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Details On Upcoming BlackBerry 9000 Series

December 2nd, 2007 by iDunzo

You can always count on BoyGenius for some juicy details on upcoming devices.

He has once again struck gold with some details on a new 9000 series from RIM that will sport an iPhone-like touchscreen.

Here are some of the technical specifications:

• 480 x 320 screen
• 1GB of built in memory (the 64mb was getting old)
• Intel XScale PXA270 processor at 624MHz
• 3G multiband HSPDA support
• 2 megapixel or maybe even a 3.2 megapixel camera
• GPS & WIFI in the Same device

Personally I hate the idea of a touchscreen and would mourn the loss of my trusty keyboard. I really dislike the two handed requirements of a touchscreen.

I do like the idea of 1GB of built in memory and High Speed Packet Data Access. I’m looking forward to at least giving it a test drive before I totally say no to the new BlackBerry.

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Microsoft Rumored To Release A Windows Mobile Update

November 29th, 2007 by iDunzo

Although there aren’t many details currently available, word on the street is that Microsoft has previewed an update to its smartphone operating system, Windows Mobile 6, to the lucky few attending the annual Mobius conference.

The first report I read came from Engadget this morning, stating that it’s an “update, not an upgrade” running on existing hardware.

Manufacturers will be able to get their hands on the new software in the first quarter of next year.

Here are some of Engadget’s preliminary impressions:

Very slick, and has a lot of features that just about any WinMo user will agree is way overdue. In other words, we’re expecting users will be stoked—no doubt about it.

The updated is not Windows Mobile 7, dubbed by Microsoft as “Photon,” which is also expected to be released next year and said to be powered by Windows Embedded CE 6.0.

Sorry folks, that’s all I know for now.

Details will surface in the near future, likely at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) taking place in Las Vegas in January.

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Google Adds Locator Feature To Mobile Maps Application

November 28th, 2007 by iDunzo

Google made a new beta version of its Mobile Maps application available to certain smartphones today.

The biggest improvement of the application comes with its My Location feature, which uses cell tower information and not on-board GPS to determine user location.

The new software will work with BlackBerrys, Nokia S60 Third Edition, and Windows Mobile smartphones and will help users find their location even if their devices don’t have GPS on board. (It will work with GPS-enabled devices, too.)

Notably, it won’t work on the Apple iPhone. HAHA!!

Basically, Google takes GPS information transmitted from other phones that do have GPS and corresponds that with nearby cell towers.

When your phone connects to a specific cell tower, Google uses this GPS info and relates it to your device. This means it won’t be nearly as accurate as GPS.

Google is touting accuracy in the 500 to 5,000 meter range (that’s up to 3 miles).

The denser the concentration of cell towers, the more accurate user results will be. This means it should work fairly well in cities, but not so well out in more rural areas.

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Unlocked Apple iPhones to be Sold in Germany for $1500

November 21st, 2007 by iDunzo

The court injunction awarded to Vodafone yesterday, barring T-Mobile from selling the iPhone only in a carrier locked state, has had swift effect.

T-Mobile announced today that it will sell the Apple iPhone unlocked and without a contract. The catch? €999, which is around $1,478.00 USD. Ouch!

This is breaking news, so I’m not sure what this actually means for the other cellphone carriers, and whether tech like Visual Voicemail will even work on their networks.

But to see the telcos fighting over the iPhone like a bunch of toddlers is both amusing and an interesting taste of the future, when all phones may be unlocked.

Source: Yahoo News Via Reuters

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Will Google Android Be Windows To Apple’s iPhone?

November 14th, 2007 by iDunzo

Everyone is complaining that Google’s Android looks an a lot like the iPhone.

Well, what if that is Google’s point? What if Google hopes to do to the iPhone what Microsoft did to Apple’s first user experience breakthrough, the Mac?

Here is the Google video again, just to remind you what Android looks like:

Let’s return to the to the Android, Windows analogy.

Think about it: Apple spent a lot of time building the Mac. They proved the concept of the GUI on the desktop, but Apple never captured the desktop.

Why? Because all Microsoft had to do was step in with a lower-cost alternative that ripped off Apple’s UI and did most, but certainly not all, of the things the Mac did.

Windows has never equaled the Mac in terms of aesthetics or usability, but it never had to. It just had to be good enough.

The other reason Windows beat the Mac in the 1980s was because it was, gasp, more open than the Mac.

While Windows is far from an open platform, it is more open than Mac and Microsoft has always courted developers. As a result, Windows is the global ecosystem of applications and developers.

Google is intentionally making Android more open than its closed rival, the iPhone. Google is courting lots of developers with lots of money. Doesn’t this all seem a little familiar?

Let’s push the analogy further.

What does Google Android promise? It promises easier-to-use mobile applications on a lot of cell phones.

Doesn’t that promise sound a lot like Microsoft’s promise with Windows? Easier-to-use PCs for the mainstream?

I am sure Google doesn’t want to be compared to Microsoft, but at first glance Android sure looks like a movie we’ve seen before.

What do you think? Do you think Google plans to use Android to give the Microsoft Windows treatment to the iPhone?

Posted in Apple + Google + Microsoft + Technology + Wireless | 2 Comments »

Google Android Puts The Screws To Nokia’s S60

November 13th, 2007 by iDunzo

I assume by now everyone has checked out the video demos of Google’s Android platform. If not, you can watch them here.

One thing I noticed about the slick user interface is that it marches right past Nokia’s S60’s usability. What can S60 do to prevent Google from eroding its market share?

In short, probably nothing. Any new mobile platform will steal users from each and every other platform that already exists on the market. But that sure shouldn’t stop Symbian and Nokia from trying.

Even the latest iteration of S60 doesn’t do some of the things we saw in the Android demo.

While Symbian and Nokia are probably hard at work developing touch-capable software and phones, Google has already done it, to a certain extent.

The demos highlight how applications can be used and tied together seamlessly to create a natural workflow.

Don’t get me wrong. S60 is a great platform, one of the best, in fact. Its strengths have led it to become the dominant smartphone platform in the world (78% share). But it is still somewhat clunky to use. It requires users to think like they are interacting with a computer.

If there’s one thing the iPhone seems to have taught the world is that mobile user interfaces don’t have to be painful to deal with.

While everyone else is going to be playing catch up for a while, Google will represent a serious challenge when Android finally becomes available.

Will it have the hardware cache, the integrated platform that Apple has with the iPhone and its other products? Or the global manufacturing and distribution empire that Nokia has?

Likely not but the interface sure does some cool things and as is evidenced by U.S. sales of the Apple iPhone, people are tired of difficult user interfaces.

So Nokia needs to make some snappy changes to S60. Though the Finnish giant is not known for quick updates to its core platform, in this case it has a lot more to lose than anyone else if it can’t play the UI game up to Apple and Google’s standards.

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