Smartphones and Cell Phones

BlackBerry Bold available for FREE at Wal-Mart

I read through Josh's hands-on with the BlackBerry Bold and am disappointed I missed the FedEx guy by 2 hours before leaving town for the week. However, I am seriously thinking of swinging by an AT&T store on the road to pick one up for myself. If you are thinking of the Bold I read on Michael Gartenberg's site that you can even pick one up for FREE at Wal-Mart (after US$199 rebate and new contract). We usually see these devices drop to free on Amazon after a month of so and it is a bit surprising to see the Bold available for free already at Wal-Mart.

November 4, 2008 by Matthew Miller in BlackBerry

Review: BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 from T-Mobile

It wasn't until I picked up my Sunset colored BlackBerry Curve a few months ago that I really discovered how functional and powerful a BlackBerry device could be. I tried a BlackBerry Pearl about 6 months before with minor usage attempts over the last couple of years and always felt the BlackBerry devices were strong in email, but not much else. RIM has really been focusing on the consumer with devices like the Pearl and Curve and just recently launched their first flip/clamshell form factor BlackBerry device with the BlackBerry Pearl Flip on T-Mobile.

November 3, 2008 by Matthew Miller in Mobility

Motorola MOTOZINE Z5 comes to T-Mobile with 5 megapixel camera and WiFi

T-Mobile USA has a nice selection of cellphones for customers and even the T-Mobile G1 and BlackBerry Flip have been dominating the smartphone news from T-Mobile there are also capable feature phones being released. The latest mobile phone announced by T-Mobile USA is the MOTOZINE ZN5 that will be available for US$99 with a two year contract. The ZN5 has a 5 megapixel camera with Xenon flash, along with KODAK Imaging technology that makes this one very capable feature phone. The device also has WiFi so you can upload your photos to the Kodak Gallery with one click (it actually uses ShoZu).

November 2, 2008 by Matthew Miller in Telcos

Will we see Windows Mobile 6.5 before 7?

There has never been any official Microsoft announcement or release date for Windows Mobile 7, but much has been leaked about this future mobile operating system. Motorola was recently talking about its future mobile strategy and let slip that a Windows Mobile 6.5 update should be coming prior to Windows Mobile 7.

October 31, 2008 by Matthew Miller in Hardware

How do I know what applications are updated in the Android Market?

One of my current activities include checking up on the Android Market offerings a couple of times a day because there is lots of activity going on there as developers roll out applications. However, I have several questions about how things are appearing in the Market (that were just echoed by a reader who sent me an email). I currently have something like 25+ applications loaded on the device (with only a miserable 12MB of memory left). When I visit the Android Market I like to view the By Date tab so I can see what has been added since I last visited. What appears though is not what was last added and I am confused about what is going on here.

October 30, 2008 by Matthew Miller in Hardware

I like Windows Mobile and am not ashamed to admit it

A couple weeks ago Om Malik wrote an article in the NY Times titled, Why Windows Mobile is in Trouble, and most of the focus was on how the T-Mobile G1 and Google Android poses the biggest threat to Windows Mobile. The article gives an honest assessment of where Windows Mobile is at this time and concludes by stating that Windows Mobile is not a lost cause, but does need to take some actions to stay current and relevant in the mobile space. I agree with this bottom line, but also don't think Microsoft has too much to worry about with the first Google Android device (the G1). I have been using the G1 for two weeks now and while it is great to see a mainstream Linux mobile OS, I am also heavily using my Treo Pro to get things done and stay in touch on the go. I don't see a lot of people standing up and saying they prefer and like using Windows Mobile, but I know there are lots of people out there that do enjoy using this platform and I am one of them.

October 30, 2008 by Matthew Miller in Enterprise Software

T-Mobile G1 data stopped working? Free trial is over and new data rates are coming

I just returned from a meeting in Houston and then found I was unable to access the Android Market or surf with the browser, while Gmail and IM seemed to work fine. I went online to check my T-Mobile account details and there was no data services selected on my account. When I ordered my G1 online I signed up for the US$25 data plan and 400 messages and was getting data just fine until today. I called up T-Mobile customer service and found out that T-Mobile gave everyone who bought a G1 free data access for a while (seems to be about 10 days for me) before the system was supposed to automatically add the G1 data plan. Apparently, my switch didn't get automatically flipped over so the customer service representative made the update manually and I should have full data access again in the next few hours.

