jkOnTheRun » pda

Ilium turns 11, mobile software discounted and a contest a day this week

Kevin C. Tofel — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:39:47 +0000

If you have a Windows Mobile or Palm OS device, chances are you already know the name “Ilium Software“. The folks there have been making great software for mobile devices there for 11 years today! With handhelds hitting the mainstream long after the first computers, that’s like 77 in mobile-years. OK, and dog-years too… just go with it…To celebrate their eleventh birthday, Ilium is holding a contest each day this week. Aside from great software prizes, there are $121 Amazon Gift Cards up from grabs. Note that 11 squared is 121… slick, and I can’t wait until their 20th birthday if they keep that trend going. Even if you don’t win a contest this week, you can still score a great software deal on eWallet, ListPro, NewsBreak and more because: at this link, all Ilium software products are 55% off this week. You can’t lose! Best wishes from us to you, Ilium!

Palm clearing PDA stock: buy a TX, get a Z22

Kevin C. Tofel — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 14:58:15 +0000

This is timely since folks were just debating the merits of a PDA vs. a smartphone the other day. You can go old school and get a good deal in the process if you hit the Palm store. The deal is: buy a Palm TX and you’ll get a Palm Z22 for free. The $299 TX offers integrated WiFi and Bluetooth for use on a color half-VGA screen (320 x 480). There’s 128 MB of internal storage and an SD card slot for more.The entry-level Z22 PDA would normally cost you $99 and would make a nice introductory PDA for someone new to the mobile space. Actually, I think this whole idea was stolen from my OPDAPC idea earlier this week: remember “one PDA per child?”(via Palm Infocenter)

HP iPAQ 210 PDA reviewed at Brighthand

Kevin C. Tofel — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 20:31:51 +0000

There aren’t too many pure PDAs left in the market since everyone is jamming cellphone capabilities in handhelds these days. Actually, that’s a poor choice of words… “jamming cellphone capabilities” is technically illegal, but you all know what I meant. HP continues to soldier on in the remaining market for PDAs, which is likely served today by the enterprise; at least until the OPDAPC, or One PDA Per Child project gains traction.So what’s HP up to in the PDA space? Plenty based on Brighthand’s review of the iPAQ 210. The device reminds me of my ol’ Dell Axim X51v with the large VGA screen in many ways, but there’s a few odds and ends that are improved. Instead of just a single card slot like many older PDAs had, the 210 can handle both Compact Flash and SDHC for example. If you’re in the market for a Windows Mobile 6 PDA without the phone and you’ve got around $400 to drop, I think the iPAQ 210 has to be on your short-list of potential devices.

Documents to Go upgraded for Palm OS, adds create and edit functions

Kevin C. Tofel — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 18:18:36 +0000

DataViz announced a point upgrade to Documents to Go for the Palm OS today; the old v10.001 becomes 10.002 as of today. There’s a revision history of Documents to Go available, but I don’t see the details of the new version just yet. The biggest upgrade however, has to be support for document creation and editing of Office 2007 artifacts like Word, Excel and PowerPoint docs. From my recollection, the prior version only supported document viewing; if I’m incorrect, someone can lend and hand and point out the inadvertent error.If you purchased the prior version (10.001), you’re eligible for a free upgrade from DataViz. Got an older version on your Palm OS device? You can grab the Premium Edition of this version for $29.99. New users can download a free trial and decide if the full price of $49.99 is worth it.

HP iPAQ 100 series unboxed, twisted, turned… and dropped

Kevin C. Tofel — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 15:48:23 +0000

The market for non-phone PDAs continues to decline, but that doesn’t mean new products won’t impress. After watching the Pocket PC Thoughts video unboxing and overview, I think HP has a nice product in their iPAQ 100 series device. Nice enough to turn the tide towards phone-integrated devices? No, but for folks that don’t want the phone, this looks to be a solid offering. The device has the same rubberized feel that I like on my Dash and the screen looks very generous in size; it takes up about 80% of the front face. The iPAQ looks to be as thin as the Dash and iPhone as well, yet it’s crammed with WiFi, Bluetooth a 3.5mm headset jack and a full sized SD card slot. Combine all that with a zippy 624 MHz CPU and it’s a solid little package. Literally solid. You can tell when Jason drops it accidentally and it keeps on tickin’!

