Where Are All the Flipping Smartphones?

When you look around at the type of mobile phone that the average person is using you’ll notice that the majority of phones are flip based. I’m talking about the average person like your mother, Aunt, Cousin, Grandparents, etc… Not the techno-geeks or early adapters. Just the average Joe and their phone. They’re typically cheap flip based devices that offer nothing more than the ability to make phone calls and send some text messages.

So what am I getting at? Well, there is a demand for the flip form factor. There’s no question that there are a number of dumb flip phones on the market today. But where are all the smart ones? RIM recently announced a new BlackBerry device to their line-up, the BlackBerry Pearl Flip. None of the other smartphone manufacturers have a flip phone in their product lineup. HTC did have that SmartFlip device, which was a pretty nice first attempt at making a flip phone. Especially if you had the Cingular version with more memory and a larger battery. Before that, we had Motorola, who made 2 different flip based smartphones – the MPX 200 and 220. While the 220 was plagued with problems, both devices where extremely popular for their time. That’s it for the Windows Mobile camp. Sony Ericsson had that P990 Symbian based device a number of years back. However, that wasn’t really a flip phone. It was more a PDA with a protector that covered the keyboard. And Nokia has the Communicator device, but that’s not a flip phone, it’s more of a clamshell. You can still make and answer calls without flipping the phone open. You only need open the phone to use the keyboard. Aside from the Communicator, Nokia does have a Series 60 flip phone – the N76. However, the N76 is already 2 years old.

It certainly looks like all the major manufacturers are ignoring this market segment, except for RIM. I don’t understand why these companies are avoiding such a popular form-factor. There’s no doubt that people like the flip design, so why not offer more smartphone devices with it? I can understand that there is some concern because of the hinge and the risk of that breaking, but I think the majority of manufacturers have been able to make solid hinges that don’t easily break.

The only other concern that I can think of is that the form factor doesn’t allow for easy text entry. Most standard flip phones are using T9 with the standard 12 key layout. Smartphone users tend to want a full QWERTY layout. While this could be hard with the traditional flip phone, I can’t imagine it being a show stopper. I actually prefer the landscape screen found on most messenger style devices over the portrait screen found on the typical flip phone. Combine the full QWERTY with the landscape screen and you’ll have a wider flip phone than most. Nothing’s wrong with that. The option is to use the portrait screen with a SureType-like keyboard. This would provide the traditional flip form factor.

I can’t imagine any other reasons on why this design hasn’t happened yet. I’m growing sick of the traditional smartphone designs. It’s time for a change, let’s see if any manufacturer is willing to step up to the table.

Custom In-Car Mounting System from ProClip Reviewed

I don’t think I need to sit here and tell any of you that driving and using your electronic devices is a bad idea. Your attention should be focused on the road and the other cars around you on the road. Trying to dig your phone out of your pocket, or trying to hold it and the steering wheel at the same time, is just asking for problems.

There are plenty of universal mounts available for your car. Most of them try to accommodate every device style and shape plus every cars unique dashboard. I’ve tried a number of these, but in the end it’s just another waste of $9.99 or whatever they’re charging for that crap. On a recommendation from a couple friends, I have recently outfitted my car with the ProClip system. ProClip has an interesting approach - they separate the device mount from the car mount. The ProClip web site has a simple wizard that will walk you through the process. First you select a manufacturer and device type to get the holder that works for your device. Then you need to select the make and model of your car to find a dash mount that is specifically designed for that car. The two parts then connect together providing the best possible fit for your unique device car combination. The two parts can connect directly to each other, or you can insert ProClip’s “Move Clip” between them. The Move Clip is simply 2 pieces of plastic, one half is cut with a v-shaped groove, and the other half has a matching v-shaped protrusion. By attaching one half to the dash mount, and the other half to the device holder, you can easily slide the two together and quickly remove or swap the device holder.

All said and done, it really didn’t take long to install. I spent more time washing and cleaning out the inside of the car than I did installing the mounts. There’s no marks on the interior of the vehicle at all - no screw holes, no drilling, no nothing. The dash mount just clips in around a vent, or inserts between the trim on the dash. I was pretty sceptical at first, as I’ve wasted so much money on those cheap mounts, that I didn’t figure something that sounded this easy could be true. However, It really didn’t take long for me to see how mistaken I was. Read more

Laws to Prevent Cell Phone Use While Driving are a Bad Idea

A number of local governments across North America and around the world are looking at laws or have already passed laws that prevent the use of cellular devices while operating a motor vehicle. There is a lot of people drive on the roads today who are far too focused on their phone conversation and not enough on the road in front of them or the drivers around them. However a law that is aimed at cell phone use does solve the problem. Well, it solves 1 aspect of the problem - cell phones. It doesn’t address the other distractions that drivers engage in. The Ontario government has recognized this and is taking a slightly better approach by banning the use of MP3 players, GPS units, and cell phones. If made into law, you will still be able to use the devices, just not touch them. While this is better it’s still not the right approach. Now, before anyone jumps the gun, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be allowed to use these things while driving. I am saying that any law focused on improving the safety of our roads should be aim at anything that takes the drivers attention away from the task at hand. It shouldn’t be limited the technology of today, but at anything the driver gets into while driving.

