• blackberry

    RIM Introduces the Blackberry Storm

    October 9, 2008 /

    Not wanting to leave Apple alone in the “Uber-Cool Touchscreen Phone” market, Research In Motion (RIM) along with their US and European launch partners, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone, officially introduced the BlackBerry Storm smartphone earlier today.

    “Designed to satisfy the needs of both consumers and business customers, the BlackBerry Storm smartphone combines the powerful communications features, global connectivity and personal productivity advantages of the BlackBerry® platform with a revolutionary touch-screen technology that dramatically enhances the touch interface and enables easy and precise typing. The world’s first “clickable” touch-screen responds much like a physical keyboard and also supports single-touch, multi-touch and gestures for intuitive and efficient application navigation.”

    “We are proud to introduce the first touch-screen based BlackBerry smartphone together with Verizon Wireless and Vodafone,” said Mike Lazaridis, president and co-chief executive officer at RIM. “The BlackBerry Storm is a revolutionary touch-screen smartphone that meets both the communications and multimedia needs of customers and solves the longstanding problem associated with typing on traditional touch-screens. Consumers and business customers alike will appreciate this unique combination of a large and vibrant screen with a truly tactile touch interface.”

    “The BlackBerry Storm offers our customers more ways to stay connected to both their personal and professional lives – whether in their communities or around the globe,” said Mike Lanman, vice president and chief marketing officer of Verizon Wireless. “The BlackBerry Storm combines the reliability of our 3G network with the dependability and network efficiency of the BlackBerry platform to deliver our customers the ultimate wireless experience – all in one of the coolest smartphones available on the market today.”

    Moving touch screen aside, this new BlackBerry does have some great features packed into it, including:

    • DataViz Documents To Go
    • 3.2MP digital camera
    • Built-in GPS receiver
    • 1GB of built-in memory and a microSD card slot for up to 16GB of extra storage
    • 480×360 resolution display
    • Removable 1400mAh battery

    Read the full RIM press release here…

    The “clickbable” touchscreen sounds like an interesting gimmick. When you press down on the screen, it is suppose to have a little bit of give in it that gives you tactile feedback much like you would get if you where pressing a mouse button or typing on a keyboard. We’ll get back to you on that when the device is in wide distribution to figure out if this feature is a boon or a bust.

    At this time, RIM has not announced a release date or pricing for the Storm with or without new service contracts with Verizon or Vodafone.

    For more details about the new BlackBerry Storm, visit the RIM BlackBerry Storm website.

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  • apple,  blackberry,  htc,  iphone,  rim

    New Name, Expanding Smartphone Coverage

    October 6, 2008 /

    Today is both an ending and a beginning. After long and careful deliberation, it is time to say goodbye to “Foleo Fanatics.” In the year since Palm canceled the Foleo Mobile Companion it has become increasingly evident that the Foleo, in it’s original configuration and name, will never be released.

    The Foleo unit that I was able to use, even for a short while, showed amazing potential and I’m still looking for something to replace it.

    However, the time has come to look beyond the Foleo and, starting today, Foleo Fanatics has become Smartphone Fanatics.

    Smartphone Fanatics will continue where Foleo Fanatics has left off, providing you with the same great coverage of the Palm user community. We also plan on expanding our coverage beyond Palm’s products. Moving forward, look for increasing coverage of Windows Mobile devices from great vendors like High Tech Computng (HTC). We will also be covering the exciting new BlackBerry smartphones coming out of Research In Motion (RIM). And, lastly, we also plan to cover everybody’s favorite entertainment device, the Apple iPhone.

    Welcome to Smartphone Fanatics!

    Alan Grassia
    Editor, SmartphoneFanatics.com

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  • dataviz

    Passwords Plus Updated

    October 1, 2008 /


    DataViz, the makers of the award winning Documents To Go, today released an update for Passwords Plus that adds support for Microsoft Windows Vista and Apple Mac OS X 10.5.

    Passwords Plus 1.007 adds the following updates:

    • Support for Windows Vista and Palm Desktop 6.2 or higher
    • Support for Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard)
    • Minor bug fixes

    Passwords Plus 1.007 is a free update to all registered customers and can be downloaded from the DataViz website. Passwords Plus can be purchased for $29.99 from DataViz’s online store.

    The one thing that this update does not address that I wish it would is the Windows Mobile version of Passwords Plus for ActiveSync and Windows Mobile Device Center for Windows XP and Vista. A few years ago, DataViz chose to stop selling Passwords Plus for Windows Mobile/Pocket PC. With more Palm OS users migrating over to Windows Mobile devices, bringing back Passwords Plus for Windows Mobile seems like a win-win solution for DataViz and their customers.

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  • blackberry

    Agendus Comes to BlackBerry

    September 28, 2008 /

    iambic, earlier today, has introduced Agendus for BlackBerry smartphones. Of their new BlackBerry product, iambic writes:

    “Enthusiastically embraced by Palm OS and Windows Mobile users, Agendus has been especially tailored to work seamlessly on BlackBerry devices such as the BlackBerry Bold, KickStart, Perl and Curve. Our solution ties together the most frequently used applications on your phone (Calendar, Contacts, and Tasks) so you get more things done using fewer (and, in most cases, half) the button presses. Efficiency made easy!”

