I’m a storyteller. I find cool new things, use them to make my life better, and teach others to do the same.
msmobiles.com - Motorola MPx220 sighted at Taipei Telecom 2004 trade show
It’s interesting to see the Chinese UI on the MPX220 - I wonder if that is some custom localization that had to happen, or whether Windows Mobile for Smartphones 2003 supports double-byte characters like Chinese, Japanese, and Korean out of the box?
Opera has published a press release stating that their popular Opera web browser will soon be made available for Windows Mobile Smartphone devices:
Opera for mobile devices uses Small Screen Rendering (SSR) technology to reformat web pages for small device screens, eliminating the need for horizontal scrolling. This is similar to Pocket Internet Explorer’s “Fit to Screen” functionality.
I’m exicted to see a new browser option available for Smartphones, even though I’m pretty happy with Internet Explorer on my MPX200. Since I upgraded to Windows Mobile 2003, I’ve especially been enjoying the “One Column” layout option, which completely eliminates horizontal scrolling, and makes just about any web page readable. Competition is a good thing, though, and I’ll definitely be checking out Opera for Windows Mobile Smartphones when it’s released.
More on the new iMac G5 - Engadget - www.engadget.com
Coverage all over the net this morning - the new G5 iMac has been unveiled:
The design is very nice, which is what most people love Apple for. I wonder about how adjustable the monitor height/angle are, for egronomic reasons, and if the bracket/stand is removable to make it wall mountable?
Engadget - Leaked pic of Dell’s Axim X50 Pocket PC
Thanks to rednoc for pointing this out to me - he gets up earlier than I do, and often finds the juicy tidbits before I get around to checking all of my RSS feeds for the day.
Pics appear to have leaked for the rumored Dell Axim X50 Pocket PC:
So what do you think? Is this “leaked” pic photoshopped, or the real thing? It bears a strong resemblance to the current Axim X5, which is unfortunate in my opinion, because the X5 was pretty bulky. Small, slim, and sleek is where it’s at, Dell!
TrustedReviews - HP iPAQ rx3715
More and more reviews of this unit are starting to pop up. This time, we get one from a non-Pocket PC focused site, TrustedReviews:
None of the software and features on the iPAQ rx3715 are impossible to configure on other Pocket PCs. But three things make this Pocket PC unique: the integration of all these elements onto ROM, the provision of copious amounts of memory in which to run locally stored media and saved images (152MB of available memory really is a vast amount for a Pocket PC), and the means to access all those multimedia odds and ends from a single non-standard main screen.
I can’t wait to get my hands on one of these. Expect to see a review from me, as soon as they become available.
Anyone from HP or Microsoft know how I can get a review unit?
Consync :: Email and its Many Forms
Consync has an article up comparing the two most popular protocols for accessing your email on a Pocket PC, Smartphone, or other mobile device - POP3 and IMAP:
Email is email, right? Not exactly, there are a pair of standard protocols for email and each has it’s own place in this world. POP3 (Post Office Protocol 3) and IMAP4 (Internet Message Access Protocol 4) can be accessed from a Windows Mobile PocketPC or SmartPhone. They each have advantages and disadvantages and in this article we will look at each type of email protocol and see what is best for what you need for your mobile communications.
Go read the article for the nitty-gritty details. It’s a nice overview of the features of POP3 and IMAP, if you’re not already familiar with them.
Personally, I’ll always use IMAP for accessing my email on my Smartphone and Pocket PC, because IMAP better supports storing the mail on the server and accessing it from different devices. I use Hotmail for my personal email, and in a typical day, I’ll access it in various ways. First thing in the morning, I’ll check my mail on my Smartphone on my bedstand, which is configured to access my Hotmail account via IzyMail.com (for $10/year, they’ll act as an IMAP gateway to web mail accounts like Hotmail). Later in the day, I’ll keep up on reading and sending mail using the Hotmail web interface or Outlook on my computer. In the evening, at home, if I’ve got a couple of emails to write, and don’t want to use the keypad on my Smartphone, I’ll pull out my iPAQ 4350, and read and send using the Inbox application over WiFi (again, through IzyMail). The reason I love IMAP is that it lets me access the same mail account from 4 different devices/methods (Smartphone, Pocket PC, web, and Outlook) and it keeps all of my messages in sync. Mail that I’ve read and/or deleted on one devices shows up as such when I check from another device. All in all, it works very well for me.
Gizmodo : Orange SPV C500 First Impressions
Call quality, Bluetooth implementation and overall speed and responsiveness are streets ahead of the previous Orange branded SmartPhones and significantly better than my wife’s MPx200. How this phone will fare against the MPx220 when it is released remains to be seen
Head on over to Gizmodo to read the rest of his mini-review.
If it were widely available here in the U.S. right now (assuming the MPX220 wasn’t), I’d probably be using this as my main phone right now. It’s a very impressive piece of hardware.
Axim X50 May Be Coming in October
Brighthand has some more speculation that seems to point to a new Dell Pocket PC with a VGA screen coming soon:
When Intel was first demonstrating the 2700G multimedia accelerator for the XScale line, a company spokesperson announced that Dell would be using this graphics co-processor in an Axim model to be released during the second half of this year.The 2700G was created for 640-by-480-pixel displays and up. If it is going to be in a future Axim model, then that model will have a VGA screen.
The graphic subprocessor would give the X50 added kick for video and gaming applications.
Now we just have to wait for the first leaked photos, and official acknowledgement from Dell. My bet is on the FCC being the first source for photos - if the X50 is going to have any sort of wireless capabilities (and it would be silly not to), it will have to be approved by the FCC.
CDMA Slider Smartphone - Engadget - www.engadget.com
The FCC strikes again! Pictures and user manual information have been posted on the FCC’s site for a new Microsoft Smartphone from HTC: the Vivida.
This is a CDMA phone, meaning it will most likely be released by Verizon in the USA. Screenshots from the user manual at MSMobiles.com shows a “1X” icon in the title bar, indicating that the phone uses Verizon’s 2.5G “Express” 1xRTT data network, meaning data speeds of 40 to 60 Kbps, with bursts up to 144 Kbps. In real life scenarios, I’ve heard Verizon’s Express network speeds are about comparable to GPRS. The phone also appears to be running Windows Mobile for Smartphones 2003, not Second Edition (which really doesn’t add much for Smartphones).
I’m excited to see this phone come out, even if it’s unlikely I’ll switch to Verizon for it. It’s always good to see a new phone running Windows Mobile for Smartphones, and it’s nice to see the Verizon/CDMA folks get another option (besides the Samsung i600) if they want a Microsoft Smartphone.
Stay tuned for any new info on this upcoming phone.
PDA News - Axim X50 rumors, Tungsten T5 pics & specs, Tungsten OS upgrade?
In addition to some more speculation on the palmOne Tungsten T5, BargainPDA has some juicy tidbits from an apparent mole inside Dell:
According to the report, the Axim X50 will have three different models in its line, with the highest using a 3.7 inch VGA screen. The X50 will have dual expansion slots, CompactFlash and SD, “among other things.” The dimensions will be close to those of the X30, but it will not use the form-factor of either the X30 or the X5, opting for a new design that, in the words of the source, “…looks a bit like the rumored iPaq 2000 series…” No word yet on wireless or price point, but we’ll keep pumping him. He did add that the documentation lists a release date in October.
Hmm. Very interesting, and it makes sense. The X30 is great, but Dell needs to keep innovating if they’re going to keep the interest of fickle gadget geeks like us.
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