July 13th, 2009

Can Apple launch a tablet device and do what it did with the iPhone?

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 12:21 pm

Categories: Apple, Gadgets, Rumors, Tablet PC, UMPC, Ultra portable PC

Tags: Apple iPhone, Apple Inc., Tablets, Notebooks, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Matthew Miller

Both Andrew and Jason posted the news about the latest Apple tablet computer rumor that has the 9.7 inch device slated for an October release for $800. As a guy who tried a few Windows Tablet PC devices in the past, but rarely even used the touch screen functionality of the Tablets I at first just kind of shrugged off this latest rumor. Then I paused and thought a bit more about what Apple did with the smartphone market after launching the iPhone and now I think there are some real possibilities here for Apple to again demonstrate how something like a large screen tablet can be done right.

We have had Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, Nokia, and Palm smartphones around for years when the Apple iPhone was launched. Those of us in the mobile industry and those in corporate environments were fairly familiar with wireless data access, but it seems that very few consumers fully understood what a phone could do for them. Apple changed the game with the iPhone launch and their huge marketing campaign that made people aware of what these devices could do. I actually think that Apple and the iPhone probably helped out every mobile operating system as it brought a level of understanding to the entire mobile phone community and then people started realizing there were more choices available.

The Tablet PC and UMPC market never really took off for Microsoft and was a pretty niche market with a few selected areas of industry (primarily healthcare and field workers) that embraced the technology and devices. Netbooks swooped in at low prices and in form factors that people are used to working with and I think essentially killed off any possibility of Tablet PCs ever taking off. Tablet PCs and UMPCs were priced too high for consumers at $1,000 to $2,500+ with little real advantage over a much cheaper notebook.

If Apple can launch a tablet form factor device for $800, people may find a way to afford it. Apple is going to have to “tell the story” (something my buddy Michael Gartenberg likes to say) of why and how this tablet device can improve your life and be an enjoyable product. Apple will probably sell at least a million right off the bat to Apple fans, but they also need to go beyond that base to have a successful product. Given what Apple has done with the iPhone and the App Store I am actually excited to see what that looks like in a device of this form factor.

I don’t think they can just release a MacBook without a keyboard and a touch sensitive on-screen keyboard and have a product that everyone wants to own, which may be why it is taking so long to come out with a tablet Apple device. Will we see some new text input technology? Will we see some new way to manage and use your media content from the Apple tablet? Will social networking, Internet browsing, and sharing media with family and friends have a whole new look? There are some cool things Apple can do here with this form factor and we will just have to continue to wait and see if this rumored device ever appears.

April 17th, 2009

MobileTechRoundup show #169, Nokia E75, Viliv S5, HP dv2, and S60 Twitter clients

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 6:12 pm

Categories: MoTR podcast, Mobile software, Nokia, S60, Smartphone, Symbian, UMPC, Ultra portable PC, mobile services

Tags:

Listen here (MP3, 31.2 MB, 34:00 minutes)

Subscribe to the show with this link (RSS)

Sprint had a huge launch buildup for the Samsung Instinct and in MobileTechRoundup show #169 we question where all the marketing is for the upcoming Palm Pre. I had a chance to chat a bit about the fantastic Nokia E75 I am testing out. James just received the Vilev S5 UMPC after we recorded the show, but was pretty excited about checking out the device when we recorded this morning. Kevin also has a new laptop, the HP dv2, and it sounds like a nice device between a netbook and a full blown desktop replacement laptop. I was also happy to report that there are now two high-powered Twitter clients for the S60 platform that I also put up against each other on my Nokia Experts site.

Please let me know if you have anything you would like us to cover and discuss on the show and I’ll try to work it into a future podcast.

