Sep 20

As if there weren’t enough self-avowed iPhone Killers on the market, Steve Jobs reportedly has a new opponent entering the ring to duke it out with his reigning champ of mobile PCs for dominance over the smartphone market in one Michael Dell.

Dell Computers’ leader announced at the Citi Technology Conference, an investor’s conference in New York a week ago Wednesday that his company may come out with an iPhone competitor, though he asserts that the device, if it is ever made, will not see the light of day anytime soon. (That sounds like confirmation by denial if ever we’ve heard it).

What this says to us is that a “Dell Phone” is probably already in the works, but that the company’s namesake feels it too premature to make any definitive revelations, only willing to admit, “I think you will see us with small screen devices” and “You’ll see us with smaller and smaller devices that have capabilities of the device you are referring to” (ahem).

The recent hiring of a former Motorola exec helped fuel the speculation about the alleged new venture for Dell


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Sep 04

No doubt in response to Apple’s broad-sweeping (and industry dominating) success with mobile music offered through iTunes Mobile and the iPhones, telephony stalwart Nokia has introduced a new product/service (which is which these days – can anybody tell anymore?) called “Comes With Music”

“Comes With Music” provides compatible Nokia smartphone purchasers (starting with the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic “Comes with Music Phone” a full year of unlimited access to the entire music catalog of Nokia’s Music Store (honestly, I didn’t even know they had one).

In cooperation with Sony BMG, Universal Music Group (UMG), and Warner Music, Nokia is granting its customers access to more than 2 million tracks. And most excitingly, customers will apparently be able to continue to possess and listen to all the music they download using the service even after their one year subscription period expires.

A novel concept and a worthy attempt to compete with the near monopolistic iTunes Music Store (and more specifically iTunes Mobile), the new effort debuts in the UK sometime after its official announcement and launching scheduled in London, England on October 2.


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Aug 18

Last week we reviewed the new Palm Treo 800w and already, just a few days later, we catch wind of Palm's next Treo, not yet released but on the horizon. The Palm Treo Pro is its name - aka the Palm Treo 850w - and as its name implies, this upcoming Palm will be geared towards the business customer.

With a sleeker, slimmer, flashier, and more professional looking design than its predecessors (and consumer counterparts), the leaked photos and Flash vidoe demos show a Treo that may take Palm to the next level, on par with the BlackBerry Bold, Samsung Instinct, and - yes - the Apple iPhone.

But the latest Treo for enterprise customers has as many similarities to the Palm Treo 800w as it does differences, with:

  • a touchscreen
  • 320 x 320 resolution
  • a microSD expansion slot
  • a QWERTY keyboard
  • Wi-Fi
  • a 3.5 mm headphone jack
  • etc.

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Jun 18

It's called the Nokia E71 and it's just made technology history (or at least the record books) as the thinnest QWERTY-keyboard smartphone in the world. The latest in the Nokia E-Series of handsets for business, the E71 is the replacement for the Nokia E61.

The E71 is HSDPA network capable and features a built-in GPS and both the Nokia email software and Microsoft Exchange. It also offers two home screens you can switch between at will - one for home and one for the office. And the digital camera (with flash) is a whopping 3.2 megapixels.

By designing a casing that's thin and compact, Nokia aims to appeal to those business users who take their handheld with them everywhere and are constantly holding it, using it, and interacting with it. The fact that the E71 boasts a durable hard metal casing is another appeal to businesspeople always on-the-go.

So while the RIM BlackBerry is busy battling the Apple iPhone, the Nokia E71 seems to be sneaking in from behind for some of the BlackBerry's business.


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Jun 01

It was last November that Google announced their entry into the smartphone OS battle (alongside Symbian, RIM BlackBerry OS, Microsoft Windows Mobile, and of course the inimitable iPhone) but we have yet to see the first Google Android smartphone on the market. Well that is soon about to change.

A British chip maker named ARM has released a prototype of its unbranded handset running the Google Android operating system, equipped with:

  • email (provided by Gmail)
  • text messaging
  • multimedia apps
  • internet browser (with Google as the default home page)
  • Google Calendar functionality
  • GoogleMaps software

Meanwhile, Google's own engineering director has unveiled an Android smartphone prototype as well, this the Google branded GPhone. While Google won't be manufacturing the GPhones itself, it aims to design the basic handset in such a way that manufacturers of all capacities can still deliver a quality, Google-worthy product. The first of these looks to pack the equivalent power of the iPhone into a smaller, tighter package (and that includes the screen size).

