Mobility Site » Diego Samuilov

Celio RedFly in Action

Diego Samuilov — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:36:00 +0000

A few days ago I commented about the Celio Redfly adding support for BlackBerrys. I came across that bit of information first while researching to purchase a Celio RedFly myself and then while I’ve been using it with my Windows phone. It certainly extends the usefulness of my HTC Touch HD, and it should do the same for you if you have a Blackberry. In this review I will tell you, my thoughts and experiences with this product.

While my review was using a Windows phone, the device features are the same when using a Blackberry phone except for some minor details I will explain later on.

For all of you who don’t know what the Celio RedFly is; let me tell you that it appears to be a Netbook, but the appearances are only on the outside… literally. It certainly does look like a Netbook, but it has no CPU nor storage… so then, shat is it? Simple: its most obvious features are that is acts like a terminal for your phone which means that it acts as a replacement keyboard that can be touch-typed on, a higher resolution screen even if your phone has less resolution than the RedFly, an interface for thumb-drives of any kind and a multimedia tool.

You may ask yourself why on earth would anyone want to have this type of device instead of a cool Netbook then??? Read after the break for the answer to this question and more…

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Celio Corp Redfly now Supports Blackberry

Diego Samuilov — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:58:00 +0000

Just as they promised a few months back, Celio Corp has released software that allows their RedFly to be used with Blackberry in addition to a few more Windows Mobile devices.

The RedFly is a device that extends smartphone functionality. It allows the use of smartphones with a larger resolution/larger sized screen and a larger physical keyboard. This brings all supported smartphones into a similar feature set and size than current Netbooks in the market while keeping its price point lower than most Netbooks. All this while leveraging your phone’s current data access, browser, email and almost all other supported features.

All devices shipped from now on will contain the “Blackberry aware” firmware in addition to the already present “Windows Mobile aware” firmware. Users that had already purchased the device can upgrade the firmware with the software download available for free from the Celio Corp website (click here). The new software installed in the smartphone has a more polished UI and better interface all around. Once the software is installed on the smartphone and it connects to the RedFly, it will push the firmware to the RedFly when it detects an older version simplifying the whole process. I upgraded my device today and it literally took no more than 3 minutes.

You can see the more than 60 different smartphones supported by following this link (click here). Smartphones supported are listed by carrier, manufacturer and OS.

Celio Corp is celebrating this launch by giving away 5 Celio RedFly C8N (their top of the line device) when you subscribe to their newsletter (click here)

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Celio RedFly to support BlackBerry by mid-October

Diego Samuilov — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 03:02:15 +0000

Celio Corp, the company that produces the RedFly device announced last week that their current products will support BlackBerry smartphones by simply installing a new “BlackBerry aware” firmware. All products shipped after launch will already support connection to BlackBerry smartphones.

Their product line is based on extending the functionality of smartphones by adding a laptop-type-device that provides a keyboard, large screen, and a 5 or 8 hour battery (depending on the device). The device has no processor nor storage, thus allowing a lower price point than Netbooks.

The company had already announced a few months back that they would add support for BlackBerry smartphones, but it was unknown when or how they would support it. They already had support for Windows Mobile phones.

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Barnes & Noble catching up to Amazon

Diego Samuilov — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 01:54:31 +0000

This bit of news went right by us back in March of this year. However, we can see the results of some hard work right now and can only imagine what is to come.

B&N has been rumored to be preparing its own standalone reader a la Kindle. Instead of waiting until they have the competing device ready, their strategy includes software for existing mobile devices that could give them an immediate market leading position. This is where the purchase of Fictionwise and their eReader software comes in handy…

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Skyfire Releases Version 1.0

Diego Samuilov — Wed, 27 May 2009 19:56:00 +0000

“There’s no way a mobile device will ever browse like a desktop” said a friend of mine not too long ago… Well, this has just changed today. Skyfire, a web browser for mobile devices has been out in the wild for quite some time in the the form of a beta, has just been released as a version 1.

