Smartphones and Cell Phones

I am admittedly a very big fan of physical keyboards on my mobile phones and have what fellow MobileTechRoundup podcast co-hosts James and Kevin call "magic thumbs". I am able to pick up devices like the Palm Treo Pro, HTC Fuze, T-Mobile G1 or BlackBerry Bold and quickly type emails of 250+ words. After a day of using the Verizon BlackBerry Storm I have to say I am still a fan of these physical keyboards. I do think it has a wonderful display and the touch screen, SurePress, technology is very cool, but it isn't an iPhone and I think is too big of a departure from all other BlackBerry devices for serious texters or email fans to be productive.

November 21, 2008 by Matthew Miller

12 Comments Vote

If you have ever seen one of almost 100 mobile devices I have owned you will know that I take extremely good card of all of them and they rarely even have a scratch on them. I have actually never had a mobile device break on me. I would like to go crazy with them sometimes though and would probably enjoying being one of the people that test out phones before they hit the market. Steve Litchfield had a chance to spend the day at the Nokia Reliability Labs facility in the UK and posted a 35-minute video tour of the place.

November 20, 2008 by Matthew Miller

Comments Vote

One thing I like about current Nokia devices is that they are quite open to supporting a wide range of individual and enterprise needs with services and applications designed to help you out. I enjoy their support of Exchange ActiveSync on my E71 and other devices so I was pleased to hear the latest news on a conference call yesterday. Nokia and IBM announced today that they are partnering to bring enterprise users Lotus Notes Traveler to the S60 3rd Edition platform. Gartner data shows that IBM has a 40% share of corporate email revenue and now with Nokia's support of Microsoft Exchange, Novell Groupwise, and others Nokia supports almost all corporate email solutions with their devices.

November 19, 2008 by Matthew Miller

Comments Vote

When I had my BlackBerry Bold I used the Google Sync for BlackBerry utility to keep my calendar updated with my Google Calendar since my Google Calendar was also synced to my Outlook/Exchange account. Google has now added contacts sync to the utility that makes it even more functional. If I could have gotten the OWA email to work then I probably could have skipped the desire for Exchange synching on the BlackBerry.

November 19, 2008 by Matthew Miller

Comments Vote

In addition to the disappointing increase in data rates for voice customers, T-Mobile also introduced their new web2go service. The web2go service is designed to make it easier to view and browse the internet from your feature phone and select smartphone. Yahoo! oneSearch is being used for the mobile search engine and the service also gives you access to the new T-Mobile store front that was talked about a few months ago. It sounds like the web2go service is a proxy service since T-Mobile states that customers can visit virtually any website from even a feature phone and be able to view and navigate the page.

November 19, 2008 by Matthew Miller

2 Comments 2 Votes

Today, T-Mobile USA is kicking off its web2go initiative that add Yahoo! oneSearch to some devices, a customizable home page, a new mobile shopping and download experience (I'll cover this in a follow-up post), and higher data rate plans. The press release actually states that the data rate plans were simplified, but that makes very little sense since T-Mobile already had a very simplified data rate plan structure in place that couldn't get any simpler. I went to the T-Mobile website and saw that most plans increased in price for data services. Just over a year ago T-Mobile decreased their data plan rates and were the leader in low cost and simplified data.

November 19, 2008 by Matthew Miller

3 Comments Vote

The holiday shopping season is upon us and with people's concerns about the economy spending will most likely be down and buyers will be looking for deals for gifts. In this first holiday shopping guide, I'll collect and present you with informaton for the best free cellphones on the market from each of the four major US wireless carriers.

November 19, 2008 by Matthew Miller

Comments Vote

I picked up a RIM BlackBerry Bold a couple of weeks ago and was extremely happy with the device. The inability to sync with my Exchange account forced me to return it though. If you own a BlackBerry Bold then you may want to check out one of these two OtterBox cases that offer differing levels of device protection. The OtterBox Impact Series and OtterBox Defender Series cases are attractive, durable solutions designed to protect your new device from minor to major impacts. You can check out my image gallery that shows both cases wrapped around the RIM BlackBerry Bold.

November 18, 2008 by Matthew Miller

1 Comment Vote

Wow, I just can't keep up with AT&T's high end mobile phone releases. Today, AT&T and LG announced the availability today of the LG INCITE Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional device. This is the first entry into Windows Mobile in the U.S. by LG and it looks like a direct competitor to the outstanding Samsung OMNIA that is a major iPhone challenger. I just picked up the HTC Fuze on Saturday and after looking at the specs on this device think the Fuze is still better for my needs.

November 18, 2008 by Matthew Miller

3 Comments Vote

The REDFLY Mobile Companion (now marketed as the REDFLY Smartphone Terminal) has served me well for a few months as I have stated in my first and second impressions. In October the price on the original C8 model was dropped to US$199 and then extended until mid-November. With today's announcement we now know that this model will be replaced by the C8N with the new C7 also available for those looking for a lower cost and smaller device. I've been using a beta version of the C8N for several days now and am posting my review below along with an image gallery and video of it in action.

November 18, 2008 by Matthew Miller

2 Comments Vote