Archive for January, 2010|Monthly archive page
CES 2010: Blackberry Presenter
Leave a CommentWith no new devices from RIM coming out this week, there isn’t much to say about the Canadian device manufacturer for their showing here at CES. However, they did come out with the Blackberry Presenter, which will allow someone who regularly needs to make presentations on the go much easier. The device connects to a VGA cable, and communicates with your Blackberry over Bluetooth. When connected, you are able to launch a presentation, and fully control it through your device, which isn’t connected via any wires to do so. Not for the mass consumer market, but a niche that will appreciate the effort. Photos below.
CES 2010: Motorola Backflip
Motorola is really on a roll with the various Android devices over the past few months, and building off the success of the CLIQ, they introduced the Backflip this week. Unique in its design, the keyboard is folded to the backside when not in use, which allows for a larger screen, as no sliding mechanism is required. Video and pics below.
CES 2010: Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus
Palm has enjoyed a fair amount of success over the last 12 months since announcing the Palm Pre back at CES last year. Since then, the Pixi has come out, and Sprint has been the exclusive provider since. That’s all about to change with the announcement this week that the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus are both coming at the end of January, to Verizon Wireless. Here are some of the details.
- Updated design
- Twice the internal memory – now 16GB
- Touchstone-compatible back cover now standard
- The Pre Plus takes out the navigation button
- The Pixi now includes Wi-Fi
- A new application for the Pre and Pixi Plus adds 3G tethering over WiFi to the device, similar to the Mi-Fi. Connect up to 5 different devices at the same time.
- These are exclusive devices to Verizon, and will launch on January 25th.
See photos from the press conference, and new Pre below.
CES 2010: Nexus One
After the Nexus One announcement this week, i was excited to be able to get to see it here at CES. Fortunately, i had the Pepcom event on Wednesday evening where i had some hands on time with the device. Below is a brief video, and some photos of the hardware. Inital impressions were good. I thought the device was well built and performed very well. The one Achilles heel for me is the trackball. I think that in 2009, this was OK to have, but for a new device that is just hitting the market, this “mechanical” navigation seems dated.
TCPJ Unlocked Show #041
On the ground at CES 2010 in Las Vegas. Palm had a press conference where they officially announced the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus devices, and talked about the latest developments in the company. This show is the audio highlights for the key portions of the event.
Visit TCPJ Unlocked and click on “Subscribe to Premium Content” to sign up for the show.
The Cell Phone Junkie Special Edition – CES 2010
The editors of the SPE sites join Mickey for this special edition podcast on the eve of CES 2010. Topics include the Google Nexus One, Motorola BackFlip, Blackberry Presenter, and many more.
How to Contact us:
www.thecellphonejunkie.com
questions@thecellphonejunkie.com
206-203-3734
Facebook
Mickey Twitter
Joey Twitter
Website Twitter
iTunes comments
How to Listen:
Subscribe
iPhone/iPod Touch Application
iTunes
Download the show directly
510-495-6352
The Cell Phone Junkie Special Edition – Third Annual SPE Smartphone Round Robin Part 2
This Special Edition of The Cell Phone Junkie is the second round table discussion of the 3rd annual SPE smartphone round robin. Each editor talks about what they’ve learned about each of the other Operating Systems.
Participants include:
Dieter Bohn with Pre Central
Rene Ritchie with The iPhone Blog
Kevin Michaluk with Crackberry
Phil Nickinson with WM Experts
Matt Miller with Nokia Experts
Casey Chan with Android Central
Read more at the Smartphone Round Robin Website
How to Contact us:
www.thecellphonejunkie.com
questions@thecellphonejunkie.com
206-203-3734
Facebook
Mickey Twitter
Joey Twitter
Website Twitter
iTunes comments
How to Listen:
Subscribe
iPhone/iPod Touch Application
iTunes
Download the show directly
510-495-6352
TCPJ Unlocked Show #040
A little nostalgia this week as we take a look at the past decade of mobile. Plus, a little Prehistory of the iPhone.
