TamsPPC - the PocketPC Blog

The folks at Asus’s have had both attitude and supply problems in the past - their plan to become a significant phone manufacturer will now take yet another defeating blow as CNET Asia reports that the P560 and M536 join the fate of the cheapo ZX1…and will never ever hit the road.

This time, the company tries to pass the blame onto an unnamed supplier, claiming that a “key component” didn’t drop…I am highly surprised why all the devices were working merrily at last year’s CeBit.

In the end, there’s little to moan about here. Our friends now have less opportunities to willfully deceit their customers. Devices like the Treo 800w offer the same or even more bang for the buck - and are produced by manufacturers who are honorable at least to some extent…

Don’t ask me where the folks at JAMPB’s heard about this device - but, seeing their excellent track record, it’s rather likely to be true.

The image above shows Sky Link’s latest EV-DO smartphone. The device is said to have the following specs:

• Windows Mobile 6.1
• EVDO Rev.A
• 400MhZ Samsung CPU

The device has been demoed at an unspecified event in Moscow a few days ago. It is expected to drop in Q4 2008; as of now, nothing is known about carrier partners, pricing or a GSM version!

Should you have any further info on the device, please get in touch with us ASAP!

Resco recently branched out into the components busi9ness, and has released loads of interesting and/or useful components since then. Their latest offering is called CustomKeyboard and is just that…a control that allows you to create custom keyboards for your application.

The image below (animated GIF) shows a few of the endless possibilities:

Developers interested can obtain a free evaluation version of the control at Resco’s web site. The controlo itself comes as part of Resco’s MobileForms toolkit and - unfortunately - costs at least 500$…

Many TamsPPC readers enjoy Dell’s Axim handhelds - in fact, one of our authors still used his Axim x51v every day. The axing of the Axim has been covered on TamsPPC before, and it now looks like Dell may feel like returning to the smartphone game.

GigaOM interviewed Michael Dell, the CEO of Dell Inc, who made the following statements when asked about smartphones:

Om: Any plans for mobile phones or smartphones?

Dell: We are certainly looking at the whole smartphone category, but I wouldn’t expect anything anytime soon.

Om: With the emergence of Google’s Android, and with Symbian OS and Microsoft Mobile already on the market, do you think that makes it easier for Dell to get into the phone business?

Dell: What you’ve got [are] industry-standard platforms upon which applications are being built and ecosystems are being created, and that kind of building-block architecture gives us all sorts of opportunities.

Om: You can be a big game-changer in this market, right? You can decide to work with Android or Symbian. Is there a desire on your part to work with one over the other?

Dell: We’re not ready to publicly disclose our plans there…we’re kind of working on that.

Head over to the folks for a well-done interview in case you are interested…

Our US readers can celebrate, as the GSM version of the HTC Touch Pro is now one step closer to being released in the United States.

BrightHand reports that the device has just passed the FCC. The filing talks about a quad-band device with EDGE but without 3G connectivity.

The folks at the::unwired have posted what’s probably the first-ever review of the Samsung i900 Omnia that was hotly anticipated by some (not including yours truly).

Arne Hess seems to be extremely happy with the Omnia, as he states that it will become his new “every day phone”. He praises the camera as it includes a few features never seen before on a mobile device (read anti-shake and WDR(a feature even my DSLR doesn’t have)) and the high standby time, but is rather unhappy with text input and the lack of HSUPA.

The full scoop is available from the link above - give it a click if you feel like it…

The folks at xda-developers have managed a few amazing stunts recently - be it unofficial WM 6 and WM 6.1 upgrades, or even a patch that gave the HTC Touch Diamond Quad-band support…you name it, they do it.

