blackberry – TechVirtuoso

My five predictions for the iPhone 5

February 17th, 2011 at 8:14 PM 2 Comments Michael Stanclift

Late winter, early spring… it’s that time of year where the entire technology world begins to wonder about what Apple has planned for the next version of the iPhone, which, come late June will be the device that sets the trend for mobile technology into the next year. Like it or hate it, the iPhone is the standard that all Android, WebOS, BlackBerry and Windows Phones must either match or surpass to be taken seriously.

So what will this phone feature? It’s impossible to tell until Steve Jobs takes the stage to tell us, and even then there will still be many unanswered questions until it gets into the hands of the consumer. Even though the release of the next generation iPhone happens like clock work, I’m still constantly asked questions like “when will the next iPhone be out” or “should I wait to buy it?” — This article serves to help anwser those questions right now.

By the way, if you thought I mistaken when I said Steve Jobs will take the stage, let me clarify: (more…)

Mobile World Congress award winners

February 17th, 2011 at 11:56 AM No Comments Michael Stanclift

Mobile World Congress announced the winners of the various yearly awards. Everything from phones, to apps, to networks, and a bunch of other things no one except the real mobile geeks cares about.

Among the most interesting awards:

Best Mobile App – Angry Birds
Best Mobile Device – Apple iPhone 4
Device Manufacture of the Year – HTC

What is a little bit telling about the ecosystems of each of the major smartphone platforms, is that Apple was the only platform where a third party developer won “App of the Year” in that category:

iOS – Angry Birds (Rovio)
Android – Google Maps
Blackberry – BlackBerry Messenger (RIM)

While Google Maps on Android is quite possibly the best mapping program on any mobile platform, it’s sad that that was the best Android could come up. with As far as BlackBerry goes, if the built in messenger is the most interesting thing about it… it’s not even worth insulting.

A complete list of awards is available at the GSMA website.

One of these tablets is not like the other, one you can buy right now

February 9th, 2011 at 8:06 PM 4 Comments Michael Stanclift

Today was an interesting day in the tablet world. We learned that what was left of Palm has now officially been smashed into HP, and that HP is serious about really building on the momentum that Palm had started to build with webOS. HP announced a plethora of new things today (which you can read more about over at Engadget, who I stole/borrowed the wonderful chart above from) but the most interesting today was their new tablet, the HP TouchPad.

I have been getting a lot of crap from people for talking a lot about Apple on this site recently. If you’re bothered by this, feel free to stop reading now, or write your own articles. Fact of the matter is, they’re key to a lot of the technology I’m interested in right now and they execute it better than anyone else.

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RIM fires back at Dell’s decision to ditch the BlackBerry

November 6th, 2010 at 12:33 PM No Comments Michael Stanclift

It’s was probably a rough day in Waterloo, Canada yesterday when news hit that 25,000 Dell BlackBerry users would be making the switch to Windows Mobile 7.

Part of the reason cited for the switch is the 25% reduction in cost associated with the switch. In addition to the fact Dell would be migrating to their own Dell Venue Pro devices, they’d also be switching to Microsoft ActiveSync instead of routing all their messaging through RIM’s BlackBerry Enterprise services.

RIM (undoubtedly) didn’t feel the same way, with RIM’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Marketing Mark Guibert telling Dow Jones Newswires in an email:

“We find it highly unlikely that they will actually save any money with this move and far more likely they were looking for a little free publicity”

Are they? You betcha. Did it work? Yep. Will it be worth it? Time will tell.

via BGR

15% off custom phone cases, review coming soon

August 18th, 2010 at 12:52 PM 4 Comments Michael Stanclift

The folks over at Coveroo have extended a cool offer to TechVirtuoso visitors, 15% off any of their customizable phone & mobile device cases. For not much money, you could easily put your company logo on the back of every Blackberry in your company. They have a really cool laser engraving and color logo application process that we’ll be posting up a review of soon, as soon as they get my custom iPhone 4 review unit* shipped out. They claim their logo application process is so strong that it will never fade, peel, or rub off your phone.

Just pick out your case and enter HOTAUG15 at checkout, and the 15% discount will be applied to your order.

They also frequently give away free cases to followers of their Facebook and Twitter feeds. What is not to love about that?

*FTC disclaimer: Review unit provided to TechVirtuoso by Coveroo at no cost.

