A Look at SBSH PhoneWeaver for Android Devices

Recently I reviewed PhoneWeaver 2.1 from SBSH for Windows Mobile based devices and I was blown away by how powerful and the application was. It had a significant impact on my daily usage of the device. By creating different profiles in PhoneWeaver I was able to forget all about setting the volume or turning on and off Bluetooth for my drives to and from work.

Today, SBSH has released PhoneWeaver for Android based devices. That’s great news for everyone that’s picked up a Nexus One, EVO, Legend, Galaxy S, or some other Android device. Now Android users can enjoy the power of PhoneWeaver too.

I’ve been using the final beta versions of PhoneWeaver for Android over the last couple weeks. The application is pretty much the same as the Windows Mobile version. The interface is between Windows Mobile and Android is a little different, but the overall concepts and functionality are pretty much the same. The android version doesn’t have as many settings to tinker around with, but it’s just the first release. I’m sure it will expand nicely over time.

Once you install PhoneWeaver you’ll notice a new icon in the notification tray on your device. If you pull down the notification window you’ll see PhoneWeaver along with the name of the current profile. Simply tap on this to open PhoneWeaver and manually select your profile or edit/create a new profile.

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iPhone 4 FaceTime on AT&T 3G Works Great

The iPhone 4 was officially released yesterday, and one of its highly touted new features is the front-facing camera and the inclusion of Apple FaceTime. The only serious drawback to the new FaceTime feature is that both parties must be connected to a WiFi network. Is this an Apple imposed limitation, or is this an AT&T limitation? Being a mobile technology junkie, I had to find out for myself if the AT&T network was capable of handling a high-quality FaceTime call.

Being the MacGyver of mobile computing that I am, here’s what I did to test it out. I took my Google Nexus One running Android 2.2 FroYo on the AT&T network and enabled the WiFi HotSpot feature as seen below:

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Apple’s iPhone 4 Hits the Streets

Did you notice anything different on the way to work this morning? If you live in the US and pass by the Apple store (or any retailer that’s selling the iPhone), you may have noticed a small lineup of people in front of the store waiting for their chance to own the latest Apple phone. Rich Brome – Editor in Chief at Phonescoop.com, had this to say about the extra long lines this time around:

Apple’s marketing engine has done a great job once again, at building up the anticipation and getting people to line up overnight to spend their hard earned money on a new phone. While the iPhone is still locked to AT&T’s network in the US, Apple is looking at selling it unlocked in Canada when it goes on sale next month. This means you can pick up an iPhone without having to sign a long term contract with a carrier. This is something Google attempted with their Nexus One phone when it launched. For the customer, the end result is a more expensive phone since the carrier isn’t subsidizing it with a 2 or 3 year contract. However the customer ends up with a phone that will work with any compatible network. Which is certainly an advantage if you don’t like signing long contracts or you travel on a regular basis.

Early reports from the lucky ones who received their device yesterday and early this morning are indicating that Apple may have some issues with the physical hardware. The first is a yellow tint on the new Retina Display. Sadly, this is a problem that has come up all to often with device manufacturers. The second issue is around the cellular reception of the iPhone. In case you’re not aware, the sides of the device are used as the various antennas required (Bluetooth, WiFi, and Cellular). Left-handed people are reporting that the signal drops when holding the phone along the bottom. There’s a chance that this is related to how the software displays the signal strength. If Apple’s lucky, that’s all it will be. If it’s a deeper design issue, it’s going to be costly for Apple to fix it. And finally, if you happen to drop your device, you’re not going to be happy. Check out this video by iFixYouri.com – and remember to get a good case and don’t drop it!

Sling Media Launches Android Version of SlingPlayer Mobile

Sling Media has finally released their SlingPlayer Mobile client for Android based devices. The mobile client is available in the Google Market for a price of $30. Initially, it will be available in Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, UK, and the US. And don’t forget, this is just the mobile client. You will still need the SlingBox (hardware) installed on your TV in order for this to work.

The timing couldn’t be better as many are looking to follow their favorite team in the World Cup. Ok, it could have been a little better if it was release at the start of the World Cup instead of a week or so in. For those interested, the full press release is available after the jump.

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The Acer Liquid E… The Saga Continues, General Bits

After using the Liquid E for a few days here are some things I have noticed:

As I mentioned before, the battery life is not good. I honestly can’t see getting through a full day of solid use. The issue of it getting hot when the processor is pushed even the slightest has not improved.

