It seems everyone in business has a smartphone today to keep connected to the office and enjoy their time away from the office. Matthew Miller provides you with news, commentary and in-depth reviews of the latest in mobile phones sporting iOS, Android, Wi
Matthew Miller started using a Pilot 1000 in 1997 and has been writing news, reviews, and opinion pieces ever since.
I have been thoroughly enjoying my new BlackBerry Bold and earlier today I was browsing the social networking apps found on the BlackBerry site and discovered the cool Flickr application to go along with the Facebook application I already downloaded. I was then contacted just a couple minutes later by my RIM contact to let me know that the MySpace for BlackBerry application was launching later today.
HTC is arguably the most innovative company when it comes to mobile phones, in particular those running the Windows Mobile operating system. Today, they announced the HTC MAX 4G device that is the world's first GSM/WiMAX headset. The device will be available in Russia on the Yota Mobile WiMAX network. The device appears similar to the super high-end HTC Touch HD that was recently revealed with a large 3.8 inch 800x480 display and touch screen interface. The HTC MAX 4G will support the Yota Video network and with the device you can actually display up to nine TV channels simultaneously.
The Nokia E71 is one of the best QWERTY mobile phones I have ever used (see my review) and there were rumors of another model coming out that was quite similar, yet targeted at a bit lower cost. Today Nokia officially announced the Nokia E63 and Rob Evans has one that he is showing off with an E71. Also check out the rest of the posts Rob has made as he covers the software and device in more details with the only E63 hands-on experience I have seen so far on the internet.
SanDisk emailed me yesterday and told me that their huge capacity 16GB microSDHC card was now available for US$99.99. SanDisk is the first card maker to get cards with this high capacity out in stores. They promptly sent me a card to evaluate with my latest mobile devices that arrived a couple hours ago. I quickly popped it into my new BlackBerry Bold, T-Mobile G1, and Palm Treo Pro devices to check compatibility and ability to store captured images and play music and video files.
One of the first things I download onto my Windows Mobile, S60, and BlackBerry devices is Opera Mini so I was very pleased to receive the notice today that Opera Mini 4.2 beta is now available for download for all of these devices (it is a Java application). There are four new things that are highlighted in this latest updated version that should make Opera Mini 4.2 even more compelling.
I have used the HTC Touch Diamond for several months and the display is absolutely fantastic. Today, the HTC Fuze from AT&T is available today for US$299.99 after US$50 mail-in rebate and 2-year contract. The no commitment price is US$499.99, which actually is a very reasonable for a device with all of these high end features and much cheaper than the US$700+ I have paid in the past for unlocked devices with these types of features.
Larry posted a bit earlier about the possible 17 November launch date for the BlackBerry Storm. I don't watch much TV, but I have already seen two Storm commercials (one can be found on YouTube) so I think the date is most likely correct. You can also check out the BlackBerry Storm 9530 interactive guide. It is interesting to see that the main steps shown in device setup include inserting the SIM card, yet the Storm is launching with Verizon on their CDMA network where SIM cards are not used. I understand Vodafone should be getting a GSM version of the Storm, yet the link for the demo clearly indicates it is for the US market.
Jason mentioned the new RichardSolo 1800 iPhone battery pack earlier today and after returning from my recent business trip I discovered one was sent to me for evaluation. Unfortunately, I no longer have an iPhone 3G so I am returning my evaluation unit and hope to try out their new RichardSolo 1800 for BlackBerry to use with my new BlackBerry Bold. Another very popular battery pack also arrived at my house (again, I will have to return it without an evaluation) for the iPhone 3G and it is now available for everyone to purchase. The mophie Juice Pack for the iPhone 3G can be purchased for US$99.95.
My AT&T SIM has been bouncing back and forth between the Nokia E71 (see my review) and Palm Treo Pro (see my review and with these two devices I have confirmed that QWERTY devices are my preferred form factor. Another couple of new devices recently launched with this same form factor, including the Samsung Epix and the BlackBerry Bold. I was just sent a BlackBerry Bold evaluation unit to spend time with and wanted to post some of my initial thoughts and experiences, along with an image gallery of the hardware and some of the software aspects of this new BlackBerry device.
It is pretty amazing watching the growth of the Apple iPhone in the worldwide smartphone market and the latest Canalys Q3 2008 report shows that Apple is now number 2. Nokia continues to lead with a large percentage, but others are catching up fast. There is also some encouraging news for U.S. smart phone fans, like myself, as the numbers show the smartphone market in the U.S. has doubled since last year.