Smartphone Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

"In order to provide business users with the mobility and the versatility of a mobile office, ASUS has designed the new ASUS M530w Smart Phone. Packed with innovative features, the ASUS M530w allows users to send and receive messages instantly anywhere � providing vital information for users to make important and informed business decisions.The ASUS M530w supports Push E-mail and can simultaneously receive mails from the user's office Outlook mail server. It can also update their organizers and communications records for easier data management. These important features will ensure that users will never miss any important information and be able to quickly reply to work requirements � enhancing their work productivity even if they are not in the office, or caught in a meeting. The ASUS M530w is equipped with high-speed transfer capabilities to provide users with a host of multimedia benefits. With the 3G Video Phone, users can talk to anyone face to face, and 3G broadband makes downloading music, MV and other video and music programs a breeze. It is also able to utilize wireless connections via 802.11 b/g for high speed data transfers for total mobility. In addition, built-in Bluetooth technology seamlessly interfaces with other Bluetooth devices and provides freedom of movement without the hassle of wires. The built-in Business Card Recognition feature allows users to use the ASUS M530w�s 2.0 Mega Pixel Auto-Macro camera to capture the details of a business card and avoid tediously keying in the data into the contacts book."



I have to admit, the Asus M530w looks like a handsome powerful device. I love the front side camera. I wonder when the US will get to a point when we can face to face video conference with our mobile devices. With WiFi, 3G, and bluetooth, you're connected in every way. I'm very curious to see how the built-in business card recognition works. All in all it looks like a pretty slick powerful device. The down side? I'm not sure if we will ever see it here in North America. :x

WMDC is no better than ActiveSync as far as I am concerned. Take a quick look at Kris Kumar's post and thread for some sample frustrations. We have people first having to find it. Why isn't it just part of the OS as they stuffed everything else into it? Yes it looks pretty.



It needs to work "pretty" too! If you looked at that thread you saw people opening up ports in firewalls to make things work. How many average users will figure that out? My favorite new feature though is that if you previously had ActiveSync on XP or the WMDC beta on Vista, when you install the released WMDC it won't pick up your device names and will then tell you the names are already in use! I had to go into the registry and find the old device names, delete the keys (they are huge) then go back and rename the new renamed devices back to the old ones. Go try to explain that to your neighbor who can barely get their email. I guess they just didn't have enough time, 5 years, to make sure these things worked. Those of us, like me, who have push enabled devices and have an exchange server don't really need this headache. I won't even install WMDC on my laptop. I'd rather take out the storage card, put it into an adapter and then connect to the PC to transfer files. I still can't get my BlackJack to sync. In short, I don't need this, do you?

"At the Consumer Electronics Show next week, two companies--Arizona-based start-up WildCharge and Michigan-based Fulton Innovation--will demonstrate what are expected to be very different ways to give gadgets juice, sans wires. The concept isn't new, and some of the same challenges--such as cost and size--that have prevented the technology from winning over manufacturers still remain. But executives at the companies, who won't say how much their recharging devices will cost, hope the sheer amount of mobile gadgets today could portend a different outcome."


Image credit: Splashpower.

Every time we add a new gadget to our ever growing collection, we add a new power adapter to our collection. Every evening when we come home from work, we wish we didn't have have to untangle those power adapter cables and look for an empty outlet to charge our gadgets for the next day. Looks like our wish is soon going to be full-filled, provided the mobile gadget manufacturers adopt the wireless charging concept. Personally, I am not sure if the mobile manufacturers would be interested in letting go of the revenue stream associated with the power accessories. CNET is talking about two companies, WildCharge and Fulton Innovation, that will be demonstrating their products at the CES 2007.

Today was the official launch day of Microsoft's Zune digital media player and music service. It all went off with a bang - concerts were held in major US cities, Bill Gates gave his Zune to an audience member as a gift, and our own Jason Dunn made the trek over to Seattle to pick up five Zunes and a couple of accessories. Head over to Zune Thoughts for all the latest news, and also be on the lookout for Jason's detailed review, which is set to appear later tonight. In a few days time, we'll be giving away a Zune and a few other goodies, so be sure to register a Zune Thoughts account and post once to be authenticated, so that you'll be ready for the contest.

"Fumi Ishii has changed her mobile phone e-mail address several times and once spent a month tracking down her tormentor, but the spam keeps coming. "I found the sender's contact information after a lot of research, and I called them up and complained," said the 57-year old print firm owner. "They started up again, but this time I can't figure out where it's coming from." Spam, or electronic junk mail, typically offering dating services, pornography and get-rich schemes, has moved beyond traditional e-mail and into text-messaging and mobile e-mail."

I don't think I have ever gotten any spam like this. Obviously we all get regular Email spam but I think this refers to SMS type spam. Let's see what your experience has been. I'm making the questions general just to get a feel. You can post how many you get if you want. :)

"Ultra compact in design and a wide compatiblity with Bluetooth enabled devices, the Freedom mini Bluetooth keyboard extends the input capability of a PDA or smartphone. Type texts, e-mails or documents quickly and accurately with the metal domed, 39 key standard layout, and navigate using a 4-way 'game pad' control."



If you have been waiting for this it's here! We originally posted on it in this thread. If you pick one up let us know what you think.

"A recent trip to Europe startled me in a number of ways. First, discounting the fact that the dollar isn�t worth all that much these days, there are a number of factors I encountered which prove that Americans should count their blessings -� and one glaring example where we are really far behind. For instance, I rented a car while traveling. It would be considered a small car by Americans but a good-sized car for Europeans. It was very roomy inside and it had a 4-cylinder diesel engine which averaged more than 30 miles per gallon at legal highway speeds up to 81 miles (130 km) per hour. That�s a good thing because diesel fuel averaged a little more than $5 per gallon. I noticed that gasoline prices are 20 per cent higher than diesel. Coming home to skyrocketing U.S. gas prices are a little more tolerable after paying $60-$90 each time I filled up my compact rental car."

