Smartphone Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

"Free application Oops I'm Late uses information from your Windows Mobile phone's GPS in conjunction with your calendar to determine whether you're going to make an appointment on time. If you're not, the application can send an SMS, Twitter, or Facebook message to the attendees of your meeting letting them know that you're running late but on your way—including your ETA, so people don't have to wait around twiddling their thumbs until you arrive."

How cool does this application sound?! I was browsing around Lifehacker, one of my favorite sites to visit, when I ran across this free download. This has to be one of the most handy free downloads I have come across in a while. If you happen to own a Windows Mobile handset that is GPS capable then there is no reason not to have this application on your phone! Since my handset doesn't have GPS, I am unable to test this application for you guys, but if anyone tries it out please let us know what you think! Keep in mind the free version of this application is ad supported. If you like it, please support the developer and buy this application!

"Rogers' Samsung Jack, which is Canada-speak for BlackJack II, has been officially blessed with Windows Mobile 6.1. It's a few weeks behind the BlackJack II's own upgrade, true, but... you know, Canada-izing this stuff takes time. Or something. Grab the update from Samsung's site while the gettin's good."

This is great news for all of our Canadian readers out there! If you are the owner of one of Rogers Samsung Jack handsets you should head on over to the Samsung website and grab the latest update. As always, please make sure to back up all over your important data that you would like to keep as this update will completely wipe your device. Hopefully with the release of Windows Mobile 7, we will not have to deal with this inconvenience anymore... hopefully.

"Imagine this -- you, sitting in a dingy airport terminal waiting on your flight with a lifeless laptop and just 10 minutes to spare. You've got oodles of spreadsheet work to do before 8:00AM tomorrow, and unless you get it done on this flight, you're fubared. Toshiba is looking to make said scenario seem like one that's not so grim, as its prototype SCIB (Super Charge Ion Battery) purportedly has the potential to get 90% full in just 10 minutes."

I've been traveling a lot lately and can really appreciate the need for something like this. This will be a killer feature that hopefully Toshiba will license out for all sorts of devices. Of course the cynic in me thinks that technology like this would be kept out of the marketplace in order to maintain the market for extra batteries.

"I was working on some reviews this weekend and took a look at all of the devices in my current collection and started reflecting back on my mobile device history. Mickey recently asked me about my PDA/phone history on TCPJ Unlocked Show #004 and I thought a few of you may be interested in seeing what devices I have owned over the years. I also used many more devices during 2 week to 30-day evaluation periods that would easily take me over 100 mobile devices used of the last 11 years. Check out the image gallery of all of my devices."

My friend Matt Miller published a great piece about his gadget history over on his ZDNet blog, and I thought it was worth linking to, if only for you to see the completely insane number of devices that Matt has owned over the years. Happy Friday everyone, have a great weekend!

"The Winners in Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine's Eighth Annual Best Software Awards for Windows Mobile software have been announced at www.Smartphonemag.com/Awards. Eighty members of the Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine Board of Experts judged 936 Windows Mobile products in 194 Pocket PC and Smartphone categories. Winners are also listed in the Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine 2009 Resource Guide first seen late November."

The awards are in, so if you want to see which applications the judges selected as the best of the best, go have a peek. Did any of your favourite applications win awards? Any apps that you thing just plain rock but didn't even get nominated?

"We were briefly hoping that when the HTC Rose 100 (that's the S740 to you) made its way through the Federal Communications Commission testing it would emerge with U.S. 3G bands. Alas, that's not the case. But if you're burning for the Touch Pro-esque device, approval from the FCC means you'll be able to import this guy and not wait for (hopefully) a U.S. version."

This device is really nice but I really couldn't see myself using a non U.S. 3G version of it. Maybe if I spent a lot of time travelling overseas I would think differently. Hopefully HTC pushes a North American 3G version of this device out soon.

"After missing its July release target by a country mile, we'd thought the Silver may have been canned -- but nope, she's alive and well, strutting her stuff for a few privileged hands around the world. The HSDPA 7.2Mbps handset with GPS and WiFi takes the original candybar Pearl's wildly successful format and applies a hearty dose of Windows Mobile Standard -- not a concept that's going to appeal to everyone, but for the S740 shoppers of the world, a totally viable alternative. So we know Vodafone has a keen eye on releasing this; anyone else?"

