Smartphones and Cell Phones

November 21st, 2009

Want to see the HTC HD2? Join me at the PSHUG meeting next Tuesday

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 2:37 pm

Categories: Android, BlackBerry, Google, HTC, Microsoft, Nokia, RIM, Samsung, T-Mobile, Windows Mobile

Tags: High Tech Computer Corp., Device, Cellular Phones, Benefits, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Human Resources, Matthew Miller

One of the benefits about writing about mobile phones is that I get the opportunity to play with a LOT of cool devices for a few weeks at a time. Years ago I was a regular attendee to the monthly Puget Sound Handheld User Group (PSHUG) meetings, but life as a coach and dad has consumed many of those Tuesday evenings. Thankfully, my schedule opened up this month so I will now be showing them off and giving people a chance to play with them next Tuesday, 24 November, from 7 to 9 pm on the Microsoft campus. I will have the following devices to show off:

• HTC HD2 WM 6.5 device
• Samsung Behold II Google Android device
• T-Mobile BlackBerry Bold 9700
• HTC Hero GSM model
• Nokia N900
• Nokia N97 mini
• FC Sounders custom Zune Original Zune HD

I also learned that my friend from many years ago, Dale Coffing, will be there show off some things. The CEO of Pharos Science and Applications, James Oyang, will be showing some of the latest Pharos GPS gadgetry. It is going to be a great time with some awesome folks and the latest and greatest devices. Please respond on the Facebook event page so we can estimate how many will be there.

November 20th, 2009

MobileTechRoundup show #190; Should we call them Pocket PCs again?

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 8:36 am

Categories: Google, HTC, Microsoft, Nokia, Podcast, Windows Mobile

Tags: MobileTechRoundup, High Tech Computer Corp., PC, Pocket PC, Handhelds, Operating Systems, Hardware, Software, Matthew Miller

Listen here (MP3, 34.7 MB, 37:49 minutes)

Subscribe to the show with this link (RSS)

I spent a couple of days at the Microsoft Mobius event here in Seattle, but couldn’t share much of what was discussed on MobileTechRoundup show #190 due to NDA agreements. However, each attendee did receive an HTC HD2 from HTC so I shared a few thoughts about that device. As people try to figure out a good label for these latest generation smartphones Kevin brought up that we should go back to calling them Pocket PCs. James and I chatted about our pleasure with the Verizon Wireless MiFi and how useful of a tool that has become. Kevin also shared a new technology that he will be teting out soon in his local area. The Google Chrome OS was showed off this week and Kevin helped educate me about this latest “cloud” system.

November 20th, 2009

Music, photos, and weather are beautiful, fluid experiences on the HTC HD2

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 6:07 am

Categories: HTC, Microsoft, Mobile software, Windows Mobile, iPhone

Tags: High Tech Computer Corp., Photograph, Music, Album Art, Matthew Miller

I posted a quick first impressions of the HTC HD2 yesterday, but as I was commuting home on the train I had a chance to spend more time with the media capabilities of the device and wanted to share a few thoughts and a video with you. As you can see the weather animations alone will turn you into a fan of tracking the weather, the photo viewer rivals the iPhone, and the HTC media player is awesome.

Weather

You can add locations around the world, but there are limits to the cities in the database so it won’t pick them up by area code and may not include your city. I understand there is a reg hack you can perform to enable more customized city selections, but my current cities are covered so I didn’t have to worry about this.

As you travel around the Home screen city will change to match your actual location, but then you can bounce over to the Weather tab and flip through different cities. The animations are simply fantastic and I particularly enjoy the snow and thunderstorms.

Photos

One reason I make it a point to carry the iPhone around to events where I will be bumping into family or friends I haven’t seen in a while is to share photos with a device that has an excellent photo experience. I am pleased to say the HTC HD2 beats the iPhone in fluidity and abilities with photo viewing. You can view photos in portrait, but the real magic happens when you rotate into landscape orientation and your photo thumbnails fly across the screen. You can pinch and zoom, scroll, and share those photos. You can switch quickly to other albums and then even enable the camera and capture photos with the 5 megapixel lens.

You can tap a single F icon and view you and your friends Facebook albums right from within the application. You can tap on a photo and share it via email, MMS, Facebook, or YouTube. There are a number of transitions and durations for enjoying photos in slideshow mode as well. With the multitasking capability of the OS you can have music playing in the background as you enjoy the slideshow too.

