Smartphone Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

"Reportedly, the center will provide customers in Taiwan with a comprehensive range of services including "personalized consultations on new and existing HTC products, warranty repairs, and other valuable after-sales support." Notably, the HTC Care facility promises "speedy turn-around times" for all items sent in for repair, and unlike Apple's $29 rental fee, HTC customers can look forward to a free loaner should their handset fall ill. Click on through for more snapshots of the sparklin' facility."



According to an Engadget reader, this isn't a "new" store. It was a Dopod store and with the recently completed acquisition of Dopod, HTC just rebranded the store. Regardless of how it came to be, it's nice to see that HTC has reached the size where they needed to do this. You can only do so much over the internet. Sometimes it helps to have a place where people can check out all your products as well as get repairs done. Now, how much longer before we get one here in North America? I'm guessing 5 years or so.

"In World of Warcraft (yes, I play), whenever you gain a new level you often get a whole slew of new abilities - your avatar can do more than it could before. When that happens, the standard thing to yell is "Ding W00T!" Well folks, this summer I think the Samsung Blackjack will be calling out Ding W00T! When I loaded the hacked Windows Mobile 6 ROM on there, I noticed something very, very odd. There was a new setting and a hidden application that kept loading itself in the background no matter what I was able to do, and it was called "Video Share." So today Mobility site points us to an AT&T announcement that this summer they'll be rolling out a real-time video sharing service..."

Real-time video sharing? That sounds exciting! Almost as exciting as leveling up in World of Warcraft. ;) I wonder how AT&T is going to pull off this video sharing service? If they plan on making the videos out of the same shoddy Real Video codec that is used for their Cellular Video service, than I think I might have to pass on that one. While Cellular Video looks great on AT&T's feature phone lineup, the same cannot be said for their Windows Mobile devices which usually have screens resolutions that are a lot larger than size. :(

"The Microsoft� .NET Compact Framework 2.0 SP2 Redistributable contains the common language runtime and class libraries built for the .NET Compact Framework. In addition to supporting version 2.0, it also supports applications developed for version 1.0 and service pack releases before version 2.0. Important: This redistributable enables running .NET Compact Framework applications on the Pocket PC, Pocket PC Phone Edition, Smartphone, and other Windows CE powered devices. To develop .NET Compact Framework applications, Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 or the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 SDK are required."



Microsoft has released Service Pack 2 for the .NET Compact Framework 2.0. The update features a bunch of fixes, check out the Service Pack 2 download page for more details. In case you have the .NET CF 2.0 installed on your Smartphone, then you should download this update and install it on your device. And don't forget, you can install the .NET CF on the storage card. ;-)

"Study results show that customers who interact with a customer service representative on the phone report better experiences than those contacting the carrier through an automated system. Contacting the carrier via the Internet or email was rated least favorable by customers."

No surprise here. Who enjoys talking with those automated systems and email support can be painfully slow. Once again, T-Mobile ranked highest when it came to customer care - I can't tell you how many T-Mo customers tell me how much they like their carrier. And to underscore just how important customer care is, J.D. Power found that half of all wireless users have needed to contact customer care within the last year. So it just makes sense to treat the customer nicely. :)

This is some great news for anyone with an i-mate device. I've dealt with sending my device back to i-mate for repair (mine was sent to Dubai) and I have to tell you that it was an experience that I don't want to do again. Thanks to this new arrangement, I don't have to either. Pocket PC Techs have been doing amazing work for a long time now and I'm happy to see that they'll be doing work on any of my i-mate devices. The full press release can be found below. :D


"PocketPCTechs.com was declared the official US and Canadian i-mate Authorized Repair Center, servicing all i-mate devices, both under warranty and out of warranty.

�We are extremely pleased to become one of i-mate�s Authorized Repair Centers,� said Leonard Wesson, CEO of PocketPCTechs.com. �We are confident that our qualified staff and team of advanced technicians will be able to offer i-mate customers efficient and comprehensive service.�
I-mate devices will be coming in to PocketPCTechs.com, located in Fountain Valley, Ca., from the United States and Canada. The entire i-mate PDA family will be accepted for service, including the popular JAM, JASJAR, Smartflip and JASJAM.

�We�re very excited to begin this relationship with PocketPCTechs.com,� said Hector Lopez C, Director of Sales and Business Development (Americas) for i-mate. �We are confident that they will diligently represent our company's integrity and dedication to customer satisfaction. Since establishing our presence in the US, we have expanded our service center presence into Canada and Latin America. As our customer base continues to grow, more service centers will be added around the world.�

Customers with warranty devices will start the repair process by ordering the diagnostic service. If the customer�s device is confirmed to be under warranty, the diagnostic fee and return FedEx Ground shipping fee will be waived. Customers with out-of-warranty devices will be asked to review the Out-of-Warranty Services section of PocketPCTechs.com�s i-mate Web site to see if the repair needed is offered. If the repair cannot be found on the site, the customer should then order the diagnostic service. No charges will be made to customers� credit card until their device is confirmed as either under or out-of-warranty, and all work has been completed.

