Is this the next Android Phone?

  The boys at Engadget have just posted about this new Android-based phone.

The Agora (AU$299; US$192) and Agora Pro (AU$399; US$256) are available for pre-order as we speak, though neither one is scheduled to ship out until the end of January. As for specs, the Agora packs a 2.5-inch touchscreen (320 x 240), 3G networking, a backlit QWERTY keyboard, Bluetooth 2.0 and a microSD card slot; the Pro adds in GPS, 2-megapixel camera and WiFi. So, with unsubsidized prices this low, are you willing to take a chance?

I have never heard of this company before but it is apparently a well-known, reputable company.  If this really comes to market (sheesh!  I’m so jaded!) it will be a welcome addition.  Looks like a pretty darn good deal to me!

It’s actually nice to see that the next potential (there’s that untrusting side of me again!) Android phone could be in a Blackberry-esk design. At this price point though, it makes you wonder why the G1 from Google was so expensive!

Source: Engadget

Happy Birthday Windows!

Yes, 23 years ago Microsoft released Windows 1.0. I have to thanks Microsoft for reminding me that I’m that old. I can’t believe it. It’s like it was Yesterday the day when I started to use Windows.

My first impression of the Android

I had a chance to put my hands on the world’s first Android-powered handset - T-Mobile G1.

I must admit I had little expectations, as it is the first version of the product and I was always taught that when it comes to technology - version 1.0 never really works.

Though I didn’t have too much time to play around with it, I have to admit that it exceeded my expectations.

Here’s my thoughts about the first Android phone:

Sticking with some good ideas:

You don’t always need to invent the wheel to be successful, and indeed, the design of this phone combines few good elements that can be found in other handheld devices: trackball (BlackBerry anyone?), full sliding QWERTY keyboard (always better than those virtual ones), and the four classic hardware buttons: home, send, end, and back (combined with one additional ‘menu’ button).

Classy.

The OS tries to follow the touch experience that exists in all the new phones. It is designed in a finger friendly way and does a good job at it even though not always consistent.

The home screen is an interesting combination of a launcher (like iPhone’s shortcuts) with summary panels (like Windows Mobile’s informative today screen) - all, with the capabilities to define multiple pages.

It seems like Google learned from other’s experience: the iPhone misses some summary information in the home screen, and on the other hand - WinMo users always add launchers to their ‘today’ screen. Google combined the two and did it well.

Other than that, there are many things that reminded me of the iPhone: especially the way that the menus are scrolling using finger gestures. I can’t blame Google for doing so, as this is now becoming an industry standard. However, even though the screen technology is the same as the iPhone - the Android does not have the same smoothness. [Read more]

HTC Max 4G - My Dream device…

A new device was announced by HTC and it passed right under our noses… the HTC Max 4G, the first WiMax phone. Recently announced by HTC and it is expected to be released in late November… only … it will be in … Russia! under the Yota carrier.

This dream device sports 4G connectivity to a WiMax service that will provide blazingly fast data connection. It will also include the usual connections for all those aging GSM/GPRS/EDGE carriers out there… The screen is a beautiful WVGA 480 x 800 pixels, 3.8 inches diagonal that we all love from the HTC Touch HD, TouchFLO 3D, accelerometers for auto rotate, proximity for screen auto-turn off (which can heavily extend power management), 288Mb RAM, 256Mb ROM and a whopping 8Gb user available internal storage memory plus the corresponding extension slot for microSDHC.

[Read more]

Windows 7 TIP

Our fellow MVP Craig Pringle has published a video that I’m sure that all Tablet PC owners will love. It shows the TIP enhancements in Windows 7.

Windows 7 running in a Samsung Q1 - video

Here is a video published by TheDigitalLifeStyle.com showing W7 in a Samsung Q1P.

As you can see the endless HDD access practically has disappeared and everything moves a lot better in my opinion and comparing it to Vista.

Windows 7 is not better than Vista!?

That’s the message published recently in this article written by Randall C. Kennedy. I have to confess that I have not analyzed deeply his article but I’m sure that he has ran some benchmarks and tests to say what he said on that article. And I have to confess that at this point it just confuses me. Is he running the same W7 that I installed yesterday on my old 900 MHz Celeron M Samsung Q1? Because his results are far away from my experiences in the short period of time that I was using W7 on my machine Yesterday. It was a short time but enough for me to notice the difference in a machine that was used by me with Vista as my main machine for more than a Year.

[Read more]

Windows 7 installed in a Gigabyte U60

This (Sp) is the first installation reported of Windows 7 in a Gigabyte U60, a UMPC using a VIA 1.2 GHz processor! First impressions, compared with Windows Tablet PC Edition SP3 (1:05 minutes), Windows 7 boots faster, in around 1:00 minute! In overall, Windows 7 performance in that machine is similar to what the author has seen in Windows Tablet PC 2005 Edition SP3! Really good news!

Windows 7 installed in a Q1P

I’m installing Windows 7 in my old Q1 (Celeron M) UMPC. Unfortunately I had some problems with my external DVD drive and I could not finish this project this weekend but somebody else did. Digital Life Style is reporting to have Windows 7 installed in a Q1P and according to that news, Windows 7 works in that UMPC better than Vista!

Windows Mobile 6.5 - Coming in 2009!

Wow! This is great!

