With full page rendering and a quick and easy way to zoom in and out of web content, the iPhone Safari browser has made for a great mobile web browsing experience. The newest addition to the browser wars for Windows Mobile Makyama's TouchBrowser. This application was introduced on April 15th and promises iPhone-like web browsing. Is this the browser we have all been looking for? Read on to find out!

Originally, I had thought that hardware--good hardware--would inspire me to use my camera on my Windows Mobile device. In particular, with the release of the Nokia N95, I thought that perhaps if Windows Mobile came with a nice camera, I may be more inclined to use it. As it stands, I haven't even opened the camera application on my AT&T Tilt in over 4 months.

However, an interesting article over at MobilitySite showing that the iPhone was the most used camera-phone for Flickr uploads had me thinking. Perhaps camera use isn't really related to how good the camera is as long as the camera takes decent shots, but how easy it is to share pictures with friends and family.

Would you be more inclined to snap pictures if sharing them on your Windows Mobile device was easier like the iPhone where you can just email the photos to a Flickr address to post? Or would you want a higher resolution, auto-focus camera with xenon flash? Both would be ideal, but having to choose, I may have to say the ability to share is the killer camera-phone application.

Inputing text on a Windows Mobile touchscreen device without a keyboard can be frustrating, though if you use a program like TouchPal or ZoomBoard, you may get by a bit easier.

HTC knows this, and they made sure to provide enough familiar input methods on the Diamond. Look at the screenshots below (taken from a great video of the Diamond posted at Tracy and Matt's). We have a choice of a T9-like pad (similar to TouchPal), plus a SureType-style keyboard (like on a Blackberry or T-Mobile Shadow), and a finally, a larger keyboard that is reminiscent of the one on the iPhone.

These input options, coupled with the Diamond's extra-sensitive touchscreen, just may make text-entry enjoyable on the device.

Now that the internet is buzzing with the announcement of the new HTC Touch Diamond and the gorgeous new TouchFLO 3D interface, the choice just got a bit harder for Windows Mobile users eyeing the catchy panel user interface from the upcoming Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1.

HTC will probably introduce the Touch Diamond in a variant with either a SureType-like keyboard or full QWERTY keyboard at some time in the future. However, as it stands, which user interface do you prefer and why?

I personally prefer the TouchFLO 3D interface as it mirrors the T-Mobile Shadow and the unique home screen on the Windows Mobile Standard platform whereas TouchFLO 3D is for Windows Mobile Professional.

The original Samsung Blackjack from AT&T was quite a popular form factor. Even though AT&T now has the updated and nicer looking Blackjack II, Sprint has released the Samsung ACE, which is very similar to the original Blackjack. The biggest difference between the ACE and the Blackjack is that the ACE has EVDO/CDMA support as well as GSM/GPRS, plus a few other interesting custom enhancements. Did Sprint get the ACE right? Read on for our thorough review!

Overall Rating:


The Good

First Dual-Mode CDMA & GSM Windows Mobile phone in North America

High speed EVDO internet access

Includes Microsoft Voice Command

The Bad

Only supports 900/1800 GSM bands

No GPS

No WiFi

In part 3 of our video review, I go through the handwriting and voice recognition applications provided with the Scribbler.

One of the main reasons I use smartphones and laptops is that I have horrible handwriting. As much as I have tried to clean it up, it just won't happen. Thankfully, the handwriting recognition that comes with Windows Vista Tablet PCs works very well. I was able to write in my normal chicken scratch and it would recognize a good portion of what I was trying to right. I will say that at times, it had a hard time recognizing what I was trying to write, but I will chock that up to my poor penmanship.

At first, the handwriting recognition was very exciting and fun to use. But from a practical viewpoint, it's not entirely effective. My hand would tire from all the writing, I can't write as fast as I type, and I felt I was prone to more errors writing on the screen than I would have just typing on a keyboard.

This tablet also came with voice recognition software. Again, like the handwriting recognition, it was very fun to use at first and works pretty well. But after a while, I began to notice some annoyances I had with its operation. As shown in the video, you can see that it doesn't completely recognize every word you say. Also, there is some lag when giving voice commands or because it didn't hear you well, you'd have to repeat commands. I think voice recognition has come a long way, but as with anything, I still think there is some room for improvement.

See also:

Electrovaya Scribbler SC4000 Video Review: Part 2
Electrovaya Scribbler SC4000 Video Review: Part 1
Electrovaya Scribbler SC4000 Unboxing

Paul of Modaco has posted a thread called Come share development with Popfly mainly in response to his development of the DupeDeDupe program for Windows Mobile and his desire to create an open-source community development network. By using PopFly, users can share code and collaborate on project development remotely and within Visual Studio.

With that in mind, I would like to propose the open-source development of a new program for Windows Mobile theme changing.