HTC’s Hong Kong branch has now felt the sting of the unofficial quad-band ROM, and seems to have hustled the creation of a somewhat official patch that adds quad-band support and improvesd a variety of other features listed below:

1. Enable GSM 850 band.
2. Fixed sometimes no signal issue.
3. Fixed no action while touching navigator control in camera mode.
4. Fixed some files in internal storage which cannot be listed.
5. Fixed SMS sound alert notification delayed issue.
6. Improved audio quality after audio booster is enabled.
7. Improved TouchFLO 3D tab switching and movement speed.
8. Improved home page loading speed.
9. Turned off the 5-second auto screen off function when screen is turned back on by pressing power key during a voice call. Screen off timeout will follow system power setting.
10. Added random access bar to the right hand edge of the screen for selection of weather countries and cities.

The ROM can be obtained via xda-developers!

We covered ArianeSoft’s Pocket Programming Language in considerable detail some time ago - and are happy to inform you all about a special offer at the ArianeSoft store.

The professional version of the program can currently be purchased for just 25€(!!!), while the Enterprise version goes for 201€ with unlimited users on a single site and some sort of support contract.

PPL is an excellent choice for everyone who is worried about the obfuscation issues surrounding the .NET CF - more information on what ArianeSoft does to keep its customers code safe can be found in this interview…

Palm and Bluetooth never worked together too well. Even though Palm was one of the earliest adopters of the standard, almost all of their products had one or the other issue when it came to Bluetooth wireless connectivity.

Nevertheless, the folks apparently start to grasp the importance of Bluetooth - the following announcement on the 800w support page can be considered as a prove for this assertion:

Treo 800w users - stay tuned for further info as we get it!

The image above speaks a clear language - the Tamoggemon Publishing team finally stands behind its threat and goes to the world of the Malus portabilii.

From now on, expect us to cover all things Apple-related. As we are funded entirely by our sponsors and are hosted in a country with intact press freedom for tech journalists, this means trouble for the Cupertinians… Big trouble!

The worm is now inside the fruit…keep an eye on our progress here:
http://tamsijungle.tamoggemon.com

Dear Readers,
we have just updated the back-end software used to host our news services as it was outdated.

These updates serve to improve performance, security and reliability and thereby directly serve you all. We have performed tests and feel that all works o.k. - should you discover any bugs, please accept our apologies and email us at Tamog AT gmx DOT at so that we can fix the issue!

Best regards
Tam Hanna & the Tamoggemon team

Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 supports different “perspectives” that are optimized for specific programming languages. Usually, the program lets you decide when you start it for the first time…but what do you do if you selected VB.NET and want to switch back to C# or vice versa?

The trick involves the use of Extra menu which can be used to make settings “transportable” - the full scoop is available in Microsoft’s knowledge base.

The official price of the XPERIA X1 was leaked a few days ago (image below) - Hutchison GB has now held a press event announcing further info.

According to Yahoo News, the device will hit Hutchison’s subscriber base in November along with a 30GBP monthyl contract. However, no information is available on the subsidized purchase price.

This one is interesting for all those of you who are on one of the big CDMA carriers in the USA: The devices listed below have just received official updates - click the liunks for further info (and don’t forget to back up your data before installing)!

Sprint: HTC Mogul
HTC’s sliding keyboard device (the Mogul) finally received an update. Except for the regular WM 6.1 improvements, this also adds Sprint TV to the box - don’t ask why it wasn’t included in the first version…

It’s available at the link below:
http://www.htc.com/us/FAQ_Detail.aspx?p_id=75&act=faq&cat=268

Sprint: HTC Touch
HTC’s former Windows Mobile flagship finally got an official update, too. This update is a real bombshell and adds the following features in addition to the WM 6.1 improvements:

• EVDO Rev. A
• Sprint Navigation
• Opera
• new on-screen keyboard

This magical, mystical, spiritual wonderbox can be downloaded here…

Verizon: Samsung i760
Finally, an update is also available for the i760. Please use this link to get the updater!

VITO Software’s Mr. Kalinin has provided us with a free licenses for AstroNavigator:

Should anyone of you wonder what AstroNavigator does: it’s an astral map. The program uses GPS or manual input to determine your location and then displays a map of the stars and planets visible in the sky.

Anyways, the giveaway can be entered in the TamsForum - post your device type and hope for the best!
http://forum.tamoggemon.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=38