January 21st, 2009

Follow four writers and four MIDs on the Mid Moves tour around the world

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 7:05 am

Categories: On the road, UMPC, Ultra portable PC

Tags: Mobile, Internet Device, Mobile Internet Device, Mid Moves Team, Netbooks, Nettops & MIDs, Advertising & Promotion, Wireless And Mobility, Hardware, Marketing, Matthew Miller

Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) were the hot topic of CES 2008, but we never really saw them hit the market in large numbers in 2008. At CES 2009, there were MIDs again shown to the crowd, but the small notebook (aka netbook) category is what people seem to be more excited about. I think the familiarity with the keyboard is a tough thing to overcome and personally wonder if MIDs are relegated to niche markets. If you are interested in mobile computing and MIDs, then I recommend you check out and follow the Mid Moves project this week. Four well-known mobile bloggers are out and about around the world and posting wireless from different models of MIDs as they try to showcase and test out the capabilities of these devices.

The Mid Moves team consists of Steve “Chippy” Paine from UMPCPortal, Jenn Lee from Pocketables, Ewan Spence from EwanSpence.com and All About Symbian, and Nicole Simon from Cruel to be Kind. They are each on a different four-day trip this week and I am enjoying their posts so far. I just ordered my own XPERIA X1 and was particularly interested in hearing about Jenn’s recent usage of this device.

As stated on the About page of the site:

The MID Moves project is an event designed to highlight how mobile Internet and Mobile Internet Devices bring you the power of the full Internet and the full Web in a way that enables you to go mobile while remaining productive, able to communicate, able to locate yourself and your contacts and even allowing you to have some fun on the way.

Each of the team will be taking two or more Intel-based Mobile Internet Devices on a fun and exciting 4-day tour and using this website, social networking and other internet media tools, bringing the whole event to you; update-by-update, picture-by-picture-by-picture and inevitably, problem-by-problem. A veritable Web2.0-fest!

The MID devices they are using include the newly announced OQO Model 2+, Benq S6, ClarionMiND, and Aigo MID. You will find real-time maps, Twitter updates, Flickr photos, videos, and text from the writers and it an interesting experiment to follow. I’m still now sure if there is much of a market for MIDs in today’s smartphone world, but this tour should be a good test of their capabilities.

November 11th, 2008

Check out the ultimate ultra mobile PC buyer's guide

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 5:57 am

Categories: Gadgets, Netbook, Tablet PC, UMPC, Ultra portable PC

Tags: PC, Ultramobile PC, Ultramobile PCs (UMPCs), Tablets, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Emerging Technologies, Matthew Miller

Are you considering an ultra-mobile PC this holiday season? If so, then I highly recommend you check out the 11,000 word, 28-page Ultra Mobile Computing Buyer’s Guide put together by the biggest fan of UMPCs I have ever seen, Steve “Chippy” Paine. He initially posted this in a 4-part article and has now assembled it all into a single PDF document that you can download and use as an essential reference tool.

I was reading through this outstanding guide this morning and am very impressed by the amount and quality of information Steve provides. You can read about the history of ultra mobile computing, different features, the different processors, different form factors, and more. There is a link to his incredible UMPC list that shows just about every ultra portable computer you can think of and then provides more details and specs when you click on the image on the page.

September 24th, 2008

Will a 6600 mAh battery convince you to buy an HTC Shift?

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 7:07 am

Categories: HTC, Microsoft, Tablet PC, UMPC, Ultra portable PC

Tags: High Tech Computer Corp., Battery, Engineering, Matthew Miller

On my recent trip to New York to cover the T-Mobile G1 Android launch I traveled with just a backpack and used my Fujitsu U810 to write on the road. It was adequate, but the keyboard is quite small and limits how fast I can type. I reviewed the Sprint version HTC Shift back in March and one of the major flaws for me was the poor battery life. Paul at MoDaCo just posted a review of a new 3rd party 6600 mAh battery for the Shift that has me thinking about the device again. This whopping battery (compared to the minimal 2700 mAh battery loaded in the device) is priced at US$239.95.

I see that an open box 3G version (compatible with US 3G on AT&T) is available on Dynamism for US$999 and I am tempted to sell my Fujitsu U810 and pick up the Shift. Then again, this battery adds some considerable size to the device with a nice new cover provided by Mugen Power.

It’s not just the battery that would improve the device, but Paul also posted on how to enable GPS and Windows XP is almost up and running on the device as well. I know I should probably stick with something like the MSI Wind for much less cost and am looking at that device too (I may have an eval unit soon) since it has a much more usable keyboard and better specs.

