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Smartphones and Cell Phones

Matthew Miller provides you with news, commentary and in-depth reviews of the latest in mobile phones sporting iOS, Android, and Windows.

Matthew Miller

Matthew Miller started using mobile devices in 1997 and has been writing news, reviews, and opinion pieces ever since. Matthew started using mobile devices with a US Robotics Pilot 1000 and has owned hundreds of devices running Palm, Linux, Symbian, Newton, BlackBerry, iOS, Android, webOS, Windows Mobile, and Windows Phone operating systems. His current collection includes the latest and greatest foldables, wearables, and more, along with classic devices like the Apple Newton MessagePad 2100 and Sony CLIE UX50. Matthew can be found on various social networks under the user name of "palmsolo."

Latest Posts

Hands-on with the HTC Touch Pro2

I just sent back the HTC Touch Diamond2 and then picked up an evaluation HTC Touch Pro2 last Friday. The HTC Touch Pro2 is a follow-up to the HTC Touch Pro device with a higher resolution display, larger form factor, and several software improvements. This device should be coming to the US on various wireless carriers with rumors that T-Mobile USA may get one with 3G data support. The Euro version I am trying out supports quad-band GSM so it works with EDGE on T-Mobile and AT&T, but does not support 3G. The keyboard is large and well space while TouchFLO 3D flies on the Touch Pro2. Check out my image gallery of the Touch Pro2 with the Touch Pro, along with my video first look below.

May 31, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Enterprise Software

MobileTechRoundup show #173; Pre, Zune HD, Ovi Store and more

We still have another week to go, but the Palm Pre was the first topic of conversation in MobileTechRoundup show #173 and I am still not planning to purchase one. We then went on to talk about some other new gadgets like the Zune HD, Amazon Kindle, and Snapdragon smartbooks. The Nokia Ovi Store launched this past week so we covered this launch along with a free Symbian and Windows Mobile product, Skyfire 1.0.

May 31, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Mobile OS

Quickoffice for iPhone update 1.2 brings predictive text and more

Quickoffice was the first to launch an Office suite for the iPhone and as I wrote in my review I was pleased with most of the functionality in the software, but there were a couple of glaring issues that kept me from whole-heartedly recommending that application. I saw the version 1.2 update appear on my iPhone 3G this weekend and am pleased to report that this update included some MAJOR additions that leave me satisfied after paying $20 for the application. I still want to see email attachment support because that is how many documents pass through my mobile devices.

May 31, 2009 by Matthew Miller in iPhone

ThinkFree Mobile Office suite for Android to be demoed next week

My full review of Documents To Go for the Google Android platform went live yesterday and I just received a press release for another mobile Office suite being demoed for Android devices next week at the COMPUTEX show. ThinkFree Mobile for Android will allow you to create, view, and edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint presentations on your Android smartphone. The software will also support drawing of objects. The software will come with 1GB of online document storage as well so you can get to documents you may not have stored locally.

May 29, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Mobility

Review: Documents To Go rocks Google Android with unique Office functions

Documents To Go was one of the first Office applications I used on my Palm devices and is also the premier solution for RIM BlackBerry users. There are only a few applications on the Android Market that I have purchased over the last 8 months that I have had the G1, but one that I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you purchase right now (if you already haven't) is Documents To Go for Google Android. I was amazed by the functionality that DataViz was able to pack into this mobile application suite and think it exceeds their client on ALL other smartphone platforms. Documents To Go brings a highly desired enterprise capability to the Android platform and the obstacles to adopting Android as a viable business device are starting to fall.

May 27, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Mobility

BGR early hands-on with the Palm Pre; QWERTY too compact?

After attending CTIA a few months ago and getting a chance to touch the Palm Pre QWERTY keyboard I mentioned I thought the keyboard was too compact and may be a problem for people looking for a heavy texting and messaging device. The Boy Genius was able to somehow score a Palm Pre early and in his first look he mentioned that the keyboard is not looking good so far and may require lots of practice to get efficient with it.

May 27, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Skyfire 1.0 rolls out for WM and Symbian, rocks on the E71x

Skyfire is a proxy-based web browser that runs on millions of mobile phones around the world. The browser has been in beta for some time and I have tested it out on Windows Mobile and S60 devices in the past. I was pleased to see them announce version 1.0 (PDF press release) today for immediate availability and download. Skyfire supports Flash 10, Silverlight 2, Ajax, Javascript, and more. The browser has integrated Facebook and Twitter feeds on the Start Page too and lets you share and publish any web page to Facebook and Twitter with a single click.

