SmartPhones

That's right, there's a new smartphone coming to market - two actually - and they're not from Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Palm, RIM, nor any of the familiar old diehards - not even Apple. No, this one is from Velocity Mobile.

Who? That's what I said.  

Formed by Invantec and some folks from Microsoft, this new dialer in the great, big smartphone conference call in the wireless skies is set to give its forerunners a run for their money. With the new Velocity 111 (which looks a lot like a BlackBerry) and Velocity 103 (which looks a lot like an iPhone), Velocity plans to improve on what's been working so well for its competitors and getting rid of all that doesn't meet up. It will have more icons and interfaces familiar to Windows PC-users and promises to be the most customizable smartphone yet.  

As might be expected, both devices will be running Windows Mobile 6.1.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: apple, Blackberry, customizable, Invantec, iphone, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, Palm, PC, Research in Motion, RIM, Samsung, Velocity Mobile, Windows, Windows Mobile 6.1

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

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

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