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HTC 2010 Roadmap Leaks? Is it real?

Chris Leckness — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 03:01:06 +0000

Is it real? Probably. HTC hasn’t been able to keep the lid on any of their phones for quite some time. About this time each year, it seems we get a roadmap for HTC, AT&T, and Verizon. Here is last year’s HTC 2009 Roadmap, did we see any real surprises?

Well, no real surprise here with 2010 around the corner, BGR has shared a roadmap discovered in the XDA Forums today.

WM 6.5 Devices:

Tera
Trophy
Photon

Android Devices:

Legend
Salsa (With QWERTY keyboard)
Bravo (NOT Passion and/or Dragon)
Tide
Buzz

Check out some of the specs and photos after the break…

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Contests, Site Design. iPhone Life, and Ink blots!

Chris Leckness — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:01:46 +0000

Lot’s has happened in these past 2 days while I’ve been under the weather. Lots…

We’ve been ramping up for our 7th anniversary with some great contests. Make sure to get your entry in soon, the deadlines are December 12th, 2009. So far, we’ve posted contests to win 10 different phones!

I am not too sure what all we have left to put out there, but maybe some cases, some iTunes gift cards, and memory cards. Who knows?

I also wanted to mention that I am working on a new site design on the fly. There is more to be done, but the core is in place now. The goal was to be able to help the reader find content based on their interests much easier. There are separate RSS feeds for main subjects we cover too now. The main feed is still in place and remains ad free though.

iPhone Life Magazine. I just got some copies of the magazine today and my 1st article for them is inside. Page 56 has my article featuring former/present Windows Mobile Developers that have gone iPhone. It’s a decent article. I wrote an article or two for PPC Mag before they converted into iPhone Life, but this is the 1st one for the iPhone. I plan to write more in the future.

Last but not least, I was honored (I think) with an Ink Blot award from Warner Crocker in the Fifth Annual Life on the Wicked Stage Ink Blot Awards. Warner has be down for, “Best Geek I Follow on Twitter Even Though I Don’t Agree with What He/She Says Award”.

Best Geek I Follow on Twitter Even Though I Don’t Agree with What He/She Says Award: Tie-Michael Gartenberg and Chris Leckness

Thanks Warner. I do say some silly stuff here and there.

Thanks again reader, Mobilitysite is doing well and we love having you all along for the ride.

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Droid, iPhone, or HD2… Which would I choose?

Chris Leckness — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:25:40 +0000

OK, I have had be fortunate enough to have spent the last week carrying all three devices around almost everywhere I’ve gone. I have been alternating what is carried in my pocket with the other 2 in my man purse. Yes, it’s that Pharos GPS man purse I’ve loved toting around for years.

So… If I had to choose between the 3 phones to be my daily driver for 6+ months minimum, which would it be? The answer might surprise you. Read on…

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Smartphone Denial: Mobile Security

Zealot — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:37:16 +0000

This is a great time to be a fan of mobile technology. We are able to do more with small, mobile devices then ever before. In fact, there are times when it seems like we barely even need notebook PCs anymore, let alone desktops. Want to surf the internet and catch up on your favorite blogs? The iPhone’s internet experience rivals most notebooks, and is better than many…or try the Droid or one of the new MIDs or Smartbooks. Need to finish up a document for work? Using the cloud you can log on from your netbook or Windows Mobile smartphone from anywhere, download the document, edit it, then save it back on the cloud. Need to deal with your inbox? Using your BlackBerry or Windows Mobile phone you can read, forward, save and reply to all the important emails you need to while watching the pretty Barista mix you up another Skinny Double Mocha Frappe and never even need to look for a power socket.

However, as our mobile devices gain all the advantages of our PCs, they often gain some of the liabilities as well. The more we do with our smartphones the more vulnerable they can become to viruses, malware and spyware…and the more we use them for confidential business or financial matters, the more attractive a target they become.

Up until now, most people have dismissed mobile viruses as being nonexistent, or at worse a nuisance. Just paranoia. After all, the only people who need to worry about viruses are those running Windows XP or Vista, and it’s their own fault right?

Recent events and the changing mobile landscape suggest that the state of grace smartphones have enjoyed may be coming to an end…quickly.

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Where is an iPhone NOT an iPhone? In Shanzhai.

Zealot — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:55:21 +0000

More and more mobile phone and device vendors have been turning their attentions to the enormous Chinese market over the last year….and with good reason. At the start of 2009 there were more than 650 million cell phone users in China. By 2020, that number is expected to grow to one billion or more, which will be larger than the combined markets of the US, Europe and Japan. That means there is a mindboggling amount of money to be made, or lost, selling phones to the Chinese for years to come

It is no surprise then that all the major players in telephony are trying to get larger stakes in the Chinese market as the global recession makes it harder to make money in Europe and the US. However, there are certain strange realities to selling electronics in the nation that actually manufactures the majority of the devices designed by US, European and Asian companies, and is understandably proud of their rising hi-tech expertise. It has caused such companies as Dell to resort to designing smartphones just for China and has even caused the iPhone juggernaut to hit a speedbump. Apple struggled for ages to get into the Chinese market only to have their golden goose lay an egg.

