Here's a nice little game I found in FuzeMobility.
It's the good ol' Peg Jump Game we all used to play when we were kids (well, actually I didn't, I was too busy doing nothing out in the streets...).
The objective of the game is to be left with one peg on the board by taking your peg and jump over another peg to remove it from the board...
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2 days ago I wrote about BlackBerry's 2 advantages over the iPhone.
The full QWERTY Keyboard was one of them, obviously, so Liam was kind enough to send me this. :-)
Thanks Liam!
If you are driving in one of these:
That doesn't turn into this:
You may be interested in something like this:
It’s a combined iPhone/Touch/Nano holder with a tape deck interface. Nice option if you can't effort yourself a new car (since you wasted all your money on an expensive phone...)
You can get more details HERE
(source: Mr. Mobile) 
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I started using my BlackBerry device all over again as needed a constant connection to my work emails, and I've noticed that it has 2 advantages over the iPhone which will probably never change:
1. No matter how skilled I am in typing with the iPhone keyboard - there's no match to the brilliant physical QWERTY of the Blackberry
2. A non-touchscreen has an advantage: you don't need to move your finger so much to get things going. In the BlackBerry - you just need to use 3 buttons (and they are very close to one another)- back, menu and the trackball which is very convenient.
Just a thought...
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Haven't got the chance to try that one yet, but it seems like iAgenda which is using an open source similar the one used by iContact could be a really cool free app.
iAgenda is a finger-friendly appointments and tasks viewer for Windows Mobile PocketPC phones. It's easily skinnable, intuitive, and could be used instead of the standard Windows Mobile Pocket Outlook Calendar.
iAgenda has the usual 5 buttons interface: the first 3 tabs lists:
1 - all appointments
2 - all tasks
3 - agenda view (today's appointments and tasks)
Download link and more details in here
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The lucky bastards in BoyGeniusReport had the privilege to be the first ones to put their hands on a Palm Pre.
Yep, that's right, the one we all desire but probably won't have in the near future...
Here are some quick first impression highlights:
Keyboard is disappointing; "When you try and type on the top row of keys, your finger hits the bottom part of the front piece and on top of that, you often hit multiple keys at the same time while typing".
Capacitive screen looks promising: "We’d rate it just behind the iPhone but in front of the T-Mobile G1 as far as screens go".
Head over and check their first impression, I bet they will be all over it the coming days writing more thoughts about it.
Here at The Mobile Spoon we also received a bran new device, which we will be reviewing shortly.
It's a yellow/blue VTech device with capacitive keys (5) built in yellow antenna and a useful switch button to turn the darn thing off.
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Checking the numbers of our subscribers is an addictive thing to do as it shows the progress of the site and more important, it means people care about the things you write and would like to keep on reading.
Today the number of RSS subscribers passed a limit of 800 for the first time.
So thank you for all of your support and comments, and if you are not yet subscribed - then do it right now!
Click here and you are all set (it's free of course).
I heard there will be another 'Terminator' movie this year but I definitely wasn't expecting that:
According to Andy Rubin, speaking at Google I/O there 18 Android based handsets are about to be released this year (in other words - 18 different models in 7 months...)
They will come from 8-9 different manufacturers (we already know of HTC, Samsung and Lenovo), which is a huge number. That is being added to the StrategyAnalytics forecast that Android sales will grow an impressive 900% annually during 2009.
Acording to EngadgetMobile, Rubin clarified the three flavors of Android which break down as follows:
I warn you this will happen, but you didn't listen.
I'm telling you: it's not long before androids will be everywhere, controlling our lives, taking away our freedom!
Run while you can! Save yourselves from those evil machines!
(Or get one...)
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After completing my "incomplete guide to Windows Mobile Lock Screens" I thought I covered it all, but today I found a new lock screen in OldSAP. It's called Roll2Unlock, and as the name hints, you need to roll your finger in order to unlock the device.
Haven't tried it yet, but in case you are interested, here's the link:
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OK, so now it's formal. Microsoft will be releasing a new Zune device called Zune HD. It will have a 480 x 272 OLED capacitive multi-touch screen and a built-in HD Radio receiver, HD output, Internet Explorer and more.
The Zune HD is expected to come this Fall, and I'm beginning to think that with so many HD device around I should probably change the name of my blog to the Mobile Spoon HD.
Read the official press release right after this bre... errr... I mean, picture...
Here's the official press release:
Microsoft Announces the Expansion of the Zune Entertainment Service to New Platform and Markets; Confirms New Zune HD Portable Media Player
Premium Zune digital entertainment service to be available internationally on Xbox LIVE.
REDMOND, Wash. - May 26, 2009 - Microsoft Corp. today announced the evolution of Zune, the company's end-to-end music and entertainment service, to a new platform and new markets. Zune will extend its video service to Xbox LIVE internationally this fall. This marks an important development in the Zune strategy and brings the Zune brand to more than 17 million international Xbox LIVE subscribers. In addition, Microsoft confirmed the next generation of the Zune portable media player, Zune HD. Available in the U.S. this fall, Zune HD is the first portable media player that combines a built-in HD Radio receiver, high-definition (HD) video output capabilities, organic light-emitting diode (OLED) touch screen, Wi-Fi and an Internet browser.
"The Zune music player is an integral part of the overall Zune experience, and we're proud to be growing and extending our offering beyond the device," said Enrique Rodriguez, corporate vice president of the Microsoft TV, Video and Music Business Group. "Delivering on Microsoft's connected entertainment vision, this news marks a turning point for Zune as it brings cross-platform experiences and premium video content to living rooms around the world."
