BlackBerry Curve User Review

I have been using the BlackBerry Curve, otherwise known as the 8300, since June 1. It is the full qwerty version of RIM’s consumer oriented Pearl. The Curve is more of a mass market tool in form and function compared to, say, the 8800, which is being positioned as a high end executive device.

Form and Finish

I seem to like the feeling of the Curve much better than the 8800 simply because the I find the 8800 too wide for my hand. The Curve is just a bit narrower and, because of the black rubber sidings, seem to be more secure to handle than the 8800, which, because of the smooth glossy surface, seemed to always be in danger of slipping out of my hands.

The Curve almost feels like an 8700, but much better because of the slim profile of the device compared to the older 8700. Of course, I still had to get used carrying around a wide BlackBerry again because I have been using the SureType models for over a year now, starting with the 7100, then moving to the 7130, and currently the Pearl.

The keys of the Curve are separated, similar to the 8700 and unlike the 8800, which has a keyboard with keys right beside each other. I found typing with the Curve much easier than the 8800 because on the latter, I ended up pressing the wrong key pretty often, which is bad considering that my thumbs arent that large. Using the Curve keyboard was not that much of a learning curve, although I noticed that some of the positions of the alt symbols seemed to be in different spots. There are two shift keys now on each side of the keyboard which makes life simpler when having to type quickly, but generally the keyboard layout wasnt that far different from previous models.

The finish of the Curve is a lot simpler than the Pearl and the 8800. The Curve is in gray with black rubber accents, with a shiny gray lens frame. Finish isnt bad but is clearly not as “high end” looking as the black Pearl and 8800.

Multimedia

The other strange thing is that someone seems to have changed the headset jack from the very small mini-jack which has been standard on BlackBerries for years to a more conventional (but non-standard) minijack. Given the Pearl and this’ device multimedia features, I would suppose that this was done to accomodate stereo earphones. Trying out my regular stereo earphones (Shure E3C) with the Curve resulted in the expected stereo output. Listening to some loud electro house tracks showed reasonable results, at least compared to the sample blackberry movie. The sound was clear enough, although not great. Some EQ control would have been nice as sound was a bit too flat for me. There wasnt enough bass, the midrange was quite clear with a distinct but not overly powerful high end. Obviously my iPod sounds better as a music device but the Curve will do, especially with the 2 gig microSD card I recently bought and installed. Listenting to the music while using the BlackBerry for other functions, ie, messaging, didnt seem to slow down the unit at all.

The only downside of this whole minijack thing is that I only use a headset in a car while driving and my old BlackBerry headset from my 7230 days wont work on this device anymore. I suppose that the Curve comes with a stereo headset similar to the Pearl which I hate using because of the mess of wires.

Meanwhile, camera on the device is now 2 MP, which is an improvement from the 1.3 MP Pearl. More important of an improvement for me though is the self portrait mirror which doesnt stick out of the back of the device anymore like the Pearl, which means less wear on the mirror.

Finally, the entire Media application on the Curve has been revamped, at least as far as the front end is concerned. The main menu to select if you want videos, music, etc., has been jazzed up with an Apple-like look and feel, which sort of reminded me of Front Row, or at least an attempt at it. Basically Apple style icons over an Aqua-like wallpaper background. Much better I must say than the Pearl and the 8800, but unfortunately doesnt fit the look of the rest of the device and still not that easy to navigate around in.

General Usage

Otherwise, the BlackBerry Curve is simply another BlackBerry. Performance was quite zippy, as expected. But generally, everything seemed to be where they were from a BlackBerry UI perspective.

One major improvement, admittedly the most useful for me, is the increase in sound volume. Alarms are loud, as in really loud. Speakerphone volume increased significantly as well, while remaining usable, a significant enhancement from the older BlackBerry devices, including the Pearl.

Conclusion

The BlackBerry Curve is the best qwerty device out yet, in my opinion. I am not a fan of WIFI or GPS on my BlackBerry so the fact that the Curve lacks those features are not huge issue for me. I think the Curve is a great balance between a work and fun device, with the fun aspect focusing on multimedia. RIM tried to differentiate the device to its target audience of the device through a different look. I suppose that this is fine, but I dont particularly think its a beautiful device (unlike the Pearl where I was completely awe stuck). As an aside, I saw a gold colored Curve floating around here today, and it looks worse.

I like the 8300 because it is thin and light (much ligher than the 8800 which is just too heavy for me), because of the multimedia, and because its a BlackBerry. Would I switch from my Pearl to the Curve permanently? I doubt it. I was on the verge of switching back a couple of times already, but hesitated for some unknown reason.

In any case, the device is highly recommended in my book. It certainly beats all other qwerty BlackBerries today, in my opinion.

So my top list of BlackBerries in order of preference right now is as follows:
1. Pearl
2. Curve
3. 7130
4. 8800
5. 8700
6. 8707

Nokia E90 Communicator User Review

I had the pretty rare chance of playing around with the new Nokia E90 Communicator. The E90 is the replacement to the Nokia 9500 and 9300 Smartphones, now under the E series name as it is mainly a business device.

Form and Finish

The E90 had a great anodized aluminum finish across both the back and front of the handset. The keypad and command buttons had the same matte finish which was great to hold and resisted fingerprints. The unit was finished with some chrome pieces over the hinges and face, with of course the clear plastic lens over the screen. It seemed much more solid than both the 9500 and 9300, much more so the 9210. The hinge was significantly more durable than the previous model and allowed swivel to 180 degrees, similar to the 9300. The inside of the unit was matte finished as well.