The article does not cover the topic in depth but it does make you step back and wonder, what would the cellular service be like in the U.S. if GSM had been chosen as the cellular standard? Would we have better cell phone service? Better rates? Better phones? :?

"The ability to customize your Smartphone is one advantage Windows Mobile has over other phones. From customizing the homescreen to hacking the system to get it working the way you want, Windows Mobile gives you the freedom you need. Unfortunately doing these things isn't as easy to do as one might like. Luckily there are savvy program developers out there willing to help with this. Tweak2K2 .NET is aiming to help with some common hacks for the Smartphone. Tweak2K2 .NET should be familiar to anyone who's used the Pocket PC version."



If you haven't checked this application out yet you should. Here is a nice review of it with lots of screen shots. Go read it now! 8)

"SanDisk Corporation has introduced a new line of fingernail-sized removable Flash memory cards that it hopes will become a de facto industry standard for providing user-upgradable internal as well as external storage in the coming wave of smartphones. "TransFlash" cards will debut in smartphones from Motorola...To support the use of TransFlash as main system storage, SanDisk will offer "under the battery" connectors for the chips, in addition to removable, external slot connectors."



The mini-SD cards haven't even made it to the markets yet and we have a new standard. I am always in favor of making things small and powerful. But there has to be a limit. I am a clumsy person and easily lose things, I hope these new cards are in-expensive. However I do like the concept of "under the battery" connectors for expandable memory.

Last week Jason had posted a news article regarding 6 Mega Pixel camera phone chipset developed by Qualcomm. While we are waiting for those phones to become a reality, Casio has surprised us with the World's first 3.2 Mega Pixel camera phone. 8O Not to forget, we are still waiting for 1.2MP camera phones to become a standard.

I am not one of the proponents of camera phones, mainly because of lack of quality in the current models and also because of the social implications. I mean right now we are asked to switch off the phones at certain places, with the camera phones becoming common they might ban the phones all together. But if the vendors can squeeze in a quality 3.2MP camera without affecting the phone's performance and price, then it will at least convince me to use it.

Since we are half-way there and with exponential technology growth, looks like 6MP may not be a far fetched concept. What do you think?

Hola Smartphone Thoughts readers! I'm back from Mexico, and I have almost five hundred email messages staring me in the face. 8O But fear not, I'm feeling very recharged and ready to take on the world again. :way to go: My vacation was wonderful, and I made great use of both my Canon Digital Rebel and my Canon S400 (sometimes it made more sense to carry the "little guy"). I've created a short Pocket PC-formatted video for you to look at either streamed or on your Pocket PC - or streaming onto your Pocket PC if you're REALLY cool. I carried my Pocket PC with me, mostly for using MobiMate's Worldmate Pro 2004. Because I was in a disconnected state (Fido has no GPRS roaming in Mexico it seems :-() I used it as a currency converter, and weather updates for three days, but beyond that I didn't use my Pocket PC for much. It was basically a glorified calculator. ;-) My Smartphone was used for a few phone calls, but without GPRS it's a pretty "dumb" phone (I switched to a Tanager model Smartphone the day before I left, so not much was loaded). My laptop received the most use, both as a mobile gaming platform (I finally had time to play Warcraft III!), and as a photo storage unit and editor (I sure do love Picasa!) I also spent quite a bit of time reading an amazing book: Shogun. Considering my obsession with Japanese culture and design, it's a bit odd that I haven't already read it, but what a book! If you haven't read it, I highly reccomend it - it's not a "fast" read, but it's a good one. The book has also re-kindled my desire to learn to speak Japanese. In a few months I might be asking for volunteers to help me using Skype. :mrgreen: I'm glad to be back, but boy it's cold here - I went from 27 Celsius to -10 Celsius. Brr! Here are a few pictures of some of the interesting things I saw while I was there All told, I took over 600 pictures, but I of course didn't keep that many. Let's just say that I was glad I had my 2.25 GB worth of CF cards. :-DIt's good to be back - now I have a lot of catching up to do...did anyone else go away on a Christmas vacation? Post some pics and tell some stories!

This post is going live at 4 AM on Saturday morning, which is the time I'm going to be falling out of bed and heading off to the Calgary airport. Once there, I'll be heading down to Nuevo Vallarta for a seven-day Christmas vacation with my family. I don't take vacations very often, and this is my first "Christmas Vacation", so I hope it turns out better than this movie I watched on Thursday night. ;-)



I'll be mostly offline - I'll be bringing my Smartphone, my iPAQ 4150, and my Fujitsu P5010D. I'm not planning on doing any "real" work, and even if I manage to get a GPRS signal with my Smartphone (does Fido have GPRS roaming agreements in Mexico I wonder?), I think I'll stay disconnected. So if you don't hear back on an email message, that's why. I'm going to enjoy myself, so don't destroy the place while I'm gone. ;-)

The Seattle Times has an article today which generally discuess technology rumours and such. A snippet of the article mentions Microsoft Smartphone: "Missing Smartphone: What happened to the long-awaited Smartphone from Microsoft and AT&T Wireless? The two companies announced plans to develop a Windows-powered Smartphone last July; at the time, AT&T Wireless Chief Executive John Zeglis said the device manufacturer would be revealed "very shortly." Microsoft said the Smartphone would ship in the first half of 2003. But so far, there is no Smartphone, and no manufacturer has been announced. A Microsoft spokeswoman said the phone will be out sometime this year, and there is no specific reason for the delay. "It's just not here yet," she said."

First half of 2003 came and went. What do you think? Will it make it to the holidays? 8)