MobilityMinded

Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA PCMCIA modem card

2009-11-09T19:19:15Z

You might remember that I use a Lenovo X60 tablet powered by Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit as my primary workhorse, however one of the things that I do miss is an embedded HSDPA-modem.

The Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA PCMCIA modem card is provides a solution that comes very close to an embedded HSDPA modem card and in this article I will share my thoughts and first hand experiences.

1. Specifications and contents of the retail package

The picture above shows the contents of the retail package which I received from the local distributer in the Netherlands: Capestone - Brings it together.

The retail box consists of the Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA PCMCIA modem card itself and a quick start guide, which describes the installation procedure. Why isn’t there a CD included with software and drivers on it?

Arne Hess, Windows Mobile MVP & Editor in Chief of the::unwired has summarized an excellent answer to this question:

“[...] the Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA uses Option’s Zero-CD technology which means that all required applications, manuals and drivers are distributed and installed automatically when the GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA is inserted for the first time. There is no need for CD installation, which makes the GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA a truly Plug’n Play solution.”

I must admit this is an excellent solution, which I have seen before on my Huawei E160 HSDPA dongle for my HP Mini 1000 as well.

Specifications Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA

On the Option website you can read the following specification overview of the Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA:

HSUPA/HSDPA/UMTS Air Interface:
- WCDMA 850/1900/2100 MHz
- 3GPP FDD compliant, up to 7.2 Mbps Peak Rate
- UE Power Class 3
- HSUPA Category 5
High Speed packet-switched data:
- Support for UMTS QoS traffic classes
- Support for PPP, IP transparent and non-transparent modes
- Circuit-switched data Single-RAB streaming: 64, 57.6, 28.8 and 14.4 kbps
- Dual antenna Receiver Diversity
- GE 301: EMEA variant supporting diversity on 2100 MHz
- GE 302: World variant supporting diversity on 850 and 1900 MHz
- Receiver Equalization
EDGE/GSM Air Interface:
- 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
- EDGE Power Class E2, GSM Power Class 1 at 1800/1900 MHz and Power Class 4 at 850/900 MHz; coding scheme UL & DL – CS 1-4, MCS 1-9
Packet-switched data:
- Multislot (E)GPRS Class 12, (E)GPRS Class B Type 1 MT
- Streaming, Background and Interactive QoS Classes Supported
- Circuit-switched data: 14.4, 12.2 and 9.6kbps

You might noticed that I highlighted some of the bullets in the specification overview above. First it is excellent to see that the Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA supports data transferspeeds up to 7.2 Mbps. This is more than most cellular networks can provide (at least in the Netherlands).

Furthermore you can see that the version I use from the Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA is the GE301 for Europe Middle East and Africa, supporting diversity on 2100 MHz. If you want your questions answered about the different frequencies globally, the article of Johan van Mierlo, Windows Mobile MVP, is highly recommended.

2. Installation of the Option Globetrotter GT MAX

In one of the previous paragraphs I already mentioned Option’s Zero-CD technology, resulting in a plug and play experience when you first insert the Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA card. In this section I will cover the installation of the Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA card from the moment of first inserting the PCMCIA card into my Windows 7 Ultimate powered Lenovo X60 Tablet.

However before you do, please insert your SIM card according to the Quick Start Guide, which is included in the retail box.

When you insert the Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA card for the first time, a window pops-up and shows the progress of the Driver Software Installation. As you may see a mass storage device is recognized, and this is exactly the location where the setup installer is located. If a message pops-up to run the according GlobeTrotter Connect exe-file, please confirm to start the installation.

If you want to be 110% sure you have the latetst version of the GlobeTrotter Connect software, than please download the latest version from the Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA support website.

The picture above shows the “welcome-screen” when you have double clicked on the installer, and with next you start the installation wizard. In the picture below you can see that you need to read the license agreement in the next step, check the “I agree” box and click next to continue.

The next step in the installation wizard is selecting, and if you want changing, the destination folder of the Option GlobeTrotter Connect software. For me the default location, as shown in the picture above, is just fine.

Now that all neccesary information is gathered, you are ready to install the Option GlobeTrotter Connect software. Start the installation with clicking on next.

You can see that the Option GlobeTrotter Connect software is being installed, and you see the progess in the bar on the updating system screen, as shown in the picture above. If the installationof the Option GlobeTrotter Connect software is finished you receive the message of succesfull installation as shown in the picture below.

When you have hit the finish-button after the successful installation you might think that you are ready to go. However the Driver Software Installation screen pops-up again and installs the Network Interface, Application Interface and Diagnostics interface for the Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA on my Lenovo X60 tablet running Windows 7 Ultimate.

After the installation of this last pack of drivers, you hit close and you are ready to go.

As you have seen the Option Zero-CD technology, works remarkably well. The setup-wizard guides you in a few steps through the setup-process, and the combination with Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit is great. The Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA is directly recognized by Windows 7 and the drivers are automatically installed without a single problem.

3. Option Globetrotter GT MAX in practice

However the most important question of this article is “How will the Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA modem card hold in practice?”. In this section I will share my experiences with the Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA PCMCIA modem card so far.

As a benchmark I will use the review of the “Asus EEE 904HG – Netbook with embedded 3G“, which had an inernal Huawei – EM770 HSUPA modem.

3.1 Option GlobeTrotter Connect Software

At first you deploy the butterfly antennas of the Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA PCMCIA modem card, and launch the Option GlobeTrotter Connect software after it.

What you first notice is the “simplicity” of the user interface of the Option Globetrotter Connect software, like you can see in the picture below.

In the top of the window you see a “Connect” and and ”SMS Centre” button, and just below the SMS Center button you can see a clickable link to “Hide Settings“. This command is used to fold in the connection settings, which results in a windows withe just two buttons.

In the connection settings block you can see a first row with “Technology Preference” and “Pin Code“. In the technology preference block you can select the prefered type of connection.

For example when you are in an area with just EDGE/GPRS coverage, you don’t want to waste batterylife on the constant band switch, so in this case you simply click on the EDGE/GPRS Only option.

Furthermore you can enable or disable the pincode on your sim-card, with one click. In my case I have my Vodafone sim-card secured with a pincode, which I would advise to everyone.

The final part of the settings block are the connection details, where I can enter User Name, Password and most important the APN (accesspoint name). This is really helpful if you switch a data sim-card when you are abroad.

Despite there is a kind of automatic connection configuration I always check if the right APN is configured in order to avoid roaming and the resulting high telephone bills.

In the screenshot above you see the that I have my Lenovo X60 tablet connected with the Vodafone NL network enjoying HSDPA coverage. Furthermore you notice that all the connection settings and details are grey, which means not able to change when connected.

In the scenario when you hide the settings, these simply fold in with a very very simple two-button user interface. You just have the two buttons and the settings-link, as well as the network status.

A small point of feedback would be the automatic hiding of the settings when you hit the connect button, and in the case when you open the GlobeTrotter Connect software you want the settings to be shown automatically in order to check the right APN and other connection details.

When you click on the SMS Centre button you open up the SMS Center, which again has a very simple but very intuitive user interface. You can see in the screenshot above that it is very simple to sent (and receive) sms messages from the Option GlobeTrotter Connect software, comperable with the e-mail experience in Microsoft Outlook 2007.

In the screenshot above you can see that the Option GlobeTrotter Connect software can be accessed from either (1) the program window or (2) the tray icon.

With a rightclick on the tray icon I can open up a quick menu with the following commands: connect to the Vodafone NL network, open the Option GlobeTrotter Connect, SMS Centre. These are all things you can do from the Option GlobeTrotter Connect program windows as well.

However there are two actions that you can do only exclusively via the tray icon. At first you can check the about screen of the Option GlobeTrotter Connect software, and second you can run a diagnostics “scan”.

As you can see in the screenshot above the diagnostics provide you a somewhat more advanced view on the current status of the Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA PCMCIA modem card. In some situations this can be helpful, but this is not a primary command you run every time you use the modem card.

Despite the simplicity of GUI of the Option GlobeTrotter Connect software it simply does everything you need in practical use, and even more important it does the job very well. My experiences that last weeks are that this is a very robust and stable piece of software.

3.2 Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA in my Lenovo X60 Tablet

In this paragraph I would like to have a quick look at how well the Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA card fits into the PCMCIA slot of the Lenovo X60 tablet.

In the picture above you can see the Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA card, with its butterfly antennas deployed. In the middle you can futhermore see a connector to attach an external antenna to get an even better reception in case you are in an area with a minimum cellular coverage.

What you can see even better in the picture above is the small portion of the Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA card that sticks out on the side of the Lenovo X60 tablet.

It varies between 5 and 8 mm. which is almost nothing compared to an attached Huawei E-160 HSDPA dongle or the previous versions of PCMCIA modem cards, resulting in huge antennas on the side of your notebook.

Actually I don’t remove the Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA card from the PCMCIA slot, and just leave it in there permanently. It even fits without any problems in the ”Waterfield Sleevecase for Lenovo X60 Tablet (8-cell battery)“

Concluding thoughts and wrap up

There are still a lot of notebooks out there (especially in corporate environments) without a build-in HSDPA modem, but which feature a PCMCIA card slot. Therefore I do think that there still is a good market for the Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA modem card.

Furthermore the Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA modem card, is very easy to install and it works without a single problem on Microsoft Windows 7, even it is the 64bit version of Microsoft’s latest Operating System.

The Option GlobeTrotter Connect software is very well balanced. The simplicity of the userinterface combined with the robustness and stability during practical use make it a very reliable solution. If I compare the GlobeTrotter Connect software with the included software on the Asus EEE 904HG, the Option GlobeTrotter Connect software is simpler to use, and has a less extensive menu structure.

The functional hardware design is one of the main drivers for buying the Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA modem card. The butterfly antennas provide excellent reception, but if not used these can be stored easily within the PCMCIA card. The mechnism feels pretty solid.

Furthermore there is just a minor part of the Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA modem card that sticks out on the side of my Lenovo X60 tablet. I just leave the Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA modem card in the PCMCIA cardslot permanently.

Overall conclusions

If you combine the excellent functional hardware design with the include very rich but easy to use GlobeTrotter Connect software, the Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA modem card is the next best option if you have a notebook which doesn’t feature a build-in modem. You simply can’t go wrong with the Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA modem card!!

Arne Hess, Windows Mobile MVP and Editor in Chief of the::unwired, has published a video review on the Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA PCMCIA modem card, which is highly recommended to check out.

Finally special thanks to the people from Capestone, who provided me with outstanding- and knowledgable pre-sales advice, and answered my (sometimes tricky) questions very well. You might want to check out their renewed website, on which you can find more good mobile solutions !

HTC HD2 review – A new era in Windows Phones’ history

2009-11-05T19:28:03Z

We have waited long for this device, but finally it’s here. There were a lot of rumors about the HD2, also known as HTC Leo. Some people believed it would be a (killer) Android device and others told us that it would be the first HTC device with the 1 Gigahertz Snapdragon processor and a capacitive screen. The last party was right.

The HTC HD2 has been released to the public with a Snapdragon processor, a large 4,3″ capacitive touchscreen, lots of ROM and RAM and all this in a 11 mm tick housing. Currently there is no other phone with these impressive specifications and comparing it to an iPhone 3GS only reveals that HTC has done a very good job and beats the iPhone in every single way !

1. First impressions

Let’s have a look at this new device and we’ll start as always with a first impression. Designers at HTC must have thought that you’ll never get a second chance for a first impression. So they added some exciting features to the HD2.

First, it is big ! Bigger than a Touch Pro2 and bigger than a normal HD. In fact it is close to the size of the HTC Universal. When thinking of the Universal, you are thinking about a bulky device, but the HD2 is only 11 millimeters thick ! That is only 1 millimeter less than the first HD, but devices tend to get smaller and smaller and the HD2 is a great example of this. With the size of the devices also comes the huge 4,3″ screen. There is only a small edge besides the screen so it looks like the complete front of the device is a screen.

The HD2 also features the new HTC Sense interface with Twitter integration and Footprints. All this runs on Windows Mobile 6.5 and with the help of a 1 Gigahertz Snapdragon processor, this device is a dream to work with ! There is absolutely no lag at all in any menu or when using the Sense interface. It feels snappier than ever !

The device furthermore features a 3,5″ headphone jack and instead of Mini-USB, there is a Micro-USB connector at the bottom of the HD2. On the backside you will find only the lens of the 5 Megapixel camera. Next to the lens there a two very bright LED’s that should give you sharp and well-lit pictures in the dark. All together, HTC did a great job by packing all these features in one device. There’s only one surprise: No stylus ! But you wont need it because of the capacitive screen. Now let’s get a bit more into detail and see what the exact specifications are.

2. Specifications of HTC HD2

On the HTC HD2 product page you can find a detail overview with specifications, and you directly notice that this Windows Phone is a powerhouse:

CPU Processing Speed: 1 GHz Snapdragon™ processor
Memory: ROM: 512 MB, RAM: 448 MB
Display: 4,3″ with Capacitive touch screen and 480 X 800 WVGA resolution
Size: 67×120,5×11 mm
Weight: 157 grams (5.54 ounces) with battery
Expansion slot: microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
Talk time: WCDMA: Up to 320 mins, GSM: Up to 380 mins
Standby time: WCDMA: Up to 390 hours, GSM: Up to 490 hours
Camera: 5 megapixel color camera with Auto focus and Dual LED flashlight
Battery type: Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery with 1230 mAh capacity
Connectors: 3.5 mm stereo audio jack and Standard Micro-USB (5-pin micro-USB 2.0)
Sensors: G-Sensor, Proximity sensor and Ambient light sensor
Network speeds:

3G Up to 7.2 Mbps download speed and up to 2 Mbps upload speed
GPRS: Up to 114 kbps download speed
EDGE: Up to 560 kbps download speed
Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 B/G

Connectivity (Europe): HSPA/WCDMA: 900/2100 MHz and GSM: 850/950/1800/1900 MHz
Connectivity (Asia Pacific): HSPA/WCDMA: 900/2100 MHz and GSM: 850/950/1800/1900 MHz
Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 2.1 with Enhanced Data Rate
Tethering: Internet Sharing through USB or Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Router
Location-based aids: Internal GPS antenna and Digital Compass

Remarkably are the 1GHz Snapdragon processor and the massive 4.3″ WVGA screen.

3. What is in the box ?

Although our HTC HD2 arrived in a white (review) box and only contained a charger, a synchronization cable and a headset, the contents of the retail package are the same with the addition of a manual, a warranty card, a quick start guide and a accessory guide.

You are probably also looking for a screen protector because every HTC device you bought in the past had one in the box, but you won’t find any in the box of your HTC HD2. The reason for this is probably that the screen of the HD2 is made of different material than a normal screen and should be unscratchable, just like the screen of the HTC Hero. Only time will tell if this is the correct assumption. A screen protector could also interfere with the capacitive display and your finger. Therefore it might not react as quick and smooth as without a screen protector.

Chris Davies, Editor from SlashGear, has compiled an unboxing video which provides an additional overview of what is in the HTC HD2 box.

4. Functional hardware design

After the first impressions and an overview of the items which are included in the box it is time to strongly focus on the functional- and hardware design of the powerhouse.

4.1 Front side of HTC HD2

Of course the first thing everyone will notice is the massive 4.3″ VGA screen, based on capacitive screen technology. The HTC HD2 is, as far as I know, the first Windows Phone which is designed on this capacitive screen technology.

Steve Litchfield, Editor on All About Symbian.com, has written the article: “Resistive vs Capacitive: the invisible tech war in which both opponents can win?” in which you can find a comparison chart of resistive an capacitive screen technology.

