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Category: RIM
November 21st, 2009
Want to see the HTC HD2? Join me at the PSHUG meeting next Tuesday
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 16th, 2009
Widespread BlackBerry data outage reported, is it time to move on?
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.
November 16th, 2009
First impressions of the T-Mobile BlackBerry Bold 9700
It was a year ago this month that the RIM BlackBerry Bold was launched and I purchased one from AT&T while on a business trip (see my first impressions). The Bold had the BEST QWERTY keyboard available at that time, but that came at the price of width so the phone was a bit chunky. We now see RIM making some design improvements with the BlackBerry Bold 9700 that is launching first with T-Mobile and AT&T here in the US. I have spent a couple of days with the T-Mobile BlackBerry Bold 9700, check out my image gallery, and think it may be the best front facing QWERTY BlackBerry device on the market. I was quite impressed with the BB Tour, but the lack of WiFi in today’s smartphone market is really unacceptable. The T-Mobile BB Curve 8900 is also an excellent device, but the Bold 9700 adds 3G.
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The BlackBerry device I recommended for T-Mobile customers before today was the Curve 8900 and this is still a very good device if 3G is not a need for you on your BlackBerry. Honestly, the BlackBerry browser is not that great and I think people with BB devices are focused on email, which works quite well with just an EDGE connection. The Bold 9700 adds 3G and a bump up to 624 MHz processor with the trackball changed to an optical touchpad, which you may or may not like. There is not much more that RIM can do with these BlackBerry QWERTY keyboard devices, but it is great to finally see a 3G model on T-Mobile.
Specifications: The specifications for the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8900 include:
* Quad-band GSM/EDGE:1900/1800/900/850 MHz
* Tri-band UMTS: 2100/1700/900 MHz
* BlackBerry OS 5.0
* 624 MHz processor
* 256MB ROM
* microSD card slot with SDHC support (256MB card included)
* QWERTY keyboard and trackball
* Integrated GPS/A-GPS receiver
* 802.11 b/g WiFi with support for T-Mobile UMA service
* Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP support
* 2.44 inch 480×360 pixels 65k colors display
* 3.2 megapixel camera with flash light and auto focus
* 3.5 mm headset jack
* 1500 mAh battery
* Dimensions: Weight: 4.3 ounces
* Length: 4.29 inches
* Width: 2.36 inches
* Thickness: 0.55 inches
The differences between the original BB Bold and BB Bold 9700 are as follows:
* Bold has 1GB internal flash ROM and Bold 9700 has 256MB
* Bold has a/b/g WiFi and Bold 9700 has b/g WiFi
* Bold has a 2 megapixel camera and Bold 9700 has a 3.2 megapixel model
* Bold has a larger 2.75 inch display and Bold 9700 has a 2.44 inch display
* Bold display has a resolution of 480×320 and Bold 9700 has a resolution of 480×360
The original Bold was quite a powerful device, but RIM’s ability to make the Read the rest of this entry »
November 9th, 2009
Smartphone Buyer's Guide: What are the choices on my carrier?
I recently posted the 2009 Holiday Guide for smartphones and in that guide posted about just one smartphone from each carrier. I also posted my Holiday Guide for feature phones and included the two I thought are best on each carrier. There are more smartphone selections than just one and now that most all of the announcements for the holidays have been made I thought you might like to know what the choices from each carrier are, along with the subsidized and non-subsidized prices so you can make an informed choice. Most people find a carrier that works for them with the best coverage in their local area so they look first to their carrier for a smartphone rather than looking for the a smartphone and then switching carriers. You will find the smartphone choices from the four largest nationwide carriers, but keep in mind there are also some rather large localized carriers in the Northeast and Southern regions with excellent smartphone choices.
The prices you will see in this article are from the carrier. If you are new to a carrier or adding another line you will find excellent prices on Amazon.com and other online vendors.
Verizon Wireless
Verizon has had a rather weak lineup of smartphones for most of 2009 with their primary focus on high end BlackBerry models. They recently added some very good Windows Mobile and Google Android devices to their offerings so Verizon Wireless customers have some of the best choices this holiday season. You will find smartphones with keyboards and those focused on touch only so something should appeal to you that allows you to stay with Verizon Wireless, or even join them to obtain one of their new Google Android devices.