The unit was color brown but the anodized finish make it look very elegant. The front of the handset had the typical keys and the usual Series 60 menu button. The screen was large and crisp, easily one of the best Series 60 screens that I have seen. A good analogy would be comparing an 800X600 PC screen to a 1024X768 screen. The difference in sharpness of the images and text is amazing!

Opening the unit revealed the qwerty keyboard surrounded by the typical command keys. the navigation buttons are located i the upper right part of the keyboard, much easier to manipulate when holding the unit. The top of the keyboard had the usual 9XXX series buttons for Desk, Contacts, Messaging, etc. On either side of the unit were buttons as well, on the left side Send and End phone keys, and on the right soft keys. I found using these keys a bit difficult as they were just out of reach of my thumbs when making a selection. Generally, though, the center key in the navigation pad triggered the correct selection to generally not need to press the screen buttons.

The inside screen of the E90 was even better than the outside. Extending the analogy, the inside screen can be compared to an even higher resolution PC screen, ie, 1280X800. Colors were bright and text was easy to read, even at small font sizes.

Navigation and General Usage

The unit was typical Nokia, and typical Communicator so learning curve is pretty much nonexistent. Typing was quick and easy, the qwerty keyboard is of a pretty good size that I had very few typing errors.Navigation was generally quite fast, even after filling in my PIM data. Note, though, that I only had something like 1000 contacts. I have seen 9500s run very slowly when filled with 4000 contacts, so this could still be the case. However, immediately upon getting the unit, it did feel significantly faster in response to the previous model.

The unit was 3G and HSDPA, of course, so browsing was quick, efficient, and, because it used the standard Series 60 browser, made an already excellent browsing experience even better. The E90 is WIFI enabled as well, and turning WIFI scanning on and off was a breeze. Connecting and browsing through my WPA Personal secured hotspot was just as simple.

The Desktop was made similar to the Series 60 active desktop, unlike the 9500 which was filled with a bunch of icons. This made all critical items immediately visible and therefore the user more productive. Other applications look similar to the older versions but, as mentioned, seemed much faster to navigate around.

BlackBerry Connect

The E90 is BlackBerry Connect enabled, similar to the 9500, which was one of the first (if not the first) BlackBerry Connect compatible device. However, unlike the older BBC units, the E90 has a brand new version of BBC, capable of not only wireless sync of Email and Calendar, but also Contacts. This is absolutely critical for me and this latest version of BBC for me makes the unit almost at par with dedicated BB units. Corporate Directory lookup is of course supported as well but Note and Task sync is still not supported, which is not a big thing for me.

BB on the E90 is great to use. I was able to get going from a virtually unconfigured handset (only connectivity settings were configured) to work with all my personal information within about 10 minutes, without any need to install any software or sync to my PC. Of course, I am a BES subscriber so all my data is stored in the company Exchange Server. Email composition and manipulation was quite intuitive and well integrated with the Series 60 UI, and updates for Calendar and Contact additions were pretty quick.

Other Apps

GPS is built in to the device as well but I was not able to try it out. Media is well supported with a Music Player, Flash Player, Radio, Real Player, and 3D Tone Effects built in. A key feature of the unit is the 3.2 MP camera with autofocus on the back of the unit. Another internal camera is located quite unobtrusively beside the screen of the E90.

Conclusion

Overall, I think Nokia built a winner here in the E90. The unit is great to use and finally has enough BlackBerry features for a serious user. I cannot comment on the stability of the software at this time because I was using an early software build which invariably hung a number of times. Note that this is NOT the fault of the unit as it is still in pre-release mode and I was unit a pre-release firmware. I am confident that all the bugs will be worked out and the final release version would be great.

I dont have any idea of the cost of the handset yet which is why I cannot give a rating, but in my short time of use, I can definitely say that it would be a great tool for any business professional to use.

BlackBerry 8800 (Codename: Indigo) User Review

I had the chance to try the BlackBerry 8800 for about 4 or 5 days since last week. The BlackBerry 8800 is pretty similar in spec to the 8700, except that a few additional features were added such as built in GPS, MicroSD card support, and 64 MB RAM, packaged in a much sleeker form factor.

Prior to using the 8800, I was using the BlackBerry Pearl, my favorite BlackBerry right now. The 8800 is about the same length as the Pearl, but about 4 or 5 mm longer than the 8700 and 8707. Thickness about the same as the Pearl, but significantly thinner than the 8700 and 8707. Of course, the 8800 is wider than the Pearl, and about the same width as the 8700 and 8707. In real world use, though, the thinness of the 8800 is quite apparent particularly when comparing to the older 8700 and 8707. The 8800 does feel solid and a bit more hefty than the older models, which is generally ok, but just that bit too hefty for me. The unit is not heavy, but for me is just that little bit too heavy for me to really like. Note, though, that my preference is for smartphone type form factor devices, so my point of reference is always the Pearl, which is extremely light.

The finish of the 8800 is a mixture of basic black and silver. The back of the unit is painted in a matte black finish, while the front of the unit has got the glossy, Pearl like finish. the 8707 style chromed earpiece accent, while the back of the unit has another chrome accent with the BlackBerry logo. The memory card is beneath this chrome piece, but is not accessible without removing the battery.There are two plastic chrome pieces covering the edges of the units. Unlike the Pearl, though, which had a very tight and secure fit to the body of the handset, the 8800’s moved a little bit, which was a turnoff for me.

The 8800 uses the new trackball interface, which is not bad once you get used to it. The trackball is flanked with the call, menu, back, and end buttons, similar to the Pearl.