June 4th, 2008

ritePen 3.0 released with macro support and intelligent navigation functionality

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 10:30 am

Categories: Gadgets, Mobile software, Tablet PC, UMPC

Tags: Handwriting Recognition, PC, Tablet PC, Macro, ritePen 3.0, Tablets, Notebooks, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Matthew Miller

I have a Fujitsu U810 UMPC and like to keep it around to use as a Tablet PC, traveling media player (Amazon Unbox looks fantastic), and my home Windows PC (in the docking cradle connected to a 17 inch LCD). A few weeks ago the folks at Ritescript, a division of Evernote Corporation, asked if I wanted to beta test their upcoming release of ritePen version 3.0. I jumped on the chance and have been playing with it for a bit and now see that the official press release and announcement were posted yesterday so you can now download and install it on your Tablet PC.

A few years back I tested out a laptop with a touch screen that used ritePen as the default handwriting recognition engine and have since used it and compared it to Windows XP Tablet Edition and found ritePen to be a superior product. I love that you can write anywhere on the display, rather than having to write inside a box. I haven’t yet done a comparison with this latest version and Vista (that has much improved inking capability) since I put XP Pro on my U810 instead of the default pre-loaded Vista for the time being.

ritePen 3.0 has some major improvements, including handwritten shortcuts for text input, launching an application, or visiting your favorite URL, easy building and editing of your custom dictionary, enhanced text input, enhanced intelligent navigation and more. The macro shortcuts you can setup are fairly basic and can’t touch the powerful macro scripts you can create with ActiveWords, but they do work well for basic macros and in combination with the outstanding handwriting recognition ritePen is essential for Tablet PC owners. To launch a macro you simply write the designated text and circle it with your pen. For example, I setup FF to launch Firefox and then circled the two letters to launch the browser.

One issue I kept getting frustrated with before was that ritePen would create a line on the display when I tried to scroll or navigate around so I would have to turn it on and off when surfing around. Ritescript fixed this in version 3.0 so the software will recognize when you are navigating versus when you are entering text so that right there made it much more useful for me.

ritePen is bundled with select Tablet PCs from Fujitsu and others and is very popular in the vertical health market. You can purchase ritePen 3.0 for US$29.95 and even give the free 30-day full trial a go first to see how it works for you.

May 30th, 2008

MobileTechRoundup show #135, talking about the sub-notebook market

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 2:38 pm

Categories: Gadgets, MoTR podcast, Nokia, Nseries, S60, UMPC, Ultra portable PC, Windows Mobile

Tags: MobileTechRoundup, Podcasts, Internet, Matthew Miller

Listen here (MP3, 30.7 MB, 33:20 minutes)

Subscribe to the show with this link (RSS)

Kevin, James and I spent a large chunk of MobileTechRoundup show #135 talking about the sub-notebook market with the new Nano chip from VIA, the Dell and Acer, and more so if you have any interest in this market listen to this latest show. I also spent a few minutes talking about the upgrade for my Nokia N95-3 and some initial thoughts on the N82. The Palm 850 and Nokia E71 are also rumored devices that may be more than just a rumor very soon.

If you enjoy listening to the MobileTechRoundup podcast, please vote for us at Podcast Alley. Also, please let me know if you have anything you would like us to cover and discuss on the show and I’ll try to work it into a future podcast.

May 30th, 2008

The ultra portable/subnotebook market continues to grow

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 8:25 am

Categories: Gadgets, MoTR podcast, Tablet PC, UMPC, Ultra portable PC

Tags: ASUS, Mini-notebook, Ultramobile PC, CNET UK, MSI Wind, Ultramobile PCs (UMPCs), Notebooks, Tablets, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets

James, Kevin, and I just finished recording MobileTechRoundup podcast #135, which should go live soon, and we spent a fair amount of the show talking about the ultra portable PC/subnotebook market and how it has radically changed since the launch of the Asus EeePC last year. And according to the news at DigiTimes that Kevin wrote about on jkOnTheRun the prediction is that the market will continue to significantly increase.