Visit TCPJ Unlocked and click on “Subscribe to Premium Content” to sign up for the show.
The Cell Phone Junkie Show #188
The Cell Phone Junkie Show #188 45:35
Show Notes
New cell phone laws for 2010, more Nexus One information and some software updates to end the decade.
Smartphone Experts Round Robin this week
Android on TiPB
Blackberry on Pre Central
Nokia on WMExperts
iPhone on Android Central
webOS on Crackberry
Windows on Nokia Experts
News
CNBC to air Planet of the Apps on January 7th
2010 texting while driving laws
Oregon cell phone ban loophole
All states cell phone use restrictions
Mysterious iPhone issue in NYC
AT&T asks FCC to phase out landlines
30 day window to cancel Sprint now happening
Orange UK launching HD calling
Thanks to our sponsor, Netflix
Devices
8GB iPhone 3GS rumors
Verizon getting Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus?
T-Mobile mentions Nexus One on internal website
Nexus One pricing details
Google hosting Android press gathering
2 new Moto Android handsets expected next week
Pantech Touch Slider
DataJack to offer unlimited data for $40
Software
webOS 1.3.5
Sprint Curve 8530 update
Palm app catalog hits 1000 apps
Y2016 issue on WM devices
How to Contact us:
www.thecellphonejunkie.com
questions@thecellphonejunkie.com
206-203-3734
Facebook
Mickey Twitter
Joey Twitter
Website Twitter
iTunes comments
How to Listen:
Subscribe
iPhone/iPod Touch Application
iTunes
Download the show directly
510-495-6352
iHound Review
iHound Review
Say you have an iPhone, but don’t want to spend the $100 per year for a Mobile Me subscription because you don’t think you need it. One of the great features that comes with Mobile Me is Find my iPhone, allowing you to track your phone when it has been lost or stolen. The folks at iHound software have come up with an app for that. iHound helps recover a lost or stolen iPhone and/or iPod Touch using the GPS and/or WIFI signal built into your device to determine its location. Using iHound Software’s tracking website, you can track the approximate location of your iPhone and iPod Touch when the iHound application is running. The software used in this review was provided by iHound, and it can be purchased from the iTunes app store for $2.99, which includes the first 3 months of service. Additional subscriptions are available for 2 years at $19.99, 1 year for $10.99, 6 months for $5.99 or 3 months for $3.99.
How it works
Say you’ve lost your iPhone. Head over to iHound Software’s website and sign in.
You’ll then see a screen that has all your registered device information.
You have 2 choices, either Track your device, or send an alert. Note that when you click Track Device, it shows you only the last known location of the iPhone when the app was last launched.
Also note that you can zoom around on the map, and select the time of the tracked location you want to view.
If the app hasn’t been launched since your iPhone went missing, you have the option to send an alert to the phone. The alert can include an alarm and a message if you’d like.
Here are the 6 sound selections. Use either a loud 30-second alarm, or an authoritative voice. Alarms are loud even when one’s ring volume is set low.
Don’t know what to say? Use one of the canned messages to send.
Once you’ve selected what you want to send, click the green “Send notification to Device” button.
The phone now gets a push notification with the text, and a very loud alarm (if you’ve chose this).
Once view is clicked, the phone launches the iHound software, and by default shows this screen.
Once the app is launched, the software pulls the location information, and sends it back to iHound, allowing you to track it’s location. But what if you don’t want the person who launches the app to know what’s happening? iHound has thought of this, and allowed the user to set the screen of the app to a “Spoof Screen”. This covers up the main iHound screen so people don’t know the software is running and sending your location. Here is one of the screens you can choose which looks like the phone has locked up.
You can also choose to have the phone continuously send it’s location at set intervals as long as the app is running. This is nice if the device is on the move. Once you’ve found the location of the device, you can make your way to that spot, and hopefully find your missing device.
Overall
iHound is a unique and relatively cheap application that can provide piece of mind for an iPhone user that is concerned about losing his/her device. While not a perfect real time tracking option for a device that is abandoned, it certainly can assist in situations where someone can interact with the phone.
