Now that I’ve got Vista up and running on the Q1 Ultra Premium, it’s time for a Starbucks run later today. I just installed the VZ Access software needed for my USB727 modem so connectivity is tested and good to go. One feature the Q1UP has over my older Q1 and Q1P is that one USB port is on the top of the device. This is just awesome from a form factor standpoint. On the older models, the two USB ports were on the sides of the device, making it difficult to effectively hold and use the UMPC as one of your hands had to deal with the modem sticking out.With the top USB port, I’m not affected at all in landscape mode. I’d probably face a challenge with the device in portrait mode, but if worse comes to worse, I could put the modem in the port on the right side of the device and rotate the screen counter-clockwise. This would essentially put the USB modem back on the “top” of the device. I hope other small device manufacturers take note of this; putting the USBs on the traditional sides might not make the most sense if the unit is designed to be used in both portrait and landscape mode.

Well, I have to formally apologize to jkOTR reader, Hector Gomez. He’s been sending me snippets and clues of the upcoming Palm Treo 800w that’s been rumored for a bit now. I’ve held off until seeing something more concrete and I think today is the day that HG is vindicated. The Palm Treo 800w just showed its Windows Mobile face on a Sprint roadmap over at PalmInfocenter. Looks like Windows Mobile 6, EV-DO Rev. A, GPS, WiFi, 320 x 320 screen and of course, QWERTY keyboard. In other words: everything you’d want in a Windows Mobile Treo including models with and without a camera. Well, other than the 6.1 version of WinMo.

I didn’t know about most of these, but Darla Mack has my back. She’s listed about eight useful codes for S60 devices in case you need to fully format your handset, want to delete your Wallet information or you simply forgot the last octet of your Bluetooth radio MAC address. You know… the everyday stuff. Seriously, these could come in handy so if you’re an S60 device owner, you just might want to book mark this list. Bear in mind that if you use ‘em, you’re responsible for the outcome so don’t come crying to me… or Darla for that matter.

The quest for the perfect mobile device is a long-running and eternal one that many have undertaken and none have succeeded in finding.  I know because I am one of the worst, always looking at new gadget X to see if it will be the one.  The good discussion about the "two laptop minimum" has my thoughts going in overdrive and since I am in the enviable position of having many great gadgets at my beck and call I have been able to regularly test what constitutes the perfect device for me.  There ain’t one.

I have two distinctly different careers running at the same time, something that sets my needs apart from most folks so my thoughts may not be pertinent to you.  But they are my thoughts and I have never been too shy to share them with others so here I go again.  Take them with a grain of salt, after throwing some over your left shoulder for luck, of course.

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Looking for more control over your message alerts on a Windows Mobile device? Watchflag might be worth the two-week free trial for your WinMo 5 or 6 handheld. The app lets you create custom notification rules based on e-mail and text messages, even mail in subfolders. You can set Watchflag to light the display, vibrate and repeat either until you acknowledge, so you can be sure you won’t miss a note from your significant other. Or your boss. Or both if you’re dating your boss… we don’t judge here.If you like the software enough to buy it, there’s a special going on right now. You’ll save 50% off the $30 price and pay just $15. It’s probably good that they’re having a sale; I’m not sure an app like this is really worth $30, but then again, I’m my own boss and my significant other works at home too.(via Jason Langridge)

You’ll want to hurry up and hit this GBM post if you want one of 100 Evernote beta invites. James and I have been very impressed by our own first looks of this beta, which brings “the cloud” and a Mac client into the picture. Run, don’t walk! But no pushing and shoving, please…

I almost passed up this handy little trick from the How-To Geek until I realized how useful it could be on a smaller screened device. Using the Stylish extension for Firefox and an Auto-Hide script, you can keep a clean appearance in your browser’s status bar, but see data from other extensions when you need to. After installing Stylish and the script, you’ll see the standard status bar info in your browser during normal use. Hovering your cursor over the status bar un-hides any data from other extensions that reside there. Of course, we touchscreen device owners can’t just hover, so you’ll need to tap the status bar for the same effect. Once your cursor leaves the area, all data from your extensions is promptly hidden.Here’s a sample of everything hidden:And here’s a shot when you hover on the status bar:It doesn’t get smaller-screened device users any more real estate, but it helps make good use of what you have and keeps things tidy.

As I sit here eating my Pad Thai in front of the display my mind keeps returning to the speed difference I notice between the HP 2710p and the Fujitsu P1620.  Both machines are snappy running Vista Business but I have noticed that the HP is snappier than the Fujitsu most of the time.  Not tremendously snappier but when you can notice it the speed is definitely a factor.  Both devices are configured almost exactly the same with Core 2 Duo 1.2 GHz processors, 2 GB of memory and slow hard drives.  The only real difference is the installed graphics accelerator, the Fujitsu runs the older Intel 945 chipset family and the HP the newer 965 family.

Watching the discussion about the Vista Windows Index ratings of many different devices in Kevin’s thread it occurred to me I would be interested to see how my two devices compare in that regard.  I don’t put much stock in the Windows Index ratings as a rule but in this case with two identically configured systems except for the graphics the WI would be a good indicator of how Vista thinks the older chipset stacks up against the newer one.  So while munching my noodles I had both systems run a system scan on their respective hardware and here’s what came out of that, the HP on top:

The only appreciable difference as expected is the graphics subsystem but I have to admit I was surprised how much lower the rating is for the older 945 chipset.  As you can see both graphics ratings are down significantly compared to the 965 which certainly explains why the Fuji is a bit slower than the comparable HP.  The Windows Aero rating is much lower so that’s probably what I am seeing as far as the performance goes.  Don’t get me wrong, the Fujitsu is plenty fast and I’m happy with that but I sure wish Fujitsu had upgraded the graphics chipset along with everything else.  I’m also surprised that apparently the memory in the HP is faster than that in the Fujitsu if the second rating is to be believed.  Now that we know the Fujitsu graphics rating is lower than Kevin’s new Q1 I’ll never hear the end of it.

SlingMedia continues its mobile handset strategy like it’s playing a giant game of “RISK: the handheld edition”. Having already conquered the continents of Windows Mobile and Symbian S60, the generals are place-shifting their attention to the land of UIQ. The following countries are next in the line of support: Sony Ericsson’s P1i, P990i, W960i, W950i and M600i plus the Motorola MOTORIZR Z8. Look for the UIQ client this summer, along with an updated player for the Nokia N95.

Poor ol’ EDGE. It’s the Rodney Dangerfield of wireless data technology thanks to the bum rap of its relatively slower download and upload speeds compared to 3G and up. A little respect might be in order as of today. Nokia Siemens just introduced the first phase of EDGE Evolution with download speeds up to 592 kbps. That’s double the current EDGE standard. EGPRS 2 is the following step which offers another doubling for EDGE; that’s almost 1.2 Mbps. Here’s the best part: according to the press release, the speed boost will be available via a software upgrade for EDGE radios in the third quarter of this year. Probably worth noting that Om Malik thinks those first generation iPhones might get upgraded. If he’s right, will there be a need for a 3G iPhone after all? All in all, good news for mobile tech, but I’m really curious what this will do to battery life since current EDGE devices use less power than faster 3G radios. Since it’s a software upgrade, perhaps we’ll get the speed boost without too much (or any) of a battery hit.(via the::unwired)