Just above the screen you find a grille behind which you have the front speaker and for example the charging LED. On the left of this grille you find two sensors just below the glass surface. At first the proximity sensor and second the back light sensor.

Below the screen you see one single row of five buttons, with the same layout as we have seen on the HTC Touch2. The front of the HTC HD2 is relatively “clean” compared to other windows phone or in other words a minimalistic design of buttons.

If you look on the screen from a side angle you can see that there is one single flat glass surface, except for the button row and the grille who stand out. However this is some excellent engineering work.

4.2 Right side of HTC HD2

If we have a look at the right side of the HTC HD2, you can see that there is no single button there. You can see how the metal battery cover “snaps” on the sides of the HTC HD2. In the metal battery cover you see a slit where you can put in your finger nail to remove the battery cover.

4.3 Bottom of HTC HD2

The picture above shows the bottom of the HTC HD2, where you can see both the Micro USB port and a 3.5 mm. headphone jack. Some time ago the following article was published: “Micro USB and 3.5 mm headphone jack to become mobile standards ?“, and in fact this is the first HTC device that features both of these standards. Some people might argue in favor of the Mini USB which powered almost every HTC device until the release of the HTC HD2.

4.4 Left side of HTC HD2

On the left side of the HTC HD2 you can just see the dedicated volume control buttons. I’m happy see these buttons in order to change the volume during a voice call, for example when you walk into a noisy environment.

Furthermore you can see that the metal battery cover also snaps around this side of the HTC HD2, but I would like to point you to a detail. The metal battery cover features a contour that perfectly fits/snaps onto the volume control buttons.

4.5 Top of HTC HD2

The picture above shows a perfectly clean topside of the HTC HD2 without any buttons. The topside used to be the place where you could find dedicated power buttons in the past.

4.6 Backside of HTC HD2

The backside of the HTC HD2 is mainly dominated with the brushed metal battery cover. In the upper part you notice a 5 Megapixel camera. Remarkable is the fact the camera lens sticks a few millimeters (+/- 2.5) out the surface of the backside. However there is a minor edge which protects the camera lens from scratching if you put the device on the table.

Furthermore you notice that on the right side of the camera lens, there is a dual LED flash which supports the camera is less light conditions. Despite you can’t compare the camera with a specialized SLR camera it is a nice addition of improvement.

On the left of the camera lens you see the grille of the speaker on the backside.

5. Detailed look at HTC Sense

The HTC HD2 is the first Windows Phone with HTC Sense installed and has (just like other HTC devices) different tabs. The tabs available in HTC Sense are: (1) Start, (2) Contacts, (3) Messages, (4) Mail, (5) Internet, (6) Calendar, (7) Stocks, (8) Pictures and Video’s, (9) Music, (10) Weather, (11) Twitter, (12) Footprints, (13) Settings.

All the tabs (except for Start and Settings) can be enabled or disabled, and apart from the Start-tab all the tabs can be re-ordered at your own will.

5.1 Start / Home

The Start Tab shows directly on the top the Carrier. Under the carrier-bar there are several widgets which can’t be turned off (like the Android Sense Widgets).

The most top widget is a widget which shows the current time, the current location and weather information about the current location. When you tab on this widget a separate application within sense opens with 2 tabs:

World-Clock application and
Alarm-clock application.

The world-clock application shows the time from different places around the world. Of course there is an option to add your own city here. Next to the world clock application there is the “Alarm” tab. The alarm tab has 3 alarms. Each alarm can be set to a specified time and day.

Below the “Time-widget” on the Start Tab there is another widget which shows the date, the next time the alarm will go and the next appointment. When you click on the date you can select an other date and timezone.

The alarm-button brings you to the same “Alarm”-tab described in the widget above. And when you click on the next appointment you go the the “Agenda-tab” of the HTC sense interface.
Below this widgets there are 3 widgets which can be used as a shortcut to an application, contact or a bookmark.

When you swipe your finger up, while you’re in the start-tab 6 more widgets which can be used as a shortcut are shown.

5.2 Contacts

The contacts tab, shows 9 directly access shortcuts to your popular contacts. If you scroll-up you’ll see 6 more shortcuts. So in total in the contacts tab there are 15 contacts which can be set a favorite.

5.3 Messages

The messages tab shows all the text messages. When you’re selecting a message, you’ll see the message tab from the “people-centric communication” like the HTC Touch Pro 2. In this view you get an overview of all the text messages sent from and to this contact.

The people centric communication has been reviewed in the HTC Touch Pro 2 review and is exactly the same on the HD2.

5.4 Mail

The mail tab show all the mailboxes you’ve configured. When you select a message you’ll see the complete message with some additional features, which again we first found in the HTC Diamond 2 and the Touch Pro2. You’re able to go to the people centric communication from the person who wrote you.

5.5 Internet

The Internet tab is different form the HTC Touch Pro2. There seems to be no push-internet available on the HD2. On the top of the internet tab there is a search-bar. In this bar you can enter a search term and push the search button. This will automatically open Google ad gives you the search results.

Under the search bar there is a large button to open the Internet Browser. On default this will open Opera (Although there is also Internet Explorer installed on the device).

Under the internet browser button there are 2 shortcut button in which you can add a favorite website. When you scroll up this tab you’ll find 8 more shortcut buttons to enter favorite websites.

5.6 Calendar

The calendar tab has five different views: Agenda, Day, Week, Month and Year.

The agenda view – gives you a chronological list of items in your agenda.The day-view shows you all the appointments on a specific day, and the weather of the location of you appointments, if these can be retrieved from the internet.
The week-view shows all days of the week, so you can have a good overview of your (work) week.
The month-view shows all the days of the month and shows a little icon on the days that have an appointment set. When you click on a specific day you go to the day-view of the selected day.
The year-view shows all the months. When you select a month, you’ll see the month-view of the selected month. Of course you can than select a day, which brings you to the day-view of the selected day.

5.7 Stocks

The stocks tab shows a list of all the stocks you’re interested in. Stocks can be added, removed or re-ordered.
In the settings of the stocks it is possible to automatically update the stock information with an interval from 5 minutes to 8 hours. It is also possible to select an option that lets you download stock-update information while you’re roaming. The last setting is the color of the stocks when the price of the stocks rise. This can be set to green or to red.

5.8 Pictures and Video’s

The pictures and video’s tab lets you go through the pictures and videos on the device. When you swipe your finger up you’ll see the next picture or video. The pictures and videos tab can be rotated. This view gives you a very nice sleek overview of the pictures and video’s on the HTC HD2.

5.9 Music

The music tab shows all the music on the device. When available the album-art of the device is also shown. In the music tab it is possible to play, pause, and go to the next and previous song. The music tab also has an landscape view. This shows a view very similar to the iPhone’s Coverflow. In the landscape view it is also possible to play and pause the song and skip to the previous and next song.

5.10 Weather

The weather application shows a full-screen overview of the weather. The top part shows the temperature high and low, and the temperature at the moment. Of course it also shows the nice animated weather information when it’s sunny, clouded or when it rains.

The bottom part shows the same information (temperature high, low, and a small picture of the expected weather forecast) for the next four days. When you swipe your finger up the weather of an other location is shown.

5.11 Twitter / HTC Peep

Twitter has grown very fast over the last couple of months. HTC made a decision to add a Twitter tab to their HTC Sense. When you have set your Twitter credentials in the Twitter tab you see your timeline in the tab. At the very top there is an input text field where you can enter a tweet and update your status. The 2 soft keys are “Menu” and “All tweets”. The menu has some shortcuts to the basic twitter functionalities. These menu items are “update timeline”, “new tweet”, “new message”, “update location”, “my profile”, “Settings” and “Search”
All these menu items are self explanatory.
At first it looked like there was no difference in the menu options “new tweet” and “new message”, but it turned out that the option “new message” has a extra input field and you have to add a recipient. The message is send as a Direct Message to the recipient. The twitter tab is strongly connected to the “Peep” application, which is also installed on the HTC HD2.
Also the soft key button “All tweets” brings you in the application called Peep.

Peep has 4 tabs

1) your twitter timeline
2) your @replies
3) your Direct Messages
4) your favorite tweets

The “Menu” soft key in Peep is exactly the same menu as in the Twitter tab.

5.12 Footprints

With footprints it is possible to add meta-data to photo’s. This meta-data includes a rating, Category, GPS-location, Phone number, web-address and more.

The tab Footprints let you flip through the footprints which you created in the past and lets you add new footprints. A particular nice feature of footprint is the integration with Google Maps and CoPilot. Google maps shows the street view (if available at that location) and CoPilot Live lets you navigate to that location.

5.13 Settings

The tab settings gives you a quick access to the most used setting. In this tab you can change the settings of HTC Sense itself but also other phone settings like Wireless settings, Sound settings and other settings.

6. Other software highlights

HTC has put a lot of efforts in the HTC Sense interface but there are a lot of additional (third party) applications included as well.

6.1 Wi-Fi-Router

The first highly interesting application, developed by HTC themselves, is the Wi-Fi-Router application. This is a simple one-click solution to turn your Windows Phone into a router. This can be a really helpful application since, in for example a project group working in an out-of-the-office-location can work on a project and stay in touch with the corporate infrastructure, in a simple way.

Windows Mobile was already known for its Internet Sharing application, in which the Windows Phone becomes the modem of your Windows powered notebook. However this Wi-Fi-Router application takes it one step further, and you can easily now share your cellular data connection with others as well.

6.2 WorldCard Mobile

I think the Wi-Fi-Router application already emphasizes that this a well balanced device that is perfectly suited for application in business as well (and I not only mean the Exchange ActiveSync).

HTC has included Worldcard Mobile from PenPower on the HTC HD2, which lets you easily take a picture of a business card via the build-in 5 Megapixel camera, and transforms the information into the details of an Outlook Contact. In other words, take a picture and the contact details are imported into your Windows Phone.

This application normally costs $25,– and is certainly a valuable addition to the HTC HD2.

6.3 JETCET PRINT 5

Another valuable application is the the JETCET PRINT application v5. With this application you can print documents stored on your HTC HD2 to a bluetooth or network printer. On the Westtek website you can read the following product description:

“Experience the best mobile printing solution on the market! JETCET PRINT lets you print documents, photos, email and much more from your Windows Mobile Pocket PC phone. Quickly add printers, browse to files and voila! Print! No more complicated configuration steps or additional software required.”

6.4 Adobe Reader LE

Probably not amazingly shocking is the availability of Adobe Reader LE version 2.5 on the HTC HD2. I must admit that I work a lot with pdf-files, since most of the scientific articles are available in pdf-format. However the massive and ultra clear 4.3″ screen of the HTC HD2 makes it possible to read pdf-files easily, and without hurting your eyes or scrolling like hell.

Again this is an example which shows the versatility of the HTC HD2 and the balance of work and life coming together in one device.

6.5 CoPilot

Also a 14-day trial of the CoPilot navigation software is included on the device, which was also the case on the HTC Touch2 and Touch Pro2.

6.6 Facebook

Some time ago Microsoft release a Facebook application for Windows Phones, to keep track of your Facebook page while on the go. This application is included with almost every Window Mobile 6.5 device, and you might want to check out our detailed review.

7. Camera- and video use on the HTC HD2

At first I need to start with the remark that there is no dedicated hardware button for starting the camera application on the HTC HD2.

The main reason for this is probably the excellent integration into the HTC Sense GUI, in the pictures and video tab as you may have seen in section 5.8 – A detailed look on HTC Sense.

Furthermore HTC is working for some time on their own camera- and picture album software (to my knowledge from the time the HTC Touch and the HTC Touch dual were released). All these different applications are very well integrated including (shortcuts into) HTC Sense.

In the specification list you can see that the HTC HD2 has a 5 megapixel color camera with Auto focus and Dual LED flashlight. When you start the camera application you can see and hear the auto focus doing its job before taking the picture.

The dual LED flashlight does an “ok” job, because when you are to close to an object you get an overexposed picture. However for an overview picture from “a distance” the flashlight is ok. In fact the pictures in less light conditions are pretty well, but certainly not as good as on a digital SLR camera.

However for a mobile device certainly excellent, and the picture below gives an example of a picture taken outside (without the flash), and on the link below the picture you can open the original sized picture as well.

Click here for the original-sized version

8. Multitouch on the HTC HD2

One of the new exciting features of the HTC HD2 is multitouch. Multitouch is one of the methods you can use to interact with the screen.

It allows you to use two or more fingers to interact with the HTC HD2 by placing them directly on the screen. Any movements you make with your fingers will create a gesture, which sends a command to the screen. Gestures can be used to rotate or to scale a photo or picture.

When you use the photo gallery on the HTC HD2, you can use your fingertip to browse through the pictures. When you move your finger from right to left across the screen, the next picture will be displayed.

If you see a picture that you want to scale, you can use multitouch, by placing 2 fingertips on the screen and slowly moving them away from each other. This causes the picture to be enlarged. You can reduce it by moving your fingertips in the opposite direction. You can also rotate a picture by placing your fingertip on the screen and slowly make a circle. This will cause the picture to rotate.

You can also use the scale or zoom function in the Opera browser to zoom in or out on web pages. This gives you the advantage to view a website in normal layout and if you want to read an article, just zoom in on that particular part.

Multitouch is a very handy feature on the HTC HD2 and I hope in the future this will enable users to use multitouch more to interact with the device.

9. Haptic feedback, Proximity Sensor and G-Sensor

The HTC HD2 also features haptic feedback just like the Touch Pro2. This means that the device gives you tactile feedback when you press the screen within TouchFLO 3D. With every screentap you will feel a little vibration that confirms that you have touched the screen. It is enabled by default and cannot be turned off.

The HTC HD2 also features a Proximity Sensor. An extremely cool and useful feature of the HTC HD2. It senses whether the device is being held next to your ear. Once the device is raised up to your ear, the Proximity sensor immediately turns off the screen in order to save battery life. Moving the device away from your ear turns the screen turns on again. PDA screens by nature are one of the biggest battery drains, especially when a screen is as large and bright as this one.

The HTC HD2 has also a built-in G-Sensor. We have seen this feature before in other devices such as the Touch Pro (2) and Diamond (2). The G-sensor automatically turns the screen to landscape when you turn the device over. This is very useful when you want to type a message in landscape.

However HTC has developed another cool application based on the sensors available in the device, which is a digital compas. A screenshot is shown above (right).

10. Overall conclusion and wrap-up

In the concluding section of this review we would like to take a different approach and combine three (different) perspectives on the HTC HD2.

Mark Briggeman

Quietly brilliant. I would rather say quite brilliant. I was really impressed when I saw a pre-production version of this new HTC flagship. First I thought it would be to big for my hands, but it fits perfectly. The vivid capacitive 4,3″ screen reacts extremely fast and this is also due to the latest Snapdragon processor. I am more a hardware keyboard user, but a quick demonstration of the onscreen keyboard showed me that I might not need a hardware keybaord anymore.

I now use a Touch Pro2 and I was finding things to compare it with, but to be honest, there weren’t to many. The HD2 is bigger, faster, more stylish and packed with the latest HTC features like HTC Sense with Twitter integration and HTC Footprint. Multitouch is a great addition to this device and makes it even more usable.

HTC is showing again a great new device with a great design and I can’t wait to start using it !

Paul Willen

The HTC HD2 can be named the new flagship from the Windows Phones portfolio from HTC without a hardware keyboard.

The capacitive touchscreens works brilliantly. I think HTC set a new standard with this capacitive touchscreen. Due to the snapdragon chipset, the device is really fast. In fact it feels like it’s the fastest Windows Phone I’ve seen.

