• mobile apps 360,  web os

    Mobile Apps 360: BlueSwitch Solitaire Alley

    Mobile Apps 360 takes a look at great mobile software for your iPhone, iPod touch, BlackBerry, Palm webOS and Windows Mobile smartphones that will help keep your favorite mobile gear fresh with new software.

    I just purchased a copy of BlueSwitch Solitaire Alley for my Palm Pre. Solitaire Alley is a basic no frills solitaire card game written for Palm webOS. To move cards around, you tap on the card or card stack you want to move and then tap on the pile you want to move to.

    Solitaire Alley is available now from the Palm App Catalog for $0.99.

  • android,  google,  motorola,  verizon

    Motorola Droid Hits Verizon on November 6

    High-speed Web browsing, voice-activated search, customizable large screen, access to thousands of Android applications and hundreds of widgets and the best 3G mobile network in the country: DROID by Motorola arrives on Nov. 6.

    Verizon Wireless, the company with the nation’s largest wireless 3G broadband network, and Motorola, a pioneer in the mobile industry, today unveiled DROID by Motorola, the first smartphone powered by Android™ 2.0. DROID by Motorola features the brainpower and breakneck speed of a modern smartphone, designed to outperform where other smartphones fall short.

    “We’re proud to work with Verizon Wireless and Google™ on the first smartphone to feature Android 2.0,” said Sanjay Jha, co-chief executive officer of Motorola and chief executive officer of Motorola Mobile Devices. “DROID by Motorola delivers a rich consumer experience with warp-speed Web browsing, a mammoth screen, and Motorola’s expertise in design and voice quality. Combined with Android’s open, flexible graphical user interface and the power of Verizon Wireless’ 3G network, DROID is a smartphone that simply doesn’t compromise.”

    “This is an exciting announcement for Verizon Wireless, as the DROID by Motorola is the first device that we are bringing to market under our ground-breaking strategic partnership with Google,” said John Stratton, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Verizon Wireless. “DROID by Motorola gives customers a lifestyle device with access to more than 12,000 applications that will help them stay in touch, up to date and entertained, using the best 3G network in the country.”


    Pricing and Availability

    • DROID by Motorola will be available in the United States exclusively at Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online on Friday, Nov. 6, for $199.99 with a new two-year customer agreement after a $100 mail-in rebate.
    • To get the most from DROID by Motorola smartphone, customers will need to subscribe to a Nationwide voice plan and an Email and Web for Smartphone plan. Nationwide voice plans begin at $39.99 for monthly access for 450 minutes and an Email and Web for Smartphone plan is $29.99 for monthly access.

    You can read the full press release on the Verizon Wireless website.

  • blackberry,  dataviz

    Documents To Go Premium for BlackBerry Released

    DataViz has announced the availability of Documents To Go® Premium Edition version 2.0 for BlackBerry® smartphones. Included in this latest version is an easy to use desktop application with support for bi-directional file synchronization, a robust update to PDF To Go®, support for password-protected Microsoft® Office 2007 files, and a new file browser for accessing and managing documents.

    New Version 2.0 Features

    Desktop Application with Bi-Directional File Synchronization Version 2.0 now includes a desktop application that provides Windows customers with the ability to easily transfer files from their computer to their BlackBerry smartphone via USB cable. With this application, users can select individual files or entire folders to synchronize and all updates made on either the computer or the smartphone will be automatically transferred to the other location. This eliminates the need to manually manage files and ensures that documents are always up-to-date. Throughout this process, all original file formatting will be maintained thanks to DataViz’s acclaimed InTact Technology™.

    “The introduction of desktop file synchronization is the direct result of the very high number of customer requests we received for this feature,” said Kathleen McAneany, Business Manager, DataViz, Inc. “We believe that providing an easy way for users to transfer their important and frequently used files to and from their BlackBerry smartphones will increase the overall usage of Documents To Go and add greater value to our Premium Edition offer which already includes an extensive list of advanced features such as creating new files, spell check, advanced formatting and much more.”