Zune Service Expands to New Platform
Zune will be a premium partner in the Xbox LIVE Video Marketplace, bringing an exciting catalog of TV and film to the platform. Zune will occupy the first slot within the Xbox user interface in the Xbox LIVE Video Marketplace, exposing the Zune brand experience to millions of new consumers for the first time. At the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) next week, attendees will see firsthand how Zune integrates into Xbox LIVE to create a game-changing entertainment experience.
Introducing Zune HD
Zune HD is the next iteration of the Zune device family and brings a new level of listening and viewing experiences to the portable media player category.
More information on Zune and related images is available at http://www.zune.net/press and http://www.zune.net/ZuneHD.
About Zune
Zune is Microsoft's music and entertainment brand that provides an integrated digital entertainment experience. The Zune platform includes a line of portable digital media players, elegant software, the Zune Marketplace online store, Zune Pass music subscription service, and the Zune Social online music community, created to help people discover more music. Zune is part of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division and supports the company's software-based services vision to help drive innovation in the digital entertainment space. More information can be found online at http://www.zune.net/en-us/press.
About Xbox LIVE
Xbox LIVE connects more than 17 million members across 26 countries to each other and the entertainment they love. Home of more content from one remote than can be found from any device connected to the television, Xbox LIVE is also a unified online social network bringing friends together, no matter where they are - in the living room or across the world. More information and Xbox LIVE membership can be found online at http://www.xbox.com/en-us/live.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
* Supported 720p HD video files play on the device, downscaled to fit the screen at 480 x 272 - not HD resolution. Zune HD and AV Dock, and an HDTV (all sold separately) are required to view video at HD resolution.
HD Radio™ and the HD Radio logo are proprietary trademarks of iBiquity Digital Corp.
(source: WMPowerUser)
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OK so as promised - it's time to declare the winner of the Winterface giveaway!
This time we manually picked our winner based on the comments you sent and the one that made us shed a tear was the one talking about a Bosch phone (Bosch???), a big one, given to a 12 years old kid, while all the other kids in school had much more elegant ones...
Apparently it didn't even fit the size of a pocket!
Reading that horrible comment, I decided there will be no draw this time, and therefore the winner is Leonick!
Hurray!
(This is the least we can do to to ease the trauma...)
I would like to thank VITO Technology for giving this giveaway - Laonick - I'm sure you will enjoy Winterface very much!
Drop us an email and we'll send you the details of your free copy.
More giveaways are coming soon!
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The contest ends today (18:00 New York time) - so if you still want to try and win a free version of Vito Winterface - now is the time to do it!
All you need to do is leave a comment here and tell us about your first phone!
Well well well, what do you know?
Guess who's back?
The iPaq!
I used to have an iPaq PDA 7 years ago, but it seems like HP did not give up with this old brand that used to dominate the PDA's market, and a new iPaq phone is about to be released soon.
The official name is iPaq K3 (codename: Obsidian) and it is scheduled to be released in November.
What do you think? Will we see people actually using it next year?
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Reading RSS feeds is a great way to pass the time with your mobile when your computer is not around.
To do it easily, and still enjoy it, you need your mobile to have a good RSS reader. One that will be finger friendly, load the images and cache them, and support offline work.
SBSH GoNews Touch is a News & RSS reader which does a great job making news reading easy and fun. It also includes one killer feature which is the ability to follow either simple RSS feeds or read complete web-page articles using special templates that will bring the experience of RSS into every simple websites (even the ones that doesn't support RSS!).
Using their already known user interface design form SBSH Calendar Touch, GoNews is extremely simple and intuitive to use and completely finger friendly.
The main screen presents the list of sites you are subscribed to. Each item includes the icon of the site which is a good visual indicator. The view displays the number of unread items out of the cached ones. It's a pretty straight forward.
The menus in the bottom will take you back to the bites list or forward to each item.
Selecting a site will take you to the list of all available feeds.
the cool thing here is that each item includes a small thumbnail of the image associated with it. Again, it's a great visual indicator - not sure how much you can see with such a small image, but if you look closely at the screen-shot in the left - it's good enough to tell hint about the content and images of he post.
Selecting a post will open the body of the post including the image which was cached in advance, and the entire text. You can still navigate forward and backswords from this screen so there's really no need to go back to the posts list.
Adding a new site is simple, but requires that you know the RSS URL, there are just a few RSS Readers that know how to automatically turn a regular URL into the RSS URL.
At the moment this is a small limitation.
There are many additional features in this great software such as changing the font size, configuring automatic update, change the cache size and more. But I think that the one that really impresses me is the ability to work with none RSS sites which means that this tool can read not only blogs but also websites that does not support RSS or ATOM. Cool! (Read more about this feature in here).
Summary:
GoNews is a very strong RSS Reader. The user interface is well designed: it's finger friendly, it brings a convenient navigation between pages and channels, and it spoils the users with cool thumbnails which may seem useless but they are not.
With a powerful engine that will not only read RSS but also cache regular websites - it seems like GoNews is definitely a keeper!
Video Review By SBSH:
SBSH GoNews Touch Product Page
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While many of the stores still sit abandoned waiting for another chance at life through another retailer or business, the Internet Side of Circuit City has been resurrected and is back in business. Systemax, the company that also owns TigerDirect and CompUSA, purchased Circuit City assets earlier this week and flipped the switch to the Internet Side of things and is selling Electronic Goodness once again.