In my opinion there is only one thing missing on this device and that is a Large build-in storage. Of course there is a possibility to insert a Micro-SD card, but that needs to be purchased separately. 8 or 16GB internal memory would be great to store some music or video’s on.

Overall I would say this is really the best Windows Phone without a hardware keyboard currently on the market.

Remo Knops

Every mobile technology geek must be excited about this powerhouse fresh from the HTC factory, and so was I during the review process. I was very curious about the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor running at 1GHz. The experience is a blazing fast device, and we have done some comparison scenarios with the HTC Touch Pro2.

Furthermore the massive ultra clear 4.3″ capacitive WVGA screen is really awesome. With such an amazing screen you hope even for resolution larger than 800×400. You might recall the example where I could read an article in pdf-format without any problem, so this has really amazed me.

The capacitive technology works really well, and it’s the first Windows (touch) Phone without a stylus -a true milestone in Windows Mobile history. Also the onscreen keyboard, especially in landscape mode works fine, but in my opinion it can’t beat the HTC Snap hardware keyboard.

The HTC HD2 is a very well balanced Windows Phone for various usage scenarios, and with a bulk load of added value not only in terms of technology and hardware but also in terms of software innovations as well. HTC has done an amazing job and set the bars significantly higher.

Overall conclusion: Quietly Brilliant !

A few short remarks:

At first we haven’t covered one important feature of the HTC HD2 which was announced, which would be the carkit for- and carkit mode on the HTC HD2. Chris Davies, Editor at SlashGear, had a similar experience:

“What we don’t have – and we hear won’t be available until December – is the HTC Car Kit for the HD2, which adds a powered windscreen/dashboard mount, new docking battery cover for the phone itself and automatically kicks it into navigation mode whenever it’s clicked into place.”

Second the received HTC HD2 has a localized Dutch ROM preloaded on the device, so therefore the screenshots consist of Dutch translations. However I honestly do hope that you will be able to get an idea of the device software and its functionality. We plan to exchange these with screenshots of a HTC HD2 with a WWE ROM in the upcoming future.

What we like about the HTC HD2 ?

Huge screen
Super fast processor
HTC Sense
3,5″ headphone jack
Design. Only five buttons on the front panel and a touchscreen is all you need

What we like a little less about the HTC HD2 ?

Position of the camera lens. I think the lens will damage quickly because the device rests on it when it is placed on it’s back.
Again no camera hardware button. I really miss that.
No Video-out.
Not a real disadvantage, but switching to Micro-USB requires me to carry an extra cable to charge in the office or on the go. Until now I could perfectly manage that with one Mini-USB cable.

11. Postscript

HTC’s Quietly Brilliant Campaign focused on HTC HD2

HTC Sense is based on three principles. Make it mine, stay close, and discover the unexpected.

Make It Mine

HTC HD2’s expansive display is like a canvas on which you create a phone that is just right for you. Customize the phone by prioritizing essential features like mail, calendar, messaging, browser and more. Next, with just a tap, put shortcuts to the most important people, favorite websites, or most used application right on the home screen. And if you feel like something is still missing, visit Windows® Marketplace for Mobile, and install fun and useful applications.Your phone doesn’t only reflect your personality; it also tunes into your location. The clock automatically updates to the local time wherever you are. You can see the outside temperature and weather at a glance. And, if you choose the weather wallpaper, you’ll get a brilliantly lifelike animation that lets you virtually feel the sun’s rays or the chill of the breeze without setting a foot outside.

Stay Close

With HTC HD2, communication is focused around people rather than applications, so all of your interactions like email, SMS, phone logs, and even updates from Facebook are all in one place. Right where your instinct tells you to look – next to the photo of the person with whom you want to stay in touch with.In business, a phone call often has the power to prevent a mile-long pile up of inconclusive emails. HTC HD2 makes it simple to go from reading an email to calling the sender. All it takes is a single tap on the large phone icon right from the email. And if you need to get everyone involved in the discussion – just tap next to the images of everyone to create an instant conference call.Forget the challenge of jumping from your calendar to your phone application while trying to find and memorize the number for your next conference call. On HTC HD2, conference call reminders conveniently appear with a big dial button ready for you to press, even the PIN is displayed, so you’ll never miss out on the latest strategy session.

Discover the Unexpected

Some design features of HTC HD2 are far better experienced than can be explained in mere words. Like the ringer volume level that immediately scales down when the phone detects that you have picked it up, or the display that automatically adjusts to the light level in your surroundings and turns off to prevent false screen touches during a call.HTC HD2 is built for pure finger touch control. Zoom in and out of documents, web pages, pictures or emails with just a simple pinch. Type up responses faster and more accurately on the large onscreen keyboard. The capacitive touch experience combined with an interface optimized for the spacious display, lets you easily adjust the settings, set up calendar appointments, browse through photos, and navigate through menus with only the touch of a finger.Carry the HTC HD2 in your pocket and you’ll never have to worry about finding a Wi-Fi access point for your laptop. Your phone simply connects to superfast 3.5G cellular networks and becomes your personal wireless access point – anytime, anywhere.HTC HD2 has you covered when it comes to taking and viewing pictures wherever you may be. The 5 megapixel auto-focus camera is perfect for capturing the beauty of the great outdoors; combined with the dual LED flash it’s also ideal for capturing images in dim conditions. And when you’re ready to move from behind the lens and start sharing your collection, you’ll dazzle your audience with the large beautifully displayed pictures in the new river-flow gallery.

About a week ago, we told you about the Quietly Brilliant campaign from HTC which involves YOU.
HTC has made some great commercials from which you can see one them below.

Verizon Motorola Droid unboxing

2009-11-04T19:56:26Z

The Verizon Motorola Droid phone running on the Google Android platform is going to be available on November 6 to Verizon customers. We are lucky to receive a review unit just before the launch. Below is a short video unboxing the DROID.

In the mean time I have been playing with this phone for a couple of hours and it is growing on me. The interface is very easy to use. I only had to move the Phone Icon to the home page for easier and quick access to the phone. Reaction time between switching screens, application and Landscape orientation is really, really fast.

The android platform is indeed a very customizable platform which gives me with each screen new surprise possible actions.

The Verizon Motorola DROID will be available to Verizon Customers on November 6, 2009 for $199.99 with a 2 year contract.

The specifications are all available at the Motorola website, But here are some key specifications:

CDMA 1X 800/1900, EVDO rev.A
Slider keyboard
5 MP camera with image stabilization, 4x zoom, automatic focus and Flash
Music and Video functionalities, recording at DVD quality.
1400 mAh Li Ion up to 385 min. in continuous use with 270 hours standby
E-mail and corporate E-mail synchronization
MMS, SMS and IM(instant Messaging)
Bluetoothv2.1 +EDR (many profiles supported)
Synchronization with Gmail accounts, corporate accounts and Facebook
WIFI 82.11 b.g
Internal GPS with Google Maps Navigation
Web Browser
Google Mobile services
O yes, it is a phone as well.

Take a look at the interactive Verizon Motorola DROID website outlining all the features as well.

Windows Mobile 6.5 on the HTC Snap – Impressions and thoughts

2009-11-05T12:55:37Z

The HTC Snap is one of the few Windows Mobile Standard devices that received an upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.5.

In this article I would like to have a look at the Windows Mobile 6.5 improvements for Windows Mobile Standard devices and compare these with the findings of the HTC Touch2 review, with Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional pre-loaded on the device.

1. Homescreen

The left screenshot above shows the todayscreen of the HTC Snap running on Windows Mobile 6.5, while the right screenshot is taken from the HTC Snap review a while ago, at that time powered by Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard. As you can see the changes are marginal, with the only difference is the blue/orange Windows Phones branding (background) vs the green Windows Mobile 6.1 branding.

In addition I could find another minor change in the basic Windows Mobile 6.5 Standard layout of homescreen. An Internet Explorer for Mobile favorites sliding panel has been added. With help of this sliding panel you can quickly access, the mobile favourites directly from your homesreen (without opening the browser first).

However adding this type of sliding panels was already possible under Windows Mobile 6.1, as you can read in the article of Mike Temporale, Windows Mobile MVP and Editor in Chief of MobileJaw: “Customize the New Sliding Panel Home Screen on Windows Mobile 6.1” There I would personally classify this change as a minor one.

But how does it relate to the new Windows Mobil 6.5 Professional homescreen I have outlined in the “HTC Touch2 review – Windows Mobile 6.5 and TouchFLO 3D combined !”

Matthew Miller, Editor on ZDNet Smartphoes and Cellphones blog, described the new Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional homescreen directly after the announcement as:

“The Today screen is the sliding panels we saw on the non-touchscreen Windows Mobile Standard 6.1 devices that finally appears on touch screen devices. IMHO, Microsoft should have rolled this out at the same time as the non-touchscreen version over a year ago. I think this is a pretty functional display, but if you are using a device like the HTC Pure you won’t even see it at first because HTC has their TouchFLO 3D selected by default instead.”

Personally I do think that Matthew Miller makes some excellent points here, but the bottomline is that both implementations of Windows Mobile 6.5 have the same “sliding panels” feeling.

2. Microsoft MyPhone

Microsoft MyPhone is a free backup- and restore service which is bundled with every Windows Mobile 6.5 device. I do have a Microsoft (Hosted) Exchange account with Sherweb, where I keep my calendar, contacts, e-mails, etc. In addition I use Microsoft MyPhone to backup my “Text Messages”, “Photo’s” and more all within the constraint of the maximum storage amount if 200 MB. I live by the rule to backup to multiple sources and via multiple methods in order to keep my data safe.

On October 6th, the Windows Phones launch day, premium features for Microsoft MyPhone were announced. A more extensive article about the premium service and new features is written by my colleague and good friend Paul Willen.

Another example that I have used Microsoft MyPhone for is the recent migration of my girlfriend’s phone contact data from a Nokia 6300 to a Windows Phone. Now everything the contact data is safely stored in an online environment and it’s easily managable. As I concluded already in the article “Windows Live Mail pushed to Windows Phone” Microsoft MyPhone significantly contributes to a free Exchange-like user experience on your Windows Phone.

3. Windows Marketplace for Mobile

The second services which is bundled with Windows Moile 6.5 is called Windows Marketplace for Mobile, and is currently only exclusively available on Windows Mobil 6.5 devices. In two articles this service, and its underlying concepts, is covered quite well: “Windows Marketplace for Mobile coming to Windows Mobile 6.1 and 6.0” and “Windows Marketplace for Mobile – Payments and Operators “.

Remarkable is the fact that the Windows Marketplace for Mobile on my HTC Snap is empty, and with help of the readers I’m trying to find out the possible cause. At first the development for third party Windows Mobile Standard is significantly lower that the development for Windows Mobile Professional. Second the Dutch market is relatively small, and therefore it might not interesting for a developer to be included in the Dutch catalogue. That is my personal reasoning why the Windows Marketplace for Mobile is empty.

Are there any othe HTC Snap owners who can confirm the situation, or have another experience. I’m interested to find out more abot this, so all help is highly appreciated.

4. Internet Explorer for Mobile

In the ”HTC Snap review – the ultimate messenger ??” I outlined tht Internet Explorer 6 for Mobile was already included in the Windows Mobile 6.1 retail-prodution-ROM at that time. With the upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.5 the behavior of Intenet Explorer for Mobile has changed a little, probably aimed at a more similar experience on touch- an non-touch devices.

While there are some slight changes in the Internet Explorer for Mobile GUI (compared to the previous version), the main change is the automatic switching to full screen mode, optimizing the use of the total screen and get rid of the toptaskbar and the soft keys on the bottom of the screen.

I do understand the reasoning behind this change, but it is a matter of personal preferences if you will like it or not. Currently I haven’t made a clear decision, and it might take some time to get used to the new behvior. As you ca see I’m running a head to head comparion with the “old” Opera Mobile browser.

5. Other “minor” changes (for messaging)

In addition to the improvements desribed in the sections above, I noticed some other changes as well which I would like to highlight shortly. At first the command on the left softkey in Pocket Outlook is changed into “Reply All” which makes more sense for the heavy messengers.

Second it seems that the reply- and forward icons in Pocket Outlook have slightly changed. In addition at the initial set-up of my Hosted Exchange account with Sherweb I noticed in the screen where you can “choose the content you want to synchronize” that in addition to the options “contact”, “calendar”, “e-mail” and “tasks” the option “text messages” is included as well.

Synchronizing “text messages” will be part of the Exchange Server 2010 improvements for Windows Mobile, so I hope that Sherweb will soon migrate to Microsoft Exchange 2010.

Concluding thoughts on Windows Mobile 6.5 Standard

Let me start the conclusions by comparing the HTC Snap with the HTC Touch2 within the basic Windows Mobile 6.5 perspective / changes. Without any doubt the impact of Windows Mobile 6.5 is more severe for Professional “touch” devices, look for example at the lockscreen, and the new integrated start and settings menu.

The Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrade for the HTC Snap however brings the services Microsoft MyPhone and more timely excusive Windows Marketplace for Mobile to the Windows Mobile Standard platform. I truly love Mirosoft MyPhone and hope to unravel the dynamics of my Windows Marketplace for Mobile findings.

As far as the new behavior of Internet Explorer for Mobile is concerned I haven’t made up my mind. Despite that it offers a more optimal use of the screen and a similar experience as Internet Explorer fo Mobile on the HTC Touch2, it is “different”.

Furthermore HTC has brought some minor improvements in the messaging area and upcoming Microsoft Exchange 2010 updates for Windows Mobile to the HTC Snap as well. Finally you can experience a noticable improvement in the battery life as well.

HTC a great many thanks for delivering the Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrade and as a result “Quietly Brilliant” finetuning of the HTC Snap, the ultimate messenger !!

HTC unveils new QUIETLY BRILLIANT campaign

2009-10-27T12:39:56Z

HTC Corporation unveiled a global advertising campaign that is based on HTC’s new “Quietly Brilliant” brand positioning. As HTC’s first global advertising campaign, the YOU campaign is being rolled out across 20 countries in the coming weeks and features the tagline, “You don’t need to get a phone. You need a phone that gets you.” This represents HTC’s commitment to focus on people, their needs and how they work and live to ensure that HTC devices suit them.

‘Quietly Brilliant’ is doing great things in a humble way, with the belief that the best things in life can only be experienced, not explained,” said John Wang, chief marketing officer, HTC Corporation. “The YOU campaign is the perfect embodiment of ‘Quietly Brilliant’ and is core to HTC as a company, innovator and partner.

The YOU campaign is focused on driving broad, global visibility and understanding of HTC’s unique brand promise – that it’s all about YOU, the consumer, and in fact not the device. HTC worked with Los Angeles-based advertising agency, Deutsch LA Inc. to create the YOU campaign that will employ an integrated-media approach to reach consumers via television, print, outdoor and online. HTC’s design expertise will be echoed throughout the campaign, with commercial spots highlighting the unique functionality of HTC smartphones.

We’ve come to have a very emotional relationship with our phones. Many of our key experiences in any given day come through this one device and yet most of the advertising in the category is still about utility,” says Eric Hirshberg, co-CEO and chief creative officer, Deutsch LA.
“HTC’s whole design philosophy is very personal. They make phones where your experience is completely unique, so we think there is a connection between how people feel about their phones and how HTC makes them.

HTC worked with London-based creative consultancy, FigTree to create the “Quietly Brilliant” brand positioning. The “Quietly Brilliant” positioning was inspired by HTC’s culture of putting customers first, born from a heritage of creating breakthrough products and continued innovation. As part of HTC’s culture, the “Quietly Brilliant” positioning will be rolled out in all forms of communication and brand touch points across the company.

