So a while back I wrote how I was leaving my Windows Mobile device in a draw drawer and swapping to a Nokia E71. I said I was going to write a review on how this swap went and how I felt using a symbian device.
I am going to write this – infact I am in the middle of writing this. I will post it soon I just want to make sure it is concise and accurate.
Stay tuned for more on this.
Oh and here’s a hint on how it went I am now using my ……….. You’ll have to wait and see.
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A couple of days ago the Microsoft Press department announced the following:
Today, Microsoft Business Division President Stephen Elop and Nokia’s Executive Vice President for Devices Kai Öistämö announced the agreement, outlining a shared vision for the future of mobile productivity. This is the first time that either company has embarked on an alliance of this scope and nature.
Under the terms of the agreement, the two companies will begin collaborating immediately on the design, development and marketing of productivity solutions for the mobile professional, bringing Microsoft Office Mobile and Microsoft business communications, collaboration and device management software to Nokia’s Symbian devices.
This is definately a good thing for Nokia symbian devices, as an E71 user I have noticed that Documents to Go doesn’t quite cut the mustard for me, not as much as Office on my former Win Mo device did. Also this agreement presents the opportunity for futher collaboration and development of Nokia smartphones into the world of Microsoft, something that will give them a real shot at snatching business customers away from Blackberry.
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Nokia’s E75 made a debut today as well, I don’t think it’s a pretty handset certainly not like the E71 anyway.
it’s the first Eseries device to support N-Gage gaming and you get a flavour of how progressive and exciting this pipsqueak pocket communicator truly is – it barely stretches that tape measure to 111.8mm x 50mm x 14.4mm, with a QVGA screen that measures in at 2.4-inches.
Squeezed into this compact shell are all the hallmarks of a leading Eseries device. The Nokia E75 comes loaded with the new Nokia Messaging service for slick email HTML email support. Plus it’s packing a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus, high speed HSDPA access, integrated A-GPS with Nokia Maps, and a music player with a 3.5mm standard audio connector.
Nokia.com
Next is the Samsung S8300 a 12.7mm thick handset that packs a punch. GPS, FM Radio, stereo Bluetooth and Micro SD (upto 16gb) as well as an 8mp camera means that this rather compact device is sure to be a hit with the masses. (This device was actually announced before MWC but was shown off there today.
The award of the most bonkers name goes to Sony Ericsson for the Idou, however it is a temporary name, before release it will be changed to something a bit more palatable. It has a 12.1MP camera, yes 12.1 as well as a 3.5 inch touch screen. Not much else in terms of details as the phone is quite a way off production release (some say it’ll be 2010 before it gets to market)
Lastly for now, Palm and Nokia have both joined the Open Screen Project to enable adobe flash 10 on their devices (pre and most nokia’s). The flash app is due at the end of the year so it is a way off reality yet but bodes well for devices queueing up to use it.
Well that’s more than enough information overload for tonight, more tomorrow. Night all
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GeeWhiz what a hell of a lot of information I have in google reader. Not entirely sure where to start if I am totally honest, I think I will pick things I am interested in most to begin with and work down that way.
Firstly much to my disapointment, Palm did not announce a release date for the european version of the Pre but there have been working GSM versions spotted with Vodafone sims (surpise surprise). Guess I’ll just have to sit tight for the moment.
Next Nokia and Skype, they have formed an alliance which will see Skype integrated with all new N series handsets (starting with the N97). This move some have called as the possible end for mobile networks, personally however I think we will just see the development of “skype data bundles”. Almost certainly here in the UK we will. Operators will develop a package that gives an “unlimited” data connection specifically for skype calls and have it as an addon to a normal package. The move is a good one for the user but it’s not going to mean “free” skype calls from your phone just yet.
HTC and Vodafone have released a new Android powered handset. The “Magic” comes with a 3.2-inch HVGA screen, HSDPA, GPS, 3.2 megapixel camera (no flash), and a G1-style trackball, the major thing about it however is the keyboard or lack off to be more precise. Yip that’s right no keyboard, totally touch screen, I’ll be interested to see how it performs. Oh yeah I also forgot to mention that it is a rather ugly device, prettier mind than the G1 but still not what I would call beautiful.
Up next on the hit parade is the NEW HTC Touch Pro, this revised version of an already sucessful handset is a BIG improvement. The dazzling look of this device and the amazing WVGA screen are reportedly awesome, the UI is slick and responsive and the screen, much like the TYTNII (my current phone) tilts when the qwerty keyboard is slid out. It looks lovely and works (from what I have seen in the videos) very well, with WLAN, GPS, HSDPA and a 3.6 inch touch screen it’s a heavyweight (in both senses of the word) in the smartphone market. HTC have however managed to improve battery life by a whole 50%!!
I’m gonna break here, I need to order some dinner from the bar and get a nice glass of Merlot more to come after this short interlude.
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According to figures recently released by netapplications.com Firefox for the 1st time in its history has reached 20% share for the month of November 2008 which for CEO of Mozilla, John Lilly is a big deal;
“It’s a huge achievement by the global Mozilla community, one that just a few years ago most would have considered impossible. The open web is more vibrant than ever, and the thousands of Mozilla contributors around the world have played a major role in making it that way.”
Also shown in the stats is the fact that IE has fallen below 70% share for the same month. That’s a big thing for Msft who have always had a majority share (mainly due to the fact that every windows pc has it as it’s default browser). Decembers data is still preliminary but it shows yet another decline for IE.
Will IE8 make a difference? Only time will tell that, my bet, no it won’t not from the beta’s I have seen.
What’s your view??
I’ve been using Vista for ages now, infact I’ve been using it since it was in beta. Once I got the full final version I bought a high speed USB pen drive to use for Readyboost.
For those that don’t know Readyboost is a utility that Microsoft built in to "speed up" windows by using the pen drive to cache files much like RAM does. I put a pen drive (i have an internal USB port inside my case) into my pc and activated the Readyboost option. Now if I am honest I didn’t really notice a marked improvement but I think because it was supposed to make things faster I just assumed it was working.
I am very much a "power user" I use a lot of applications simultaneously and have a lot running in my system tray right from startup. As a result my resting RAM usage is pretty high, When my pc for example, is just on with nothing running barring the apps I have load on startup uses about 1 to 1.2GB of my RAM (I have 2GB for those interested).
Recently though I have been doing some investigation, not specifically into readyboost but more into what seemed to be continuous hard drive access. The HD light on my case seemed to be always flashing even when my pc was doing nothing, I tested Google Desktop and closed all that down but it changed nothing so indexing was not to blame. I then used a HD access checker to see what was going on it turned out that the Readyboost cache was in constant access. It was being written to nearly all the time. The checker reported a 92% access usage over a 2 hour period.
So I switched off the Readyboost facility and almost instantly the HD access fell to nearly nothing. Also in a strange twist of fate my RAM usage fell dramatically too. Infact it was nearly halved, now while my pc is sitting my RAM usage is now between 600 and 700mbs which is a much better figure.
If your using Readyboost I advise check to see if it really is boosting your system!!
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Is now released on the Vodafone website! http://help.vodafone.co.uk/v1615upgrade.php
I am downloading it now and will install it later today (I need the GPS on the phone 1st to go somewhere this morning).
I will report back on my progress when I can!
Stay tuned!
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p.s Thanks to Gears at www.coolsmartphone.com for the heads up on this!
Update 1:
Ok just set the flash going so should be complete in about 10 mins! Unless it bricks itself!
Update 2:
Ok, it’s done and works fine, now going to install all the software again! wooo…
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