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Monthly Archives: February 2009
Got Talent?
Have you got talent? Are you passionate about your PDA and have the ability to communicate in a clear and concise fashion?
If you can answer yes to the above questions we would like to hear from you. We are looking for ‘good’ people to write news articles and reviews for PDA-247.
It doesn’t matter what devce you own. If it can be classed as a PDA / Smart mobile device we want to hear from you. If you visit every day and want to contribute and make yourself heard let us know by emailing shaun (at) mailstm.co.uk. There are some good perks to being involved.
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App Store Grows, but Apps Are Seldom Used
Yahoo has posted an article entitled App Store Grows, but Apps Are Seldom Used which is derived from a presentation by Pinch Media. It shows that many apps, strangely less so with free ones, are seldom used after the first few days of ownership. The origianl presentation is here.
“IPhone users have short attention spans. At least that’s the conclusion from data collected by Pinch Media, a company that helps developers track the use of their iPhone applications.
Pinch found that of the users who download free applications from the App Store, only 20 percent use the app the next day, and far fewer do as the days pass. For paid applications, the return rate is only slightly better: 30 percent of people use the application the day after they buy it. The drop-off rate for paid applications is about as steep as for free applications after the first day.
Generally, 1 percent of users who download an application turn into long-term users of it, Pinch found. Pinch has noticed some differences based on the kind of application. For example, sports applications get more use than others in the short term, while entertainment applications tend to keep users for longer than others.
Pinch has discovered, or at least confirmed, some other interesting usage trends as well. Developers have a far greater success rate once they rise to the top of the store, which Apple ranks based on popularity. Once applications hit the top 100, the number of daily new users increases by 2.3 times, Pinch said.
Also, free applications tend to get more use than those that cost. Users run free applications, on average, 6.6 times as often as paid applications, Pinch said…”
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Finding a fix for phone frustration
Finding a fix for phone frustration is a new article at BBCi which looks at processing power, the toughness of phones and signal issues- “First on the list of common annoyances are underpowered smartphones that take too long to perform tasks or crash when more than two applications are open.
One potential answer could be Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chipset which its makers claim is about 50% more powerful than those in current smartphones.
The first versions of the chipset run at 1Ghz and help to power hi-res graphics, new user interfaces, while running Windows Mobile.The Toshiba TG01 is the first handset to sport it.
Qualcomm is working on a version that runs at 1.5Ghz – which, it claims, will be broadly equivalent to the processors found in most netbooks.
Enrico Salvatori, vice president at Qualcomm, said the chipset’s ability to support applications is what makes “the mobile internet user experience compelling”.
“The Snapdragon is delivering high performance in terms of multimedia, video, high definition, encoding and decoding, and supporting of a camera”, he said…”
Pimlical has now been released
Pimlical has now been released, and should gain a big following rather quickly- “PIMLICAL has now just been released! This is a completely NEW calendar application written from scratch, that starts the process of freeing DateBk users from the Palm OS platform.
It is appearing now as a Windows Desktop calendar application, and because it can read and write the DateBk Tagged note field, and handles DateBk features like advances, floating events, icons, colors, fonts, integrated display of Tasks, etc. it will also function as the long-awaited “Datebk Desktop for windows”.
HOWEVER – because it is written to be a cross-platform application, it will soon appear for Mac’s and Linux desktops and later this year will also start rolling out as handheld versions for most all handhelds currently on the market. Blackberry, Android, Symbian and Windows Mobile are targeted platforms. iPhone may follow if Apple changes its policies on third party libraries such as Adobe Flash Player, Sun’s JVM, etc. The new Palm Pre is still a question mark as very little technical information is available on it at this time.
Information on Pimlical is available on the preview page.
There are some special offers, only available for a short time involving Pimlical:
Pimlical is normally $29.95 but until the end of February, 2009 will only be $19.95. After that there will be a higher introductory price of $24.95, but if you are interested in it, get your order in before the end of that month, as the price is expected to go up after that. And if you have a discount coupon (see below), it will be only $14.95 if ordered right away. If you have already ordered one of the upgrade packages below, you can now cash in the discount coupon for Pimlical on this web page.”
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DocsToGo on the iPhone!
DocsToGo has been demoed on the iPhone and should be with us all soon. Thanks to Jon for the tip, and more information is at The iPhone Blog.
“What’s that? iPhone news at MWC09? It’s true. I just got back from a meeting with DocsToGo and they showed off an early version of their app. So far Word document editing is a go, Spreadsheet editing is definitely in the plan but not quite up and running yet. They’re tossing in document viewing for both plus PDFs as well — which means you can have all of your documents in one spot.