October 29, 2008 by Matthew Miller in Collaboration

Full Office functionality coming soon to the iPhone

Applications for the Apple iPhone continue to be released at a rapid pace and it looks like DataViz may be the first to launch with a full Office (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) suite in its Documents To Go application. Evernote also continues to be updated and now supports offline note creation and storage for those times when you do not have a wireless connection available.

October 28, 2008 by Matthew Miller in Collaboration

T-Mobile G1 battery life solution; turn off everything!

I just posted some of my thoughts on the battery issues I have been experiencing and a reader sent me a link to this T-Mobile forums discussion where it seems the way to improve the battery life is to turn everything off. It is funny that someone actually had to post the details about this because it is obvious that turning off the 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, and auto-syncing will conserve your battery. However, didn't you just pay good money for a powerful mobile computer that lets you stay in touch and connected with the world at all times. If you bought the G1 to use primarily as a mobile phone, then I think there are some valid tips in this forum. However, why not just buy a rock solid Nokia phone that provides much better call quality if all you want is a mobile phone?

October 27, 2008 by Matthew Miller in Hardware

Android Market opens up and the G1 Achilles heel is exposed

One fun aspect about the T-Mobile G1, and I imagine the same thing occurs with the Apple iPhone, is visiting the Android Market regularly to check what applications and games have been added. I visited the Android Market several times this weekend, without seeing much of anything going on. However, while browsing my RSS feeds this morning, I ran across Michael Gartenberg's post on the Android Market update and went to check out the Android Developer's blog. I then launched the Android Market and found a mini-explosion of applications with there currently being 61 applications and 20 games available. This is still a drop in the bucket compared to the iPhone, S60, and Windows Mobile platforms, but it is still early in the game.

October 27, 2008 by Matthew Miller in Mobility

Qik video streaming now available for BlackBerry Pearl, Curve, and Bold

I have used several mobile video streaming applications on my S60 devices and keep coming back to Qik as my default client. Qik now has clients for S60, Windows Mobile, Java-based devices, and jailbroken iPhones with more clients coming. Last night they announced an alpha release for select BlackBerry devices, including the Pearl 8120/8130, BlackBerry Curve 8320/8330 and BlackBerry Bold. Support for the Flip is coming soon too. The BlackBerry you want to run this on must have BlackBerry OS 4.5 or above.

October 26, 2008 by Matthew Miller in Mobility

HTC Touch Pro from Sprint available next week

I've had lots of experiences with the HTC Touch Diamond and think it is a wonderful device for those who like touch screen devices, but I still prefer to have a hardware keyboard. HTC and Sprint just officially announced the launch of the HTC Touch Pro that will be available in retailers starting next week for US$299.99 with a 2-year committment, qualified plan, and US$100 mail-in rebate. The HTC Touch Pro adds a slider QWERTY keyboard with 5 full rows for accurate text entry.

October 24, 2008 by Matthew Miller in Hardware

Will the ALP be the next mobile Linux OS?

With all of the news surrounding the Google Android Linux device (see my full review) it seems that ACCESS didn't want people to forget they are still working on a mobile Linux operating system called the ACCESS Linux Platform (ALP). We learned about some screenshots that were shown in August 2007 and it seems that ACCESS continues to work on the operating system. PalmInfocenter has the latest news that the ALP is up to version 3.0 and the version designed for mobile phones will be known as ALP mini. However, it still sounds like we won't see devices with this Linux OS until late 2009.

October 23, 2008 by Matthew Miller in Mobility

Samsung Epix integrates a touch sensitive pad and QWERTY keyboard

I took a look at a Samsung Windows Mobile phone at Mobile World Congress earlier this year that was labeled the SGH-i780 and since then there has been a lot of speculation that the device would eventually come to the US. Yesterday, Samsung and AT&T announced the availability of a variant of this device, now dubbed the Samsung Epix. While most all of the specifications of these high end Windows Mobile devices are the same now, the Epix is unique due to its small touch sensitive pad (also seen on the Samsung OMNIA) instead of a more standard directional pad.

October 23, 2008 by Matthew Miller in Samsung

Gmail for mobile 2.0 adds basic offline support and more

While I am enjoying the Google Android experience, I have to say I do miss the one-handedness and long battery life of my BlackBerry Curve. The Gmail application on the G1 is one of its main strengths, but Google just released Gmail for mobile 2.0 that adds a couple of those same great Android features (basic offline support and multiple drafts). Gmail for mobile 2.0 is available J2ME and BlackBerry devices, but I imagine Windows Mobile will be following shortly.