Even though I did not have a Circuit City in my neck of the woods, I still hated to see them close all those stores. With so many other Online Retailers to compete with and who are already looked to for online electronic sales, Circuit City better come to the party with excellent pricing and service.
via BGR
If you are looking for some great deals on Memorial Day, you can add WebIS to your shopping list. WebIS is running a nice little sale that will end on Tuesday. Here is a letter from WebIS:
The United States of America celebrates Memorial Day to all the fallen heroes of our country and our lives. We have many heroes to look up to who spend each day of their lives to serve the people: Firefighters, Policemen, Soldiers, Nurses, Doctors, and many more First Responders. Originally conceived to celebrate our soldiers we have learned the importance of every one of these people who put everything they have at risk when the need arises.
Not everyone agrees with the actions that the USA has taken over the years, but nevertheless the people who serve our nation in all colors of uniform deserve our respect. America has led the world in providing aid to other nations, in providing relief, and in providing support. It is not the government we love (who we can cheer for after one election and scorn the next), it is the people who make this nation great and the people who fought and died to give us the freedoms we have. We love our nation and God Bless the USA!
As a small token of appreciation this weekend we have dropped our prices dramatically for most of our software at MobiHand. Direct Purchase Links include:
So head on over to WebIS and enjoy these special prices while they last!
My friends over at SBSH sent me an early release of a new product they are just about to release - and I think it's going to be huge!
It's called GoNews, and it's an RSS reader. I think has the potential to become a very popular one!
I recently tried a few different RSS readers which were nice but none of them had all the things I'm looking for; fancy UI, offline capabilities and good image viewing.
Does GoNews follow the expectations? Well, you will just have to wait and see I guess, as I was asked not to ruin the surprise.
The release date is going to be this Monday (25th) so you better stick around because I have the feeling you will love this one.
For now, here's a video preview:
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While worldwide cell-phone sales totalled 269.1 million units in the first quarter of 2009, (showing a decrease of 8.6% decrease from the first quarter of 2008), Smartphone sales seemed to have a positive growth surpassing 36.4 million units, (a 12.7 per cent increase from the same period last year).
This information is included in a new report from Gartner which was recently published.
As seen in the table above, Nokia continued to lead the mobile phone market, but its share dropped to 36.2 % from 39.1% in the first quarter of 2008.
Samsung retained second place and improved its market share as its sales totalled 51.4 million units.
After dropping to the fifth position in the fourth quarter of 2008, Motorola overtook Sony Ericsson to regain fourth place.
What about Smartphones?
Smartphone sales represented 13.5% of all mobile device sales in the first quarter of 2009, compared with 11% in the first quarter of 2008.
Gartner analysts said positive performance by Research In Motion (RIM) and Apple (see Table 2) showed that services and applications are now instrumental to smartphones’ success.
According to Roberta Cozza, “Much of the smartphone growth during the first quarter of 2009 was driven by touchscreen products, both in midtier and high-end devices, ’Touch for the sake of touch’ was enough of a driver in the midtier space, but tighter integration with applications and services around music, mobile e-mail, and Internet browsing made the difference at the high end of the market.”
Smartphones OS:
Symbian: 49.3% of worldwide smartphone OS market share in the first quarter of 2009 (down from 56.9% share in the first quarter of 2008).
RIM’s smartphone OS market share reached 19.9% in the first quarter of 2009 (up from 13.3% share in the first quarter of last year).
The iPhone OS accounted for 10.8% of the market (up from 5.3% market share in the first quarter of 2008) - which means Apple managed to double its' market share - an impressive yet expected achievement.
And what about Microsoft, Palm and Google?
Not yet in the top 3, I guess... but, we know that Android is gaining popularity really fast, Windows Mobile 6.5 is about to be released soon and of course, the Predator - Palm Pre (also known to be called 'my next phone').
Read the rest of the report's highlights
Source: Gartner (May 2009).
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At last, I was looking for this for a while now, and thanks to David K from FuzeMobility - (who always seems to know everything!) - I finally found it!
RealDice Texas Hold’em can be purchased in $20 or you can get it for free is you are subscribed to Microsoft’s Total Access (which you need to join for free to be able to download).
The game has 2 modes - single or online. The UI is nice and automatically adjusted to the screen resolution. There's also a chat room for the online players.
Support for every Windows Mobile device.
Free Desktop and Facebook version for when it's more convenient to play on the big screen.
Full tables 24/7, meet and chat with people from around the world.
Live tournaments every 15 minutes!
Beautiful 3D hi-res graphics for the ultimate hold'em experience.
Offline play for practice, airplanes, or privacy.
Winner “Poker Game of the Year,” Windows Mobile Magazine in '05, '06, '07.
For more great Windows Mobile games, visit www.realdice.com.
(Source)
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I just found this one (thanks for the tip Shiva!), not sure if it's like the oldest tip in the history of mankind or is it something no one knows about, but in any event:
Clicking F4 when you are using MS Office (Excel, word, etc.) will repeat the last operation you did previously.
I'm working at the moment on a PPT presentation and this F4 trick is a savior!
Check it out. (and let me know if you found this useful!)
Now back to mobility!
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Cool tweak to add the Task Manager to the carousel view.
This way you will have an easy way to access your running applications within a single click.
the complete instructions can be found in here (or here), but I say, why do that manually when you can use a CAB that will do it for you?
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Finally...
I've been waiting to post about this simple yet addictive little game but unfortunately it didn't work on VGA screens and also on the Omnia's special screen size.
But now it's fixed so here it is: 5X5, a cool game where the object is to light up or knock out all the lights in a 5x5 grid.
When a square is selected that square and its four immediate neighbors, above, below, and to each side invert. There is no wraparound. The object of the game is to get all the squares black. It's addictive but might become annoying if you cannot solve it after a while.
To download the game, head over to this XDA thread.
Enjoy!
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I received an email today from Yechiel with the title: "You must have this one" and indeed, I must have this one!
