• blackberry,  rim,  web os

    eWeek: Palm webOS One of the 2009 Products of the Year

    December 21, 2009 /

    The latest print edition of eWeek hit my desk today and they listed out the best products of 2009. Being a big fan of Palm, I was delighted to see that Palm webOS made this years list of outstanding products.

    Andrew Garcia writes:

    “From the way it integrates all like communication into a single interface, to the way it seamlessly moves from local search to Web search, to its intuitive gesture-based user controls, Palm webOS is a joy to use.”

    However, Mr. Garcia also warns that one of the biggest obstacles to the success of Palm’s new mobile operating system is third-party developer support.

    Again, Mr. Garcia writes:

    “…I have my doubts as to whether third-party developers will create enough action on the platform to make it successful long term, Palm webOS is a thoughtful and well-designed mobile platform.”

    The complete list of eWeek’s products of they year are:

    1. AWS Toolkit for Eclipse
    2. Microsoft Bing
    3. RIM BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0
    4. Cisco Unified Computing
    5. Mozilla Firefox 3.5
    6. Intel “Nehalem” Family of Processors
    7. Palm webOS
    8. SUSE Studio 1.0
    9. VMware vSphere 4

    Why 9? Usually at this time of the year, it is all about top 10 lists. Oh, well, let’s just say that it has to do with the current year ending in ‘9’.

    You can read eWeek Lab’s full review of Palm webOS, written by Mr. Garcia, on the eWeek website.

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  • general,  iphone

    Time: Year End Numbers

    December 21, 2009 /

    I ran across some interesting numbers in the December 28/January 4 issue of Time magazine. In the Year in Briefing: Numbers section (page 35) there are two stats listed that I think you will find interesting. They are:

    • 200 million people joined Facebook in 2009.
    • 13,505 email messages received, on average, per person in 2009.

    Wow! Those are both some amazing statistics. And to think, we couldn’t have done it without our smartphones!

    Don’t have “time” to slow down and read the print publication? No problem, you can download the Time Mobile application for the iPhone and iPod touch. [iTunes link]

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  • blackberry,  rim,  sprint

    BlackBerry Curve 8530 Arrives on Sprint

    December 20, 2009 /

    BGR is reporting that the BlackBerry Curve 8530 has arrived at Sprint.

    “Sprint has just added a new device to its BlackBerry family — the Curve 8530. Though this is on the low-end for BlackBerry devices, that doesn’t mean it skimps out on any features. Best of all, for those of you who want a smartphone but are on a budget, the Curve 8530 is only $49.99 after two-year contract and [mail in rebate].”

    The good news is if you are looking to stick with Sprint, but don’t want to have to re-up for another two years, the good news is that you can buy the BlackBerry Curve 8530 out right for $349.99. That is much better than the $500+ you have to pay for a BlackBerry Tour or Palm Pre without a service contract extension.

    I have had my Palm Pre for six months now. Maybe it’s time for a new phone. After all, I tend to be a bit fanatical about my phones.

    You can check out the full Curve 8500 series specs over on the BlackBerry website. If you are ready to order, you should head over to the Sprint online store to get your CrackBerry addiction on.

    [Via BoyGeniusReport.com…]

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  • android,  google,  motorola

    Motorola Droid Print Ad

    December 20, 2009 /

    I am flipping through Entertainment Weekly magazine issue 1082/1083 and ran across an ad for the Motorola Droid for Verizon Wireless that I thought was a bit off the wall. The ad opens with this line of text:

    “Jump from page to page like a caffeinated cricket in a room full of hungry lizards.”

    O-K, I’m not sure that imagery will make me go out an buy a new phone. Click the graphic to see the ad full size. And if you do decide to buy a Droid after reading the ad, don’t forget to also pick up a good case. No need to have all that “grease-dipped lightning” getting all over that beautiful Droid screen.

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  • blackberry,  rim

    Briefly Noted: Storm 2 Battery Life

    December 19, 2009 /

    It has been a full 48-hours since I fully charged up my demo BlackBerry Storm 2 smartphone. Two days later, the battery is still holding a 20% charge.

    Now, before you get too excited, you should know that I have been testing the phone in a specific way. I have been using it to check my corporate email account and two of my personal Gmail accounts. I have also been using the BlackBerry to make a few phone calls and Wi-Fi has been turned off. Just like the people who would be using phone at the office if the BlackBerry Storm 2 is selected as the our new fleet phone.

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  • blackberry,  blackberry os

    Up Next: BlackBerry Storm 2

    December 17, 2009 /

    I have received a Verizon Wireless BlackBerry Storm 2 for review today. As with the recent reviews of the Motorola Droid and BlackBerry Tour, I am reviewing the Storm 2 as a potential replacement for my company’s fleet of Palm Treo smartphones.

    The BlackBerry Storm 2, also known as the BlackBerry 9550, is a CDMA, GSM, Wi-Fi “world phone.” My demo unit ships with a Vodafone GSM SIM card pre-installed. The Storm 2 is running BlackBerry OS 5.0.0.320 out of the box.

    As is no doubt obvious from the picture, the BlackBerry Storm 2 does not have a physical keyboard. For this device, RIM has opted to include four variations on the soft keyboard. While I find the “full keyboard” usable in landscape mode, I’m not a big fan of the other three keyboard modes that can be used while the phone is held with a portrait orientation. The “clickable” screen does add a nice tactile feel that is missing from the iPhone and iPod touch, though I still much rather have that hardware keyboard.

