Welcome to Smartphony.net, a ressource website for all smartphones using the Windows Mobile operating system, providing free smartphone games, themes and more. Now, what can you fellow smartphone owner find here on this site? Well, it offers you a guide to all the important ressources for your smartphone. You could for example learn how to:
Transform Your Smartphone
Yes, with just a little help you can transform your precious smartphone into a dangerous monster, capable of performing many different tasks to help you in your day to day's life. Just by using some of our free smartphone software your smartphone could become a mobile office, stuffed full of useful applications, or, with the help of some free smartphone games, a powerful multimedia machine entertaining you for hours.
Style Your Smartphone
We have also built a very complete list of free smartphone themes on this website. Those themes, also called smartphone homescreens, make it possible to change the look of your whole phone with just one simple file and considering the huge amount of free smartphone themes availabe here you could probably customize your home screen daily for many years.
Improve Your Smartphone
Besides all the different ressources for your phone, like the free games and applications, we also offer many possibilities to learn more about how your smartphone works and how to get the most out of it. Smartphone tutorials, articles, news and a weblog all help you to improve your knowledge of Windows Mobile phones and tweak your cell phone to even better performances.
Below you can find the five latest smartphone news and articles releases on this website. To view all of them please go to our smartphone weblog.
I had assumed that this week's column would be dominated by news about the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week. But frankly, it seemed like Apple's iPhone announcement dominated the news last week. We'll look at that briefly, plus give links to CES coverage and reviews of the major new Windows Mobile device launched last week: the Cingular Treo 750....
This is the Asus Pegasus Pocket PC phone and comes with GPS on board. It's a slim device with numeric keypad and jog dial for speedy navigation.
Asus are already responsible for a large number of laptops and their skills for design and build are shown in this handset. Exact specs aren't known as yet and we're not even sure if this device ever become fully available, however it's looks were enough to win over judges for the IF Design competition, who have deemed it good enough for their design award in the electronics / telecommunications category.
Link - IFDesign.be
I'm both annoyed and frustrated by this Guardian story which states that Virgin Mobile UK have sold less than 10,000 of their Lobster 700TV handsets, despite dropping the price heavily and launching a massive advertising campaign with Pamela Anderson. You may remember our review of it - although the keyboard proved a tad wobbly we hoped it would do well, however the Guardian seem to believe that customers aren't interested in the handset.
So, why am I annoyed? Well, I still see far too much emphasis on looks and design by customers. To be honest, even if the Lobster 700TV could cook you dinner and get you free beer people would still go ahead and buy an LG Chocolate because "it looks cool". A case in point would be the Nintendo DS I was attempting to buy for Emily before Christmas - all the colours were available...apart from pink. That was sold out. Why? Street cred, style, fashion.
The lack of a multi-touch screen on a Pocket PC secretly causes people to curse daily when they try and tap a number in quickly using the dialpad. Perhaps a way around this is to combine the slide-out QWERTY keyboard with a standard numeric keypad on the front of the device. The result of this idea is the HTC Vox, which has now appeared in photographs here in the UK, courtesy of this Google page from Guri.
The pictures, unfortunately, don't get much better than what you see here, however you can see more of this device, which is rumoured to have Windows Mobile 6.0 for Smartphone, a TI OMAP 850 200MHz CPU, quadband GPRS / EDGE (alas, no 3G), 2 megapixel camera, WiFi 802.11b/g, 128Mb ROM / 64Mb RAM and a MicroSD card slot. The keyboard is an automatic slide-out QWERTY and looks very similar to the HTC P4350 one.
Link - Guri
Credit - Ian Jones
Keni has once again emailed following my recent rant at the Vodafone UK Press Team whilst trying to get news of the Vodafone v1210 / VDA IV. It turns out that he's got several contacts within Vodafone and they've confirmed to him that this handset should appear on Voda during the first week of February. Huzzaah!