    Agendus for BlackBerry 1.0 comes in two pricing models: $19.95 for the BlackBerry only application and $39.95 for the BlackBerry/Windows desktop bundle.

    For more details on the new edition of Agendus, including the link for the demo download, visit the iambic website.

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  • microsoft,  windows mobile

    SpriteBackup 6.5 Released

    September 25, 2008 /

    Sprite Software has released SpriteBackup 6.5 for Windows Mobile smartphones, which includes Palm’s Windows Mobile Professional smartphone line up.

    New in Backup 6.5:

    • Brand New User Interface – Brings you closer to key functions and improves workflows
    • Improved Sprite Explorer – Browse your Backup file and extract data – export Contacts as vCards
    • Powerful Backup PC Manager – Control your backup operations/options from your PC
    • Redeveloped Upgrade Mode – Move key data to a new Windows Mobile device
    • New 1-step Backup – Trigger a manual backup instantly with this feature!
    • Performance Improvements – General speed, stability and performance fixes and revisions.

    Upgrade Options:

    Sprite Backup 5 Customers can upgrade for $10. If Sprite Backup 6.xx came bundled with your device (OEM Customers), you can also upgrade for $10 also. Sprite Backup 6.xx Retail Customers can upgrade for free. If you purchased any retail Sprite Backup 6.xx series version simply enter your email address on this page to recieve your free download link and code: Code Retrieval Page.

    I use SpriteBackup to backup my Palm Treo 750 daily. This is one of those applications that is a must have if you own a Windows Mobile Professional device.

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  • microsoft,  windows mobile

    Microsoft Delays Windows Mobile 7

    September 25, 2008 /

    According to a recent Cnet News article, Microsoft has proportionally delayed the next release of Windows Mobile, code named “Windows Mobile 7.”

    “Microsoft has informed some of its partners that it has had to delay Windows Mobile 7, a much anticipated update to its cell phone operating system.

    Although Microsoft has not publicly said when to expect Windows Mobile 7, partners who had expected to have a final release in their hands by early next year have been told now that it won’t be ready until the second half of next year, sources told CNET News.

    The delay is a significant blow for the software maker, which has been counting on the next version of Windows Mobile to enable devices that better rival Apple’s iPhone. Among the features widely expected to be part of the release is advanced gesture recognition, perhaps along the lines of the iPhone, but possibly also using the camera as a means for reading gestures. Microsoft’s Tellme unit, which focuses on speech input, has also been working on Windows Mobile 7 features.”

    Read the full Cnet News article…

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  • astraware,  blackberry

    Astraware Releases Platypus for BlackBerry

    September 24, 2008 /


    Today, Astraware and Idigicon have released a version of Platypus for BlackBerry smartphones. Earlier this year, Astraware released a version of Platypus for Palm OS and Windows Mobile/PocketPC smartphones and PDAs.

    For this latest edition, Astraware has optimized the game controls to support trackball on recent BlackBerry devices, which includes the BlackBerry Pearl, Curve, and the new BlackBerry Bold. Astraware has also announced support for Symbian S60 and UIQ smartphones.

    Read the Foleo Fanatics review of Platypus…

    “Following a release for Palm OS(R) and Windows Mobile(R) devices earlier this year, Astraware(R) and Idigicon are excited to announce the release of Platypus
    for 3 more smartphone platforms. The squishiest shoot-em-up ever is now available for S60(R), UIQ(R) and BlackBerry(R) smartphones worldwide, including the new BlackBerry Bold!”

    Based on the cult classic for PC and Mac, Platypus is a fast, frantic and fun side-scrolling arcade shooter with a difference – the entire game is made from clay!”

    For more information, visit http://www.astraware.com/platypus. Club Astraware members can get a substantial discount off all versions of Platypus for a limited time. Simply login here: http://www.astraware.com/club to check out the special price!

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  • windows mobile

    StopWatch

    September 22, 2008 /

    I was just catching up on this week’s Weekly Software Wrangle over on WMExperts.com, and came across a cool little bit of freeware for Windows Mobile devices.

    StopWatch is a little application that does just what the name implies. As you can see from the screen grab, StopWatch has all the cool stylings that you would expect to find on the lastest fruity devices.

    Download link and details on WMExperts.

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  • windows mobile

    Sprite Archie – Backup Call Log and SMS Messages

    September 21, 2008 /

    Sprite Software, makers of the popular Windows Mobile backup solution, Sprite Backup, has released a new application, Sprite Archie. Sprite Archie allows you to back up your Windows Mobile phone’s call log and SMS messages to Outlook’s Inbox.

    This is great news for users of devices made by ODMs like HTC. Users of Palm’s Windows Mobile smartphones will only be able to backup their call log because of Palm’s custom threaded SMS application.

    The latest release of Archie allows you to backup messages and the call log to your PC, however, the current version does not allow you to restore that data to a new or replacement phone. Sprite does indicate on their website that they are working on adding that functionality in a future release.

    Sprite Archie is available now for $14.95 from the Sprite online store. A downloadable demo is also available. For more information about Sprite Archie, please visit the Sprite Software website.

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