Even those of us not lucky enough to put our lives on hold to travel to Beijing or sit glued to our TVs can still keep up with all the latest goings-on at this year's Olympics with their smartphones.
Thanks to Google (of course) anyone with an internet-enabled smartphone can visit Google's summergames page for mobile devices and get all the updated information they could possibly want on almost 40 Olympic events. Among the information listed there is the full schedule of each event and the winners (once known). Best of all, the mobile site is available in more than 60 countries and in 36 languages.
Video coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics is also available for people on a BlackBerry or a Palm OS or Windows Mobile device, through MobiTV.
Alternatively, sports fans can also hook themselves up with a SlingMedia Slingbox and redirect any program coming through their television to their smartphone device - including NBC's coverage of the Olympics.
The Slingbox, however, is the only option with an extra up front cost (for both the box and the mobile software), and is available on Windows Mobile, Symbian S60, and Palm OS devices.
Which smartphone should you buy for 2008? Well, before you decide, take a look over on PCMag.com and read their latest roundup where the pros and cons of the following four leading smartphone operating systems out today are compared and contrasted:
According to this handy cheat sheet to the best of the best of smart phones operating systems on the market, the cream of the current crop of smartphones running each of the four OSs examined is also listed and described, such as:
the Palm Centro - a Palm Treo stuffed into a smaller and cheaper package
the Nokia E61i - PC Mag's Editor's Choice for the top unlocked keyboard smartphone
the AT&T Tilt/HTC 8925 - a combination of the some of the best mobile office and consumer entertainment features in one package
What was the winner? The BlackBerry OS. Find out why, and the good word on all the best of today's breed of smartphones and smartphone operating systems at PCMag.com