Some of life’s most brilliant ideas started with a simple doodle on the back of a napkin,” said Simon Myers, CEO of Figtree. “HTC’s new look uses this visual language of doodles to explain all the quietly brilliant features and benefits of HTC devices in a simple and human way.

How’s your relationship with your phone ? Does it upset you when it is not working the way you want it ? Or what happens when you lose your phone ? I’d like to hear from you in the comments.

MaxiMobileShop 4-port USB Power Adapter Kit

2009-10-29T07:20:12Z

One of the main problems when you are travelling as a mobile professional is the large number of accessoiries, more in particular different power adapters for e.g. your windows phone, portable mediaplayer, digital SLR camera, and other devices you carry on a trip.

In this article I will have a detailed look at the design and pratical use of the MaxiMobileShop 4-port USB power adapter kit, which lets you charge 4 (!!!) devices over USB at the same time anywhere around the globe.

Short background info

Two of my international friends Nghia Nguyen Dai and Jerome Tranie, the people behind the largest Windows Mobile website in France – Mobifrance-, have launched MaxiMobileShop with cool accessories for various mobile devices.

While browsing across MaxiMobileShop for the iClooly iPhone 3GS Alumi Stand review, I noticed this very functional accessory which makes daily life a little easier.

What is in the box ?

The pictures above show the front- and the backside of the retail package and you directly notice that in addition to the main power charging unit you get 4 complimentary charging plugs as well.

With help of these charging plugs you can charge your mobile devices across four “electrical-different” areas: United States of America, Great Brittain, Australia and Europe. The user manual and technical details manual are furthermore included.

Input: AC 100-240V. 50/60Hz

Output: 5V - 2000mA, 5V - 1000mA, 5V - 670 mA, 5V - 500mA.

Certifications: RoHS, CE, FCC

The technical specifcations and certifications clearly show that this 4-port USB power adapter kit is suited for truely global use ! The output is directly related to the number of connected devices. On paper it looks like a great accessory, but how do these facts hold in an everyday usage scenario ?

Concluding thoughts

The MaxiMobileShop 4-port USB Power Adapter kit is perfectly suited for the travelling mobile professional and I my personal situation it forms a perfect combination with two Gomadic USB cables (straight and coiled) and both use TipExchange. In addition I can simultaniously charge my iPod Classic 120GB.

The MaxiMobileShop Power Adapter Kit is one of those accessoiries that has become part of the standard equipment that I daily take with me in my Crumpler Beancounter L Messenger bag. In practice it works perfectly and the MaxiMobileShop 4-port USB Power Adapter kit is really well build both in terms of functional design and quality. Simulitaniously charging more devices is convenient

You might want to check out another MaxiMobileShop accessory with a coolness factor I have reviewed some time back: “iClooly iPhone 3GS Alumi Stand from Maximobileshop.com“.

To wrap-up the MaxiMobileShop 4-port USB Power Adapter kit is an essential accessory for every mobile enthusiast, and it helps the frequent traveller to travel light ! Don’t waist your time any longer, have a look at the limited time discount offer on the MaxiMobileShop website, and order the MaxiMobileShop 4-port USB Power Adapter kit right away.

Navigon 8410 Review

2009-10-23T18:29:03Z

At the IFA 2009 in Berlin Navigon released their new navigation systems: The Navigon 8410 and the Navigon 8450 Live are Navigon’s top products at the moment. MobilityMinded had the chance to review the 8410 and take a good look at the new possibilities of this Navigation device.

What’s in the box

First of we’ll take a look of what’s in the box. The version I got to review luckily was no pre-production model so what I found in the reviewed version should be in the retail version too.

Here is what’s in the box:

Navigon 8410 navigation device
screen protector
pouch
windscreen mount
USB-cable and a wall-connector
12V charging cable (with a built-in TMC antenna)
2 GB Micro-SD card (The SD-card has around 490 MB of free space)

The windscreen mount is of a very good quality. The device can be connected secure and safely in the windscreen mount. And the suction cup sticks very well to the windscreen. Besides that the windscreen mount also has a mini USB connector. It is possible to connect the 12V charging cable to the windscreen mount.

The 12V charging cable has an built-in TMC antenna and when the charging cable is connected to the windscreen mount you’ll receive current traffic information. The TMC-antenna isn’t really perfect. The TMC reception sadly wasn’t stable all the time and I got the feeling that the fact that there isn’t a separate antenna is the cause of the lack of the quality of the TMC reception.

Specifications

Display

Extra-large 5″ touchscreen – surface made from genuine glass

GPS

SiRF Star III + Instant Fix II

Operating System

Microsoft Windows CE

Internal Memory

4 GB Flash + 2 GB microSD card / 256 MB RAM

Processor

Centrality SiRF III (600MHz)

Battery

1410 mAh lithium battery

Weight

~ 225 g

Dimensions

138 mm x 83,5 mm x 18,7 mm

Design

Top

The top of the device has a longer than normal power button. This button does not stick out of the device and therefore is a little bit hard to push.

Bottom

The bottom of the device has a micro-SD-card slot. The micro SD card that was shipped in the 8140 was 2GB and had a little bit over 490MB of free space. Right next to the Micro-SD-Card slot there is a reset button. The bottom also has a 3.5mm headphone jack and a mini-USB connector.

Left

The left side of the 8410 has a connector for a DVB-T antenna. The DVB-T antenna is not included and needs to be purchased separately.

Right

The right side of the device is left completely without any buttons or connectors.

Back

The back of the device has a connector for the windscreen mount.

Front

The front of the device has a 5″ touchscreen display. This screen is really large and crystal clear. The front has a nice, brushed steel border.

Putting the Navigon 8410 to the test

I’ve used the Navigon 8410 a little under 2 weeks. In these two weeks I drove quite some kilometers to get a good impression of the device. When the device is booted there are 4 options in the main menu: Navigation,TV, Media Player and Phone. Sadly, because the DVB-T antenna isn’t included I could not test the TV functionality of the Navigon 8410. The other functionalities will be reviewed in this chapter.

Navigation

Navigating with the Navigon 8410 is really great especially because of the 5″ touchscreen display. I own a Navigon 5110 myself and there is just a big difference on screen size between the 5110 and the 8410. The screen is not only very large but also crystal clear.

Entering a destination is very easy with the smart recognition keyboard. When entering a destination the complete keyboard is displayed. If you’d like to navigate to “Breda” for example and enter the “Br” – Irrelevant combinations are grayed-out.

When the destination is entered Navigon calculates different routes and let you choose which route you would like to drive. The difference in these routes is normally the length of the route in kilometers compared to the length of the route in Minutes (of Hours). When you select a route the Navigon 8410 gives you directions of the selected route.

While driving towards your destination you have some options. The Destination tab gives the possibility to add an interim destination or add a POI on your Route.

The Route tab lets you change the route profile, block a closed road, change to a different route or give a turn-by-turn list of your route.

The Services tab also gives you information about your route. For example the traffic information (which is retrieved via TMC) or a parking near your destination.

The General tab shows options to change the view from 2D to 3D, change the day and night view and go to the general device settings.

Navigon has some nice features build-in while navigating. Some of these features can be found in any navigation device like speeding camera’s, speed assistance (gives you information when you’re speeding) and Reality View. But there are also some features included in this device that I haven’t seen in any other device yet.

Clever Parking: One of these features is Clever Parking. Clever parking gives you parking possibilities near your destination. Pushing the “Parking” button gives you a list of parkings near you and let you navigate towards this parking.

Real City 3D: The maps on the Navigon 8410 have Real City 3D. This means that mainly buildings are 3D rendered while navigation trough a city. Unfortunately I didn’t have the opportunity to make some decent screenshots of the Real City 3D, but I can tell that this functionality is really impressive.

Voice Recognition: Navigon likes to call this feature “Voice Interaction Pro”. Sadly in my opinion it doesn’t work the way it should work.
With the Voice Interaction Pro it is possible to enter a destination by speaking to the device. This might sound good, but I think Navigon should leave it out. The Voice recognition just isn’t stable enough and doesn’t find the destination I say. Is that any problem ? No absolutely not.

In my opinion voice recognition should either work well, or should not be implemented. There is a very good way to enter a destination with the smart recognition keyboard and that is more than enough. Anything else should not be implemented in a device unless it works extremely well.

Overall navigation:

Overall, navigating with the Navigon 8410 is a real pleasure. The large, clear screen gives enough information and displays the information very well. The calculated routes are accurate and the estimated time of arrival is also calculated well.

There’s one downside of the screen while navigating and that when you’re driving around 100 KM/h or more the screen refresh isn’t as frequent as I had hoped for. When you’re driving slower, the map zooms in and the screen refresh is normal again.

Media Player

From the media player it sadly wasn’t possible to take any screenshots. I’ve been testing the Media player with both pictures (JPG) and sound files (MP3) and I must say I am a little bit disappointed about the overall possibilities of the Media Player. It seems that the development of the media player is in an very early stage and doesn’t work yet the way it should work.

Displaying pictures in a slideshow luckily was no problem, but playing an MP3-file simply wasn’t possible. I’ve tried several MP3 songs which I copied over to the SD-card and sadly none of them played on the Navigon. Playing them on my computer wasn’t a problem at all.

Phone

The Navigon 8410 can also be used as a Bluetooth Handsfree Carkit. In these days where driving and calling just really don’t go together, a built-in Bluetooth Handsfree kit in a Satellite Navigation System is a really good option. In the screenshots below I’ll describe the functionality of the Bluetooth Hands-free kit in the Navigon 8410 in detail.
First it is important to know that the device I connected to the Navigon 8410 is an iPhone 3GS.

First you have to do is turn Bluetooth on your device to “on” and set up a connection between your phone and the Navigon. When the connection is established, the Navigon copies all the phonebook contacts to the Navigon’s internal memory. The fist time this took me around 12-15 minutes (I’ve got around 300 contacts in my phonebook). That sounds a lot, but I didn’t have any problems with that, because all my contacts were transferred perfectly.

If your phonebook is loaded into the Navigon you have multiple options to make calls.

You can choose to dial a number with the on-screen keyboard, via the phonebook, via recent calls or via Voice command. In my opinion the Phone Book option or the Recent Calls option are the best and fastest ways to dial a contact.

The Phone Book has the same intelligent keyboard where irrelevant options are grayed out and that works really well.

When a contact is selected it is not only possible to call that contact, but also navigate to their home or work address.

When you’re on the road an you’ve got an incoming phone call the Navigon asks if you would like to accept or reject the phone call. When you’re in a phone call you see the contacts name with telephone number and a few options. I had to set the volume to 100% when in a call and driving on the highway. The sound from the Navigon could be a little bit louder.
It is also possible to mute the phone call so that the person on the other side of the line doesn’t hear what you’re saying. When the conversation is a little bit longer you can also go back to the navigation screen during your phone call, but you don’t receive any vocal driving instructions while you’re on the phone.

Overall I liked the Phone capabilities of the Navigon 8410 very much. Everything works really well. The Navigon 8410 is a really good alternative especially if you don’t have a Bluetooth carkit in your car already.

Overall thoughts and wrap-up

Overall I think the Navigon 8410 is a really good device. The large, crystal clear screen is one of the best features of the device.

Navigation

The Navigon 8410 does what it needs to do. Navigating around with the Navigon 8410 is a real pleasure. The Navigon 8410 calculates the routes correctly and gives very good and detailed instructions. The 3D reality view is very good

Media Player

You shouldn’t buy the Navigon 8410 for it’s Media Player functionality since this doesn’t work the way it should work, but in my opinion that is just an “extra” – feature which this device doesn’t need to have included. The picture-display options work ok, but playing an MP3 file is almost impossible.

Phone

The other extra feature – using the device as a Bluetooth carkit luckily does work very well and can be used for anyone who doesn’t have a Bluetooth carkit built in his car.

Steve Ballmer unveils Windows 7 in New York – Windows 7 available in global stores !

2009-10-22T13:37:25Z

The last days I have been counting down to October 22nd, the big day for Microsoft that the retail version of the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system is available in stores accross the globe.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will officially unveil Windows 7 live from New York City (8 a.m. PDT/11:00 a.m. EDT). You can follow the keynote live from the launch event, which I will do myself as well!

First copy of Windows 7 sold in Australia

Gerard Verbrugge, MVPLead for Microsoft covering the Benelux and Scandinavian countries, shared a cool reference to the article “First copy of Windows 7 sold in Australia” as a starting point of the global Windows 7 launch “domino” !

Remarkable in this article is a “slideshow” with the history of Windows from Windows 1.0 in 1985 to Windows 7 in 2009. Here you can see the true evolution from the Windows operating system.

It has been almost a month ago since I published the article: “Windows 7 RC reviewed on HP Mini 1000“, and while this was a release candidate, I was already very impressed with the improved productivity and efficiency improvements as well as the stability.

Paul Miller, Editor on Engadget.com, has written an extensive- and highly recommended review with lots of visual material about the Windows 7 release to manufacturing (RTM) version. This should give you a well balanced impression of the possibilities and new improvements of Windows 7.

Which edition of Windows 7 should I get ?

Johan van Mierlo, Windows Mobile MVP has provided a schematic overview of the different Windows 7 editions in the article: “Microsoft announces different versions of Windows 7” and in addition you can find a comparison chart on the Windows 7 website as well.

However I must compliment Microsoft for an even more pro-active role, as outlined in the article on the Windows 7 blog: “Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor and Windows 7 Compatibility Center now available” from Mark Relph.

“The Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor scans your PC to see if it’s ready for Windows 7.”

While the upgrade advisor checks the Windows 7 capability to run Windows 7, the compatibility center provides information about the devices and accessoiries you connect to your Windows 7 machine.

“The Windows 7 Compatibility Center helps you easily check the compatibility of thousands of devices and software programs for 32-bit or 64-bit versions of Windows 7.”

Concluding thoughts on Windows 7

Without any doubt Windows 7 is the best and fastest Windows operating system I’ve used, and it consists of many efficiency and productivity releated improvements. Microsoft has listened very well to the community feedback and transofrmed this into a fantastic Windows 7 “end-product” !

There is no excuse anymore not to upgrade to Windows 7, since all the information and tools (Upgrade Advisor and Compatiblity Center) are available to make a well though-through decision. In addition a wide range of Windows 7 reviews is aggregated on the Microsoft PressPass website.

Furthermore on the Windows 7 website you can find the section “7 days of Windows 7 savings” where you can get some great discounts on a daily basis and share in the cellebrations of Microsoft and its partners on the Windows 7 global launch.

Finally certainly don’t forget to tune in on the Steve Ballmer keynote covering the Windows 7 launch in New York City later today !!

Microsoft Security Essentials review – 1.5 Million downloads in one week !!

2009-10-22T07:47:31Z

Back on September 28th Microsoft announced the availability of a new free antivirus and antispam software tool, Microsoft Security Essentials, which extends the Microsoft product portfolio in a clever way.

In this article I will share my thought and personally first hand user experiences on the Microsoft Security Essentials software, which I can compare to previous used Eset NOD32 Antivirus and Windows Live OneCare software.

However let’s start with congratulating Microsoft with an impressive milestone of 1.5 million downloads of Microsoft Security Essentials in the first week:

“Now that Microsoft Security Essentials is generally available to consumers in 19 countries, we’ve had a chance to go over the data, and there are some very interesting results. Just in the first week we saw well over 1.5 million downloads of Microsoft Security Essentials, but the price (free to Windows users) is hard to beat! ”

Microsoft Security Essentials product overview

With such an impressive milestone it is certainly worth while to have a detailed step-by-step overview of the Microsoft Security Essentials application and its capabilities. As already mentioned in the introduction, I have some good references to benchmark the functionality and usability of Microsoft Security Essentials, so let’s start quickly with the application overview.

