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 .
One IntoMobile writer took the time and care to publish a massive pictorial guide to the work of Finnish mobile wunderkinds Nokia over the past year. Starting with the company's release of the Nokia N76, Nokia N93i and Nokia N800 at the Consumer Electronics Show in January and running through the eco-friendly Nokia 3110 Evolve (made with 50% recycled materials), each of the 37 cell phones and smartphones released by Nokia in 2007 is described in colorful words and pictures.
The article then goes to explore all of the mergers occurring 2007 involving Nokia, namely:
Navteq
Enpocket
Twango
Avvenu
Following that is a review of the Nokia World 2007 convention. At this point, it becomes abundantly apparent to anyone not already aware of it why Nokia holds approximately 40% of the world's cell phone market share.
The crackerjack prize at the bottom of this box, however, is the look ahead - one decidedly Nokia-savvy writer's predictions for the future of this company and its mobile products in 2008. From tentative praise for the Nokia S60 and the inclusion of touchscreen technology in Nokia smart phones to competition from RIM and, of course, the Apple iPhone, a picture of the upcoming year for Nokia is painted in all its crystal ball clarity.
What Nokia smartphone does the article's writer himself take with him into the coming year? The Nokia N82. Read the rest of the article at IntoMobile.
According to Information Week, a company named Strategy Analysis has released its predictions for the future of the mobile phone ten years hence. And topping this list, prediction number one is that all mobile phones will be smartphones.
Cell phones already perform much of what PCs just started being able to do ten years ago - from music to video to voice to on-the-go networking, file-sharing, and web-browsing at broadband speeds.
Calling the smartphones of the future "media phones", an associate director commenting for Strategy Analysis cites innovations like a rollable display and transformers as revolutionizing the already revolutionary technology. At the very least, he reports, every mobile phone in every household and workplace in the world will have a wide screen, an expansive keyboard, and a more powerful battery than the marketplace has yet seen.
Already powerful applications like Windows Mobile are infusing today's smartphones with enhanced capabilities comparable to those of their home computer. That kind of customizable integration of the PC programs a user relies on most will certainly only continue (and continue to improve).
Also making headway in its course towards future perfection is the intuitive user interface. Smart phone users can look forward to the amount of buttons they have to press and the number of menus they have to cycle through on the graciously steady decline.
The future of smartphones also sees the imminent demise of the brick-and-mortar wireless store, as something called Mobile Device Management (MDM) - whereby consumers to design, buy, update, upgrade, and repair their own smart phones all over the internet - becomes commonplace.
One feature that's notably absent from the general smartphone market that is predicted to be mainstream by 2018 is the integration of multiradio chipsets in every smartphone. Soon people will be able to listen to PAN, LAN, MAN, and WAN radios over their phones.
To find out more about this vision of our collective technological future, read the full article in InformationWeek.
On Tuesday, January 15, Apple's top exec Steve Jobs gave a keynote address at the Macworld 2008 convention. Key among his comments was that in the first 200 days on the market for the cutting-edge iPhone, Apple sold 4 million units.
With 20,000 more units shipped each day, the iPhone currently has just under 20% of the U.S. smartphone market share.
Jobs promised that the iPhone software development kit will be released within the next month, allowing programmers everywhere to start developing great new features to integrate into the iPhone.
In the meantime, Apple released Firmware version 1.1.3 and is soon to be introducing a whole bunch of new features into the product including:
Web Clips - a GPS-like update of GoogleMaps that allows user to triangulate their location
The ability to send an SMS out to multiple recipients
A customized home screen
Jobs also made mention of how many of the iPhone's features like mail, notes, weather, and stocks are now being made available in the iPod Touch.
Recently, Gear Diary posted an in-depth article comparing and contrasting the HTC Touch and the HTC Touch Dial.
Among the common traits both smartphones share are:
TouchFLO touchscreen technology
flush-mounted screens
an ergonomic body with a rubber grip for comfort
a minimalist design with just a D-pad and two-buttons below the screen
From there, the two smartphones start to diverge. For starters, the HTC Touch Dual has a longer and narrower face while the HTC Touch has a shorter and wider face. Which is thinner? Surprisingly, the HTC Touch, despite that the HTC Touch Dual looks thinner.
Beyond look and feel, quite likely the greatest difference between the two devices is the slide-out numeric keypad that comes only as part of the HTC Touch Dual.
Currently, however, the HTC Touch is the only one of the two available for U.S. users, with both smartphones out in European GSM models. Service on the CDMA US model of the HTC Touch is with Sprint.