Usability is, as expected, typical BlackBerry. application reponse was not bad in terms of speed and navigation is typical of a BlackBerry. Because the icons were made smaller, more could fit the screen. Otherwise, using the unit is typical BlackBerry fare. a few minor enhancements along the way, such as animated new message notication asterisk. The biggest difference is usability, though, is the keyboard. The thumboard of the 8800 consists of keys that are connected, as opposed to the thumboard of the 8700 and 8707, which have space in between. Typing was not as easy on the 8800 because I would frequently end up pressing the wrong key because of the key spacing. Generally, I got better abut a day or two, but would still make quite a few typos even after a few days.

I was not able to try the GPS becaue most of my time was spent indoors. My colleague who did try it was able to get a position fix, but maps did not show up. Maps will be progressively added for other countries in Asia, but it is not quite clear when, though.

Speakerphone was loud and clear, much better than the 8700, and 7130, which had a tendency to drown out your voice while you were speaking, rendering those speakerphones unusable. Other minor changes were the shift from the old “Turn Wireles On/Off” icon to “Manage Connections” which provides options to turn on or off the mobile and bluetooth radios. I suppose that when the WIFI enabled 8820 (Crimson) comes out later in the year then the Manage Connections icon will be used to turn WIFI on or off as well.

The device I tested did not come with a holster. At the end of the day, though, the holster is not really needed because the device is thin enough, and light enough, to put your front pants pocket. Related to storage, the only real gripe I had with the 8800 is that I couldnt figure out how to activate the key lock. On the Pearl, the keylock is activated by pressing and holding the * key. However, this is not the case on the 8800. To unlock, the * SEND key combination does the trick, but I couldnt figure out locking. So I had to manually go to the lock keypad icon and select it, which was pretty slow.

In general, the 8800 is a pretty good BlackBerry. If form factor is high in your priority list, then the 8800 would be a good upgrade from your old 8700 or 8707, or even older BlackBerries. GPS mapping support for the Philippines is not yet clear, so I am not placing high hopes on the GPS working. If such is the case, perhaps the option is to wait for the 8820 as WIFI will probably be used a bit more than GPS. In any case, the slim form factor of the 8800 series devices just makes using BlackBerries a joy again.

As for myself, I still prefer the smartphone form factor devices, so nothing beats the Pearl for me. The Pearl is just so much lighter and smaller than the 8800 (or even 7130), that it is just a joy to carry around and use.

BlackBerry 8800 Recommendation: 4 out of 5

72 Hours with the BlackBerry Pearl

I finally upgraded from my trusty BlackBerry 7130 to the hot new BlackBerry Pearl. I’ve been waiting for this upgrade for a few months now, since I first saw the real unit with a RIM representative. Must say, the website and pictures dont do it justice at all.

I’m beyond first impressions by now, because I have seen the unit before. However, the first impression that came to mind was really its size and finish when I first saw it. The piano black finish is pretty magnificent by any standards, much better than a Nokia, similar to the new LG and Samsung phones. Compared to the 7130, the Pearl is much more compact and light. I felt that the 7130 was quite large and heavy to put in a pants pocket, but the Pearl is the perfect size and weight.

Setup was pretty straightforward as usual. Since the handset wasnt new, I first wiped the handset by going into Options / Security. The Pearl then rebooted completely empty, and proceeded to register itself with the network. A simple entry of my email address and Enterprise Activation password (since I am a BES user) and all my data started to come into the device over the air. I was pretty disappointed that some old pictures from the 7130 didnt get through as well as my pretty extensive custom wordlist consisting of SMS shortcuts, slang, and Filipino words. This didnt turn out to be much of an issue, however, as most of these words still typed correctly on SureType.

Usability of the handset was no big deal. After all, its a BlackBerry, and all BlackBerries work the same way, since my 7230, the first one I used. The most noteable change, which I guess is pretty major in BlackBerry terms, is the absence of the scroll wheel on the right hand side of the Pearl and it being replaced with a trackball in the center of the unit. It didnt really take that much of an adjustment to get used to the new primary interface. It only took a couple of hours to get used to the sensitivity of the wheel (which is much more sensitive than the old trackwheel) and I was good to go.

Other than that, using the Pearl was a standard BlackBerry affair.

A few things I noticed, though:

1. The newest version of the Dimension Today Plus theme, which is my theme of choice, is much better thought of than the old 7130 version. Aside from being able to scroll through the standard PIM functions on the today screen, scrolling down shows a pop up toolbar of the first five applications in the ribbon. Pretty useful stuff for frequently used apps. I have Address Book, Alarm Clock, Calculator, Media, and Push Weather as my list in the toolbar.

2. The BlackBerry menu (which was the old center button on the 7130) has been redesigned for two purposes. When in the Today screen, this button shows the full application menu. The icons in the menu are much smaller now than in previous BlackBerries, which allows more applications to be viewed. With a trackball that scrolls horizontally and vertically, choosing apps to launch is pretty easy.

3. Meanwhile, when the BlackBerry menu button is pressed while in an application, the full menu appears, similar to when the old trackwheel is pressed. In the Pearl, when the trackball is pressed, an abbreviated version of the menu comes out depending on the application that is used. For instance, when an SMS message is open, only Reply, Reply to all, Forward, and Delete come out when the trackball is pressed. This is generally pretty good, except that it would have been nice if I could customize this mini menu. I sometimes use other functions that are not in this mini menu so it took me a while to determine whether to press the BlackBerry menu button or the trackball to invoke the command I needed.

