Daylight Savings Time - How Did Your Devices Do?

Today we entered into Daylight Savings Time by moving our clocks forward by 1 hour.  As a result, today is only 23 hours long and it’s a little brighter out for a littler longer. If you haven’t switching your clocks at this point, I strongly recommend you do it now before you’re late for work tomorrow – unless, of course, you live in some area that doesn’t observe daylight savings.

So the real question is; How did your devices handle the change? All of my devices switched without any problems.  The only clocks I had to manually adjust are the dumb ones like the wall clock, stove, and microwave.  What about your devices, did any of them fail to change, or perhaps they jumped more than 1 hour? Let us know!

HTC Returns to the Messenger Market with the Maple Smartphone

It’s been a long time since HTC had a device in the messenger space. The Excalibur, HTC’s first messenger style device, was a  smash hit with T-Mobile users under the name of Dash. This device was also sold across many other carriers and under many other names, including HTC’s brand as the s620. Following the Excalibur, HTC released the Cavalier. This device added 3G, but never managed to get any traction and didn’t last very long. At this point, HTC turned their focus to other devices and left the messenger market to it’s own devices and companies like Samsung and Moto came in and took over with their BlackJack and Q series of devices.

If the pictures posted by Cnet Germany (via WM Experts) are any indication, all that is about to change. The new HTC Maple is the first messenger device from HTC in a while and it sure looks nice. There is no official comment from my sources at HTC and as such, there is no official specs to be had.  But if we look at what HTC has been doing and what this image shows us, we can guess at what features this might have. HTC’s most recent WinMo Standard device, the Rose, has a 528Mhz processor with 256MB for RAM and ROM and 3G in a very small package.  I would be surprised if these specs don’t make it to the Maple. WiFi is also a staple on most, if not all HTC devices, so expect to see WiFi. Further, you can clearly see the trackball on the front of the Maple.  This is a welcome change from the horrible JOGGR touch panel that the original Excalibur and Cavalier sported. The screen appears to be 320×240 and shows the sliding panel home screen from WinMo 6.1.  Don’t take this as an indication that there won’t be WinMo 6.5 on the device.  We haven’t seen any screen shots of 6.5 on a standard (non-touch) device. So it’s unclear what the user can expect to see with 6.5. WinMo 6.5 will mainly focus on finger usability, so it’s possible that there is no new user experience changes to standard devices.

GPS should also be expected.  Although, to be honest, you can never tell these days.  Some devices where you expect to see it, it’s doesn’t get added.  It sure would be nice to see this with GPS, as I use it so much these days. With any luck, we’ll see a spring launch and hopefully it will be here in North America.

I’ve got my fingers crossed – can’t wait to try the new HTC Maple.

What Devices are Used by Mobile Device MVPs?

Fellow Mobile Device MVP, Todd Ogasawara, thought it would be a good idea to interview the Mobile Device MVPs and see what device(s) they are using. This video was recorded during the MVP Summit this past week in Seattle. The summit was 2 days of product group meetings with a day on either side of keynote speeches. The summit is always a good time to get together and hang-out with other Mobility MVPs, as well as yelling at Microsoft about what they need to change.

Take a look at the video when you get a chance.  You’ll find me at around the 1 minute mark.

On another MVP note, all the MVPs went to the Experience Music Project where Microsoft had setup a nice little reception party with Rock Band for people to play with, along with a real band for singing karokee. In this video you can see Helio from PocketPCFreak singing with the WinMob’s dancing around on stage with him.  And if you think there’s something funny about that beaver, you would be right – It’s Rocco from Smartphone Thoughts. Go Beaver, Go Beaver!

Taking a Closer Look at Microsoft Tag

Microsoft recently took the wraps off a new barcoding standard. The new system is called Tags and uses triangles arranged in a 5 x 10 grid with 4 different colors to produce a high capacity color barcode. What makes this new system better, or worse, than regular barcodes, QR Codes, or any of the other scanning systems already being used?

