SmartPhones

For sheer quality and durability it may be argued that Nokia makes the best smartphones around. And for software functionality and versatility none is more revered than Microsoft. So it's no wonder that the two industry leaders would eventually bring together their winning expertise into a single offering. In fact, one only wonders what took them so long.

HTC and Motorola customers already enjoy the PC performance that the Windows Mobile OS gives their smartphones, not least of which is access to mobile versions of the Microsoft Office suite of applications. Now Microsoft is aiming to put their coveted OS into a Nokia N-Series smartphone. About time!

Following on the heels of the most recent convert to the WinMo family, Samsung, with its T-Mobile Shadow. And if Samsung can diverge from its Symbian loyalty, so can fellow Symbianite Nokia, right?

It likely won't happen until after Windows Mobile 7 or Windows Mobile 8 hits the market, but one thing seems certain - it will happen.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: HTC, Microsoft, Microsoft Windows, Motorola, Nokia, Nokia N-Series, PC, Samsung, Symbian, T-Mobile, T-Mobile Shadow, Windows Mobile

With smartphones rapidly overtaking cell phones in the mobile market, it's only logical that smartphone makers are looking ahead to what will keep consumers coming back for more. As such, Information Week recently published a stellar article on the subject, peeking into the innovations popular manufacturers of the devices already glued to our collective, cultural ears are planning for making their products even "stickier".

Technology advances fast, and that's why today's experts see many amazing advances in smartphone technology in store for us in just two years from now. A chief Motorola executive summarizes it this way, by pointing out the three key trends that will alter the very "role and nature" of mobile devices to come:

• content digitization
• ubiquitous, global broadband
• PC miniaturization

This combination of elements will define what's to come in smartphone innovation in just a matter of 24 months or less, namely in the way of:

• hardware
• operating systems
• the internet "ecosystem"

Already, in the way of global broadband, companies like Verizon and Sprint have spread their 3G networks across the whole of the United States, with T-Mobile and AT&T not far behind.

In terms of sheer processing power and the placing of the computing power of the PC into your pants pocket, industry leader Intel is readying the new Moorestown chip, promising smartphone users even greater access to the power these increasingly faster networks offer.

And as for the world of the worldwide web, already corporate giants in other areas of technology are seeing the value of getting into the smartphone game. Consider web search giant Google, whose upcoming mobile platform Andriod is poised to revolutionize the smartphone market, engendering the creation of whole new smartphone devices by all the major manufacturers.

There's much more ahead for smartphone users, and not very far ahead at that. Stay tuned, because it's all coming soon to a smartphone near you.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: , Andriod, AT&T, broadband, Google, Information Week, InformationWeek, Intel, Sprint, T-Mobile, verizon

Yahoo! may have turned down Microsoft’s takeover bid, but not every company is so reluctant to join the technology giant’s entourage.

In an obvious reaction to what one savvy blogger (not yours truly, alas) smartly calls “Apple envy”, Microsoft announced this week its plans to buy Danger, Inc. the compaany that gave us the Sidekick smartphone.

Attempting to hop onto the consumer-focused, user-friendly mobile app bandwagon, the company who brought smartphone users the popular Windows Mobile OS

What will Redmond-based Microsoft do with Silicon Valley-based Danger, exactly? Who’s to say? Hopefully they’ll do what so many other companies have been struggling with, that being: perfect the Windows smartphone.

With a recent report revealing that more people use the Apple iPhone to surf the web than all Windows Mobile enabled devices put together.

The T-Mobile Sidekick 3 is a sleek and stylish smartphone with a unique slide-out display screen revealing a generously sized QWERTY keyboard for easy messaging convenience. Hopefully Microsoft will build on this already stellar product rather than scrapping it and starting from scratch.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: Danger, messaging, Microsoft, QWERTY, qwerty keyboard, Sidekick, Sidekick 3, T-Mobile, Windows, Windows Mobile

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:

• Palm Centro
• RIM BlackBerry Pearl
• Motorola RAZR

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.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: , AT&T, Blackberry, BlackBerry Pearl, camera, cell phone, CNET, GPS, HSPDA, Motorola, Motorola RAZR, Palm, Palm Centro, Palm Treo, Research in Motion, RIM, Samsung, Samsung BlackJack II, smart phone, smartphone, Sony, Sony Ericsson, Sprint, T-Mobile, verizon