Archive for category Smartphone
BibleTech08: Intros and mobile clients
Posted by palmsolo in Blog, Christian, Gadgets, Nokia, Pocket PC, s60, Smartphone, Windows Mobile on January 25, 2008
We started off with a general introduction and welcome by a Logos Software rep There are about 80 to 90 people at the event, by my rough count. It is nice to see that Laridian, Pocket eSword, and Olive Tree people are here with talks coming from them later. BTW, I took the photo with my N95, then Bluetoothed it to the N800 and pulled it into Wordpy.
Check out the full list of speakers for a summary of the topics that are planned for discussion over the next two days.
Technorati Tags: BibleTech08
I'm going to BibleTech:2008 next week
Posted by palmsolo in Christian, Smartphone on January 17, 2008
I just received an email from Laridian and learned about the BibleTech:2008 conference being held right here in the Seattle area so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to attend. My plan is to upgrade my WordPress blog software this weekend and tweak my site a bit more (update it) and then blog about the conference here on my personal blog. I also plan to make a post on my ZDNet blog because many of the sessions I plan to attend are mobile focused.
I am quite excited that such an event that fits so perfectly into my passions is right here in my backyard and can’t wait to tell you all about it.
palmsolo's still here and summary of mobile happenings
Posted by palmsolo in Blog, Gadgets, iPhone, Nokia, Personal, s60, Smartphone, Travel, Windows Mobile, wireless carriers on October 29, 2007
Wow, I have been quite remiss in posting updates to this personal blog of mine and for those who are still actually reading it I apologize. I have been very busy with my yard (the grass is now about an inch in length and looking good – Flickr photos coming soon), coaching soccer (we only lost 1 game all season so far), watching soccer (my 2 oldest play for great teams too), spending time with my family, and blogging for ZDNet. I’ll try to update this a bit more regularly, but will give you a summary update below:
BlackBerry device in the house: Yes, it is true. I was sent a review T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve and this was really the first BlackBerry I spent any significant amount of time with. I really enjoy using it and plan to pick one up for myself soon, maybe even with the excellent @Home UMA/WiFi service that can reduce my monthly minute usage. I am amazed by how many 3rd party applications work with the device and find it to be very consumer focused now with the camera and media player. I posted a review on ZDNet and have very little to say about any dislikes with the device. I even found that Laridian has a Bible for the BlackBerry so I am very satisfied with the device!
iPhone still here too: I do still have my iPhone and AT&T account, but am probably going to be ending my AT&T contract soon by paying the early termination fee. I don’t need to be shelling out $70/month for a bit faster data than I see on T-Mobile, especially given the fact that I probably won’t be traveling as much in the future with much of our salvage work stopping soon (a change in our strategic plan at work). I still have my iPhone with the 1.0.2 firmware and find it to be a very nice device, but do miss all the 3rd party stuff available for Windows Mobile and BlackBerry.
HTC Advantage being used on the Sounder: HTC is still letting me evaluate the HTC Advantage as I conduct some software reviews (SoftMaker Office Suite, etc) and I have been using it primarily via WiFi on the Sounder commuter trains to and from work. I still may pick one of these up for myself for Christmas, but we’ll see what comes down the pipe soon.
New T-Mobile Shadow: T-Mobile just announced the HTC Shadow last night and it looks like a wonderful Windows Mobile Smartphone. My wife took my Dash and really likes the Smartphone platform, but she may like the Shadow even better with its larger display and cool slide-up display that reveals the phone keypad. She hates the volume JOGR on the Dash and at only $150, the Shadow looks like a great deal.
What about Nokia and S60?: I keep falling back to the excellent Nokia N95 for high quality phone functionality and 3rd party apps, but have no plans for upgrading any time soon. I thought of the N95-8GB, but with the new SanDisk 8GB microSD cards I think that is a better option. The N95-3G version looks good, but only works with AT&T in the U.S. The N81 looked good, until I read some reviews that weren’t that positive. It will be tough to top the N95, but I do really look forward to what Nokia will bring in 2008 with the new touch UI.