Check out the entire comparison and view extensive full-color photos of both HTC smartphones, at Gear Diary.
We're all used to the typical promotion where you get a free cell phone in exchange for signing up for a set period of service. So it should come as no surprise that the same phenomenon has begun with the product representing the evolution of the cell phone - the smartphone.
CNET reported today on the Samsung BlackJack II being offered for free on Buy.com for anyone signing up for a two-year AT&T contract. While not the fastest or easiest phone to use, the Samsung BlackJack II nonetheless has some impressive qualities, including:
a GPS
a 2- megapixel camera
and AT&T HSPDA network support
Researching this phenomenon further, I found that Buy.com actually offers several smart phones for free with activation, including:
From here, I checked into how commonly this phenomenon occurred at competing cell phone and smart phone vendors and found that everybody's doing it. In addition to more of the aforementioned brand names, I also found all sorts of other smartphones (such as Sony Ericsson, Nextel, and Nokia) offered for free by all the major carriers:
AT&T (and the former Cingular)
Verizon
T-Mobile
and Sprint
Now there's a way that people on a limited budget can still afford to get a smartphone of their own (though maybe not the latest and greatest model), just by signing up for the wireless service they're going to need to get anyway.
To boot, most of the participating smartphone vendors will even throw in free shipping with the deal.
With such great deals flooding the net, and every phone manufacturer and wireless carrier competing for your hard-earned dollar, we may soon see the day when you never have to pay to obtain a smartphone again.
The latest in smartphone innovation is a software application from Microsoft that turns any device running Windows Mobile 6 or higher into a wireless router that allows any other WiFi-enabled device to share its GPRS/UMTS/HSPA cellular data connection.
What that means is, with the groundbreaking new WMWifiRouter you can surf the internet from any of your WiFi-enabled devices using the cellular data connection that you're paying for on just one of your handsets. To make use of the WMWiFiRouter, just make sure the cellular data connection you're paying for is through a smartphone running a compatible version of Windows Mobile.
The technology is new and under "heavy development", and therefore could have some bugs to iron out, but word is it may even be possible to run the WMWifiRouter on a smartphone running Windows Mobile 5.
Best of all, the program is being offered as a free download.
For the latest on this technology, including the link to download the WMWifiRouter for free onto your smart phone, visit the developer's site.
Late last year, RIM (Research in Motion) announced the development of a new software application that makes it easier for people to access the popular social networking site Facebook on their BlackBerry smartphones.
Although it is true that Facebook is already accessible through the BlackBerry web-browser, this new application not only allows users to view and send messages, photos, Wall posts, and pokes but it pushes all notifications of notes received from friends and associates on Facebook directly to a member's BlackBerry. It also lets users:
take and upload photos to Facebook - captions and tags included - directly from their BlackBerry as well as manage photo albums and events;
invite friends and review and manage new friend requests;
compose, read, and reply to emails without even being online;
scroll through notifications, notes, and messages the same as they do with emails;
enjoy quick and easy access to a range of Facebook's most popular features.
Facebook members can now download the program for free directly from their Facebook account. Read the full announcement on Facebook for BlackBerry Smartphones right here.
The U.K. Times Online reports that the Ravenstone Primary School in Wandsworth, South London has distributed free smartphones to a class of 7-year-olds.
In line with their stated goal of embracing the integration of high-tech technology into their educational curricula, and thanks in large part to a hefty donation from an unnamed sponsor, the school is participating in a research project designed to determine the relative cost-effectiveness of using technology as teaching and study aid.While a class of older children received free Apple laptops, the smartphones that the younger students were given were feature packed with:
a video camera
internet access
voice-recording capabilities
satellite navigation
The handheld devices are expected to be of use to the students in every area of their studies including:
geography
math
English
and music
For more on this experiment in technology education, read the full story in TimesOnline
Calling last year's Nokia N95 "peerless" in terms of sheer feature set - even compared against the coveted iPhone - PC Magazine is simply raving about the new and improved Nokia N95, as luck would have it - a U.S. model.
Improvements in the new Nokia N95 include:
8 gigs of memory - like the latest European model (though unfortunately without the added memory card slot)
raised bumps on the buttons - specifically the music access buttons, making it easier to find them and control your music listening without fiddling too much with your phone
Easy access web services - like Yahoo! Search, Flickr (Yahoo!'s photo sharing service), and Amazon's MobiPocket e-book reader
Most importantly, of course, the U.S. model works on AT&T's HSPDA system high-speed network.