4. In the old trackwheel days, the wheel has a mechanical click sound when turning the wheel. There is also a bit of feel on your thumb when you turn the wheel. However, in the trackball, no such mechanical click or clicky feedback on your thumb exists anymore. Instead, RIM simulated the sound of the click through the speaker. I realize its not really important, but it still is pretty fun to play around with sometimes…

5. My biggest problem with the Pearl is the absence of the Next key. The Next key on the 7130 sits between the Alt key and the Space Bar. Basically, what it does is select the next word on the SureType menu. The Next key on the Pearl has been replaced with the Sym key. while it makes choosing symbols 1 less click away, I now have the problem of having a harder time typing Filipino SMS messages since the only way I know how to choose another word in the SureType menu is to horizontally scroll the trackball, which more often than not overshoots the word I want to use. This is my major problem with the Pearl.

6. The Pearl now supports voice commands. The commands are pretty minor, though, such as checking status and other minor system checks on the handset. The only major voice command available is the Call command, which is really cool. Basically, the user says the word Call and the name of the person he is calling, and the system responds with a list of three names based on the closest match recognized. It will then ask if the user wants to call the first match by reading the name of the first person in the list, and the user can either say Yes, to complete the call, No, to then prompt the system to read the next name, or to Cancel. I think its a novelty at this point although may be useful when driving using a Bluetooth headset, which I have yet to try out.

7. Multimedia is now becoming more developed in the Pearl, although going to the media application is still a bit of a departure from the standard BlackBerry look and feel. Icons are used, but i think it could have been implemented a bit better in particular to preserve the BlackBerry user experience. It would also be interesting how to get videos and music into the BlackBerry considering I do not use Desktop Manager at all and do all my syncing over the air. I use a Mac and have yet to check if file transfers over Bluetooth are now supported, a function traditionally not allowed on a BlackBerry

8. The camera, which is 1.2 MP seems ok, but I havent used it extensively yet.

9. The absence of 3G is not really a major concern as I mainly use the BlackBerry for SMS, Voice, Email, and Calendar. I hardly do any browsing.

10. The browser of the handset has finally been integrated. Previously, BlackBerries had three browsers, the WAP browser, the Internet Browser, and the BlackBerry Browser. The Pearl finally only has one browser which I can use regardless if I want to go to a WAP site, an Intranet site over MDS, or an Internet site.

Overall, I love the BlackBerry Pearl. As a side note, I saw the new BlackBerry 8800, which looks almost exactly like a Pearl but much wider with the qwerty keyboard and no camera. I am usually partial to phone type form factors but even then, the Pearl is really just the perfect size to make it a great handheld. Its actually been a long time since I was this attacted to a new phone (in my line of work) and even after three days I still find myself just staring at the device. Its a new, sophisticated twist on the reliable and easy to use BlackBerry interface. I think the Pearl is the perfect smartphone and would recommend it without question.

Macworld 2007: Steve Jobs Keynote Semi-Delayed Coverage

So I am online at 1 AM Singapore Time to check out whats up at MacWorld! Might as well putblish the latest and greatest on this Blog! So stay tuned…

Updates courtesy of PhilMUG, the Official Philippine Mac Users Group at http://www.philmug.ph

12:49 AM Singapore Time: Well, 11 minutes to go…

1:02 AM (SG Time): So apparently, someone has pointed out that Steve brought his family to the conference this year. Supposedly a first time.

1:05 AM: Any minute now…

1:09 AM: Sheryl Crow playing in the background…

1:10 AM: Picture of the event at: http://equiknox.ord.cachefly.net/p/1168362420-thumb.jpg

1:11 AM: Report is that Steve is about to take the stage.

1:12 AM: James Brown music playing now…

1:13 AM: Apparently… “AS VEGAS–Apple Computer faces some tough hurdles if it decides to launch a mobile phone built around its popular iPod music player, Microsoft’s entertainment chief said.”

1:14 AM: Steve is now on stage…

1:15 AM: “We’re gonna make history together today…”

1:16 AM: Steve talking about recent apple events… Intel transition, Mac OS, extremely successful year… thank you…

1:17 AM: Imacs compose half the Macs sold in the US. New intel chips for mac right as they are released… we even beat Dell to it… US retail stores over half of mac sales to people to have never owned a mac before…

1:19 AM: Update on Music…

1:20 AM: ITunes… over 2 billiion songs sold… unrivaled success

1:21 AM: 5 million songs a day, 58 songs a second… 5th largest music reseller… report is that when Jobs said “we’re only talking about macs today”, the stocks dropped like a rock.

1:22 AM: New partner… Paramount… All Star Trek movies… Over 250 movies offered now… Hope to add more as other studios join in.

1:24 AM: Talking about Zune… November data says Zune has 2% market shre. Ipod has 62%… showing new ads for the iPod… Colored silhouettes on black background, all dancing with 5G iPods…

1:26 AM: Talk about Apple TV…

1:28 AM: Apparently the Apply TV will have USB2, Ethernet, wireless, HDMI, component, RCA, 40GB HDD, 720p, Intel processor, Vidio, Music, Photos, 50 hours of video, sync 10 most recently unwatched movies to Apple TV, you can specify what gets auto-synced, BTO option of 200 GB… screensaver, cover art, 3D effects in High def… screen saver based on your photos, main menu same as Sept Event.

1:32 AM: iTunes Top Movies also accessible via Apple TV… using Apple remote… apparently great video quality…

1:36 AM: Demoing music… Music and Music Videos in the list of songs, shuffle songs feature at the top… checking out photos now on Apple TV…

1:39 AM: Phil now playing a demo from his laptop and streaming content to the Apple TV… “we think this is pretty cool”… USD299… Shipping in Feb… taking orders now…

1:41 AM: Talking about a revolutionary product… to be able to change the world since 1984… 2001 first iPod… WIDESCREEN IPOD… and the crowd goes wild!