�It�s a great way to expose a new realm of people to our products and services,� Wesson said. �We�re grateful for the opportunity.�For more information regarding PocketPCTechs� services and products, please call (714)839-5300, visit the company Web site at PocketPCTechs.com , or PocketPCTechs� official i-mate service center Web site at http://www.pocketpctechs.com/imate ."

"A Qualcomm official has stated that USA's own Cingular Wireless "is set to launch" a 7.2Mbps HSDPA service this coming January (at the earliest). While we're not sure if that figure is theoretical or otherwise, nor do we know its complimentary upload speed, we've found that the service will hit speed-hungry laptops equipped with PCMCIA slots real soon. While upping the speeds of HSDPA services seems to be all the rage these days, we're glad to see such a substantial jump happening right here. Notably, Cingular probably won't be alone in such launches come 2007, as Australian service provider Telstra is already planning to hit its customers up with the same luxury, while a spokesperson from SK Telecom boasted that its networks were "already designed" to support the blazing speeds, insinuating that a boost in service could be just around the bend."

Here is hoping that you will not be required to purchase new equipment to benefit from the speed boost! With my current HSDPA connection I reach speeds which clock in at around 800-850kbps, almost double the speeds of EVDO users in my area. I can't even begin to imagine what my connection speeds will be after the upgrade. Hopefully this speed increase doesn't melt my brand new Blackjack! :lol:

"A couple of months ago I was offered a chance to beta test the upcoming T-Mobile UMA service and was given a full kit to try for 6 weeks. The kit consisted of a T-Mobile branded Linksys router and Samsung UMA WiFi-enabled phone. T-Mobile is now rolling out their HotSpot @ Home service to customers in the Puget Sound area of Washington State for more public testing purposes. You need to buy the WiFi enabled phone for US$49.99 and existing smartphones you may have with WiFi radios will not work."



Now here is a practical use for WiFi in Smartphones. I wonder if this will spread to Starbucks. Have any of you in the Puget Sound area heard of this or seen it in action? Is there anyone here in the Puget Sound area? :?

"T-Mobile is dead, long live T-Mobile. October 2006 is looking to mark some major changes for the States' fourth-largest carrier, dropping their corporate branding in favor of what you see above -- a decidedly... well, bubblier font, along with a fresh slogan, "Stick Together." The color scheme (pink, and lots of it) carries over, but the spokesperson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, does not. On a related note T-Mobile is taking the opportunity to launch their myFaves service (reminiscent of Alltel's My Circle) which lets customers place calls airtime-free to five folks of their choice, regardless of carrier. It seems a little sketch that they're restricting the use of myFaves to certain handsets with special firmware -- but with plans starting at $40, we suspect plenty of folks will be willing to pick up new hardware to get in on the action."



Being able to talk to five people, on any network, for an unlimited amount of time is cool, especially if you have a talkative child or your work requires you to be on the phone for extended periods of time. On the other hand, one of the main reasons I moved back to Cingular was because everyone I talk to is on Cingular so now I get to talk to them for free! :roll:

"According to an unconfirmed report, T-Mobile USA is going begin offering UMA service soon. UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access) lets devices make use of cellular networks through short-range wireless technologies, including Bluetooth and Wi-Fi... The down side of this service is it will require a special Wi-Fi router and a phone that supports UMA... Reportedly, this carrier will begin offering UMA service on September 12 in Seattle and a second city, as yet unknown, city."

I wouldn't mind purchasing a special Wi-Fi router and handset if it meant I could have unlimited calling for a low monthly fee. Heck, we spend hundreds of dollars now for our Smartphones... and our service is expensive! I�m glad to see that T-Mobile is embracing technology such as this, instead of trying to lock it up and pretend it doesn�t exist. :)

"PassBuilder.com is a new, free password generator site that allows users to create unique, random passwords with a variety of different settings. You can now build your own passwords online, and choose from a combination of characters such as lowercase and uppercase letters, numbers, and punctuation marks, as well as varying lengths. PassBuilder can generate memory aids too, so if you need a little extra help remembering all of your passwords, you can select from several different reminders on the site. PassBuilder works on both desktop and mobile browsers, and will generate passwords for you whether or not you have JavaScript enabled on your device. It�s a fast and easy way to create all the passwords you need while you�re online."