    Enhanced PDF To Go

    Offered as a free bonus application for customers who purchase the Premium Edition, PDF To Go provides high-fidelity viewing of native Adobe® PDF files and attachments without any desktop or server conversion needed. With this new version customers will be able to take advantage of many new features including: find and copy text, save as, send file via email, bookmarks and more!

    New ‘Documents To Go Files’ Application

    A new application called ‘Documents To Go Files’ is also included with this Premium Edition upgrade. This file browser for BlackBerry smartphones provides customers with one centralized location where they can conveniently access and manage (delete, rename, copy and paste) all of their Microsoft Word, Excel®, PowerPoint®, Adobe PDF, and image files without having to navigate between programs.

    Pricing and Availability

    Documents To Go Premium Edition retails for $69.99 and is available to all BlackBerry smartphone users running Device Software 4.5 or higher, including those that received Documents To Go Standard Edition pre-installed on devices such as the BlackBerry Tour™ 9630, Curve™ 8900, Storm™ 9500/9530 , Bold™ 9000 as well as the upcoming Bold 9700 and Storm2™ 9550. Current Documents To Go Premium Edition customers can upgrade to version 2.0 for $29.99. This offer applies to all customers who own Premium Edition for BlackBerry, Palm OS®, Windows Mobile®, or Symbian OS™. Documents To Go Premium Edition is currently available in English. Support for French, German, Italian and Spanish will be available in the coming weeks. Additional language support will be available later this year. Volume licensing is available for 5 or more users with discounts starting at 10 users.

    For more information, visit the DataViz website.

  • pixi,  sprint,  web os

    Palm Pixi Sprint Launch Date Announced

    Earlier today, Palm announced that their next webOS smartphone, the Palm Pixi, will go on sale at Sprint on November 15, 2009.

    In a brief email to customers, Palm wrote:

    “The new Palm® Pixi™ phone on the Palm webOS™ platform will be available November 15th, starting at $99.99 (after rebate and service agreement) exclusively on the Sprint network.1 Palm Pixi. Designed to communicate on your terms. Instantly. Intuitively. Personally.”

    The Sprint edition of the Palm Pixi will cost just $99.99 with a two-year service agreement, after a $50 instant rebate and $100 mail-in rebate. The Pixi will be available at Sprint stores, online at www.sprint.com, through telesales at 1-800-SPRINT1, and at Best Buy, RadioShack and select Wal-Mart stores.

    “We are excited to offer the new Palm Pixi to our customers in time for the holiday season, and it’s a great addition to Sprint’s industry-leading device portfolio,” said Kevin Packingham, senior vice president – Product Development, Sprint. “Simply put, this phone is fun and easy to use; with its multi-touch screen and full QWERTY keyboard, it’s a great device for messaging and social networking at a price everyone can enjoy, and delivers so many of the great features people love about Palm Pre™ in a fantastic new form factor, making it a huge hit for consumers.”

    Key Features

    Palm webOS brings together the user’s most important information from their phone, at work or on the Web into one logical view. In addition to linking information from Google™, Facebook®, Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync® and LinkedIn®, Palm Pixi adds Yahoo!® integration to Palm Synergy™3. Palm Synergy offers:

    • Linked contacts – A single view that links contacts from a variety of sources, so accessing them is easier than ever.
    • Layered calendars – Calendars can be seen on their own or layered together in a single view, combining work, family, friends, sports teams or other interests, and the user can toggle to look at one calendar at a time, or see them all at a glance.
    • Combined messaging – See all the conversations with the same person in a chat-style view, including MMS, even if it started in IM and switched to reply with text messaging.

    To learn more about the Palm Pixi, please visit the Palm website.

  • blackberry,  blackberry os,  rim,  verizon

    BlackBerry Storm 2 Coming to Verizon

    Verizon Wireless today, along with Research In Motion, has started sending out emails to customers letting them know that the new BlackBerry Storm 2 will be going on sale at retail location, online, and through Verizon business sales channels on Wednesday, October 28, 2009. Starting today, BlackBerry Storm customers will be able to upgrade their handsets to BlackBerry OS 5.0 over the air, via the BlackBerry Desktop Manager, or as a download from the Verizon Wireless website.