This final release now supports Flash, Silverlight, Quicktime and full AJAX on multiple phone devices (not just Windows Mobile devices). Some of the latest updates to the beta versions that were out there are impressive even to this date, Skyfire, now supports multiple screen sizes, including WVGA, you can experience Windows Media streaming audio and many performance enhancements throughout the different options. I am very excited with what can now be done on a mobile browser. Most of these features were available in one browser or another, but not all packed into a single browser. Double tap to zoom in is more intuitive than it was before, and the rendering of the zoom in action is much more smoother than previous versions were. Iframes are now handled without a problem and they render seamlessly and AJAX works not only faster but better on pages that rely heavily on AJAX.

Take a look for youself, go over and give it a try. You can download the free full version here at http://get.skyfire.com

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HTC Touch HD – Fix for Device Not Vibrating

Diego Samuilov — Mon, 04 May 2009 16:34:00 +0000

I’ve been using an HTC Touch HD for a while now and I am really happy with it. I purchased it in a not-so-successful transaction (see details here), but after a rough start, the device itself was just excellent. The high resolution screen is bright, clear and gorgeous looking; the device’s performance is just great, I’ve only had two issues so far with it and one of them I already knew from before I purchased it. Here’s what I’ve found so far…

The first issue is at&t’s lack of support for all 3G bands and the HTC Touch HD’s lack of support of the 3G bands used in the US. I already knew this when I bought it, and sometimes it is a bit frustrating having to wait for some pages to download. But, hey, I knew I would be going back to Edge when I bought my HD. It’s a pain in the neck, but I was willing to drop 3G in exchange for everything else the device has to offer. I still do. I am not going to get into the argument of why a carrier chooses not to support one of the available bands or why a manufacturer will not release the same device on different continents… too many variables come to play, and frankly the manufacturer is still at the mercy of what the carriers want to release within that particular device. The more configuration options the manufacturer offers the carriers, the more likely the carrier will use and support a device with positive results. On the other hand, I think that the unlocked version that is sold on the market, should have included all 3G bands so that no matter where you try to use it, it will work as intended.

Finally the second issue that kept popping up every now and then was that after some heavy usage, I would have the vibrating feature stop working both when replacing the regular ringtone and when pressing some of the buttons, including the device’s hardware buttons for picking up, hanging up a call, home and the back/cancel/OK button. I must say this issue was starting to drive me crazy. Setting a phone to vibrate is such a basic feature.

Read on to see the solution for this.

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Expansys / MobilePlanet’s Lousy Customer Service

Diego Samuilov — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:31:26 +0000

Expansys-USA / MobilePlanet: You didn’t care about me as your client and delayed the shipment of my device for weeks. You not only broke a record in customer dissatisfaction but you blatantly lied and for that, you lost me as your client.

At the risk of sounding like an grouchy old man, I have to ask the following question: What is the problem with good customer service these days? Doesn’t anyone care about the money us customers spend anymore? I would assume that with the economic/financial downturn the world is in right now, companies would make an extra attempt not to annoy customers away with bad customer service!

Let me get into the details and you be the judge.

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HTC Max 4G – My Dream device…

Diego Samuilov — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 03:25:18 +0000

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.

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Anycom SCK-1 Solar Powered Hands Free Car Kit

Diego Samuilov — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 00:18:08 +0000

I just got a tool that may be of great use to most folks. This is a little device that works as a bluetooth hands free unit, but the interesting thing is that it self recharges, well; actiually it recharges with a little help from the sun. It comes with its own mini-solar panel and when you leave it in the sun, the device will charge itself. I got it from CompUSA for only $59.99.

When I saw it, I though it looked like a great idea for an in-car device. I installed it in a snap, it comes with a suction-cup plastic pocket (similar to the older devices that hold the toll transponder) (see third picture in this article). The windshield holder is made of clear plastic, but to avoid blocking the sunlight, it has a cutout large enough to let sunlight into the solar panel.

