Smartphone Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

One giveaway down, another to go! Thanks to Eltima Software, we have two copies of SyncMate 2.0 Expert Edition (each valued at $39.95 USD) for you to snag. The sync application is compatible with Mac OS X, and offers a plethora of sync options between Windows Mobile (and other smartphones), Google accounts, and Mac OS-based applications such as iCal, iPhoto, iTunes, Mail, Address Book, Safari, Firefox, and Entourage.

So, what do you have to do to win? Read on and get commenting. Good luck!

• Leave a comment in this thread, stating the editions that SyncMate is offered in. And here's a hint: there are two editions, and we've already named one of them in this post. Still stuck? Perhaps the SyncMate web page will help you.
• Only one comment per person. Any more and your entry will be deemed invalid. Note that if you're registering and leaving a comment for the first time, your post probably won't appear right away as it needs to be approved by our friendly moderators.
• The giveaway is open to anyone and everyone, regardless of where you are in the world.
• Entries will be accepted until 11:59 PM GMT on September 18, 2009.
• A total of two winners will be selected randomly and notified via e-mail, so please ensure that a valid e-mail address is linked to your Thoughts Media account. Each winner will receive a single copy of SyncMate 2.0 Expert Edition.

Without further ado, we're announcing the five winners of our Handy Weather 4.0 giveaway. And here they are, in alphabetical order:

• Cornelius, eliefrancis, toen, Trapperjohn, tsaojam

If you're one of the lucky five mentioned, keep an eye on your inbox (and your spam folder, just in case) for a message detailing how to claim your prize. Thanks to Paragon Software for their generosity. Stay tuned! We'll have another giveaway for you in just a tick.

Giveaway time! Thanks to Paragon Software, we have five copies of the new Handy Weather 4.0 (each valued at $17.95 USD per month) for you to snag. The weather application is compatible with Windows Mobile 5.0 and later, and offers a plethora of features such as detailed 7-day weather forecasts, satellite weather maps, a touch-friendly user interface, GPS/SMS/e-mail integration, and support for over 40,000 cities worldwide.

So, what do you have to do to win? Read on and get commenting. Good luck!

• Leave a comment in this thread, stating today's weather wherever you are in the world. You can be as basic or as detailed as you wish.
• Only one comment per person. Any more and your entry will be deemed invalid. Note that if you're registering and leaving a comment for the first time, your post probably won't appear right away as it needs to be approved by our friendly moderators.
• The giveaway is open to anyone and everyone, regardless of where you are in the world.
• Entries will be accepted until 11:59 PM GMT on August 16, 2009.
• A total of five winners will be selected randomly and notified via e-mail, so please ensure that a valid e-mail address is linked to your Thoughts Media account. Each winner will receive a single copy of Handy Weather 4.0.

Okay, we're a little late announcing the winners of our Ringtone Expressions giveaway, but better late than never, right? Without further ado, here are the lucky twenty in alphabetical order:

• bellor, bulldogdude, Certs, DaViD_BRaNDoN, Dyvim, eviktus, fone_fanatic, GreatDay, hacqua, looneytoone, Lucy, mafaquem, maxnix, NathanBaron, rombo, srsabu, the_matrixx, timmy, timtam, triplegems75

If you're in the list above, keep an eye on your inbox (and your spam folder, just in case) for a message detailing how to claim your prize. Thanks to Gx5 for their generosity. Stay tuned! We'll have another giveaway for you in just a tick.

"Our strategy for all of this is pretty straightforward; we want to create a global marketplace for Windows Phones where developers and users meet to sell and buy high quality and high value applications that make work easier and life more fulfilling. We're creating a clear process and new opportunity for developers and ISVs to make money from their investment in innovation. The applications we feature will be well organized, easily accessible by PC or phone and backed by a money back guarantee. And when they're ready to buy, customers will have a variety of payment options to choose from. These are new customer experiences, and frankly, capabilities that will set us apart."

