TamsPPC – the PocketPC Blog

Use the discount code CHEAPSPBTV to get 20% off the program’s retail price in the TamsShop!

3G connections, faster CPUs and falling data have opened doors for various applications which used to be impossible in the past. Mobile TV is one of these areas: what once required clumsy reception gadgetry, is now offered for free by many carriers.

Unfortunately, carrier TV solutions are usually limited to a few “broad appeal” channels, and omit high-quality news and finance channels. SPB TV wants to fill the void – but can it stack up?

The home screen of the program contains a scrollable list of channels along with a preview of the currently-running program:

Some programs stream a TV program, which is displayed by SPB TV:

Reminders can be created easily – and are actually written into your device’s calendar discreetly:

Channels stream in very high quality, but can neither be recorded nor be kept playing while in the background. In fact, even screenshots turn out all black:

SPB TV allows you to hide channels which you do not want:

As already said before, SPB TV offers many channels which are not offered by any carrier solution. I am currently pursuing a list of channels, and will post it here as soon as I can get it from the company.

This review looked at version 1.0.0 b461 of SPB TV on an XPERIA X1 running its stock distribution of Windows Mobile 6.1. Three-G coverage was provided by Hutchison Austria. BTW: SPB TV needs 4850KB of RAM and can be installed onto an external memory card.

People who are happy with the channels offered by their carrier won’t need SPB TV. Everybody else should rush and pay the 15 dollars – the money is well invested if you need one of the TV channels on the go (think N-TV or BloomBerg) and are on an unlimited data plan…

Expansys has sold quite a few highly interesting handsets in the past – their latest scoop involves two of Acer’s recently announced Windows Mobile-powered smartphones:

Acer F900

Acer M900

P.S. Just in case anyone wonders why there is a T-Mobile icon next to the devices: UK retailers often create contract bundles of their own…

DJ Shadow went out after the third strike – our Crazy Sunday promo is a real diehard and enters week 4. Before looking at the prices, please allow me to reiterate the rules:

Post a useful non-spam comment to ANY post on the news service to participate. Leave a valid email address in the email field so that we can get in touch…and hope for the best. Email addresses are not used in any other way – and saying “Hi” or “count me in” doesn’t count.

This week, we are giving away a license of George Henne’s excellent NS Basic RAD tool. NS Basic is ideal for all those of you who feel like developing apps, but don’t want to learn heavy programming languages like C sharp or C++.

Last weeks prize was a license of SplashID. Unfortunately, this excellent password manager was not claimed by anyone – in case anyone else of you feels like taking a stab at the program, use the discount code CRAZYSUNDAY to get 20 off the retail price in the TamsShop!

With that said, I wish you all good luck – see you all next week!

The folks at TiltMobile’s managed to get their hands onto the table below – they claim that it contains further information on HTC’s recently-leaked devices:

Even though the MWC is over for a bit of time, I guess that the inhabitants of Barcelona won’t forget Windows Mobile quite some time: the city was full of ads for it.

First of all, the airport was filled up with ads featuring the Omnia. An example is below:

The road from the airport also was full of ads – the shot below shows a few of them:

Toshiba’s latest Windows Mobile handsets have been all over TamsPPC recently: the TG01 really is a pretty impressive device (if only it had more RAM).

As staff at Toshiba seems to be incredibly stressed, mistakes happen – the report below hits us via the Boy Genius:

Despite the fact that the well-covered TG01 is pictured throughout the filing, the documents cover a handset dubbed TM5-E01 — a Windows Mobile clam shell with specs as follows:

* Tri-band GSM (900/1800/1900), UMTS2100 connectivity
* QSD8250 CPU (Snapdragon), 256 MB of RAM, 512MB ROM
* Windows Mobile 6 Professional OS
* Primary display: 3-inch 800 × 480 WVGA touchscreen
* Secondary display: 0.8-inch 96 × 39 black & white OLED LCD
* Camera (unknown resolution)
* Wi-Fi
* aGPS
* Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
* miniUSB
* microSD memory card slot
* Dimensions: 117x 64×19.8mm, 183g

Currently, I have absolutely no idea how this device will look: while Toshiba did demo a few weird clamshell devices (shot below) at the MWC, no further information is available as of this writing…

Krusell considers itself the largest manufacturer of protective cases for handheld devices and handsets – their marketing director provides the public with a “best-seller list” every month. As usual, the Tamoggemon Content network republishes it for your enjoyment – the list is below:

1. (1) Samsung SGH-i900/i910 Omnia
2. (2) HTC Touch HD
3. (5) Nokia 6300
4. (3) Nokia E51
5. (4) Blackberry Storm
6. (8) Nokia E71
7. (6) Nokia 3109
8. (-) Nokia 5800
9. (7) Sony Ericsson X1 Xperia
10. (-) Nokia 3120
() = Last month’s position.