Read on to find out how it all works, where the iPhone kinks are (since Apple limits what developers can do easily), and how we’re loving their implementation of (in-app) Cut and Paste!
Apple obviously won’t let DataViz go in and mess with their mail client, so email attachments are going to be pretty rough (read: non-starter). However, and here’s where things get mysterious, DataViz does plan on having a desktop client that will allow you to sync your documents over to the iPhone and back again and the DocsToGo app on the iPhone will be able to “get around the sandbox” of not being able to store files locally. How exactly will all this happen? DataViz will wink, but can’t say yet.
I did get a pretty good look at the Word doc editing and I have to say it’s pretty slick. There’s a single editing bar at the bottom which you can swipe left and right to get at all the various options. Full support for inline images, formatting, outlining, and more is all here. Also here, Cut and Paste done in a very clever way…”
Technology preview: Gears-enabled Opera Mobile 9.5
From Opera Labs- “We’re happy to announce our Opera Mobile 9.5 technology preview with support for Gears, a Google open source project that enables more powerful web applications. Besides this Opera Mobile 9.5 technology preview, Gears is currently available for Firefox 1.5+, IE 6.0+, Internet Explorer Mobile 4.01+, Safari 3.1.1, and Android.
The use cases for Gears differ somewhat between mobile and desktop devices. On mobile, Gears is perfect for creating a better user experience by allowing applications to cache data more efficiently, so you can cut down on bandwidth, and carry out processes discreetly in the background. On the desktop, Gears has ideal functionality for allowing your applications to function offline and synchronize data with the server when you get back online again. You can try this out for yourself with the various Gears samples available on Google Code.”
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BlackBerry Sales Up, iPhone Sales Down…
IDC has just painted a surprising picture of current smartphone sales. Research In Motion (RIM) increased it’s market share from 40.4% to 47.5% in one quarter (Q3 to Q4) in the US and during the same period, the iPhone dropped from 30.1% to 22.3%. These figures could mean a couple of things are happening; the figures may not be as accurate as they could be and this could apply to the previous quarter or if they are true, maybe the perceived high price of the iPhone is hindering sales in the current climate.
RIM has obviously been helped by the release of the Storm, Bold, and Curve 8900 while the iPhone remains the only model in the Apple range. For all of it’s greatness, it is battling against multiple devices from the other manufacturers. Let us not forget a certain new US President who gave RIM the best free advertising the world has ever seen…
Palm, Motorola and Samsung continued to decline, but HTC, Nokia and LG all posted increases in market share. I suspect the figures for Palm will change dramatically over the next 6 months- fingers crossed.
Something for the weekend…
The weekend is almost here so it is time to relax. Here are my recommendations if you have a few minutes to spare and want to distract yourself from the real world for a little while…
Myself and Tom Munch have been battling it out over Nintai for the past few weeks, and at this time we are just about even hovering around level 60. The constant BlackBerry Messenger messages give us more reason to try harder at this frustrating, yet ultimately enjoyable game. It is probably the best BlackBerry game released to date and at only $9.99 is a bargain!
“Nintaii is a brain twisting puzzle game of rolling blocks and switches. Be ready to roll your block over the course of this 100 level challenge. Just like most of the greatest puzzle games, Nintaii has a simple concept and yet proves to be very challenging, electrifying and attractive!
The Japanese kanji ‘nintai’ means patience, perseverance, or endurance
The objective of the game is to tumble a rectangular block through each stage and deposit it into the square hole at the end. Switches, road blocks and arrows are located in many levels. Switches are activated by having the block stand on it.”
If you own a Windows Mobile device with G-Sensor capability, Resco Bubbles is a title you should certainly try. It can be very frustrating, but then again it should be. One of those games that keeps you coming back for more. Palm OS and Windows Mobile users can take advantage.
“The gameplay is very simple! Control the steel ball by tilting the device and try to pop all the bubbles in the order from the lowest to the highest numbers. Try to do that as fast as possible and avoid all the dangerous bubbles. It’s that simple — or is it?
“Such a simple idea, such a clean and beautiful interface, so frighteningly addictive and frustrating! Resco Bubbles brings iPhone quality gaming to the Touch and it does so in style. All this with one ball and a few numbered bubbles- clever stuff!” — Shaun McGill | Founder PDA-247.”
As you may know, WordPop! is my favourite mobile game ever, but Triples is another great title from Smart Box Design. It is more relaxing than WordPop! and many people have gotten quite addicted to it once they understand the rules, myself included.
“Each player takes a turn strategically placing their pieces. You can go on the offensive or play it cool and draw your opponent into a trap. It’s packed with features for beginners and experts. FREE trial -Download this award-winning Palm game today.”