(Source)
And on the same subject, a great preview of Transformers II, featuring Devastator and a Dinobot!
Transformers Revenge of the Fallen "Forms" from Bay Films/Michael Bay Dot Com on Vimeo.
(Thanks for the tip Amir!)
It's Giveaway time again and this week we will be giving away a free copy of Winterface by VITO Technology!
Hurray!
In order to win - place a comment in this post telling about your first cell-phone, smartphone or PDA.
That's it. It's as simple as that.
Tell us what was your first smartphone / PDA and you will be in the contest! As usual, funny comments or funny pictures are even better.
On Tuesday 24:00 next week (May 26th) we will conduct a draw and pick a winner!
Check out VITO's Winterface product page or our own Winterface review.
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Ladies and Gentlemen; a twist.
Few days ago I wrote a comparison between Samsung Omnia and HTC Touch HD. I invited people to vote and HD had a clear advantage over the Omnia (see older results).
Recently I noticed one of my posts was linked in an Omnia forum, and it seems like Omnia fans didn't like the poll results one bit!
Over a day, the results turned over and now it seems like the Omnia is now more popular...
You are all welcome to vote, of course, in case you feel there's an injustice here...
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Here's a nice collection of ugly little cell phones which I found in PCWorld. It actually looks like some of them were taken from the first chapter of the History Of PDA's...
I wonder what did the designers of those phones say to their coleagues when they first introduced them to the phone?
"I'm telling you this is the next big thing! A phone that looks like pocket calculator!" or maybe: "Who wouldn't buy a phone that looks like thermometer!?"
The rest of the models can be found in PCWorld.
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Windows Mobile has a variety of shell applications meant to replace the standard UI and make it more simple to access and invoke programs.
Some Shell apps try to wrap the entire functionality including PIM, media and more (TouchFlo, SPB Mobile Shell), while others focus on the launching capabilities.
Winterface by VITO Technology, belongs to the second group as it is a perfect copy of the iPhone's Winterboard and focuses on simplicity and performance.
General:
VITO's Winterface includes configurable pages holding shortcuts icons. Just like with the iPhone, you don't get complex screens with calendars, tasks or hosted lists like in TouchFlo, instead - you get easy access to your favorite tools, applications, web-sites and contacts.
Some people will say it's too simple, others will say it's exactly what they need.
Overall, the application works beautifully; it's fast, responsive, stable, the finger gestures are working well (unlike other WinMo apps that will open occasional item instead of scrolling...) and it's fun.
Skins:
Two skins are available with the standard installation. I personally liked the light one better than the popular dark one. You can select to see or hide the upper bar and also to include or disable the lock screen (see picture above).
Managing Shortcuts:
Adding shortcuts is simple, you just need to use the main menu and add the relevant item from a list.
Deleting or moving icons on the main surface is done by pressing the screen for a couple of seconds that makes the entire surface "editable":
Contacts:
This is a cool capability that actually is missing in the iPhone (although some hacking apps do that): you can select your favorite contacts and add them as icons to a specific page. A great way to invoke calls easily using minimum clicks.
Special Icons:
Winterface includes some special icons that take you to a customized screen (like Profiles switcher or Tasks Manager), or change dynamically (clock, weather, emails, battery, etc.).
It's a nice addition to the standard shortcuts because it gives you a glimpse of the information you need (for example - new SMS message) without having to navigate from one screen to another.
Here are 2 examples: profile switcher and running tasks:
On top of that, there are some "toggle" buttons that will switch the Bluetooth, Wifi and phone - on and off using one click:
Weather App:
VITO Technology has recently added a free stand-alone product called: Weather. 'Weather' can be accessed like any other application but the icon (when added to Winterface) displays the actual weather information. 'Weather' is completely finger-friendly and easy to use application. It's a nice addition to Winterface.
You can download it for free in here.
Areas of improvements:
One of the most important things for me are my daily appointments and tasks. The first thing I did after purchasing an iPhone was to download a tweak that displays the calendar on the lock screen - I would love to see something similar with Winterface. If anyone knows about such thing - please let me know.
Summary:
If you are looking for a lightweight shell that focuses more on the 'launcher' side and less on wrapping the PIM applications - VITO's Winterface might be the perfect alternative for you.
Sure, it looks very similar to the iPhone's shell, but if you don't mind turning your winMo phone into an iPhone, you will enjoy a clean, elegant and useful application.
Download VITO Winterface trial (Price is $19.95).
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For the techies among you, these are old news, as you probably installed the WinMo 6.5 ROM on your handheld device.
But for the common people (and as the title indicates, the MobileSpoon is here to serve mainly the common people) – this means good news.
According to this Microsoft twit – Windows Mobile 6.5 is now ready.
Read more:
Windows Mobile 6.5 Features Walkthrough
More features appear in Windows Mobile 6.5
Source: ZdNet
Thanks for the tip Amir!
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I recently tried Microsoft Recite and I must say that it works very nice.
The idea is great, audio notes is the quickest way to add notes but then it’s hard to maintain it (names, search etc.)
With Recite you can perform search based on the content of the audible note.
Recite was developed Microsoft, a company you may know, which has developed other tools like Internet Explorer (a nice alternative to FireFox), and Live Search (great backup when Google is down…).
Recite is more of a technology preview, and it currently misses some important features like being able to name the notes, set reminders etc. but it’s a nice tool after all.
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Here's a little finger friendly notes application for Windows Mobile which is more of a rich text editor (has even more visual capabilities than the original pocket word...):
Features:
Pay attention that the free version has some of the features disabled, so check it out first.
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Just found a nice post about Internet addicts in MakeUseOf which reminded me of an "examine yourself" quiz I wrote few months ago.