There are a couple significant advantages to this new system.  Whether or not this is enough for the world to switch and start using Microsoft’s Tags has yet to be seen.

The fist big difference that you will notice is the use of color on this code. There are 4 colors – Black, Pink, Blue, and Yellow.  The use of color means that the camera can pick out the image in poor conditions and still correctly determine the code. It doesn’t matter if it’s poor lighting or a blurry image, the camera can still decipher the code. As well, the use of color means that storing 1 byte (or 8 bits) requires just 4 symbols. By comparison, QR Code requires 8 symbols to store the same amount of data.

Typical barcodes and QR codes are black with a white background providing easy contrast for scanning. With the Tag solution, the black background followed by a thin 2 pixel wide contrasting boarder is required for the camera to successfully pickup the image and process it. I tested this with a white, yellow, and black boarder.  The black border would not allow the camera to correctly frame the tag and thus not process it. Both yellow and white worked without any problems. Read more

HTC Responsible for 80% of Windows Mobile Device Sales

It shouldn’t come as a big surprise to hear that HTC has sold 80% of all Windows Mobile smartphones sold to date. After all, they dominate the Million+ sellers list with 7 out of the total of 11 devices. But when you start to break down the numbers, it really starts to get interesting.

Microsoft announced at Mobile World Congress that they sold 50 million Windows Mobile devices to date, with 20 million in the last year. HTC then announced that they have sold 40 million Windows Mobile devices since they started building Windows Mobile units. And remember, they have been with Microsoft since the start and for the majority of their existence, they built devices for other companies, only bringing their brand out in the last couple years.

50 million sold, less the 40 million that HTC accounts for, and that leaves 10 million devices. Of that 10 million, we know that Samsung has 3 devices in the million sellers list. Assuming, which we all know is a bad idea, that they only sold exactly 1 million units, that means Samsung is good for 3 million out of that 10. Motorola also, has a device on the million sellers list, so they account for another 1 out of that 10. That leaves us with 6 million units. Those 6 million units are divided across the rest of the device manufacturers like Palm, Asus, LG, HP, etc…

I’m not sure if having one company control so much of the Windows Mobile devices sold is a good thing or not. It’s nice to know that they are successful in what they are doing, and that clearly shows in the quality of their devices. We all know that competition is good for the consumer. Samsung is clearly in the best position in terms of competition, but they’ve got a long way to go if they’re going to threaten HTC. The recent announcement by LG to make Windows Mobile the primary OS for their smartphones could be the competition that the market needs. LGs plans to bring 50 different Windows Mobile devices to market over the next 4 years. Even with 25 of those coming in 2012, that still leaves just over 8 devices a year over 3 years. As much as HTC has done, 8 different models could be a strong push into their market.

Ah, the times are changing! I’m looking forward to seeing what these companies can do to innovate and bring new and exciting devices to the market over the next couple years.

[from InformationWeek via MocoNews ]

Pantech and AT&T Launch Matrix Pro Smartphone

Pantech, along with AT&T, announced the release of the Matrix Pro – a follow-up to their original dual slider. The Matrix Pro is a member of AT&T’s 3G family of devices, which means you can expect some serious speed when surfing on this device. It also sports a 528MHz processor, 256MB ROM / 128 MB RAM, a Quad-band GSM – GPRS/Edge/UMTS/HSDPA radio, aGPS, Bluetooth, and a 2 mega pixel camera. Like the Duo before it, this device does not have a touch screen, which means it’s running Windows Mobile Standard. You can read all about this device over at AT&T’s Matrix Pro website.

The Matrix Pro is scheduled to be available on February 24th at AT&T stores for $179 after a rebate and with a 2 year contract.

The full press release along with more images can be found after the jump.

Read more

LG Makes a Serious Commitment to Windows Mobile

Today at Mobile World Congress, LG announced their support for Microsoft’s Windows Mobile in a strong way. LG will make Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system the primary operating system for their smartphone devices. Over the next 4 years, LG will produce 50 different mobile devices powered by Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system. The bulk of these devices, approximately 25, will come in the 4th year. Leaving 25 other devices over the course of the next 3 years. If divided evenly over those 3 years it would be 8.3 units per year. I would expect that production would ramp up over the course of 3 years.

