Mobileslate

Q is for (somewhat) Quick but not Quickly

Earlier in the month at Interop, I walked by the Motorola booth and checked out the Moto Q. Seen the pictures, read the blogs and articles, but finding a demo to look at was entirely difficult. I asked the booth rep from Motorola when the phone was going to be lauched, but he wasn’t quite sure. Well, CNet announced today that it would be availble on Verizon Wireless next week.

It’s About Time! I believe a lot of us have been anticipating more choice when it comes to QWERTY PDAphones. Blackberries and Treos are nice, but more choice in the market is great to see. The hope is that these smartphones will start to make a dent in the overall handset space as they currently represent less than 1% of 2 Billion handsets on the market. The Nokia Communicator 9300 is not incredibly popular in the USA, but Europe and the Middle East, where RIM and Palm have yet to pollenate their mobiles are rather scarce. HP’s iPaq and the MS Windows Mobile HTC handsets seem to be sprinkled about as well. The race is on, the market is ripe for growth and the number of choices is great. Let’s just remember not to loose site of trying to increase productivity, access and convenience in the process.

JavaOne 2006

Mobile seemed to be one of the key themes at the Annual Java One Conference once again in 2006. As maturity on mobile standards as well as smartphones becomes the commonplace, taking enterprise applications and building mobile extensions are hot topics. Two themes, mobile gaming and 3D graphics are back again and it’s only getting better. While standalone games are abundant, it is good to see that network and social gaming is growing. In my opinion, this is perhaps one of the best integrated uses on gaming on the mobile platform — connectivity to others provides more stimulation and greater longevity on the mobile handset.

On a slightly separate topic, here is something that I found quite refreshing: the mobile credit card register. To purchase my Jasper S20 Developer Version in conjunction with the promotion from Savaje, I noticed that my transaction was processed using this mobile register below. It’s not a novel idea since mobile handsets are basically just modems with lots of extras, but the integration and use makes a lot of sense.

From the picture, it looks like one large unit, but it’s actually two. The printer is on the left. The magnetic swipe is actually attached to the phone. The software and communication takes place using the modem functionality on the phone and then the phone connects via IrDA to the printer for signatures and receipts. Since the credit card transaction requires relatively low bandwidth and minimal data transfer, I really believe that this is an extremely effective way for vendors at a tradeshow, flea market, or any kiosk to easily transact business. One could even take it a couple steps further and either integrate a smart card authentication, fingerprint verification, or signature pad for electronic capture. Mobile payment will continue to evolve, and this is certainly one form factor that could really work.Lastly of note for the show was the Savaje booth that featured a Jasper S20 Developer phone. While the phone was not free, it certainly had a lot of goodies right out of the box. Essentially it’s a Java phone from the ground up. It sports a Java OS, unlocked GSM world phone, support for CJK (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) out of the box, a camera phone, and even a miniSD slot. The charger plug is a miniUSB so connectivity and recharging is convenient, even without the AC adapter plug. My only complaint to date is the tiny stick navigation which is more unfriendly than the design from SonyEricsson on their mobile handsets. The idea behind the phone is to encourage Java developers to write applications and specifically take advantage of the JSR-209: Advanced Graphics and User Interface Optional Package for the J2ME^TM Platform.

Layers of connected-ness

Still looking for free WiFi in public places? Frankly, the more WiFi becomes available, the more people need to monetize on it. So I finally broke down and joined the class of workers that have multiple wireless devices. Not counting my notebook computer which has WiFi, IrDA and Bluetooth, I purchased an HP iPAQ 6515. To extend my connectivity to not just coffee shops, airport lounges, I also pickup up a Novatel Merlin U730 HSDPA data card. Now that I have it, I can end my tethered fixed wireless mobility. It was seeming to be a problem particularly since providing my credit card information each time I would visit a new location as well as the number of WiFi profiles I had to keep was starting to be a bit of a headache.

The tradeoffs that I have to make are the fact that i have to carry another card with me which shortens my battery life. I also need to be content that my bandwidth will through a smaller pipe and that signal strength is more important with the data card than standard WiFi access points. With respect to my PDAphone, I will have to carry another AC adapter for recharging another device, and keep track of another device. The price of blogging about and using mobile technology! Some might ask why I did not use the iPAQ as my main phone; initially, I thought that was a good idea, but some of the use cases were a bit untenable. One example was talking on a conference call, which having to send and receive as well as sift through my email. Even with a bluetooth headset, so I could look at the screen, a voice and data connection just didn’t work very well. And then there was my somewhat odd feeling when I would attend social events in the evening and weekend and have to carry a rather bulky PDA instead of a more slim and “less jacket/pants pocket bulging handset.” So far though, the voice quality and the GPS on the iPAQ has been better than expect. Even using my bluetooth headset with it works quite well. Taking pictures with it has been a bit of a challenge, because of the awkward controls, holding it steady to not ge to fuzzy image took some getting used to. While I become even more connected, in the coming months, I will try to carefully monitor my usage patterns to see two things: 1. How dependent I become to be connected anywhere I go and 2. Will I suffer withdrawal if I cannot connect or don’t connect for extended periods of time. While it all sounds great, behavioral changes are bound to occur.

SLVR of Pink

Visiting the Cingular.com site the other day and saw the newly released Motorola Pink SLVR. My thoughts: “Just in time for Mother’s Day.” Funny how they edged out T-Mobile on this model, when T-Mobile focused on exclusivity when it came to the Motorola RAZR. Just goes to show you that mobile/wireless is a constant ongoing battle. Can’t be complacent.

Happy Mother’s Day

Wireless @ Interop 2006 Las Vegas

Well, Interop isn’t exactly the most relevant show to attend for mobile and wireless, but just like HotSpots, there’s always bound to be wireless at almost any show I attend these days. One of the most things that I really took notice was the Lightpointe FlightStrata access point. This rather oversized network connector uses a high-bandwidth optical link and unlicensed radio frequency (RF) technology connectivity in all weather conditions at distances up to 5 km. Great for multi-building campuses where you don’t want to dig up the street. I am curious however on the theoritical limits of physical obstruction that can degrade or block access. It seems like a great way to have both a redundant connection as well as link up multiple physical locations quickly and easily.