You can download your copy of Microsoft Security Essentials from the download page, and as mentioned by Joe Faulhaber, from the Microsoft Malware Protection Center, it is available in different languages and for different Windows Operating Systems:

“Microsoft Security Essentials is available in 8 languages and 19 markets at RTM, which covers a lot of the PC using world. The geographic distribution of detections so far still closely follows the Microsoft Security Essentials Beta countries, and is ramping up in other countries that use the 8 languages.”

This installation is pretty straight forward, but the video below gives you an idea of the installation process and the application itself:

The graphical user interface (GUI) of Microsoft Security Essentials is simple in concept, and makes it therefore easy to use. There are only 4 tabs within the Microsoft Security Essentials, which I will discuss one by one with help of some screenshots.

A. Home tab

At first there is the home tab, which provides a general overview of the application and the status of Microsoft Security Essentials. On the left you can see the the “Real-time protection is on” and the “Virus and spyware definitions are up to date”.

In the left bottom part of the home tab you can find information of the scheduled scans, for example the time of the next scheduled scan and a link to change the schedule.

Furthermore on the right of the home tab there are three options to perform a manual scan with Microsoft Security Essentials: (1) Quick, (2) Full and (3) Custom. These options probably speak for itself and don’t need much of an explenation.

In addition the status of Microsoft Security Essentials and the “current” risk-level are visualized with a theme (green, orange or red) on different place in the Microsoft Security Essentials application. In the article “Introducing Microsoft Security Essentials” you can read the following part in a note from the Microsoft Security Essentials team:

“Red or yellow means there is something that needs to be done to keep your PC secure. A single click and the PC is back to the green protected state.”

At first in top part of the window you can find the “computer status”, which in the example is shown as protected on a green background. Also the computer screen and the bullets in the home tab are colored green, while the green theme is further extended to the tray icon of Microsoft Security Essentials as well.

More interesting, and part of the main application window (so not tab dependent) is the “Help” and next to it a tiny pull-down-menu. This pull-down-menu has some clever options, like the “about screen” of Microsoft Security Essentials which shows the version numbers of the application and virus- & spyware definitions.

Furthermore there is an option to” upgrade Microsoft Security Essentials” to its latest version, and you can also submit a “sample of malicious software” in order to improve the software as well.

B. Update tab

The name of the second tab covers its function really well. It simply is the place where you can hit a large update button to download the latest virus and spyware definitions from the Microsoft servers.

The status of the virus- and spyware definitions is shown in the top center of the update tab, while more details about the definitions like the version numbers and the creation date are shown in a listview below.

My experience is that the definitions are updated on a daily basis, and while using Eset NOD32 Antivirus these updates were pushed to your notebook. There is an option to check for the latest definitions before performing a scan, but that is a slightly different concept than a real push.

Another example of update-concept is from avast! Antivirus Home Edition, which downloads and installs the latest definitions at the Windows start-up of your machine, completely automatically.

Despite the fact that this an area for improvement I’m really confident that the Microsoft Security Essentials team is looking at different options. While Microsoft has an excellent mechanism in place for pushmail on Windows Phones, I’m really curious about the improvements in next versions of Microsoft Security Essentials.

C. History tab

The third tab of this simple and robust GUI is called history, which provides and overview of the latest “detections”. Additional information about the infection is shown: “type of detection”, “alert level”, “date” and the “action taken”.

Despite that in the screenshot above this list is empty you have the option to apply a filter to this list. The three filter options are shown above the detection list, and consist of: (1) All detected items, (2) Quarantined items and (3) Allowed items.

D. Settings tab

The last tab in Microsoft Security Essentials is the most interesting one and consists of various settings which can be configured. At first you can configure the details / parameters for a scheduled scan.

In my personal case I have set this to daily at 10:00 in the morning , but more important I’ve marked the option “check for latest virus and spam definitions before running a scheduled scan“. In fact this means that the definitions will be updated on a daily basis. However remark the previous elaboration about definitions “push”.

Furthermore you can set the default actions, when Microsoft Security Essentials detects a possible thread to your computer. But more important is that Microsoft Security Essentials has a real time protection mechanism in place, which can be a little configured as well. Like you can see in the screenshot above “all downloaded files and attachments” are scanned, while also the “file and program activity” is monitored on a real-time basis.

I think this is an essential part of protection. The next three sub-tabs in the settings window are all about exclusions. You can excluded certain files, locations, file types and even processes to be excluded from scanning. Be aware however that this also brings a certain risk. By default these fields are empty and I would recommend that you leave it that way, unless you are a field expert on virus- and spamprotection.

More relevant than the exclusions is the “Advanced” sub-tab which easily lets you configure a little more options. First excellent that “archive files” are also scanned (remark the CAB-extension in the screenshot) which is the first option you can mark.

In addition you can scan removable drives when running a full scan. Although this is a good start I would personally like to see this taken one step further. While nowadays you often plug- and unplug USB flashdrives to your computer, I hope that in a future version the option will become available to perform a quick scan on insertion of the USB flashdrive.

Finally you can set the Microsoft SpyNet membership to basic or to advanced. The descriptions of each option are clearly shown in the screenshot above !

Microsoft Security Essentials data analyzed

Joe Faulhaber, from the Microsoft Malware Protection Center, has written an article “Microsoft Security Essentials – Week One“, which shows the (statistical) results of first analysis of Microsoft Security Essentials data. The second part of this article will have a look at the data and first results after an impressive first week.

In the introduction I already mentioned the impressive number of downloads, which was also reported by the Softpedia website. However how many detections are there registered so far?

“Computers reporting detections up to October 6: almost four million detections on 535,752 distinct machines. The detections are eight times the machine count because many computers are infected with multiple threats.”

Furthermore the article of Joe Faulhaber, from the Microsoft Malware Protection Center provides a more statistical analysis with the top virus-, worm- and other malware-families. In addition the geographical location is also included in the analysis as well as the operating system.

The bottom line is that Windows 7 machines have the least detections, with one of the main reasons is the use of the more robust 64bit variant of the Windows operating system. If you like statistics you should certainly have a look at some of the distributions and the reasoning behind some observed results from the data-analysis.

Wrap-up and conclusions

Mitchell Ashley, Editor on Networkworld, has written an excellent article “Microsoft Security Essentials -- Never Pay For Anti-Virus Software Again” in which he touches a few points that are really valuable:

“No frills and a minimum performance impact on your system. MSE may not be the fastest scanner of the AV products, but it has a pretty small footprint on your system.”

Since the release I’m using Microsoft Security Essentials as my primary virus scanner and antispyware software. In this time I can only fully support the findings of Mitchell Ashley. Furthermore I just had a detection when some pop-up loaded in my browser, but this “thread” was directly neutralized. In the article there is furthermore an interesting test from PC World:

“When put against AV-Test’s “WildList” collection of 3,194 recent, common viruses, bots, and worms, Microsoft Security Essentials detected and removed each and every one of the malware samples. How does this compare to other security products? AV-Test coordinator Andreas Marx notes that “several other [antivirus] scanners are still not able to detect and kill all of these critters yet.” In addition, Microsoft Security Essentials put up a perfect score with zero false positives--it didn’t flag a single clean file as being malicious. AV-Test also took an initial look at Microsoft Security Essentials’ rootkit detection, testing it against a few rootkit samples, and found “nothing to complain about.” — Nick Mediati, PC World, 06/25/2009

We don’t need to forget that this still is Microsoft Security Essentials v1.0 and there is expected room for improvement. The most important area for improvement would be the real-time push of virus- and spyware definitions.

Perhaps the Microsoft Security Essentials team could collaborate with the Unified Communications team which worked on pushmail for Windows Phones (very data- and battery-life efficient).

Right clicking on the Microsoft Security Essentials icon just provides the option “Open” now, but this could be extended with the most important commands like “update”, “full scan” “quick scan” in a kind of quick menu.

I have also installed Microsoft Security Essentials on my HP Mini 1000 netbook which has a 10.1″ screen in a 1024x600 resolution. My final point of feedback is that the standard height of the Microsoft Security Essentials Window on tha HP Mini 1000 equals or even exceeds the height of the HP Mini 1000 screen, and resizing vertically is not possible.

Concluding

If you add up the extreme simple, robust user interface and free price point to the minimum performance impact, small footprint and accurate detection you can clearly see that Microsoft developed a no-nonsense anti virus & -spyware application. I think it is an excellent addition to the overall Microsoft product portfolio, and you can’t go wrong with this application !!

MobilityMinded Logo In Comic Land

2009-10-21T17:16:33Z

Today a little article that hasn’t really to do anything with mobility, but is linked to MobilityMinded.

I love comics; especially some comics on the web which get a daily or weekly update. A colleague and good friend of mine has his own web-comic called Mad Science. Mad Science is about a mad scientist called Otto and his son Albert. Together they go through some nice adventures.

About 2 weeks ago I helped my colleague with his Wordpress installation. I’ve installed some nice plugins which made his site perform a little bit better, and hopefully give him a little bit more visitors. A nice gesture of him was to include the MobiliyMinded Logo in one of his comics. So if you’re interested in a nice drawn comic which is updated twice a week, give this link some love http://www.madsciencecomic.com/

The episode where the MobilityMinded logo can be found is here: http://www.madsciencecomic.com/630/136-theres-always-next-year

SBSH Facade 2.0 review – An excellent userinterface for Windows Mobile Standard

2009-10-19T16:00:27Z

SBSH Mobile Software has just released SBSH Facade 2.0, an essential application for Windows Mobile Standard that combines personal information management (PIM) and the graphical userinterface (GUI) in a clever way. In this article an overview of SBSH Facade 2.0 will be provided, and some of the key features are emphasized in a short step-by-step review format.

With the release on Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard and the introduction of Sliding Panels the user experience has significantly improved and you get more things done from the homescreen. In this review I will look also at how SBSH Facade builds further upon the Windows Mobile basics, and I will certainly look if and how I can get more things done from the homescreen on my Windows Phone.

SBSH Facade 2.0 step-by-step overview

In this section I will go through the SBSH Facade application in a step-by-step sequence, and I hope this will provide you with a good overview of the opportunities this clever application provides.

Let me start with the remark that during the installation process I have selected the “standard” options, so the screenshots you see in the review are the result from an out-of-the-box installation. Personally I do think that SBSH has done some great improvements on the graphical design part with: (1) a Windows Vista-like background and topbar, (2) New Icons for the counters on the HOME-screen.

1. Home

The screenshots above show you the SBSH Facade 2.0 HOME-screen, and I will describe the different building blocks of the HOME-screen with help of the right screenshot in portrait mode.

“The Home tab provides a single screen display and access to all of your phone’s vital information.”

At first you can see that the Windows Mobile topbar, which shows you the network- and cellular data coverage, is skinned in the same style as the background image and therefor it “integrates” nicely with the SBSH Facade application.

Below the topbar, you can see a slightly darker bar with the text HOME in bold capitals, with on each side another text. On the left- and on the rightside there are arrows, so it won’t be a big surprise that this is the “navigation”-bar to easily move through the SBSH Facade application. It works well on both a d-pad and a joggball, and it is a very natural way of navigating on a Windows Mobile Standard device.

Below the navigation-bar you see the selected profile (on the left) and the operator name (on the right). This information is shown on a slightly different location if you own a Windows Mobile device with a landscape oriented screen.

The next, larger building block of the SBSH Facade homescreen provides an overview of basic information, and has already some cleverness build in. On the right you can see the time (on the first line) and day of the week and date (on the second line). On the left you can see a summary of today’s weather when you have SBSH PocketWeather installed. In other words SBSH has done some excellent development work to integrate SBSH PocketWeather and SBSH Facade, and if I’m informed correctly the right side integrates with SBSH Clock as well.

The next block shows the text “No alarm set”, but if you do it shows you the time of the alarm and the time due to the alarm you have set. Again this is some basic information you probably want to access from your homescreen.

Below you will see a building block which is dedicated to the device status. It are widgets for (A) E-mail Count, (B) Missed Cals, (C) SMS Count and (D) Voicemail Count. In the screenshot you can see that there are 3 new/unread e-mails. Each of these counters gives you quick, one click access to Pocket Outlook, your Voicemail or Missed Calls screen of the standard Windows phone application.

Finally you see an overview of the upcoming appointments. You can scroll through this appointments by using the left and right command on the d-pad of your device.

Overall summary

Allright this is really a lot of information which is presented to the user on the “HOME” screen within SBSH Facade. Personally I really do like this ammount of information, because it combines the information that is important to you in a clever way.

Let me emphasize on the fact that navigation among the different building blocks is very easy and very natural for Windows Mobile Standard users, and it gives me a similar feeling as the widgets of SPB Mobile Shell 3.5 for Windows Mobile Professional devices.

2. Schedule

The second tab in the navigation bar is called “SCHEDULE” and this provides you a nice overview of appointments, birthdays, and if you like tasks on a daily view in your calendar. Furthermore you can see in the screenshots above that there is again a clever integration with SBSH PocketWeather, and probably not very surprising with SBSH Calendar or Webis Pocket Informant.

3. Tasks

I started this review with marking Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard “sliding panels” as reference point for benchmarking SBSH Facade 2.0. One of the major lacks I personally experience in the Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard “sliding panels” is the absense of a tasks-panel. In other words despite that I use tasks to order my personal- and professional life, there is no way to quickly access or manage tasks from the home-screen.

“The Tasks tab lists all your tasks divided by status and time groupings. With Facade tasks tab you can easily review your tasks from your device Home screen.”

SBSH Mobile Software has included a TASKS tab/screen in the SBSH Face 2.0 application, my compliments for that. Despite that the screenshots above show just some sample data I can quickly select a task and by clicking on it a sub-menu is openend with the following options: (1) show notes, (2) view details, (3) open tasks, (4) open calendar, (5) complete, (6) new task, (7) delete, and (8) reload view.

As you can see this is a complete set of actions to manage tasks from within SBSH Facade, without the need to open another application. To summarize this tasks-screen really puts a smile on my face !

4. Calendar

The screenshots above show the CALENDAR screen within SBSH Facade 2.0, and it mainly provides a monthly overview of your calandar. You can navigate really fast throught the upcoming months and years. Furthermore this CALENDAR screen perfectly integrates with SBSH Calendar or another PIM application.

5. Weather

The WEATHER screen/tab is only included in the “navigation-bar” if you have SBSH PocketWeather installed on your Windows Phone. On the SBSH Facade product page we can read about the SBSH Pocket Weather integration:

“When used along with PocketWeather, weather forecast is added across the Facade displays: (1) Current weather included as part of the Home tab, (2) weather icons and temperature values added to schedule tab and (3) full weather forecast tab is automatically added within Facade!“

6. Programs

The final tab of SBSH Facade is a familiar one, the PROGRAMS launcher, which is shown in the screenshots above. If I remember correctly this functionality was already part of the previous SBSH Facade 1.4 version. As you can see the icons of the last used applications is shown, so you can quickly relaunch them from within the PROGRAMS screen of SBSH Facade 2.0.

“Using the Programs tab you can create shortcuts to your favorite applications accessible from your device Home screen. Shortcuts can be customized to your favorite applications, or you can use one of Facade’s pre-defined smart shortcut buttons, counters and meters!“

As you can read above there are even some “custom” commands included by SBSH, for example reload SBSH Facade Homescreen, Rotate screen, Storage information and battery level.

