Last month Verizon and Microsoft entered into an agreement to push the Bing mobile app onto BlackBerrys. It was a standard agreement of this type — owners got pushed a Bing icon that let them download and install the Bing mobile app simply. Not a big deal in itself, but some strange things are now happening to some BlackBerry owners on the Verizon network that have people up in arms. It seems that many Verizon BlackBerry owners have seen all search provider options except Bing disappear from the browser, and they are not happy about that.
By James Kendrick, Thursday, December 17, 2009 08:57 PST
When I tell people that I use Google’s Gmail to manage my contacts, I generally get laughed at. I can see why — until recently, the Contacts functionality was meager at best. It still has a ways to go, but to quote the fab four, “I’ve got to admit it’s getting better, it’s getting better all the time.”…
By Kevin C. Tofel, Wednesday, December 16, 2009 09:30 PST
Verizon yesterday announced a new software tool that moves media from computers to handsets over USB. V CAST Media Manager, powered by Smith Micro Software, transfers photos, videos and music from a Windows PC to a number of supported phones and can keep both devices in sync. A quick glance at the supported phones shows nearly a dozen feature-phones and music-centric devices, so I see the need for such software. Also supported, however, is the BlackBerry Storm, which might be better served with the BlackBerry Media Sync application. And Verizon says additional phones will be supported soon, including Google Android devices. V CAST Media Manager features include…
By Kevin C. Tofel, Tuesday, December 15, 2009 10:00 PST
With so many ebook readers hitting retail shelves and web stores these days, it’s no surprise that Amazon is moving Kindle content to other devices. November saw Kindle for PC, and now Amazon says that Kindle for Mac is “coming soon.” I suppose coming soon means different things to different people, but I’d like to think that Amazon means by the time CES rolls around in a few weeks. I was nosing around the Kindle site last night when I caught the brief Kindle for Mac blog post from a few days back…
By Kevin C. Tofel, Tuesday, December 15, 2009 07:44 PST
These days it’s not unreasonable to see a Sprint phone later appear on Verizon — or vice versa, depending on the case. After all, both carriers use the CDMA network, so there’s no major reworking of a handset’s innards. But in the case of the Palm Pixi, a little rejiggering was done. Yes, the Pixi will land on Verizon’s network, but more importantly, it has one feature that Sprint’s version sorely lacks — Verizon’s Palm Pixi will sport a Wi-Fi radio, per the FCC filing reported by PreCentral.
By Kevin C. Tofel, Monday, December 14, 2009 12:30 PST
Image Credit: RadioShack
James pointed out a holiday price drop on the Nokia Booklet 3G this morning, so I’ll be fair to the other kids in netbook land — the LG X120 is down to $49 through Christmas Eve at RadioShack stores. Like the Booklet 3G, the X120 pricing requires a 2-year commitment to AT&T’s wireless broadband service at $60 a month. So regardless of the great deal up front, you’re looking at $1,440 over 24 months unless you decide to ante up an early termination fee of $175 along the way.
By Kevin C. Tofel, Monday, December 14, 2009 10:45 PST
Nokia’s first effort to break into the netbook market is a pretty nice machine. The build quality of the Booklet 3G is first-rate, and just about the only negative comments reviewers have is over the high price. Nokia has built an expensive netbook, and the market is not one known for accepting high-priced devices. Best Buy is looking to address that concern and is offering the Booklet 3G for $199 with a 2-year Data Connect plan on AT&T in the U.S.
By James Kendrick, Monday, December 14, 2009 08:14 PST
If it seems that I’m obsessed with these dual-screen notebooks that are beginning to appear in public, that will only get worse. After watching this unboxing video of the Kohjinsha DZ notebook with two 10.1-inch screens, my interest has been piqued even further. It’s clear that Kohjinsha has done a marvelous job designing the two-screen operation, and I can see a use for one of these. The only negative thing I come away with is wondering why they put a swivel screen on this baby? It makes no sense to make a notebook with two screens into a convertible, especially since there is no touch option. I really question how well that swivel hinge will hold up in the wild. Otherwise, the DZ looks to be as small and light as can be, given that it has two screens. And don’t miss that hidden internal USB slot for 3G modems. Nicely designed, that.
