New HTC s740 Smartphone is Nice, But…

Earlier this week, HTC announced a new Smartphone called the s740. This new device is a non-touch screen version of the Diamond-like Touch Pro. Unlike most other devices these days, the s740 came as a complete surprise to many. The s740 sports a 528MHz processor from Qualcomm (could this be the fastest Smartphone we’ve seen to-date?), 256MB of ROM, 256 MB of RAM, Quad band GPRS, HSDPA/WCDMA , GPS, WiFi, and a 3.2 megapixel camera! Overall, the phone looks very nice with a standard 12 key layout on the face of the phone and a slide out QWERTY.  (Real world picture from NewMobile’s quick hands on impression and pictures taken at the IFA in Berlin. Product specifications are taken directly from the HTC web site.) 

However, if you’ve been using HTC Smartphones over the last couple years, the general design of this phone should be pretty familiar for you. It’s the exact design as the s710/720 Smartphones. Of course, this version has much better specifications and has some serious style. But underneath the same problems that lead me to hang-up on the s710 are still present in this new device. The whole “rotate-slide-wait” procedure every time you want to use the keyboard can get a little annoying - especially for those of us that do a lot of email from our devices. The keyboard design and layout leave a lot to be desired, in my opinion. I never did get use to the off center screen.

Instead of wasting their time with this device, I think HTC would have been much better off creating 2 other Diamond like devices. The first is a simple phone with the regular 12 key number pad. Just take this device, slice off the keyboard part and offer a super thin Smartphone. Heck, I would buy one of these just to drool at the thinness of the device! The other device would be more like the Excalibur / Cavalier devices that we saw years ago from HTC. Just rotate the screen 90 degrees and add a full BlackJack-like keyboard on the front. No silly sliders and no rotating.

Maybe I’m wrong, but you can’t argue with the increase in people using messenger style devices. Samsung, Motorola, and even RIM, all have devices that allow quick and easy access to the keyboard. I can’t imagine that all these companies are making these devices if there wasn’t a market for them. I want to see HTC return to the messenger field and make a device that I would be proud to carry.

Get the Latest Hurricane Info on your Mobile Device

Fellow Mobile Devices MVP, Bev Howard, has recently updated his mobile friendly hurricane info web site. There are updated links for tracking Gustav (and I’m sure he will add any upcoming storms as well) as well as the latest advisories, forecast’s and even satellite images. If you live or travel in the area of these storms, I would suggest you bookmark Bev’s page on your mobile device so you can be sure to keep up with the latest details on any current and upcoming tropical storms. I am fortunate enough to live outside of the area typically affected by hurricanes. It sounds like Fay dumped a lot of rain and some pretty high winds as it passed over Florida. Thankfully it wasn’t as destructive as others have been. It doesn’t sound like Gustav is going to be as nice. Best of luck to everyone affected and now you know how to stay informed on the go!

Update #2 on the No Reboot Challenge

First off, I want to welcome Dieter Bohn from WMExperts to the No Reboot Challenge. It’s great to see others giving it a go and seeing how long they can run without having to reboot. For me, it’s been 7 days and things are going very well. I did see some weirdness this morning when I awoke, I noticed that I didn’t have the standard SPAM in my inbox, so I figured there was something going on. When I attempted to do a sync it failed. I then attempted to pull up a couple web sites and they failed too. This is either a problem with the device or the carrier. Next step was to disable the data network and then reestablish a connection and the pages still failed to load. So, if felt to me like a carrier problem. I put the phone down and started my regular morning routine. When I picked up the phone 30 minutes later the internet was up and running again. So it doesn’t look like it was anything to do with my device. Just my carrier playing games with me. Isn’t that nice of them?

And for those keeping count; my first update was made to the original post. From now on I think I will just make a new post on the site. It makes it easier for everyone to follow along in their RSS clients.

Developers View on the No Reboot Challenge

Marc over at Ilium Software made a great post commenting on the “No Reboot Challenge” that I’ve been running. There are so many factors involved in doing this challenge that I can’t possibly rule them all out and create a truly controlled environment for this test.

Ultimately, it would be best if the OS protected us from unsafe and instable applications. But the truth is that we are dealing with a mobile OS and there just isn’t the resources to handle this correctly. Heck, the full blown desktop OS still doesn’t do an amazing job at this. Although, it’s getting better but there’s a long way to go.