How many times have you seen someone eat fast food, reading the newspaper or a book, putting on make-up, or even shaving while they are driving? How many times have you seen a driver reaching down to grab something off the floor of the passenger side of the car. Typically this is the result of them dropping said item moments earlier when,they were trying to use it instead of focusing on driving. This is so common that I can’t even count the number of times I’ve seen it. Oh, here’s a great one I saw the other day: the sun visor was down, a GPS unit was mounted directly above the steering wheel on the windshield, and the driver was eating some sort of fast food. Now before we go any further, I want you to really think about this setup. With the sun visor down, the amount of available windshield to see out of, is significantly reduced. Lets add a GPS directly above the steering wheel and you now have just a small amount of space to view the road and cars ahead. But wait, we now need to take at least one hand off the wheel to hold our fast food. This is a tragedy just waiting to happen and the worse part is these new laws do nothing in this case. (Some US states have banned windshield mounting of devices. Unfortunately, not here where I live.)

I do a fair amount of driving each day in both heavy and light traffic and I have seen each of the above and more! What good is a law focused on limiting cell phone use when there are lots of people chowing down on hamburgers and fries? This is just as dangerous as talking on the phone, in my opinion.

It’s great that the government is looking at new laws to help make our roads safer, but the law really needs to have a broad focus and shouldn’t be limited to 1 or 2 technologies. Anything that takes your attention away from the task at hand, driving, should be illegal. It’s plain and simple. We don’t need to create a law each and every time. If we do it right from the start then we won’t need 20 different laws just to say that you shouldn’t be messing around with X, Y, or Z while driving.

The New HP iPAQ Voice Messenger Smartphone - Take 2

Jack Cook posted about a new voice messenger device from HP earlier today. What’s interesting to me, is that HP might have learned from their past mistakes on this device.  The original Voice Messenger device from HP was a horrible unit with poor screen, low memory, and no real appeal or wow factor to speak of.  To be fair, the voice software that came on the device was pretty cool, but aside from that, there was nothing that made anyone want to own one of these.

I rode HP hard about this device from day one, and I’m excited to see that they listened to what the community had to say and came back with what appears to be a pretty sweet device.

The new Voice Messenger comes with a sure-type like 20-keypad device, integrated GPS, WiFi, 3G, Quad-Band, Bluetooth 2.0, 128MB SDRAM / 256MB Flash ROM, a 1260 mAh battery, and a 3.1 megapixel camera. Best of all, it runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard edition.  It’s great to see that some companies still see the value in having a non-touch screen device.

Visit HP’s web site to learn more about the new Voice Messenger Smartphone. I haven’t seen any information on price or availability yet, but I would expect this to be shipping in the next month or so. I think I’m going to need to get my hands on one of these for review.

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!

Apple Raised the Bar - Who’s Going to Top it?

Since Apple released the iPhone a year ago, many people have called for quicker updates to Windows Mobile along with more stylish devices and improved GUIs. Some people feel that nobody can match what Apple has done and the speed at which they can turn out updates. For a while, that looked to be true, but I’m starting to see a change. Device manufacturers have no been sitting back and letting Apple walk away with their customers.

Recent devices from HTC, like the Diamond and Touch Pro, are a clear indication that they can also do an eye-catching user interface along with breath-taking hardware. And HTC isn’t alone with hot new devices targeting the iPhone user. Samsung has gathered a lot of attention for their Instinct phone and the hot new Omnia Smartphone. If you haven’t seen the Omnia, you can check out the review over at SlashGear along with a great YouTube video showing off the amazing customized home screen and smooth screen rotation effects. I was also pretty impressed with the multiple on-screen keyboards. They’re a very welcome change from the standard Windows Mobile keyboard. There’s also some hot news about an upcoming device from Palm that could change their fortune for the better. Palm has been growing rather stale as of late, but the recently announced Treo 800 and the leaked Treo Pro look to change all that.

These new devices are just the start too. The next 6-8 months are going to be very interesting to watch and see what other manufacturers are going to release. Samsung, HTC, Palm - they are all releasing multiple hot new devices that compete with Apple’s iPhone. It’s clear that these companies are serious and are willing to do whatever it takes to keep and expand their market share. Apple has done a great job at showing the world they can make a nice phone and forcing everyone else to raise the bar. Competition is a great thing.

Where Are All the Windows Mobile 6.1 Devices?