It is nice to see that the HP Silver is still alive and kicking. Unfortunately there is no word on when, if ever, we will see this device on the western side of the pond. Also for those paying attention, yes that is a HTC Faraday running Windows Mobile 6.1 on the left of the HP Silver. It is nice to see the HTC Faraday still getting a little bit of love after all these years.

That's a picture of my Samsung Jack (Blackjack II) sitting face down on my floor. That's the way it looked when I came into my office yesterday morning and saw it laying there. I was completely puzzled because I knew I hadn't dropped it. The phone was no worse for wear, so I put it back up under my monitor where I normally keep it. A few minutes later, my smartphone fired off a notification, where it the proceeded to vibrate itself off my monitor stand and onto my desk. Aha! So that's what happened - over night it must have vibrated its way off my desk and onto the floor. Does that seem screwy to anybody else? No phone should have a vibration mode so powerful that it moves the phone across a desk and onto the floor. Needless to say, I've change my normal profile from vibration+sound to be just sound.

"CIO: Why has Microsoft developed Zune?

Ballmer: At the end of the day, one of the big trends is that all content is going digital. And if we don't have the software and services that are useful, helpful and valuable for the consumption of music and video, we are sort of not really a player. Now, we built the Zune hardware with the Zune software - and what you'll see more and more over time is that the Zune software will also be ported to and be more important not just with the hardware but on the PC, on Windows Mobile devices, etc."

What can I say other than IT'S ABOUT FREAKING TIME. I feel like I've told this story 1000 times by now, but here it is again: about four years ago I was at a Mobius or MVP event (I can't remember which) and a Microsoft person came up to me and asked me if I thought they should scrap Windows Media Player Mobile on the device and instead implement the Portable Media Center interface as the way end users would access their photos, videos, and music. I said "Yes, absolutely" before he was even finished talking. The first generation PMC hardware might have been pretty suck-tacular, but the UI was easy to use. The Zune is an evolution of that UI, and while the Zune still needs improvement on a number of levels, the Zune UI is very easy to use - easier to use an an iPod in my opinion. If Microsoft really cared about the consumer market, they would have implemented that media UI years ago and we'd be having a different discussion today. They didn't because they're focused on the enterprise market first and foremost, but that's slowly (oh so slowly) changing.

Putting the Zune software onto Windows Mobile gives Microsoft a bunch of advantages: first, it lets them stop developing Windows Media Player Mobile, a piece of software that has sadly languished for years, hardly getting any updates or improvements. Secondly, it gives end users a great UI for media consumption, and assuming they go all the way with this, it gives users a media management solution (the Zune desktop software) that enables them to easily manage music and podcasts, and somewhat more easily manage photos and videos.

I see this as a win-win all around if implemented properly. I can't see a single down-side to this - what do you think about it?

Product Category: Bluetooth Headset
Manufacturer: Helium Digital
Where to Buy: Helium Digital
Price: $39.99 CAD (Approx. $40 USD)
Specifications: Bluetooth v2.0; supports both Headset (HSP) and Handsfree (HFP) profiles; 9.5g (0.33 oz); 44mm (1.6in) * 19mm(0.75in) * 19mm(0.75in); 5 hours talk, 150 hours standby

Pros:

• Small, light, unobtrusive headset;
• Innovative, no-loop, earpiece which stays in your ear;
• Good quality audio;
• Great battery life.

Cons:

• Need charger stand to charge earpiece;
• Noise cancelling is not strong.

Summary:
The HD-650 Bluetooth headset is the latest addition to Helium Digital's product line, and you might (reasonably) be thinking, so what? What makes this headset different from all the rest? Well, this is the first one I've seen that's specifically designed without an earhook, and for me it's the first unit I've tested which is light, comfortable, works well and will actually stay in my ear for the whole day -- even while riding the bike home! In my search for the perfect headset, I may have reached Nirvana.
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