TamsPPC – the PocketPC Blog

In Austria, the name Sony Ericsson is synonymous for bad phone – in fact, some mobile phone retailers consider the boys responsible for the cooling-off of variable-geometry phone sales in Austria.

As the XPERIA was produced by HTC, I expected it to be solidly built and engineered…but this apparently isn’t the case. The images below hit us via PocketHacks, the boys claim that the problem is found on many devices.

While SE would be neither the first nor the last manufacturer with cracking plastic cases (the hall of shame includes companies like Palm and Apple), the already-struggling company definitely doesn’t need yet another problem (which it now seems to have)…

Meizu’s M8 handheld is scheduled to drop on the 8th of December – even though this date still is a bit far, the device has just been unboxed by a Chinese news service.

Unsurprisingly, the device’s packaging and accessory bundle is very similar to the one found on Apple devices – however, the box’s shape is square rather than the rectangular form factor found on iPod touch boxen…

The accessories themselves are white. Unlike most PocketPC devices, a set of (white) headphones is included with this device:

Motorola recently decided to axe all smartphones except for devices based on Windows Mobile. So far, two of these devices have been leaked – the shot below has both of them:

The device on the left is known as Alexander. It has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, runs on Windows Mobile standard and is said to have a Tegra GFX accelerator. Some have described this as a “last-stand” phone in the past.

The other box is known as Atila/Attila, and is a pebble-shaped WM 6.1 PocketPC.

As of now, nothing is known about release dates or prices – stay tuned for info as we get it!

via UnwiredView

LG’s recently-released Windows Mobile handset has just received some hands-on treatment by the boys at pocketnow.com!

As the device has a 400×240 screen, Brandon Miniman pitted it against the Omnia (which has a similar screen). The Omnia’s is a lot bigger, and also brighter – point for the Omnia. Both devices don’t have an internal stylus silo…which is a totally boneheaded decision.

Software-wise, the machine has a few surprises. Pandora was tortured in the past: but there are more interesting things. For example: did you know that the LG Incite ships with Access’s NetFront browser in ROM? The UI has been spruced up a bit, too.

In the end, the device scored a rather meager 3/5 due to a variety of small quirks – hit this link to get to the “rap sheet”!

Bloggers all over the world have recently gone bonkers and posted hundreds of stories regarding Microsoft’s handset plans – speculations of a NVidia Tegra-powered handset have floated around for a few days now (Motorola, anyone?).

While I am pretty sure that all of this will turn out to be bullsh*t, I nevertheless fear that Microsoft’s recent acquisition of Danger will do the platform more harm than good. Reason: Microsoft has a long history of providing in-house developer teams with inside information allowing them to outperform competitors. BTW: this behavior is not limited to Microsoft: Nokia is rumored to do something similar in order to get rid of Opera’s superior S60 browser.

Nokia doesn’t have to fear much, as most of the S60 ecosystem lives off Nokia phones (Sorry, Samsung; Sorry, Reka: your S60 stuff can be ignored as it’s sales numbers are minuscule compared to Nokia’s offerings). Microsoft, on the other hand, can loose a lot by pissing off licensees: their entire WM business currently is based on licensing and franchising.

Even if Microsoft doesn’t help the Danger guys out in any way, every product that they deliver in the future will be eyed cautiously by the competition and has the potential to give them bad feelings. Danger has very talented engineers: if they manage to build a blockbuster WM phone, many will think that it’s all due to Microsoft’s influence. This has the potential to cause havoc: why should a manufacturer support a platform where he clearly is “not as welcome” as some other entities.

IMHO, Microsoft is served best by keeping Danger out of the WM arena: let them build S60, Android or whateverphones. While the press might have a good laugh at the idea of a Microsoft daughter company using Linux, the rest of the WM economy will thank you for it.

What do you think?

The folks at Asus’s are not only known for deceiving their customers, but also don’t mind outrightly lying to customers and the press. Their P565 smartphone is advertised as being the fastest in the world:

While their claims generally sound a bit stupid due to the limited amounts of RAM, they are outright wrong. The reason: Samsung’s Korea-only T|Omnia has an 806MhZ processor, which is exactly 6 MhZ faster than the one found in Asus’s latest offering.

As Asus has a long history of bad customer care, general incompetence and a totally lunatic PR agency, we won’t bother to get a statement for you. All we do is repeat our age-old mantra: leep your hands off Asus stuff, lest it will burn you later…

Via PalmAddicts

Japanese have traditionally loved gaming – this seems to have changed this Autumn due to the global recession. Times Business reports that sales have surprisingly plummeted, leaving Japanese console makers wondering about how recession-proof their business actually is.

According to unnamed Japanese analysts, Christmas sales will be ok. But: things will get worse quickly after that. Publishers have to take part of the blame, as they are accused of not producing enougnh games which appeal to the Japanese market.

Furthermore, the global growth of casual gaming seems to stop slowly but surely. A KBC Securities analysts states that:

“Nintendo will never say it, but casual gamers, almost by definition, are happy with just a few games and will easily cut gaming out of their discretionary spending as the downturn hits their wallets. The market seems to be expecting casual gamers to act like hardcore gamers and they just won’t.”

