The Mobile Gadgeteer

Nokia announces the E65, E61i, N77, 6110, and E90 at 3GSM

There will be lots of news coming out of the 3GSM World Congress event being held in Spain this week and we've already posted lots of Windows Mobile 6 news. Nokia also made some major device announcements that include model updates and a new Communicator for the enterprise user. The Nokia E90, E65, and E61i are three new devices for the enterprise market. The Nokia N77 adds DVB-H TV to a high end multimedia devices. The Nokia 6110 Navigator allows you to get GPS navigation and location based services on a small form factor S60 device.

February 12, 2007 by Matthew Miller in Microsoft

ASUS, BenQ Siemens, Gigabyte, HTC, Lenovo, Motorola, and Palm show off Windows Mobile 6 devices

A couple of new Windows Mobile 6 devices were announced earlier today, but the bulk of the announcements were just made from ASUS, BenQ Siemens, Gigabyte, HTC, Lenovo, Motorola, and Palm. All these companies announced Windows Mobile 6 devices that would be launched in 2007. The device that has me most interested is the HTC Vox that is a Windows Mobile 6 Standard device with a standard looking phone keypad, but with a side slide-out QWERTY keyboard to use when you really need to enter some text. I am also interested in the GSM Motorola Q that runs Windows Mobile 6. While it is nice that Palm will be updating the Treo line with Windows Mobile 6, the more interesting part of Microsoft's announcement is that 320x320 resolution is now supported so Windows Mobile Palm Treo devices can have the same hardware as the Palm OS models. The lower 240x240 resolution has been an area where people have been disappointed with Windows Mobile Treo devices.

February 11, 2007 by Matthew Miller in Mobility

Toshiba comes back to Windows Mobile with a couple new devices, i-mate updates too

It has been a couple of years since we last saw a Toshiba Pocket PC, but as the popularity of Windows Mobile continues to dramatically increase we are seeing old and new manufacturers launching devices. Toshiba looks to be starting off well with the G900 that looks a lot like an HTC Hermes or Apache device and runs Windows Mobile 6 Professional. Toshiba's other entry is a Standard device with a slider that reveals a phone keypad, similar to a Nokia N80 device. These Toshiba devices are slated for release in Japan so I don't know if we will even see them in the U.S.i-mate also revealed a couple of new devices and upgrades to the existing JAQ3.

February 11, 2007 by Matthew Miller in Hardware

HP expands Windows Mobile line with the iPAQ Voice Messenger

HP has had Pocket PC Phone Edition Mobile Messenger devices for a couple of years, but they have never really seemed to have taken off. HP continues to try to compete in the mobile market and is launching their HP iPAQ 500 series Voice Messenger. The Voice Messenger is a Windows Mobile 6 Standard device (aka Smartphone) and looks to also have a 1.3 megapixel camera. The HP Voice Messenger is capitalizing on the increasing popularity of VoIP and includes capabilities and integrated WiFi for this functionality. HP is also including a powerful voice command system that actually allows you to reply to email by dictating and sending a voice response without the need for any typing. GSM/EDGE and Bluetooth radios are also included on the device. The new HP Voice Messenger should be available this Spring, but you can check out our image gallery in the meantime.

February 11, 2007 by Matthew Miller in Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Microsoft "officially" announces Windows Mobile 6

Microsoft was forced to unveil their new operating system, Windows Mobile 6.0, last week due to a breach of NDA by a media source and today they posted the "official" press release. A couple of exciting bits of news that can be found in the press release that were not revealed last week are that future T-Mobile Dash devices in the U.S. will come with Windows Mobile 6 and existing owners like myself will be able to upgrade our devices to Windows Mobile 6, Orange will deliver the SPV E650, and SoftBank Mobile Corp will offer new devices from Toshiba and HTC in mid-2007. Yes, that's right it looks like Toshiba is coming back to the world of Windows Mobile and hopefully we'll see more details about the hardware soon. Look for lots of hardware details soon from 3GSM in Spain.The first Windows Mobile 6 hardware revealed at 3GSM is the Samsung SCH-i760 and a couple photos are included in this post. I saw this unique Windows Mobile 6 Professional device at CES, yet it did not have a battery so I didn't get to see it in action. The Samsung SCH-i760 has an original phone keypad with an offset directional pad on the bottom left with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

February 11, 2007 by Matthew Miller in Samsung

Windows Mobile 6 Professional screenshots

The lines are becoming blurred between the different categories of devices as you can see in the image gallery with some of the key differences in the new Classic, Standard, and Professional classes being a much more powerful Office Mobile application suite that allows you to create documents on a Professional or Classic device, Remote Desktop Mobile in the Classic/Pro models, stupid basic calculator on the Classic/Pro devices while the Standard device actually has a new, fresh calculator designed for non-touch screens, ability to setup your own home page in Internet Explorer Mobile on Classic/Pro devices, and external storage card encryption support on Classic/Pro devices. Check out the 42 new actual screenshots from a Windows Mobile 6 Professional device, including the Windows Update sequence.

February 11, 2007 by Matthew Miller in Mobility

Get free maps with GPS functionality on your S60 or Windows Mobile device

Nokia announced that users of other select S60 and Windows Mobile 5.0 devices can now also download maps over-the-air for free when they are connected wirelessly. Support for other S60 devices, S40 devices, Linux, and other Windows Mobile devices is planned for the future. Their smart2go maps provide worldwide coverage and allow for mapping in routing in over 150 countries. I have been using Google Maps quite a bit for finding locations when I am traveling, but will definitely be trying out the Nokia maps because I can now pair my devices with a Bluetooth GPS and get satellite navigation functionality. There is a desktop client to download maps and store them on a storage card in case you are traveling to an area without wireless carrier coverage.