We now know that Dell and Acer (link to jkOnTheRun article are joining HP and Asus in this market so there is definitely something the big boys see in this category. CNET UK has a first look at a new device from a smaller player, the MSI Wind. They also just posted a video of it in action to whet your appetite even further. The MSI Wind looks a lot like the Asus EeePC, but is a bit bigger and contains a processor that cannot yet be disclosed. It has a 10 inch 1024×600 resolution display, 1GB of RAM, 80GB hard drive, integrated WiFi and Bluetooth radios, three USB ports, 4-in-1 memory card reader and a battery that provides a reported 3-4 hours.

I think this kind of adoption in the ultra portable/subnotebook market is what Microsoft was hoping for with the Origami/UMPC devices, but I think there were a couple of things that held it back from really taking off. One has to be the price because UMPCs came in at over US$1,000 compared to the EeePC coming in at less than US$400. There have also been subnotebooks around for a few years, but many from Sony, Toshiba, and others cost over US$2,000. James pointed out what I think another major reason was and that is the form factor familiarization. People are not familiar with a slate UMPC/Tablet PC or a super small device with different configurations, but they can look at the EeePC and see a mini notebook that looks just like a bigger notebook with a smaller keyboard and smaller display.

Do you agree that price and form factor may be what kept the UMPC market from taking off, but is what is helping with the excitement around these mini notebooks?

May 26th, 2008

Mobile software Monday: 4Smartphone hosted Exchange with mobile device clients

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 6:35 am

Categories: Apple, HTC, Mobile software, Mobile software Monday, Nokia, Nseries, On the road, S60, UMPC, Windows Mobile, iPhone, mobile services

Tags: Microsoft Outlook, Device, Microsoft Windows Mobile, Mobile, Server, Mobile Device, E-mail, 4Smartphone, Exchange, S60

While my focus in the Mobile software Monday articles is on software for your mobile phones I wanted to branch out just a bit to include a service that I use in conjuction with software on my devices that I find absolutely essential to my usage of mobile devices. Jason Dunn runs the Thoughts Media sites and preached to me for a couple of years about the benefits of a hosted Exchange solution. I finally decided to give it a try just over a year ago and now I can never go back to syncing my PIM data via cables again. I subscribe to 4Smartphone (part of Jason’s recommendation) with their Mobile level plan subscription (US$12.95/month) and sync my Windows Mobile, S60, Windows, and Mac devices to the service, with hopes to soon sync my iPhone when the 2.0 update is released.

What is hosted Exhange and do you need it?: Many companies have Exchange, BlackBerry, or Novell servers that work to provide email and data synchronization to their employees. However, there are many small businesses and those, like me, who have personal data we don’t want managed on our work servers. For these people, the ability to sync their calendar, contacts, tasks, and email wirelessly across various platforms and devices can be invaluable.

I know that I am in the minority, but with today’s mobile workforce there are a number of people who have multiple mobile devices that they want to keep in sync. I switch my devices quite often and with a hosted Exchange service I can be up and running with all of my personal data in just a few minutes after unboxing a new device. Windows Mobile and S60 don’t play that well with Apple computers, unless you use some outstanding 3rd party applicatons, so having the ability to keep my MacBook Pro in sync with the same data stored on these devices is essential and I personally never cable these devices to my MBP.

ActiveSync on Windows Mobile: Windows Mobile devices all come with ActiveSync preloaded in the operating system. Most people use this ActiveSync client to sync to their PC via a USB cable, but if you tap/select the right menu then you will see there is an option to Configure Server… and setup your device to sync to an Exchange server. Configuration is fairly straight forward and you start by entering the server address, then your username, password, and domain. The final step is to Read the rest of this entry »

May 22nd, 2008

Review: HTC Advantage X7510 with 16GB flash drive, haptics keyboard and Windows Mobile 6.1

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 1:25 am

Categories: Gadgets, HTC, On the road, Review, UMPC, Windows Mobile

Tags: Application, High Tech Computer Corp., Device, Microsoft Windows Mobile, Mobile, Battery, USB Flash Drive, Content, Image Gallery:The HTC Advantage X7510, ROM