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WiFi in-flight on American Airlines – VOIP Update

Diego Samuilov — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:31:53 +0000

Less than a week ago, American Airlines announced that WiFi would be available in 15 of their flights (click here for the article). In their press release they announced how much the service called Gogo would cost and that VOIP services would be blocked. This way they could charge those huge fees for phone calls from their in-flight phones. Just like with all service blockages, they are just a hack away from being unblocked. We see the same cat-and-mouse game being played with the iPhone software updates and the unlocking of so many other smartphones.

The same game is now being played in the sky.

Here’s the abstract of the report where the tool is mentioned.

The workaround, called Phweet, allows users to call friends who are linked via Twitter. Andy Abramson from VoIP Watch says that he recently used Phweet to chat with a friend on an American Airlines flight, and that the conversation was so clear he could hear the flight attendant ordering people to get back to their seats in preparation for landing.

Phweet is a shortURL link to an external directory (for now, only Twitter, though others will be added later), that enables calls between two or more profiles without sharing any additional information between the parties. Using the application to make calls at 27,000 feet is a painless three-step process:

Go to the Phweet homepage and log on with your Twitter name and password.

Add the Twitter user name of person you want to connect with, along with a message telling them want to talk. A Twitter update and Phweet URL is sent.

When your friend clicks on the Phweet URL and accepts, your browser whistles and a Flash widget appears. Click on it to talk.

This is obviously not the last we have heard of this hack or the service… Aircell (the company behind Gogo) claims that the workaround to their blocks can be re-blocked but they also reported that it is up to the airline to enforce the no-call policy during flights.

Having said that, I doubt that a no-call policy can be enforced. For example; someone could activate the service, then the workaround and use their mobile device to talk from the bathroom… Not the same as a public phone booth; but you would not be seen talking into a device, therefore no one would notice whether you are circumventing their service or not.

What are your thoughts?

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WiFi now available in-flight on American Airlines

Diego Samuilov — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:34:58 +0000

Finally in-flight WiFi has arrived. For those of you like me who’d rather get some emails answered, do a little bit of browsing and VPN access during flight the time has arrived.

This morning American Airlines officially launched their broadband service on 15 nonstop transcontinental flights plus some of their New York-San Francisco, Los Angeles-Miami (all services with Boeing 767-200’s). This service will allow passengers to send e-mail, instant message, access corporate VPN and browse the web while flying. Although a bit pricey ($12.95 for 6 hours), you can now spend your time surfing from 36,000 feet. The system is called Gogo and is run by Aircell. The technology is provided by Aircell as well. You’ll be able to pay for the service when you first open your browser in flight.

A $1 billion market by 2012 is estimated to come into airlines with this kind of service. Delta Airlines is planning on using a similar service American is using. They have promised to outfit all their domestic fleet with WiFi by mid-2009. JetBlue is testing WiFi access on their San Francisco-New York flights. Alaska airlines is actively testing on some of their flights. Southwest Airlines is testing a system that was developed by Row 44 from California. It was just a matter of time, but the other major airlines will now be trying to catch up. Hopefully, they will all see that passengers are willing to use these services.

Currently there are only two different technologies being tried for WiFi in flight:

The Aircell system leverages the existing cell tower network, is more conventional and uses an air-to-ground service that connects to cell towers. The only problem with this technology is that bandwidth is probably going to be a bit flaky (at least with early versions) as the plane’s comm systems switches from tower, to tower, to tower while moving faster than any normal cell phone user would. No reference was made to the bandwidth available to the passengers.
The other technology uses satellite communications plus WiFi b (802.11b) access points. It can be implemented in planes, boats or any other vehicle that is expected to be far away from cell towers.

So, what does this mean for us Mobile Users? Well, for one it means we are now able to connect, no matter where we are. I am not sure that prices will come down, but at least if you are in urgent need to connect, you will soon be able to do it from all the major airlines.