Verizon does have the most expensive data and voice plans, but they also have the most coverage of any wireless carrier. The HTC Touch Pro2 has been sold out for much of the last month so may be difficult to find. The HTC DROID ERIS and Motorola DROID are the hottest devices at the moment and you will see commercials for both on television and in print advertising. If you travel internationally, make sure to look for a phone that is GSM-capable too.
RIM BlackBerry
- BlackBerry Curve 8330 - Front facing QWERTY, 2.0 megapixel camera: $429.99 (no contract) and $49.99 (2-year contract)
- BlackBerry Tour - Front facing QWERTY, 3.2 megapixel camera, GSM world phone: $489.99 (no contract) and $149.99 (2-year contract)
- BlackBerry Storm2 - Large touchscreen, WiFi, 3.2 megapixel camera, GSM world phone: $539.99 (no contract) and $179.99 (2-year contract)
Windows Mobile
- Samsung Omnia - Large touchscreen, Samsung TouchWIZ interface, 5 megapixel camera: $459.99 (no contract) and FREE (2-year contract)
- HTC Ozone - Front facing QWERTY, non-touchscreen, 2 megapixel camera, GSM world phone: $349.99 (no contract) and $49.99 (2-year contract)
- Samsung Saga - Front facing QWERTY, touchscreen, 2 megapixel camera, GSM world phone: $449.99 (no contract) and $99.99 (2-year contract)
- HTC Touch Pro2 - Large touchscreen, slider QWERTY, 3.2 megapixel camera, GSM world phone: $489.99 (no contract) and $199.99 (2-year contract)
- HTC Imagio - Windows Mobile 6.5, large touchscreen, 5 megapixel camera, GSM world phone: $579.99 (no contract) and $199.99 (2-year contract)
Google Android
- HTC DROID ERIS - Touchscreen, 5 megapixel camera, HTC Sense UI and widgets:: $469.99 (no contract) and $99.99 (2-year contract)
- Motorola DROID - Android 2.0, 5 megapixel camera, large touchscreen, slider QWERTY: $559.99 (no contract) and $199.99 (2-year contract)
Apple iPhone
Verizon has no iPhone devices.
Symbian
Verizon has no Symbian smartphone offerings.
Palm WebOS
Verizon has no Palm WebOS devices.
A couple of things to keep in mind as you look at these Verizon smartphones is to check for WiFi and GSM support if you are a business traveler who needs these wireless technologies to do your job.
November 6th, 2009
MobileTechRoundup show #189; Verizon DROID choices, Moblin 2.1 for netbooks
Listen here (MP3, 33.1 MB, 36:05 minutes)
Subscribe to the show with this link (RSS)
Today we see the launch of the heavily advertised Motorola DROID on Verizon along with the HTC DROID ERIS. As James mentions at the start of MobileTechRoundup show #189 he is the only one of the three of us with the Motorola DROID in hand. If you are a Verizon Wireless customer it seems like almost a no-brainer to pick up a DROID or DROID ERIS today at $200 or $100, but Verizon’s very expensive plans are keeping me at home today. The HTC HD2 has a couple of us quite excited with that 1GHz Snapdragon processor and we will see it on some unnamed carrier in early 2010. Kevin is triple booting his netbook and after chatting I am also going to go install the new Moblin 2.1 OS that is optimized for netbooks. We ended by chatting about smartphone market share and the fact that integrated platforms seem to be doing better than licensed ones.
November 4th, 2009
Q3 09 Canalys smartphone data shows RIM increasing 40% over 2008
Canalys posted their 3rd quarter 2009 figures and as you can RIM had an amazing year going from 15.2% to 20.6% of the global market share (an increase of 40.8%). A bit surprisingly to me, Nokia actually saw a 6% increase in its market share too while Apple predictibly increased 6.7% over the year with the iPhone 3GS release helping. Windows Mobile suffered quite a bit with a 33.1% drop in market share over the past year and with the release of the minor 6.5 update I don’t see that trend changing much over the next year either. Google Android finally popped up in the data at 3.5% and hopefully this continues so that HTC bounces up after showing a 5.6% decrease over the last year.