And just to be clear, I didn’t mean to imply that all 3rd party applications are bad. In fact, the reason I selected a few apps to install is because I wanted to show that there are good developers and that you can find good products that won’t compromise the stability of your device. IMHO, Ilium is one of those companies that I know I can trust to build a solid app.

Head over the Ilium’s blog and read what Marc has to say. Be sure to come back and share your comments here with us!

How Rugged is Rugged?

People often ask me why they should consider rugged devices. To be honest, they aren’t for everyone and every job. They do have some significant benefits over regular consumer devices. Of course, the size alone can be the biggest disadvantage. Someday I’ll write an article and list out all the pro’s and con’s. For now, watch this YouTube video showing off what the guys at Intermec like to do with spare devices in their free time.

There’s another video here showing the newer and more popular CN3 model - I’m not sure what’s better, the bucket of water or the power sander. Don’t try any of these tests with your run of the mill HTC, Samsung, or Palm device!

Internet Explorer Mobile Is Using 24MB - WHY?

I was just posting an update to my progress in the “No Reboot Challenge” when I noticed something interesting; Internet Explorer Mobile is using almost 24MB on my device. What could be the reason for this? It’s not like the page I have open is huge or anything. In fact, it’s just the mobile home page of Twitter. Considering that the non-mobile version of the page is just 61,253 bytes, I can’t imagine the mobile version is somehow 22.9MB larger!

I wonder if this is some sort of error in reporting how memory is actually being used by IE Mobile, perhaps it should be 2.35MB? I’m pretty sure that it’s not showing the total downloaded via IE Mobile for that season. I might do a fair amount of Twitter, Netvibes, and Mobile Olympics coverage, but I can’t see it being 24MB in the last 24 or so hours since I hard reset the device.

At the Windows Mobile 6.1 announcement, Microsoft promised to release IE 6 on Windows Mobile 6.1.  If this is any indication of what we can expect, then I’m happy without seeing the functionality of IE 6 making its way to my device!

Anyone have any idea’s what might be the cause of this weird memory usage might be?

Clinton Fitch Reviews Spb Backup

“…the newest version of Spb Software House’s has to be considered one of the best already. Version 2.0 of Backup builds on an already solid foundation that was set in version 1.5 but layers on key functionality that allows you to backup and restore literally any aspect of your device. Some of the new features include synchronization of your backup files to your PC, the ability to intelligently determine if you are restoring data to a new device or to a device in which you have upgraded the ROM, a new user interface and ability to unpack a backup file on your PC makes this application solid choice for your backup needs.”

Clinton has recently posted a review of the new Spb  Backup 2.0. Backups are something everyone should be doing on a regular basis.  It doesn’t matter if it’s your mobile device or your desktop computer.  If it has anything valuable on it, you need to back it up.  The latest version from Spb allows you to sync the backup files with your desktop computer. It sounds like a great idea to help keep a running history from your device. Check out his full review here.

Taking the No Reboot Challenge with Windows Mobile

In my recent post about stability, I talked about Windows Mobile and how it is a stable platform. The source of all that instability is poorly written 3rd party applications. To help prove my point, I’m taking on the “No Reboot Challenge”. The idea is simple, no more reboots of my phone for any reason and let’s see how long I can go before it starts acting funny or crashing. Furthermore, I won’t be killing or stopping any process’s. I’ll leave that up to Windows Mobile and Microsoft to see if they truly know best when it comes to managing memory on the device. The only applications that I will close are ones that have an Exit option in the menu.

To get the ball started on the right foot, I’m going to hard reset my device so I can be sure that there’s nothing weird hanging around in there. I’m doing this on a Samsung BlackJack II with a near final build of Windows Mobile 6.1. From what I’ve been told, this is what will be shipped on upcoming BlackJack II’s from AT&T. If you’re following along and taking the challenge with me, it doesn’t really matter what version of Windows Mobile you have on your device. I just ask that it’s the production ROM and not something that’s been cooked up and downloaded from the internet. The changes added into those illegal ROMs could easily be a source of instability.