Themes are very popular. People love to personalize their mobile devices. Many ROM cookers on Xda-Developers will create their own themes that are implemented across a variety of included applications. Unfortunately, themes for third party applications cannot be defined or changed from within Windows Mobile’s native “Today” Control Panel Appearance tab. There are completely different methods of changing the Today screen theme, Media Player theme, and Phone dialer theme. Then if you’ve got some HTC applications in your ROM, there are yet other methods of changing the HTC Home Plug-in theme, TouchFLO Cube theme, Comm Manager theme, SIP keyboard themes, etc. The possibilities are endless.

I would like to propose a standard unified way of changing the look on all of these applications as well as future applications.

The program could be similar to the HTC Home Customizer where users would select named themes to be applied to specific programs, and the software would copy the proper images/files to the proper locations. The difference would be that there would need to be a way for users and 3rd party developers to interface with the program in order to let it know where its new theme files are supposed to go. Maybe there’s a master XML file that lists application specific XML files which include image/file location information.

Anyway, I think this type of program would be extremely useful both for power users and beginners who want to easily customize the look of their device and apply different themes to their applications from a central location. However, I’m not much of a programmer at all, so I am seeking help from the community.
I’ve started a project on Popfly called “WM6ProThemeChanger”. If you search for that name using the Popfly explorer, you’ll find it. Also, you can add me as a friend using “Adamz1977”.

It looks like many people are guilty of leaking confidential corporate information without even knowing it, acting in an espionage fashion unintentionally.

According to Engadget Mobile, Vodafone UK commissioned a study and found that:

"Over 70-percent of all workers "talk business on their mobile phones in public, with one-in-five talking about business-critical subjects such as sales leads." Worse still, 15-percent admitted to "openly discussing confidential new products or services whilst traveling," while 26-percent admitted that they have actually followed up on a lead in which they received via listening in to another's public call."

That's potentially dangerous and detrimental to company operations. Are you guilty of talking about secrets in public? Vodafone recommends that users resort to email or text messaging to communicate corporate information.

Since the HTC website is being hit with a ton of traffic right now, I thought I'd upload the high resolution press pictures to our server so that you can take a look at them without waiting.

Diamond Image 1
Diamond Image 2
Diamond Image 3
Diamond Image 4
Diamond Image 5
Diamond Image 6

As an indication of how much attention this release is getting, currently I'm download the HTC Touch Diamond video from the HTC website at 5.0 kb/s. It's going to be a while.

HTC has done a big thing for Windows Mobile, something that no other company could do: bring the sexy-factor to the platform. The first HTC Touch, which turned out to be the best selling WinMo phone of all time, was undoubtedly a sleek and sexy phone with clean lines, simple button layout, and touch enhancements that made people feel like they were getting a less expensive iPhone.

With the release of the Touch Diamond, which has specifications along the lines of what was rumored (VGA screen (that's 285ppi, the iPhone is 160ppi), 4GB internal memory, 528MHz processor, GPS, WiFi), HTC continues the Touch legacy, and updates the hardware to the point where even power users can become very excited.

The update to TouchFLO, known as TouchFLO 3D, is a one-screen centric approach to the GUI. You can access almost every function from the Today screen, without going into the Start menu. The Diamond is also the first Windows Mobile phone to have an accelerometer, which automatically reorients the screen when viewing photos, and presumably internet pages.

The only thing that worries me about the Diamond is that small battery - a measly 900mAh. With WiFi, HSDPA, GPS, and a fast processor, it's going to need a lot of recharges. But I think I'll be too busy polishing the phone on my t-shirt to care.

Apple has been known to state that its platform is superior because the software and hardware are well integrated and that is why things work together so well. It looks like Gigabyte is borrowing that very same line, touting that its new Smart Touch UI is far superior to the iPhone due to the tight-knit integration of software and hardware, according to reports from Engadget Mobile. The device and interface are featured on the video below.

While the device is nice and the user interface looks solid, it looks like another iClone.

I never liked the original Pantech Duo C810 on AT&T, and in looking back at the review we published of the Duo, I think I was too generous in giving the phone a 3/5 rating. What was there to like beyond the useless novelty of having two keypads? For $199, smartphone users deserve modern amenities like a scroll wheel, a spring-assisted keyboard, and decent build quality.

That said, I'm having mixed feeling about Engadget's mention of a Pantech Duo 2 C820 in the works, as I would have preferred if Pantech stayed away from Windows Mobile and not continue to taint the platform with poor quality devices. The next Duo is slated to have Windows Mobile 6.1, the same amount of memory as the first interation (128MB ROM, 64MB RAM), plus a higher resolution camera (2MP versus 1.3MP) and a redesigned exterior. It's rumored to sport a black case with rounded edges (which could make it slip into the pocket better), plus an improved dual-slide feel (which hopefully means both keypads are spring assisted, not just one) and the same 2.4" QVGA screen.

All in all, the changes to the new Duo are mostly design related, which is welcomed. Specifications will probably stay about the same across the board, making the C820 an alright phone for a person new to Windows Mobile, but definitely not for a power user.

See also:
Our Review of the Pantech Duo C810
Device Specifications