Apple Insider has presented the data in pie charts so you get an even better picture of what is going on by platform and hardware maker. They also give an interesting perspective on the data and group the platforms into integrated ones (Apple and RIM) compared to licensed ones (Windows Mobile and Google Android). Symbian is licensed too, but Nokia is the primary licensee so they are more of an integrated platform than a licened platform. It looks like the integrated platforms are doing better than the licensed platforms, which is not necessarily what the analysts all predicted.
The integrated platforms do give the hardware makers better control over a consistent user experience and upgradability of the platform, while also locking down more functions. It seems that the consumer cares more for the experience and UI than the ability to customize and tweak their device.
November 3rd, 2009
Review: Celio rolls out BlackBerry client for the REDFLY Mobile Companion
I’ve been a fan of the REDFLY Mobile Companion for a couple of years and purchased the C8N in November 2008. If you remember there are two models of the REDFLY Mobile Companion, the C7 and C8N, that give you a large display and keyboard to use with your Windows Mobile device. Celio Corp has been working on expanding their driver support and we saw a concept for Android back at CES. Today, we see the launch of a BlackBerry driver for selected BlackBerry devices, which makes the most sense considering there are so many BlackBerry devices in enterprise.
I have the C8N and had to make it “BlackBerry aware”. Celio Corp. made it much easier to upgrade the firmware of the REDFLY. In the past there were two separate downloads, one to install the utility on the Windows Mobile device and one separately to update the firmware of the REDFLY itself. In the new method you just update the software on the WM device and then after plugging in the REDFLY a prompt appears to update the firmware if an update is available.
Now that your REDFLY is ready for the BlackBerry you need the new free BB driver. Visit the REDFLY installation site and select your REDFLY device. After loading up the new software you then plug in the USB cable and turn on the REDFLY. You will immediately see the BB display on the REDFLY and unlike Windows Mobile you will see output on the REDFLY and the BlackBerry at the same time. I was sent a BB Bold to try out and at launch you will need a BlackBerry Bold 9000, BlackBerry Curve 8900 or BlackBerry Tour 9630. They plan to support most of the new phones BlackBerry releases in the future. In order for the REDFLY driver to operate efficiently, you’ll need a BlackBerry phone with a 512 MHz or faster processor; 128MB or more memory; and a BlackBerry OS version of 4.6 or later.
Celio recommends connecting via USB since there is limited throughput with Bluetooth. Unlike Windows Mobile, Celio’s REDFLY driver is at the application level (this is why you see both displays active) so the display scaling is not as robust as what we see on Windows Mobile. Other than small black areas on either side, the display looks and functions quite well.
It does take a bit of practice to get used to controlling your BlackBerry with the keyboard and trackpad. The trackpad can be used to emulate the trackball with the left mouse button acting as the selection (center push) of the trackball. The left and right soft keys function as the BlackBerry menu and back buttons, respectively. You can also assign three hot keys for quick access to apps you want to use with the REDFLY and I set them up for email, TwitterBerry, and the web browser. Web browsing takes a bit of getting used to since the navigation is not as fluid as using the trackball on the BB, but the display is larger and quite readable.
I see the most value in the REDFLY for BlackBerry users to be in the email application where you may be able to crank them out on the larger keyboard. Then again, some BlackBerry users can really hammer out the text on a small QWERTY keyboard too. The REDFLY also charges up the BB while it is connected to the USB cable.
To celebrate the launch of the new BlackBerry driver you can enter a contest to win one of 5 REDFLY C8N’s given out over the next 10 days. The C7 is priced at $199 and the C8N is $249 and if you are a person who wants a larger keyboard and display for working on your smartphone on the go these are great prices on a highly useful accessory.
October 30th, 2009
Did you know the BlackBerry Storm2 is also now available?
Most of the excitement in the mobile phone space this week focused on the announcement of the Motorola DROID on Verizon Wireless. Looking at the Verizon Wireless press release archive page you have to scroll down to the 6th or 7th story to find that the RIM BlackBerry Storm2 was also announced this week with availability occuring a couple of days ago on Wednesday, 28 October. Crackberry.com has a detailed review that covers the device in detail and it looks like the Storm2 is the device that the original Storm should have been. RIM tried some different things with the Storm, primarily with their clickable display, that took away from the BlackBerry experience and this no longer seems to be the case. The use of a capacitive display, similar to the iPhone and Google Android devices, was a smart move on RIM’s part.
