The Mobile Gadgeteer

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 Matthew Miller in Mobility

Orb MyCasting now available for the Nokia N800

I have been playing with the Nokia N800 for a couple of weeks and as you will hear soon on MobileTechRoundup podcast #97 James and I are really having a blast with this fun device. Nokia just announced another application that is officially available now for free that continues to extend your media content to the N800 and make it an even more powerful mobile browsing device. The new Orb MyCasting application allows you to access all your digital media (photos, videos, music and TV) that you have stored on a PC connected to the internet with Orb running in the background. I will have to fire up Orb and my TV Tuner card again on my home PC so I can access my media content on the road with the N800. The N800 Orb MyCasting application also allows you to use Orb's Digital Video Record funtionality to remotely record TV programs to your desktop PC and then later play back the video content on the N800.

April 16, 2007 by Matthew Miller in Tech Industry

RoadSync 3 brings push email and Exchange 2007 support to S60 devices

The latest version of RoadSync, version 3.002, was just recently released and actually has more functionality than the Nokia Mail for Exchange client with support for Exchange Server 2007. RoadSync still works with Exchange Server 2003 too, but now takes advantage of some advanced features of 2007. Some of these advanced features are e-mail flags, faster message retrieval, online mailbox search, and SharePoint and UNC file access. Unfortunately, 4SmartPhone hasn't yet upgraded their servers to Exchange Server 2007 so I can't yet take advantage of these advance features. The latest version of RoadSync also adds features to Exchange 2003, including mailbox subfolders, message zooming, improved attachment handling, improved push logic, and support for S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1. Check out all the screenshots of RoadSync in action on a Nokia N95.

April 15, 2007 by Matthew Miller in Microsoft

Palm offers wireless backup option for Palm OS-based devices

I travel quite a bit and for people like us that rely on the data stored on their handhelds having a good backup is critical. I discovered how valuable a hosted Exchange service can be and rarely sync directly to a computer anymore. The new beta of Palm Backup does even more than a hosted Exchange service can do in terms of backing up your data. Palm Backup saves a copy of your contacts, calendar, memo, tasks, browser bookmarks, speed dials, and call logs to a secure server from anywhere you have wireless coverage. You can setup a backup schedule or perform manual backups when you want. You should still perform regular backups to a storage card for your applications and other files, but this is a great way to know your vital data is backed up. The service is available from Palm for free for now, but there will be a fee structure when the service rolls out of beta. The Palm Backup service works with the Treo 700p, Treo 680, and Treo 650 Palm OS based smartphones.

April 13, 2007 by Matthew Miller in Mobility

MobileTechRoundup show #96

It took a few tries since Kevin's MacBook is having hardware issues, but MobileTechRoundup show #96 was recorded by all three hosts on MacBook devices. We started off by talking about my initial impressions of the Nokia N95 and the fun things you can do with the integrated GPS. James and Kevin also expressed their thoughts on the 5GB cap on Verizon's data plan and is it really a cap that any "normal" user would ever hit? EMI and Apple announced DRM-free music is coming soon and Kevin wondered who is next. Rhapsody music service was discussed as well as the free streaming Pandora experience.

April 13, 2007 by Matthew Miller in Legal

RIP Dell Axim handheld lineup

Dell brought price competition to the PDA market 4 years ago and helped bring some innovation to the market at an affordable cost to the consumer. Most mobile devices today have phone integration and more and more are doing away with a touch-screen interface so Dell decided to end the Axim PDA line with the final product being the Axim X51v. It was a great 4 years and I personally am very happy to have lived through a period with Dell competing and holding others feet to the fire in the PDA market.

April 11, 2007 by Matthew Miller in Dell

Sorry, this Nokia N95 isn't perfect

The Nokia N95 super smartphone is being put to the test by reviewers and early adopters so every flaw (whether it is extremely minor or not) is being exposed and revealed. There are many positive aspects of the hardware, but also a few issues that concern me. Some issues may be solved by future firmware updates and some may be related to the specific device I am testing. Check out all my thoughts to see if these hardware issues concern you.

April 11, 2007 by Matthew Miller in Microsoft

Video: Nokia N95 music player, Gmail in landscape, and Feature Pack 2 enhancements

There has been a lot of talk online about the powerhouse Nokia N95 and I wanted to make the video to show a couple of cool features, some of which are part of S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2. I demo the media player in landscape and portrait mode with a couple seconds on the awesome stereo speakers, Gmail usage in landscape mode, cool launcher with animated background, favorite icon support in the web browser, new functionality of pressing the center action button while in the web browser, and new Feature Pack 2 Settings menus and setup. You can see how snappy the device was, even with the memory hog animated browser, media player, and web browser all running in the background. I plan to make more videos of devices to post as well so feel free to post any questions you may want to see answered live.