By James Kendrick, Friday, December 11, 2009 09:33 PST
How do you make a notebook with two screens that is better than the Kohjinsha DX we told you about recently? You do what Onkyo is doing, and you rebadge that other model, but make it lots better for a price that is only slightly higher. The Onkyo DX has the same two sliding 10.1-inch screens, but they display at a higher resolution than the Kohjinsha model (1366×768 vs. 1024×600). Onkyo includes the same AMD processor and other components, but it’s doubled the RAM and the HDD size. All this extra goodness only costs about $50. It would appear the game is on in the dual-screen notebook segment.
By James Kendrick, Thursday, December 10, 2009 07:31 PST
When it comes to netbooks, $400 to $500 is generally the upper limit in terms of price. Once you get above that threshold, you start bumping into the bigger cousins that offer more processing power at the sacrifice of a little battery life. So that makes me wonder about Lenovo’s S12 with Nvidia Ion graphics at $649 — how does it compare with other high-end netbooks that cost less? LAPTOP Magazine helps answer that question with a full review of this netbook configuration and a good comparison to a comparable competitor.
By Kevin C. Tofel, Wednesday, December 9, 2009 11:04 PST
Android phones are Google devices at the basest level, that’s obvious. But there are a lot of people out there who need the ability to work with Exchange Servers for email. The Droid handles Exchange email out of the box, so you’d think it would be a good fit for just about everyone. Unfortunately, there is a nasty bug on the Droid that some owners are reporting that makes Exchange email stop working reliably after awhile.
By James Kendrick, Wednesday, December 9, 2009 07:52 PST
Nuance knows dictation, as it produces Dragon NaturallySpeaking, arguably the best speech-recognition program on any platform. It’s now leveraging that expertise in an interesting way, by releasing Dragon Dictate for the iPhone. The free app allows the creation of email and text messages by voice, simply by speaking them into the app. Dictation can also be done into the clipboard for including the text into any app.
By James Kendrick, Tuesday, December 8, 2009 10:40 PST
Super-thin notebooks are all the rage, but they invariably come at a big price premium. Dell proved that with the release of the swanky Adamo XPS, a notebook just 0.65-inches thick for $1,799. It was looking like super-thin notebooks would never be priced for the masses, until the Vostro V13 appeared from Dell. The specs of the V13 are very respectable, especially considering the price tag of $450…
By James Kendrick, Tuesday, December 8, 2009 09:40 PST
Those folks at AT&T are certainly cheeky. They get the reputation that their network performance sucks, and they strike back with TV ads that show how good their coverage is. They ignore the fact that voice and data coverage are two different things, and they totally neglect that their voice performance is mediocre, no matter how orange the map may be.
By James Kendrick, Monday, December 7, 2009 12:15 PST
I live in Firefox all day, and I’m always on the lookout for add-ons that increase my productivity. I found such a utility recently, and it has already become my favorite add-on. KwiClick brings one-click searching to Firefox that is outstanding. Just enter the Google search term as usual, and the results instantly pop up in a separate window. Terms can be searched in Wikipedia, Twitter, and a number of other services just as easily. It’s hard to describe all of the utility that KwiClick adds, so just watch the video…
By James Kendrick, Monday, December 7, 2009 07:11 PST
I’m the first to admit that my office is unruly — a veritable mess of cables that I can’t straighten out no matter what I do. It’s a case of too many gadgets in too small a space, and those cables are everywhere. I have longed for a simple solution to the tangled cord problem, and this concept is the best one I’ve seen yet.
By James Kendrick, Friday, December 4, 2009 11:35 PST
You remember wireless USB, that technology that sounded promising but never seemed to go anywhere? As a refresher, wireless USB is exactly what the name implies, the ability to use USB peripherals with PCs without messing with cables.