Music

When you first jump to the Music tab you might think it is the same as what we have seen before on TouchFLO 3D and there are a few options in portrait mode. I particularly liked the single tap to update album art for lots of music that I had from a CD with no album art attached to it. I now have album art for almost all my music.

Again, the real magic happens when you pop the device over on its side and switch to landscape orientation. Your album art turns into a cover flow experience and you can zip through all your albums in a flash. I especially like the left music icon that shifts the album art to the right and has the song order, titles, and times appear with album art on the right. You can use the right side arrows to jump up and down a song or simply tap or scroll right through the song list to quickly get to where you want. There is a play/pause button in the center of the two right selection arrows.

Did I also mention that the HD2 only has a single speaker that is LOUD? Listen to it in my video and you can hear it for yourself.

I plan to next try to convert some DVDs into a format for watching on the HD2. The Star Trek DVD package I bought yesterday comes with a digital copy so I will try that out first. I also plan to test out the still and video capabilities of the 5 megapixel camera this weekend. Do you have any other media related functions you want me to check out?

UPDATE: I figured out that Zune Pass subscription music plays perfectly on the HTC HD2. All you need to do is connect in ActiveSync mode to your Windows PC (I used my Windows 7 MSI Wind netbook) and then launch Windows Media Player and drag the songs you want onto your HD2 external storage card drive. With the awesome HTC media player application, the HD2 is turned into an awesome alternative to the Zune HD.

HTC HD2 reviews from around the Internet

As I continue to work on my full review, I found several very good reviews of the HTC HD2 that can occupy you all weekend so check these out:

• 4WinMobile has all the benchmarks
• TechRadar has 7 pages in their review
• MoDaCo has an almost 45 minute video
• MobilityMinded devoted 3 people to this review task
• Pocketnow awarded the HD2 a rare 5 out of 5 rating

November 20th, 2009

Hands-on with the T-Mobile Samsung Behold II Google Android smartphone

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 2:48 am

Categories: Android, Google, Linux, Review, Samsung, T-Mobile

Tags: Google Android, Device, Smart Phone, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., T-Mobile, Samsung Behold II, Cube, Center Button, Lock Button, MicroUSB

I took a look at the Samsung Behold last year and as you may recall this is a high end feature phone with a high resolution camera. When I initially heard that T-Mobile was going to launch the Behold II in the Fall I didn’t think much about it since I just thought it was some kind of minor update to a good feature phone. I then read more about the device and learned it was actually going to be powered by the Google Android OS and my interest was instantly piqued. The Samsung Behold II launched a couple of days ago on T-Mobile USA and is T-Mobile’s fourth Google Android device, making them the US carrier with the most Android smartphones. Check out a few product photos in my image gallery and the video walk through the Behold II below.

	Image Gallery:Check out a few product photos of the Samsung Behold II on T-Mobile.

As I pulled the Samsung Behold II out of the box, I was immediately impressed by its solid feel in my hand. It is pretty thing and has no real curves on the top or bottom with just rounded corners. There are actually quite a few buttons on the front below the display, which is a bit unusual given the minimalist designs many companies seem to be using today. I was really blown away after turning on the device and seeing the OLED display shine with vivid colors. You can see Samsung added in some of their widgety design elements and personally I didn’t find them to add a ton of value to the Android platform and have just never been much of a fan of the TouchWiz interface while some people may absolutely love it.

Specifications of the Samsung Behold II (T939)

• Quad band GSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) and dual band UMTS/HSPA (1700/2100 MHz)
• 256MB RAM/512MB ROM
• 3.2 inch AMOLED 320×480 pixels resolution display supporting 16 million colors and capacitive touch elements
• Standard 528 MHz processor
• Google Android 1.5 operating system
• 5 megapixel digital camera
• microSD expansion card slot with 2GB card included
• 3.5mm headset jack
• WiFi and Bluetooth radios
• Integrated GPS receiver
• 1500 mAh battery
• Dimensions: 4.57 x 2.20 x 0.48 inches and 4.23 ounces

The specs are typical for a Google Android device with the OLED display being the main unique feature. 528 MHz has proven to bog down a bit with Android, but so far it has done OK on the Behold II.

Box contents

The box is a typical square T-Mobile package with some thick manuals that weigh it down quite a bit. Inside the box you will find the Behold II, battery, charger, USB cable, wired stereo headset, 2GB microSD card, slip cover case, and manuals.

