tagged w/ Smart Phones
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First it was Google Maps Navigation (Beta), which at first brought free spoken turn-by-turn directions to only the Motorola Droid (and later devices running OS 1.6 and up). Then came Google Buzz for mobile, the controversial social networking service, which is currently available for those Android phones running 2.0 and up. And just yesterday, the search-giant-turned-smart-phone-mogul released the very cool Gesture Search app, which allows users to look up contacts and locate applications just by scribbling a letter on the screen. Have a Motorola Cliq or a HTC Droid Eris or a Samsung Moment? Sucks to be you, because this app is also limited to Android 2.0 or above. It’s clear that Google is favoring the newer versions of its OS. This unfairly punishes both owners of devices running older flavors of Android, as well as Google’s partners.
http://blog.laptopmag.com/google%e2%80%99s-android-favoritism-punishes-users-and-partnersFirst it was Google Maps Navigation (Beta), which at first brought free spoken... more
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It’s the most important product launch for Dell this year. Maybe in the company’s history. And if you ask Neeraj Choubey, general manager of tablets within Dell’s Communications Solutions Group, the Mini 5 isn’t just another slate. He uses words like “category killer.” And that’s because the device that he’s bringing to market will be the first 5-inch Android tablet in the U.S. that can also make calls. Yes, the Mini 5 is a phone, as well as a mobile Internet device, camera, camcorder, GPS navigator, and media player. You could call it a tabletphone.
Choubey, who spent five years at Motorola and created Yahoo’s mobile search product before becoming a VC, also feels pretty strongly that the Mini 5 won’t be swept away by the iPad hype. And that’s because the two devices have different target audiences. In fact, Choubey told us flat out that the iPad isn’t really a mobile device, saying that it’s best for those who “have a handbag or a murse or whatever.”
Here are just some of the other highlights of our interview:
* Dell is working with AT&T to bring the Mini 5 to market (even though no official carrier partnership has been announced).
* The Mini 5 will access the Android Market, a big differentiator versus devices like the Archos 5 ($339.99) and bigger screen Android tablets, and the front-facing camera is designed for peer-to-peer video calls.
* Dell is working on a portfolio of devices that includes Android tablets with larger displays.
* The company will be rolling out a service that will allow customers to buy content once and have it be available on multiple Dell devices. (Reminds us a bit of iTunes, but Choubey used Amazon as his example.)
Full interview here: http://blog.laptopmag.com/dell-mini-5-is-a-category-killer-ipad-great-for-dudes-with-mursesIt’s the most important product launch for Dell this year. Maybe in the... more
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Just last week we got hands-on with the Motorola Devour, a Droid-like handset with a more elegant design– not to mention, Motorola’s custom interface, MOTOBLUR. Today, we were handed a working unit, and you can expect a full review soon. But in the meantime, here’s what you need to know if you’re a Verizon customer deciding between this and a Droid. Based on our full review of the Droid and our brief hands-on time with the Devour thus far, both devices are good bets.
http://blog.laptopmag.com/devour-vs-droid-which-phone-is-better-for-youJust last week we got hands-on with the Motorola Devour, a Droid-like handset with a... more
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Just two years ago, the idea of projectors being built into stuff was futuristic. Two years later, the idea of a projector being just another component, the way cameras are in phones, isn’t so far-out. Here at Mobile World Congress, Samsung is showing off the Beam (also known as the Halo), a phone with a built-in projector that it’s on the verge of shipping to many markets, including Europe, Africa, and Latin America, with Asia expected to follow later (sorry, Americans: we’re not sure yet if you’ll ever see this).
The projector, which is built on Texas Instrument’s DLP Pico WVGA chipset, has a brightness of six lumens, which is pretty weak. You’ll need some pretty dark conditions, as Samsung created at its booth, to make out the picture. In additon to 720p video, users can “beam” photos. In either case, the picture can get as wide as 50 inches.
http://blog.laptopmag.com/is-that-a-projector-in-your-pocket-hands-on-with-the-samsung-beam-projector-phoneJust two years ago, the idea of projectors being built into stuff was futuristic. Two... more
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Nokia and Intel announced that they are merging Intel’s Linux-based Moblin OS with Nokia’s Maemo platform. The new, merged platform will be called MeeGo.
Although Nokia and Intel chose to make their announcement at Mobile World Congress, they imagine MeeGo running on a wide range of screen sizes, including phones, netbooks, tablets, and even connected televisions. In a nod to Microsoft, the companies made it clear they were “not going after” the PC market.
http://blog.laptopmag.com/nokia-and-intel-merge-moblin-and-maemo-to-form-the-meego-platformNokia and Intel announced that they are merging Intel’s Linux-based Moblin OS... more
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Last week was a long but exciting one for the editorial staff at LAPTOP. Seven different editors and writers from our office were set loose in Las Vegas with a singular mission: find the trends and technologies that will shape 2010 and beyond. Here are the most interesting things we saw:
1. Tablets will be everywhere (or at least vendors hope they will be).
3. You will connect your notebook to your TV wirelessly; it’s only a matter of time.
5. Indoor/outdoor displays will redefine eReaders.
7. Smart phones are becoming “super phones.”
Click here to read our full analysis and the rest of the trends: http://blog.laptopmag.com/8-trends-from-ces-that-will-define-2010Last week was a long but exciting one for the editorial staff at LAPTOP. Seven... more
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They can navigate you safely to your destination, identify a song playing in the background, and keep you busy with endless games while riding the bus to work or school, but some Smart Phone applications are not so helpful and could become harmful to their users. Eating disorder experts have observed that new handheld applications, designed to aid users in reaching weight loss goals, can easily perpetuate a serious eating disorder (ED) or become the catalyst for the development of an ED in those who are at-risk....
