Smartphone Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

"Way back in November 2007, we location-enabled all of our Google Maps for mobile clients to bring location awareness to the masses and improve the local search experience. Using My Location, millions of you have been able to easily find yourselves on a map at the touch of a button. But what about finding other people? Lots of you have been requesting to see where your friends are on a map, too. Well now you can with Google Latitude. Latitude is a new feature of Google Maps for mobile, as well as an iGoogle gadget, that allows you to share your location with your friends and to see their approximate locations, if they choose to share them with you. You can use your Google account to sign in and easily invite friends to Latitude from your existing list of contacts or by entering their email addresses. Google Talk is integrated with Latitude, so you and your friends can update your status messages and profile photos on the go and see what everyone is up to. You can also call, SMS, IM, or email each other within the app."

Unlike previous Google Maps for mobile innovations, Google is making the new Latitude feature available to Windows Mobile users from day one. To start spying on connecting with your friends, fire up your mobile browser and grab the app from google.com/latitude. It's 100% opt-in, and you can choose just how much or how little information you want to share, and with whom.

"Microsoft is aiming to capture 40 percent of the smartphone market with Windows Mobile by the year 2012, an executive said Tuesday. The target is ambitious considering the company's relatively small share of the market for smartphone operating systems today and stiff competition from the likes of Symbian, Apple's iPhone, RIM's BlackBerry, and newcomers such as Google's Android platform. "

Microsoft is betting that new devices like the HTC Touch Diamond will help it in the consumer space and server products like Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager will help it in the enterprise space. Do you think 40% is in their reach by 2012, when today Nokia has nearly 70% share compared to Microsoft's 13% share. I remember a time not too long ago when Microsoft's main mobile rival had 80% share compared to MS's 10% share.

"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. :(

"Picture a surface that can recognize physical objects from a paintbrush to a cell phone and allows hands-on, direct control of content such as photos, music and maps. Today at the Wall Street Journal�s D: All Things Digital conference, Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer will unveil Microsoft Surface�, the first in a new category of surface computing products from Microsoft that breaks down traditional barriers between people and technology. Surface turns an ordinary tabletop into a vibrant, dynamic surface that provides effortless interaction with all forms of digital content through natural gestures, touch and physical objects. Beginning at the end of this year, consumers will be able to interact with Surface in hotels, retail establishments, restaurants and public entertainment venues. The intuitive user interface works without a traditional mouse or keyboard, allowing people to interact with content and information on their own or collaboratively with their friends and families, just like in the real world. Surface is a 30-inch display in a table-like form factor that small groups can use at the same time. From digital finger painting to a virtual concierge, Surface brings natural interaction to the digital world in a new and exciting way."


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Okay, I admit to being intrigued by Microsoft Surface. You could dismiss this as just another bit of vapourware being shown off by Microsoft Research, but (and might I add - unsurprisingly, considering Microsoft has dropped hints of touch-based computing over the past few years) it turns out that this product is very real and will be deployed by a number of partners by the end of the year (for example, "customers in T-Mobile retail stores might place different cell phones on Surface's interactive surface where product features, prices and phone plans would appear so they could be easily compared"). As far as Smartphone Thoughts is concerned, Microsoft Surface could offer new ways for your Windows Mobile-based device to interact with itself and other neighbouring devices, and if it ever proves to work flawlessly, I'd say ActiveSync and the Windows Mobile Device Center ought to take a page out of Surface's book. ;)

Check out the press images and screen grabs above and below, and do stop by the Microsoft Surface web site and Channel 10 to see what all the fuss is about. Direct interaction, multi-touch, multi-user, and object recognition? I'd say the real "wow" starts now.

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"Ever wanted to get daily photo news stories and interesting feature stories delivered to your mobile device? Ever wanted to share photos with your friends and family without paying huge MMS charges? Share device to device without having to go through a web-site? Well now you can, by using a new Windows Mobile application called WpN Mobile, created by photo agency World Picture Network. WpN Mobile allows you download feature stories from around the world ranging in topics from Daily News to Robot Warfare in Iraq to New York Gangs to Bare Knuckle Boxing. Features are packaged into different channels based on topic i.e. Sports, Sci-Tech, and Entertainment etc."