1:43 AM: Breakthough internet communications device… one device… Apple reinvents the phone… revolutionary UI… no picture of the iPhone yet…

1:47 AM: Get rid of buttons… make a giant screen… (correction: NO stylus) stylus control…. use your finger… silver and black… ignores unintended touches… silver handset… big black grey face… various pics on http://flickr.com/photos/ipodlounger …. this is the next big UI after the click wheel… runs OSX… core animation…. desktop class applications… syncing… multi tasking…

1:52 AM: Pic at http://media.macrumorslive.com/p/1168364877.jpg …. 8GB…. syncs with iTunes… 3.5 inch screen… 1 button in front… 160 pixels per inch…. 11/16″ thin… 2 MP camera in back… top headset jack… bottom speaker… black aluminum back… proximity sensor… ambient light sensor… another pic at http://media.macrumorslive.com/p/1168365119.jpg …. widescreen video… cover flow… Cingular…. “touch your music”… demo now… USD699…

1:58 AM: Demo details…. clock and battery plus signal… Cingular logo on top… full screen album art… turn to landscape goes to cover flow… clean 3D effects… rate music with finger brushes… very fast…. showing videos… showing tv show… reverse, play/pause, fast forward at bottom… easy toggle between playlists… artists, songs… move to widescreen is automatic… now showing pirates of carribean… built in speaker… best ipod they ever made… another pic here: http://media.macrumorslive.com/p/1168365660.jpg

2:04 AM: GSM+EDGE… WIFI… bluetooth 2EDR… push phone button on bottom, and screen changes like coming out of dashboard… scroll through contacts and to call just push his phone number… Steve is calling Johnny Ive now… speakerphone is loud and clear… big icons mute, keypad, speaker, add call… Phil coming in, Johnny on hold, push 2 buttons for a conference call…

2:12 AM: Features multiple message sessions… similar interface to iChat… 11 apps on screen… see all photos just like iPhoto… but faster… one photo was supposed to be landscape, he turned device and it switched automatically (??!!)… pinch up or down to zoom in or out… can make photos wallpaper to phone… so “Apple has reinvented the phone…” Internet features… rich HTML email on phone… any imap or pop… safari web browser… first fully usable HTML browser on phone… Google maps… Widgets… weather and stocks…. WIFI or EDGE, switches automatically for you… free yahoomail account to all iPhone customers… using push IMAP… looks similar to Apple Mail….

2:30 AM: Still doing all sorts of demos…

2:39 AM: Still doing all sorts of demos… Google CEO came in a few minutes ago and congratulated Steve…

2:42 AM: Doing a comparison now… showing pics of other devices… Now showing Bluetooth accessory headset, with a mic switch… turns on and off… pairs automatically… 5 hours of talktime… 16 hours of audio playback… over 200 patents in it… And the price………. If a 4GB Nano is USD199, smartphones are 199 to 299, the iPhone is– 4GB at USD499, 8GB 599 both with 2 year contract… June availability in US with Cingular, 4Q in Europe, 2008 in Asia…

2:59 AM: Name change from Apple Computer to Apple Inc.

3:00 AM: Steve thanks crowd to a standing ovation…

3:03 AM: Live music now playing with John Mayer

So apparently thats it… my personal commentary tomorrow. Good night….

Samsung BlackJack TVC by Cingular

Found this commercial of the Samsung BlackJack PDA-Phone from Cingular. The best mobile device commercial I’ve seen in recent memory!

More New BlackBerry Devices

Apparently, a couple of sites got their hands on what seems to be a Mobile Operator presentation of the upcoming BlackBerry device roadmap for 2007. Aside from the BlackBerry Pearl that everyone is talking about, two new devices are coming up as well under the 8800 model number, the Indigo and the Crimson.

The Indigo is a device with built in GPS and expandable memory via MicroSD. It is expected to target the segment that needs location based service functionality such as logistics and construction companies, where they say that LBS has had slow adoptions so far. Aside from having built-in GPS, the device also has shifted from the BlackBerry standard trackwheel to a Pearl-type trackball.

What is very interesting is that the spec sheet says that it will support WIFI/UMA. WIFI is not really new on other devices, but placing UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access) specifically is quite interesting. UMA, assuming is supported by the network, will allow seamless handover of voice calls from the traditional circuit switched domain, ie, a regular cellphone call, to a packet switched domain, ie, VOIP, without the call dropping out. This means that I can start a call via VOIP in a supported hotspot, and as I walk out of the range of the hotspot, the call will automatically switch to a regular GSM call without the call being disconnected as I switch networks. This is huge stuff as several operators start to look at Fixed-Mobile Convergent services to roll out, both for consumer and corporate markets.

Meanwhile, the Crimson seems to be a compromise between the traditional wide-body BlackBerry form factor and the narrow 7100 and Pearl series form factor. It seems to be narrower than the 8700 series devices but will still retain the full qwerty keyboard, no Suretype. The device will not have a GPS will will have a built in camera.

No doubt this device will cover a segment of the market that likes the sleek 7100 / Pearl form factor but just didnt have the patience to use Suretype enough to build their dictionary.

Apparently, a poll over on BlackBerry Forums says that 60% of people that joined the poll will get the new 8800 series devices. Personally, I dunno if the number will be that high but I think the new devices, particularly the Crimson, will further expand the acquisition initiatives of RIM into the mass market.

At the end of the day, 2007 should be a pretty interesting year as far as BlackBerry devices are concerned. I think its actually good that RIM has somehow slowed down their rollout of new devices. I think that they launched way too many devices in late 2005 to 2006. Some devices, like the 7100, actually went less than a year (if I remember right) from launch to end of life. While a constant stream of new devices is good to drive adoption of their wider mass market thrust, too many devices launched at such a short time may disappoint buyers that made the jump early and quickly find themselves holding an obsolete device, as well as potentially alienate potential switchers for fear of their devices becoming obsolete very quickly.