After hard resetting the device, I need to ActiveSync it with my laptop to get all my Contacts, calendar, etc.. synced to it. Also, there are a couple applications that I can’t do without. So I’ve installed the following: Ilium’s eWallet, Sling Media’s SlingPlayer Mobile, Modaco’s Smartphone GPS Utility, and Microsoft’s Live Search. I use these applications on an almost daily basis and can’t imagine being without those. I also need to add my the data settings for my network so I can actually use data on the device. The last thing to do is configure email on the device. I’ve added 2 email accounts and both are set to pull email from the last 3 days and will do that every 60 minutes.

That’s it - that’s all the changes / additions I’ve made to the default configuration of this device. From now on I won’t reboot the device or close programs. I’ll be making updates to this post on a regular basis over the coming weeks reporting on how things are going. The success of my mobility is in the hands of Microsoft.

UPDATE (August 20 @ 10:10pm) - Everything has been going very well so far.  I always forget how much there is to setup and configure on a freshly reset device.  I went to use my JawBone Bluetooth headset only to learn that it hasn’t been paired with the phone since it was reset.  Not a big deal, but it does make it a little hard to use. ;) I also noticed that my mobile favorites had not synced back to the device. If I recall, this is a bug with the Windows Mobile Device Center. Annoying, but again, not the end of the world.

I’ve included a screen shot of the task manager so you can see what applications are running on the device.  The items that are below the fold are Ilium’s Screen Capture tool and the Task Manager itself.

Examining the Stability Problems in Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile is a buggy and unstable mobile operating system that requires daily, or if you’re lucky, weekly reboots to keep it running smoothly. You should install a close button replacement tool that will actually force applications to close instead of just the smart minimize that Windows Mobile does by default because Microsoft can’t seem to figure out how to manage memory on a mobile device.

Those words are pretty strong and perhaps a little harsh. Do people actually believe that Microsoft’s mobile operating system is that bad in managing memory? I would like to think that it’s not true. Every day I deal with customers who are managing hundreds or thousands of Windows Mobile devices and on a regular basis people ask me how they can force a reboot of the device on a given schedule. Most people that ask for this are looking to force the reboot in the middle of the night, or every Tuesday / Thursday / Sunday, or some other schedule that they’ve come to believe will magically fix all of their problems.

The real question is: why do they need to do this? I don’t question that they might be having problems with stability. In fact, I’m certain that a reboot will help them out. Most feel that Windows Mobile can’t cut it and requires the reboot just to clean up leaks in memory and whatnot. Ultimately allowing them to run their applications without crashes and hangs that they were experiencing before the reboot.

Is scheduling a reboot for the device really the best approach? Perhaps trying to determine the source of the problem and correcting it would be a better. While I do get request about forcing a reboot, there are plenty of other customers that never reboot their devices and almost never run into problems. What’s the difference? Why are some able to run for days/weeks/months without ever having to reboot the device. While others can’t seem to make it a couple days without the need to reboot. Is it the device? Perhaps one hardware manufacturer has done a better job than another? Possible, but unlikely. From the talks I’ve had with customers, the reboot crowd are not all running one type or make of device. It doesn’t matter if the device is a rugged device from Motorola, Intermec, or Honeywell, or if it’s a consumer device from HTC, Samsung, or Motorola.

Could it be Microsoft? Read more

Keeping In Touch with the Olympics Thanks to SlingMobile

I know I’ve talked about it a couple of times around here, but I’m going to mention it again - I’m hooked on watching the Olympics. Unfortunately, today we had plans to take the kids to Canada’s Wonderland (the Canadian version of Disneyland). That means leaving early and missing out on watching the Men’s 100m race. The current Olympic record was still held by Canada’s Donovan Bailey from his race 12 years ago when he won Gold. This time, a Jamaican runner by the name Usain Bolt almost broke that record in the qualifying and he wasn’t even running full speed. So there was a huge chance that this record might fall and I wanted to watch that. The solution was easy - SlingMobile.

I was able to watch the moment live on my cell phone thanks to SlingBox. We stopped for gas and to grab some cash from the ATM machine shortly before the race was to begin and just across the street from our destination. Using SlingMobile I was able to tune into my TV back at home and watch the race live. As expected, Usain Bolt blasted down the track smashing Donovan’s previous Olympic record of 9.89 from the 1996 Olympics with a 9.68 run - AMAZING. It’s a really great feeling to know that I can be out spending time with the family and still keep track of what’s happening half way around the world. SlingMobile rocks!

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