WorldPictureNetwork is announcing the public Beta release of its Windows Mobile based photo news story reader. Our readers might remember that I had made an announcement a while back about this software. As a beta tester, I enjoyed testing this application which is a lot like an RSS reader but with a twist; instead of standard text based news, WpN Mobile uses photographs to convey the story. I enjoy the quality of the photographs offered by WorldPictureNetwork. Now in the form of this public Beta release, this application is ready for a bigger audience and it offers more than just the daily news and feature stories. It also allows you to share photographs with your family and friends. And did I mention that you can catch up on Smartphone Thoughts news using WpN Mobile? 8) Can you spot Jason�s "Come On, Charge Faster!" post in the above photo animation?

"In the cell phone world, Palm's Treo 700w will be the star of CES 2006, but we're expecting to see high-speed competition ramp up with new handhelds, new multimedia services and even broadcast TV on phones. ... Our big question is whether Motorola will have its Q device ready to compete. The Q looks like a cross between a RAZR and a Blackberry, and was recently certified by the FCC for CDMA networks like those used by Verizon, Sprint, and Alltel. Releasing both the Treo and the Q would be a powerful one-two e-mail punch for Verizon�though Motorola may keep the Q in the wings for a big release at the the CTIA trade show in April."



PCMag.com is claiming that the Consumer Electronics Show 2006 will feature a number of new phones and Windows Mobile based Treo 700w will be the star at the CES 2006. So okay, Windows Mobile platform will get the much deserved attention this time at CES. But it would be great if Motorola surprised us by announcing the Moto Q Smartphone at the show, which begins on January 5th. Predictions anyone? :D

"Both Nokia and Motorola saw market share gains according to research compiled by Gartner for the second quarter. Motorola's growth again outpaced its closest competitor, Samsung."

As mentioned in this news the RAZR seems to be driving Motorola's gains here. One wonders if one day Smartphones will be driving the gains of these companies. I think so. :D

"This free Contacts Add-On has been inspired by RJV SendContact. Since the SendContact has many drawbacks like you can't use T9 search from list of Contacts, etc., Ondrej has developed this and shared it to airfagev as a freeware. After installing the app, you should see Send via email/SMS added to your contacts menu. This utility also allows you to select which contact info you want to send like Name, Mobile No., Work No., etc."



If you have ever attempted to share a contact before, you'll appreciate this handy little application from Ondrej Hanak over at airfagev.com. Nice job!

"Although they may be rivals in the mobile phone industry, Samsung and Motorola announced a deal on Friday that will allow them to share technology between the two companies. The move is in an effort to prevent legal issues related to each other's intellectual property, or IP."

Motorola and Samsung are have decided to play nice with each other. I wonder what impacts this might have on the future of mobile phones? Perhaps we will see some of Samsung's display technology on a Motorola phone?

Have you ever wanted to help shape an application into something powerful and easy to use? Have you ever wished the developer would be more open to suggestions and features? Now you have a chance. John Cody is working on a new Reminder/Alarm/Timer type application with rapid creation of the alarms and ease-of-use as primary features for the program. Best of all, he wants your help to make it easy and powerful. I know you're asking "What's in it for me?" and I'll tell you; a free copy of the final version. If you're the first person to suggest something, or if you provide helpful feedback during beta testing, you will receive a free copy of the final version. Sounds like a pretty deal to me! Head on over and check it out. 8)

"Troika, a London-based collective of artists, designers, and stoners, have created the SMS Guerilla Projector. This military-looking device allows you to project SMS messages on buildings, signs, or whatever other surface you feel requires a 10-cent message from your message buddies. Why? Well, because it�s subversive and annoying. Black clothing, Williamsburg loft, and trucker hat not included."



The perfect tool to help you share your SMS messages with the guy in the apartment next to you, or on the side of your previous employers office building. :wink: You can see some examples of this projector in action on the Troika web site. (Look under Devices / SMS Guerilla Projector )

"Nokia's share of the global cellphone market fell sharply in the first quarter of 2004, hurt by a lack of new models and a rocky relationship with mobile phone service providers, a survey found on Tuesday. Though the industry leader shipped more phones than in the first three months of 2003, its market share slid to 28.9 percent from 34.6 percent, market research group Gartner found, as Nokia lost ground to all of its top six rivals. Gartner also noted that the overall handset market was growing strongly, with shipments rising 34 percent to 153 million units in the first quarter as consumers in emerging markets embraced mobile communications for the first time."

The report goes on to say that Motorola, Samsung, Siemens's , and Sony Ericsson all say a rise in there market share. This doesn't spell success for Microsoft as these numbers are hardware based and not specific to the OS. Motorola's share did rise by roughly 2% but that doesn't mean Windows Mobile-based Smartphones have a greater market share. However, it does show that Nokia can't take it's market share for granted.