Hardware

It is tough to argue that the OLED display is not eye catching and pleasing in most situations. I rarely use my device in full sunlight so this is not a concern for me and being here in Washington I haven’t been able to test it out. Below the display on the front is an Read the rest of this entry »

November 19th, 2009

Hands-on with the HTC HD2, most impressive Windows Mobile device to date

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 9:38 am

Categories: HTC, Microsoft, Mobile software, Review, Windows Mobile

Tags: High Tech Computer Corp., Device, Microsoft Windows Mobile, Mobile, HTC HD2, TouchFLO 3D, Mult-touch, WorldCard Mobile Application, Microsoft Windows, Mobile Operating Systems

We wrapped up the Mobius 2009 event last night and since we spent most of the time talking about topics under NDA there isn’t much of anything I can share with your at this time. I recommend you check out Jason Dunn’s post on his new Windows Phone Thoughts site for coverage of what could be shared. HTC was kind enough to give each attendee an HTC HD2 device to evaluate so I wanted to post some first thoughts after spending the full day with it as my main device. I posted a video on YouTube with a short walk around the device and will post a full review early next week after a few more days with it. There is a ton of excitement about this device and after showing it to an iPhone owner here at work he said, “So this is what the next generation iPhone may look like.” HTC pushed Windows Mobile to the extreme with this device and it shows in an amazing product.

Hardware

Without even turning on the device you can tell there is something special about the HTC HD2. The device is a large black slab, but is thin at only about 3/8ths of an inch. It feels dense and a bit hefty, but like I have mentioned before I personally like devices that have good heft and density to them. The back metal battery cover is sleek and feels cool to the touch. It is surrounded by Read the rest of this entry »

November 18th, 2009

Office Mobile 2010 beta for Windows Mobile available now for free

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 12:15 pm

Categories: Microsoft, Mobile software, Windows Mobile

Tags: Microsoft Windows Mobile, Mobile, Microsoft Office, Beta, Advertising & Promotion, Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Marketing, Software, Matthew Miller

Good news for enterprise users of Windows Mobile devices comes to us today at the Mobius 2009 event. Microsoft announced the beta release of Office Mobile 2010 that is available now in the Windows Marketplace for Mobile. I just downloaded it on my new HTC HD2 and will put together a walk through of the beta software in the next day or two. The beta is available now for touchscreen devices and requires Windows Mobile 6.5.

This beta will be disable on 5 April 2010 so you can get almost 6 months of usage out of this free beta. A few of the features listed on the Marketplace are:

• View and edit your Microsoft® Office® documents with confidence.
• Stay connected to work from anywhere with SharePoint Workspace Mobile.
• Stay connected to work from anywhere with SharePoint Workspace Mobile.
• Use PowerPoint Mobile as a presentation aid.

I particularly like to see the presentation aid support in PowerPoint Mobile. The presenter here at Mobius used this to run his presentation and it worked well.

November 18th, 2009

Opera Mobile 10 beta for Windows Mobile now available

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 6:31 am

Categories: Microsoft, Mobile services, Mobile software, Windows Mobile

Tags: Microsoft Windows Mobile, Mobile, Opera Software ASA, Beta, Opera Mobile, Mobile Operating Systems, Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Mobile Applications, Handhelds

I was a bit surprised when Opera launched the public beta of Opera Mobile 10 first for Symbian devices since we have seen this browser always launch on Windows Mobile touchscreen devices in the past. Good news for all of you touchscreen Windows Mobile owners though as Opera announced the release of the Opera Mobile 10 for Windows Mobile today.

Opera Mobile 10 for Windows Mobile has the following features:

• Opera Turbo support so you can use their servers to reduce bandwidth and increase speed
• Speed Dial for faster access to your favorite sites
• Password manager
• Tabbed browsing
• Kinetic scrolling
• Auto-rotation
• Adaptive zoom

I prefer Opera Mobile on my WM devices because it gives me a full web experience and has more power and functionality than Internet Explorer Mobile. Opera Mobile is even more powerful than the Safari browser on the iPhone. Opera Mobile 10 beta works on both Classic and Professional editions of Windows Mobile 6.5, Windows Mobile 6.1, Windows Mobile 6.0 and on Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC. If you have a Symbian device you can also try out Opera Mobile 10 beta.