Few days ago, I’ve posted about Motorola’s head of mobile division accidentally slip of the tongue about Windows Mobile 6.5.

As we learned by now, those things are always an indication that something is truly happening.

And indeed, Steve Ballmer, at the Telstra Briefing 2008 in Australia, said the following:

With releases we’ll make this year - releases we’ll make with 6.5 next year, Windows Mobile 7, I think we have a pretty interesting roadmap.

No one can tell when, or how it will look like, I personally don’t expect amazing things; probably just improvements to the current OS, and few small innovations, but nothing revolutionary.

This is also a way to buy some time, as Windows Mobile 7 is delayed.

Microsoft RIM Takeover Rumors

Rumors rumors rumors. The mobile industry is just like a big happy soap opera.

After Windows Mobile 7 was rumored to be postponed, Windows Mobile 6.5 became the hot topic of the day.

And today I found an older post in SearchMobileComputing.com about possibilities that Microsoft will take advantage of RIM’s share taking a beating (dropped from $148 to around $50) and try to takeover BlackBerry maker.

The article includes few interesting pros and cons. Will Microsoft try to merge between the two platforms? Will enterprise prefer implementing a single platform instead of 2? Does it make sense for Microsoft to buy a company that makes hardware that doesn’t run Windows Mobile? And uses… Java?

Thinking about it, if it does happen eventually, I wonder what would be better for us… Running Windows Mobile on a Blackberry device or running Blackberry OS on an HTC device…

Think about it…

Motorola Spills the Beans on Windows Mobile 6.5

It’s no secret that Microsoft is working on Windows Mobile 7 now. It’s also been put out there by 3rd parties that Microsoft is “behind” on WM7. Last I checked, Microsoft (not one of their vendors) has never given the world a date for WM7 anyhow, so who cares.

Either way, Moto CEO, Sanjay Jha, let the cat out of the bag that there is possibly something between 6.1 and 7.0 on the way. Windows Mobile 6.5 Anyone?

“Windows Mobile 6 has not delivered the experience that I think Apple has been able to deliver, but as you look at the plan that Windows Mobile 7 and even 6.5, I think there are significant new added features which will help the platform.”

The story states that a Motorola handset sporting “Windows Mobile 6.5″ will be released in the second half of 2009. More as we get it on this. We know nothing about this OS, so it’ll be interesting to see what develops.

Of course, this is rumor and you shouldn’t get too excited, but we shall see.

Source : pcmag via Coolsmartphone via Mobius

Windows Mobile 6 Deadline is Today, Hurry!

If you are putting off upgrading to WM 6 on a phone that has it available, today may be your last chance to legally download the software an get yourself WM6.

For those of you that have the HTC S621, HTC S620, HTC P4350, HTC P3300 or the HTC Advantage and if by some chance you have NOT upgraded the ROM to WM6, if you want it you only have a few days left to get it.  According to a HTC Support Bulletin, October 31st is the last day to take advantage of the free upgrade to Windows Mobile 6. They have indicated that the upgrade link will be removed from HTC’s website at 12:00 pm (noon) GMT on October 31st.  If you haven’t upgraded yet, this may be the last chance you will have to get it otherwise you will be stuck with your current version.

What version do you have? To check it, go to Start > Settings > System tab > About.

White pages in your caller ID

Here is another application I found today for my Android Phone that I find a must have. It’s called Caller ID from White Page and here is a video that shows how it works.

The application can be downloaded free at Android Market Place.

My Android Fav Applications

Do you remember what I said a few days ago about needing to get use to the Android G1, well, I have been playing for around 3 days already with this phone and part of the problems that I had at the beginning have disappeared thanks -like I predicted- to applications developed for this new platform.

One of my first problems was that I was used to just to hold a key in my old phone to dial a number. In a T-Mobile G1, without installing anything to do this was virtually impossible.  But… installing an application from the Android Market Place called AnyCut you can create shortcuts to virtually anything, including a phone number. In this way all you have to do to dial a number is unlock the screen and click in the shortcut for that number.

Another of my favorite applications is ShopSavy. I went this weekend to an Outlet store where supposedly price are lower than in other stores. Found a portable speakers for iPod and decided to test ShopSavy. Scanned the barcode using the camera phone and guess what? The price in the store was $12.99 and ShopSavy found a few pages online selling it for $6.99! I tested it also on a PSP game and the program found the best price online and also using the GPS integrated in the phone it looked for best prices in local stores around my current location! So definitely ShopSavy is my new best friend.

Living in South Florida weather is something really important for me and more now that we still are in hurricane season. iMap has all I need, current weather conditions, detailed and extended weather forecasts and radar views . The radar animation feature is just amazing. It takes a few minutes to get it working when I’m on 3G but when I’m connected via WiFi it takes just a few seconds.

In a note apart, I got 3G connectivity at work, that’s 10 miles away from my house. At home I have 3G if I’m not inside of the house. When I went “hunting for 3G” like I said in my previous post, I was actually shopping around and every time I checked the 3G connectivity I was inside of a store and I was not getting any 3G signal. So it seems to me that in an area of 2 miles (probably less) around my house there is 3G connectivity but not strong enough when you are inside of a building. Using a program called iNetwork Test (Web Test in here) I tested the download speed and it was around 874 kbps, which is not bad according to what others with this phone are getting.