Pocket Tunes 5.0 Sync feature enhanced

As you would've noticed from Sammy's post just few days ago, NormSoft has released a newer version of the award acclaimed Pocket Tunes, or pTunes in short.

Pocket Tunes™ 5.0 for Windows Mobile and Palm OS smartphones includes new features for subscribing to podcasts, scrobbling™ with Last.fm, synchronizing with iTunes, and listening to Internet radio using Windows Media Audio (WMA).

Version 5.0 increases the breadth of supported audio content and integrates with two of the most popular music related applications, iTunes and Last.fm. Users can now subscribe to their favorite podcasts and have them automatically download directly to their phone. With the searchable catalog of over 1,000 popular podcasts, finding and enjoying podcasts is easy and fun.

Every time a song is played it can be tracked to the listener’s Last.fm music profile – this is called scrobbling. Owners can also automatically synchronize playlists of songs from iTunes to their phone when it is connected to their computer.

For you who have used pTunes with your Windows Mobile devices such as Treo 750, Treo 800w & Treo Pro; pTunes Sync feature is a very handy tool. And for Palm OS users, this feature is completely new in the newest version. It now transfers album art from iTunes and has better playlist management. Items deleted from a playlist on your PC are deleted from the device the next time you sync, allowing you to manage the device contents through the playlist syncing.

For previous owners of older version, you can get the upgrade at great price: only at $19.95, just follow this link. For the full list of new features in pTunes v5.0 you can read all about them at its website, aside from the the new features you can read my review of the previous version of pTunes at this link.

Toshiba TG01 shows there still "wow" factor left for Windows Mobile

Nobody saw this one coming, especially since this is coming out from Toshiba, a Japan-based company that hasn't made much of a sound in international smartphone market. But Toshiba is about to change the game by entering the tough competition with a bang; by announcing TG01, a Windows Mobile powered phone.

Wait, don't turn your heads yet upon hearing this is another Windows Mobile phone. Yes indeed, it still sports Microsoft's mobile platform, but surely you can tell the difference by looking at the picture of TG01 above. Seriously folks, if those pics are real then consider me sold.

Toshiba's country manager for UK and Ireland boasted about the phone: "We've taken all the technology from our TVs and put that into the screen." And the company also promised some sparkly new interfaces inside the TG01, making it less Windows Mobile and more Toshiba.

Here are the rest of the specs that make this slim phone not just to be the best contender to compete with iPhone's slim-ness, but also to be taken serious by other competitors:

• HSDPA (3G) data connection
• 4.1-inch touchscreen with WVGA resolution
• 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor
• Windows Mobile 6.1
• 512MB internal memory
• microSD slot
• A-GPS
• WiFi
• DivX support
• full Flash support
• 9.9mm thick

TG01 doesn't have accelerometer, but Toshiba puts a new feature which the company calls it as "G-sensor" that allows you to tilt the phone around a central spot, can be used to answer and hang up phone calls by shaking the phone.

The so called phone that'll "revolutionise the mobile entertainment world" by Toshiba itself, is going to be introduced officially at Mobile World Congress in mid-February tomorrow. Hit the links below for more pictures to drool over. ;-)

Sources are from T3 & Pocket-Lint (via BGR).

IE Mobile 6 launched early as custom ROM for HTC Touch HD

Love how the free minders are taking their own actions to make IE Mobile 6 available before its official release, the main reason is probably because previously the Windows Mobile Team has confirmed that this upcoming IE Mobile 6 will only available for new WinMob devices.

Paul over at MoDaCo has built a custom ROM for the HTC Touch HD that includes IE Mobile 6; Engadget Mobile reported. Unfortunately, it's only available as a ROM update, not as an individual application installer.

I wonder if someone will be kind enough to create a custom ROM for Treo 750 with IE Mobile 6 in it too? ;-)

TouchResponse gives instant tactile feedback for Windows Mobile

It's a strange world we're living in, well I shouldn't say strange but good instead, because when I was wondering how does it feel to use a touchscreen with built-in haptic feedback feature like in HTC Touch HD or BlackBerry Storm, I thought I'll never gonna know how it feels since I'm sticking with my aging Treo.

But here comes a free app called TouchResponse, which is basically a touch driver to handle the touchscreen presses and vibration. If TouchResponse is installed within your Windows Mobile devices, it will vibrate on touch giving you a sense of tactile feedback. Just like that haptic feedback in those savvy phones, you too can have it in your old WinMob phones now.

I've tested it out with my Treo 750v, and I must say it works nicely. The app has advanced settings to change the response time to vibrate the phone, and TouchResponse automatically runs whenever my Treo restarted, there's no need to launch the app separately.