On the positive side, I quite like the screen. I personally find that screen size between 3.5” and 4” is optimal. The Liquid E at 3.5” is right in there. I also like WVGA resolution. It allows for a nice screen size but not too wide. I have small hands and wide phones are not comfortable for me. Unfortunately because of the design of the Liquid E, with so much space between the screen and the sides of the device, it is slightly uncomfortable for me. The colors are very vibrant and crisp. This is my first extended use of a capacitive screen and I have found some pros and cons. I think the pros win though. Scrolling is very easy to do on a capacitive screen. I seldom open anything by mistake like I do on my TP2. I do find it a bit difficult to hit the right spot if there are a number of things in a tight area on the screen, since small touches such as with a fingernail do not register, so when you use the soft pad of a fingertip it covers a bit too much area. I wonder if this may be just a learning curve though. Outside viewing seems to be not bad. I’m rather impressed actually. It’s far from perfect, but it is easily one of the best I’ve seen outdoors since the days of reflective screens when they were pointed right at the sun.

Pairing up to a Bluetooth headset was very easy, although I seem to have to go into settings and connect each time I turn it on. Using the same headset on my TP2, it connects automatically.

Volume through Bluetooth and phone calls on the phone itself seem quite good, as is the sound quality. However I cannot hear the ringtones, or alarms. Nor can I hear voice commands through Google Navigator.

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Unboxing the HTC Legend from Bell and Virgin Mobile

Virgin Mobile and it’s parent company Bell, have launched the HTC Legend with North American 3G frequencies. Until now, if you live in the US or Canada and wanted the Legend, your only choice was the European version but with that version you never get the nice 3G speeds. Now that Virgin and Bell have launched a North American version, you can enjoy the device and the super fast 3G network that goes along with it. It appears that the only difference between the Virgin Mobile Legend and Bell’s Legend is $50 of your hard earned cash. So with that, I picked up the Virgin Mobile edition today and shot this unboxing video. Take a look and let me know if you have any questions. A more detailed review of the Legend will be coming along soon!

The Acer Liquid E…. The Saga Continues with GPS, Navigation and Music

My thoughts on some Android/Liquid E capabilities:

GPS and Navigation
The choices of GPS applications for Android aren’t as wide as they are for Windows Mobile. Co-Pilot have a stand-alone app for about 30 bucks. I used it on Windows Mobile and it’s not bad for the money. Rogers have an application under development that should be out fairly soon, so I’m told. Funny enough it’s called Rogers Navigator. Rogers do offer Telnav for $10.00 a month. If I’m not mistaken this is an app developed by Nokia which Rogers is offering until they get their own in place.

I’ve been using Google Navigator, their latest version with voice commands. The standard Google Maps comes installed on the Liquid E. Just go to the apps store and download the latest version and you are good to go. The graphics are pretty cool with 3D views while you are on the move. When you get to your destination it goes to a snapshot of street view. It’s a free app, so it’s not very feature rich. Like I said, it’s free but you are using data to continually download maps.

The Liquid E seems to lock on to satellites without much issue. I have found that on a couple of occasions my location is off by a good 50 meters or more, running parallel to my road till I make a turn onto a perpendicular road and meet up with myself. I’m sure glad that doesn’t happen often.

If anyone has been wondering why they have underclocked the Snapdragon processor to 768MHz, I know the reason why. Well actually two reasons…..the 1350mAh battery sucks. I’m not even using the Liquid E as my primary device and I’m not getting through the day. Not good. Secondly, while using GPS or anything processor hungry it gets pretty warm. I can’t imagine what it would be like buzzing along in high gear.

The other secondary issue I have come across is volume. Right from the top I have to tell you that my hearing is not that great. Remember when mom used to say “Turn that music down or you’ll go deaf”. Well it turns out she was right. I think the problem I’m having hearing GPS commands may partly be the fault of the app, because I can hear things on YouTube easily. Oh, and I’m pretty certain the women giving the commands is Steven Hawking’s sister.

I can’t hear the phone ring either. I haven’t imported any ringtones, so I’m willing to bet I can overcome that issue with a louder ringtone.

MUSIC
I’m just going to take a quick look at music for now. I’ll likely come back to it again when I’ve finished fumbling around and found my way.

Rogers have service called URmusic. It is very simple to use. Hitting the link takes you right to the URmusic site where you can download music directly for a fee of $1.29 per song or albums for $9.99 and next month the fee shows up on you bill. I haven’t done this yet but I’m assuming I can copy any DRM free MP3s to the storage card. If anyone has any more real use info in this area please feel free to post it.

Next up I think I will probably cover some of the overall operational aspects of the device and Android itself. Wish me luck!

Welcome Our Newest Contributor; Dave Evans

I’ve known Dave for quite a while, from back when he was helping to organize the Ontario PocketPC User Group. I think he even came up with that catchy name!. I had to twist Dave’s arm pretty hard to get him to accept phones to review…

Anyway, we welcome Dave as our newest contributor and look forward to his reviews and thoughts.  Dave’s first post can be found here and another will go live in just a bit.