Concluding thoughts and wrap-up

Despite that Wikipedia is not a scientific reference, I would like to share the Wikipedia description of the word Facade:

“A facade or façade is generally one side of the exterior of a building, especially the front, but also sometimes the sides and rear. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning “frontage” or “face”.”

However in the case of SBSH Facade it is more than just some exterior beauty, despite the excellent new graphics make it even more eye-catching. SBSH Facade is cleverly connected with the underlying structures that go way beyond the exterior surface.

Tasks management within SBSH Facade 2.0

SBSH Facade is a true productivity tool that helps you to get more things done from your homescreen in line with the reasoning behind the sliding panels on Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard. But it even extends the functionality of the homescreen by including a TASKS screen and a PROGRAM launcher.

Especially the TASKS screen put a smile on my face, and I hope that in upcoming version we can see more functionality added in this tasks area. Personally I would like to see the getting-things-done tasks-improvements of the latest Webis Pocket Informant 9 release in future versions SBSH Facade as well.

Integration and personalization

Furthermore I would like to compliment SBSH Mobile Software with the excellent integration of SBSH PocketWeather, SBSH Calendar and SBSH Facade. SBSH Facade also integrates perfectly with PIM applications like Pocket Outlook and Webis Pocket Informant.

“In addition to the special integration, Facade can also host any other Home screen plugin (not only SBSH’s) within Facade tabs, even without special integration!”

My compliments to SBSH Mobile Software for the high level of widgetization, close integration with SBSH software and third party software.

Pricing and availability

You can download a trial version of SBSH Facade 2.0 directly from the SBSH Facade productpage or purchase a full version for a reasonable price of $14,95. If you already own a copy of SBSH Facade 1.x you can upgrade at a +/- 50% discount and get SBSH Facade for onyl $7,95.

Overall SBSH Facade 2.0 is a true productivity tool that helps you to get more things done from your homescreen, it cleverly integrates with other software, and gives the end-user the ability to completely personalize and customize SBSH Facade to the end-users’ own needs and preferences. At a reasonable pricepoint you simply can’t go wrong with this high quality application from SBSH Mobile Software.

SPB Quads review – Simple but addictive game for Windows Phones

2009-10-15T11:25:45Z

Late September 2009 -so only a few weeks ago- SPB software has announced SPB Quads, a new game for Windows Phones, to expand its existing broad portfolio of games.

I must admit I’m not really a hardcore gamer on my Windows Phone, but in this article I will do my best and have a detailed look at the unique features and gameplay of SPB Quads. In the press release and on the SPB Quads product page you can read the following summary about the game:

“Based on SPB Quadronica, SPB Quads is an arcade game for touchsceens. The player’s goal is to reveal and mark rectangles’ corners of the same colors in a field filled with color bricks. The two modes in the game (time-limited and endless) effectively create two different scenarios of playing.”

The basic SPB Quads gameplay reviewed

The left screenshot above as well as the product description clearly show that there are two modes of gameplay: (1) Time Quad, where you compete againts the clock, and (2) Ever Quad, which is the strategic mode you can play until you can’t make any more Quads.

The basic thought is to make as large rectangles as possible with corners from the same color, and by clicking on the corners everything in the covered area will be deleted. The larger this area the more points you get, actually a simple concept but certainly additictive.

Let me illiustrate the concept with a small example (approached mathematically). The coordinate (0,0) is in the left bottom corner, with positive x-axis to the right and positive y-axis in the upward direction. The following rectangular with green corners can be defined with the following coordinate pairs: (2,3) (2,9) (8,3) (8,9) and covers an area of 7×7 = 49 blocks.

Within the covered sample area you see the atomic sign, which is a block that triggers a bonus (if it is within the marked area). All the different bonus types, their explanation and screenshots are shown later in this review.

In addition to the basic gameplay I would like to address some usability. You can see in the first screenshot that all main program options are easy accessible via large touch-friendly buttons, while also the “blocks” are easy touchable with your fingers. So SPB Software also thought well about this optimization.

Bonusses overview in SPB Quads

One of the interesting “twists” that SPB Software has build into this arcade game is the use of special bonusses. In the excellent helpfile, which is included with the SPB Quads game you can read the different types of bonusses, five in total, and the impact each one has on the game(play).

While the screenshots show each type of bonus within SPB Quads, I must compliment SPB Software for including both a graphical representation as well as a logical description of each bonus. And remark that we are talking about a helpfile here, so thumbs up !

SPB Quads – an online competition

The section above shows that SPB Quads, although it might look simple in concept, has an attractive gameplay and the bonusses make it a little diverse and exciting unpredicatable. At some point in time the game is over, because the time is up or you can’t make anymore Quads. The cool feature that SPB Software has included is uploading / publishing your High Score to the SPB server and look at- and compare your rank with fellow SPB Quads players from all over the world. The screenshots below illiustrate this feature.

Open discussion and wrap-up

The sections above have pretty well covered the basic thoughts and concepts of SPB Quads, and like I outlined in the introduction I’m not a hardcore gamer on my Windows Phone. Therefore I would like to include some interesting points about SPB Quads in an open discussion setting.

At first Michael Anderson, Editor on GearDiary.com, raises an interesting point in his article: “Review: SPB Quads for Windows Mobile” on the value and pricing for mobile applications (in general):

“My main question is about the value: a few years ago I wouldn’t have blinked about spending $10 for this game. However, since the introduction of the iTunes App Store, $10 has suddenly become a lot of money for a simple puzzle game like this.”

Personally I think this is an excellent point, which is not only applicable for games, but for mobile applications in general. On the other hand if you compare it to software for notebooks and desktops, mobile applications are still relatively cheap. However in the modern internet-world where everyone is educated to get things for free, it might be interesting to investigate new business-, service-, and revenu models in mobile application development.

Furthermore Brian Houghton, Editor on Just Another Mobile Monday, noticed another important point in his article: “Review: SPB Quads for Windows Mobile Professional” on the storage use:

“Installation of SPB Quads reveals that the program does consume quite a bit of storage memory, weighing in at near 12 MB. For this reason, I recommend installing on the storage card of your device unless you have a phone with lot’s of memory to spare.”

Although SPB Quads has some exceptional graphics, animations and design the footprint is pretty large for “just” a game. Personally I have no problem offering this ammount of storage to a more important core application, for example SPB Mobile Shell 3.5 or Pocket Informant 9.

Concluding wrap-up

Despite I’m not a mobile gamer, SPB Quads is a game that suddely becomes very addictive because it is easy in concept and it offers an interesting and funny twist with the included bonusses and online sharing of you high scores. Furthermore with this game you also train your mental skills, like pattern recognition and visual skills in general, and therefore it’s an excellent addition to the SPB Brain Revolution Games. If you like games like Tetris and Bejeweled than simply head over to the SPB Software website and download a trial version or purchase the full version of the SPB Quads game.

Finally the excellent reviews of Michael Anderson (GearDiary) and Brian Houghton (JAMM) are highly recommended to broaden your view on this cool game !!

AT&T Garmin Nuvifone G60 review – A hybrid Navigation – Phone Device

2009-10-15T02:28:43Z

Garmin just released the Garmin Nuvifone G60 with AT&T. This device was designed to be a navigation system in the first place, but with added features like most phones have as well.

The User Interface is very simple and very easy to use. The three large on screen buttons are for the main functions like : Call, Search and Show maps.

Click For Larger Image

The build in GPS and the 3G connectivity will give this device the live capabilities to find addresses and Point of Interests online and instantly use this information to navigate to this address.

Go to the Garmin website to see the full feature list .

The cradle is really designed to use the device in a horizontal/landscape position. It comes with a suction cup and

cradle that allows you to place this onto your windshield or onto a round disk that you can adhere anywhere on your dashboard.

Below is a 7 minute video with my impressions.

The full user guide is available here .

The Garmin Nuvifone can connect to the computer using the USB sync cable. Windows will recognize this as a Mass storage device. After the USB driver is installed you will be able to see the device in “My Computer”. By selecting the device it redirects you to install a dashboard application from Garmin which allows you to manage your device on your computer.

Click for Larger Image

The AT&T Garmin Nuvifone G60 is available for $299.99 after a $100 rebate and a 2-year contract.

The specifications are:

Frequencies:	GSM/GPRS/Edge 850/900/1800/1900 3G UMTS/HSDPA 850/1900/2100
Dimensions:	4.4 x 2.3 x 0.57 in.
Display resolution:	272 x 480 WQVGA
Weight:	4.8 oz. (battery included)
Contacts:	5,000 max.
Camera/photos:	3 MP camera with auto-focus and geotagging
Memory:	4 GB on-board storage¹
Expandable memory:	microSD™ card, HC capable, expandable up to 16 GB
Music player:	MP3 playback
Headphone jack:	2.5 mm
Battery:	1200 mAh removable/rechargeable lithium cell
Standby time:	Up to 250 hours
Talk time:	Up to 4 hours

Sprint HTC Hero quick review

2009-10-15T02:18:56Z

I had a quick opportunity to unbox and review the new Sprint HTC Hero device. The Sprint HTC Hero has a customized casing compared to the European HTC Hero version. HTC is also now using their Sense UI (User Interface) on most HTC devices across all platforms.

I have to say that I don’t have many experiences with devices running on the Google Android platform at all. As you can see in the video below I am very impressed with the UI. The HTC Sense UI will give you a familiarity that will allow you to switch HTC devices on different platforms with ease.

The best thing I like about the User Interface are the following 2 items:

It will combine all your contact’s personal information, e-mail conversation, text conversations, event, social media in different tabs with that contact field.
I can’t forget it also has multi touch functionality for zooming in and out.

Below you will find a short video with my impression and also the specifications. The Sprint HTC Hero is available for $179.99 after a $100 rebate and a 2-year agreement

Sprint HTC Hero Specifications:

- Carrier: Sprint
- Available: October 11th 2009
- Networks: 3G network EVDO Rev. A.
- Display: 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen display with 320 x 480 pixels
- Camera: 5MP camera
- Operating system: Google Android
- Input: Touch Screen
- Memory card: MicroSD card slot – 2GB card included
- Storage:
- Connectivity: WiFi, GPS with Sprint Navigation, Bluetooth 2.0, 3.5mm headset jack, Sprint TV
- Form factor:
- Battery: 1,500 mAh battery
- Talk Time: up to 4 hours
- other:
– Accelerometer and light sensor
– Home screen widgets
– Integrated Google services: Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube
– HTC Footprints
– Digital Compass
– Sprint TV with live and on-demand programming
– Quick access to Social Network Sites like Facebook, Twitter and Flickr
– Visual Voice Mail

Boston-Power’s Sonata Batteries now standard included as HP Long Life Battery

2009-10-14T15:00:18Z

Boston-Power is a company we have been following for a while due to their great technology in improving Batteries. Today I got an press release from them stating that HP has a new Long Life battery that now standard is included in the HP Pavilion dv8 series in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The HP Long Life Battery in the US is available as a configurable option in the v4, dv6 and the HDX18.

THis HP Long Life Battery is based on Boston-Power’s Sonata next-generation lithium-ion battery cells, HP’s Long Life Battery (formerly named the Enviro Series) delivers like-new performance for 1,000 charge/recharge cycles. That’s three to five times longer than conventional batteries.

It is great to see that HP is taking the step to include Longer Lasting and Longer Life batteries in their line. Who will follow the green trail?

Read the full press release below

Boston-Power’s Sonata Batteries Power New HP Pavilion dv8

Newly Announced HP Model is a Full HD Entertainment Notebook PC with a Visually Captivating Exterior and a Battery That Lives Up to
Three Times Longer Than Conventional Batteries

WESTBOROUGH, Mass. – October 14, 2009 – Boston-Power, Inc., the rapidly growing provider of next-generation lithium-ion batteries, today announced that its award-winning Sonata battery will ship with the new HP Pavilion dv8 Entertainment Notebook PC. The new model is among an impressive array of products being unveiled by HP this week in Geneva, Switzerland.
The HP Pavilion dv8 boasts a stunning 18.4-inch, full high-definition, ultra-widescreen, ultra BrightView display with built-in TV tuner, Blu-ray disk reader and subwoofer that delivers home theatre-quality audio and video for an outstanding entertainment experience. Strikingly crafted, the scratch-proof liquid metallic surface in the chic HP Espresso Imprint pattern will add a touch of style to any room of the house.
Notably, the HP Pavilion dv8 includes the revolutionary HP Long Life Battery, powered by Sonata cells from Boston-Power, which supports more than 1,000 recharges, an improvement of three to five times over conventional lithium-ion batteries. Not only does the HP Long Life Battery offer better performance, but it is better for the environment as the need to replace batteries less frequently means that fewer batteries are disposed of and less landfill is used. It is the only battery with the prestigious Nordic Ecolabel certification.
“Boston-Power and HP have long shared the mission to bring notebook PC customers a high-performance, environmentally sustainable battery – one that continues to keep pace with the demands placed on it by even the most demanding leisure and business users,” said Dr. Christina Lampe-Onnerud, Founder and CEO, Boston-Power. “The HP Pavilion dv8 is another compelling and demonstrable example of this commitment and we are excited to be the battery of choice for this model.”
The HP Pavilion dv8’s Intel® Core™ i7 processor and NVIDIA GeForce GT 230M graphics card with 1GB DDR3 SDRAM, as well as the DDR3 memory, guarantee more than enough power for even the most demanding entertainment needs. The HP Pavilion dv8 will be available throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia starting October 22, 2009, at a recommended retail price of €1499 (approximately $2,217 U.S. dollars).
About Boston-Power
Boston-Power, Inc.is an award-winning provider of next-generation lithium-ion battery technology. Designed to fuel a wide range of applications, its flagship offering, Sonata, serves as the foundation for HP’s new brand of longer lasting notebook batteries that also help the environment – the HP Long Life Battery. The company’s Swing product delivers unmatched capabilities for Plug-In Hybrid and Battery Electric Vehicles (PHEV/BEV). Founded in 2005 and with more than 60 patents filed, Boston-Power is led by Founder and CEO Dr. Christina Lampe-Onnerud, an internationally recognized innovator, entrepreneur and technology advisor with regard to portable power, energy storage and climate change. To date, the company has raised $125 million in venture funding from Foundation Asset Management, Oak Investment Partners, Venrock, GGV Capital and Gabriel Venture Partners. Boston-Power is headquartered in Westborough, Massachusetts, and has Six Sigma-level mass manufacturing operations in Asia.

HTC Touch2 review – Windows Mobile 6.5 and TouchFLO 3D combined !

2009-10-13T12:11:04Z

Early september 2009 the HTC Touch2 was announced by HTC as their first device with Windows Mobile 6.5 pre-loaded, together with the additional services Windows Marketplace for Mobile and Microsoft MyPhone.

During the local Windows Phones launch event on October 6th in Amsterdam, Netherlands the HTC Benelux was present as one of the strong partners of Microsoft Windows Mobile in addition to Samsung, LG, and Sony Ericsson.

In addition of the local announcement of the HTC HD2 by Mark Moons, HTC Benelux provided MobilityMinded with a HTC Touch2 to experience Windows Mobile 6.5 in combination with TouchFLO 3D. In the following article an in depth review of the HTC Touch2 is conducted, while hardware, functional design as well as software are addressed.