November 18th, 2009

eReader for Google Android now available

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 5:13 am

Categories: Android, Google, Mobile software

Tags: Google Inc., Google Android, eReader, E-books, Personal Technology, Matthew Miller

I am an ebook fan and like to have the same software across multiple platforms, which is why my preferred reader has been Mobipocket for a couple of years. eReader has been expanding on devices and just launched their Google Android software so now I am going to go all in with eReader. I have been using Shortcovers on my G1, but it requires a data connection to download pages as you read. eReader lets you read content stored right on your device so you can read while on an airplane, traveling in a tunnel, etc. This launch comes on the heels of the Motorola DROID launch and I think that device would be an amazing ebook reader with the beautiful large display.

You won’t yet find eReader in the Android Market so you must install it via the web browser. Visit www.ereader.com/android to download the installation file and get it up and running on your Android device.

Features of the current release include the following:

• Connect to eReader.com or Fictionwise.com bookshelf for wireless download. Optional automatic download of new purchases.
• Basic reading features: forward page, back page, table of contents, change font size, landscape vs. portrait rotation views. Compatible with all eReader (PDB) content.
• Advanced reading features: bookmarks, highlights, notes, dictionary lookup when a compatible dictionary is installed.

You can navigate via the trackball, keyboard, or touchscreen. There is also a mobile optimized site for eReader so you can browse, purchase, and install titles right from your Google Android smartphone.

November 17th, 2009

Microsoft may have blown opportunities, but all hope is not lost

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 5:16 pm

Categories: Microsoft, Windows Mobile

Tags: Phone, Mobile, Palm Inc., Microsoft Corp., Mobile Data, PDAs, Advertising & Promotion, Telecom & Utilities, Handhelds, Hardware

I saw this post come across my feeds today and with the title of Why Windows Mobile and Palm will continue to fail immediately grabbed my attention because I actually am a person who likes both operating systems, even if that is not the popular opinion of many. I wouldn’t worry about clicking the link above and actually getting any explanation of the title since the article just states that the author saw a Palm Pixi ad on the My Phone service page and the two didn’t match up as he expected. I previously stated that I have a feeling Palm’s future is questionable and maybe they won’t end up being around long term. I am attending the Microsoft Mobius event here in Seattle and was pleased to hear that Microsoft is in the race for the long term, even if their market share may be going down for the short term.

I also came across the Wired.com article titled How Microsoft Blew It With Windows Mobile. This article actually has some analysis that looks a bit more at how Apple shook up the mobile space and how Microsoft blew an opportunity to be that leader instead of Apple. I agree with the quote below from Raven Zachary, a technology analyst and owner of iPhone app development house Small Society.

It was theirs to lose and they lost it. They had everything they needed to execute, to do the right kinds of carrier deals to create an app store, create visual voice mail, touchscreens and so on. They’ve been in this space since the beginning.

Microsoft was quite successful with the PDA market and then everything started shifting into phones so they added phone capability to the PDA and focused on the enterprise market. While I do think Microsoft should have moved faster into the consumer market, it isn’t that difficult to see that they stuck with the enterprise market due to the high price of data and devices a few years ago. Mobile data is expanding rapidly in the US, but is still a very expensive option and millions of consumers are still out there without data and prime customers for smartphones in the future. Microsoft sees the success of the iPhone and while they may not be moving as fast as we all want to see, I wouldn’t count them out just yet and am excited about their future.

November 16th, 2009

Widespread BlackBerry data outage reported, is it time to move on?

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 11:41 pm

Categories: BlackBerry, RIM, T-Mobile

Tags: RIM BlackBerry, Outage, Manufacturing, Handhelds, Hardware, Matthew Miller

I posted my first impressions of the BlackBerry Bold 9700 earlier today and then planned to spend a lot of time using the device over the next few days. I am at the Microsoft Mobius event in Seattle that is a gathering of some of the greatest mobile minds and was trying to show the Bold 9700 to some folks, but I couldn’t get a connection. I then later read on Boy Genius Report that BIS was down across the globe today. As of this moment it still is not working for me and has been down for hours.

The release of the T-Mobile Bold 9700 obviously couldn’t have caused such a problem with the network and we haven’t seen anything official from RIM yet. This type of service outage is one reason I will never go back to using a BlackBerry device. I prefer to have more control over my connectivity and information and think these types of data outages are unacceptable today.