This looks really handy. I'm impressed to see they have it working on mobile devices as well. Since I know everyone is going to go over and play with this now don't forget that you can store those passwords into Ilium's eWallet software [Affiliate] for your Windows Mobile Smartphone ;)

"Sprint Nextel Corp., the No. 3 U.S. mobile service, on Thursday introduced a wireless service to help parents find their children, as it makes a bid to expand its presence in the family market. The service lets parents look at maps on their cellphones or computers to locate their children who also carry mobile phones. Parents can also program the service to automatically send them text messages at specific times each day to confirm that their children have arrived at home or in school. The so-called Family Locator service aims to bring in revenue from a location technology Sprint and its rivals are required by law to put into cellphones so that safety workers can pinpoint the location of 911 emergency service callers. Sprint's service shows data such as street addresses to which a child is close and the estimated accuracy of the reading, which could range from a radius of 2 yards around the child to a radius of hundreds of yards."

This sounds like a pretty cool application. It will also notify the child, via a text message, that you have checked up on their location. We just need more GPS's built into devices so we can really start to take advantage of this technology. If there was a Windows Mobile version, you could run this across carriers. So everyone doesn't have to be in the same country. ;)

"News site MSNBC.com has worked with Action Engine Corporation to launch a beta mobile news service featuring an advertising business model. Unlike paid subscription services, the beta launch of MSNBC.com Mobile is provided free of charge to consumers by incorporating video and banner advertisements within the service. The service gives consumers access to MSNBC.com news, videos, and pictures using their wireless device. Microsoft�s Windows Mobile and Embedded Devices Division is the exclusive advertising sponsor for the launch of this new service."

Cool, or so I thought. When I went to check it out, I learned that you have to download and install their application to take advantage of the mobile news site. :( Why can't I just use my own browser? Why does everyone feel that they can create a better experience by forcing you to install another application. I wouldn't mind so much if this was something that could be used by multiple applications. However, I'm not really interested in installing yet another, mobile news feed reader. :roll: If you're interested, you can give it at try at http://GoMobile.MSNBC.com

"Calling 411 for directory assistance can be maddeningly expensive. Carriers like Sprint and Verizon charge more than $1 and sometimes as much as $2 a call from a cell phone. And much of that is profit. Directory assistance "truly is a cash cow," said Saroja Girishankar, a vice president at the Pelorus Group, a telecommunications market research firm based in Raritan, N.J. She and other industry analysts said that the carriers paid wholesalers--who actually provide the 411 service--from 25 cents to 50 cents a call."

The article goes on to mention a couple new free alternatives, like 1-800-FREE-411 and Google. This just shows how much I call 411 from my cell phone because I didn't realize there was an added fee for it or that there was a 1-800 alternate for this. How many of you actually use your carriers 411 services and what is their fee like?

"Cingular is expected to announce on Tuesday an on-demand mobile TV service that runs over its new 3G wireless network. The service--called Cingular Video--allows viewers to select short three- to five-minute clips from 18 different channels, including selections from shows airing on the Cartoon Network, NBC and ESPN. Cingular has also partnered with media companies to offer exclusive content from sources such as Fox News, which will offer short clips of news, and HBO, which will offer clips of "The Sopranos," "Sex and the City," "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Entourage."

Clips? I don't know that I want to watch just a clip. If I'm going to watch a video on my phone, chances are pretty good that I want more than a little clip. The exception, of course, is movie previews because there is nothing more available. The good news is that this service will be free of charge to Cingular customers who have the unlimited 3G data package ($20 a month).

"TechNewsWorld reports that Fox Mobile Entertainment will launch a mobile video service called Mobizzo. According to the article, "the service will offer games, music, mobile phone wallpaper and ringtones, including Fox programming such as episodes of Family Guy and films like Napoleon Dynamite." Fox Mobile plans to "launch a multi-million dollar consumer marketing campaign for Mobizzo," and will "produce its own specialized content, such as specially designed "Mobisodes" of the original series "24: Conspiracy," inspired by the hit TV show "24," and more." Mobizzo will charge around $2-3 dollars for each product with monthly subscriptions to content averaging about $6 a month. The service will be available to Cingular and T-Mobile customers."

I just don't get this stuff. Maybe it's because I don't watch more than an hour of TV a week if that. I just can't see staring at my phone for an hour to watch cartoons. How many of you are into this?

" Unveiling a new TV service for mobile phones and a new unified communications solution for mobile devices, Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer today introduced several innovative solutions and strategies that will generate more revenue opportunities for mobile operators and provide compelling benefits for subscribers. ...He also showed off a new live TV service introduced by Virgin Mobile and BT Movio powered by Microsoft for Windows Mobile � -based Smartphones, and the new sync center for mobile devices in Windows Vista�, the new Windows � operating system debuting later this year. Ballmer also shared the first public demonstration of how Windows Live�, the recently introduced set of personal Internet services and software, will extend from the PC and Internet to mobile devices, and highlighted how leading mobile operators are using other innovative mobile services to attract new customers and build subscriber loyalty."