As of this morning afternoon, Windows Marketplace for Mobile is now accepting application submissions from all 29 supported countries - and the Race to Market Challenge contest also kicks off. That site is password protected at the moment but apparently later today it will be live. Yeah, a bit strange. This contest is a way to build up the content on Windows Marketplate for Mobile, and to give developers a "first mover" advantage in terms of getting their applications into the marketplace. I think Microsoft is taking a realistic approach to this - they're not saying "Develop for Windows Mobile, it's the best!" they're saying "Develop for our platform as well - we have something to offer".

Want to build your application? Here's the Windows Mobile 6.5 developer toolkit (it's not an SDK mind you - you'll need to use the 6.1 Professional or Standard SDKs). Want to submit your application? Here are the Application Submission Guidelines. The prizes are a bit unusual: winners get one of four Microsoft Surface tables (Developer Edition), online marketing & promotion of their app, and a challenge trophies.

Think you have what it takes? Let's see those apps!

Remember the iZel review that I published a few weeks back? Well, the makers of the iZel have offered us three to give away to lucky Thoughts Media readers! This contest is open to anyone in the US or Canada (sorry rest-of-world). Entering the contest is really easy: all you have to do is post a message in this discussion thread telling me what kind of device(s) you'd want to use with the iZel. That's it! I'll randomly select three entries and each person will win an iZel. Nice and easy! The contest is open until the 16th of July, at 12pm (GMT -7). Enter now!

UPDATE: Only one entry per person, and if it's your first post, please allow up to 48 hours for it to show up.

UPDATE #2: The contest is now over and the winners have been randomly selected. iZel has a little consolation prize for everyone though. If you use the coupon code 5OFFIZEL you'll get a $5 discount off the normal price of $24.95 from Amazon.com [Affiliate]. The coupon code is valid until midnight July 31st, 2009.

"Windows Mobile handsets are becoming more and more popular. The industry is known to be the fastest growing segment in the smart phone market. The growing popularity of Windows Mobile triggers an increasing demand for more creative and entertaining applications. To foster greater creativity among different sectors of the community and encourage development of a greater variety of Windows Mobile applications, Microsoft recently joined hands with The Pocket PC Channel, a popular online media in Hong Kong, and also the Cyberport IncuTrain Centre, to launch the "Windows Mobile Software & Game Design Contest". Winning applications will be made available for users to download on Windows Mobile Marketplace, the latest service to be rolled-out along with the launch of Windows Mobile 6.5 later this year, bringing in new business opportunities for the creative industry at large."

If you are capable of writing apps and want a chance to win HKD150,000 (that is about $19,300 US at today's conversion rate) and are at least 16, you can enter the contest. More information is at their site.

Giveaway time! Thanks to Gx5, we have twenty copies of Ringtone Expressions (each valued at $4.99 USD per month) for you to snag. The Windows-based application offers a quick and easy way for you to convert your music, YouTube videos, and self-recorded audio into ringtones for your Windows Mobile device.

So, what do you have to do to win? Read on and get commenting. Good luck!

• Leave a comment in this thread, stating your favourite music genre. Rock, R&B, psychedelic trance, or something else? Let us know. It's that simple.
• Only one comment per person. Any more and your entry will be deemed invalid. Note that if you're registering and leaving a comment for the first time, your post probably won't appear right away as it needs to be approved by our friendly moderators.
• The giveaway is open to anyone and everyone, regardless of where you are in the world.
• Entries will be accepted until 11:59 PM GMT on June 24, 2009.
• A total of twenty winners will be selected randomly and notified via e-mail, so please ensure that a valid e-mail address is linked to your Thoughts Media account. Each winner will receive a lifetime subscription allowing unlimited use of Ringtone Expressions.

"What's your most memorable Mobile Moment? Let us know! Upload a photo with a short description of your Moment—whatever mobile device you happen to use—so everyone can view and vote for their favourites. If you get the most votes by June 15, 2009, you could win $10,000! Plus, each vote automatically enters the voter into a draw to win 1 of 3 Samsung OMNIA™ devices."

Good news, Bad news time! Good news - Microsoft is currently holding a contest entitled Mobile Moments. As the description above states, you participate in the contest by pointing your browser to Microsoft's website and upload a photo of your favorite “mobile moment” and then give said photo a description. Users vote on your precious moment in time and after Jun 15th, 2009 one lucky person is chosen to win $10,000! Bad news time - This contest is only available to Canadian residents it appears, which is pretty lame... unless you're in Canada that is.

Our Pantech Matrix Pro giveaway contest is completed, and the randomly selected winner is arm. Here's what he wrote in response to my question of how the Matrix Pro is better than his current mobile phone:

"I am with At&T and have old Cingular 8125. My contract has expired but I do not want to sign up for new 2yr contract: cutting my expenses ever since i was laid off. My phone is barely breathing and my girlfriend threatened to dump me since she can barely hear me. The phone is really old and I NEED replacement. I need a phone that can have decent call quality, have syncing with my Outlook calendar and contacts, has a keyboard and can play music. That is all I need from a phone, nothing very fancy. This phone is just perfect."

He also wins a $100 AT&T gift card. Thanks to everyone that entered, and thanks to AT&T and Pantech for sponsoring this contest. There are still a bunch of sites giving away this same package, so be sure to enter their contests while you can!

Remember that Pantech Matrix Pro mega-giveaway that Rocco announced a bit over a week ago? We're it's now our turn: Smartphone Thoughts is giving away a brand new Pantech Matrix Pro, and a $100 AT&T Wireless gift card, to one lucky winner. Because this device is carrier-locked to AT&T, the $100 gift card is for AT&T, this contest will be limited residents of the USA.

Our contests starts today and runs until May the 2nd, midnight (GMT -7). All you have to do to enter is post a response to this post, telling me which mobile phone you're using now, and how the Pantech Matrix Pro would improve your daily smartphone experience. Does it have a feature that your current mobile phone lacks? If so, what is it? That's it! I'll selecft a winner the morning of May 4th, with entries counting as long as they were posted before midnight on the 2nd.

UPDATE: Please only post once. Multiple posts will disqualify you. If it's your first post in our forums, it will be held for moderation, so it may take up to 48 hours for you to see it.

"We are busy building the next generation features for Mobile Phone Backup. Completely re-engineering backup to make the most of the features offered in Microsoft's new Windows Mobile 6.5 and 7. We would like to invite you to take part in a massive prize contest we're calling the Sprite Backup 7 Feature Hunt. You can win some great prizes..."

The crew over at Sprite Software are busy working on the next version of Sprite Backup, and they're interested in hearing from users of their software about what feature they'd like to see the most in version 7.0 of Sprite Backup. That's it - talk about an easy contest! The contest starts today (April 21st) and goes until May 8th. The prizes? Two winners will get the first prize, which is a Touch HD! Five winners will get the second prize, which is a Bluetooth GPS, and 30 winners will get the third prize, which is an 8GB microSD card. Nice! Winners will be announced on May 15th. Jump on over to their contest page and enter now.

The Microsoft My Phone Beta contest is over! The contest was originally for two registration codes for Microsoft's latest mobile Beta program but luckily Jason was able to get a third code from one of his sources so we have three lucky winners to announce today! The triad of winners is rockcnu, jkovacs and leslietroyer. Congratulations to all of the winners! I want to thank everyone that took the time to send us their disaster stories and hopefully within the future we will not have to deal with annoyances like syncing errors.

"The Matrix Pro by Pantech has a new home online: pantechmatrixpro.com, the first place to go for all you need to know about this exciting new smartphone. See the Matrix Pro's unique dual-keyboard design in action; get the lowdown on all of the Matrix Pro's great features; read blog entries highlighting the latest Matrix Pro news and reviews; get information about the upcoming Tweetstakes featuring a grand prize of $25,000; and follow handy links to purchase your very own Matrix Pro online. Visit pantechmatrixpro.com to experience the site for yourself."

Raise your hand if you like winning free stuff. Exactly! Everybody loves free stuff. Head on over to the official Pantech Matrix Pro Web site and have a look-see at their Tweetstakes page. All the info is there - once they start (they haven't yet - no date is announced) they'll be giving away a Matrix Pro smartphone every day, and at the end of it all, they'll do the $25,000 grand prize giveaway. Sweet!