For the ones of you who are new here at the MobileSpoon, check out the link below and examine yourself to see how addicted you are!
I already posted about ChangeSkin in the past. It's a great application that gives an easy way to change SPB Mobile Shell skins and themes - on the fly.
The good news are that there is a new version which works with version SPB Mobile Shell 3.
Check it out in here.
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According to a new report from StrategyAnalytics, Android smartphone shipments are expected to grow an impressive 900% annually during 2009.
Android already gained an early traction in the US in the second half of 2008, and now it is gradually spreading its presence into other areas such as Europe and Asia.
Just for the sake of a comparison: the iPhone, which is without a doubt a huge success, is about to grow at a rate of 79% annually in 2009.
The report mentions companies such as HTC, Motorola, Samsung, T Mobile, Vodafone and others, supporting the Android due to some advantages such as having a relatively low cost licensing model, semi-open source structure, and of course Google and the support of cloud services.
The conclusion of the report is that the Android is now in a good position to become a top-tier player in smartphones over the next two to three years.I must admit I was not impressed by the G1 but since it was just version 1.0 and since there are so many leading phones manufacturers behind it and of course Google, there's no doubt we are looking at an emerging beast.
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Well, this is actually not a transformer, but it's the Moto-Terminator
It's an evil terminator riding a motorcycle and becomes part of it whenever needed, in order become even deadlier.
Spooky...
Here's an idea for another movie in the series of the Terminator: Terminators vs. Autobots.
More screenshots in here.
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I've just returned to my regular blogging activities after a couple of rough days in which I had to work almost 24/7.
Getting all the updates from my favorite RSS feeds I've noticed there's a bunch of repeating rumors that simply refuse to disappear!
Here are some of the rumors you are most likely to find in any of the leading mobile sites, no matter where or when you check them out:
- Garmin's Nuvifone delayed once again (and again and again...)
- iPhone 3.0 rumors (new features, new specs...)
- More Palm Pre features announced (enough with it, give us the damn phone already!)
- Zune phone, (Pink, Zune, whatever, enough with that already!)
I personally find that annoying... No more repeating rumors please!
Do you have anything else you would like to add to this annoying ongoing rumors list?
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Do you suffer from problem using your phone out in the sun?
Use the "special thing for people who suffer from daylight" seen in the picture below!
Some mobile phones work nicely under the "daylight" while others (like the Omnia) becomes really hard to operate.
This funny idea is one of few tips to ease operating mobile phones during the day - it was originally posted in a thread in the Samsung Omnia Forum (SamsungOmnia.org).
Here are some of the tips:
More in this thread.
Source: CareAce.
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I personally don't like diamonds, and it doesn't matter if we're talking about earrings, necklaces or gadgets...
But, since I know I'm in minority here, I decided to help you all find a very detailed review of the new HTC Touch Diamond (2).
Here's some of the summary of this review:
"As a whole, the Diamond2 proves to be a worthy successor in the lineup and it´ not a disappointment, except for the fact its less innovative alongside of previous models. The Touch brought out both TouchFLO and design that had been hard to imagine by then, while the Touch Diamond featured the awesome TouchFLO 3D and even shinier design. The Diamond2 is more ordinary looking phone, but its been devised as phone to allow easier use from the get go, features more robust battery, system memory that makes for faster response, memory expansion slot and even better interface than before. Throw excellent in-call quality into the deal and the HTC Touch Diamond2 definitely is one of the best Windows Mobile phones at present."
So if you are looking for a good review of this new phone, head over to PhoneArena and find out more about this interesting WinMo phone.
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Most people would like to turn their mobile phone into something that looks like the iPhone... Here's a completely different approach using a nice looking skin that turns your device into a Vista like machine...
More details and download links can be found in here
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You all know I'm a fan of SPB Mobile Shell which was recently upgraded with version 3.
Our friends at Electric Electronics are giving away 3 licenses for the reader who will comment to their giveaway post (piece of cake! you should try your luck!)
So head over to this post and leave a comment!
Good luck!
Well, I saw it coming...
Although I really like the Omnia, and tried to convince everyone around me that this is a great phone, the Touch HD wins this battle and according to your votes (not too many of them I must add...) you find it much better than the Samsung Omnia:
60% for the Touch HD, only 30% for the Omnia.
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Microsoft has just released the official Facebook application for Windows Mobile as a free download!
Features:
Send messages to any of the people in your Friends list.
Take pictures and videos on your phone, then upload them right to Facebook.
Send messages or call people in your Friends list.
Manage your profile and post anytime, anywhere.
The client application works on Windows Mobile 6 or 6.1 devices - both standard or professional edition and according to MobilityMinded the application is really smart and intuitive.
I haven't tried it yet but I definitely going to - right now!
And speaking of Facebook, I found the following chart at Mr. Mobile showing the Facebook client usage for different mobile platforms:
At least now Windows Mobile will also become part of this chart...
Download the Facebook client for Windows Mobile
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Few months ago I reviewed PointUI Home 2, and I liked it a lot. It has a nice UI, a lot of features, and it's working real fast.
Few days ago I received an email from PointUI announcing that the 'Pro' version of Home 2 is now officially released! The price is $19.95 USD and the Pro version includes some advanced capabilities which do not exist in the free version.
Here's a quote from the site:
"Building on the platform Home 2 Free provides Pro takes your experience to the next level. On the surface you’ll see additional functionality with a Contact Card with Details and Personal History, a Messaging screen that allows for custom viewing options, Folders in your Favorites and a growing list of Customization options including, Haptic Feedback (on some devices), Auto Lock, GSensor Support (HTC devices only) and Automatic Update checking.