By James Kendrick, Thursday, December 3, 2009 17:45 PST
Mobile technology can be used in many ways, but I admit I never saw this method coming. The iWallet leverages a fingerprint sensor and Bluetooth technology to keep your stuff protected. This doesn’t come cheap, with a fiberglass model going for $300. That price quickly ratchets up when you opt for the kevlar/carbon fiber model, which will set you back a whopping $600.
By James Kendrick, Thursday, December 3, 2009 11:55 PST
Image Credit: Fujitsu
The Asia Pacific division of Fujitsu has a new handheld computer to show off, and it reminds me of a narrower version of the Sony VAIO P. The Fujitsu UH900 offers a 5.6″ inch multi-touch display and a full QWERTY keyboard in a clamshell form factor for running Microsoft Windows 7. The keyboard looks to be cramped due to the small screen size, but it helps that there’s a wide bezel on the left and right of the display — that allows for a larger base and keyboard. Overall dimensions for the UH900 are 20.4cm x 10.65cm x 2.38cm, so that keyboard has to fit in a 7.87″ wide base. Like the VAIO P, the UH900’s display is what I’d consider high resolution for its size — Fujitsu reports WXGA resolution, which should reduce scrolling a bit. Fujitsu made good use of that wide bezel next to the screen, although a wider display might be more attractive. Five “Touch Buttons” fit next to the screen, to offer one-touch resolution changes, ECO mode, or launch apps — three of the buttons are user configurable.
By Kevin C. Tofel, Thursday, December 3, 2009 09:35 PST
A leaked Motorola road map showed a Sholes tablet and sure enough, a Sholes tablet has been peeped. That’s the story over at mobile-01 (translated), anyway. Aside from a few partial photos of the alleged keyboard-less Droid, there’s not much new that wasn’t in the road map leak…
By Kevin C. Tofel, Wednesday, December 2, 2009 14:00 PST
When Google recently shared its progress and plans for the Chrome OS, one tidbit left out was the names of hardware partners. We now know one of them, and it’s no surprise to me that Acer has stepped forward. The company told DigiTimes that it plans to offer the first Chrome OS netbook in the second half of 2010. Why isn’t this shocking? Early this year, Acer was the first top-tier hardware company to adopt an Android strategy with netbooks. That effort was an on-again, off-again affair, but in the end, Acer did bring a product to the table. The netbook changed from an Android-only device into a basic XP netbook that first boots into Android, but the objective was met. I didn’t see much merit in it at the time, and I’m not hearing about any sales records for the device, either. But now I’m at a crossroads for where Google fits in the netbook space, even if Acer isn’t.
By Kevin C. Tofel, Wednesday, December 2, 2009 10:05 PST
When I first got word about a unique notebook from Kohjinsha that had two 10.1-inch screens, I must admit I never thought it would come to market. As cool as the prototype looked to be, a dual-screen notebook is not something that usually makes it to the buying public. Imagine my suprise to see that the Kohjinsha DZ notebook is now available to purchase on the company’s web site.
By James Kendrick, Wednesday, December 2, 2009 09:17 PST
Chrome OS has only been “out” a short while, but due to its open-source roots, folks are already making it available for those hardy souls who want to give it a try. Dell has already put it out there for Mini 10v owners, but others were left to their own designs. No more, as a distribution, dubbed Diet Chromium OS, has been released, and reports have it working on just about everything out there.
By James Kendrick, Tuesday, December 1, 2009 11:30 PST
Apparently, you can buy a decent external iPhone battery solution for $15 — or less. Fellow geek, Josh Bancroft, was leery of the MonoPrice offer, but decided to take the low-cost risk. And after reading his thoughts as well as some other reviews, I’m ready to splurge for my own external battery. Why this battery over others, you ask? The answer can be summed up in one word: value.
By Kevin C. Tofel, Tuesday, December 1, 2009 10:20 PST
A hot topic when it comes to slates is the wireless keyboard. As handy as slates can be, there are always times when you wish you had a decent mobile keyboard to tap on for text entry. There aren’t many mobile keyboard options, so the Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 6000 from Microsoft is worth a look.
Verizon, Bing Make Google Go Boom on BlackBerry
Broadsheet
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How the World Works
