News

Palm and Astraware announce first games for Foleo

Palm and Astraware today announced the first two games for Palm’s new Foleo mobile companion – Astraware Sudoku and Astraware Solitaire. Additional titles from Astraware will follow.

The Palm® Foleo mobile companion is for people who understand that sometimes less is more. With the press of one button, the mobile companion’s large screen displays wireless e-mail from a paired smartphone. A smartphone is great for finding quick bits of information or sending a brief response to an e-mail. But there are times when a full-size keyboard and a big screen is preferred to view attachments, type longer e-mails, or to get a bigger-screen look at web pages and photos. Plus, Internet access is available anywhere there is cell phone coverage, or when the Foleo is within range of a Wi-Fi hotspot. With Foleo’s instant on/off capability, light and small size, and 5-hour battery life, Palm expects the mobile companion to establish a new category of personal-computing products.

Astraware Sudoku is a logical puzzle game suitable for players of all abilities. Features include six levels of difficulty, pencilmarks in a choice of styles, optional completion and tracking of pencilmarks plus an advanced hint system. In addition, it comes with a selection of built-in puzzles and, after registration, allows the addition of pre-built puzzle packs available free from http://www.sudokuoftheday.com.

Astraware SuDoKu

Customers who register Astraware Sudoku are rewarded with additional capabilities such as a puzzle creator and a puzzle solver that can be used on other Sudoku games found in newspapers, online or in books. The game also includes a ‘Puzzle of the Day,’ which delivers a new puzzle daily to the Foleo plus the ability to share personal completion times or compare scores with other players worldwide.

Astraware Solitaire features 12 of the most well-known and best-loved single-player card games including Klondike, Spider, Freecell and Pyramid. Each game has a wide range of custom gameplay options so users can enjoy the games with their favorite variations on the standard rules. The game’s style and interface has been designed to mirror the feeling of playing with real cards and offers a range of display options as well as detailed statistics to track progress. Astraware Solitaire has been optimized for the high-resolution display on the Foleo mobile companion and for use with the trackpoint controller.

Astraware Solitaire

“The Palm Foleo is a unique and exciting new type of device, and we’re thrilled to make two great popular games available for its users,” said David Oakley, chief technology officer for Astraware. “The Foleo is an ideal companion for high-powered, time-starved executives, and Solitaire and Sudoku are ideal games to let them relax once their work is done.”

By building the Foleo on an open Linux-based platform and publishing the tools developers might need, Palm hopes to establish a vibrant developer community to create new applications that extend the mobile companion’s built-in capabilities. Astraware demonstrates the ease with which exciting technology and applications can be ported to the Foleo mobile companion.

“Business productivity is a major driving force for mobile computing; however we also believe in the importance of balancing work and personal time,” said Mark Bercow, senior vice president of business development for Palm, Inc. “This is why we give mobile professionals the option to relax with a game of solitaire or a stimulating puzzle during downtime.”

Posted by: Matt

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, Astraware, Palm, Foleo]

Motorola Q9m appears

The first images of the new Motorola Q9m have appeared on the Boy Genius Report site.

Motorola Q9m

Yeah, you’re probably looking at the first live shots of the new Motorola Q9m for Verizon Wireless, and ain’t it a beauty? The Q9m uses a regular miniUSB port instead of Motorola’s new favorite microUSB, which makes charging and connecting a lot easier. The Q9m also looks like it supports miniSD cards for memory expansion, and has a nice red glow around the d-pad. This Q9M brings back the scroll wheel that the GSM Q9 lacked. Another Verizon customization was the home screen. It displays shortcuts for commonly used applications like the camera, messaging, web, music in a circular pattern on the screen. The icons in Windows Mobile are completely customized, and look for VCast music support on here as well. The QWERTY keyboard is fantastic just like the other Q9 we previewed, and the device actually has a metallic plastic on the front, and a black rubberized back.

Motorola Q9m specification:

Note the lack of WiFi though!

Take a look at the other images HERE.

Matt

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Motorola, Q Pro, Motorola Q9m, Tracy & Matt]

Sprint PPC-6800, HTC Titan appears

Images of Sprints new PPC-6800, better known as the Mogul, have now appeared on the web.

Sprint PPC-6800 (HTC Titan)

The device, a reworked HTC Titan, has undergone some cosmetic changes since we last saw it in February as the Verizon-branded XV6800. It looks like an impressive bit of kit and I just hope that a UK carrier takes up this device soon, it will make an excellent update to the HTC TyTN and would be a great replacement for the ageing Orange M3100.

Sprint PPC-6800 (HTC Titan) Specification:

Posted by: Matt

[Technorati tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, HTC Titan, Sprint PPC-6800, Sprint, HTC]

HTC Touch coming to T-Mobile, Vodafone and O2 in Germany

On Friday, HTC Europe announced that T-Mobile International, Vodafone Germany and O2 Germany will launch the HTC Touch. While the exact release date is as yet unknown all three networks are expected to launch the device late June/early July.

HTC Touch & O2 XDA Nova

T-Mobile and O2 Germany will release the HTC Touch under their own brand names and with slightly different designs, T-Mobile as MDA Touch and O2 as Xda nova, Vodafone have opted to stick to the original HTC design and will release a co-branded version of the original HTC Touch.

Without a contract, the HTC Touch/MDA Touch/Xda nova will retail for around 450 Euro. Furthermore sources indicated, that it will be available subsidized for around 49 Euro.