The first Google Android smartphones are expected to hit markets later in the year.


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Apr 21

The Associated Press, the largest and oldest new agency in the United States, is now offering smartphone users around the world what it calls the "Mobile News Network", combining the AP's own coverage with that of local papers.

Content from the service will be localized for each user, displayed on their smartphones based on their zip code. The AP will provide all the international and national stories and local newspapers will be able to submit local news updates to the service with their respective logos printed alongside each report.

The localized news service will be available on the Apple iPhone, the premiere platform featuring the service, and other participating devices, with a special focus on providing users the ideal interface for delivering news reports, photos, and videos on mobile devices.

A free, ad-supported service, the Mobile News Network will be launched this summer.


written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: , , , ,

Apr 09

That's right, there's a new smartphone coming to market - two actually - and they're not from Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Palm, RIM, nor any of the familiar old diehards - not even Apple. No, this one is from Velocity Mobile.

Who? That's what I said.  

Formed by Invantec and some folks from Microsoft, this new dialer in the great, big smartphone conference call in the wireless skies is set to give its forerunners a run for their money. With the new Velocity 111 (which looks a lot like a BlackBerry) and Velocity 103 (which looks a lot like an iPhone), Velocity plans to improve on what's been working so well for its competitors and getting rid of all that doesn't meet up. It will have more icons and interfaces familiar to Windows PC-users and promises to be the most customizable smartphone yet.  

As might be expected, both devices will be running Windows Mobile 6.1.


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Mar 26

The ASUS P735 is a Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0 Pocket PC 3G smartphone. With tools and features for both the professional user and the general consumer, the P735 is bundled with an impressive combination of multimedia features and productivity tools.

For example, its multimedia features include:

  • Dual camera
  • Video calling
  • Total multimedia playback
  • Business card reader

And its productivity tools include the deft and dexterous ASUS Remote Presenter app that allows users to access and manage Microsoft PowerPoint presentations from your PC, as well as a meeting planner capable of scheduling teleconferencing across three time zones.

The ASUS P735 lacks GPS or HSDPA, but it does operate on GPRS Class 10 networks. It has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity as well as a miniSD card slot for extra data storage.

The look and feel of the ASUS P735 resembles the Apple iPhone with a large screen dominating the face of the smartphone, though it has a few other buttons surrounding its primary, multipurpose button. A touch screen smartphone, the P735 has no keyboard or numeric keypad.


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Mar 17

Recently this blog reported on results of a study that showed the RIM Blackberry OS to be the "best" smartphone OS among industry analysts. However, according to an informal survey conducted by internet technology review stalwart CNet, the preferred smartphone operating system among consumers (or at least, CNet readers) is Windows Mobile.

Smartphones running Windows Mobile include the Samsung Blackjack, the Motorola Q (the top two tier-1 smartphones), as well as many manufactured by HTC, including the widely-popular HTC Tilt.

Based on pure market share alone, the study of 130 users showed Windows Mobile at 42.3%, RIM Blackberry at 19.2%, Apple OS X at 17.7%, and Symbian and Palm OS at 10%. Those are the stats for operating systems. As for smartphone manufacturers, RIM and HTC both took the lead, tying with a 19.2% market share each, Apple following close behind with 17.7%, Motorola at third with 11.5%, Palm at 10%, and all the rest (Nokia, Samsung, etc.) taking the remaining 22.3%.

Interestingly enough, the praise for Windows Mobile was balanced out (read: marred or tainted), however, by half of the respondents reporting complaints of the very same OS. Finally, a whopping 66% of CNet readers responding the survey said they would be likely to consider purchasing an Apple iPhone as their next smartphone, three times more than those who said they'd opt for the second place contender, the Blackberry.


written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Mar 12

A recent survey by Handango shows that smartphone users use their smartphones for far more than making and receiving calls and emails. It seems more and more people are using their smartphones more and more for entertainment purposes than in the previous two years when the devices were primarily used for professional and business purposes. Entertainment has just recently eked above business use 17% to 16% and looks only to be climbing higher from here.

Analysts attribute this shift to a shift in the predominant market for smartphones, that being from techies and executives to everyday consumers. The reining leader in the world of smartphones - still RIM, despite the big splash made recently by the Apple iPhone - reports that the 10 best-selling applications for their revered Blackberry includes:

  • Ringtones and ringtone libraries
  • Games (like Sudoku and Texas Hold'em)
  • Instant messengers
  • Travel assistants

And the Blackberry isn't alone in this. One of the main activities used on Windows Mobile Standard devices is the viewing of streaming media.


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