Link - Keni @ Conchango
Keni has emailed in after spotting recent news on upgrades to the HTC Hermes / HTC TyTn handsets. He's had a chat with the guys at Vodafone and they've advised him that the AKU3.3 Firmware is currently being tested and should launch soon.
If you've got a Vodafone v1605, keep an eye on this Vodafone website or visit Keni's blog for more information.
If, like me, you need telnet or SSH access into a server then you'll be used to using tools like Putty and secureCRT on your PC. For Windows Mobile you should definitely check out zaTelnet, which has support for telnet, SSH1 and now SSH2. There's two versions available, both Freeware and Shareware to bring you more features. You also get support for portrait and landscape screen orientation plus many resolutions. The on-screen keyboard will also help with the various escape-codes you'll be using within Unix etc and you can change the font size too.
This is ideal for anyone with a dedicated server or a system administrator who's on the go and needs to make a quick alteration, run a script or reboot a server whilst on the go.
Link - zaTelnet
View all smartphone news on our weblog.
Below you can find the latest smartphone news from other big news websites on the internet. Each link leads you directly to the smartphone news article.
Cell Phone News by Engadget
BlackBerry Curve now available through Sprint
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
Late's better than never -- usually, anyway -- and a rumored release date finally stuck long enough for the BlackBerry Curve 8330 to make an appearance on Sprint's online store. In fact, as "mid-May" goes, May 9 is actually on the early side of things if you want t...
Microsoft increases focus on Fone+ cellphone project for the poor
Filed under: Cellphones
Microsoft has been touting its Fone+ project for a little while now, but it looks like the company is starting to step up its efforts a bit further, with the new head of Microsoft's Unlimited Potential Group, Craig Mundie, reportedly leading the charge to increase the focus on...
Virgin Mobile looking to merge with Helio?
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless
Times haven't been so great at Helio, but it looks like the troubled MVNO could be snapped up by Virgin Mobile. mocoNews did a little digging after Virgin's recent Q1 conference call, and says that the two companies are currently in merger talks. Since both companie...
Smartphone News by Smartphone Thoughts.com
Palm Zeppelin and Skywriter Devices
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/...e-named-skywri/
"The hot word on the street is that Palm has all but confirmed the existence of two new phone models by ramping up a "launch developer" program for new applications. The devices, dubbed Zeppelin (a name we've heard quite a bit of) and Skywriter (which is new to us) could be slated for a Q3 release, as Palm is asking devs to turn in their applications by May 30th. Rumor has it that at least one of the units is a "Centro-like" Windows Mobile phone -- if that date is close to correct, it could very well be the "Wanda" that we saw back in January. The Zeppelin, on the other hand, is likely the WiFi equipped Treo 800w we've been hearing about for what seems like a million years."
Engadget has an image of a supposed mockup, but it is so ugly I am not going to bother posting it here. If that is what the Zeppelin will look like, it will be dubbed the Lead Zeppelin, as in brick, not the rock band.
Slim and Compact Smartphone Samsung i200 Hits The Market
http://www.zdnet.co.kr/etc/eyeon/di...39168626,00.htm
"Supporting the Windows Mobile 6.1, Samsung i200 provides functional and practical features in business. Users can operate MS Office programs such as Excel, Word, Powerpoint, and Outlook promptly. Intuitive User Interface provides direct-access to the most of menus and easy navigation in home screen. Especially, the phone is very efficient in email features offering HTML format email, easy editing (cut, copy and paste), and unified email and SMS/MMS management. Automatic pop-up helps users know whenever they get email and always be connected. The slim bar-type form factor with mere 11.8 mm thinness offers compact and stylish design, which is hardly witnessed in most of smartphones. A large enough 2.3” QVGA TFT screen with glossy coating makes users to fully enjoy multimedia contents and complicated business information."The slim bar-type form factor with mere 11.8 mm thinness offers compact and stylish design, which is hardly witnessed in most of smartphones. A large enough 2.3” QVGA TFT screen with glossy coating makes users to fully enjoy multimedia contents and complicated business information. Furthermore, i200 gears up business efficiency through HSDPA 3.6 Mbps data communications.