Back on April 1st 2008, Microsoft stood on the stage at CTIA Wireless 2008 and announced the availability of Windows Mobile 6.1. This updated mobile OS is suppose to help broaden the consumer appeal and at the same time address the increasingly complex mobile needs of the enterprise customer. The new setup wizard would help get up and running in minutes - from configuring email to Bluetooth adapters, the setup wizard makes it simple to get connected. Microsoft also added their System Center Mobile Device Manager goodness to the device, so enterprise should be able to manage these devices easier than in the past.There’s lots of good things in Windows Mobile 6.1, but the real question is; Where is it? At CTIA Microsoft said that devices will become available in the second quarter of 2008. Well, I hate to break the bad news, but that’s come and gone. We have a small sprinkling of devices available today - HTC Diamond, HP 910, and the new Sprint Treo. However, all of these just recently hit the streets. We’re not in the second quarter any more. In fact, we’re almost half way through the third quarter, and these are the only devices available.

At the time of the press release, Microsoft listed 25 devices that would get Windows Mobile 6.1. The new HP device wasn’t even on the list. The Sprint Treo was on the list and if you consider HTC’s Diamond to be “a new Touch Dual for the US” then we can scratch two devices off the list. Oh, and HTC did release an OS update for the TyTN II - although I’ve heard it doesn’t run very well. What happened to everyone else? What’s the hold up? Windows Mobile 6.1 has been code complete for a while, the announcement was made long after the final version of the OS was handed out to manufacturers and partners. By the time these devices really start to hit the market, people will have lost the lust and desire and will have moved on to a new device. Getting the product to market in a timely matter after the announcement is a key factor in success. Microsoft needs to have a closer relationship with the manufacturers and partners so they can better time the announcements and release of products.

It’s Time To Call The Cops

I spend a fair amount of time on the road each day; I know it’s not as much as what some of you spend, but it’s still enough. A couple years back I narrowly escaped getting hit by some fool going way to fast in a heavy rain storm. He ended up taking out 3 other cars and finally came to a rest beside a telephone pole. I wasn’t involved in anyway, but I pulled over to help those that were. Thankfully nobody was injured in the accident. But now came the problem of what to do. We all knew we needed some police officer to come out and do their thing, but it’s wasn’t an emergency. In the end, I called my wife and asked her if she could do a Google search for the contact details of the local police department.

After that, I added the number for the police department to my contacts so it can be sync’ed with my device. In fact, I added the number for the police departments in all of the places where I normally drive. I realize it may not be someone that you’re going to call very often, but it sure is handy when you need it. Today for example, I stumbled upon what appeared to be a stolen car that was stripped down and left on the side of the road (this is a back street with nothing but farmers fields and dirt). It was really simple easy for me to call that in as I continued on my way to work. Just a suggestion, but I recommend you take a couple minutes and enter the non-emergency numbers for you local police department into your phone today. You never know.

Neo FreeRunner - Open Source GSM Phone is Now Available

One of the guys at work passed this information along to me, and I felt I should share it with all of you. The Neo FreeRunner, also known as OpenMoko FreeRunner, is an open source GSM cell phone that runs a Linux based OS. The device sells for around $399 MSRP, but your local distributor might sell for a different amount based on import taxes and what have you. You can check out the full unboxing action over at Holden Karau’s blog.

The device features a 2.8″ VGA touch screen, a ARM9 processor running at 400 MHz, Graphics Acceleration, 128MD SDRAM, 256MD NAND Flash, MicroSD Slot, an external GPS connector, AGPS, GPRS (2.5G), Bluetooth 2.0, a 3axis Motion Sensors. All of that is packed into 6.5 ounces (185 grams) measuring 4.75 x 2.44 x 0.73 inches.

So what good is this device? Well, it’s an unlocked device that you can use with any GSM SIM. It’s also Open Source and you get buy a debug board allowing you to tweak and modify the ROM as you see fit. I’m not sure exactly how much access is given in terms of modification, like do they let you modify the radio code? That could be pretty destructive if you don’t know what your are doing.

I’m on the fence about getting one of these. It’s not something that the general public can use, you need to be a little technical by the looks of things. However, I’m interested in tinkering around with a device like this. And then you have to wonder if Google’s much hyped and delayed Android, would run on it. Hrm… Decisions, decisions…

Looking for Spare Parts for your Device?

Over the years I’ve had to purchase many different parts for my devices. Sometimes it’s been the battery cover, or a cracked case, or even a new screen. The place I keep returning to is Cellular Nationwide Network - CNN for short. These guys have parts for almost any phone and I’m not just talking Windows Mobile devices. They also have parts for Blackberry’s, iPhones, and even those basic cell phones that the carrier gives away for free. If that wasn’t enough, you can even get parts for your Zune, iPod and gaming consoles like xbox 360, Playstation, and Wii!

If you’re gadget is in need of a little repair and it’s out of warranty, I suggest taking a look at these guys and see if they have the parts you need before you pay the high price of sending it back to the manufacturer for repair. Like I mentioned earlier, I’ve used them a number of times and it’s always been exactly what I needed at a price that couldn’t be beat.

Happy Repairs!