Some would say that having your blog ads hacked is a sort of sincere flattery. After all, the blogs that no one reads never get hacked! Right?
This, however, is a flattery we can do without, thank you very much. After having our right sidebar ruined and some rogue ads inserted in their place, we had no choice but to quickly revert to an old backup of our site design.
What does this mean?
Well, we plan to continue bringing you our perspectives on mobile tech and digital lifestyle that you love so much, however you might notice the the layout acting a little funny while we sort this out.
Most notably, at the moment you can’t comment on anything (there’s no submit button). Its nothing personal, and we LOVE your comments… just give us a little time!
Today at MWC, Microsoft got to announce to the world one of their most ambitious product updates in a long time, if not ever.
What’s so ambitious about an update to Windows Mobile? Well, for starters, its NOT Windows Mobile, Its Windows Phone 7 (Series?). This is more than just a name change- Microsoft seems to really want to make it clear that 7 has absolutely nothing to do with the previous mobile operating system which started off as “Pocket PC” about 10 years ago.
To be perfectly honest, I think Microsoft should also have done away with the number “7″ in the title. You see, this isn’t the next evolutionary step… this is a new and fresh start from scratch.
The focus now is to shift away from being like a desktop PC, and be more like a totally consumer-oriented interface. “Its not a PC, its a Phone!” was a line repeated throughout many of the speakers, as they demonstrated the integration of social networks, live media, and some sort of Xbox services into a personal device that could juggle work and personal information while still being able to differentiate the two. Oh yeah, and it also makes phone calls.
The new UI is mostly border-less panels with images and text, that are arranged in a reconfigurable grid. The panels appear to be “live”, updated in real time, and move with very striking visual transitions.
The best word I can think of to describe the UI is “pure”, and I can honestly say to their credit, it looks like nothing I’ve ever seen before. They shouldn’t even call it Windows, honestly, because there aren’t any window-borders or anything resembling Windows at all. If it reminds you of Microsoft’s Media Center or the Zune interface, it should. Its designed by the same people, and that’s exactly what they are going for- they want to bring this to the masses.
Ok, here’s another reason I wish I had made it out to Vegas for CES instead of being stuck here in NYC…
According to engadget, Microsoft reps were apparently at the show “quietly” (their word, not mine) showing off what they claim to be Windows Mobile 6.5.3. If you recall, I recently had an opportunity to talk with an MS rep at a local event, and got some interesting information about what the new leaked builds are or aren’t (click to refresh your memory).
In a nutshell, the rep admitted that there was a new UI being developed, however it was not necessarily going to be named something as silly as a trailing decimal point, nor would it necessarily be a new OS. In fact, according to the rep, the reason for the UI change was because manufacturers were complaining that capacitive displays didn’t work well with the traditional UI.
The Touch HD2 for example, needed a lot of customized tweaks from HTC in order to function properly with its capacitive display (having an abnormally large screen helped some too). According to our conversation, Microsoft wanted to offer an alternative UI for manufacturers to use so that they would not have to go through what HTC did.
What I took from that conversation is that this is not actually a new version of the OS. My theories were reinforced after seeing some custom ROMs on XDA-developers that offered the new build numbers with a choice of the “old UI” or the “6.5.x” one. Upon further research, it appears that 6.5.1 and 6.5.3 were not actual internal names from Microsoft, but rather names given by the forum members, due to a lack of a better thing to call it.
Then engadget posts that MS reps are “quietly” showing off something they call 6.5.3 at CES… on obscure resistive display devices like the Pharos and Toshiba models, no less. This has raised a couple of questions in my head:
1) why are they doing it “quietly”?
2) why aren’t they showing it off on a capacitive device like the HD2 (which is supposedly what it was designed for)?
3) why does the screen shot (click thumbnail above to see engadget’s pic full size) show 23091 as the build number, when there are newer and more stable releases already on XDA (in the 28xxx series last I checked)?
4) if this really is 6.5.3, why does the version number in that screenshot still just say 6.5?
Without any trailing third digit to prove the existence of a new OS, it looks like they are just showing off the new UI that they are working on… which again might not be a new OS and might not be called anything new. I’m wondering, did the MS reps call it 6.5.3, or did the editors who were there call it that? Also, is the reason it was “quiet” perhaps because these were not supposed to be shown off like this? Maybe the reps at the event wanted to show something radically different, try to spice things up by showing what looks to be a new OS to fill the gap until 7?