I thought the original Storm had a nice form factor with solid design and this same form factor is present on the Storm2. Specifications of the Storm2 include:
- 3.25 inch 480×360 pixel resolution touchscreen capacitive display
- Worldwide support with EV-DO Rev A and 2100MHz UMTS/HSDPA and quad-band GSM/EDGE
- Integrated 802.11 b/g WiFi
- Integrated Bluetooth 2.1
- Integrated GPS receiver
- 3.2 megapixel camera with flash, video, and image stabilization
- 256MB of Flash ROM
- 2GB of on board memory and microSD card slot
- 3.5mm headset jack
- BlackBerry OS 5.0
- Improved BlackBerry browser
The Verizon BlackBerry Storm2 is available now for $179 with 2 year contract and mail-in rebate. I understand you can also take advantage of their buy one, get one free offer with the Storm2 so this makes it a compelling choice for Verizon Wireless customers. If you own a current BlackBerry you can also update to the new BlackBerry OS 5.0 via download.
October 30th, 2009
MobileTechRoundup show #188; DROID does, we don't
Listen here (MP3, 32.5 MB, 35:24 minutes)
Subscribe to the show with this link (RSS)
The biggest news in mobile technology this week was the Motorola DROID announcement from Verizon Wireless and we spent a large junk of MobileTechRoundup show #188 talking about the device and Google Android. James, Kevin, and I haven’t yet held the DROID so we are reserving final judgement on it, but it sounds like James may be the only one who may pick up the device since he already has a Verizon account. Google Maps Navigation beta is installed on the DROID and may just have wiped out PNDs, but Microsoft is helping with the shutting down of the MSN Direct service on 1 January 2012.
October 28th, 2009
Smartphone wars; one platform will never rule them all
Verizon Wireless commercials have been pounding away directly at the Apple iPhone and looking at the Motorola DROID and all of the hands-on reviews starting to appear does give you reason to pause and wonder just how far Android will go and if they will take away the edge from the iPhone. Joe Wilcox at Betanews posted an article stating that the iPhone cannot win the smartphone wars. He wrote about the comparison between Apple and Windows in the PC space and also about the huge number of junk apps in the App Store. He concludes by stating that Android is looking to be the mobile OS of the future, similar to the statements I have made about Android and the future of mobile phones.
Another writer, Jim Dalrymple, posted an article stating that he does not think Apple will lose the smartphone war, in large part due to the ecosystem they have built around iTunes and media content that is easy to enjoy on the iPhone. I think one of the areas that may hurt Apple’s chances is their apparent arrogance in dictating what users need, rather than fully listening to what users want (look at MMS on the iPhone). Then again, Apple can sure make what they do seem like the best solution around, can’t they?
Something that I have been thinking of given all of the news and excitement around the latest Google Android, HTC HD2 Windows Mobile, and Nokia N900 devices is that Apple too has been working on the next generation(s) of iPhone devices that we are sure to see roll out in 2010. Given the shakeup in the mobile industry that Apple created with the iPhone, there is definitely cause for excitement in 2010 to see if Apple can once again leap past all the other mobile operating systems that have now caught up in terms of user interface elements. The iPhone isn’t so special now with devices like the Motorola Droid, HTC Hero, Nokia N900, and others so it will be interesting to see if they try to blow the others away or stay in the smartphone race as just another comparable option. Jim thinks that “Apple will outclass them all”, but I am not so quick to accept that seeing what others have been able to come out with lately.
I personally doubt there will ever be a clear cut winner in the smartphone war and do not think there has to be. Consumers benefit from competition and life would be boring if all we had was the iPhone. People were quite impressed by the work Palm did with the Pre and WebOS and for several months they generated quite a bit of optimism and excitement in a crowded space. I honestly doubt Palm will be making smartphone devices for much longer given the lack of adoption of WebOS, but they were able to play in the game for at least another year based on a single device and brand new operating system.
Symbian currently still leads everyone by a considerable margin and even all the 2012 forecasts still show them with a double figure lead over the next platform competitor. We haven’t even seen the results of their Symbian Foundation work that may blow the doors off of everything we have seen to date, thus propelling Symbian the other direction into a further market share lead. The smartphone market is constantly moving and I am just happy to be along and enjoying the ride.
Related stories:
Matthew Miller is an avid mobile device enthusiast who works during the day as a professional naval architect in Seattle. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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