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Review: ARKON’s Device Mounts and Holders

Diego Samuilov — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 03:18:28 +0000

I have been reviewing and testing a few of ARKON’s new holder and mount models for a few days now and here are my impressions about them. This set of mounts that I got for reviewing includes some of their brand new designs as well as some of their all-time best sellers.

All of ARKON’s products that I received for review are made of a sturdy black plastic and no matter how much beating they took, they did not bend, break or change color. The plastic is thick enough to stand use (and quite some abuse) and vibrations that any vehicle will put under normal driving situations. I have tested them under everyday life conditions (commute and daily driving) and I did a little bit of off-road "shake-up" tests. ARKON is the designer of the Dual-T mount pattern I was just referring to, which is used in all Magellan GPS units and other products from HP, Nokia, GlobalSat and ASUS. Products from other manufacturers can be used with either an adapter plate or a universal mount that has arms that can be pressed to hold any device. ARKON makes plenty of adapter plates to support most brands in the market, a few examples are the TomTom ONE, TomTom ONE XL and TomTom GO 520/720/920/530/730/930, Garmin Nuvi and Garmin Streetpilot series. Garmin uses normally a "ball" adapter where a sphere fits into a receiver and can look in any direction allowing it to move freely. ARKON also manufactures mounts and adapters for these devices as well where the ending of the mount has the "Garmin ball" connector instead of the "Dual-T" connector without the need of an adapter. The products I reviewed had either the "Dual-T" connector or the "Garmin ball" connector. These two types of connectors allow users to connect to all kinds of devices. Even though this set I got for testing was mainly for GPSs I was able to use them for any kind of device. I tried them for GPS units, smartphones, regular cell phones, touch-screen smartphones, PDAs, MP3 players, iPods, etc without any problems at all.

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Mobilizing Your Company? Be Prepared!

Diego Samuilov — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 15:07:07 +0000

When attempting to transition your place of work from not using mobile devices to using them you may be faced with some serious challenges. No matter how prepared you can be or how well laid out your project really is, you could find some opposing forces along the way. Change, specifically aimed at progress, is always something that might be feared by some people. Just be prepared to hold hands and guide through the process and get armed with a killer training program so that changes are well received.

Some of the opposing forces to mobility could be counted as concerns which might as well be perfectly reasonable, just have in mind that a good implementation will address all concerns with smart and appropriately budgeted solutions.

Some of these concerns include:

User Adoption
Total Cost of Ownership
Common IT Infrastructure
Network Concerns
Security

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How to Trigger the Use of Mobile Devices at Work

Diego Samuilov — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 19:24:18 +0000

We all agree that Mobile Devices are a great tool, there is no question about that. Regardless of your platform of preference, they all facilitate a multitude of tasks that used to require of us doing work at the office/home office. From email to remote access to administer a server, mobile tools are a great solution.

However; not every company has a mobility strategy, some will just purchase cell phones to some of their key employees and management, some only management, some have no strategy at all. If your company falls under any of these scenarios, here are some ideas to turn your company into a mobile device user:

If you see yourself in the first or second scenarios you will probably have an easier task convincing your management to turn into mobile devices. If not, you may have to do a little bit more work. In any case it is very likely that you will be successful.

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Is Your Company Thinking About Mobile Solutions?

Diego Samuilov — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:41:01 +0000

If it’s not, then it should. Let me explain why. Every company wants at least their executives to have work email access on-the-go. They may not have it already but if they don’t they are certainly craving for it. We live in a business world that is globally managed 24/7/365. A good and timely decision right now can save millions. Smart business requires companies to take a similar approach with other groups such as the sales force to what they do with their executives. Sales force team members could make that extra sale a day just by having access to the information needed whenever and wherever they need it.

Most companies don’t really have specific mobile needs as long as their people have mobile email access. That is why most companies out there have email capable devices that can be configured to their corporate email system. Some companies even have a mix of Treos with Palm OS, Blackberries, Windows Mobile Standard, Windows Mobile Professional, etc. This can turn out to be a mess to manage, deploy and maintain. Turning the seemingly simple idea of providing email access into a self-defeating process.

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