Why have only 5000 people in China bought the iPhone since it debuted there? Simple…it’s because so many people in China already owned “iPhones”, or versions they liked better.

Counterfeiting has become a serious issue in China, so serious it is posing a real threat to efforts by such companies as Apple and Dell to enter the Chinese market…and the problem is spreading through Asia.

Learn more after the jump.

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Bus Stop Convergence

Zealot — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:54:14 +0000

I have been staring at people on the bus a lot lately.

Well, staring more than usual, anyway. You see, I would say at least half of the people I share busses with have earphones on while they ride to or from work or school, and I can;t help myself. I am curious as to what the other end of those little cords are plugged into.

A few weeks ago right after debuting new iPods, Steve Jobs stated yet again that the stand alone MP3 player (or the stand alone ANYTHING really) was dead and would slowly disappear under pressure from converged, multi-purpose devices such as the (wait for the shocker…) iPhone, that it was soon to go the way of the Walkman and the pocket transistor radio, or worse….the 8-Track player (shudder).

Based on that statement from El Jobso, I decided to conduct my own aggressively and gleefully unscientific study of the question. After all, several months ago Julie laid down some very good reasons for keeping both a cell phone and an MP3 player, but are still they relevant? Have things already changed? Just what ARE all these people plugged into? Is the all-to-brief age of the MP3 player, seemingly just begun yesterday, as dead as disco?

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Attention iPhone users. I need your feedback!

Chris Leckness — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:58:07 +0000

Howdy folks, I am here with a rare request. I know that we have readers carrying all sorts of devices, so I am reaching out to our iPhone readers. By the way, off the subject, I added icons for the major smartphone operating systems in the header of the site to make finding news on a particular os easier. Anyhow, back to the request, I need iPhone users that once used Windows Mobile or PPC

So, if you fit this build, please contact me or leave a comment here. Here is the question for those users.

Why did you get the iPhone and leave Windows Mobile behind.

Please, let’s not turn this into a debate. Keep on point. If you would prefer, shoot me a message via our contact form or Chris@_______. Thanks. This info is for an article I am writing in coordination with a letter to Microsoft.

Why did I leave Windows Mobile behind?
I didn’t really. It’s just her and I haven’t gotten along lately and we’re taking a break. You know, “if you love someone, set them free. If they come back they’re yours; if they don’t they never were.” Yep, that’s what I am doing. I am dissatisfied with Microsoft’s speed in catching back up in the mobile space and finally decided to use a device I appreciate regardless of what others think about it. I just hope she comes back someday.

Thanks. Please, iPhone users, give me input. This story will run on here and iPhoneMVP.com.

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Contest – Win a Copy of Windows 7 Ultimate, Signature Edition

Chris Leckness — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 18:25:04 +0000

Hey guys/gals, I have in my possession, a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate, Signature Edition. This is a copy that I planned to give away at my Windows 7 launch party but it didn’t go down as planned. Instead of keeping it for myself (since I have been running it 4 months anyhow), I am going to give it away to a reader or Youtube watcher. Read on to find out how to win.

(...) Read the rest of Contest – Win a Copy of Windows 7 Ultimate, Signature Edition (172 words)

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HTC Tilt 2 Comparison Photo Gallery

Chris Leckness — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 05:20:16 +0000

I have got my hands on the HTC Tilt 2, you know the device I couldn’t wait to get here and now that it’s here, I don’t want it anymore. Yep, that one. I used the EU Touch Pro 2 for so long, that I am not that excited about the AT&T version. It looks and feels just like my TP2 except for the keyboard. AT&T seriously jacked this keyboard up. I know they’ve used the “number pad” style numbers on all their previous slide out qwerty phones, but after 4 months of having a dedicated number row, I don’t like AT&T method anymore. Anyway, here is a photo session I did this evening. Expect an unboxing and hardware tour this evening, then a software tour by Monday, and then a full review by Steven Borders in a couple weeks. Having used the TP2 for so long, I know Steven is going to love it.

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The Internet Archive’s BookServer Project

Zealot — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:36:47 +0000

A party was held in San Francisco last night that could be a preview of the way we will access Ebooks and research materials in the future. The Internet Archive, founded a decade or so ago by Brewster Kahle and dedicated to “universal access to all the world’s knowledge” showed off it’s new headquarters in a former church (how poetically fitting) at a get together for friends and industry insiders.

However, when you have quests like professional visionary Howard Rheingold, EFF stalwart and Grateful Dead lyricist John Perry Barlow, library studies theorist Eli Edwards, and Wired magazine founder Kevin Kelly over for drinks you don’t just play Twister and watch the World Series. Instead you demo a new way of organizing and distributing the sum of human knowledge…and serve canapés of course.

Read on after the jump to learn more about a story that sounds like it could be J.K. Rowling’s next best seller…Brewster Kahle and the Fount of Universal Knowledge.