Under the hood the scripting engine capabilities are extended to include more advanced features like GPS, SQLite Database Support and Advanced Customizaton Hooks to override default functionality Home 2. Why not check out our Roadmap highlighting functionality future releases will contain."
I checked out PointUI website and found an amazing community section with tons of themes, customizations and applets!
Here are some examples of custom themes:
And the coolest thing: the custom applets which can be combined into the shell itself:
Appointments, Control panel, Profile Switcher, and Dial-Pad:
And, if you read my product review, you probably noticed I mentioned that a Comm Manager was missing. Well, here's the thing, since you can add more applets - there's a cool applet that does just that:
Head over to the PointUI website and download Home 2 (freeware) or Home 2 Pro!
Also, check out the PointUI community page for even more cool stuff.
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SBHS that recently released SBHS Calendar Touch for Windows Mobile, announced yesterday about a new iPhone application called: SafeWallet.
SafeWallet is a powerful secure storage application allowing you to securely store various types of information. Use SafeWallet to store business and private information and enjoy easy-to-use interface!
Security First - 256-bit AES encryption engine similar to US government standards; Encrypted wallets; Auto-Close upon exit and more!
Cards & Templates - Create cards using pre-defined templates; Add/remove fields from cards
Ease Of Use - Choose from 250+ professionally designed icons; Simple and user friendly interface
It seems like SafeWallet is also a great way to store notes and other items securely, which makes it a really useful.
Here's a video review:
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We often talk about the huge number of useless iPhone applications like the iFart etc. But lately I managed to find a decent number of real productivity applications.
The one I like the most is Analytics. It's an iPhone client for Google Analytics, the service that gives every young blogger or site manager a nice overview about how his site is doing.
Statistics about popular posts, number of page-views, unique readers, location of the readers, keywords, a lot of hot stuff, especially if you want to analyze how your site is doing.
Here are some examples:
Analytics for iPhone, is really a great piece of app, because it's finger friendly, as usual, and the reports you get in a snapshot are actually better than the standard web interface by Google... So now, I find myself checking the statistics of the MobileSpoon on a daily basis.
...
OK, that's a lie.
I actually check it every couple of hours...
...
OK!
I'm sorry!
You read me like an open book! I do it every hour! So what?
There's a promising new web browser for Windows Mobile.
It's called Mach5 and even though it looks unpolished in the user interface level, it is working pretty well according to few blogs that posted about it lately.
The software by NetAcceller is finger-optimized and like Skyfire offers full support for web video, true flash and more.
At the moment Mach5 is a beta and can be downloaded for free.
(Source: WMPowerUser)
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Another good video review (done by PocketNow.com) comparing between the new Diamond and the Touch HD.
Check it out!
Personally, I didn't like the old Diamond at all, and I still find it hard to get excited about the new one. I do agree that the hardware buttons are a good edition, and so is the zoom (assuming it's working faster than the zoom of the old Diamond...), but both of the devices miss an important thing: D-Pad! I can't understand the urge to get rid of this important navigation system called D-Pad. Especially when the WinMo OS screams for it.
Anyways, the biggest advantage of the Diamond 2 is that it's compatible with WinMo 6.5. On the other hand, most of the XDA people are already using Windows Mobile 6.5, so why do we need an official version...
What do you think?
War Of The Phones- Samsung Omnia Vs HTC Touch HD
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MobileSpoon's WAR OF THE PHONES begins and the first episode (as you could have guessed by my first mobile comics attempt) brings back the Touch HD to face his appreciated opponent the Samsung Omnia. Enjoy!
Samsung Omnia vs. HTC Touch HD:
Both devices are considered to be high end WinMo phones, both of them have 5 megapixel cameras, GPS, Wifi, etc.,
Both of them have good performance (at least from what I've seen so far).
Here are some differences between the 2 devices.
Design:
The Touch HD is bigger and comes with a black color, in my humble opinion it's the best looking Windows Mobile device ever, which means it wins in the design category. If you prefer a smaller phone, you may actually prefer the Omnia.
Score: Touch HD 1:0 Omnia
Screen Resolution:
This is pretty obvious, the HD has an amazingly HUGE WVGA display. Samsung Omnia has a wide screen but it's just QVGA (WQVGA). While it doesn't look bad - there's no comparison with the HD's screen.
Score: Touch HD 2:0 Omnia
Built-in Memory:
Samsung Omnia is packed with 8GB Internal memory, which is a nice thing to have (you can add external SD card too). Not the kind of argument that would make you prefer one phone over the other, but still and argument.
Score: Touch HD 2:1 Omnia
Power Connector:
While the HD uses the standard mini USB connector, Samsung, for some reason, continues to use that old proprietary connectors.
I personally don't mind so much but I know many people see it as a big disadvantage.
Score: Touch HD 3:1 Omnia
Power Button:
OK, not sure you will see it elsewhere, but for me it's important;
The only way to wake up the Touch HD is the upper power button.
This is extremely annoying, because the location of the power button is not "single hand friendly". Bad decision HTC.
The Omnia, on the other hand, can be opened using the power button or any other hardware button which is much better.
Score: Touch HD 3:2 Omnia
D-Pad:
The Omnia includes an optical D-Pad button that can also be used as a mouse cursor. The Touch HD does not have a D-Pad at all.
I can accept that the importance of the D-Pad becomes smaller when your user interface is completely finger friendly, but since we all know Windows Mobile is not there yet, a WinMo device must have D-Pad! And the HD doesn't have real solution to that, other than opening the virtual keyboard which is, again... annoying.