Thoughts on the Palm Centro: I am just about done with my review of the Palm Centro and have to say I think this is the BEST Palm OS device I have seen in a few years. When a GSM version is released I will most likely be picking one up for my Palm OS device (currently I only have older Palm devices in house). It is sleak, full featured, and priced right at $99.
MacBook Pro now running Leopard: My 160GB MBP drive crashed on me a couple weeks ago and I lost about 2 months of photos. It was still under warranty and a new drive arrived on Friday, along with my copy of Leopard. I made a clean install of Leopard on the replacement drive and now will be regularly backing up my data using the new Time Machine feature. I have no plans to upgrade my laptop any time soon and with my mobile device collection I don’t plan to get a UMPC either right now (as much as I would love to have an OQO Model 02 or something like that).
Upcoming travel plans: I will be flying into Amsterdam in November for a few days and then will be hitting the streets of Vegas for CES in January for 3 days. I am almost to MVP Gold status and may even have a trip or two to Alaska and one to Miami before the end of the year.
Trading my Nokia E61i for an HTC TyTn
Posted by palmsolo in Pocket PC, Smartphone, Windows Mobile on July 23, 2007
I found a trade deal this weekend on Howard Forums and will be sending off my Nokia E61i for an HTC TyTn. I wanted a TyTN last year when I reviewed it, but it was going for over US$700 so I passed it by. I want it for a couple of reasons, 3G support in the U.S. and the ability to load it up with the excellent PocketBible application and various translations. I loved the E61i and as readers know the E61 is the device that knocked the Treo out of my hands. However, with other Nokia devices in my current collection I would rather gain these two other benefits right now.
How do I use the iPhone for sermon notes and Bible study
Posted by palmsolo in Apple, iPhone, Smartphone, Uncategorized on July 22, 2007
At this time, there is no dedicated ebook reader that works on the Apple iPhone, but I have found other ways to access the Bible and use it for my walk with Jesus. The first thing I did was load up iPocketBible, the audio Bible. I put the whole New Testament on there to start with and unfortunately you cannot put the written Word into Notes since Notes on the iPhone don’t sync like they do with regular iPods.
I do use the Notes application, though, to record sermon notes in church. Since you cannot sync Notes over to a PC, I then email the sermon notes to my Gmail account where I then add a Sermon Notes label and archive the notes for further study in the future.
I have also found a couple of iPhone-optimized Bibles using the iPhoneAppr.com and GetLeaflets iPhone application aggregators.
So now I can listen to the Bible, read the Bible, and takes notes on the iPhone. These may not be the “cleanest” solutions, but they work and the Word is now once again with me and my Apple.
Our Daily Bread devotionals are available for your mobile phone
Posted by palmsolo in Christian, Nokia, s60, Smartphone, Uncategorized on July 17, 2007
I was reading Darla Mack’s excellent site (she is a Nokia enthusiast) and stumbled upon her post about the availability of Our Daily Bread as a Java download. I used to read these monthly books all the time and think they are wonderful daily devotions. I followed the link she had posted to the July Our Daily Bread downloads and immediately put it on the Nokia N95 (about a 70kb installation file). It installed in a snap and then after launching you are taking to the reading for the day. You can go back and read any other days you missed as well. Another cool feature is the ability to send a text message to people of the Our Daily Bread daily devotional!
I now have OliveTree’s BibleReader program and Our Daily Bread loaded on the Nokia N95. Do you have any other S60 Christian references or books on your device?
iPhone coming soon to the U.S., but how can we use it for Bible study and ebook reading?
Posted by palmsolo in Apple, Gadgets, Smartphone on June 27, 2007
Well, we all know about the Apple iPhone coming out on Friday and the news, reviews, and Apple videos are pouring out all over the place. I have to admit that it does indeed look slick and the rate plans are actually reasonable, which makes sense since the iPhone is running the slower EDGE connection rather than AT&T’s 3G network.