LG’s Windows Mobile news doesn’t stop there. They are also showing off 2 new devices. The first is a device called “HQ” that features a SureType QWERTY keyboard. From the information that I’ve been given, the HQ will have a 528MHz processor, 256MB ROM / 128MB RAM, a 240×320 non-touch screen, Quad-band with GPRS, Edge and UMTS. As well as 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth, and a 2 mega pixel camera.

The second device is called the “Eigen” and features the same 528MHz processor, a 240×400 touch screen, Quad-band with GPRS, Edge and UMTS. The Eigen also has 266MB ROM / 128MB RAM, FM Radio, 3G, WiFi, a 5 mega pixel camera, and of course, Bluetooth.

You can check out some pictures of both of these devices below. Read more

Top Selling Windows Mobile Devices of All Time

During the Windows Mobile talk at CntrStg @ CES, Greg Sullivan mentioned that there are 11 phones that have sold in excess of 1 million units. That’s a pretty impressive achievement. I was curious to know more about these 11 devices. Like, how many are touch screen vs non-touch screen? And what manufacturers have made the best selling devices.  I’m sure you can guess some of the devices and companies that made it to the list.  But I wanted to know them all.  Thankfully, Greg provided me with a list of all the devices that have reached the 1 Million+ milestone.

The following list is in no particular order.  Other than some minor formatting changes, it’s exactly how I received it.

• Samsung Omnia (SGH-i900/908/SCH-i910/M490)
• Samsung Blackjack II (SGH-i617)
• Samsung Blackjack (SGH-i607/600)
• Motorola Q
• HTC Touch Diamond (Diamond/Diamond-C)
• Audiovox SMT 5600 (HTC)
• HTC Dash (Excalibur)
• HTC xv6800  (Titan)
• HTC TyTN II (Tilt/Kaiser)
• HTC Touch (Elf/Vogue)
• HTC P800W (Artemis)

There’s a total of 4 different manufacturers on the list, 3 if you consider that the Audiovox device was made by HTC.  Of the top 11 best selling Windows Mobile devices, 7 are from HTC including the Audiovox device, 3 from Samsung and 1 from Motorola. Further, there are 6 Windows Mobile Pro devices (touch screen) and 5 Windows Mobile Standard (non-touch) devices. And of those non-touch screen devices, 4 out of 5 are messenger style devices - that’s devices with a front facing QWERTY. Another interesting fact is that 7 out of 11, or just over 63% of these devices have a QWERTY on them. 

I really have to wonder if the current trend by carriers and manufacturers to focus on iPhone like devices is such a smart move. With QWERTY being so predominate on the top selling devices, and over 45% of the top selling devices are non-touch screen, there is a definite trend of successful non-iphone like devices. I hope the manufacturers and carriers can see past the iPhone and work towards being original and different once again.

The Future of Internet Connectivity is Your Mobile Phone

It’s true! They’ve  done studies and talked with experts and they’ve come to the conclusion that your mobile phone will be the primary method of connecting to the internet in the next 12 years or so. All joking aside, this isn’t all that surprising to some of us.  Using our mobile devices has become the primary way of staying connected while on the go.

A couple years ago I was talking about how the mobile phone will become your primary computer and you won’t have a desktop or laptop as we know it today.  Instead, when you sit down at your desk you will just have a larger screen and a full size keyboard for you to interact with your mobile phone.  At the time, people mocked the idea and said it would never happen.  Well, now we have Celio making the RedFly which is exactly that - a larger keyboard and screen for interacting with your mobile device.  This is just the first step towards making the mobile phone the center of your computing experience. And once that happens, then it only makes sense that you’ll find the mobile phone as your primary connection to the internet. But what do I know…

You can read more about how the mobile phone will be the center of your internet world here.

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.

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