Note: The content of this post was taken from sites around the internet. For more information, also check out The Boy Genius Report or RIMarkable.

The New and Improved BlackBerry, Wireless Email Markets, etc.

So what is it with BlackBerry creator Research In Motion these days? BlackBerries are supposed to be black, monochrome devices, that busy executives use to answer their hundred plus emails a day. So whats with this???

Its sleek, its light, and it actually has a camera!!!

I’ve seen and briefly played around with first hand. Its much smaller than the BlackBerry 7130 (my current BlackBerry and an excellent unit itself) with a much brighter screen and — no trackwheel!

Interesting that RIM actually got rid of the trackwheel after years and years of it being their hallmark, in favor of a sort of more traditional navigation interface in the middle of the device. Unlike the typical phones, though, the Pearl has a trackball. Sort of reminds me of the old PacMan arcade games.

Scrolling through it was pretty easy, and the familiar BlackBerry usability pretty much came out, with the addition of more on screen options, similar to the on screen icons of the Nokia Series 60 phones. its not a 3G device, which is just as well as the network is still being rolled out anyway, and BlackBerries dont really need 3G to work well.

One look at it, and I know that this will be my next BlackBerry…

Having said this, I saw a leaked presentation by RIM on some gadget site of two new Blackberry devices coming out sometime in 2007. Both have the wide body form factor, similar to the 8700, but one of the new devices have GPS and the other, if memory serves, is a 3G device.

Could it be perhaps because RIM is starting to feel the pressure from other wireless email providers, despite having something like 67% market share with over 4 million users?

The wireless email market is clearly starting to consolidate. Microsoft has come into the picture with free wireless email built into Exchange (with SP2 required). Nokia just purchased Intellisync, and earlier Seven acquired Smartner.

Its interesting that more companies are realizing that server and device integration is becoming much more important towards offering a successful email service. Microsoft now has control of the server side with Exchange and the device side with their WindowsMobile OS, and Nokia has the same with Intellisync and their E Series devices, which are really made for business. Are companies like Good, Seven, Visto, and others without a mobile device business slowly on their way out of business? Or at least becoming a ripe takeover target? We will all just have to stay tuned…

On another note, its interesting that NTP, the patent holding firm thats been filing lawsuits left and right on wireless email is itself being sued. Apparently, the word is that one of the guys that built the foundation of one or more of their patents but left the company wants in with the big payoffs. Meanwhile, the word is as well that some of their earlier patents are being reversed. I guess what goes around comes around. To be honest I dont know the facts of the case, this is just what I’ve heard, so nobody sue me now!

And I thought that the wireless email space was getting boring….

Suggestions for Optimizing Battery Life in Mobile Devices

I found this article that I wrote for a local techie magazine a couple of years ago on mobile power and battery life. The devices are old, but the suggestions are still valid. Unfortunately, its a pretty long article. Happy reading…

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POWER UP!
Published in mPH Magazine - July 20, 2004
by Christopher H. Cheng

This month’s Primer was supposed to be on batteries for mobile devices. However, I have taken the liberty of stretching the original concept of this article to a topic that I believe is quite a bit more useful in daily life – Power. All mobile devices today are faced with a number of limitations, CPU speed, hard disk space, memory, video and sound quality, network connectivity, and others. However, the critical factor of battery life often remains overlooked by many mobile device buyers. This article will briefly discuss power or battery life as it relates to the individual’s purchasing decision for a new mobile device and will likewise talk about my experiences as a mobile user focusing on power conservation and things I’ve picked up over the years on the topic.

Life is Always a Balance

In general, the smarter a mobile device gets, the more important battery life fits into the buying decision. The important thing to know about mobile devices is that there is always a trade off somewhere – a flash memory based MP3 player will always have better battery life than a higher capacity, hard disk based iPod, a lower CPU and lighter OS based Palm or BlackBerry would generally have better battery life than a fast, powerful, but heavy OS based PocketPC, while a basic cellphone would almost always have better battery life than these hot, new, full featured smartphones. With notebooks, it’s a little different because the balancing act is made on two dimensions, size and power. In general, big notebooks with those 17 inch screens and 3 GHz processors may be really cool to look at and use, but due to the power requirements of driving such a high spec device, usually have less battery life. The thinking of the manufacturers is that these behemoths would generally not be very portable anyway. On the other hand, an ultraportable is very different. Computing power is often sacrificed for weight, form factor, battery life, heat dissipation capability, and size. Business notebooks (sometimes called “thin and light” models), on the other hand really balance out the manufacturers’ product offering.

So why is this bit of knowledge useful for purposes of this discussion? Simply put, the mobile device buyer should be aware of the features and limitations of the device he wishes to purchase to enable him to make an informed comparison and decision based on his intended use. When people think of buying their next mobile device, whether it is a mobile phone, a notebook, a PDA or PDA-Phone, or other similar devices, more often than not, the first things people check are CPU speed, memory, disk capacity, screen size and resolution, built-in cameras, Bluetooth, WIFI, physical appearance or style, and other similar features. Battery life is generally overlooked completely or would fall within the second or third tier of the purchase criteria. Again, while mobile devices are getting smarter and arguably more PC-like with every release, it is dangerous to base buying decisions of these devices on a PC based purchase-decision model, as there is one major difference between mobile devices and PCs: the mobile device user simply does not have access to something that a PC user would take for granted – immediate availability of a power outlet.