I use my mobile devices for a lot of things and one reason I keep going back to using a Windows Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition type device is because of the excellent Laridian PocketBible application. It looks like the only way you will be able to access and read the Bible on the iPhone is through a Bible web site, which requires that you have a data connection and doesn’t allow for any note taking.
I also enjoy reading Mobipocket e-books and there is not going to be 3rd party application support like this on the iPhone. The iPhone has a very cool UI, but lacks a lot of other features found on existing Windows Mobile and S60 devices.
Home now, but getting ready to go on the road again
Posted by palmsolo in Nokia, s60, Smartphone on May 17, 2007
I am traveling like crazy again this year and actually achieved Alaska Airlines MVP already. Wow, it only took me just over 4 months to get that. Now to get to MVP Gold for even more perks when I travel 
I’ll be heading down to Texas on Sunday for a couple of days, come home for a day, and then head down to Cabo for the all-expense Party Lite trip my wife earned for both of us. Did I mention that my wife ROCKS?
I arrived home at 1:30 am this morning and opened my new E61i to charge it while I got some sleep. I am setting it up now with my custom ringtones and applications and am pleased with the purchase. PhoneSource USA sent it out to me in lightning speed and I will definitely keep these guys in mind for my next purchase.
Nokia E61i is at the house, I am not :(
Posted by palmsolo in Gadgets, Nokia, s60, Smartphone on May 14, 2007
WOW, I ordered a Nokia E61i from Phone-Source USA on Friday after selling my Nokia E61 on ebay (within 10 minutes of listing the auction) and it arrived today from China. That is amazing that it went through the FedEx system on Saturday and Sunday to arrive on Monday. Unfortunately, I am in San Diego until Thursday night so I can’t play with it at all.
I had the chance to use the Nokia E61i for a day in Spain and LOVED it so after looking at what was out there I decided it was worth the upgrade from the E61. As cool as the E90 is, I think the E61i fits my needs better and will stick with that for now.
T-Mobile data plan issues yet again, but Nokia seems to work
Posted by palmsolo in Nokia, Series 60, Smartphone, Windows Mobile, wireless carriers on May 11, 2007
I am getting a bit tired of T-Mobile and their data plan issues. I had the unlimited data plan for US$19.99 per month and then added the WiFi option for my trip to London in December, but they never came through with the WiFi part so I tried going back to the data only plan. They wouldn’t let me do that and said I had to pay the US$29.99 plan with the T-Mobile HotSpot access. Well, I don’t want the HotSpot access since I would rarely use it so I tried the US$5.99 T-Zones plan and that has worked for the last 4 months or so.
I just recently upgraded my T-Mobile Dash to Windows Mobile 6 and also just received a Vox to try out and now neither of them will connect with the T-Zones plan, even trying the proxy settings. It looks like my only alternative with T-Mobile is to go with their US$29.99 plan again. I would pay it in a heartbeat if they had 3G like EVERY other U.S. carrier, but they are still on EDGE and I don’t think consumers should have to pay US$30 per month for EDGE and WiFi that is not needed. Why can’t T-Mobile offer the US$20 plan again just for data? I think they better watch out or they may lose more customers with their extreme slowness in adopting 3G while still charging 3G data rates.
On a whim, I put my SIM back into the Nokia N95 I am testing and data seems to work fine with the S60 devices so T-Mobile must have some way of detecting what type of device a person is on and shutting down that pipe. So it looks like my choices are limited in devices if I stay with the T-Zones plan and T-Mobile. I guess that knocks the Vox out of contention for a new device and the Nokia E61i is looking more and more enticing to me now.
I am locked into T-Mobile for at least another year due to contract extensions or else I would most likely jump to Cingular where I could get 3G data for US$20/month. T-Zones may open up again on these Windows Mobile devices like it has before and if not it looks like I’ll be using S60 and not Windows Mobile for my wireless data access.
UPDATE: I gave in and added the full unlimited internet plan (with T-Mobile Hotspots) so I am not limited in what device I use and don’t have to worry about loss of connectivity again.