Samsung’s flagship Omnia is still number one on Krusell’s Top 10 bestseller list for February. Nokia’s efforts in promoting the new touch screen phone Nokia 5800 has had an impact on the sales in February. Still it is not yet threatening the top segment. Next month when this model has reached more markets, we will probably see a change in the Top 3 positions, says Ulf Sandberg, CEO at Krusell.

Krusell’s cases are sold via various channels (including high-street retailers and other brick-and-mortar shops) all over the world. This means that their data is very useful, albeit with a slant on consumer devices (as these sell more)…

Steve Ballmer is a master of all things press – he really has a good grasp of keeping his company in the headlines by releasing information bit by bit. His latest move happened on the 24th and went by the name “Microsoft Strategic Update Meeting” – as Microsoft insists on making the presentations available as PPTX files, TamsPPC has the full slide set for your convenience:

BrightHand listened to the entire conference, and posted a detailed write-up of Steve’s WM-related statements. The core messages are below:

• No Microsoft-built phones
• Next browser version will be similar to desktop one
• Win, WinCE kernels to “be the same one day”

As usual, Steve Ballmer did not go into further details – stay tuned for further info as we get it!

P.S. I opened the files with my XPERIA X1, and made screenshots with Resco Screen Capture…

The image on the right comes from a presentation at the website of Gizmondo, the maker of a Windows CE-powered game console (not to be confused with Gizmodo, a gadget website). 2008 is almost over, yet the Gizmondo 2 has not popped up…why?

A Stockholm-based blogger called Hans Sangberg has managed to track down the current Gizmondo CEO, and got the following response when asking him about the delay:

“Unfortunately, we’ve had to reschedule the launch of Gizmondo. It’s due to the economic climate in the U.S., as well as in the rest of the world. It has affected us in our ability to fund and get funded in regards to the manufacturing of components,” Carl Freer explained.

…

The Chinese company that was going to build the new Gizmondo, and already had shipped a first small batch, were dragging their feet, probably because of the financial downturn, and this left Carl Freer and his team increasingly frustrated.

…

Find out more (and get a cool trade-up offer) by hitting the URL below:
http://sandberghans.blogspot.com/2008/12/yes-dear-there-will-be-gizmondo-just.html

So far, notebooks have been limited by their lack of display space – even a 17″ notebook (which is barely portable) has significantly less screen real estate than a nice dual-screen workstation. So far, no manufacturer had the nerve to tackle the issue – enter Lenovo’s W700ds (pictured below):

The image above hits us via eweek – the noys claim that the device is intended for photographers and graphic artists who want to use the extra display for “side tasks” like color swatches or GUI panels.

Lenovo will release the device at this year’s CES – hit the link above for further information!

Samsung seems to feel like fighting the iPhone with its WM-powered Omnia handset – the picture below comes from a very popular Austrian weekly magazine:

Its rather technical text can be translated as follows:

Take the future into your hands. The new Samsung lets you surf the web at 7.2MBPS, navigate, watch XVID&DIVX videos and email with a single touch of the screen. Or, what about the 5MP camera?

…

By the way, the Omnia is the first smartphone with Windows Mobile 6.1 and full MS Office support.

Even though I myself am not sure if the ad isn’t too difficult for the iPhone crowd, it nevertheless is nice to see Samsung peddling its Omnia actively even in “remote’ parts of the world!

Sending emails via SMTP is one of the most elementary tasks a smartphone does – the folks at tracy-and-matt’s had an unusually high amount of issues with their WM 6.1 devices refusing to send emails.

After sending the device in to Microsoft’s; a bug was discovered:

…We are done with it and just checked in a bug fix last week to address what turned out to be a severe product bug that will affect all WM 6.1.x devices until they receive a fix or upgrade to WM 6.1.4. Your help both made us aware of the issue before it bubbled up through the forums and your device actually did help us debug the issue.

We are driving the issue with our response team and pushing to make a fix more broadly available independent of a device update.

More details on this bug:
Symptoms:
At some point sending e-mail stops working for a given e-mail account.
This will happen if the there is *any* failure to connect to the SMTP server – ever. After that point the user cannot send mail with that account again.