Symbian users need not feel left out because the legendary Chess Genius is now available for S60 3rd Edition. Few mobile chess games match it for strength, yet it is still good fun for beginner players looking to understand the art of the most popular game ever…
“ChessGenius is a powerful, compact and fast chess program, packed with features for beginners and experts. The authors chess programs have won ten world championships.”
Don’t forget that you can use discount code ‘snow’ to obtain a 20% discount on any of the above titles. Have a great weekend from PDA-247!
The Quest for iPhone Released
The Quest has been released for the iPhone by Redshift, a company that has long served the Palm and Windows Mobile communities- “Choose from five customizable races and an array of skills, attributes, weapons, armor and enchantments, then explore a huge non-linear realm of four different cities and a wilderness of mountains, caves, lakes and forests.
Play an absorbing card game, solve brain-teasing quests and clash with dangerous opponents in this turn- and skill-based role playing game.
You will have many choices, including some that may place you against the law, along your way to the dramatic end of your own choosing.
You will need all your gaming know-how to survive and discover your destiny!”
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Features of Spb Mobile Shell 3.0 Demo Video
Gavin has sent over a link to a video demonstration the new features in Spb Mobile Shell 3.0. Looks great. Courtesy of www.learnbemobile.com.
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Palm Pre Arrives on the UK Palm Site
The Palm Pre is now showing on the UK Palm site, which is a guarantee of a GSM version coming ‘fairly’ soon. This suggests that it should be available at some stage around the middle of the year, probably sooner… Thanks to Julie for the tip off.
“At Palm, we’ve always been passionate about creating extraordinary mobile products. It’s with this spirit of innovation that we bring you the new, groundbreaking Palm® webOS™ platform. It’s an unparalleled mobile experience unlike anything you’ve seen before.
Palm’s breakthrough new platform
Palm webOS is the world’s best web-connected platform that’s always thinking ahead to make your life easier.1 It brings your information together from the many places it resides—different websites, your computer, your phone—so you have what you need, without having to search for it.
And with Palm webOS, you can keep multiple applications open and move easily between them—email, maps, contacts, websites, and more. It thinks of your applications as “activity cards” that you can flip through, move, or throw off screen.1
Palm® Pre™ phone
The Palm® Pre™ is the first device on the Palm webOS platform. Slide out the keyboard for faster and easier texting. Close it up for music, websites, photos and videos in widescreen format. You get the best of both worlds in one beautifully designed phone.
Palm Pre. Thinking ahead is a beautiful thing.”
Revolutionize note taking with Tamoggemon LocaNote for S60 touch
Just received this from Tam. Man has always had the desire to create written proof of his existence: every (ancient) culture has left behind documents detailing their achievements. Cutting a long story short: writing is the most natural thing in the world…
The Director of Carrier Relations at Tamoggemon’s, states the following:
“Touch screen technology can tear down the border between users and their data – if it is applied correctly. At Tamoggemon’s, we have years of experience creating top-notch Palm OS applications. We know what makes a good app – and look forward to helping S60 touch users with our knowledge and experience! Touch screen is in our bloodstream…”
Tamoggemon LocaNote is the best, fastest and most efficient note taking application for S60 touch. It is designed to stay out of your way and let you focus on what really counts: your notes.
LocaNote Lite, which will be released on the 1st of April, will feature the full note taking engine, along with a variety of features like folder support, advanced filters and on-the-go printing, which allows customers to print their notes at any OBEX-capable photo booth or photo printer.
LocaNote Professional, which will be released at an unspecified time in the future, will offer location-aware note taking. Your data will finally become location-aware – with amazing results for your personal productivity!
Our long-term roadmap sees a variety of LocaNote-derived services along with a variety of other S60 touch applications. Stay tuned!
P.S. A video showing Tam Hanna’s keynote at the Symbian Foundation booth at the MWC will be made available shortly.