Specifications HTC Touch2

In order to provide an overview of the possibilities of the HTC Touch2, a detailed specification list is shown schematically below:

Model: HTC Touch2 (T3333)
Processor: Qualcomm® MSM7225™, 528 MHz
Operating System: Windows Mobile® 6.5 Professional
Memory: 512 MB ROM / 256 MB RAM
Dimensions (L x W x T): 104 x 55 x 12.9 mm. (4.1 x 2.16 x 0.51 inches)
Weight: 110 grams (4 ounces) with battery
Display: 2.8-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen with QVGA resolution
Network: HSPA/WCDMA: Europe/Asia: 900/2100 MHz, Up to 384 kbps up-link and 7.2 Mbps down-link speeds; Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: Europe/Asia: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, Band frequency and data speed are operator dependent.
Device Control: Zoom bar
GPS: Internal GPS antenna
Connectivity: Bluetooth® 2.1 with Enhanced Data Rate and A2DP for wireless stereo headsets, Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 b/g, 3.5 mm audio jack, HTC ExtUSB™ (11-pin mini-USB 2.0)
Camera: 3.2 megapixel color camera with fixed focus
Audio: supported formats AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, AMR-NB, QCP, MP3, WMA, WAV, MIDI, M4A
Video: supported formats WMV, ASF, MP4, 3GP, 3G2, M4V, AVI
Battery: Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery, Capacity: 1100 mAh
Talk time: Up to 370 minutes for WCDMA / Up to 440 minutes for GSM
Standby time: Up to 500 hours for WCDMA / Up to 370 hours for GSM
Expansion Slot: microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
AC Adapter: Voltage range/frequency: 100 ~ 240V AC, 50/60 Hz, DC output: 5V and 1A

In the upcoming hardware section the main hardware pieces and functional design of the HTC Touch2 will be adressed, but some key features are already highlighted in the list above.

Furthermore I would like to recommend an excellent review of Chris Davies, Editor at Slashgear, ”HTC Touch2 Windows Phone review“, in which a demo video of Windows Mobile 6.5 can be watched! Let’s start quickly with an in depth look of the HTC Touch2 hardware and design.

1. HTC Touch2 Hardware

In this first section I would like to have a detailed look at the HTC Touch2 hardware, the content of the retail box in which you get the HTC Touch2 and furthermore discuss the functional design of this Windows Phone.

In the picture above the contents of the HTC Touch2 retail box is shown. In addition to the device itself and the battery, a headset, a sync and charge cable, the wall charging plug and various manuals are included. Although you might find the box small, it is packed with a complete set of hardware (everything an end-user needs).

The picture below shows the front(side) of the HTC Touch2. The upper black part just above the HTC logo is a grille, behind which the charging LED and the front speaker are placed.

The middle part, which looks a little more dark grey is the 2.8-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen featuring a 240×320 QVGA resolution. Between the actual screen and the row with keys on the bottom, there is a touch sensitive zoombar, which we also know for the HTC Touch Diamond2 and the HTC Touch Pro2.

Below the screen and zoombar there is a row with keys, in a minimalistic design. From the left to the right: (1) the talk button, to start a voice call or pick-up a phonecall (2) a home button, to easily get back to the homescreen (3) a Windows “logo / flag” button, to open the start menu (4) a Back button, which is typical for a Windows Mobile Standard device normally, and (5) the end button, to end voicecalls.

The material of this bottom part including the keys is of brushed black aluminium. A similar minimalistc key implementation and layout can be seen on the recently announced HTC HD2, which was locally announced a few days ago by Mark Moons (HTC Benelux).

The picture below shows the clean right(side) of the HTC Touch2, while you just see a non-telescopic stylus on the left side in the picture. The middle part of the casing has a chrome finish, while the front and backparts have a metallic silver finish.

The bottom(side) of the HTC Touch2 is shown in the picture below. On the right you can see the non-telescopic stylus again, while in the middle the HTC ExtUSB™ (11-pin mini-USB 2.0) port is shown. In comparison with for example the HTC Snap this is the right position for the mini ExtUSB-port. Furthermore I’m happy that the ExtUSB port is not covered with some rubber flap, which makes it easily accessible !

The left(side) of the HTC Touch2 features a set of dedicated volume control buttons (on the left) for turning the volume up and down. In the middle the cover of a microSD™ memory card expansion slot is shown. The microSD card slot is SDHC or SD 2.0 compatible, while it is remarkable that the microSD card slot cover “snaps” under the batterycover.

The top(side) of the HTC Touch2 only features a 3.5 mm audio jack, which is shown in the picture below. I’m really happy that end-users are able to use their own high quality headsets -for example Etymoyic Research ER-4-.

This implementation certainly shows that HTC listenes to the feedback from its users. Some time ago I wrote the article: “Micro USB and 3.5 mm headphone jack to become mobile standards ?” While an HTC employee told Jason Dunn, Windows Mobile MVP and Editor in Chief of PocketPC Thoughts, that the 3.5 mm. audio jack would become the standard on upcoming HTC devices, I’m really curious if HTC will adapt to the microUSB standard as well.

In addition to the 3.5 mm. audio jack you can see a small groove (slightly out of the middle) which makes it able to easily release the backcover of the HTC Touch2. A very simple but clever solution, that does the job perfectly in everyday practice.

The back(side) of the HTC Touch2 has a metallic silver finish. on the backcover of the HTC Touch2 you notice directly an element with a chrome finish, which protects the 3.2 megapixel color camera with fixed focus. The dark grey slit on the left of the camera is a speaker, which is used when you play music or put the phone in speakermode.

2. HTC Touch2 Software

I already mentioned in the introduction that the HTC Touch2 is the first device on the market (certainly in the Netherlands) that features Windows Mobile 6.5.

In this section I will have a detailed look at both Windows Mobile 6.5 and the combination with HTC’s TouchFLO 3D user-interface. Finally I would like to show you some additional pre-loaded third party software as well.

REMARK:

The received HTC Touch2 has a localized Dutch ROM preloaded on the device, so therefore the screenshots consist of Dutch translations. However I honestly do hope that you will be able to get an idea of the device software and its functionality.

2.1 Windows Mobile 6.5

In February, earlier this year I was able to cover the announcement and key features of Windows Mobile 6.5 in teh article: “MWC 2009: Windows Mobile 6.5 announcement & screenshots” In this paragraph I will look back at the key features of Windows Mobile 6.5 in a step-by-step way.

The left screenshot above shows the lockscreen of the HTC Touch2. This screen not only lets you unlock the HTC Touch2, but you can also take direct one-click action in the case of an incoming e-mail, sms or voicemail. In the right screenshot above you see the basic Windows Mobile 6.5 homescreen layout, with its Microsoft Zune-like influences. This renewed homescreen is to some extend pretty basic, however works well from a functional perspective.

Furthermore the screenshots below show you the new start menu with integrated settings menu, in the renewed honeycomb structure optimized for fingerfriendly use. More extensive background information about the new start menu an be found in the article above.

In addition to the direct touch-related improvements on Windows Mobile 6.5, Microsoft launched two services as well. Directly after Mobile World Congres the first beta of Microsoft MyPhone was launched, and with the official Windows Phones launch on October 6th Microsoft MyPhone is launched with new premium features! The screenshots below show some on-device screenshots of the Microsoft MyPhone service, which is bundled with every new smartphone running Windows Mobile 6.5

The screenshots below show you some of the new premium features, like “locate your phone on a map” and sharing your pictures on you social networks. A more extensive article about the premium service and new features is written by my colleague and good friend Paul Willen.

The second bundeled service which was launched together with Windows Mobile 6.5 is the service called Windows Marketplace for Mobile -an online application store where you can directly purchase applications on the go-. The screenshots below show you the homescreen and an application specific screen in the Windows Marketplace for Mobile.

In a sequence of articles I tried to cover different aspects -for example the payment mechanism- of the Microsoft online application store: “Windows Marketplace for Mobile coming to Windows Mobile 6.1 and 6.0” and “Windows Marketplace for Mobile – Payments and Operators“

Arne Hess, Windows Mobile MVP and Editor in Chief of the::unwired, has written an interesting article as well about a “localization issue” of Windows Marketplace for Mobile. Unfortunately I have a similar experience with the local Dutch Windows Marketplace for Mobile, and I truely hope that there will be a fix / solution for this.

2.2 HTC TouchFLO 3D – A detailed view

We all know that HTC has heavily invested in the development of their HTC TouchFLO 3D / HTC Sense userinterface. In the left screenshot above you can see that “only” TouchFLO 3D version 2.0 is included, while for example you can see TouchFLO 3D version 2.1 on the HTC Touch Pro2. You probably directly notice that this version has colored icons in the bottom TouchFLO 3D “navigation” bar. TouchFLO 3D on the HTC Touch2 consists of 11 (!!!) different tabs which will be shown in a step by step overview.

A. Start

The first tab is labelled “Start” and provides a true overview of your Windows Phone, showing time, weather, your agenda, alarm status and operator. When you push the home button on the bottom of the HTC Touch2 this is the screen you will get, since it gives you the actual status.

B. Contacts

The left screenshot above shows the second tab called contacts, which is nothing more than a customizable grid in which you can add 12 preferred contacts. It are “just” shortcuts for dailing these contacts, and since this is TouchFLO 3D v2.0 it lacks the people centric communication approach, which was implemented first on the HTC Touch Pro2. If you are used to a certain feature it is hard to live without and, more because it lets you easily switch between the various communication modes.

C. Messages

The right screenshots above shows you the latest SMS messages, which makes the name of the third tab “Messages” nothing more than a logic choice. With the use of gestures you can easily swipe or flip through the SMS messages, while via the Windows Mobile softkeys you can enter Pocket Outlook, or directly reply to a SMS message.

D. Mail

The fourth tab is devoted to mail, and analogue as in the messages tab you will get an overview of your last e-mails. However right next to the message you can see a few envelopes, which feature the different configured mail accounts. In this example it my Microsoft (Hosted) Exchange account and the MobilityMinded e-mail account are added on the HTC Touch2, so I can easily switch between accounts and swipe/flip through the different messages. Despite the relative small area the SMS messages and e-mails are very good readable !

E. Internet

The right screenshot above shows the 5th Internet tab, which lets you easily open the Opera Mobile webbrowser, the YouTube viewer, or any other website which is configured under the favourites in this tab. Later in this review you will read more about the comparison of Internet Explorer 6 for Mobile and Opera Mobile 9.5.

F. Pictures and Video

The 6th tab in the HTC TouchFLO 3D GUI is called Pictures and Video’s and is closely integrated with HTC’s custom camera- and camcorder applications, as well as their own picture viewer. On the right you see thetouch buttons to open the applications, while you can easily flip through your pictures, in a same way we have seen with e-mails and sms messages.

G. Music

Tab 7 is dedicated to playing and managing music on your HTC Touch2. Again touch buttons are used to go forward to the next song, or go backward to the previous song, and obvious you can play and stop the current song. However the Music tab is integrated with an Audio Management application that HTC includes on their devices.

H. Weather

Very helpful and something I use on a daily basis is checking the weather-forecast. Bassed on Accuweather information HTC has developed a really nice weather tab within TouchFLO 3D, which is shown in the left screenshot above. A similar approach is seen for example in the recently launched SPB Mobile Shell 3.5, in which weather forms a significant part of the GUI.

I. Search on map

I’m not 100% sure if this was already included in TouchFLO 3D on the HTc Touch Pro2, but this tab cleverly combines Google Search and Google Maps. The example text shows the search string “pizzeria in Amsterdam”, and I personally tested with the search text “mcdonalds”. After you hit the search button, your current location is calulated and the nearest options of mcdonalds restaurants are shown in a list view on your device. I have seen a similar concept with Microsoft Live Search and customer-driven features !

J. Settings

The left screenshot above shows the settings-tab within TouchFLO 3D. It let’s you quickly configure and access the most important settings from you Windows Phone from withint TouchFLO 3D. Even with the improved start menu of Windows Mobile 6.5 the “shortcuts” witthin the settings-tab are one-click faster to access the specified settings.

K. Programs

The right screenshot above shows the final Progams-tab of TouchFLO 3D. I can configure 18 (!!!) shortcuts to my most used programs, and therefore it helps in everyday life. Although it was not part of TouchFLO 3D on the HTC Touch Pro2 as a separate tab, the concept of this programs-implementation was seen on this device as well.

However if you look back at the released Windows Mobile 6.5 with improved start menu, in which settings and programs are merged, it is a little contradicting to see a HTC implementation which keeps these separated. Furthermore I do think that this might be a field of tension between the standard Windows Mobile 6.5 solution and the custom HTC TouchFLO 3D overlay. Closely related to this topic is also the fact that two browsers are pre-loaded on the HTC Tocuh2, which I will discuss in the section below.

2.3 Additional out-of-the-box software

You already noticed that the HTC Touch2 is a feature rich device, featuring the latest version of Windows Mobile as well as the well developed HTC TouchFLO 3D interface. In addition the HTC Touch2 is packed with a large bundle of third party software, and in this paragraph I will quickly discuss the most important software titles.

At first there are two browsers pre-loaded on the HTC Touch2: (A) the standard browser of Windows Mobile 6.5, which is Internet Explorer 6 for Mobile; and (B) the standard browser of the HTC TouchFLO 3D interface, which is Opera Mobile v9.5. Both the screenshots below provide some background information about the browsers’ version and buildnumber.

The screenshots below show both the browsers during “normal” use of looking up a website. While at first sight the overview might look the same, the menu’s are a little differently structured, and you can see furthermore that the Opera Mobile browser features a Google search box in the center of the screen so you can easily type in the URL or simply search based on keywords.

You might think “Does it make sense to pre-load two browsers on your Windows Phone?” Personally I do think it doesn’t, however I do understand the underlying dynamics of the combination Windows Mobile and HTC ThouchFLO 3D which both feature one browser. I honestly hope that in future it becomes more easily to exchange browsers and provide the end-user more choice. In this case it would mean work for both Microsoft and HTC since, Internet Explorer 6 for Mobile should be made available for download by Microsoft, while HTC should include the option within TouchFLO 3D or HTC Sense to “plugin” Internet Explorer 6 for Mobile easily.

Allright enough browser thoughts, lets look at some additional preloaded software. It is not really new, but certainly worthwhile to mention is the included RSS Hub application. In fact it is the familiar Iliumsoft Newsbreak application, which is included on your device for free. In the right screenshot below an excellent YouTube viewer is shown, and if I’m informed correctly the credits for this application fully are HTC’s development work.

However also a relative simple application like the calculator seems HTC’s development work, and therefore the company adds innovation both in terms of software and hardware. However I must admit that the calculator application is optimized for fingerfriendly use, and it works really well in practice.

New to me is the included MSN Money Widget, which shows me the latest important financial information like the situations on the world’s most important stock exchanges or simply the US Dollar / Euro exchange rate.

The left screenshot below shows a great addition since a PDF reader is not standard in the Microsoft Office Mobile suite. Adobe Reader LE v2.5 is the pre-loaded PDF-reader, and to my experience this is a must have application for business users. So my compliments to HTC for bundling this piece of software with the HTC Touch2.

Finally a 14-day trial of the CoPilot Live Navigation software is included on the HTC Touch2, while similar downloads were made available for the HTC Touch Pro2 in the recent history. I haven’t spent much time testing it, but it is a nice move to include a well known Navigation Suite on the HTC Touch2 so you are ready to go !!

3. Conclusions and first overall thoughts

After this extensive review addressing the different aspects of the HTC Touch2 I can only concluded that this is a very feature rich device packed with a bulk load of helpful software. Despite the fact that the HTC Touch2 is aimed at the middle end of the market, I strongly believe that it is a very powerful device that gets most things done for a business professional as well.