    The BlackBerry Storm2 with BlackBerry® OS 5.0 evolves the BlackBerry® touchscreen platform with hundreds of hardware and software enhancements – including new SurePress™ “clickable” display technology and built-in Wi-Fi® – delivering the exceptional multimedia experience and communications capabilities customers have come to expect from their BlackBerry smartphones.

    Key Features:

    • Smooth design and premium finish with sloped edges, chrome accents, glass lens and stainless steel backplate
    • Large (3.25”), dazzling high-resolution 480 x 360 display
    • Capacitive touchscreen with integrated functions (Send, End, Menu, Escape) and new SurePress technology that makes clicking the display practically effortless
    • 3G and global connectivity support for making phone calls in more than 220 countries and accessing data in more than 185 countries (with more than 80 destinations in 3G)
    • Network Connectivity: EV-DO Revision A; UMTS/HSPA (2100 MHz); and quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM networks
    • Supports Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g)
    • 256 MB of Flash memory
    • 2 GB of onboard media storage and a microSD™/SDHD memory card slot with a 16 GB card included

    Pricing and Availability

    The BlackBerry Storm2 smartphone is available beginning Oct. 28 for $179.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement on a voice plan with an Email and Web feature or an Email and Web for BlackBerry plan. Customers will receive the mail-in rebate in the form of a debit card. plans for the BlackBerry Storm2 smartphone begin at $29.99 when added to any Nationwide voice plan. Existing BlackBerry Storm customers will be able to update their handsets to the new BlackBerry OS 5.0 software via Web software load (www.blackberry.com/update), BlackBerry Desktop Manager, or from Verizon Wireless’ download site (www.verizonwireless.com/storm). The software update is available today.

    You can read the full press release on the Verizon Wireless website.

  • windows,  windows mobile

    Windows 7 and Windows Mobile Device Center

    You have read the hype about Microsoft’s newest desktop operating system, Windows 7. You are getting ready to purchase or install the upgrade on your PC. But what about support for your Windows Mobile smartphone or PDA?

    Microsoft has you covered. As with Windows Vista, Windows 7 users will need to download and install Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1 (WMDC). WMDC is a free download from the Microsoft website.

    On the WMDC download page, Microsoft has some notes that you will want to be aware of before you get started.

    • You can use Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1 only with phones running Windows Mobile 2003 or later.
    • ActiveSync and Windows Mobile Device Center won’t work with Windows Embedded CE 4.2 or 5.0, Pocket PC 2002, or Smartphone 2002 devices.
    • To sync content to any of these devices, you must use a USB or serial cable and your computer’s Internet connection and File Explorer.
    • You must use Microsoft Outlook 2002, Outlook 2003, or Office Outlook 2007 to sync your e-mail, contacts, tasks, and notes from your computer.
    • You must use a USB cable to connect your phone to your computer the first time you use Windows Mobile Device Center to sync.

    I’ve also seen some people mention on Microsoft Windows forums that if you have a partnership between your Windows Mobile phone and your Windows XP or Vista system that you should break the partnership before upgrading to Windows 7. Once the installation or upgrade has been completed, then install WMDC 6.1 and then pair up your phone to your PC.

    To learn more about the Windows Mobile Device Center, visit the Microsoft website.

  • pre,  web os

    Palm webOS Tip: Restart to Correct Radio Issues

    On a recent Friday morning, I noticed that one of my Google Calendars, the one that I use to sync my work schedule with, was not syncing with Synergy on my Palm Pre smartphone. My Google calendar was up to date because I was looking at. But when I glanced over to my Pre, the calendar hadn’t updated.

    The Calendar application in Palm webOS can be synchronized at any time, regardless of the schedule you have setup, by taping the “Sync Now” button. (Calendar > Preferences & Accounts > Sync Now) In most cases, the on demand sync will catch up any changes that have not yet been synchronized. I had tried the Sync Now command without much success.

