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The Mobile Gadgeteer

Matthew Miller provides you with news, commentary and in-depth reviews of the latest in mobile gadgetry such as tablets, cutting edge smartphones, and portable gaming.

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

Palm brings another device out of "beta" stage with the 755p

Palm brings another device out of "beta" stage with the 755p

I used to be a big fan of the Palm OS and used a Treo 650 for about a year, but that was now almost 3 years ago and the Palm OS is still the same with a couple of minor tweaks. Palm has done it again with another incrementally improved device. We have had the Palm III, then the Palm IIIx; Palm V, then the Palm Vx; Palm Tungsten T, then the T3; Treo 600, then the Treo 650; the Treo 700w, then the 700wx; the Tungsten E, then the Tungsten E2; and now the Treo 700p, now the Treo 755p. It is amazing that the consumer doesn't get tired from being the beta test group for Palm when they release devices. All of these mentioned second models are what the first models should have been and actually turn out to be good devices, but it always seems to take Palm a public release of a device before they get it right with the second one.

May 8, 2007 by in Mobility

The Samsung Q1 Ultra will be available starting at US$799

The Samsung Q1 Ultra will be available starting at US$799

It has been almost a year since I have had my Samsung Q1 UMPC and I have been thinking about selling it the last month or so. Now that the Samsung Q1 Ultra looks to be starting at US$799 my motivation for selling my Q1 is even greater. The longer battery life (minimum 4.5 hours as stated by Samsung), the higher resolution (1024x600) display, the QWERTY thumb keyboard interface, and more are enticing enough to me to drop the older Q1 that I paid US$300 more for a year ago. While US$799 more still be high for many people, it is a LOT less than the US$2,000 that the OQO Model 02 and other high end portable computers are selling for right now. I'll be checking the online retailers and ordering one soon.

May 7, 2007 by in Samsung

T-Mobile offers free Windows Mobile 6 upgrade to Dash owners

T-Mobile offers free Windows Mobile 6 upgrade to Dash owners

T-Mobile launched the Dash Windows Mobile Smartphone back in October 2006 and I picked one up right away. Today, T-Mobile leads the way in the U.S. Windows Mobile market with the release of the Windows Mobile 6 upgrade. You can visit the T-Mobile Windows Mobile upgrade page on Friday, 4 May and download your free update. Make sure that you read the directions in the ROM upgrade install application so you don't brick your device. The instructions state that you should expect the upgrade to take 10 minutes, but I performed mine in only 4 so your mileage may vary. The upgrade was quick and yet transforms the device into a much more usable device, IMHO. Windows Mobile 6 isn't revolutionary, but it definitely has a load of usability improvements and I recommend every Dash owner upgrade their device.

May 3, 2007 by in Mobility

Access and manage your GrandCentral account on the go with GC Mobile

Access and manage your GrandCentral account on the go with GC Mobile

I was pleased to hear the news that GrandCentral is mobilizing and then found a post on the GrandCentral blog that went into even more details on GrandCentral Mobile. The mobile version of their service allows you to access your GrandCentral account from a mobile device that has a web browser. You simply go to http://www.grandcentral.com/mobile from your mobile browser and then login to your account. From within the mobile interface you can play and manage your voicemails, view your contacts, change you settings, set temporary settings, and place calls using your GrandCentral number. While this may not be quite the "visual voicemail" functionality that will be coming in the Apple iPhone, it is much more useful than using your traditional wireless carrier voicemail system. I plan to try it out and maybe integrate GrandCentral into my life more now that I can access many of the features while on the go.