May 27, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Enterprise Software

Four available phone application stores; who has the best terms?

There were a few server issues with the launch of the Nokia Ovi Store yesterday, but after a bit things started running smoothly and the launch was quite successful considering 50 million Nokia owners had access to the Ovi Store in a single day. However, after spending a few hours with the Ovi Store I think there are several issues that will have me just sticking to the free applications for now because the Ovi Store is not as flexible or user friendly as the Apple App Store, Android Market, or BlackBerry App World. Let's take a look at the support for multiple re-installs, multiple devices, and returns of applications to see where the Nokia Ovi Store fails in almost all cases.

May 26, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Hardware

Nokia's Ovi Store successfully launches across the globe to 50 million

Nokia soft launched the Ovi Store in a couple of select countries this weekend and then opened the floodgates very early this morning to the rest of the world, including the US. There have been a ton of posts hammering Nokia for the current launch performance of the Ovi Store, but I think you need to put things into perspective to understand how monumental of a launch this is for Nokia and why it could help turn around Nokia's recent market share losses to other platforms. Ewan put together an excellent post on Mobile Industry Review that echoes my thoughts on what is happening here with the Ovi Store and why it is such a success.

May 26, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Microsoft

Nokia opens the Ovi Store across the globe

Apple set the bar with the first usable application store on the iPhone and then BlackBerry followed with BlackBerry App World. Nokia now joins the party with the official announcement that the Ovi Store is open. It started rolling out this weekend in Asia and has now spread across the world. As I detailed in my Nokia Experts post the Ovi Store is available and accessible for US Nokia owners right now on at least the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic device. Applications are available for free and priced starting at 99 cents. The most expensive one I have found so far is $19.99, but there is much more investigation to take place now that the Ovi Store is available.

May 25, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Hardware

First impressions of the BlackBerry Onyx appear online

Kevin Michaluk is always the first to post hands-on reviews of the latest and greatest RIM BlackBerry devices and continues that trend with his review of the BlackBerry Onyx. The Onyx is a non-touch screen device, but as Kevin mentions every other one of these has had one area of compromise and this one packs it all in with 3G, WiFi, GPS, and a 3.2 megapixel camera in a compact form factor.

May 25, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Mobility

Engadget reveals AT&T's 2009 smartphone lineup; Android, WebOS, & WM

Usually holiday weekends are slow times for news, but Engadget Mobile was sent some AT&T slides that show just about every smartphone coming to the carrier for the rest of the year. These include devices running the Windows Mobile, Palm WebOS, and Android operating systems. I didn't see any BlackBerry, S60 or iPhone products, but still this information is quite valuable in helping you plan out possible future purchases.

May 25, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Enterprise Software

MobileTechRoundup show #172, who is buying a Palm Pre?

The Palm Pre release date was announced this past week and if you listen to MobileTechRoundup show #172 you will find out that 2 out of 3 of us will be trying to buy the device at or soon after launch. Kevin was also curious about the Nokia N97 and whether or not it could compete with all of these other devices being launched in the US. I think it may do well, just not here. The new HTC Touch Diamond2 was also mentioned on the show. James loves Pandora and talked about the new Pandora One annual service that is available.

May 22, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Mobility

BlackBerry Curve 8900 now available from AT&T

AT&T announced that they would be adding the BlackBerry Curve 8900 to their lineup in the early Summer time frame. It looks like Summer comes early for AT&T users as the Curve 8900 now appears to be available in their online store for $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate and 2-year contract.

May 21, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Mobility

Review: First impressions of the HTC Touch Diamond2

The HTC Touch Diamond2 was included in my Clash of the Touch Titans articles and in my summary article I selected the Diamond2 as MY personal favorite due to the "virtually limitless functionality". What I meant by these words was that there is really nothing limiting the Touch Diamond2 from performing any function possible on a mobile phone. It supports MMS, video capture, a multitude of Bluetooth profiles, GPS voice navigation, touch and stylus input, and much more. HTC has taken a solid and sleek Diamond device and improved it in just about every respect. I spent some time at various times with the device and have now had the chance to play with it for a solid day and offer you these first impressions. Check out my image gallery for a few product photos and screenshots from the device. I also included a video of the Touch Diamond2 and the Diamond.

May 18, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Enterprise Software