TouchResponse is still in its infant stage, but the software developer plans to add more feature in the future like vibration tweaks and sound on touch. Nevertheless, TouchResponse gives a new life to my Treo, enabling me to follow the new tech trend in mobile world without sacrificing money to buy new phones just to experience it. ;-)

Source is from FreewarePocketPC, via Ubergizmo.

QIGI i6 has the best of two worlds: Android & Windows Mobile 6.1

What is your favorite flavor nowadays? Windows Mobile or Android? If you can't make up your mind, then why don't you have both?

QIGI, a China-based mobile manufacturer has introduced its latest handset: i6 smartphone that runs on Android & Windows Mobile 6.1 platform.

Of course the i6 smartphone can only run one mobile platform at a time, but it's only a matter of time until a hacker mods it to run both the mobile platforms. Here's the short list of i6 specs:

• 2.8" LCD touchscreen display
• 624MHz processor
• Bluetooth connectivity
• 2MP camera
• Wi-Fi support
• microSD expansion memory card slot
• GPS navigation
• Quad-band GSM up to EDGE, but no 3G

IMHO the i6 smartphone looks like a cross-breed of HTC Touch & O2 Zest, darn those Chinese copy-cats really know how to create a combo fake designs. ~LOL~ But honestly, the i6 really look tasty to me. Although they should restrain a bit on the Android welcome splashscreen (pictured below) there, the screenshot looks really corny. We'll have to wait till next year, when i6 smartphones finally hit global market.

Sources are from ePrice, via EA, via uBerPhones.

IE Mobile 6 also coming soon

Ohkay, you got me there. I thought the rumor about iPhone 2.2 is the only tease I can find for you today, but hey obviously there's one more. Although I'm not that kinda excited when I first heard the news, so maybe you will... or not.

It's very unlike Microsoft, or in this case is the Windows Mobile Team, who has just announced yesterday the availability of emulators and documentation for Internet Explorer Mobile 6. Usually it'll take forever for Microsoft, and any other child companies of the software giant to release an update after announced their next projects. Let's take Windows Mobile 7 for an example... ;-p

The Windows Mobile Team declares that the IE Mobile 6 will provide a high-quality browsing experience on your device, more closely resembles a desktop browsing experience. The team even has provided a list of 'cool' features we'll find in it:

• Improved fidelity (support for full fidelity desktop rendering)
• Layout fixes to accommodate a mobile screen (text wrap)
• Enhanced Script and AJAX support (Jscript v5.7 from Internet Explorer 8)
• Improved multimedia experience (Adobe Flash Lite 3.1 for Adobe Flash content)
• Deeper integration with search
• Enhanced cursor navigation model
• Touch and gesture support – pan support
• Multiple zoom levels
• Easy switching between mobile / desktop versions of sites by specifying UA strings.

Lastly, the Windows Mobile Team tries to entice us all by saying that the IE Mobile 6 will be available on new Windows Mobile devices soon. But seriously, how soon?!?

Sources are from Windows Mobile Team Blog, via UnwiredView. If you're interested in downloading the IE Mobile 6 emulator, then click on this link.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Windows Mobile 6.5 confirmed by Steve Ballmer himself

I don't think Microsoft is going to cover up any longer about Windows Mobile 6.5 availability, not since a Motorolla CEO had been so casually mentioned about it before.

And yesterday, we know for sure that Windows Mobile 6.5 is indeed real and currently under development for release as soon as Q1 of 2009. Because it was Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer himself, who now casually mentioned it when he was on a Q&A session with Telstra Australia.

Here's the snipped line from Steve Ballmer speech: "With releases we'll make this year - releases we'll make with 6.5 next year, Windows Mobile 7, I think we have a pretty interesting roadmap."

No more details about Windows Mobile 6.5, except that Steve Ballmer briefly hinted an improvement in the interface and flow of the software. I wouldn't be surprised though, if Microsoft all of a sudden make Windows Mobile 6.5 Today Screen to look like iPhone's or G1 Android's. Heck, they might get greedy enough to cross breed those rising mobile platforms' user interface onto Windows Mobile 6.5? ;-p

And by this semi-official statement from Steve Ballmer, you know what it really mean right? It means, Microsoft is trying to fill in the gap because they're pushing once again the release date of the most anticipated "iPhone-killer" OS from the software giant: Windows Mobile 7. Rumor has it, that Windows Mobile 7 is being pushed way far to 2010. We'll have more clear view about all of these in February 2009, the time when Mobile World Congress 2009 is being held.

Sources are from msmobiles.com, via pocketnow, via Neowin, via Gizmodo. ;-)

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Live Mesh in Windows Mobile

For you who have Windows Mobile device, you can now enjoy Live Mesh with it. Live Mesh is one of Microsoft's latest attempts to dominate the "cloud", and beat Google along with its rising star Android platform.