Figure 1: The new Smartphone for Virgin Mobile and the BT Movio service.

I watched today's keynote via Microsoft's webcast and unfortunately, the video was pretty bad. Sorry, I wasn't able to get a better screen capture. :(
Steve Ballmer made many announcements this morning at 3GSM, including a new ad campaign for Windows Mobile, a new live TV service from Virgin and BT Movio for mobile devices. The picture above is the phone Virgin will be using for this service. I didn't catch who manufactured the device, but it's running Windows Mobile 5 and has a dedicated button on the right that launches the live TV service.


Figure 2: The Hump twins show off Microsofts new Blue Rendezvous technology

Blue Rendezvous is a new Bluetooth management tool that allows you to quickly and easily setup Bluetooth connections. They did a quick little demo and it was pretty cool to see how quickly the phones found each other and transfered files.

Steve also talked about the licensing of ActiveSync protocols to Sony Ericsson and Nokia to allow those devices to connect to the PC and sync with Outlook and Exchange even though they don't run Windows Mobile.

"Motorola Inc., after nearly a year of vague pronouncements, unveiled Tuesday an ambitious music radio service for cell phones that also plays over car and home stereos. Motorola iRadio, featuring 435 channels, would be sold by wireless service providers to their subscribers for between $7 and $10 per month -- a few dollars cheaper than the satellite radio networks that would be among the phone-based service's immediate rivals. No wireless carriers have signed on yet to carry iRadio, which may also be adapted for non-Motorola phones if carriers request it, company officials said. ...Not surprisingly, Motorola sees the phone as the focal point of this new model, not only serving as a portable music player but emerging as a roving conduit and repository for music that can feed a home or car stereo."

Leaving Apple behind, Motorola has pushed into a new venue for music on a mobile phone. Instead of just carrying 100 songs with you, you will now be able to tune into various channels and feed music into other devices. This sounds like a pretty nice solution, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it works once it's released. :D

"Cingular on Thursday detailed its plans for an upcoming 3G video service from the cellular carrier to be called Cingular Video. The new feature would allow for the on-demand streaming of video content, including clips from premium movie channel HBO. Users would be able to personalize the service to their liking, which would also include news, sports, weather and entertainment clips. Those with compatible 3G phones could view the content over the carrier's new HSDPA network, announced on December 6. Cingular's high-speed network is currently available in Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Portland, Ore., Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Calif., Seattle/Tacoma, and Washington D.C., with plans to expand it throughout 2006."



Cingular recently launched the HSDPA-based 3G data network in the US. HSDPA promises data rates of 400-700kpbs with burst speeds of over 1Mbps. 8) And thanks to the improved data speeds, Cingular can now move beyond ring-tones and offer cool video content for download. Has anyone tried the similar service being offered by Cingular's competitors, Verizon and Sprint Nextel?

"Top Tech News reports on Google's beta launch of Google Local for mobile, a free JAVA app download that gives users the ability to locate addresses or businesses in the U.S. from a mobile phone. The app offers "several features that are mobile-phone specific, like a click-to-call capability. It also provides small interactive maps that let users zoom in or out of a specific location, as well as satellite imagery that can provide a bird's eye view of a site."



I was playing with the desktop version of this and it does have a lot of features. It was just a bit big and obnoxious looking though. Now it is good to see Google paying more attention to the mobile world. As I was posting this John Cody sent us this link that shows the features of this new service.

"The sexy stuff starts with new features. Microsoft is definitely looking to cash in on America�s gadget craze: Exchange is now capable of a variety of new smartphone and PDA-type features, centering on something called Direct Push Technology. This deal sends out whatever Exchange information the user�s entitled to, including not only e-mail but calendaring, contacts, the whole shebang. What�s nice is that this push is fairly intelligent. First off, it�s encrypted, and the Redmondians showed me a live demo of just how quick a transfer could be. Further speeding things up is that large messages and attached files are truncated. You can view pieces and then decide whether it's something you need to see in its entirety or to spare the bandwidth for something else."

Oliver Rist, over at InfoWorld.com, has a nice write up that covers off some of the bug fixes, and a lot of the new features that Exchange Service Pack 2 offers. While Direct Push may be the biggest part of SP2, there are other cool new features for the desktop users like using Sender Policy Framework (SPF) to identify phishing scams. I've been meaning to setup an Exchange server, and it's starting to look like it will be sooner rather than later. :mrgreen: