SmartPhones

Although hackers and purveyors of computer viruses have not yet infiltrated the smartphone arena, smatphone users still have much to be concerned about should their smartphone fall into the wrong hands. Since people generally use their smartphones as a miniature PDA, filled with all their personal info, the biggest secuirty threat to smartphone users is identity theft, a serious concern by any measure.

To protect yourself from such a threat, there is one step you must consider performing, namely:

Activate the Master Device Password

Most smartphones have, usually in their Security Settings, a master device password that must be entered any time your device has sat idle for a set period of time before you can access any part of your smartphone. While it may seem annoying to have to enter in a password every time you want to get into your smartphone, it can save you from a heap of trouble should you lose your device.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: hacker, master device password, PDA, security, security setting, virus

Here's one device you won't see in American hands anytime soon. In fact, not only won't the HP iPaq 600 smartphone be coming soon to a smartphone dealership near you; it may not be coming to the US at all.

According to the::unwired, it's quality concerns blamed on Taiwanese ODM Inventec that led to the decision to withhold the new Windows Mobile device from shipment to US vendors. European distribution, however, is strangely enough still a go, for both the iPaq 600 and its more advanced counterpart the iPaq 900 which runs Windows Mobile 6 Professional Edition.

Is it a favor or a disservice to US users? That seems to be the prevailing question on the subject, and the right answer (as you'd expect) depends on who you ask.

The phones are 3.5 G - a boon for speed demons, for sure - and they boast a novel placement of the directional pad/track ball atop the numerical keypad - the appeal of which also depends on the individual user.

In general, the HP iPaq Pocket PC and Mobile Messenger series of PDA smartphones has been quite impressive to date. Which lends to the question: what went wrong?

Hopefully HP, who is openly considering discontinuing their relationship with Inventec, can get back in the smartphone game soon.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: Hewlett Packard, HP, Inventec, iPaq, iPaq 600, iPaq 900, Mobile Messenger, PDA, Pocket PC, Windows Mobile, Windows Mobile 6, Windows Mobile 6 Professional Edition

Want a web cam? Well, have you ot a smartphone? If so, then you've already got a web cam in the making.

A company named Ateksoft has recently released WebCamera Plus v2.0, a downloadable software application that transforms most modern PDAs and smartphones into web cameras, now with audio recording capabilities as well.

Other features incorporated into the version 2.0 update not available in previous versions of the program are wireless microphone capabilities and the ability to share streams simultaneously through several programs.

With WebCamera Plus v2.0 you can record or stream audio/video content to:

• Yahoo! Messenger
• Skype
• Windows Live Messenger
• MSN Messenger
• Windows Movie Maker
• Virtual Dub
• and more!

Whatever your type of connection - 3G, Bluetooth, LAN, GPRS, Wi-Fi, USB, ActiveSync - WebCamera Plus will work for you, and it's compatible with almost every smartphone and PDA currently on the market.

To learn more about Web Camera Plus and Ateksoft's other cool picturesque product CoolCamera, and to download one or both of these killer apps into your PDA or smartphone, visit the Ateksoft site .

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: 3G, ActiveSync, Ateksoft, Bluetooth, Cool Camera, CoolCamera, GPRS, LAN, MSN Messenger, PDA, Skype, smart phone, smartphone, USB, Virtual Dub, web cam, Web Camera Plus, webcam, WebCamera Plus, WebCameraPlus, Wi-Fi, Wifi, Windows, Windows Live Messenger, Windows Movie Maker, Yahoo, Yahoo! Messenger

With the increasing popularity of Virtual Desktops, the increasing capabilities of smart phones, and the increasing pervasiveness of speedy networks, the day will soon be upon use when people start using their smartphones as a secondary laptop or desktop PC.

One writer looked forward to the day this "Nirvana SmartPhone" comes to market and offers readers a sneak peek at how this product of the future will look and feel, and what it will do.

Like the Nokia N95 and certain PDAs, the Nirvana smartphone will have a Video Out. The iPhone already has such functionality, but it's limited. The upcoming i-Mate promises to improve upon it. The Nirvana smartphone will also have a keyboard and mouse and a docking station.

It's probably obvious to most technophiles that such a Nirvana smartphone would have improved and enhanced music, video, photo, and voice capabilities, but there are endless other innovative uses for the burgeoning technology including: web-enabling all of the televisions in your home, and conducting video conferences through your TV.

Read more about it at BrianMadden.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: apple, Brian Madden, BrianMadden, desktop, iMate, iphone, laptop, network, Nirvana, Nirvana smart phone, Nirvana smartphone, Nokia, nokia n95, PC, PDA, video conferencing, virtual desktop