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Agendus for Palm OS version 13.03 has been released
Agendus for Palm OS version 13.03 has been released with the following changes. Great to see development continuing on the better Palm applications-
Today View: Corrected the inability to use the buttons within the Smart Agenda slot when it was in collapsed mode [PRE/PRO]
Task View: In View Options for this view, removed an unneeded ‘Apply All’ button which had no purpose
Task View: In View Options > Settings removed an empty space in the options list
Calendar Views: Corrected a repainting issue when marking Tasks complete if a Wallpaper image was being used
Month Views: Corrected the month headers appearing off-center in the Previous/Next mini-months on 320×480 devices when using Hi-Resolution fonts
Contact Views: Corrected the Only Contacts with Photos option becoming automatically enabled after upgrading from 13.01 to 13.02
Memo View: Resolved a stability problem when raising/lowering the Virtual Graffiti area when the memo list was grouped
Memo View: In View Options for this view, removed an unneeded ‘Show All’ button which had no purpose for Memos
Memo View: Removed the option to display Wallpaper in the Memo View, as it is no longer possible, given the new ability to Group Memos in version 13
Memo View: Addressed Grouping being lost when changing to another view, then returning to the Memo View
Memo View: Corrected Memo list position returning to the very top if in Grouping mode, then expanding a group in the lower portion of a long list of memos
Memo View: Addressed two lines of empty space appearing below memo list when in Grouping mode
Memo View: Corrected an issue when in Grouping mode (by Description) memos appearing in a group for which they didn’t belong
Corrected the Outline Font when a Wallpaper is being used not working correctly in some views
Addressed other List-type Views assuming some of the Memo View’s controls if accessing them immediately from the Memo View after applying Grouping
…and more.
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QOTD: Unreliable functions?
Over the past few years, I would say that GPS software has sometimes been hit and miss and not always as stable as it could be.
HP Voice Messenger Review (part two)
Supplied by Clove
Price: £378.35
Today I am going to look at the various aspects of the HP Voice Messenger which are the most important in creating a usable smartphone that can perform a variety of functions well.
Data Input / Navigation
I was surprised at how easy the Voice Messenger is to type on and navigate. The touch sensitive navigation wheel is off at first, but quickly feels ‘right’ and soon becomes a worthy tool to navigate the icon dominated Windows Mobile Standard system. The 20-key keyboard also works very well and I soon found myself banging out quick emails even though this is not a full QWERTY effort. All in all, the data input side has been put together very well indeed and works for quick emails and the standard PIM applications as it should.
Camera
This was a disappointment considering the specification. The shutter speed was extremely slow and I had difficulty grabbing a decent shot almost every time. The first two shots I took were fine, but I presume that was pure luck because everything else I took came out slightly blurred and not as detailed as they should have been. I will pass over the camera at this point and put it down as good for occasional snaps, but not much else.
Entertainment
Music quality is excellent and video playback also performed well. With no stuttering and smooth animation I was more than impressed with these aspects. It does seem as though most of the manufacturers have got their acts together when it comes to entertainment these days, and the Voice Messenger is the latest example in a long line to produce the entertainment goods. I would recommend using your own headphones if you can for improved music quality, but the 2.5mm headphone jack will mean some fiddling is required.
Connectivity / Internet
The communication set up is as good as you could hope for in a device this size. With 3G / HSDPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0 (no 2.1?) and assisted GPS you will be hard pressed to not enjoy the mobile browsing and email experience. Opera Browser is included which always works well on any device and a 30 day turn-by-turn GPS navigation trial is also available straight from the box. There are many GPS software options available for this platform so this has the potential to become your main GPS tool as well.
ActiveSync works extremely well and I was surprised at how smoothly it dealt with the always on synchronisation- no slow downs and the battery also held up well.
Battery
At 1260 mAh the battery is fairly hefty for WM Standard and after 2 days of standard usage I still had just over 40% battery left. I would guess that for most people, 3 days is easily achievable unless heavy Wi-Fi and video use are employed.
Memory / Performance
128MB of RAM and 256MB of ROM are ample for this OS and this makes for a device you can use in any way you like and not have to fiddle with memory settings every other day. The 529Mhz Qualcomm processor is also more than ample and this goes to make one of the fastest and snappiest smartphones I have used to date.
Screen
Smartphones live and die by their screens and the 2.4” transmissive TFT here fulfils its mission and is adequate for day to day use, in and out of doors.
Call Quality / Signal
My house is the perfect place to test the signal quality of any phone because the signal strength is not always good. On the Voice Messenger I had no problems at all gaining a 3G signal anywhere in the house, and I would put it up with the BlackBerry Bold for signal strength. Call quality is distinctly Windows Mobile with a slight processed tint to the sound, but the speakerphone performed well and thus it deserves the Voice Messenger title.
Conclusion
The HP Voice Messenger is at first glance a strange mixture of quality components squeezed into a form factor which hides the power within. Initially I was unimpressed with the form, but after a couple of days it became clear that HP has managed to put together an impressive communication centric smartphone which belies the ‘Voice’ Messenger moniker. Voice is good, messaging is better and the overall flexibility offered by this device is better still.
I like the Voice Messenger a lot and can see huge potential in this particular form factor, but competition is tough at the moment and the only negative is the price. It is not outrageous when you consider the specifications onboard, but it would sell like hot cakes if it were nearer to £300 than £400. Having said that, this is a likeable and extremely well made smartphone which is capable of advanced functionality at a pace few others can match.
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