PDAs & Handhelds

More palmOne Life Drive pics?

March 30, 2005

They’re pretty freaking grainy, but a couple of new pics have turned up of what is supposed to be palmOne’s new Life Drive handheld. There are few notable differences between the Palm in these pictures and the mock-up we had posted up yesterday, like the directional pad is oval-shaped, the buttons have different labels on them, and you can just make out the words “Tungsten” at the top and “palmOne” at the bottom (the pic from yesterday only said “palmOne” at the top). Click to see one more pic.

Posted in PDAs & Handhelds

Palm's Z22 Gets Back to Organizer Basics

December 30, 2005

The Z22 organizer gets back to Palm’s roots when it decided that designing one device (a hand-held electronic organizer) to do a few select things would make everyone forget paper organizers, note pads or small pieces of paper scattered all over the place.� I started what seems ages ago with the original black & white Palm Pilot and then moved up to the V and Vx and then the Treo 600 (which added cell phone capability).� As the products moved from generation to generation, features (and complexity) kept getting added.

Now, the Z22 is designed specifically for people who haven’t seen what a handheld organizer can do (are there still people in the world like that?) and who believe that simple is better.

Infinitely faster and better feeling than its Palm Pilot ancestor (the Z22’s color screen is great!), the Z22 makes everything super simple; a touch of a button or tapping the built-in stylus on the screen brings up your appointments, contacts, tasks and memos.� You can also access the note pad, expense tracker, calculator and world clock functions quickly an easily.�

The note pad function is particularly cool – for super fast memo taking it captures your handwriting on the screen as a new item.� The Z22 can also store photos in its 32MB memory.

Posted in PDAs & Handhelds

Windows Blackberry device

January 3, 2006

A new PDA product from Symbol Technologies called the MC70 (MC-70?) is launching that is a "ruggedized" Blackberry-like device running Microsoft's Windows Mobile 5.0. Symbol told me, "This is going to be your 'extreme Blackberry' which targets workers that need a device that won't break. It can go into puddles, you can run over the unit with a Humvee, can get trampled on. It targets nurses, UPS drivers, retail salesforce, anyone in transportation & logistics.

Posted in Gadgets, PDAs & Handhelds, Wireless

Symbol MC9094 & MC9097 takes on Blackberry

January 3, 2006

BREAKING! Symbol has two new ruggedized mobile devices coming out called the MC9094 and the MC9097, running Windows Mobile 5.0 with cellular/mobile phone access, a touch-screen, and a full-sized keyboard + dialpad that aims to dethrone the Blackberry. (Update: See my updated thoughts on the MC9097/MC9094 analogy with the Blackberry below) The difference between the two mobile devices is that the MC9094 supports the GSM cellular standard and the MC9097 supports OFDM and the IDEN two-way paging cellular standard created by Motorola. Both devices will support SMS and Bluetooth.

Posted in Gadgets, Microsoft, Mobile Phones, PDAs & Handhelds, Wireless

Motorola Residential Seamless Mobility Gateway (RSG) enables VoIP-to-mobile roaming

January 3, 2006

Motorola, claims that it "broke down the barrier between traditional home and wireless phone service." They are speaking of their new innovative Motorola Residential Seamless Mobility Gateway (RSG) lets consumers use the same mobile device -- and the same number -- as they roam in and out of their homes. The real takeway from this announcement is that this product takes WiFi-to-cellular handover control out of the hands of the carrier and into the hands of the consumer. TMCnet writer Robert Liu has some interesting insights on this news as well. One tidbit is he writes, "The announcement could breathe new life to dual-mode handsets market, which has been greatly hampered by the control that cellular network operators have exerted over the handover exchange process."

Here's the release Motorola put out today.

Creating an Innovative Home Communications Experience

The Motorola RSG family of products packs powerful communication features for your home.

Posted in Mobile Phones, PDAs & Handhelds, Wireless

Apple Mobile Me iPod phone

January 13, 2006

According to Yahoo/Reuters, Apple is developing the oft-rumored iPod mobile phone with a recent trademark of the phrase "Mobile Me". Hey, if they are going to marry an MP3 player with a mobile phone, they may as well marry VoIP too, right? I wonder if Apple's Mobile Me will run Skype? That'd be cool.

And speaking of marrying, just came across a CNet article saying two people got married using VoIP and two webcams.

Posted in Gadgets, MP3 Players & Digital Audio, Mobile Phones, PDAs & Handhelds, Skype, VoIP

Palm T/X Is Cool

January 19, 2006

I've always been a big fan of Palm's products, and the T/X is everything a handheld organizer (remember those buzzwords?) was meant to be. Big and black, it's a sleek looking unit with a beautiful TFT screen (320x480) that almost fills its entire size! Fast too!

The T/X has got everything you need in a handheld -- except the phone: calendar, contacts, tasks, memos, DataViz Documents To Go Pro for Word, Excel and PowerPoint compatibility, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support, VersaMail email, SMS, web browser, Pocket Tunes for MP3 playback, Media for photos and videos and even Solitaire!

Posted in PDAs & Handhelds

Microsoft killed the Blackberry Star

February 13, 2006

First there was IBM's OS/2 and then came Microsoft Windows 95/98 and OS/2 was no more. In the battle for the most used wordprocessor, Wordperfect put up a valiant fight but alas, Microsoft Office took over - same with Lotus 123 which was soon replaced with Microsoft Excel as the most popular spreadsheet program. Then came Netscape and Microsoft countered with Internet Explorer and then Netscape was no more (or at least not the same as it once was). Then came Real, a really cool streaming application with a "free" lite version and a "paid" Realplayer Plus version and Microsoft responded with Windows Media Player, a completely "free" version.

Posted in Microsoft, Mobile Phones, PDAs & Handhelds, Wireless

Microsoft and Skype announce new software for Windows mobile phones

February 14, 2006

Both Microsoft and Skype made announcments at 3GSM demonstrating their commitment to Windows mobile phone devices. First, Microsoft Office Communicator now has a mobile version that extends the reach of Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005's real-time collaboration features to Windows Mobile-based devices. This is a smart move by Microsoft and could help them achieve more market penetration of the Live Communicator client, which has been very slow in my opinion, especially when compared to Skype.

The reason? Well, Live Communications Server is certainly more business-focused than Skype, which has a consumer-focus, giving Skype a distinct advantage.

Posted in Microsoft, Mobile Phones, PDAs & Handhelds, Skype, VoIP

Palm Celebrates 10th Anniversary As Gadget Innovator

March 27, 2006

Hard to believe that Palm is 10 years old this year! The PCs and Macs were established as household objects, when the world was next introduced to Palm’s mobile and handheld technology in 1996.

From the company’s first product, the Palm Pilot handheld, to today’s Treo 650 and 700, the mobile manufacturer’s products have changed society’s ability to communicate and access knowledge.

According to the company, more than 34 million devices including 3 million smartphones have been sold since 1996.

Anybody remember US Robotics?

Posted in PDAs & Handhelds

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