Score: Touch HD 3:3 Omnia
OK Button:
Another tricky thing I never forget to check is how simple it is to close the window using the smart minimize button (X or OK).
With the Omnia you have to pull up your finger and click the top right corner button, which is not comfortable at all. The Touch HD has a "back" button which acts as an 'OK' button when it's relevant.
Score: Touch HD 4:3 Omnia
UI Shell:
Both phones come with an extensive customized shell UI.
But, while the TouchFlo 3D looks amazing and covers a lot of the day to day functionality, the TouchWiz is a cool concept but not very productive.
Some people may prefer it, but I think that the TouchFlo is much better and is actually working fast on the Touch HD.
Score: Touch HD 5:3 Omnia
Additional Software:
Both phones are packed with pre-installed applications, but there is a clear advantage to the Omnia with an impressive list of finger friendly applications (alarm clocks, phone-books, smart converter, smart reader and many more).
Score: Touch HD 5:4 Omnia
Haptic Feedback:
The HD has some haptic feedback when using the hardware buttons, but the Omnia has a complete haptic feedback when using the D-Pad, keyboard, or any other button.
Score: Touch HD 5:5 Omnia (Draw!!!)
Automatic rotation:
Samsung Omnia switches between portrait to landscape in 100% of the applications. This is an amazing feature which even has the coolest randomized visual effects.
The HD, on the other hand, just like the Diamond, Pro, iPhone and the others - supports it only for specific applications.
Score: Touch HD 5:6 Omnia (Changeover!!!)
More About User Interface:
I've mentioned that in my Touch HD review, and I truly believe it's worth mentioning: the HD's screen is so big, that even the smallest, non-finger friendly control you can think of - becomes more finger friendly, because it's simply bigger. Add to that the fact that most of the menus are bigger as well and you end up with a pretty finger friendly device. Not perfect, but nice.
Score: Touch HD 6:6 Omnia
Dangling Stylus:
I never understood why Samsung did not provide the usual stylus ditch, and provided this strange looking dangling stylus which seems like a girly version of Star War's Lightsaber. Original idea, but not practical.
Score: Touch HD 7:6 Omnia (another changeover!)
Camera Flash:
Exists on the Omnia, does not exist with the HD.
Score: Touch HD 7:7 Omnia
Summary:
Somehow, this ruthless battle has ended with a draw and no blood, but I assume every user will find some of the key points more relevant than the others.
My opinion is that the Touch HD is a better phone. Mainly because of the size, design and the VGA screen. But other people may actually prefer to have a smaller phone.
Here's a quick summary of pros and cons for each phone:
HTC Touch HD:
Pros:
- Bigger, stronger, better looking
- Amazing WVGA screen display
- TouchFlo 3D
- Standard mini USB
Cons:
- No D-Pad
- Hard to turn the device on.
- No automatic rotation for all the applications.
Samsung Omnia:
Pros:
- Fun phone
- Fun optical D-Pad
- Auto-rotate for all applications
- Loads of custom applications wrapping much of the WinMo UI.
Cons:
- WQVGA Display
- No easy shortcut for the OK button
- Dangling Stylus.
Reader's Poll:
What's your thoughts about it? Omnia or an HD?
You are invited to vote or add your comment below:
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Second copy of SBHS Calendar Touch goes to Number #3!
And therefore the winner is: RedTrk!
Hey Red, drop us an email so we can send you your free copy of Calendar Touch!
Stay tuned with the MobileSpoon's weekly giveaways because we have more coming in, real soon!
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Last call for our second giveaway (SBHS Calendar Touch) contest.
All you need to do is leave a comment in this post and you will participate in a draw we will conduct in less than 6 hours from now.
(Tuesday midnight, New York time)
BTW, so far there are really a few people in the contest so the chances to win are really high!
It's because of a guy named Friedhelm Hillebrand that's why! It's his fault.
I came across a very nice article (link) talking about the guy who researched for the minimum number of chars that will be "perfectly sufficient" (as he calls it) to transfer thoughts from one person to another.
The research was made in 1985. The number remained the same since then. 160.
Keep in mind that for UNICODE languages the number us actually half because each character actually equals 2 characters...
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Few days ago I wrote about my personal iPhone killer, knowing for a fact that in reality, there's no such thing as an iPhone killer...
Well, apparently, I was wrong.
According to JKOnTheRun, There is an iPhone killer, at least in the US, and it's called the Curve.
According to to the figures they published, RIM BlackBerry managed to pass Apple’s iPhone in the first quarter of this 2009.
(Verizon has been running an aggressive “buy one get one (BOGO) free” promotion that is credited with nabbing three of the top five smartphone slots)
In fact, BlackBerry actually dominates this list, while Nokia, Motorola, HTC or Samsung are not even in there...
The top five list:
(Source)
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If you are a lucky Samsung Omnia user, you probably noticed that the blue Bluetooth icon is missing from the status bar...
Well, it's probably a bug, but guess what? If it's broken - do touch it!
Careace has published a small freeware that fix this problem and displays the common icon when the Bluetooth is on.
Installation is simple, so head over to Careace and download Bluetooth Icon
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I came across this amazing looking theme for Touch HD, which I was unable to try yet (as I don't have a Touch HD...) - but as I really like the art work done here - I decided to give it a love link.
I think Microsoft should turn the start button idea to a standard WinMo design...
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When you develop a freeware, you can never know where it's heading and who will use or even distribute it.
I recently came across a post in one of the Samsung Omnia forums, linking to Samsung Mobile site.
And guess what, Samsung created a package for the Omnia users to download, it's called the "Omnia Software Package"and after downloading it I found that my freeware, the SpooNotes is included in Samsung's package!
Isn't that something?