Image: Wikimedia Commons/Masato OHTA

Hospital wards all over the world fill up as more and more snake oil salesmen get cerebral stroked and heart attacks. Austria’s hospital system is breaking down, parent mortality rate exceeds 50%.

The horror scenario outlined above could very well become truth if Keith Bakker, head of Europe’s only clinic for gaming addicted people, gets more media attention. His bold claim:

“These kids come in showing some kind of symptoms that are similar to other addictions and chemical dependencies,” he says.

“But the more we work with these kids the less I believe we can call this addiction. What many of these kids need is their parents and their school teachers – this is a social problem.”

Paddy Maguire (BBC News) visited him in Amsterdam, and interviewed him on a variety of gaming-related topics. Another popular myth was debunked in the process:

This kind of aggression is not uncommon in young gamers who feel frustrated with their real lives. Besides addiction, aggression and violence form part of the ongoing debate about the influence of gaming on impressionable minds.

When two students killed twelve pupils and a teacher in the Columbine High School shooting in the US in 1999, many believed that their common interest in playing violent games had helped to trigger the massacre.

Research at Smith & Jones seems to imply that feelings of anger and powerlessness often pre-exist a compulsion to play violent games. In some cases these people find each other in the gaming world and form a bond based on those feelings of alienation and anger.

Do your editor a favour and be a good net citizen: pass this story on to your friends and colleagues. Millions of gamers will love for you…it’s a karma thing. Deal? Thank you!

Pandora has been available for the iPhone for quite some time (location barrier included) – a Windows Mobile version has been rumored for some time, but has not officially dropped so far.

Some of AT&T’s LG Incite devices have dropped with a version of the program in ROM – Brandon Miniman tortured it a bit, and found out that the program costs 8$ a month to use (!!!).

Brandon cooked up a small video shoring the program in action – enjoy:

Samsung’s Omnia has just been announced by Verizon – their press release claims that the device will be available all over the US on the 8th:

Just in time for the holidays, the Samsung Omnia™ will be available for order online at www.verizonwireless.com and in business sales channels beginning Nov. 26. The Samsung Omnia’s advanced touch screen, customizable user interface and Windows Mobile 6.1 capabilities are powered by the nation’s most reliable wireless network ensuring that customers can browse the Web and access their e-mails quickly and reliably. It will be available through all sales channels including Verizon Wireless Communications Stores on Dec. 8.

Pricing-wise, the box will go for 250$ after a mail-in rebate:

Verizon Wireless has priced the Samsung Omnia for $249.99 after a $70 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement. Customers will receive the rebate in the form of a debit card; upon receipt, customers may use the card as cash anywhere debit cards are accepted.

Talking about specs: this is the European version of the Omnia, and not the Korean T|Omnia. This means that you have to get by with a 400×240 screen…which is not exactly impressive by today’s standards.

The device hasn’t hit Verizon’s web site yet…

P.S. Use the zip code 60001 to get past Verizon’s ZIP barrier

So far, the folks at Meizu’s have produced vaporware and raided CeBit booths – apparently, their UI stack is now complete.

Meizu has just posted a Chinese flash file showing significant similarities to the iPhone – the full scoop can be had below:
http://www.meizu.com/cn/Taste.html

DigiTimes reports that HTC has just revamped their shipment prognosis – they have managed to exceed their original expectations.

HTC originally planned to ship 2 million HTC Touch Diamond boxen this year – the new predicted sales volume is now 3 million units.

P.S: Projected sales volume for the Android-powered Dream is now 1 million, up from 0.6!

So far, mobile phones received a new IP address whenever they connected to the internet – essentially, mobile phone networks worked in a similar fashion to a home network with DHCP turned on.

According to rcrwireless, this will now change – Verizon Wireless offers a service which guarantees that an individual handset will always get the same IP.

Unfortunately, the technology is prohibitively expensive as of this writing:

The cost to set up mobile devices with the technology is a one-time fee of $500. Along with the one-time fee, a $60 monthly data plan is also needed for each device and companies need an AAA server to implement the technology, Weldon said. Such a server could cost a company between $30,000 and $40,000.

Motorola raised heads a few months ago as it announced that the future of the company “would be bet on a single WMS”. Unfortunately, we didn’t hear anything from the box ever since – but instead were treated to a rendering showing a pebble-shaped Windows Mobile phone called the Attila.

The folks at Engadget Mobile’s now got their hands onto an ITW shot of the device – which is reposted here for your enjoyment:

As of now, no further information is available…

Yesterday’s PhotoAdventure games just took a funny turn – Oliver Bolch, one of the organizers of the funky event, went crazy and sent us the following email (translated by yours truly):

Dear Sir,
it’s your style of communication!

If you ever call an employee of mine a wanker again, I will tear up your small ass, so that a horse can walk through (SIC!!).

Best regards
Oliver Bolch

Want to find out more about this highly professional and noble man? Visit our sister site TamsPalm for the full scoop:
Oliver Bolch / PhotoAdventure – the show gets funny