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All posts tagged "iPhone"


Monday, October 13, 2008

iWindowsMobile Communication Suite Changes Windows Mobile

Posted by Sponsor in "Pocket PC Sponsored Articles" @ 07:00 AM

http://www.iWindowsMobile.com

It seems like the iPhone has breathed new life into the ideas behind Windows Mobile (WM) user experience. With its attractive graphical user interface and smooth visual effects - the Apple device is not only eye-pleasing but also intuitive - it's not surprising to see these features migrating to Windows Mobile. Especially since the Microsoft mobile OS is quite capable of imitating much of the eye candy, while also packing in a ton of programs and applications that iPhone still lacks.

The iWindowsMobile Communication Suite available at www.iwindowsmobile.com challenges to combine eye candy and intuitiveness of iPhone with rich functionality of Windows Mobile.

The Suite offers four finger-friendly applications in one package only for $39.95, not $70 (the total cost if purchased separately): mobile shell Winterface, contact manager FunContact, texting application SMS-Chat, and soft keyboard ZoomBoard.

These applications are focused on finger-friendly control. The idea is to let Windows Mobile users feel the same freedom of controlling their devices without stylus, just with fingers as on iPhone. After users install the apps, they will essentially have a better mobile experience; one very close to what the iPhone community is always raving about. The contacts, SMS texting, keyboard - the entire UI becomes more convenient, responsive and intuitive. Read more...


Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Apple iPhone Ads in UK Declared Misleading

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Pocket PC Talk" @ 08:36 AM

http://www.mobileburn.com/news.jsp?Id=5176

"Apple has come under scrutiny on its iPhone 3G for false advertising, and now the Advertising Standards Authority, a UK ad group, has come forth to declare a specific television ad for the touch-based smartphone to be misleading to consumers."

Above is the ad in question, and while I'm not normally a fan of the Eurocratic system of slapping fines on every company they can find, it's pretty easy to see their point here: Apple makes some very bold claims about having the best browsing experience on a mobile device, but that browsing experience comes to a screeching halt as soon as you hit any Web site that uses Flash - and many of them do. These commercials fail to mention that. They also fail to highlight that nothing happens that quickly on a 3G network, but that might be splitting hairs. Java is also mentioned, but I can count the number of times I see the Sun JVM fire up on my PC on one hand - and it's almost always when I'm uploading photos on Smugmug. Is Java on a phone really needed for Web browsing? I don't think it is. Read more...


Tuesday, August 5, 2008

The Broken Ecosystem for Windows Mobile Updates

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Pocket PC Talk" @ 01:30 PM

Another interesting discussion came up on the private Mobius discussion list, and my response was a bit long so I thought it was worth sharing here. One of the Mobius group members made a comment about how it was time for something to be done to separate the firmware from the customizations that operators made - allowing for easy OS and application updates. My response, slightly expanded for public consumption...

We were at that point back in 2001 when some of the first generation Pocket PCs were denied upgrades to the new OS. This has been a sore point for Windows Mobile from the start.

iPhone = Two phones + one OS + one company = easy updates

Zune = Three devices + one OS + one company = easy updates

Windows Mobile = Dozens (hundreds?) of phones + two OS' + dozens of companies = nightmare update scenario

This issue has come up time and time again: because of all the different phone hardware, and the low-level software customization required for drivers and whatnot, OS updates and even simple patches are much more complicated than they could be if the underlying system was simpler. Every time there's a new version of Windows Mobile, we hear that updates are going to be made easier, but it never seems to translate into actual updates for users. Someone smarter than me can probably explain this, but on desktop PCs (at least with Windows) you have a hardware abstraction layer (HAL) that takes care of certain important things related to hardware and software talking to each other. Here's part of the Wikipedia definition:

"A hardware abstraction layer (HAL) is an abstraction layer, implemented in software, between the physical hardware of a computer and the software that runs on that computer. Its function is to hide differences in hardware from most of the operating system kernel, so that most of the kernel-mode code does not need to be changed to run on systems with different hardware. On a PC, HAL can basically be considered to be the driver for the motherboard and allows instructions from higher level computer languages to communicate with lower level components, such as directly with hardware." Read more...


Friday, July 11, 2008

Confirmed: Rogers Canada Offering 6 GB Monthly Data Plans for $30/month for Windows Mobile Smartphones, Until August 31st

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Pocket PC Talk" @ 11:59 AM

Some good news for our Canadian readers: I just got off the phone with Rogers Canada, and according to the woman I spoke with, the 6 GB of monthly data for $30/month is an open offer to all 3G smartphones, including Windows Mobile phones. There are some caveats on this, the biggest being it has to be a new three-year activation, or involve a hardware upgrade. The reality is that Rogers wan't to either acquire you as a new customer, or get you to drop a few hundred dollars in hardware, in order to qualify for this offer - but even with that, this still seems like a staggeringly good deal. So good, in fact, I'm not sure I'm going to believe it until I've switched from Fido and see my first bill. Any of my fellow Canadians going to jump on this offer? It apparently ends August 31st (though that may just be marketing hype).


Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Rogers Canada Data Plan Pricing: The Guessing Game Continues

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Pocket PC Talk" @ 11:10 AM

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/...for-30-a-month/

The insanity for us Canadians continues - I posted about the original rumour, $30 for unlimited data, with a sense of enthusiasm. Then I was crushed when the pricing was officially announced and it was completely idiotic - no unlimited data plans, and even the data caps were pretty silly (400 MB doesn't last long when you're browsing full Web pages and streaing YouTube videos). Engadget reported on a rumour that Apple was ticked off about this as well and they actually diverted a good chunk of the iPhones meant for Rogers to Europe - highly amusing if true. ;-) And now we have another rumour: 6 GB of data for $30/month. I have no idea of this is true, but I can only hope it is - and I can equally hope that I'll be able to get one of these plans and use it with my Windows Mobile phone. I guess I'll know pretty soon...


Monday, June 16, 2008

jkontherun: "Smartphone Makers: Better Wake up and Smell the Applesauce"

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Pocket PC Talk" @ 06:00 AM

http://www.jkontherun.com/2008/06/s...phone-make.html

"Well the long awaited iPhone 3G announcement has come and gone and the July 11th availability date will be here in just a few weeks. The pundits have analyzed its capabilities, shortcomings and torn apart the new AT&T iPhone data plan. We've seen the experts critique the newest iPhone on a feature by feature basis and lament the exclusion of feature X or the shortcomings of feature Y. I'm here to tell you that just like the original iPhone these shortcomings don't matter in the overall scheme of things. Companies that make smartphones better be shaking in their boots right now as the iPhone 3G is going to continue to change the game and in fact change it faster than the original iPhone did...Apple realizes that the very small phone savvy (read geek) market segment is so small it doesn't matter. Apple has rightly determined that the target market of the iPhone, and it hasn't changed with the 3G model, is the mainstream consumer market that doesn't even know what a smartphone is."

An interesting article written by James Kendrick. I think he's dead on with how the iPhone is pitched as an easy to use product - the commercials alone have an impact that I don't see from any other phone maker. My wife chuckles at me because when I see an iPhone commercial as we're skipping commercials on our PVR, I always stop and watch them. I can't say I do that with any other mobile phone advertisement. The only other recent phone commercial I can even think of is a Motorola RAZR variant commercial - the one where they're dancing around in the subway mock-fighting. Which one do you think has more impact on a potential consumer? The commercials for the iPhone impart a sense of empowerment when you watch them - I can easily imagine people who'd never purchase a smartphone seeing those commercials and thinking "Hey, I can do that - it's easy!". Why don't other companies do commercials like that? Read more...

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