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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

ThinkFree Mobile for Android states they will support PowerPoint and PDF too

In what appears to be a bit of a "me too" announcement I received a press release stating that ThinkFree Mobile for Android will support many of the same features as the updated Documents To Go 2.0 product I detailed earlier this morning. The major difference at this time is that Documents To Go is available NOW while ThinkFree Mobile for Android is slated for a 4th quarter 2009 release at an undisclosed price.

August 11, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Microsoft

Documents To Go for Android adds PDF and PowerPoint support

Just three months ago I posted my full review of Documents To Go for the Google Android platform and was very excited by the advanced features that DataViz was able to pack into this mobile application. I am very pleased to say that the version 2 I have been using over the last week continues to push the limits and IMHO brings the BEST mobile Office suite I have ever seen on a mobile device. I won't go back over all the Word and Excel features I covered in my last review, but will focus on the new PowerPoint and PDF support as well as other major improvements.

August 11, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Microsoft

Google Android uses Google servers for accurate predictive text entry

I mentioned a couple of reasons why I like the myTouch 3G predictive keyboard compared to the iPhone keyboard and contacted T-Mobile to try to find out a bit more about what is behind the technology. I met with T-Mobile representatives a couple of weeks ago and mentioned what I heard from them on MOTR podcast 179, but received a few more details that add a lot to the story and I think you will be quite impressed with what is going on here.

August 10, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Smartphones

The T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve 8520 reinforces the need for family data plans

RIM sent me a BlackBerry 8520 to check out, but Andrew beat me and posted his hands-on review first. However, I still wanted to post a few of my thoughts about the device since I have had a chance to use the Curve 8320, Curve 8900, and BlackBerry Tour over the last few months. I think BlackBerry devices like the Curve 8520 show why it would be beneficial for carriers to start promoting family data plans and giving back a bit to consumers.

August 10, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Mobility

Deposit checks to your bank via an iPhone photo

Back when I was an officer in the US Coast Guard I signed up for banking with USAA Federal Savings Bank and it was probably the best financial decision I ever made. USAA is a bank designed for military members and has a ton of awesome services for those on the go. I have only seen one physical branch in my entire life and all my banking is done remotely. USAA was one of the first banks to launch an iPhone application and according to the New York Times an updated version will be launched this week that lets you take a photo of a check with the iPhone and have it deposited to your account.

August 10, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Finance

The T-Mobile myTouch 3G fixes G1 issues

A couple of weeks ago T-Mobile sent me the myTouch 3G to try out and I posted my first impressions with a statement in there about no plans to upgrade since my G1 has the same software with the addition of a full awesome QWERTY keyboard. I then committed my wireless data services to T-Mobile and found I had a couple of lines with upgrade discounts available. I was thinking that I would use my upgrade to buy the T-Mobile Touch Pro2 that will be available on 12 August (stay tuned for my full review), but after further use of both the myTouch 3G and T-Mobile Touch Pro2 I decided that the myTouch 3G was the one for me. I was able to buy one for $200 and went with the Merlot (burgundy) color because it was a bit different and yet still professional looking.

August 9, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Mobility

MobileTechRoundup show #179; back to T-Mobile and some netbook chat

I tried to move my entire five line family plan to AT&T just about a month ago as I discussed a bit in MobileTechRoundup show #177, but this ended up being a failed experiment as I detail my move back to my old friend T-Mobile in MobileTechRoundup show #179. James, Kevin, and I also talked about the HP Mini 5150 and Toshiba NB205 netbooks. Two phones I checked out recently include the myTouch 3G and BlackBerry Curve 8520, one of which I have now purchased.

August 9, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Hardware

T-Mobile AppPack recommends Visual Voicemail, Sherpa, WorldTour, and more

As I posted here yesterday, I jumped back to T-Mobile USA yesterday as my primary carrier with five phones on their family plan. I have been playing with an eval myTouch 3G for a couple weeks as well and along with this device came several applications that you can also now download on your T-Mobile G1. To begin fresh with T-Mobile I completely reset my G1 and started over with the latest firmware. I then went on to load up a ton of apps, but a few I wanted to discuss that are timed with the myTouch 3G release and recommended by T-Mobile are Visual Voicemail, Sherpa, My Account, Mobile Backup, and WorldTour.

August 6, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Mobile Carriers

AT&T dropping calls like crazy, back to T-Mobile and their expanding 3G network

Earlier this morning T-Mobile issued their 2nd quarter report and as Larry stated their churn rate was up slightly this quarter. In case you didn't know, churn is the term used to measure the number of customers who leave or switch to another service provider, usually stated as a percentage. The slight increase this quarter, from 1.9 to 2.2 percent, is tough to blame on a single cause. I personally left T-Mobile after 6+ years to switch my family to AT&T so I could reduce my family monthly fees by having a single carrier instead of two. I selected AT&T over T-Mobile because of AT&T's 3G data and iPhone services. However, after spending the last 3 weeks experiencing constant dropped calls in areas where our various phones showed a full signal I had enough and switched back to T-Mobile last night.

August 6, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Mobility

Qik video editing supported on Android, T-Mobile myTouch 3G now available too

The Google Android platform is one of my favorite and as a a follow-up to my T-Mobile myTouch 3G post I wanted to let you know you can pick one of these up starting today at T-Mobile. The more I use the device the more I like it and find it to be a nice upgrade to the G1 if you don't need a QWERTY keyboard. In other Google Android news, Qik announced an update that gives you on device editing capability and speed sharing functionality. Qik is a live video streaming application that runs on Google Android, Symbian, and Windows Mobile devices.

August 4, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Hardware

Dead Finger Tech: T-Mobile G1 Google Android smartphone

Many of the ZDNet tech bloggers have been writing about their Dead Finger Tech for a special August feature. I have owned over 100 mobile devices, most of them phones, and thus you would think I have one or two favorites that I could consider as DFT devices. My iPhone 3GS is getting more and more useful as applications like Quickoffice improve functionality for me and my Nokia E71x is my top Nokia star. However, my T-Mobile G1 is the device I consider as my DFT mobile phone for a few reasons I will explain below.

August 2, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Mobile Carriers

So which device is my top King of the QWERTYs?

My King of the QWERTYs series wrapped up a couple of days ago and I am now ready to provide you with my summary and personal preferences on this class of devices. As I stated in each article, these devices are targeted to the messaging user and all run mobile operating systems that have been around for years.

July 29, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Enterprise Software

AT&T Social Net integrates Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace for selected phones

Social networking apps are some of the most popular on mobile phones today and I admit to using Twitter and Facebook quite a bit to staying in touch with family, friends, and fans. AT&T announced the availability of a new integrated social networking application, AT&T Social Net, that combines Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and customizable news feeds into a single interface. As you can see in the screenshots there are different tabs in the carousel menu that let you quickly switch between the services you have setup. Selected features phones and a couple of smartphones are included in the list of compatible phones that can use this application.

July 29, 2009 by Matthew Miller in Mobility

T-Mobile HTC Touch Pro2 coming 12 August

The HTC Touch Pro2 (read about my hands-on experiences) is the device I believe has one of the most amazing QWERTY keyboards ever produced on a smartphone. We all know the device will eventually be coming to all US wireless carriers and it looks like T-Mobile will be first with the just announced 12 August release date.