OK, I’ll admit that I’ve got a Magic Jack running a phone line in my house right now.
In fact, I even did a review for infonotmercial.com a while back (you can see it here… and yes, that’s yours truly in the video).
But now, YMax Corp, the company behind the infomercial-famous Magic Jack wants to start saving you money in cellular calls as well.
How?
According to their announcement at CES, by offering a new version of the ‘Jack that uses a GSM Femtocell instead of just providing a phone jack on the back.
This means that in your own home (or anywhere that a Magic Jack femtocell is set up), you can make unlimited calls using your GSM phone and never have to pay a monthly cell bill for it. The details regarding which frequencies remain to be seen, but any quad band phone should work.
The question however, according to IDG news service, is whether or not this jibe’s well with the FCC.
You see, the FCC is in charge of licensing frequencies to carriers as well as protecting those airwaves from interference. Most femtocells currently operate under a carrier on a frequency they already have licensed. However, YMax is not a cell phone carrier. They own no spectrum.
Can they operate on the same frequencies as T-Mobile or AT&T without any legal heat from the carriers or FCC?
Well, YMax sure seems to think so.
“In your home, you own the frequency,” said MagicJack founder Dan Borislow. The MagicJack femtocell is not powerful enough to work outside a 3,000-square-foot home, according to the company. In addition, the software that comes with the femtocell will let users set the power level themselves to cover the appropriate area, with a default of about 500 square feet, Borislow said. Dan seems to think the FCC will certify this device pretty quickly, especially since he is expecting a release of the product over the next few months.
I don’t feel as sure about it, however… I recall Sprint’s FemToCell service, called Airave, required a GPS position from the box in order to work. The reason was supposedly because the frequencies that Sprint’s CDMA network currently use are not licensed for use outside the US. Apparently, even the low-range personal proximity access of a FemToCell is considered large enough to need frequency licensing.
I do hope Dan is right and gets this product pushed through- it should be an interesting service, to say the least. And as a relatively happy Magic Jack customer currently, I’ll be happy to give it a go. Free iPhone and Nexus One service for the year? Yes, please…
So, the new year is here, and the first thing that popped into my head was: Holy cow, 2010 is supposed to be, like, the FUTURE.
I mean, according to TV and Movies, we should have flying cars and robot butlers by now.
Well, we may not have colonized the moon, or be able to fly to work and leave our kids with Rosie the Robot, but we DO have pocket-sized devices which can do just about anything our desktop computers can, keep us connected to the cloud, snap pictures, give us directions, play music and movies, track our kids and even, wouldn’t you know it, make phone calls.
That’s pretty darned cool, if you ask me.
Here’s to hoping the next 10 years bring even more personal technology innovation, and you can be rest assured that we’ll be here to blog about it… assuming of course that the robot uprising hasn’t gotten us first.
From all of us here at MoPocket.com, have a happy and healthy new year!
One of my sources actually had some hands on time with the “Nexus One” Android phone.
He said it was the smallest Android device he’s used yet, about on par with the original HTC Touch. Speed was snappy, UI was responsive, and onscreen keyboard’s autocorrect function a bit dismal. He noted that it was only getting EDGE type speeds on the network it was on, but that might have been an issue with the local where he used it.
He had more details, but could not share them just yet. More as he’s allowed to run his mouth…
Everything is amazing, but no one is happy. Wise words from a funny man.
If you spend any time on social networking sites or follow the latest in viral videos, you’ve probably seen this. Comedian Louis C.K. has proclaimed our generation to be “the crappiest” generation of all time to Conan O’Brian, because we fail to realize how good we have it. We’ve got instant communication, a wealth of knowledge at our fingertips, the ability to fly in the air and cure countless diseases… but if our flight across the country is delayed 20 minutes, people act like it is the worst day of their lives (a trip that previous generations had to do on foot over the span of many years!).
The bit is extremely funny, but also very thought provoking. How many times do we complain how terrible it is when something doesn’t work, without recognizing how complex and intricate some of these conveniences we take for granted are?
Ok, so perhaps he isn’t down on exactly how everything works… in one moment, he complains that people are impatient with their cell phones responding… “Will you just give it a moment?” he says, “its coming from SPACE!”.
Space? Really?
Hmmm… are we talking about satellite phones? Maybe GPS positioning? A SETI app for the iPhone?