SpooNotes is a small freeware I developed that turns your WinMo phone into a friendly handwriting tool.
The things that make it special are the capabilities to take or use pictures and write on top of them (ever saw Memento?) and the fact that the writing surface is expanding as you write (which feels like you are using a bigger screen...)
I recently wrote good reviews about the Omnia, I love that phone, and it seems like someone over at Samsung liked my little app too!
(I just wish they told me about it...)
Download the Omnia Software Package
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Just a quick reminder that our second giveaway thread is now live!
As promised, we are giving away another free copy of SBHS Calendar Touch.
Jump over to this post, leave your comment, and participate in a draw we will be making this Tuesday!
BTW, this is clearly the giveaways season and our friends at MobilityDigest are giving away a free copy of Vito's Tuned-In package.
Check out MobilityDigest and get a chance to win another nice giveaway! (more information in here).
Enjoy!
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The Samsung Omnia is one of the best Windows Mobile devices I've used. It has good stability and performance, the screen size is longer than usual which is a surprising advantage, the virtual D-Pad is fun to use and the phone comes pre-loaded with an impressive number of customizations and finger friendly applications developed by Samsung.
(More Omnia thoughts in here)
If you are using one, this post is for you;
10 tips for true happiness with your Samsung Omnia phone.
#1. Replacing the Shell:
The first thing I did was to get rid of the TouchWiz interface. I didn't find it productive enough, end so, my first recommendation is to get SPB Mobile Shell 3 or any other shell which includes more features than just a couple of widgets.
Mobile Shell has some nice looking skins as well, which can be found in here.
#2. Easily activate the Task Manager:
I found it by accident but this is one of the coolest things around!
To activate the Omnia's Task Manager the quickest way, just slide your finger from the Samsung logo (bottom area) upwards towards the middle of the screen.
This will immediately activate the Task Manager.
#3. Install HTC Task Manager on the Omnia:
If you still don't like using the Omnia tasks manager and you feel a bit jealous of HTC users, here's a way to get that cool task manager HTC devices comes with.
There are 2 options here, check out the links below:
Omnia Tip #11- Getting HTC Task Manager Work
Or check out TouchCommander's Touch Task Manager
#4. Easily lock your Omnia:
The Omnia has a great lock mechanism that can be activated with a long press on the 'End' button. Still, sometimes you can easily forget to use it, and this may cause accidental calls, clicks etc.
There's a bunch of lock screen applications that can be found in here.
Check it out, some of the applications (like S2U2) have additional functionality embedded, which is nice. Pick one and and improve your Omnia lock screen mechanism.
#5. Disable the automatic screen lock during calls
Speaking of lock screens, have you noticed that once a call begins, the screen becomes shaded and locked? Well, if you don't like this features, you can disable it using the following tip.
#6. Customize the customizations (Menu screens):
One of the annoying things with the Omnia is that it's hard to customize the "menu" screen - both background and icons (which seems a bit too "blurry")
But, feer not my friends, becasue there's nothing which can't be tweaked! The folks at XDA found a way to change the background image and the icons themselves.
"I've found how to modify the background of the "Menu".
First find the file Launcher.exe.T1.skin in \windows.
Then you must copy the file to your PC and open it (I've used Reshacker).
Then replace the images BMP No 212, 214 (for portrait mode) and No 213 and 215 (for landscape mode) with other bitmap images of the size respectively 240x374 and 400x214.
Finally overwrite it in \windows with Resco Explorer (or similar)."
Modify the background of the 'menu' screen
Modified icons (check out post 20)
#7. Turn your Omnia into a removable disk:
You can enabled your Omnia My Storage (8GB or 16GB) as Mass Storage. It will appeared as a removable disk on your Windows computer and MAC. This will allow you to copy and paste between the Omnia and your Computer.
How to enable Mass Storage?
Go to Settings - Connections - USB Connection Mode and choose Mass Storage. Choose My Storage in the drop down box which will either 8GB/16GB. You can also choose to use Storage Card as the Mass Storage which is the removable memory card on your Omnia.
#8. Increase screen sensitivity:
I found the Omnia's screen sensitivity perfect for my use, but it seems like some people have complained about it. To change the sensitivity you will need a registry editor, and once you have one, do the following:
- Go to: HKLM/HARDWARE/DEVICEMAP/TOUCH
- Click: change 1280 to 2000
- Down/Up: change 256 to 750
#9. Change the mouse pointer:
The Omnia's virtual D-Pad surface is great and using the mouse option with it is surprisingly fun. If you are using this option, there's a way to change the mouse pointer:
Open a registry editor and go to hklm/system/state/samsung/mouse
Click on CursorShape and change the DWORD Data to a value between 0 and 24.
Click on Done or Save (you may need to restart your device).
List of cursors:
0 Standard White Arrow | 1 Orange V-Shape Arrow | 2 Blue V-Shape Arrow | 3 Green V-Shape Arrow | 4 Wand with Star on the End | 5 Pencil | 6 Crayon | 7 Paper Plane | 8 Seaside Windmill | 9 Little Man | With Stick (actually it looks like a Nun) | 10 Heart | 11 Bird
#10. More resource (keep the list!)
Last tip is a collection of good sites to find more tips & tweaks:
Change the opening screen to anything you like using this hack.
Camera Silencer - silence the camera without needing to put it in vibra mode, after installing in camera option choose Camera Tone 3.
10 must have Omnia applications (forum)
That's it for this guide, hope you found at least one or two things you could use. Good luck with all those tweaks, and as usual, if there's something significant that I missed - don't hassistate to add your comment!
10 tips for true happiness with HTC Touch Pro / Fuze / Diamond
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