Furthermore remark that this is the first Windows Mobile 6.5 smartphone on the market (in the Netherlands), while Samsung for example announced the Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrade for the Omnia II on October 6th as well. I can only compliment HTC for packing a lot of features and connectivity options in a small formfactor, with an excellent combination of Windows Mobile 6.5 and the HTC TouchFLO 3D GUI. For example the lockscreen and the Microsoft MyPhone & Marketplace for Mobile services perfectly complement the HTC TouchFLO 3D interface.

I personally I do miss the people-centric-communication concept, but that is a matter of positioning and pricepoint. Furthermore the HTC Touch2 is also the first device where I can “feel” some tensions between the basic Windows Mobile 6.5- and HTC TouchFLO implementations.

In the review I made some points on these tension fields, but its good to summarize them here: (1) Internet Explorer 6 for Mobile vs Opera Mobile webbrowser, (2) New Windows Mobile 6.5 start menu vs. Settings and Programs tabs in HTC TouchFLO 3D, (3) the Windows Mobile 6.5 homescreen vs. HTC TouchFLO 3D GUI. I’m curious to see how these tension fields will evolve over time, -and on different devices.

I would like to wrap-up that the HTC Touch2 is an excellent feature rich device that gives you excellent value for money! If you want to make the switch from a classic Nokia 3210, the HTC Touch2 is a perfect step to explore the smartphone market!

Finally I would like to recommend an excellent review of Chris Davies, Editor at Slashgear, ”HTC Touch2 Windows Phone review“, in which a demo video of Windows Mobile 6.5 can be watched!

Pricing and availability

“The HTC Touch2 will initially be available to customers on October 6 with broad availability in a variety of European and Asian markets in early Q4 2009. According to the local HTC Touch2 press release the pricepoint will be E299,- without a subscription.”

Amazon Kindle 2 review – now with International Wireless

2009-10-09T11:48:49Z

We received a Kindle 2 with 3G connection for the US from Amazon for review. A new US and International Wireless is now available as well. E-readers are becoming more and more popular. From e-reader applications on the desktop, mobile device to the stand alone devices like the Kindle 2 from Amazon.

This review will give you an impression of our experiences with the Kindle 2 from amazon. The Kindle 2 is the 6 inch screen version. The bigger Kindle DX has a 9,7 inch screen size. below is a quick difference reference guide.

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Unboxing

The Kindle 2 arrived in nice small box which was secured by packaging on 2 occasions. In the first place you could only open the carton box by removing/ripping off a strip like you would open up a FedEx envelop.

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Secondly the storage container inside the carton box had a similar strip that needed to be removed.

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Included in the box are:

Kindle 2
USB cable charger/connector
USB to US plug conversion power adapter
Quick get started reference guide

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Besides the item in the box we also received the Amazon Kindle Leather Cover. The leather cover connects easily on the Kindle using a spring loaded clip. This gives the kindle a professional, clean look and protection.

The Out Of The Box Experience

The Kindle 2 comes out of the box pre-registered to your Amazon.com account. There is no need to connect it first to your computer at all. You can start using it right away. The quick start guide explains in text and images how to charge your Kindle and gives you a overview of the buttons and the different ways of navigating on the device.

The first time you start up your device by sliding the power button on the top of the Kindle, the screen will show you the Kindle user’s guide. The welcome chapter will give you a minimum to get started on the Kindle.

The Home Screen

The home screen of the Kindle shows all your books and other readings you are subscribe too or have purchased in the Kindle store. Basically this is your book shelve. By pressing the home button on the right hand of the device, it will create some small black and white flashes on your screen and will show you the home screen with all your listings.

Using the 5 way Navigation button (Up,Down, left, Right and Press to Select) on the home screen will allow you to select the reading you would like to read. If you scroll all the way to the top you can change the order of listing by : Most Recent First, Author or Title.

Included is “the New Oxford American Dictionary” which you can use to look up a particular word without leaving the book, newspaper or any other document you are reading. Using the 5 way navigation button on the right you can scroll to the beginning of a word and on the bottom of the screen will automatically give you a description an definition of that particular word.

The Menu Button

By pressing the menu button on the home screen you will get the following options:

Turn Wireless Off (preserve battery power)
Shop in the Kindle Store (this will get you live to the Kindle store to sample or purchase reading materials, wireless needs to be turned on)
Search (search for items,dictionary,kindle store,wikipedia,google or web) Some basic web browsing will work.
Settings (Registration, Device Name, Device E-mail, Personal Info)
Experimental ( Basic Web, Play MP3, Text-to-Speech) Try it and let Kindle know if it is something they need to continue.
Sync &Check for Items (this will update all your bookmarks, files that are synchronized to your account. For example if your Kindle reader for the IPhone is further into a document it will sync this to your Kindle as well)

The Menu button will have more possibilities depending on the screen your in. For example in the web browsing or books you can;

Go to the beginning
Table of Contents
Go to location
Sync to last page
Add bookmark
Search
Book Cover
Add notes and Highlights
And more…

Other Hardware Buttons and Keyboard

Some other hardware buttons makes the navigation a breeze on the Kindle.

Next Page – this will turn to your next page in your e-book
Prev Page – this will turn back to your previous page in your e-book
Back – this will turn back to your last screen throughout your navigation within the Kindle
Qwerty Keyboard – physical hardware buttons to type your words in the different search options.
5-way Navigation Button – scroll through text- forward to next chapter-highlight text-main menu per title

The Kindle’s Screen

I have to say that it took a little getting used to reading on this small black and white tablet. But the opaque e-ink screen gives it a great same look as reading the actual book. What I did miss was the option for a backlight. But just as reading a regular book, it is easy to read the screen with low and high light surroundings.

The Kindle Shopping experience.

All the items listed in the Kindle shop have a fee. To access the shop you will select from the Home page the Menu button and you select “Shop in the Kindle Store”. This includes the Kindle versions of the Books, Newspapers, Magazines and, yes indeed, Blogs. With the 5-way navigation button and the search box it is easy to navigate through all the different tittles. In the books section you have an option to download “Try a Sample”. This will give you a small excerpt to see if you would like to buy the book in full digital format.

On your Amazon account you can manage your purchases. As well as your devices. For example I share the same account with my wife and we are both able to read the same book purchased once on two different devices. The Kindle and the Kindle reader for the iPhone or iTouch.

Deleting a book on your Kindle is very easy as well. On the home page you scroll down to the title you would like to delete using the 5-way navigation button. Once you are there your press the 5 way navigation to the left and select delete.

Experimental Web Browsing

The Kindle has a search with Google build in. This one of the ways to get to the experimental internet browser. The browser is very simple but could be useful for a quick look up. Being used to many color screen on mobile devices it is not that attractive to browse on.

Conclusion

I really like the kindle to sit down and be able to read my books without dragging them around or have stacks of them laying around. The Kindle is a little pricey, but we will save some trees. The e-books are also cheaper compared to the real books. Most of them are $9.99. Similar priced to the soft cover versions. The battery life is very good. It even gets better if you turn the wireless off. The 5-way navigation button has so many different function per page that you kind have to experiment a little to know all the possibilities. I am not sure how the Kindle will work in a text book environment, but for reading a novel it is definitely now my first choice.

The Kindles are available on Amazon.com

Kindle Wireless Reading Device (6″ Display, U.S. & International Wireless, Latest Generation) goes for $279
Kindle Wireless Reading Device (6″ Display, U.S. Wireless, Latest Generation) goes for $259
Kindle DX Wireless Reading Device (9.7″ Display, U.S. Wireless, Latest Generation) goes for $489

Update: A question arised about extra possible charges for the wireless connection in your home country or outside your home country with the Latest generation wireless Kindle. When slecting your specific country in the box “Live Outside the U.S.?” on the product page it will states the following.

Free Wireless: Free 3G wireless lets you download books right from your Kindle. No monthly fees, service plans, or hunting for Wi-Fi hotspots. For non-U.S. customers, there are also no additional charges for wireless delivery outside your home country.

My Phone Premium Service and New Features reviewed

2009-10-09T11:50:47Z

Yesterday was the day that Microsoft Launched Windows Mobile 6.5, Windows Phones and Windows Marketplace. In addition to these announcements, Microsoft also upgraded their My Phone service. First of all: the My Phone service, covered by Remo a couple of months ago, isn’t in beta anymore and is public to any Windows Mobile user. Go to http://myphone.microsoft.com and signup!

With the upgrade of My Phone, Microsoft included a few extra features.

Archive Items

When archiving in Microsoft My Phone, you basically free-up space data you don’t need directly anymore on your phone. If you have hundreds of Text-Messages or Photos, there are for sure going to be some items you don’t want to keep on your device but definitely want to keep available to you.
Then it is possible to archive these items which means that they will be deleted from your Windows Phone but still will be available in the My Phone web account’s archive section.

Share Photos

You can easily share pictures you took with a number of social networking services. Currently these services are Flickr, Facebook and MySpace. Sadly Twitter isn’t included at this moment, but I hope this service will be added soon too. Sharing photos is possible on 2 ways: Via the My Phone web account and via the My Phone application on your Windows Phone.

If you want to upload a picture to Flickr via the My Phone application on your Windows Phone you need to set up the Flickr service on the web account first (due to the Flickr authorization model).

A close discription of sharing photos can be found on the My Phone help site

Locate your Windows Phone

With the Locate or erase service you can login on your My Phone web account and click on the phone you would like to Locate. The locate functionality shows a Map with the location of the phone when it was last synced with the My Phone service. If GPS is enabled the location shown on the map is more accurate.

Premium Services

Besides the Share and Archive services Microsoft introduces My Phone “Premium Services”. These services won’t be free of charge, but will give a Windows Phone user the ability to take a few actions when the device is lost.

Ring your phone

If you’ve lost your phone you can go to the web account of your My Phone and choose to ring your phone. The phone will start to ring EVEN if you set your phone to mute or vibrate. The phone will ring for 60 seconds and when you look at the phone a message will appear on the screen that the owner (with the registered “Live” email address) is looking for his device.

Lock your Phone

The new My Phone service also gives you the possibility to Lock your device remotely via the web account of My Phone. If you’ve lost your device or if your device is stolen this is a good way to secure your private data.

In the web account enter a 4-digit PIN number and a optional message to display on your phone’s homescreen. The optional message can contain 53 characters, more than enough to enter a telephone number (please not your own cell-number) or an email address.

Erase your phone

The third premium service is to erase your Windows Phone completely. With this My Phone service you have the possibility to erase all the content of your phone AND storage card. Using this functionality your device will be restored to factory settings and of course will also loose it’s connection to the My Phone service. But if you’ve got a lot of confidential information on your Phone and Storage card and your phone is lost, this is a perfect option to make sure your data is not viewed by strangers.

Thoughts & Wrap-up

The My Phone update is really impressive to me. Normally when beta software is going public you would notice some bug-fixes and speed improvements. Microsoft managed to add some really nice features to the My Phone service. The premium services can be a real life saver if you’ve lost your phone, or someone stole your phone. Overall I would say My Phone is a must-have for every Windows Phone user. So go over to http://myphone.microsoft.com on your PC and http://mobile.microsoft.com/myphone on your Windows Phone and start using My Phone!

Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrades for “recent” HTC devices

2009-10-13T17:49:31Z

The great news today, October 6th, is the official announcement of Windows Phones and Windows Mobile 6.5. HTC is one of the leading partners of Microsoft and was present at the local Windows Mobile 6.5 launch event in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Paul Willen has covered the local announcement of the HTC HD2 in the article: “HTC HD2 locally announced by Mark Moons (HTC Benelux)”

In addition to this announcement there was other news as well. While on the Mobile World Congress 2009 it was already announced that HTC Touch Diamond2 and the HTC Touch Pro2 would receive a Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrade. The announcement from back then is confirmed today, with the cool addition that the HTC Snap will also get a Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrade as well.

In addition my good friend Paul Willen asked the clever question if HTC Sense (which is fully widgetized on the HTC HD2) would also become available on other devices as well with the upgrade. However the HTC Sense interface will only be available on the HTC HD2, and this could be a missed chance for HTC to broaden their Sense userinterface. What do you think ?

Summarizing the Windows Mobile 6.5 portfolio of HTC devices:

HTC Snap (upgrade);
HTC Touch Diamond 2 (upgrade);
HTC Touch Pro 2 (upgrade);
HTC Touch 2 (pre-installed);
HTC HD2 (pre-installed);

Finally I’m really happy to see that a large set of devices (already on the market) will receive an upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.5. My compliments for HTC !

UPDATE:

Bellow you can find the official links to the Windows Mobile 6.5 ROM upgrades for HTC Snap and HTC Touch Pro2 on the HTC support website:

HTC HD2 locally announced by Mark Moons (HTC Benelux)

2009-10-26T08:58:31Z

Today at the local Windows Phone launch event in Amsterdam, HTC announced a new device called the HTC HD2 (of which the codename is HTC Leo) in addition to the introductions from Windows Mobile 6.5 and Microsoft MyPhone.

Luckily HTC didn’t just announce it, but also had a few HTC HD2 demo units in Amsterdam so we could play a few minutes with this powerhouse.

HTC HD2 hardware

The HTC HD2 is a phone with the largest screen available. A whopping 4,3″ screen with WVGA resolution. Based on my first hand experiences I can only say: This screen is LARGE! Furthermore the HTC HD2 will be the first Windows Phone with a capacitive touchscreen, which means multitouch.

The HTC HD2 is the first HTC device based on the Snapdragon chipset running at 1 Gigahertz. The device is from what I can judge one of the fastest devices I have ever used. Some more key features from this device are its 5 Megapixel camera with a Dual LED Flashlight, and that again, is something HTC has never done in a device! Five Megapixels and a decent Flash to make nice snapshots in the dark.

For a complete overview of the hardware specifications I would like recommend the specification list on the HTC HD2 product page.

HTC Software on the HTC HD2

The HTC HD2 will be shipped with Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5, which makes it the 5th Windows Phone from HTC. Furthermore HTC has replaced the TouchFLO 3D with a Windows Mobile version of HTC’s sense.

HTC Sense user interface was first introduced on the Android powered HTC Hero. The prediction I made back then seems to be true – HTC Sense will eventually become a cross-platform experience to all the HTC users. Just like the Android version of HTC Sense and SPB Mobile Shell 3.5 the Windows Phone version of HTC Sense is completely widgetized. HTC really points to three basic sense thoughts:

Make it mine – Personalize you Windows Phone the way you like it
Stay Close – Keep all you contacts, E-Mail, SMS and Phonecalls together
Discover the unexpected – Basically all the nice Sense features HTC built in and makes you say: “WOW!”

HTC not only drives great innovations in hardware,but certainly invests in software innovations as well.

Concluding thoughts and wrap-up

The HTC HD2 is the fastest Windows Phone I have every tried. But not only the speed is impressive. The fact that there is a 5 Megapixel camera with flash, a capacitive touchscreen, and a 1 Gigahertz Processor indicates that this is a really powerful device. The only downside of the device I could see from the few minutes I had it in my hand is it’s width. Using the device with one hand simply isn’t possible (to me) because when I keep the device in my right hand, my thumb doesn’t reach the top-left corner (Start menu) of the device.

Basically the only drawback is that the screen it too big – But who would mention this as a downside of a device??

Pricing and Availability

According to countrymanager Mark Moons the HTC HD2 will be available from the end of this month in Europe and will cost €599,- (without a subscription and including VAT). When the HTC HD2 will be available in the United States is unknown at this moment.

Instant update: It looks like the HD2 will be available in the US in Q1 2010 according to Slashgear:

Meanwhile Peter Chou confirmed to us that HTC are working on a US-spec version of the device, which will cross the Atlantic in time for Q1 2010. No word on pricing as yet.