HP iPAQ 210: you might see it in February, 2008. Or not.

Kevin C. Tofel — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 18:14:15 +0000

The PDA market just can’t catch a break. First, they all seem to be getting replaced by those new-fangled smartphones and now, the latest and greatest models are getting delayed. While this won’t come as a major surprise to our regular readers since we broke news that the HP iPAQ 210 delivery dates were in question, there’s a little more info to share.

Our original tipster Roger has had a tough time through the whole ordeal and shares more of his experience with us. His first order went through but was promptly canceled. The next time he went to order, the price had gone up $50 from the last time; a tragic shame and I hope that HP considers offering $50 off to everyone who ordered prior to that.The latest note from HP sent Roger doesn’t exactly inspire much confidence on when the iPAQ 210 will be available either:”Dear customer: From your HP order item # FB040AA#ABA (HP iPAQ 210 Enterprise Handheld) will not be released through this year, they are on shipping hold with no estimated ship date, the most accurate information is that this IPAQ might be available for the end of February 08, we do apologize for this inconvenience, unfortunately you order will have to be canceled, if you have received partial shipments from your order, please give us a call at 1-800-888-0292 opt 4 and any customer service representative will be glad to help you with the return, or if you want to check some other IPAQ options please give us a call at 1-800-888-5858 opt 2 op1 and any sales representative will be glad to assist you.Please let me know if you have any questions.Thanks,Customer Service Rep (name removed by kct)Hewlett-Packard CompanySMB Order managementPhone: 1 800 888 0292 ext. xxxxx” (ext. removed by kct)It’s too bad that an official statement hasn’t been made available by HP on the issue as I strongly believe in managing customer expectations. The closest we’ve had so far is confirmation on the delays from an HP PR representative.

Palm Daylight Savings rules: be sure you’re up to date

Kevin C. Tofel — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 13:55:26 +0000

Don’t forget this is the first year we’ve had in quite a while (ever?) where the Daylight Savings Time start and end dates were changed. DST started earlier and ends this weekend, which is later than usual; I’m sure that Ben Franklin and William Willett are smiling down on us right now. Or maybe they were an hour ago?Palm owners will can make sure they’re not losing an hour of light by reviewing the information at the Official Palm Blog. There are links for both Palm OS and Windows Mobile devices; chances are you’ve already got the update from the pre-DST time frame, but if you missed it, now’s the time… and now you know why you’ve been an hour late to every appointment since springtime.

New HP iPAQ 110, 210 delayed?

Kevin C. Tofel — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 15:52:09 +0000

We heard about HP’s triumphant return to the iPAQ PDA line back in September and expected to see devices getting delivered sometime this month. But something’s up in iPAQ-land and it might not be good if you wanted one of these babies sooner rather than later:

jkOTR reader Roger just pinged me via e-mail saying: "I had ordered the IPaq 210 a few weeks ago. Today an HP rep called and said that all 110 and 210 orders were being canceled and that the IPaq’s would be delayed until possibly "the first quarter of next year or later".
"I noticed a similar comment on Engadget: "I called HP today and they told me the 110 and 210 will not be released until sometime in November."
I did a standard Google search for "HP iPAQ 210", clicked the first HP store link and got the "Coming in 2008!" screenclip shown for the 210. Hmm…

Have any other readers heard about shipping dates moving or had an order canceled? Can anyone from HP shed some light? Folks are excited about the new devices; it would be a shame to see the momentum get slowed down…

Trimble Recon ruggedized PDA gets price drop, offers two CF slots

Kevin C. Tofel — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 15:33:47 +0000