Ok, I suppose that’s why Louis is a comedian and not working as a cellular network technician (although if network technicians got to be astronauts, I would TOTALLY sign up for that job!).
Still his point is a totally valid one… how dependent have we become on these technologies that it can ruin our day if/when it doesn’t work as expected? Oh noes, my cell phone doesn’t have reception in this building! What if I miss any tweets from my friends??
What did the previous generation do? Can you imagine they used to have to hope there was a payphone nearby somewhere? Yeah. Remember pay phones? Now picture the worst experience you’ve ever had on a cell phone. Was it really THAT bad?
If you haven’t seen the video, here’s click play below:
If you want to know more about Louis and this routine, check out his interview with Vanity Fair.
All those who are anticipating details regarding Palm’s new device, you won’t want to miss this!
A Sprint insider has answered some FAQs about the Palm Pre on a public blog found here.
I personally found the bit about USB Mass Storage mode a bit disappointing. Apparently, the Pre is capable of USB Mass Storage mode to drag and drop files from your computer, however when in this mode all calls are routed to voicemail. In other words, your phone won’t work as anything other than a USB-Stick when using it like a USB stick. That’s odd, because my Windows Mobile phone does this without any problem all the time- when in mass storage mode, the memory card is offered to the computer, but the rest of the phone works the same. Palm couldn’t get this working?
Confession: I’ve been following the Pre for some time, and am cautiously optimistic about the device. In January I wrote a very long write up of why (we’re talking three pages, way too long for here). Since then, most of my concerns have been answered except for the main ones – when will it get here, how much will it be, and will Sprint/Palm market it properly?
Well, it turns out that Sprint may not have to, as Apple is doing it for them.
As Precentral (http://www.precentral.net/att-vs-pre-internal-document-smackdown-oh-no-you-didnt) reported a week ago, Apple allegedly has an internal memo going about touting why the iPhone is so much better than the pre. For now, let’s set aside the significant amount of FUD in this thing (Example: The Pre has “limited free Wi-Fi Access”, but the iPhone has* the same thing, worded differently and singling out Starbucks), the real issue is the existence of the document in the first place.
While we’ve seen various Smartphones (and some non-smartphones like the Instinct) touted as “iPhone killers” by their carriers or the media, this document is pretty unique for being a side-by-side. Yes, Apple did send out notes to CSRs on how to downplay the Blackberry Storm (although it does a fine job by itself), but a side-by-side comparison like that? That’s something else entirely.
I’m not trying to say AT&T is running scared, far from it. However, that they’d feel the need to push this detailed a document is certainly interesting. Sure, it’s possible that were side-by-side slam sheets for the Storm, but how likely is it that the other documents would have been leaked and not that specific one?
We’ll keep watching the Pre situation as matters develop (anyone wanna
send me a review device?).
Fans of HTC’s Windows Mobile line of devices are no doubt aware of the performance issues created by switching to the new Qualcomm chipset instead of the tried-and-true Intel or TI chips of the older devices.
If you are not familiar with the problem, here it is in a nutshell: Qualcomm’s mobile MSM processors are capable of high performance video playback using hardware acceleration… but in real life situations, they sort of stink at it. Video players like TCPMP and DivX Mobile seem to have a hard time playing full screen, especially at VGA resolution, often dropping frames left and right to keep up.
The reason, as outlined in this blog post at mobile-enthusiast, is that in order to take advantage of full video acceleration, the standard methods (DirectDraw, GDI, etc) won’t do. Rather, you need to use the proprietary Qualcomm Qtv driver, which will take almost all of the gruntwork of decoding/displaying a video, and push it to the hardware accelerator, freeing up the CPU for other things.
Thankfully, HTC fans can rejoice knowing that some of the newer media players, such as CorePlayer 1.3, support Qtv output (in at least partial forms), which will give you roughly the equivalent of DVD-quality video encoded in DivX on your mobile screen.
Some would say that having your blog ads hacked is a sort of sincere flattery. After all, the blogs that no one reads never get hacked! Right?
OK, I’ll admit that I’ve got a Magic Jack running a phone line in my house right now.
So, the new year is here, and the first thing that popped into my head was: Holy cow, 2010 is supposed to be, like, the FUTURE.
Everything is amazing, but no one is happy. Wise words from a funny man.
Fans of HTC’s Windows Mobile line of devices are no doubt aware of the performance issues created by switching to the new Qualcomm chipset instead of the tried-and-true Intel or TI chips of the older devices.