Therefore, the game of mobile power really starts by the buyer internalizing what exactly he wants to do with the mobile device and should base his product purchase from there. For instance, I have a desktop in the office but need a second computer for work. I am often mobile both here and abroad but would generally just use my notebook for presentations, demos, note talking, surfing, and email. I therefore switched to a Mac because it provided a balance of mobility, power, excellent battery life, a fresh, new user experience, while still keeping full compatibility to my windows based network. From a PDA-Phone perspective, I needed a device that I could use heavily for voice, SMS, and particularly corporate email. Again, battery life was pretty important because I am usually mobile (either in a meeting room in the building or outside the office) and a heavy cellphone user for both voice and data. I selected the Treo 600 as it had the qwerty keyboard for SMS and email, had basic PIM functionality I needed in an acceptable, but not exceptional, color screen, and had 6 hours of talktime which is excellent for a PDA-Phone device. Had a wanted to listen to MP3s, watched videos, take pictures, worked with email attachments, and have easy access to a power outlet, I would have probably chosen a PocketPC Phone. I am now using a BlackBerry device because my PDA-Cellphone use profile has not changed but the BlackBerry provides much better power management and the critical BlackBerry push email and OTA calendar sync provided by GlobeSolutions.

Bottom line is not just to study the products out there before you buy, but more importantly to determine exactly what you will use the device for and narrow down your search and compare mobile devices that fit your usage profile (now and in the near future). As a more extreme example, I carry a personal cellphone line as well, used simply to contact friends or family via voice and SMS. All I use is a Nokia 8310 for this and I have been satisfied for years.

Interesting devices I am looking at to fit my profile are the following:
Phone:
SE K700i – I understand that battery life is not great but I will only use it for my extra line and connectivity for GPRS with my Mac.

PDA-Phone:
PalmOne Treo 600 – The first usable PDA-Phone device in my book with excellent battery life, qwerty keyboard, available corporate email services from Globe, and decent screen. It has some support for multimedia which is unimportant for me.
BlackBerry 7230 – My current device of choice because of the excellent battery life, qwerty keyboard, premium corporate email and calendaring solution from Globe. A zero frills device with no support for video, no camera, etc., made for business.

Notebook:
IBM X31 / X40 – These are both ultraportables in size and weight with decent processing power. The X31 is a bit larger than the X40 but has a faster processor with something like 4 to 5 hours of available battery power. The X40, on the other hand, is smaller and lighter than the X31 but with slower processor and only 2.5 to 3 hours battery life on the standard, small battery but significantly longer, I think 6+ hours on the large battery.
Apple 12 inch Powerbook G4 – An all in one package with a fast processor, excellent graphics, great OS experience, and excellent battery life, while remaining lighter than the iBook. My current notebook of choice.

Tips

There are always a number of steps that can be taken to squeeze every ounce of power from your mobile devices, whether new or current. Being mobile quite often, I have picked up a few interesting tidbits and practices here and there to make the most of the precious battery life at my disposal:

1. Turn Those Radios Off! – Most mobile devices now come with either or both WIFI and Bluetooth built-in. Typically, users would leave either or both these features on due to ignorance of the implications of this or simply convenience of instant availability. It is important to note that keeping these radios on actually drains quite a bit of battery power as they are constantly searching for signal. A cool trick I learned from a fellow Mac user is to set different “Locations” corresponding to how I connect to different networks. For example, I have a Location for “Mobile – WLAN” that I use when I am in a WIFI hotspot, and one for “Office” which turns off WLAN but turns on my Ethernet port. Bluetooth is always off except when I intend to connect via GPRS, in which case I set my location to “Mobile – GPRS” and manually turn on Bluetooth. I actually notice the remaining uptime on the battery monitor increase or decrease depending on the mode I am in.
2. Eject Unused Peripherals – Techies know that powered peripherals without external adaptors like USB CD ROM Drives and PC Cards actually draw their power from the USB or PC Card slots themselves. While the device may not actually be in use, just keeping the device connected and powered on actually does consume power from the notebook. It is therefore a good idea to keep unnecessary peripherals disconnected, again without unduly hampering user experience. For instance, during my TabletPC days, I only connected my CD ROM drive when needed, and just for the period it was in use. On the other hand, I did have a Nokia D211 multi-mode GSM/GPRS/WIFI radio card permanently plugged into the notebook just because it was so convenient to just turn the software on and connect immediately. All in all a pretty good balance between usability versus effect on battery life.
3. Custom Configure Power Management – This is an absolutely critical step on all mobile devices and ranks as the second most important thing I do whenever I get a new or reformatted device (the most important for me being configuration of network/connectivity settings). I just noticed that default power options presented just could never just match my usage habits and battery requirements. I therefore adjust everything with careful attention to the screen (both brightness and being on or off), and for notebooks hard disk access and CPU power. As a guide, I always set my “on battery” settings such that I get minimum acceptable screen brightness (which I further adjust while using depending on ambient light), backlight shutoff of about 1 minute or less for PDA/PDA-Phones and cellphones, and screen blackout of about 3 minutes for notebooks and PDA/PDA-Phones. In addition, I set my hard disk on my notebook to turn off as often as practicable as a spinning hard drive is a real battery hog. I even had a notebook once that went as far as to allow me to set variable CPU speed, screen brightness, and hard disk speed depending on the battery level, i.e., 80% to 100% battery would allow the CPU to run at 100% speed but 20% battery power would only allow the CPU to run at 30% speed.
4. Be Battery Aware – Being a “battery aware” mobile user really means a whole lot of things:
a. Turn off unused applications – You may not notice it, but applications running in the background actually use up CPU cycles periodically. Turning off these applications, aside from making your computer a bit faster by freeing up more RAM, will reduce CPU load, which should marginally increase battery life.
b. Manage sound and vibration modes – Sound can really eat up your battery, especially when at loud volumes for ringtones and especially speakerphone mode. I normally fully configure sound for each device not just for battery purposes but also to lessen irritation from a noisy device. On a Windows PC, in particular, the startup and shutdown sounds are a large battery drain. Depending on the device, turning on vibrate mode is also a large battery drain.
c. Go to sleep – For notebooks, sleep mode offers a great way to increase battery life. Note that the startup process for a notebook is a huge battery drain because the CPU and hard disk is running at full speed. Sleep mode will avoid this while making startup time quite quick. I noticed that some platforms actually manage this better than others.
d. Avoid unnecessary multimedia usage – This is important for all devices but in particular for PDA-Phones and color cellphones. While it is tempting to watch music videos, dvds, porn, or streaming audio or video on your device, note that video and sound also significantly shorten battery life. The worst thing you can have while out of the office all day is a PDA-Phone with no battery, or what the people in Mapalad fondly call a “paperweight”.
5. Charge When You Can – No need to talk about this in great detail, but suffice it to say that batteries of today are nothing like the Ni Cd batteries of old where a full drain is necessary to avoid the “memory effect”. Charging can be done at any time, subject to what your device instruction manual says about battery calibration, periodic conditioning, or other similar items.