Posted by: Matt

Source

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, HTC, HTC Touch, HTC Elf, HTC P3450]

VITO Technology release ActiveTrace 2.0

VITO Technology is happy to announce the second version of VITO Active Trace – its famous GPS sports tracker. VITO Active Trace 2.0 is the ideal solution for everyday outdoor workouts: it records tracks of your training trips and collects detailed statistics.

VITO ActiveTrace 2.0

VITO Active Trace turns a Smartphone or Pocket PC into your personal coach that intently watches your progress and needs no attention on your part. Just turn it on, put it into a pocket and focus on training. After you have finished – take VITO Active Trace out and analyze your performance.

VITO Active Trace offers you a detailed picture of your track of movements and thoroughly collected statistics on speed, altitude, distance, time and more! With a single look you get a vivid picture of your training trip: track color indicates speed and altitude changes. You can choose separate parts of a track to check your performance at particular places.

With VITO Active Trace you can also check on your performance while training to see your current speed, altitude, covered distance and spent time and the track itself. It may be useful to mark a place of interest on your way by a pushpin as well. Everything can be done with one hand, so that you can easily do it say while riding a bike.

VITO Active Trace is available at vitotechnology.com for $29.95. The update is free for customers who purchased VITO Active Trace within a year’s time.

Posted by: Matt

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, VITO Technology, VITO ActiveTrace, GPS, Tracy & Matt]

JAVOedge introduce HTC headphone adapter

One of the questions we are most frequently asked is ‘Where can I get a headphone adapter for my HTC device?’. There are several companies out there that make such a thing, and we even showed you how to hack your own.

However JAVOedge have just been in touch with us to let us know that they have just released their own HTC 11pin to 3.5mm headpone jack adapter.

JAVOedge HTC headphone adapter

JAVOedge’s HTC 11 pin to 3.5mm stereo headphone adapter is all you need to listen to music on your HTC 11 pin port equipped device.

Eliminate carrying or buying special made HTC 11 pin port equipped headphones for travel and convert it with this adapter to use standardized 3.5mm headphones!

You can find out more on the JAVOedge headphone adapter product page.

The adapter is compatible with all HTC manufactured devices that feature an 11pin ExtUSB connector.

Posted By: Matt

[Post tag(s): Smartphone Blog, JAVOedge, headphones, ExtUSB, Tracy & Matt]

Orange – Powered by… err… wind?

Are you bored of “emergency chargers”? You know, the pointless single use chargers that generally support Nokia and not much else?

Well worry not. Orange have certainly won today’s award for innovation, with their all new Windy-Charge 500* designed especially for Glastonbury and the festivals

Orange Wind Charger

The idea is, you fix your wind powered charger to the top of your tent during the day, and your windmill zooms round and charges up a small battery connected below. Then later, when you arrive back, you plug your phone into the battery and charge it back up.

Sounds pretty cool actually, though there’s no info on cost or availability as yet. In fact the only information we have, is that it weighs just 150g and is Orange.

*-This name might have been made up by me. 😳

Posted By: Mark

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, Orange, Wind Power]

Play Nokia’s Passenger game online

Nokia have just been in touch with us to tell us about their new online game “The Passenger”

The Passenger

The Passenger is a flash based game that has been created to promote nokia’s gps systems and the Nokia CK-20W car kit.

Nokia have created this slick game in which you have to race your Mini through the streets of Paris. “It’s kind of a mix between the Italian Job and the da Vinci Code + features a rather sexy French chick.”

The game is pretty slick and well worth a look at: www.the-passenger.com

Posted by: Nick

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Nokia CK-20W, Nokia N95, Clove,Tracy & Matt]

Orange to release the HTC Touch as the SPV Elf?

Following on from our post about the HTC Touch on the Orange network, where Orange said that there are no plans for the device, we now have more news!

I’ve been pestering Orange for days about the HTC Touch, since the Orange VP said that the device was would be available on Orange from the 5th June.

I finally heard from a contact at Orange and the news is that Orange is calling the HTC Touch the (SPV?) Elf, and launch is not expected until mid July. The actual date is yet to be confirmed. However the device is only to be made available to consumers and not to business customers.

Still really weird that Yvea Maitre should announce that the device was already available and that the SPV brand name would be dropped yet neither seems to be the case!

I’m rather sceptical that the device will be called the HTC Elf though – historically devices on Orange have had numbers rather than names. It could be that Orange just don’t have a clue?!

Posted by: Matt

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, HTC, HTC Touch, HTC Elf, HTC P3450]

Debrand and patch your Orange SPV E650

You may recall from our Video and Review of the Orange SPV E650 that although we liked the device, we certainly did NOT like the Orange theme and branding and that removal Orange stuff was pretty tricky.

There is also a pretty fundamental problem with the device in that installing software on the device that would cause it to hang!

Fear not, however, as our friend Paul from MoDaCo has come to the rescue with his “SPV E650 de-Brand + Fix Pack 0.1”.

So, what does the de-Brand and Fix Pack do? Changes include but are not limited to…

Reset of icons to default Windows style

Reset of icon layout to a more traditional Windows layout

Reset of colour scheme and home scheme to default Windows style

Reset of icons in call related screens to default Windows style

Reset of Camera dialogues to grey

Reset of Security policies to match that of the HTC S710

If you have an Orange SPV E650 then you NEED THIS!

And to Orange I would say that it’s for reasons like this that you need to take the blogging/forum community seriously! Mind you I’m sure that The Times won’t be far behind with their patch to fix the install problems! 😛

Posted by: Matt

[Technorati tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, Orange, E650, HTC Vox, HTC S710, SPV, Orange SPV E650]