The most powerful Windows Mobile device I ever evaluated was the HTC Advantage X7501 that was released back in August of 2007 and I wrote quite an extensive review that was my most viewed blog post of 2007. The successor to the Advantage X7501, the X7510, was announced at Mobile World Congress in February of this year. I was able to see the T-Mobile version at the show and play with it for a few minutes and have been looking forward to seeing the device released ever since. We were in a session with Eric Lin, from HTC, at Mobius last week and I was asking questions about the Advantage when Eric announced that each attendee was going to be receiving their own HTC Advantage X7510 at the event. Needless to say I was shocked and extremely excited since I have been using and thoroughly enjoying the original Advantage since last summer. I was actually using the Advantage paired with the Celio REDFLY to take notes and keep up on events during the conference last week. Check out my image gallery, video and thoughts/experiences with the device to find out if I think this latest model is a worthy upgrade for existing Advantage owners.

	Image Gallery:The HTC Advantage X7510 is a powerful Windows Mobile device.

I posted my first thoughts and initial impressions last week and wanted to follow up with a more in-depth look at this new HTC device to help you make informed decisions about these devices. We were informed by HTC that the ROM on the device is not the final shipping ROM, although the hardware is finalized so I will try to make it clear where there may be issues related to the ROM that will hopefully be updated when we are sent the final ROM.

I won’t rehash my entire review of the Advantage X7501 since the hardware and device is very similar to the X7510, but I do think there are very important differences that you need to understand.

Hardware: As you can see in the list below, the specs are virtually the same for the X7510 as the 7501 and I have highlighted the differences in bold font.

• 624 MHz Intel PXA270 processor with ATi Graphic Chip W2284
• Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
• QUALCOMM MSM 6275 processor for 3G mobile data connectivity
• 128 MB RAM (about 77 MB available to the end user after a hard reset)
• 256 MB Flash ROM (about 102 MB available to the end user after a hard reset)
• 16 GB Flash drive
• 5.26 inches x 3.86 inches x 0.63 inch (0.79 inches with keyboard on face)
• 10.75 ounces with battery, miniSD, and SIM and 13.22 ounces with the keyboard attached (12.66 ounces for the X7501), 16.2 ounces with leather case attached
• 5 inch transmissive TFT-LCD with backlight LEDs and touch sensitive screen, VGA 480◊640 resolution and 65k color support
• Removable QWERTY keyboard with haptics feedback
• Tri-band HSDPA/UMTS (850/1900 MHz for USA and 2100 for Europe/Japan)
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
• GPS receiver: SirF StarIII with Ephemeris Extension support (no software included)
• Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP support
• 802.11 b/g WiFi
• 3 megapixel camera with autofocus and flash light
• Front facing VGA CMOS color camera (this type of camera was included on the T-Mobile Ameo
• HTC TouchFLO finger-friendly optimizations
• HTC ExtUSB with USB 2.0 support (used for charging/syncing/audio jack)
• HTC proprietary 16-pin port for USB 1.1 host and VGA out
• 2200 mAh removable Lithium-ion polymer battery
• Mini-SD card slot for external storage cards (SDHC compatible)
• Stereo speakers and standard 3.5 mm headset jack

The name given in the device information for the X7501 is ATHE100 and the name shown for the X7510 is ATHE400.

I’ll continue with hardware differences below and then a bit later in my review you can read about the software and applications on the Advantage X7510.

Hardware - What’s in the box?: The box for the Advantage X7501 was quite compact and appeared in a cube shape. The 7510 box was more rectangular and has the cool black matte design we have seen on recent HTC devices. The contents are very similar to what was included with the 7501, but with one surprise that is quite valuable.

• HTC Advantage X7510 (obviously) and QWERTY keyboard cover
• HTC 4-in-1 cable (USB/VGA out/S-video/RCA video) (I paid US$46 for this last year)
• Leather carrying case
• USB sync cable (can also be used to charge the device)
• AC adapter with Euro prongs
• Stereo headset (connects to the proprietary HTC ExtUSB port)
• Extra stylus
• Screen protector
• Nylon zipper case that holds your accessories and cables

Read the rest of this entry »