Last month, we offered 25 copies of Pocket Watch Software's ActivePrint Traveler to you, dear readers. And without further ado, here are the winners, selected randomly and presented in alphabetical order.

• bhphotovideo, Catman51, Deemo, deenoo, dyrtnapr, freddiemac, hogger_jeff, Ha11y, Hx4700, Joel Crane, kerrins, laubin, markhartman, MikeStanley, psyjohn, SpriteGF, srsabu, stephen_yfc, tcassidy, tpeazy, twcook, Vapor03, WhyldMan, yawanag, yvilla

If your user name is in the list above, congratulations! Keep an eye on your inbox for an e-mail with your ActivePrint Traveler license. A big thank you to Pocket Watch Software for their generous contribution! Stay tuned as we bring you more giveaways here at Pocket PC Thoughts and Smartphone Thoughts.

If you missed the ActivePrint Traveler giveaway thread that was posted a little over a week ago, now's your chance to check it out and get your entry in before it's too late. There are 25 copies of ActivePrint Traveler up for grabs, which makes for pretty good odds. Simply head over to the giveaway thread, check the rules, and leave a comment. Winners will be announced next week.

Some of you may be familiar with ActivePrint. Well, not too long ago, Pocket Watch Software (the folks behind ActivePrint) released ActivePrint Traveler, which they say is their easiest-to-use mobile printing solution yet. Want to know how it works? Scoot over to their Web site to find out, and grab a free trial version while you're at it.

But why settle for a trial version when you can have the full version? Yes, as promised, we have more swag to give away to you, dear Thoughts reader: not 5, not 10, but 25 copies of ActivePrint Traveler!

And now for the rules:

• Leave a comment in this thread, stating the brand and model of your home or office printer, and the version of Windows Mobile you're using (either Standard or Classic/Professional). It's that simple!
• Only one comment per person, because we're advocates of fair play.
• Note that if you're registering and leaving a comment for the first time, your post probably won't appear right away as it needs to be approved by our friendly moderators.
• The giveaway is open to anyone and everyone, except maybe the folks at Pocket Watch Software. So, whether you're in the United States, snowed under in the UK, or sweltering in yet another heatwave in Australia, give it a shot and you may just get lucky.
• Entries will be accepted until 11:59 PM GMT on February 15, 2009.
• Winners will be chosen with the aid of highly complex genetic algorithms. Just kidding. Winners will actually be chosen randomly, and subsequently announced on the front-page.

Good luck!

To kick off the new year, we're announcing the winners of last month's Ringtone Shuffler contest. If your username is listed below, congratulations! Please check your private messages within the next 24 hours for registration details.

• edhead
• janoulle
• maskology
• paulsg63
• ucfgrad93

Thanks to Gx5 for their generosity. Stay tuned as we bring you more contests in the coming weeks!

Psst...just a heads-up that the HP Magic Giveaway contest is now live over on Digital Home Thoughts. If you want to get your hands on $6000 worth of prizes, and share some of it with other people, stop by and enter the contest!

"With Ringtone Shuffler, every time a call comes in you hear a different custom ringtone that you have put on your phone. This is a great feature when you have many custom ringtones and you want to enjoy all of them. It gets even better. With Ringtone Shuffler, you can select the ringtones you want to shuffle. Why is this super cool? Imagine a scenario where you have created 3 ringtones from one song; that is the first verse, second verse, and the chorus. Now you can select those 3 and enjoy them all. In another scenario, let's say you have about 20 ringtones and 5 of them are from one or a few artists you are really feeling. Now you can just select those 5 as the ones to shuffle."

Thanks to Gx5, we have five copies of the new Ringtone Shuffler application for Windows Mobile Standard and Professional to give away. Here's how you enter:

• Simply post the artist and title of your favourite song in this thread. Really, it's that simple!

Entries are limited to one per person and you have until 12:00 PM (GMT) on Monday, December 15, 2008 to get them in. Winners will be randomly selected and announced the following week. Good luck!