Craving a rugged Windows Mobile device, but don’t have $1,699 to pony up for the Trimble Nomad? Have no fear, the Trimble Recon line is here. And only a penny less than a cool grand after a $300 price reduction across the Recon line. All Recon devices feature Windows Mobile 5; the 200X drops the processor down to a cool 200 MHz but it can take the heat since it meets MIL-STD-810F standards for extreme temps, drops and vibration. Need faster speeds? The 400X ups the CPU to….wait for it….400 MHz and starts out at $1,199. Both units have options to add integrated Bluetooth and WiFi and each does provide an outdoor viewable, reflective TFT display. Additional options are availble through the not one, but two CF slots, so you might want to dig up those old WiFi compact flash cards. Specialized devices to be sure, but I’m betting there’s a firefighter or mountaineer that could benefit. Hey, what’s with the button that looks like a Mac power switch?

Want iris recognition in your handset? Oki-dokey!

Kevin C. Tofel — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 18:17:10 +0000

Oki Electric has developed a middleware iris scanning and recognition solution that can be used on various smartphones and PDAs. No extra fancy equipment is needed as Oki’s solution can use fairly standard components: a 1-megapixel camera and a mobile CPU with a 220 MHz clock speed will do. This type of biometric recognition can be used to unlock a device without adding extra hardware like a fingerprint reader. Don’t expect to see this technology integrated until next year when it could be available across Windows Mobile, Windows XP and Symbian S60 devices.

(via Windows For Devices)

PDA for the blind shows real promise

James Kendrick — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 21:48:07 +0000

I always love finding out about mobile technology that is designed to help those with special needs be more productive and the GW Micro Voice Sense is just such a device. Running on Windows CE.NET 5.0, the Voice Sense is chock full of features to rival any PDA:

Processor: PXA270, 540MHz
Memory: 1GB (separate user data area), 192MB (128 RAM and 64 OS storage)
OS: Windows CE.NET 5.0
Ports: USB OTG (USB 2.0 Compatible), SD Slot, CF Slot
Keyboard: Perkins style Braille keyboard
Audio Output: Stereo Speakers, Headphone jack
Audio Input: Internal condenser microphone, Microphone jack
Battery: rechargeable, detachable, user-replaceable, lithium polymer, 12 hours continuous use
Networking: Wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11b/g) Bluetooth 1.1
FM Radio Receiver
Dimensions: W 18.8cm (7.4") x D 7.7cm (3.6") x H 2.5cm (0.98")
Weight: .58lbs (266g)

The Voice Sense provides output using synthesized speech but can also be paired up with GW Micro’s SyncBraille, a separate portable Braille display, to provide a rich computing environment on the go. No word on pricing for the Voice Sense nor the SyncBraille.

(via engadget)

Palm OS- reports of its demise are greatly accurate

James Kendrick — Tue, 22 May 2007 13:56:04 +0000

We’ve mentioned the lingering passing of the Palm OS more than once here on jkOnTheRun. The Palm OS has been left largely unchanged for years and with Palm jumping on the Windows Mobile bandwagon it’s no secret the OS is not going anywhere. ComputerWorld has published a review of what is likely the last device to be released with the Palm OS, the Treo 755p. They find the 755p to be like the Treos that came before it and find the worst part of the user experience to be, you guessed it, the aging Palm OS. Palm needs to get away from the Treo format, sure it’s been successful for them but they are beginning to stagnate on the hardware front like they did on the OS front. Will Palm be around much longer?

OnCourse Navigator 6 released

Kevin C. Tofel — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 15:13:04 +0000

Mobility Site shares the news for you GPS groupees: OnCourse Navigator 6 was just released! I don’t use a GPS system on a handheld since we have a nav system in the truck, but if I did use one, I’d be taking a good look at OnCourse Navigator. I watched the short demonstration video and was extremely impressed with the voice directions, 3-D view, and apparent ease-of-use.

