iPhone is specifically excluded in the interview and RIM may be as well because there is no AT&T branding on the BlackBerry devices. That just leaves Windows Mobile that still has AT&T branded devices, such as the AT&T Tilt. So in reality, hasn't AT&T already consolidated their branded products on a single smartphone OS?

December 5, 2008 by Matthew Miller

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Last month Canalys reported their 3rd quarter smartphone sales data with Nokia in first, Apple in second, and RIM in third. Today, Gartner posted their 3rd quarter measurements with Nokia still in first (42.4%), RIM in second (15.9%), and Apple in third (12.9%). HTC is shown in fourth place at 4.5%. The shocking number is the growth from Q3 2007 to Q3 2008 in Apple of 327.5%. The operating system breakdown is shown in the same order.

December 4, 2008 by Matthew Miller

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Some of my favorite games on my Windows Mobile devices are from PDAmill and I was pleased to just receive a note that eight of their games (soon to be 11) are now available for the Apple iPhone and iPod touch. The games include Bowling for Burgers, The Corsair, Gamebox Classics (contains my daughter's favorite Jewel Master game), Gamebox Solitaire and Solitaire II, Gamebox Sudoku, Glyphos, and Melonchi Minecarts. All but The Corsair and Bowling for Burgers are available now for just 99 cents, the other two are just US$2.99. Fun Factory, Gamebox Asia, and Gamebox Gems will be coming soon.

December 4, 2008 by Matthew Miller

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I purchased and for the most part enjoy using my T-Mobile G1 Google Android device. According to Engadget it looks like the second Google Android device may be coming soon to Australia from Agora. Ruslan Kogan posted more details on his blog about the Agora and Agora Pro. I placed my order and hope it arrives in January.

December 3, 2008 by Matthew Miller

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