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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

Quickoffice to demo Office apps for iPhone and Google Android at MWC 2009

I mentioned here last week that DataViz should be showing off and/or announcing their Office suite products for the Apple iPhone and Google Android next week at Mobile World Congress. I just received word that Quickoffice will be giving demonstrations of its products on the Apple iPhone and Google Android platforms next week as well. Quickoffice is loaded on S60 devices to provide document attachment support and they have a Quickoffice Premier product for editing and creation of documents on the S60 platform.

February 11, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Collaboration

T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve 8900 now available for $199.99

I posted my thoughts on the T-Mobile BB Curve 8900 a couple of weeks ago and today you can pick one up at T-Mobile for US$199.99 after $200 instant rebate and $100 mail-in rebate. If I was able to use a BlackBerry with my work account and didn't mind giving up my T-Mobile G1 then I would be all over the Curve 8900. It doesn't have 3G, but for email and basic surfing EDGE is just fine and it is much more prevalent on T-Mobile than 3G. In addition, you can use WiFi to connect to any T-Mobile HotSpot or other WiFi access point you have permission to use.

February 11, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Mobility

Mozilla Fennec browser released in pre-alpha form for Windows Mobile

One of the weakest features of Windows Mobile is the current web browser, Internet Explorer Mobile. There are several better alternatives such as the fantastic Opera Mobile 9.5 for Windows Mobile that is included on some devices as the default browser and the Skyfire proxy browser (I can watch Hulu.com with this browser). There has been talk for quite some time about Mozilla entering the Windows Mobile space and as reported by WMExperts.com the Fennec browser is now available in very early pre-alpha form (aka milestone release) to try on HTC Touch Pro devices. Make sure you have a backup of your device and are willing to risk a hard reset before trying this software out as it is very early in the development cycle and not that stable.

February 11, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Mobile OS

Tax Refund Special: Smartphones

The average tax refund for 2008 was about $2,500 and with the shape the economy is in here in 2009 it may be a good idea to spend some or all of that to give the economy a bit of a boost. It is also important during this time to stay in touch with family and friends to provide support and communication. What better way to stay in touch via voice or text than with a new mobile phone. So as you consider spending that money on a new mobile phone, I wanted to give you five suggestions to consider.Since there are four major wireless carriers in the U.S. (Alltel is now part of Verizon) I will give you my top recommendation from each carrier and one SIM-unlocked device to consider.

February 11, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Apple

Nokia announces 5630 XpressMusic device with 600MHz processor

Nokia launched its touch screen UI and S60 5th Edition softare on the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic device and this caught me a bit off guard as I was expecting touch on a Nseries device. Today they again used the XpressMusic line of devices to announce another first for Nokia. The 5630 XM runs on a 600MHz ARM 11 processor. The device is fairly feature packed and will retail in the second quarter of this year for only 199 Euros.

February 10, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Microsoft

Unlocked Nokia E63 available now in the US for only $279

The Nokia E63 was announced in November 2008 and today Nokia announced that the red and blue E63 devices are now available in the US. The E63 is a device that is similar in form factor to my current favorite S60 device, the E71 (see my review) with some additions and subtractions from that device. The real deal here though is that you can pick up this fantastic device for just US$279 as a SIM-unlocked model. If you are looking for a good messaging device running an extremely stable OS with outstanding phone performance then I highly recommend you think about picking one of these up.

February 9, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Mobility

Review: Spb Wallet 2.0 for the Apple iPhone

I have been using Spb Software's excellent applications on my Windows Mobile devices for years and was very pleased to see them branching out to support other mobile operating systems, including S60 and the iPhone. I posted a review of Spb Wallet for S60 devices and now that the iPhone version made an appearance on the iPhone App Store I can share my thoughts with you on this excellent application. With the large display and Safari integration, Spb Wallet is a real winner in my book. You can check out the full press release posted yesterday and my image gallery and video of the application in action.