    In my initial testing, the device responded quickly and the screen is bright and readable. I also thing that it is easier to control the Wi-Fi radio on the Storm 2 verses Wi-Fi on the Droid. Oddly, this phone seems to be heavier than the other two I’ve looked at recently. While it doesn’t bother me, it may be a deal breaker for some.

    In short, if you are a ‘Berry addict, the BlackBerry Storm 2 is your iPhone.

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  • apple

    Troubleshooting a “Dead” iPod touch

    December 13, 2009 /

    I went to sync some new music and apps to my touch and was surprised to see that it didn’t respond to being connected to the sync cable that was attached to my Mac. No problem, I’ll just reboot the iPod and move on. Not so fast! The iPod was not responding to the reboot command either! I was sickened to think that my first generation 16GB iPod touch had just died on me. The holiday season is no time to have to make an unscheduled $400 purchase. And so began the long, drawn out, troubleshooting process.

    The first thing you should do when you have an iPod that is misbehaving is to head over to the Apple iPod Troubleshooting Assistant web page. Here, you will be able to select your particular model of iPod and use Apple’s easy to follow directions for setting things right.

    In the past, rebooting my iPods has always resolved the issue. In this case, the touch was scrambled in such a way that I couldn’t reboot it. But there is one other way to achieve a similar effect: drain the battery and recharge.

    Draining the battery is an easy thing to do if you use your iPod all the time. But if you are a bit of the impatient type, like I am, you want something to help speed things up a bit. One of the apps loaded on my iPod touch is a flashlight application. It doesn’t matter which of the dozens of flashlight apps you use because the end result is the same: start up the app, crank up the screen brightness, set the Auto-Lock feature to “Never”, and wait for the battery to drain. Just to be sure that I drained the battery completely, I let my touch sit on my desk for an extra 2 hours after it would no longer turn on.

    After that, I let my iPod charge up for 15-3o minutes on the wall charger and then connected it to my Mac. This time, iTunes quickly recognized it’s missing friend and began to sync my new content.

    At the end of the day, I was able to fix the problem, although I’m still not sure what went wrong in the first place. I also don’t have to worry about getting a replacement iPod. That’s good news because I expect that Apple will finally get around to releasing an iPod touch with a camera and 802.11n Wi-Fi in 2010. The only question I have is when? Will Apple refresh the iPod touch line in the first half of the year, or will they choose to focus on rumored Apple table in 1H and refresh the iPod line up in 2H, which typically happens in September in advance of the holiday shopping season. I’m not sure, but I’m looking to keep my G1 iPod touch running until then.

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  • android,  google,  sprint

    Sprint: Android 2.0 Coming Hero, Moment in 2010

    December 12, 2009 /

    Sprint recently posted on their Twitter page that the Sprint Hero and Moment smartphones will be getting updates to Google Android 2.0 operating system sometime before the middle of 2010.

    Sprint writes:

    “Happy to announce Android 2.0 is coming to Sprint’s Hero & Moment. Date TBD, but roughly 1H 2010.”

    6 – 7 months is a long time to wait for and update, but owners of the Hero and Moment should be still be excited. At least it isn’t a full year like Microsoft fans will have to wait for Windows Mobile 7.

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  • microsoft,  windows mobile

    Windows Mobile 7 Delayed Until “Late Next Year”

    December 12, 2009 /

    “Delayed until late next year.” Those are the works that fans of technology hate to hear. But fans of Microsoft’s Windows Mobile platform are going to have to learn to live with them for the next 12 months. At least we have some nice screen shots to look at.

    Phil Moore, who heads up Microsoft’s UK mobility unit was on the hot seat during a Q&A session at the Connect! technology summit, which was held in London recently.

    Reporting on the event, the Mobile News website, based in the UK, quotes Mr. Moore as saying:

    “We’re still playing catch-up. When Apple came on to the scene a couple of years ago, it threw away the rulebook and reinvented it. We unfortunately don’t have that luxury. It’s true, Apple caught us all napping. It launched something that was very iconic, new and unseen with a very good user interface.”

    Mr. Moore continued stating that one of the goals for Windows Mobile 7 is address the massive gap (my words) between the Windows Mobile experience and the iPhone experience. Mr. Moore continues:

    “It [Windows Mobile 7] has been put back until late next year but it is definitely coming. You’re going to see a lot more on Windows Mobile 7. Giving the enterprise users and consumers what they want will be part of Windows Mobile 7. You’ll get flexibility on a much easier touch UI.”

    Ouch! Being a long time fan of Palm, I can surely relate to what Windows Mobile fans are feeling right now. It was a good 5 years between the release of Palm OS 5.0 and Palm webOS. Microsoft is going to have to fill a tall order if they are going to try to take on Apple for the hearts and minds of mobile users.

    You can read the full article on the Mobile News website.

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  • android,  google,  verizon

    CW Opinion: Droids in the Enterprise

    December 11, 2009 /

    As you know, I’m currently working with a team to select the next smartphone for our corporate mobile phone fleet. One of the devices we are reviewing is the Motorola Droid for the Verizon Wireless network.

    Computer World ran an opinion piece last month about some of the corporate short comings of the new Google Android 2.0 device. Author Michael Gartenberg writes:

    “While there’s a lot to like about the Droid, it’s not the phone that most businesses are going to turn to. The hardware is good, including a lovely high-resolution screen, but the keyboard is definitely something you will want to try before you buy. For me, the keys are way too close together and much too flat to promote good typing. (Oddly, the virtual on-screen keyboard works much better for me).”

    Mr. Gartenberg also has some issues with the Droid’s built-in Microsoft Exchange support (via Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync), remote management, and device security.

    You can read the full opinion piece on the CW website.

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