Recovery:
The user must delete their e-mail account and recreate it each time this happens.
There is no way to prevent this from reoccurring.
…

As of now, nobody knows when and how the fix will materialize. However, Sir Matt has stated that he will keep everybody updated via email who sends him an email – if you have a Windows Mobile 6.1 device, please take up his generous offer ASAP!

Package Content

The Six Pack comes along with adaptors for Nokia, Sony Ericsson and some Samsung phones as well as an iPod connector, a micro and a mini USB cable and a 4.0 DC cable. These connectors can be plugged into a retractable cable (included in the package). In addition, there is an AC power connector with 4 different exchangeable plugs for worldwide use and a USB cable – both for charging the mobile battery. Last but not least, there is a stylish bag in which you can carry the battery.

The package content of Ted Baker

How to use

Using the Six Pack is very simple: to charge it, just connect it either to the USB port of your PC or use the AC adaptor. Plug one end of the mini USB cable into the AC Adaptor/USB port and the other end into the rechargeable battery. Make sure you use the smaller connector labeled with “in” at the Six Pack and you’ll be fine. A red LED indicates that the battery is charging. When it’s full, the LED will switch off.

The power input and -output port

The wall plug with USB-port

Now you’re on the go and are going to run out of power: don’t panic, you’ve got Ted Baker’s Six Pack! Just pick the retractable cable, the adaptor you need, plug them all together and connect your mobile device to the battery. Now, press the power button on the battery and your mobile device is charging – very easy to use! While charging, a green LED shines.

Ted Baker

A few seconds after you’ve disconnected your device from the battery, Ted Baker’s Six Pack recognizes automatically that the device is not plugged any longer and the green LED automatically turns off.

Personal experience

In my summer holidays which I spent in France I had enough time to test the mobile battery pack intensely. During the long ride to the Atlantic Ocean (2 days), I used the car charger to keep my device powered while navigating; it just worked like a charm The (USB-) power cable was long enough to reach from the cigarette lighter to the window. I used a bluetooth GPS reciever by TomTom and tried to charge it in the car for this review. Well, not much to say, it just works great!! I tested the battery pack with the following devices: Dell Axim x51v (adaptor required, sold seperately), Sony Playstation Portable, TomTom Wireless GPS MKII, Sony Ericsson K800i, PalmOne Zire 72s. (First photo: the sun was very bright, so sorry for my strange face.. )

Ted Baker

pocket pc, charging with Ted Baker

Conclusion

This accessory is a must-have for every owner of a mobile device – there isn’t always a wall socked if you need it, especially if you’re on the go! Very easy to use! Get it at Proporta! :

Ted Baker’s Six Pack product page

My fellow Olympus-using pal Prince of Darkness recently decided to replace his aging Nokia N73 with a Samsung Omnia, and really liked the device. Unfortunately, his retailer of choice seems to have weird problems fulfilling its promises – his initial offer looked like this:

Unfortunately, he ended up with just an Omnia and a analog picture frame:

Went to Court Mammoth in August 10 2008. Saw the nice Samsung booth. The model approach me asking whether do i want to buy the Samsung OMNIA or not. Handover me the brochure, then i ask her…”You are giving a Digital Photo Frame which can display picture digitally? ” She replied “Yes you can put in memory card and the picture will be display on the digital photo frame.”

At that time she say the stock is not available anymore and ask me to collect some other days.

To my surprise after i collect the so call Digital photo frame, it is actually just another photo frame. This is clearly false advertising used to mislead consumer. They are no different from a cheater. I am surprise Samsung is affiliated with this.

To my horror the TV cable output is also not given even though it is clearly stated in the brochure. I wrote an email to Samsung and even see the manager in Court Mammoth Kota Damansara. They just happily say oh that day we print it out wrongly.!!!

All our Malaysian readers should head over to his blog immediately and be careful about where they get their Omnia from…

TamsPPC has covered Sprint’s and Verizon’s versions od the upcoming Touch Diamond and Touch Pro (they have different specs and colors) in the past. It’s now time for leaked release dates for Sprint’s boxen:

A SprintUsers.com member has posted images said to be from Sprint’s inventory system – and they clearly state that the Touch Diamond will ship mid-September, with the Touch Pro following on the 19th October.

The Touch Diamond will cost 550$ OTC, or 250$ with a 2yr contract. People wanting to get a CDMA version of the Touch Pro will have to pay 580$ OTC (30$ for a QWERTY keyboard IMHO is hell of a deal): 2yr contracts go for 329$…

via WMPowerUser