Android road warrior has phone, ISO connectivity

November 23rd, 2009 at 9:42 AM 2 Comments Shane Pitman

As I stated in my previous post, I have left the world of BlackBerry and Microsoft Exchange behind and transitioned my e-mail, calendar, contacts, and mobile platform to Google Apps and Android. Doing so was no small decision, as my “day job” requires that I have access to all of these items and that they work in unison with each other, my desktop, my laptop, and that I have access to my data anywhere at any time.

I own an IT consulting firm, and as you can imagine, that means that I am not always in the office, and don’t always have connectivity available. With my BlackBerry, it was as simple as loading the Sprint SmartView software on my laptop (similar applications are provided by most carriers) and using my BlackBerry’s data connection. However, SmartView doesn’t work with the Samsung Moment, and Sprint has made the (poor) decision to do away with tethering or “Phone-As-Modem” options on their Simply Everything plans which are required plans for their smartphones. I speculate that their reason for doing away with tethering is an effort to drive customers to the increasing number of mobile broadband devices that they carry, including the new Novatel MiFi 2200 router, but I’ll save that gripe for another post.

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Goodbye RIM, Microsoft, hello Android, Google Apps

November 20th, 2009 at 1:07 AM 5 Comments Shane Pitman

Those of you who know me, know that I have been an avid BlackBerry proponent for many years. I held fast to the opinion that BlackBerry coupled with Microsoft Exchange was the solution for business mobile communications. Be it BlackBerry Enterprise Server or Microsoft ActiveSync, I held steadfast in my opinion that nothing could perform as well or better in maintaining perfect harmony between my desktop, my laptop, my phone, and anywhere access to my information. I am here to say, that era has ended. A moment of silence, please. Now that the mourning is over, let me tell you the changes I’ve made, how, and why.

First, let me say that I had not been looking to leave the BlackBerry/Exchange family, but I was holding out for a full screen BlackBerry with a physical keyboard, a slider if you will. Those of you who follow mobile devices closely, especially those who follow BlackBerry hardware, are well aware of the numerous design concept drawings, mock-ups, etc. of a BlackBerry slider that have been floating around for at least a year. Never revealing just exactly when we would see such a device, RIM has only been willing to confirm that several design options have been considered. This secrecy is nothing unusual among device manufacturers, but the lack of information and an opportunity provided by a competitor presents a precarious position, and, in this case, caused a long time RIM fan to jump ship.

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Palm drops Windows Mobile in favor of webOS

September 18th, 2009 at 11:29 AM 6 Comments Michael Stanclift

palm-pre-webos-lg Palm has announced that they will no longer be incorporating Microsoft Windows Mobile onto new devices, stating a commitment to the future of their new webOS platform, present on the recently released Palm Pre. Windows Mobile was first released on a Palm device back in 2006 with the Palm Treo 700w, later followed up by the 700Wx, 750 and Treo Pro. 8xkqt5hwir

“We’re making significant process with Palm’s transformation, and our culture of innovation is stronger than ever. We’re launching more great Palm webOS products with more carriers and turning our sights toward growth,” said Jon Rubinstein, chairman and CEO.

This move comes as a blow to Microsoft, which is struggling against up and coming smartphone OS providers in the business sector like Palm webOS, Google Android, Apple iPhone and the continued fight against Research in Motion’s Blackberry.

According to Garner, at the end of 2008, the estimated market share for Windows Mobile, worldwide, in the smartphone market was 12.4% — currently many of the those phones are made by Taiwan based HTC, however they’ve began releasing many of their new phones with Google’s Android platform, so it remains to be seen what their continued commitment to Windows Mobile will be.

However, the move could backfire on Palm, as some businesses continue to see devices like the Pre as more of a consumer oriented device and will opt for Windows Mobile and Blackberry which provide better support for Exchange and more enhanced and native device security.

Yesterday Palm, together with Sprint, revealed they’d only sold around 810,000 Pre devices in the last quarter. (In comparison the iPhone 3GS sold over 1 million units in the first week and over 5 million in the quarter.) Palm also announced yesterday losses for the quarter reached $164.5 million, compared to a loss of only $41.9 million last year. However, this did beat industry expectations for the company. Palm says they expect revenues for the next quarter to be even lower than their last.