April 27, 2007 by in Mobility

Nokia N75 flip phone now available from AT&T

Nokia N75 flip phone now available from AT&T

I was able to get some hands-on time with the Nokia N75 back in December, but release news has been pretty quiet since then. The Boy Genius Report posted news that the N75 is now available from AT&T. As you can see on the AT&T N75 page you can pick one up for as low as US$199.99 with a 2-year contract and mail-in rebate. The N75 is the first Nseries flip phone and the first 3G Nokia S60 device officially released by a carrier in the U.S. Americans love their flip phones and this looks to be one of the highest end models now available in the U.S. Specs include the S60 3rd Edition operating system, dual-band domestic UMTS, quad-band GSM radio, 2 megapixel camera, microSD expansion card slot, Bluetooth with A2DP upgrade, Windows Media DRM so you can use Yahoo! Music and other subscription music services, dual stereo speakers, full HTML S60 browser (the BEST mobile browser on the market), and more.

April 26, 2007 by in Microsoft

S60 Summit: Widgets extend the functionality of S60

S60 Summit: Widgets extend the functionality of S60

Nokia made an announcement last week that will allow S60 mobile device users to enhance their mobile web experiences. Widgets will be coming to Feature Pack 2 devices in the third quarter of 2007 and I did not have time last week to try to understand this functionality since I was traveling for business and wrapped up with a maritime salvage project. While here at the S60 Summit I was able to meet with a Nokia representative and actually view and try a demo of \widgets running on a S60 N95 device. Widgets appear as applications that you can file in the S60 folder structure and then simply launch by selecting the Widget. These are small and more easily developed applications that integrate with the amazing S60 Web Browser. There are reports of developers being able to create a widget in the span of a couple of days and then roll it out for usage by an end consumer and we will be seeing more of this development capability during the event.

April 24, 2007 by in Microsoft

S60 Summit: Nokia announces shipment of 100 million S60 devices

S60 Summit: Nokia announces shipment of 100 million S60 devices

I was invited by the S60 blog team and am in attendance at the S60 Summit in Madrid, Spain. Nokia just posted a milestone press release stating that 100 million S60 devices have cumulatively been shipped to date. This includes devices from Nokia, Samsung, LG Electronics, and more.The first announcement out of the S60 Summit is one that should continue to encourage developers to create for the S60 platform. The new Carbide c++ V1.2 development tool provides new functionality that is designed to reduce development time and accelerate the development of mobile applications. New features include an advanced Performance Investigation tool, improvement to Eclipse-enabled code browsing, new device creation features, and more.

April 24, 2007 by in Microsoft

FCC documents reveal the T-Mobile MDA successor

FCC documents reveal the T-Mobile MDA successor

I have been a T-Mobile USA customer for several years now and one of my favorite Pocket PC Phone Edition devices was the current T-Mobile MDA/HTC Wizard. I did eventually give up on the device though since the processor was just a bit too slow for handling the heavy tasks I threw at it. I just read on the Phone Scoop site that FCC documents revealed the next upgrade to the T-Mobile MDA. The HTC Herald/P4350 offers several improvements, including a nicer form factor with the casing similar to the T-Mobile Dash, 2 megapixel camera, Windows Mobile 6 operating system, BT, WiFi, and quad-band GSM/EDGE (no 3G since T-Mobile USA hasn't rolled it out yet). Specs for other HTC Herald models include an OMAP 850 201MHz processor, which is the same as in the Wizard/MDA and I hope Windows Mobile 6 helps out with the processor capability and functionality. There is no word on pricing or availability yet, but the current MDA is definitely getting long in the touch and is ready for an upgrade.

April 23, 2007 by in Mobility

HTC Shift to use Intel’s new Ultra Mobile Platform

HTC Shift to use Intel’s new Ultra Mobile Platform

As I wrote about in March HTC is expanding their market beyond smartphones and Pocket PC Phone Edition devices with their upcoming HTC Shift. Sue sent in a note that makes the HTC Shift even more enticing and attractive. At the Intel Developer Forum in Bejing, HTC announced that the HTC Shift new mobile computer would use Intel's new Ultra Mobile platform 2007. The Intel Ultra Mobile platform 2007 is comprised of the Intel A110 processor, Intel 945GU Express chipset, and Intel ICH7U I/O controller hub. This new Intel architecture is designed to significantly extend the battery life of small form factor computers, which is the current Achilles heel of mobile devices with today's battery technology.

April 18, 2007 by in Mobility

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