This’ll teach me to go to bed at night – turns out the delightfully spec’ed Dell Lightning (the first Windows7 phone I can honestly say I’d like to try on a day-to-day basis) is just the tip of a very cool iceberg.

Next up, there’s the Thunder (Anyone else seeing a theme here? Too bad Blackberry already snatched “Storm”). It’s a GSM Android 2.1 device with a custom UI called “Stage” (which includes Facebook integration, apparently). There’s no slide-down portrait keyboard like on the Lightning, but there is allegedly full Flash support including a Hulu player. Now that’s a heck of a selling point. There’s also an 8 MP camera, as opposed to the Lightning’s 5 MP.

Wait, we’re not done yet! Dell has more Android sets to leak out. There’s the “Flash” (It’ll save every one of us!), with a smaller 3.5 screen than the Lightning or Thunder’s 4.1, more “Stage UI” goodness and probably most interesting to the techs out there, a Qualcomm MSM7230. This is Qualcomm’s “snapdragon” class device, and I can’t wait to see how this thing handles the demands of an “always on” OS like Android. Of the devices leaked so far, this seems more like the “fashionable” device. Unless you count…

…the Dell Smoke. With only a 2.8 QVGA screen, a dedicated hardware keyboard, Dell’s leaked documents indicate this is going to be more “corporate” targeted, but if this thing is a “suit and tie” phone, it’s a designer suit and tie. Simply stunning to look at.

The final phone leaked is the US version of the Areo. It’s got a comparatively anemic processor, and not a ton that catches my eye. Yes, it’s got handwriting recognition and a “special” capacitive stylus… but surely I’m not the only one who far prefers a stylus free device? Yes, there’ll be a Webkit browser and some kind of Flash support, but I can’t say I have any interest in this, knowing that the Lighting, Thunder, and Smoke are coming down the pipe. The Areo does have the advantage of launching first, so expect people who don’t follow tech blogs to plunk down a pretty penny, and then later be upset that they used up their upgrade.

While I’m done with phones, that’s not all Dell has slated (sorry for the pun). They’ve given more info on their “Streak” tablet. It’s now launching with Android 2.1 and still coming “this summer” but the big deal is what it’s being compared to, which is the Dell “Looking Glass”. I fell in love with the name right away. While at the surface the LG is just a “blown up” 7” Streak (Dell – there’s no excuse for putting a mere 800×480 resolution on this thing, or an anemic 1.3 megapixel camera!). Crack it open and you’ll find a Tegra2 chip inside. Throw in the fact that it has actual expandable RAM and you have the first Android tablet I’m interested in trying out.

Those are the devices – and you can get more details at Engadget – and now here’s the commentary: Dell is a powerhouse brand, with tons of presence in every segment of the computer market. The one notable exception has been handhelds. There was a time when the Dell Axim was a great device line – I had an X5 and it was one of the first “pocketable” PocketPCs. Sure, you needed a big pocket, but it was pocketable. However, that line faded into obscurity, and they’ve had a small hole in their lineup since. With this sudden spate of phones and tablets, running multiple OSes and targeted at multiple market segments, Dell seems ready to make a serious attempt at the one area where Apple and “upstarts” like HTC and others are firmly entrenched. Nothing here screams “iPhone/iPad killer!”, but on paper they certainly seem like viable alternatives to it, and they certainly have the market presence to leverage these devices. I look forward to seeing how this plays out.

Clutching onto my Nokia E71 (one of the 3 cell-phones I use on a daily basis) I just read on Mashable how Nokia announced the slow phasing out of S60 for the iPhone / Android competing opensource-asized Maemo. The phase out is expecting to occur on all Nokia Smart Phones by 2012.

Could Symbian really not shape up and build a killer touch phone OS the way Palm did? I mean if Palm could do it… maybe Maemo is the hiatus they will need.

Stan at Mashable was a bit bold indeed when he said S60 is not good enough. For what it is it is very good. I often feel a sense of ease when using it on my E71. But he is right, it is no flashy Android iPhone killer. If Stan is right in reporting that Symbian will remain the main platform for E-Series devices that makes sense. I have friends that work in regular corporate jobs who runaway screaming when it comes to using an Android or iPhone like device for work… its just to much, to distracting and not capable of dealing with the fast blackberry like pace of business as usual.

But Stan also makes a good point. “While we’re thrilled to see more Nokias on the powerful Maemo platform, running two mobile smarpthone OSs and two separate app stores will definitely cause confusion to the customers.” From a branding perspective he is correct.

Nokia can lessen the confusion a bit if they market it well. Symbian as a business like device, Maemo for everything else.

But the larger question here in the US is, does anyone care. I mean, I am a Nokia fan boy that for the most part does not use a Nokia (my main phone is still the iPhone). I am still convinced that as far as phones go, Nokia builds the best of them…I mean a majority of the world cell phone users cannot be wrong. But the question remains, will Americans pick up the Maemo lingo like they have picked up “Android” and “Windows” and “Palm” and “iPhone.” Or will these just remain fancy and expensive Nokia’s. It seems these days the Operating System is king, so they better hope not.