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Libraries, Ebooks, and Love Stories

Zealot — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:57:09 +0000

International Ebook Month (don’t check your calendars, I made that up…but it feels right doesn’t it?) just keeps getting more and more interesting. A whole crop of hot new readers are just around the corner, the ongoing drama of Google Books vs. Just About Everybody is continuing, the expansion of the Kindle into some (but not all) international markets is at hand, more and more content is entering the Ebook market….I have been writing an awful lot about such topics lately. However, to go along with all of that, more and more people are writing and thinking about the dark, chewy good stuff that fills the Ebook cookie…formats and philosophy and the search for how to both evangelize and monetize Ebooks.

When many people, especially those of a certain age (such as myself) think of books, their minds will often turn to libraries, which now sadly seem to be in decline. In bygone days many of us had our first serious exposure to the pleasures of books and reading via our now underused local public library and considered getting our own library card an essential step into being a “big” boy or girl. Is that so different if the book is electronic rather than paper and pasteboard? Should it be? What role do libraries have in popularizing Ebooks and can Libraries use Ebooks to build public literacy? Can Ebooks “save” libraries from irrelevance in the age of the internet?

Good questions…but the answers thus far have been less than satisfying.

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Sidekicks and Fallout

Zealot — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:32:37 +0000

The firestorm that resulted from the recent loss of Sidekick data (and thus effectively the end of the grandfather of all smartphones) is finally settling down. In fact, after all the words written and internet screams uttered, T-Mobile and Microsoft are indicating now that possibly not ALL the data was lost. If this goes the way such things normally do, after the initial panic (@IT_SUPPORT “OMFG I SPILLED MT DEW IN THE SERVER??!!!HELP ME DUDES!!!!) has passed, cooler heads will prevail and data will slowly be recovered, forgotten backups will be discovered, until after a few weeks or months most if not all of the damage will be undone.

Of course, the changes to public perceptions and attitudes about the technology and players involved in this train wreck will last far longer than any inconvenience from lost data. Pundits for example are using this incident as support for their positions on all sides of the Cloud computing debate, both for and against, while others are using it as yet another stick to beat Microsoft and their mobile strategy (Windows Mobile and their Cloud solution, Microsoft Azure)…but how much of any of that is justified. How useful is the death of the Sidekick for understanding the current mobile “big picture” regarding Cloud computing and Microsoft?

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Is Windows Mobile’s Death Exaggerated? I bought an iPhone 3GS.

Chris Leckness — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 04:59:00 +0000

I have said this before and I will say it again, even before Windows Mobile 6.5 came out, Windows Mobile wasn’t dead. If anything, it was in hibernation. But seriously, the OS in itself isn’t dead, it’s just the expectations of what consumers want has been raised with the introduction of the iPhone and then Palm’s WebOS and Android following behind. My biggest complaint with Microsoft is the lack of frequent, easy to roll out updates in between the 1-2 year major release time periods. I understand fully why it’s not really possible, but still, it’s a problem. It’s this problem that has hindered consumer acceptance of Windows Mobile.

In this article, I want to share some info about me and my journey through the days of Pocket PC all the way to the Windows Mobile 6.5 release last week. I was kind of harsh on WinMo 6.5 and I want to put it into perspective on why I am so disappointed. I also want to share why I purchased an iPhone 3GS on the same day that Microsoft launched Windows Mobile 6.5. To do all this, I will have to share a long history of where I am and where I have been in all this.

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Windows MarketPlace for Mobile: Will you shop there?

Julie — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 04:23:07 +0000

After much anticipation and amidst much fanfare, Microsoft unveiled its Windows MarketPlace for Mobile devices last Tuesday. The Windows MarketPlace is now open for business for WM6.5 phones, with plans to make it accessible to WM6.0 and WM6.1 phones by the end of the year (NOTE: If you don’t want to wait, you can find a CAB file that can be installed to WM6.0 or WM6.1 phones at the XDA Developers forum).

Over the last year I’ve read numerous articles that discussed the Windows MarketPlace in regards to software developers, but I have not read any articles that discuss the MarketPlace in regards to end users like me! To get a better understanding of the MarketPlace from an end user perspective I spent several hours reviewing the “MarketPlace for Mobile Customer Service Agreement,” the “Windows MarketPlace Frequently Asked Questions for Customers” and the “Windows MarketPlace Frequently Asked Questions for Developers” documents that are located on Microsoft’s website.

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Deja Vu All Over Again: Motorola Making Microsoft’s Mistake

Zealot — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:32:44 +0000

I find it very ironic that Motorola, in completely scorning Windows Mobile and embracing Android with their dying breath as a handset maker, is doing the same thing to Android that Microsoft allowed to happen to WinMo. Namely they are ruining any chance for developers to make a single app for the OS, forcing them to make apps on a device by device basis, just as happened to Windows Mobile. Of course this is only one of the problems that Microsoft has had to deal with in their Mobile OS (even Steve Ballmer admits that)…but development chaos is certainly not the smallest.

In Motorola’s recent announcement concerning Ecosystem partners, they made clear that these third party software producers, such as QuickOffice and Quickplay Media aren’t making apps for Android, they are making apps for the Motorola Cliq and it’s MotoBlur environment…and that is a very bad thing for Android as an operating system.

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