Next to the mic is Dave himself:

I began my journey down the handheld road with a Palm III. Not long after that the shiny new iPaq appeared. With all that colour, who could resist? It wasn’t long before Dale Coffing asked me to help him at Pocket PC Passion as a moderator and news editor. Myself and a few other enthusiasts started a users group in Toronto. This is where Darren Humphries and I first met, and later Mike and I met at one of the meetings. Darren started a site that was hugely popular back then called SmartMobileAssets and I joined him as a news editor. I have been a member at several other sites as well usually hiding behind the username “Paragon”. Somewhere in all that I was even an MS Mobile Devices MVP for a while.

Over the years I have used, and or, reviewed many, many, Windows Mobile devices, accessories and software. I now find myself in a position where I’m looking to try something new, which is why I was excited to give this latest review with the Android Acer Liquid E a go.

I remember many years ago making a statement on a site saying “One day we will be able to use our handheld device to take a picture and sent it off to someone asking which one should I get of these two, and get an immediate response” Everyone laughed at me. No one believed at that time that single device would have the capabilities to do all those things, and do them in real time. Who knew? And, who knows what tomorrow will bring? But it sure is fun getting there.

Dave Evans

HTC Legend Available from Bell and Virgin Mobile

Late last week Virgin Mobile was the first to announce availability of the HTC Legend to Canadians. Now Bell has added the Legend to their list of devices. Of course, that’s not much of a surprise, as Bell is the parent company of Virgin Mobile. What is odd is the price difference between the two related companies. Bell is offering the Legend at an off contract price of $399 while Virgin has a price of $349.

The Bell/Virgin version of the HTC Legend is the first version of the device that supports North American cellular networks. The Legend supports Quad-band GSM/GPRS/Edge on 850/900/1800/1900 and for HSPA it uses 850/1900 with speeds up to 2 Mbps for uploaded and 7.2 Mbps for download. It’s powered by Google’s Android v2.1 on a Qualcomm 7227 processor at 600MHz. The body on the Legend is cut from a solid piece of aluminum and includes other features like 3.2 inch AMOLED screen with 320×480 HVGA, 512MB ROM / 384MB RAM, 5 megapixel camera with flash, GPS, Bluetooth 2.1, WiFi 802.11 b/g, a 3.5 mm stereo audio jack, a 1300 mAh battery. All of this is cramped into a footprint of 112 x 56.3 x 11.5 mm (4.41 x 2.22 x 0.45 inches).

The Legend is feature packed and at a price to move! The full press release for Virgin Mobile can be found after the jump.

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First Look at the Acer Liquid E

Thanks go to Darren and Mike, and the good folks at Rogers for putting this phone in my hands for a few days to review it.

In place of doing a long review of this phone I’m going to do a few posts documenting not just the device, but what it is like to switch from Windows Mobile to Android. Hopefully this will be an interactive exchange, where I explain what I’m doing to make the change, and for those of you who actually know what you’re doing, you can point me in the right direction when you see me floundering. I have been a diehard Windows Mobile guy since the first iPaq hit the shelves a decade ago. My smartphone use has been pretty much entirely with Windows Mobile so this could be fun.

First off the specs on the Acer Liquid E are as follows:

• Android 2.1
• WVGA 3.5 Screen
• Snapdragon processor running at 768MHz
• 5 megapixels camera
• GSM/HSPA
• Wifi b/g
• A-GPS
• Bluetooth 2.0
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• Micro SD expansion
• Dimensions: H 115mm x W 64mm x D 12.75mm
• Weight: 135g

The styling of the Liquid E seems a bit old. The face has considerable space from the sides of the screen to the edge of the device which is uncommon on most cutting edge phones these days. Coming from a Touch Pro 2 which has a keyboard, the Liquid E feels rather light and slim though. It does have a bit of a plastic feel to it. All this combined with the specs point to the fact that it isn’t a high-end device. That’s ok, we don’t all drive Porsches either. Most of us find something in the middle that works for us, and our wallets. It’s no different for phones. If you are someone looking to get into a Smartphone, you keep your phones for quite awhile, and don’t want to lay out a pile of cash, the Liquid E could very well be what you are looking for. For 50 bucks you’re in the game…..well in the game. Rogers have it on for $49.99 on a 3 year contract or $424.99 with no contract. Not Bad!

I’ll get a bit more in depth with the Liquid E in the next few days and learn what it is capable of, as well as what it is like to switch to the Android platform. Next up, I think, will be GPS. Coming soon.

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