Read more at http://eatingdisorder.org/blog/2009/10/26/application-awareness/They can navigate you safely to your destination, identify a song playing in the... more
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Italian fashion house Giorgio Armani today unveiled a $1,000 Windows Mobile 6.5 smartphone aimed at complementing the designer's suits. Made by Samsung, the Giorgio Armani phone has both a touch screen and a slide-out keyboard.
(Mobiledia, 2009, October 9, par.1-2)
It runs on Microsoft's new Windows Mobile 6.5 platform for an improved Internet Explore Mobile browser with Flash support, "MyPhone" backup service and access to applications and games through Windows Marketplace for Mobile.
(Mobiledia, 2009, October 9, par.3)
The smartphone also includes a large 3.5-inch AMOLED screen, 5.0-megapixel camera, music and video player, high-speed HSDPA Internet, GPS navigation, 8GB of internal memory, as well as bronze detailing "which coordinates perfectly with Giorgio Armani suits." The handset is the third phone Armani has designed for Samsung.
(Mobiledia, 2009, October 9, par.4-5)
[IMAGE: electronista.com]Italian fashion house Giorgio Armani today unveiled a $1,000 Windows Mobile 6.5... more
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jmsrmy
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added this
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2 years ago
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From mainframes to minicomputers and then PCs, each new computing generation has displaced its predecessor by reaching a broader audience and costing far less. And each time, the dominant company in one generation loses control in the next
That’s why the PC industry’s commanding chip maker, Intel, might do well to be alarmed by the computer chips being designed by Qualcomm, a maker of chips for cellphones. An engineer at Qualcomm’s gleaming corporate campus here demonstrated a palm-sized circuit board capable of displaying high-definition video. What was striking about the demonstration was not the quality of the video images, which is now commonplace. Rather it was that the microprocessor chip, called Snapdragon, drives the display with less than half the power of a similar chip recently introduced by Intel. Qualcomm designers say it will also cost less.
As the PC shrinks in size, it is on a collision course with the multifunction cellphone. Many expect the resulting impact to transform both devices and all the companies that make them. The new smartphones, always-on portable Internet devices that are part cellphone, part computer, change the rules of the game in computing because computing speed — at which Intel excelled — is no longer the most important factor. For a cellphone relying on a small battery, how efficiently a chip uses power becomes more important.
The new mobile world represents a special challenge for Intel, which until four years ago ignored the issue of increasing power consumption in its flagship X86 chips, which have been the PC industry standard for almost three decades.
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Full article at link.From mainframes to minicomputers and then PCs, each new computing generation has... more
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islek
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added this
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3 years ago
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Before 2007, using the internet on your phone would make you want to kill yourself, if you were dumb enough to believe the crap splattered across that tiny screen even was the "internet." But the combination of increased bandwidth and better mobile software means that more phones really are promising to deliver the real internet, in living color. We tested eight different browsers, and while some put smiles on our faces, others proved that rendering HTML correctly is a far cry from actually giving you an awesome web experience. And what about 3G vs. Wi-Fi? Everything the carriers have told you is a lie. This is the true state of mobile web.
[For the full report and a rundown of each phone go to http://gizmodo.com/5090988/mobile-browser-battlemodo-which-phones-deliver-the-real-web]Before 2007, using the internet on your phone would make you want to kill yourself, if... more
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Using a Facebook application called "I Crossed Your Path," cyclists will be able to make connections with each other by exchanging information - online or through a smartphone - about which routes they took that day. With the information it collects, the project might also help urban planners make better decisions on things like where new bike paths should be built.Using a Facebook application called "I Crossed Your Path," cyclists will be... more
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Adobe’s Flash Player is on 98 percent of all desktop computers, but it is still struggling to make the jump to mobile phones. If you want Flash on a mobile device, right now you have to settle for a compromised version: Flash Lite. But Adobe is committed to bring the full Flash Player experience to mobile phones, as evidenced by its Open Screen Project. On Monday, at its Adobe MAX developer conference, it will demonstrate Flash Player 10 running on a Windows Mobile phone. (However, Flash won’t actually ship on Windows Mobile until late next year). Product manager Michele Turner tells me:
We will be showing the first delivery of Flash on mobile phones, on other platforms. You will see it on Windows Mobile.
Microsoft, if you recall, was also early to adopt Flash Lite for Windows Mobile, despite its parallel development of Flash-competitor Silverlight. So it’s not too surprising that it would be the first to run Flash 10 on Windows Mobile. Turner also indicates that an “Android port” is coming.
But what about the iPhone, which famously doesn’t use Flash? (Although there’s been some talk of that happening). Turner will only say:
We are working on Flash on the iPhone, but it is really up to Apple
One of Apple’s objections to Flash is that it is a CPU hog and is not optimized for the ARM11 processors that power the iPhone. In what seems to be an effort to address that concern, Adobe will also be announcing a closer collaboration with ARM to accelerate the adoption of both Flash Player 10 and Adobe AIR on ARM-powered devices.
Once that collaboration bears fruit, maybe we’ll finally see Flash on the iPhone. But I’d be willing to bet my iPhone that we’ll see it on Android phones first.
[Original article from http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2008/11/16/adobe-to-demo-flash-on-mobile-but-only-windows-still-working-on-the-iphone/]Adobe’s Flash Player is on 98 percent of all desktop computers, but it is still... more
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