Full story: NSeries Nokias Say Goodbye to Symbian, Hello to Maemo

It’s interesting how married to Operating Systems people can become. My first computer was an Apple IIGS, but then we swiftly moved to Windows. I used to join in deriding Macs, then I got one. Mac OS, especially 10 and up, became my OS of choice. However, I still used Windows (and occasionally Linux) on a daily basis. I’m basically platform agnostic. A platform is a tool, and the one that works best for you is the best… for you. There is no perfect platform for everyone, for computer or phone.

I mention this because of discussions I’ve been having with some fellow techies. This week I finally broke down and bought a Pre. The reactions from my iPhone, WindowsMobile and Blackberry using friends (Sort of sad, but I don’t personally know a single Android user – no I’ve never met Justin) were almost comical in their predictability. I even got complaints about the Pre from a fellow Pre owner… because he’s really a Blackberry user. I’m not saying they’re wrong – I’m just saying the Pre is closer to my “ideal” phone than most of those other options (In fact, I recalled a doodle I drew ten years ago and it resembles the Pre to the point of scariness).

Every phone does its job in one way or another and every phone does it for someone. The cell market is really big enough for everyone. So how about we all just calm down and let people find the right solution?

So, why is the Pre my “perfect phone” (so far, anyway?)? Click the read link and find out.

[Warning – this thing is a fricking essay. I clearly have no life.]
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Holy cow, what a week. Every time Mordy or I sat down to write a post, something else happened. I’m going to try to condense it all into one week, going by topic. Bear with me:
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Here are some interesting things from DigitalLook, but not exactly interesting enough to be their own article (no offense to the vendors, who were all awesome)

Note that I do have photos, but I seems to be mangling the photo functions of the blog, so I will be holding off on adding them.
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What would our mobile devices be without power? Not much, right? Energizer has a booth with some cool products, announced that very day. Their Energi To Go products are like the big brother of those “quick charge” devices we see all the time at Staples and the like. You know the one – you put 4 AA batteries in and plug the other end into your phone. The catch with these is their not rechargeable themselves and they tend to be for just one product; if you’re someone who carries around a cell, pda, and MP3 player, you have to carry three packs. Not with the Energi to Go line.
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In a rather shocking announcement, the upcoming Palm Pre is not only capable of being a music player (that standard 3.5mm headphone jack sure is handy), but it will in fact also pretend to be an iPod when connected to iTunes, sucessfully syncing all your music and photos as if it were a ‘pod itself.

This alone may make the Pre the most compelling iPhone rival yet.
And to think, some tech bloggers such as CruchGear had the audacity to call the Pre an “Also Ran” today (click the link for more info).

I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the Pre now fellas…

Folks, this is the end of an Era. Palm’s Operating System has been around since the term PDA entered the vernacular (and for a change, didn’t have anything to do with public displays of affection).
With everyone all excited about the Palm Pre’s new WebOS, and the high-end business minded Palm devices already running Windows Mobile, the last nail on the Palm OS’s coffin appears to have been unceremoniously nailed in.
Unceremoniously, that is, until the Hong Kong PDA Users Group (HKPUG) decided to throw a little farewell party of their own.

The group members met up recently, and gathered up as many different Palm OS devices as they could find for a truly unique photo shoot. I’d (tastelessly) compare it to an open-casket funeral, however surprisingly the devices on display were still completely functional- including some Pilot 1000 devices. Many of these are reportedly still in use by their owners, so Palm OS may be out of production, however it is quietly being kept alive by those few, those faithful, those brave… Palm loyalists.

We salute you, men.

HKPUG site
More details (in English)

With all the news coming out of Mobile World Congress recently, I almost missed this one.
Apparently Microsoft was not only showing off their new WM6.5 OS, but also “dog-fooding” it (which is geek speak for product testing that aims to spot bugs before software hits the market).
Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo was handed one such device to test, and according to The Daily Telegraph, an unnamed Telstra executive was handed the device and proceeded to get pick-pocketed shortly thereafter.

This is more than just embarrassing for the parties involved, “What if news of those bugs is released early before a final version goes on sale. Those sorts of things could affect the shares of Microsoft,” industrial espionage expert Les Goldsmith said.

In a rare saves-the-day moment, Microsoft staff reported to APC that “the entire operating system and all the user data on the handset were remotely erased as soon as the theft was reported.“.

This raises some pretty interesting questions about what kind of power MS has over the new OS. Is this a “big brother” situation? Or is this whole thing just misquoted, or some sort of scare tactic since its a pretty unlikely feature to spend time to develop and include in an OS? I’ve written up some conspiracy theories on my personal blog, and I’m curious to hear what the public thinks…

C|Net has an interesting article about the President-Elect’s desire to hold on to his Blackberry, even after the inauguration.  It does a good job of presenting all the cons (basically, a security nightmare). You can see some more detailed specs here.

Specs (and insanely high price) aside, the idea of a connected President is a very cool one, regardless of politics.