SmartPhones

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.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: apple, Apple iPhone, Blackberry, BlackBerry Bold, Bold, Instinct, iphone, microSD, Palm, Palm Treo, Palm Treo 800w, Palm Treo 850w, Palm Treo Pro, QWERTY, Samsung, Samsung Instinct, touchscreen, Treo 800w, Treo 850w, Wi-Fi

The days of searching for the nearest Wi-Fi HotSpot are at an end. Now, thanks to a North Carolina company TapRoot Systems, you can turn your WiFi-enabled smartphone into a WiFi HotSpot capable of granting broadband internet access to any nearby WiFi-capable PC and laptop, as well as the iPod touch and other MP3 players.

The application, called WalkingHotSpot, currently supports 3G smartphones running the Symbian S60 or Windows Mobile operating systems, but that’s just the beginning. TapRoot promises support for other OS’s are on the way.

Currently, WalkingHotSpot is being marketted strictly to wireless carriers, but plans are in effect to market the software to consumers any day now.

The technology, promoted as being energy-efficient, user-friendly, and – above all – secure, is also poised to allow smartphone users to have WiFi service activated and make and receive voice phone calls simultaneously, though at the moment only devices on the AT&T HSDPA/UMTS service can do so.

At the WalkingHotSpot website, smartphone owners interested in the service can sign up to be notified as soon as a demo download is available for their system.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: 3G, AT&T, HotSpot, HSDPA/UMTS, iPod, iPod Touch, MP3 player, North Carolina, OS, router, Symbian, Symbian S60, TapRoot Systems, WalkingHotSpot, Wi-Fi, Wifi

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.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: 3G, apple, ASUS, ASUS P735, Bluetooth, GPRS, GPRS Class 10, GPS, hsdpa, iphone, Microsoft, Microsoft Windows, miniSD card, miniSD card slot, multimedia, Pocket PC, Remote Presenter, touch screen, touchscreen, Wi-Fi, Wifi, Windows, Windows Mobile, Windows Mobile 6

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

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:

• BlackBerry OS 4.3
• Palm OS 5.4
• Symbian Series 60 3rd Edition
• Windows Mobile 6.0

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 RIM BlackBerry Curve 8320 - with unlimited WiFi
• 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

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: AT&T, AT&T Tilt, Blackberry Curve, BlackBerry Curve 8320, BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry OS 4.3, consumer entertainment, HTC, HTC 8925, mobile office, Nokia, Nokia E61i, operating system, OS, Palm, Palm Centro, Palm OS, Palm OS 5.4, Palm Treo, PC Mag, PC Magazine, PCMag, RIM, RIM BlackBerry, Symbian, Symbian Series 60, Symbian Series 60 3rd Edition, unlocked keyboard, Wi-Fi, Wifi, Window Mobiel 6.0, Windows, Windows Mobile

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.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: free download, GPRS, HSPA, smart phone, smartphone, UMTS, Wi-Fi, Wifi, Windows Mobile, Windows Mobile 5, Windows Mobile 6, WMWifiRouter