February 9, 2007 by Matthew Miller in Microsoft

Get some expert Treo tips and tricks from Marc Orchant

If you are a Treo fan then I highly recommend you check out fellow ZDNet blogger and mobile gadget fan Marc Orchant's recent post linking to his Treo-focused podcast. Marc recorded the podcast with David Spark on The Communications Insider for Sprint show. Marc starts off with the top 3 things you should do when you take your Treo out of the box and I completely agree with his valuable tips, especially regarding Agendus. Marc then goes on to chat about all kinds of great tips and tricks that can be valuable to users of all kinds of mobile devices. Check out this 25 minute podcast now.

February 9, 2007 by Matthew Miller in Mobility

Microsoft reveals Window Mobile 6 and we have all the details

Microsoft was expected to reveal their new Windows Mobile operating system, previously codenamed Crossbow, on Monday at the 3GSM event in Spain. Events suddenly changed and the NDA was lifted a few days early so stayed up much later than planned to give all of my readers here my first take on Windows Mobile 6 since I have been using it for the last month on a Windows Mobile Smartphone device. Check out over 33 actual screenshots with more from the Professional device to come in another article. Windows Mobile 6 offers lots of user experience improvements and a fresh clean look. Stay tuned for Windows Mobile 6 news at 3GSM next week.

February 7, 2007 by Matthew Miller in Mobility

Nokia brings "desktop search" to mobile devices

I LOVE desktop search tools like Google Desktop and Windows Desktop Search and remember talking with Microsoft about bringing this search functionality to mobile devices. Microsoft has a integrated search tool in Windows Mobile devices, but it has never been a very strong utility. I just read the Nokia press release announcing the release of Nokia Mobile Search that brings powerful search functionality from the desktop to the device. Nokia Mobile Search allows you to search emails, text messages, calendar entries, videos, music files, and more. Nokia Mobile Search indexes your compatible device for faster search results. I could not find any information on whether external storage flash cards or hard drives, like the 4 and 8 GB drives on N91 devices, are indexed. I would think this is where the real power of device search would be as storage cards get larger and larger in capacity with more and more files being stored on them.

February 7, 2007 by Matthew Miller in Microsoft

Spb Mobile Shell improves Phone Edition functionality

pb Software House develops some of the best mobile software and they just released a new application for Pocket PC and Pocket PC Phone Edition devices called Spb Mobile Shell. Spb Mobile Shell significantly improves the main user interface on these touch screen devices by providing important information on a single screen that is easily navigated with a finger tap. I especially like the looks and functionality of the Spb Menu Actions where your programs appear as large button links and then actions such as New Text Note can be initiated all from quick taps on the display without having to dive down into the programs.

February 6, 2007 by Matthew Miller in Mobility

Carnival of the Mobilists #61 sports a Japanese theme

As promised last week, I want to keep informing readers of the availability of the latest Carnival of the Mobilists issue since there really are some great pieces of writing in every weekly newsletter. This week Wireless World Japan hosts Carnival #61. The Carnival takes on a Japanese theme with articles this week falling into the carnival themes of behind the scenes, music, magic, floats, gods, food stalls and 3GSM Barcelona. Is the mobile phone market a two horse race between Nokia and Motorola? As I talked a bit about when the iPhone was announced, do people prefer buttons on their phones? How can you optimize your use of Opera Mini? The answers and discussions to these and many more topics can be found in this latest edition of the Carnival of the Mobilists so visit and enjoy the articles.

February 6, 2007 by Matthew Miller in Mobility

MobileTechRoundup show #89, Vista and driver updates

Vista was launched and MobileTechRoundup show #89 contains lots of discussion of this latest Micrsoft operating system. James, Kevin, and I are all installing Vista on our devices with James trying it on the Fujitsu P1610 and Kevin and I on the Samsung Q1 UMPC. Drivers are being released by many manufacturers, although Samsung hasn't released any for our Q1s yet so we have had to brute force a few aspects. Kevin is happy to have Sammy back and told his readers that Sammy is looking for a new home so contact Kevin if you are interested. EV-DO Rev. A is rolling out from Verizon as well and I am having good experiences with Sprint. Kevin is testing the Netgear SPH-101 Skype phone and it sounds good. Google Maps is available for free for Windows Mobile and Palm devices so make sure you download it now.

February 6, 2007 by Matthew Miller in Windows

PhatWare PenCommander 2.0 supports Vista and adds more functionality

PenCommander 2.0 has been launched around the Vista release and includes support for Windows Vista, which is timely since I plan to put Vista on my Q1 this weekend. PenCommander 2.0 also includes an updated scripting engine to allow for new user-level functions and improved performance, new customizable user interface for Visual PenCommander, new PenCommander skins, ability to select a handwriting recognition engine (important if multiple languages are used), and the ability to make the input panel semi-transparent so you can work on applications with PenCommander sitting on the desktop. IMHO, a gesture/shorthand command application like this is essential for UMPC and Tablet PC users as it improves productivity and makes using the pen a much more enjoyable experience.

February 1, 2007 by Matthew Miller in Windows

Google releases Google Maps for Mobile Windows Mobile client

Google released a Google Maps Mobile for Windows Mobile devices application today so you no longer have to have a Java client and use the Java utility to find directions and locations on Google Maps. You can visit the Google Maps for Mobile website, download and then install the .CAB file now for your Windows Mobile device. I just installed it on my Dash and like it even better than the Java client because the fonts are cleaner, the navigation is better integrated, and I don't have to go through all those Java midlet authorization screens. You can use it to show traffic status too and it is available for free. Make sure you have an unlimited data plan though before downloading map data to your device.

February 1, 2007 by Matthew Miller in Mobility

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