Windows Mobile Team Blog has posted a walkthrough complete with screenshots on how to set-up your WinMob device into Live Mesh, a CAB file is need to be installed first.

If you're still unable to connect to Live Mesh even after following every step mentioned, then you might want to try out this workaround posted by one of the users named Red at the blog:

• Click on the appropriate promo code link (US or UK) from your computer (not your mobile device).
• Visit http://www.mesh.com/ from your computer (again, not from your mobile device) and add that device to your mesh from the Devices page.
• Make sure you keep both the browser windows open while you connect from your phone.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Motorola CEO slipped out mentioning Windows Mobile 6.5

We all know Microsoft is still brewing Windows Mobile 7, and it won't out & be ready till at least 2009 next year. It's quite a long time to wait, especially if you're racing against the clock to beat iPhone & Android.

But what we haven't expected yet, although we should have, is that Microsoft is probably cooking up an almost done Windows Mobile 6.5 to fill in the time gap.

PC Mag reported that Sanjay Jha, co-chief executive of Motorola and chief executive of mobile devices, said this during Motorola's Thursday earnings call: "Windows Mobile 6 has not delivered the experience that I think Apple has been able to deliver, but as you look at the plan that is Windows Mobile 7 and even 6.5, I think there are significant new added features which will help the platform."

Was it intentional, or did he accidentally mention it? IMHO the Windows Mobile 6.5 could really exist, and it's only a matter of time for Microsoft to release it. And I truly hope my aging Treo 750v will get the update... ;-D

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Intermec's CN3 Mobile Computer gets WinMob 6.1 upgrade

For some, especially for road warriors who live and spent most of their time on the edge of the road, having a rugged and robust device is more important than a good looking but yet fragile mobile device.

And so with that idea in mind, Intermec Tech. has introduced its smallest and advanced mobile computer: the CN3. Intermec is proud with CN3's main trait: Rugged form factor that's designed to meet the needs of workers performing mission-critical tasks in field service, and built to survive the rigors of the road. You can tell that by seeing the device pictured on the left.

The CN3 has all the latest standard of mobile device such as:

• * 3.5" QVGA screen (240 x 320 pixel) with 64K color
• * 2MP camera
• * QWERTY backlit keypad
• * 128MB RAM
• * 256MB ROM
• * miniSD slot up to 2GB
• * Intel® XScale PXA270, 520MHz

But soon, Intermec plans to make the CN3 more exciting by upgrade the device's old OS into Windows Mobile 6.1, Microsoft Corp director Grace Ho said: "Over the past year, we have expanded our end-to-end enterprise solutions by introducing Windows Mobile 6.1 and Mobile Device Manager."

Intermec Asia Pacific senior marketing manager Jack Tay also said similar statement in rhyme: "Mobile Device Manager helps IT professionals to manage devices similar to the way they manage PCs. Using administrator driven management policies, Mobile Device Manager enhances on-device security making it easy to provision, configure, and deploy devices while giving mobile employees access to confidential information on corporate networks with firewalls. Intermec is currently the only rugged device manufacturer to offer support for Mobile Device Manager."

AvantiKumar from Computerworld Malaysia reports that the Intermec's CN3 with Windows Mobile 6.1 will be available in Malaysia in October 2008.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

File Explorer Extension v.2.03 for the lousy default WinMob's File Explorer

It is indeed, one of the greatest mystery; why Microsoft never put a single great and powerful file explorer in its products. Either it's the file explorer in Windows desktop version, or at the Windows Mobile's.

If you're a power user, and surely feels that the default File Explorer in your WinMob's isn't enough to accomodate your needs, then the answer would be... A: Buy and install a powerful 3rd party app to replace it, or... B: Install this amazing free enhancer for that lousy default File Explorer of ours.

Well, I took the choice B. And this File Explorer Extension v.2.03 is a very useful tool in addition of the basic features in File Explorer, here are the additional features you can get:

• Resizable header for easy sorting by file name, date of last modification or size
• Tree view of folders; you can now jump easily from a location to any other on your device in one step
• Show extension option for those who ask themselves the same question I do: “What type of file is this?
• Icon view that enables the display of files as icons similar to your desktop computer
• Real time image preview; now you don’t have to open several files in order to send the one you desire
• Open with Program allows you easily select an application to open the specific file you select (useful in case you don’t have the correct file associations or when you want Album app to open your images instead of Windows default picture viewer).
• File property context menu for easy renaming and attribute changing
• Open all executables with Parameters in case you need a special parameter when launching an application
• Sending shortcut to Programs for instant shortcut creation of executables placed directly in Programs folder in Start Menu.

