Written by: Mike Temporale Thursday, September 11, 2008 10:15pm
Today Microsoft and RIM announced that they are working together to integrate Live Search into RIM’s popular BlackBerry devices. Research in Motion still has the dominate share of the mobile market, despite the success of Apple’s iPhone which comes pre-loaded with Google’s search functionality on the device. Google has already displayed it’s Android mobile OS with their search functionality built in. Once the OS is released, Google will have a small but significant corner of the mobile eco-system etched out. If Microsoft can leverage their existing Windows Mobile market share and add RIM’s BlackBerry share, they will have a solid lead in mobile search.
Live Search is already available for BlackBerry devices (in beta) and Windows Mobile devices. You can download it directly to your smartphone by visiting http://wls.live.com using your phones mobile browser. The BlackBerry version will be released before the end of the year and is expected to offer better integration with the OS and browser.
Written by: Mike Temporale Tuesday, September 9, 2008 8:30am
I recently made some server changes to one of my email accounts. Basically, the mail server changed from mail.ServerA.com to mail.ServerB.com. A completely new server name and new DNS entry, but everything else stayed the same. It’s the same email address, same account name, same password, etc… So it should have been a really simple change to make on my various email clients. I changed the server names on my desktop Outlook client without any problems. Simple / easy are not terms that I can use for the switch when it comes to Outlook Mobile.
The required DNS changes were made at approximately 2pm on Saturday. I went into the Send/Receive settings in Outlook Mobile for the account in question and changed the server names. Then I attempted to do a send/receive. Unfortunately, it just sat at the “Connecting…” prompt for a long time and eventually came back and said it was unable to communicate with the server and that I should check that I have an active data connection. Normally, I would just restart the phone and that would force Outlook Mobile to re-read the server settings and all would be good. As you may already know, that’s not currently an option for me. So I needed to find a way to have the device pick up the changes without killing Outlook Mobile or restarting the phone. [more...]
Written by: Mike Temporale Wednesday, September 3, 2008 10:00pm
Now that Samsung has made the Windows Mobile 6.1 ROM upgrade official for the BlackJack II, I should take a minute and remind everyone about the post I made a while back that helps you to unlock the carrier networks settings. This is a new feature that was added to Windows Mobile 6.1 by special request of the carriers who are looking for ways to reduce support calls from people that toy around with the network settings and don’t know what they are doing.
Of course, anyone with a unlocked BlackJack II that is looking to use the phone on a different network will need to unlock these settings and modify them to match the settings for their carriers network.
You can read the original post with full details on how to remove the lock over here. And to everyone that’s upgrading, enjoy the new ROM and while you’re flashing your device, why not take on the No Reboot Challenge. What better time then right after a fresh and clean install of the OS.
Written by: Mike Temporale Wednesday, September 3, 2008 8:00am
The No Reboot Challenge is growing in popularity! I would like to welcome Bambi from Windows Mobile Cool to the challenge. So we know have Chris Spera, Dieter Bohn, Bambi, myself, and all the readers from each site that have joined in which is simply amazing. I also want to thank Tariq from My Today Screen for posting about it on the site - I wonder what it’s going to take to get Tariq to join in on the challenge? And let’s not stop there, I would love to see others joining in as well.
Now down to the details; It’s been 15 days since I started this challenge (August 19th) and so far things have been smooth sailing. Cellular reception has been top notch, there’s been no weird missed calls, and no abnormal behaviour from any applications - aside from IE Mobile using 25MB. Thankfully it’s down to a reasonable 5.6MB. Windows Mobile has actually done very well at closing applications that are left open in memory. I regularly use the Task Manager to switch between applications and I have noticed that Windows Mobile will shutdown applications that haven’t been used in a while if it starts to get concerned about memory usage.
The phone was put into flight mode over the long weekend. My wife and I took the kids to the cottage and there’s no cell reception unless I put my feet into the lake and hold the phone just so. Instead of leaving the phone radio on and hunting for signal, I simply dropped it into flight mode and left it on the kitchen table. When we left the cottage I turned the radio back on and it picked up a signal pretty quickly and everything returned to normal. As a quick aside, when I did this a couple years back with a 2003 SE device, it didn’t come out of flight mode as easily. Something has changed over the years, and for the better too!
With everything running so smoothly, I think the only thing that could knock me off course is Samsung releasing Windows Mobile 6.1 for the BlackJack II. Oh, and lookie here - they just did. D’OH! Must resist…
Written by: Mike Temporale Tuesday, September 2, 2008 11:27pm
It has been brought to my attention that the Contact form on Mobile Jaw may not be working as expected - bummer. I tested that page out before I launched the site and I know it worked then. So something has changed since I set it up and I’m not really sure what it is. So until I have a chance to figure out what’s gone wrong, you’re just going to have to live without using that page. If you need to contact me you can always email me directly or reply to this post and I can contact you. Sorry if this has caused you any undue stress and I promise to have it repaired as soon as possible.
Written by: Mike Temporale Saturday, August 30, 2008 8:00am
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.
Written by: Mike Temporale Friday, August 29, 2008 9:30am
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!
Written by: Mike Temporale Tuesday, August 26, 2008 10:30am
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.
Written by: Mike Temporale Monday, August 25, 2008 10:15pm
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!
Written by: Mike Temporale Saturday, August 23, 2008 10:30pm
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!
The required DNS changes were made at approximately 2pm on Saturday. I went into the Send/Receive settings in Outlook Mobile for the account in question and changed the server names. Then I attempted to do a send/receive. Unfortunately, it just sat at the “Connecting…” prompt for a long time and eventually came back and said it was unable to communicate with the server and that I should check that I have an active data connection. Normally, I would just restart the phone and that would force Outlook Mobile to re-read the server settings and all would be good. As you may already know, 
Now that Samsung has made the Windows Mobile 6.1 ROM upgrade official for the 
Now down to the details; It’s been 15 days since I started this challenge (August 19th) and so far things have been smooth sailing. Cellular reception has been top notch, there’s been no weird missed calls, and no abnormal behaviour from any applications - aside from 
Windows Mobile has actually done very well at closing applications that are left open in memory. I regularly use the Task Manager to switch between applications and I have noticed that Windows Mobile will shutdown applications that haven’t been used in a while if it starts to get concerned about memory usage. 
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
Fellow Mobile Devices MVP, Bev Howard, has recently updated his mobile friendly hurricane info 