OCN 6 resides on a miniSD card but includes an SD card adapter if your handheld uses the larger sized memory card format. If you already have a GPS receiver for your device, you can purchase just the software for $99 or $129, depending on how many POIs you want. No receiver? No problem since you can buy a bundle with a receiver for around $249. OCN 6 supports most Pocket PC and Pocket PC Phone devices running WM 2003 and up; for now Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone edition devices are not supported.

UPDATE: Mobility Site is giving away one OCN 6 bundle, which is the software AND a Bluetooth GPS receiver. Details here.

Ilium NewsBreak 2.0 review: Pocket PC Louisville

Kevin C. Tofel — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 19:18:51 +0000

Windows Mobile news and reviews are still kickin’ down in Louisville! Case in point: Matt Coddington just shot me a note about his review of NewsBreak 2.0 at Pocket PC Louisville. Looks like Ilium added solid podcast support, Windows Live integration and more to this Windows Mobile RSS reader application. Matt also likes the better support for one-handed navigation, as well as the ability to mark single items as read; previously, you could only mark an entire feed as read. If you hurry, you can purchase NewsBreak 2.0 for only $7.95; after March 15th, it jumps back up to the normal $19.95 price. For eight bucks, it looks like a winner to me but you could always get the free 30-day trial and see for yourself. Hey Matt, I could be biased, but I’m really liking the screenshots of your feeds!

T-Mobile data plans suddenly stop working

James Kendrick — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 06:10:55 +0000

I have been using a T-Mobile Dash Windows Mobile 5 smartphone for almost a week now and enjoying the seamless web integration that T-Mobile has put into the Dash. Push email, the T-Zones connectivity, even web browsing on the Dash has been a real joy. I have especially liked using the Mobile Google Reader to keep up with my RSS feeds when free time makes itself available. Until this morning, that is.

Sometime this morning I lost all ability to connect to the web. Nothing is working, I get various error messages indicating the server is unavailable. I spoke to Kevin who reports he lost his connectivity a few days ago and it still hasn’t come back online. Matt Miller reports that his connectivity dropped recently, although he got his back after a few days. Hearing this coupled with my own experience I sensed a pattern so I hopped over to the authority on mobile phones, Howard Forums.

It didn’t take me long to find a bunch of T-Mobile customers from all over the US reporting the same loss of connectivity. What’s confusing is the lack of an apparent pattern, some people report the ability to connect came back after a few hours, others report the ability to get push email but not surf the web, others that they can use the WAP connectivity but nothing else.

Some folks are offering the theory that T-Mobile finally caught on to users who have been using the web services by exploiting a hole in T-Mobile’s setup and that the carrier has blocked all the various ports to shut that down. That is backed up by this internal T-Mobile Customer Service screen (posted on Howard Forums) to help reps deal with calls about this issue:

If this is the root cause of the total loss of data connectivity it is even affecting customers (like me) who have the total internet service from T-Mobile for $30 a month, we can’t connect at all. Surely T-Mobile wouldn’t shut down their highest paying customers to curtail those who might be exploiting their system.

It’s not just the Dash owners that are suffering, it seems to be affecting almost every data user no matter the device they are using, although Windows Mobile devices seem to be particularly affected since they are heavy into data connectivity. Let’s hope that someone can shed some light on this so a solution can be reached, the lack of access to my email is killing me, and I know it’s adversely affecting others too.

Access shows ALP at 3GSM

James Kendrick — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 14:11:00 +0000

Remember a while back when Access bought PalmSource and announced the next generation Palm OS based on Linux called ALP (Access Linux Platform)? Nothing much was heard after that until the 3GSM show a couple of weeks ago when Access was showing what it reportedly version 1.0 of the Linux OS for smartphones. Based on the screenshots on PDA Street the UI is looking very polished and competitive with Windows Mobile and previous Palm releases. ALP will run on Marvell PX3xx (formerly known as Intel) and the TI OMAP processors.