    Rather than continuing to tap Sync Now the for the rest of the day, I decided to restart my Pre. Unlike previous Palm smartphones and PDAs, there is a specific procedure for restarting your Palm webOS phone.

    To restart your phone, launch the Device Info application. It is found on the last (right most) page of the Palm application launcher. Scroll down to the bottom of the page, and tap the “Reset Options” button, and then tap the “Restart” button. When you restart your phone in this way, you are assured that the Linux operating system that Palm webOS is built on is restarted correctly and that there is no chance for file corruption to occur.

    Thankfully, by the time I walked down the hall to the room where my first meeting was going to by, my Pre has rebooted and Synergy had updated my Calendar.

    The restart option should be part of your troubleshooting steps. I’ve also used the Device Info Restart option to correct Wi-Fi and cellular communication issues. Restarting is a quick and easy way to get things working again on your smartphone.

  • apple,  iphone,  mobile apps 360,  splashdata

    SplashID 5.1 for iPhone OS Review

    SplashData’s SplashID is an application that enabled you to securely record usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, and other sensitive information in an encrypted database. SplashID works on the iPhone and iPod touch (OS 2.1 required, OS 3.0 is supported).

    SplashID can be used as a standalone application on your iPhone or iPod touch (collectively referred to as an iPhone from here). You will, however, find SplashID becomes much more effective when you also purchase the desktop version of SplashID for Mac OS X or Windows machines.

    SplashID on Your iPhone

    When you launch SplashID on your iPhone for the first time, the Quick Start Guide is run. I really like this approach because it gives new users to a good overview of the application and what it can do without making the user read the 16 page user guide (unless they really want to). Sample records provided by SplashData help reinforce the concepts presented in the quick start guide. After spending a few minutes playing with the sample records for a few minutes, most people will probably delete them.

    The List View screen, the default view for SplashID, has a pair of toolbars that you will want to familiarize yourself with it. Along the top of the screen, SplashData gives you a toolbar to manage your data: Search, filter by categories, and filter by record category. Along the bottom of the screen, are buttons for configuring SplashID, locking the application, and synchronizing the your iPhone with your computer over a Wi-Fi network.

    I found that when I entered a small amount of records into SplashID, flicking my way down the list of records was OK. Later on, as I continued to use SplashID and add more records, I found that searching was a lot faster at finding my data.

    When you tap on a record in List View, the data for that record will be displayed on the Record Info screen. By default, SplashID will display the data for your record with the contents of the Password field blocked out with star icons. SplashID also allows you to selectively turn on field content blocking, referred to as masking, for each of the other record detail fields. You would use this feature if you wanted to block out not only the contents of the Password field, but also the contents of the Username or any other field in the record. Tap a masked field to view it contents; tap the field again to mask it again.

    Along side field masking in the Record Info screen, SplashID also allows you to apply your own custom field labels and password generation – a really nice feature if you work with a system the requires you to frequently generate secure passwords.

    If you chose to purchase a copy of the SplashID desktop application, you will gain the ability to sync your iPhone with your PC. To synchronize your iPhone with SplashID on your computer, you must connect the machine to the same Wi-Fi network that your iPhone is connected to. Then you will be able to start up SlashID on the computer and the iPhone, pair them up, and then perform the sync. The pairing process only takes a few minutes to setup and the data synchronization is zippy. (There is no option to sync your iPhone to your computer with the iPhone data cable.)

    Pricing and Availability

    SplashID 5.1 for iPhone and iPod touch is available now for $9.99 from the Apple iTunes App Store. SplashID Desktop 5.1, $19.95, is available for direct purchase from the SplashData online store.

    In addition to the iPhone edition of SplashID, SplashData also has versions available for BlackBerry, Palm OS, Windows Mobile, and Android smartphones. A version of SplashID is planned for Palm webOS with a free beta version available from the Palm App Catalog. There is also a corporate and government edition of SplashID available. For more information, visit the SplashData website.