February 9, 2009 by Matthew Miller in iPhone

Google Mobile Sync for iPhone syncs Google Contacts and Calendar data

This past weekend I went back to using my original iPhone to check out some applications that I am evaluating and have to say it really is an easy and fun device to use. I just read on The iPhone Blog that Google announced Google Sync for iPhone that lets you synchronize your iPhone calendar and contacts with your Google account. This sync feature is a major strength and selling point of the Google Android and it looks like you can now get this functionality on your Apple iPhone.

February 9, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Enterprise Software

Nokia Maps 3.0 beta updated with sync support and more device compatibility

Back in December 2008 Nokia announced Nokia Maps 3.0 in early beta form. At that time, the beta was available on only a few select devices and the particular S60 device I tried it on at the time did not work correctly and it actually ended up making my Nokia Maps 2 version unusable without a full reset of the device. I decided to then hold off until the beta was further along. Today, the Nokia Beta Labs blog posted on the update to Nokia Maps 3.0 with Ovi Maps that adds support for several more devices, including my E71 and N85 devices that I plan to load it up on right now.

February 9, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Mobility

A video walk around the T-Mobile G1 RC33 update

My T-Mobile G1 Google Android device (see my full review

February 7, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Mobility

DataViz to announce Office for iPhone and Android, Exchange for Android at MWC

DataViz started talking about Office support for the iPhone last Fall and according to AppScout we should see the official announcement of Documents To Go for the iPhone at MWC in just over a week. In addition DataViz may be announcing Documents To Go for the Google Android platform as well as RoadSync for Android. I use their excellent RoadSync product to sync to my Exchange server on my Nokia E71 S60 device and it is killer. I have been testing and liking TouchDown on my G1, but with the vast experience of DataViz I am looking for an even better product in RoadSync.

February 6, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Microsoft

Update: Microsoft Skybox service appears as My Phone beta, Microsoft issues statement

Mary Jo discussed Microsoft's Skybox cloud service a couple of days ago and the folks at Engadget appeared to find what appears to be the Skybox site branded as Microsoft My Phone. It doesn't appear that you can sign up or use it yet, but you can click the more info link to find out several more details about the beta service that looks like it will launch around Mobile World Congress in less than 2 weeks.

February 5, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Microsoft

T-Mobile Samsung Memoir brings 8-megapixels to the phone

One of the best camera feature phones I have ever tried was the Motorola ZINE ZN5 5-megapixel model from T-Mobile USA. T-Mobile may be trying to be the carrier with the best camera phones with the announcement today of the 8-megapixel Samsung Memoir SGH-t929. The Memoir is a full touch-screen phone similar in appearance to the Samsung Behold that has a 5-megapixel camera. The Memoir also supports T-Mobile USA's 1700 MHz 3G wireless data network, but does not have an integrated WiFi radio.

February 5, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Mobility

Review: Nokia 7510 UMA and Motorola Renew eco-friendly phones

Since this particular reviews blog is focused on cell phones and smartphones I thought it was about time I start posting some reviews on feature phones and not just the higher end smartphones since there are millions who just want a good phone that makes calls. The first two phones I am taking a look at below each have something a little out of the ordinary that appealed to me to want to try them out. The Nokia 7510 works with T-Mobile UMA HotSpot technology and the Motorola Renew is constructed of recycled water bottles and is very eco-friendly. I have a video walk through for each phone below, along with an image gallery of the Nokia 7510. Both phones are available now on T-Mobile.

February 4, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Mobility

Google Latitude included in OTA T-Mobile G1 maintenance release

As detailed by Larry Dignan Google Latitude is now available for mobile devices and gives you some social networking capabilities. I mentioned that the T-Mobile G1 maintenance release (1.1 RC33) is rolling out to Android devices at this time. T-Mobile just sent a note along that the maintenance release contains the new Google Latitude features in the Google Maps for Mobile client. Google Search by voice is also part of the maintenance release.

February 4, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Collaboration