Power Peripherals

Regardless of how much a battery is optimized, the user will inevitably need charge the device. Since I carry quite a number of mobile devices (notebook, personal cellphone, work issued PDA-Phone, iPod) the cables and power adaptors would probably add up in weight quite significantly. To keep myself traveling light, I have tried to move as much as possible into USB based charging devices. For example, I have two Brando retractable cables in my notebook bag, one for my iPod and one for my T68i (which I use to connect the notebook via GPRS). I also have a USB to cigarette lighter adaptor in the car and a USB to AC power adaptor which I leave in my room so I can plug into my notebook while mobile, but can just plug into the car or AC if available.

On my to do list from a power management perspective is to try out these mobile power inverters that are available in the market. There are generally two flavors, one for car power and another for airplane in-seat power. The car power inverter is more relevant to me as I rarely get to sit in an airline seat with in-seat power. I heard that these inverters sometimes break the battery of the device, so I will tread carefully, but this should be an interesting proposition for the true road warrior.

Treo 650 User Review

I have been using the Treo 650 on and off for quite a while now, but
have seriously started using the device for the past few days.
Following are my impressions:

1. Excellent Screen! The screen of this device is the best I have ever
seen on a PDA-Phone, hands down. If you put the 650 beside the 600, the
600 looks, well, just kawawa! It is very bright and the resolution is
excellent! The best way to demonstrate this, however, is using the
camera. Unlike the 600, the 650 display in camera mode is extremely
sharp. Both devices have the same camera resolution so it is definitely
the screen that significantly enchnces the image.

2. The 650 is an EDGE device, and using Blazer you can really notice
the speed increase. Downloads are quick, and there is really nothing
like looking at the top portion of the screen while downloading the
page and watching the kb meter just zoom along. Watch out for your GPRS
bills! The screen resolution further enhances the image and makes
browsing a plain joy.

3. Keyboard layout and key size have improved significantly. While the
keys are still a tad cramped, the layout and the actual shape of the
keys make it much easier to type. In the 600, I had the problem of my
thumbs starting to get sore because of the size and shape of the keys.
No such issue with the 650. The white translucent keys are also great
since it is easier to work with especially at night.

4. Bluetooth is pretty good. I paired it with my Bluespoon AX (which I
reviewed in www.racingsailor.org) and it was quick, painless, and works
great. Audio is loud and clear. Unlike my BlackBerry 7290, the
Bluetooth connection to the headset terminates after some period of
inactivity so I can actually use both the 650 and my K700i on one
headset quite seamlessly. Its good for battery life of the headset too.

5. The OS was pretty snappy and seemed al lot quicker and more
responsive than the 600 as well. I havent used a Palm in a while so I
dont quite know if there were a lot of application level enhancements
but usability is pretty good.

6. As in the 600, the 650 makes one handed operation quick and easy.
Unlike the 600, the 650’s keyboard makes one handed texting much easier
as well.

7. Battery life is pretty comparable to the 600, which is pretty good
already. There may have been an improvement in battery life but I am
not quite sure.

8. I havent used the later Palms so I dont know if this is now an old
feature, but the Palm Desktop seemed to have gone through a rehash. It
looks much better now, particularly for installing new apps. You can
also install apps directly to an SD card. PocketMirror was also
integrated better so there is no need to setup that third party app to
sync to outlook.

9. I dont know how to sync a Palm to my Mac. I was able to
successfully pair the 650 with my Powerbook but when I fired up iSync,
I couldnt really do anything. However, that was a pre-production ROM so
I dont really know.

10. The handset is similar in weight to the 600 and, in my view, is
just a bit too heavy for comfort. But is generally acceptable.

11. My office PC doesnt have Bluetooth so I couldnt try out Bluetooth
hotsync. But there is a wizard on the device to set it up.

12. The 650 comes with a cool anodized aluminum looking stylus, which
looks and feels really cool. However, I hardly get to use it because of
the great one-handed usability.

13. Voice quality was great. No more buzzing and other related sounds
found on the 600. Speaker phone seemed to be a limitation, because it
almost seemed to sound like it was half duplex! But I havent tested
this on the new ROM since I use my Bluespoon AX with it all the time.

14. Dock connector is now totally different from the old 600. Charger
connector is also totally different.

Overall Rating: Highly Recommended bordering on Must Have!