    [Photo courtesy of MobileAppleMe.net…]

  • android,  blackberry,  blackberry os,  google,  microsoft,  web os,  windows,  windows mobile

    Retail Editions of Windows 7 Go On Sale Today

    While the final version of Windows 7 has been available to select Microsoft customers and TechNet subscribers for some time now, October 22, 2009 will be remembered as the day that Windows Vista was finally replaced.

    Starting today, Microsoft has started selling four of the six editions of Windows 7 online and at retail locations. (Windows 7 Starter edition and Windows 7 Enterprise edition are required to be purchased under special conditions that we wouldn’t normally have access to. Think netbooks and large corporate account holders.)

    So what does that mean for smartphone users? Probably not much. Microsoft has worked hard to ensure that any software package that works on Windows Vista will also work on Windows 7. I’ve been using Windows 7 Ultimate and Enterprise editions for the last few months now and I haven’t run into any serious show stoppers.

    Palm Pre, Pixi – Palm webOS devices

    Palm Pre customers (and Palm Pixi customers shortly) won’t have any sync problems out of the box because Palm webOS, unlike Palm OS, does not sync directly with a desktop computer. People using webOS phones and third-party sync solutions like Chapura PocketMirror for webOS and Chapura Echo will want to check for any updates that may be made available. At the time of this posting, I did not see any updates mentioned on Chapura’s website.

    Treo 755p, Centro, Palm OS Handhelds – Palm OS 5 Devices

    Customers using Palm’s older generation smartphones and PDA handhelds, including the Palm Treo 755p, Centro, and Palm TX handheld PDA, things can get a little bit sketchy. Most of the issues with Palm Desktop versions 4.x and 6.x will likely continue. You will still need to be a member of the Windows Administrators group to install the software and all manors of HotSync voodoo will likely be needed to perform successful HotSync operations. In my limited Palm Desktop 6.22 testing on my Windows 7 Ultimate machine, which was upgraded from Windows Vista Ultimate, I have been able to HotSync my Treo 755p. However, I will caution you that 3-5 HotSync operations is hardly conclusive.

    Windows 7 also won’t correct the USB driver issue. Neither Palm nor ACCESS (the company that owns the Palm OS 5 and Windows Palm Desktop source code) has released a 64-bit USB driver. In short, that means if you have a 64-bit edition of Windows XP/Vista/7, you can’t sync your Palm OS 5 device with USB cable. You will need to turn to a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth solution to sync. I don’t expect either company to release a 64-bit compatible Palm OS 5 driver at this late stage in the Palm OS life cycle since Palm OS 5 is no longer being used in new devices from Palm.

    RIM BlackBerry Smartphones

    I recently installed BlackBerry Device Manager 5.0 on my Windows 7 machine and was able to sync it with my BlackBerry Curve 8330. After installing Device Manager, I learned that there was an OS update for my Berry and I was able to apply the update without issue. The BlackBerry USB mass storage mode also worked without a hitch.

    Windows Mobile 5, 6, 6.5

    There really isn’t much to report here. Microsoft’s latest desktop software is expected to sync with their mobile operating systems. While I haven’t tried to sync my Treo 750 (Windows Mobile Professional 6.0) with my Windows 7 machine yet, it did sync (mostly) error free with Windows Vista.

    What about everything else?

    While I don’t have an Apple iPhone or Google Android phone, I am not anticipating any serious problems. The iPhones and the iPod touch sync with Apple’s iTunes software, which is still listed as being compatible with Windows XP and Windows Vista should work fine under Windows 7. If an issue does come up, I’d expect Apple to have a fix out shortly since there are so many people walking around with both devices at this point.

    You can learn more about the various Windows 7 editions on the Microsoft website.

  • pre

    Palm Pre Launch Event in Spain

    You are kidding, right? I’m happy to hear that Palm fans in Spain can now get their hands on the Palm Pre smartphone, but, I don’t know, I think the “Ladies in Black” is a bit over the top.

    You can check out this, and other photos from the Palm Pre Spain launch event over at the Palm blog.