April 10, 2007 by Matthew Miller in Microsoft

Palm developing its own Linux operating system, not the ALP

Mr. Colligan stated that Palm is planning to roll out new OS before the end of the year based on Linux Platform. We have known for some time that PalmSource was purchased by ACCESS and the new Linux operating system was called the ACCESS Linux Platform (ALP), but it seems that Palm (remember Palm is just the hardware company now) has been quietly developing their own new Linux operating system. This new Palm Linux OS will apparently use Opera as a browser and ChatterMail (they hired the developer a few months ago) as the email client and will only be developed for Palm hardware. It looks like we will never see an ALP device from Palm now.

April 10, 2007 by Matthew Miller in Enterprise Software

Rhapsody and the Nokia N95 take the crown for best mobile music experience

Rhapsody has an unlimited music subscription service that works with PlaysForSure devices, as well as the Nokia N800, Mac computers, and Windows PCs. The Nokia N95 is a multimedia powerhouse and has a few features that make it better than most any other mobile multimedia device on the market. You can take your music with you on the go and listen to it without even needing earphones.

April 9, 2007 by Matthew Miller in Microsoft

It's a camera, it's a GPS, it's a phone, yes it's the Nokia N95!

The Nokia N95 is getting into the hands of reviewers and lots of people are talking about this latest S60 3rd Edition device sporting the latest Feature Pack. The N95 sports a whopping 160MB of internal memory, 3G wireless radio, WiFi, Bluetooth, IR, and GPS connectivity. The unique dual slider display allows you to quickly make calls or immerse yourself in media. The 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics capture high resolution images and video at 30 fps in VGA mode. The device packs a lot into a light and compact form factor, but the large 2.6 inch display makes it feel like a much bigger device. Check out over 20 photos of the device and ask questions about it to be answered over the next couple of weeks.

April 4, 2007 by Matthew Miller in Microsoft

MobileTechRoundup show #95, MacBook woes couldn't hold us back

We are only 5 shows away from 100 and MobileTechRoundup show #95 took some serious effort to get out the door due to Kevin's MacBook issues. However, we did get through the recording and started off with some freeware to reward patient listeners. We then talked a bit about the Nokia N95 and mobile phones, followed up with MacBook issues. HP is taking Outlook off of the Getting Started CD, but will people really care? You can also get Outlook 2007 for free with a 4smartphone hosted Exchange account. Kevin and I are testing out Nokia N800 devices and did you know you can stream Rhapsody music to the device? The HTC Shift UMPC was a hit at CTIA and we can't wait to check one out.

April 4, 2007 by Matthew Miller in Microsoft

iambic releases Agendus for Windows Mobile Smartphone

Agendus for Windows Mobile Smartphones integrates your Calendar, Contacts, and Tasks with lots of personalization options like views, colors, and icons. The same core data from Pocket Outlook is used so there is nothing special you have to do to sync your data with Outlook or your Exchange server. You can also get weather forecasts, quotes-of-the-day, and Day in History information on your Today View with a wireless connection in the Professional version. Check out the comparison table to see the differences between the Standard and Professional editions (not to be confused with Windows Mobile 6 Standard and Professional). One of the major differences is the mapping functionality where the Professional Edition allows you to quickly view a map of a contact or appointment if a location is in the data field. There is a trial version available and the full retail version of the Professional Edition can be purchased for US$24.95 with the Standard Edition priced at US$19.95.

April 4, 2007 by Matthew Miller in Smartphones

Documents To Go for Palm supports Office 2007 file formats

Back in December I posted the news that Office 2007 native file formats were incompatible with all mobile device operating systems. You could always have people save the documents in Office 2003 and earlier format and then email the document to you, but that isn't an efficient way to work. DataViz is the first mobile software developer to release an updated product that supports these new Office 2007 native file formats. Documents To Go 10 Premium Edition for Palm OS is now available for those of you with Treo 700p, Treo 680, Tungsten X, and other Palm devices.

April 3, 2007 by Matthew Miller in Mobility

Free your mobile music experience with iTunes and EMI Music

Apple and EMI Music announced a DRM-free option will be available for all EMI Music titles on the iTunes store starting in May. You'll be able to pay 30 cents extra for music with no restrictions and listen to the song on all your mobile devices and digital audio players without having to worry about compatibility. Hopefully, more major record companies will see the benefits of providing DRM-free music in the future.

April 2, 2007 by Matthew Miller in Legal

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