Samsung is claiming the i200 will be the slimmest smartphone there is. It sounds very attractive but as soon as I noticed there's no slide-out qwerty, it's a no go for me. But for those of you who could care less about a keyboard, this may be a great phone for you. What do you think?
Celio Plans Support for Windows Mobile 6.1 and 12 New Phones
http://crm.tmcnet.com/news/2008/05/06/3427193.htm
"Celio, a provider of mobile solutions for the smartphone market, announced it is planning support for Windows Mobile 6.1 and 12 additional smartphone models during Q2 2008.The company said the new smartphones include Windows Mobile standard models, including the Motorola Q and Samsung Blackjack II. The Redfly makes maximum use of the smartphone without requiring the setup and configuration or the backup and management of an ultralight mobile PC, said Kirt Bailey, Celio president and CEO. Its influence on TCO and Data Loss Prevention in the enterprise is profound, and for corporate customers these are typically some the largest factors that are driving their purchase decisions for Redfly."
Remember the Redfly? It's the device I reported on months ago. It's basically a machine that is dependent on your smartphone to make it work. For $500 you can turn your smartphone into a laptop - sort of. Your smartphone is your OS and the Redfly gives you a nice screen and keyboard - again for $500. Well now Celio is stating that they will produce some 6.1 Windows Mobile devices that will gel nicely with the Redfly. To be honest, I think I'd rather keep my Dash and buy an Eee. What do you think? Is this going to pay off for Celio? Do you plan on buying a Redfly to compliment your smartphone?
Motorola Launches New Website To Combat Bluetooth Confusion
http://direct.motorola.com/hellomot...uetoothconnect/
"A new reference site launched by Motorola in the UK will allow Bluetooth users to check their devices for compatibility and help with a 'plain English' guide to the pairing up of devices. The website lets you do a compatibility search from either your mobile device or with the designated accessory. According to the manufacturer, 'Motorola’s Bluetooth headsets are designed to be compatible with over 200 Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones from more than 15 manufacturers, including Nokia, Sony Ericsson, LG and Samsung, as well as Motorola devices.' 'The intention is to provide some much needed clarity to the market by creating the ultimate Bluetooth compatibility reference point,' said Steve Gaskell, General Manager, Accessories, Motorola EMEAI."
It is about time someone created a site such as this. During my time slinging handsets the most frequently asked customer question was "Can you help me pair my headset?" I guess one of the downsides of creating incredibly small and useful products is that they can be a bit hard to manage and figure out. If you have an urge to learn more about the magic known as Bluetooth, than check out Motorola's new site here.
Yahoo! Go 3.0 Beta Released For Windows Mobile!
http://mobile.yahoo.com/go#
"Looks like Yahoo Go development is continuing apace with the release of Yahoo Go 3 (Beta). You can grab a download here, but a perusal of the compatible devices list seems to indicate that it's only compatible with Windows Mobile Standard for now. New features include: An integrated at-a-glance Yahoo screen, improved Yahoo oneSearch, prettier design and navigation, full-on widget support, with in-app widgets like MySpace and eBay"
[Photo courtesy of WMExperts]
Be forewarned before using this application. After I installed it and fired it up to start playing with it, I was informed that that this pretty hefty 2.5MB program that just installed itself to my device needed to connect to the internet to finish installation. I could not tell by the wording that was used if it was just to configure the service to your Yahoo! username or to download additional files. Either way if you are not on an unlimited data plan please pay attention to your data usage so you are not surprised by a large bill next month! From what I can see there is a fair amount of communication with the 'Cloud'. My initial impression is that this is a pretty slick application. The application dock on the main screen is beautifully designed and easy to navigate. Animations did seem a little jerky though. I will play around with this application for a few days before passing final judgment on it, but so far I like what I see!
The following are just some examples of applications and games you can buy in our big smartphone software shop.