Many thanks to the author & maker of this amazing little enhancer tool; bnm7bnm (such a strange nickname...), acquired via WMExperts.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

IE Mobile 6 face shows up

The very old Internet Explorer (IE) Mobile on our WinMob devices is going to get a nice update, it'll be updated from v4.x (first released in September 1997) into v6.x, according to the::unwired (via Gizmodo). And Microsoft has given a neat nick name for it too: 6 on 6, which is basically mean Internet Explorer Mobile 6 on Windows Mobile 6.1.

The::unwired even has tested the new IE 6 with their own blog page, it provides two different compatibility options: Mobile and Desktop. So far the theory, still according to the::unwired; in reality you can see the difference if you visit the::unwired which works with browser sniffing to serve the appropriate layout. On the left, the::unwired in Mobile mode, on the right in Desktop mode and as you can see, the Desktop mode looks quite similar to the::unwired on your PC.

Head on to the::unwired blog page for more screenshots of IE 6.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

yrgo for Windows Mobile

I stumbled upon this powerful Today Screen application for Windows Mobile via MyTodayScreen, it's called yrgo. Don't be puzzled by the application's unusual name, because 2daysoft (the software developer behind yrgo) is originally at Czech Republic.
And according to Lucas Haraga, the maker; yrgo is a solo touch Windows Mobile application that works similar to the famous iPhone. The finger gesture feature in yrgo is meant for you to more often use your finger, rather than the mobile phone's stylus. Other additional features of yrgo are:

• customize 4 independent desktops
• list the call history
• find a contact and make a call, write SMS or e-mail
• list in all the actions you did with yrgo sorted by the count of the processed actions (the most used actions are at the top of the list)
• browse your Programs folder or entire file system
• easily run the Control panel items
• browse all your office files (notes, tasks, Word documents, etc.)
• see the system information

You can download yrgo for free, but in order to keep on using it without resetting the application every hour, you'll need to make a $10 donation to the software developer. IMHO this yrgo is one of the most customizable Today Screen for Windows Mobile, thus making it as a powerful tool for you who are bored with the default Today Screen of your WinMob devices. Maybe the video demo below can describe it better.


[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Palm Heroes

One of the most addictive game I've ever played back then when I was still a snobby little boy in junior high school, is Heroes of Might & Magic. And now, mobile users can enjoy the classic game in the Windows Mobile galore with Palm Heroes.

Palm Heroes is a fantasy turn-based strategy (TBS) with elements of a role-playing game (RPG), which for you who have already played it before must've appreciate the similarity from the original version; both in game play and the user interface. Like you can see on the thumbnail picture on the left, click to enlarge it. But for you who haven't, well I guess it's best for you to read the abundant reviews on the net.

Among the reviews, I would recommend the one made by Brian Campo from MyTodayScreen. His review has a thorough perspective, accompanied with screenshots taken from the game. A good one to read.

I really love to grab Palm Heroes immediately & installed it into my Treo, specially on the day like today: Monday. It would be a nice reminiscence to play the game again during busy work hours, ...uuuh I mean during break or lunch time. <;-p ~LOL~ But too bad Palm Heroes doesn't support Treo 750's squarish screen, here are the minimum specs needed to play it:

Windows Mobile 2003 or later

5 MB free space

6MB free memory

240x320 touchscreen

Have a great start of the week then, and be careful whenever playing games while working in the office! ~chuckles~

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

WinMob 7 review teaser

I've been searching articles that discuss Microsoft next project nick-named "iPhone compete", it's called Windows Mobile 7. Yes, it is the same name as the one you have there in your Treo 750; WinMob 6. Clearly Microsoft has been chasing Apple ever since they launched iPod, Microsoft's Zune has not doing well with what it's nick-named: "iPod-killer" meant to do. Instead Zune made a quite bad start when it was first released, and got mocked because of it's ridiculous colours; for one instance is brown. But Microsoft made a successful campaign regarding Zune, it is the Social; something that intended to compete with Apple's iTunes on-line store music.

Microsoft needs to gain more of that piece of cake of mobile OS that their share has been lessen since the arrival of iPhone famous user interface, if they don't do it now they'll surely going to be left behind for good. The best article that describe best of this new WinMob 7 came from GSMArena, you have to see it because it looks very promising. Specially for business users who have been forced to use WinMob devices because they need the compability with Windows & Exchange Server, Microsoft have picked up this vibe of how boring WinMob's UI compared to iPhone's. Another clear sign of this can bee see when they announce officially the WinMob 6.1 at professional Mobile World Congress 2008 (formerly known as 3GSM) held at Barcelona in February 2008, this upgrade will only going to improve it's UI but not it's features.

As a customer, I like this competion atmosphere that created by those two giants. But I'm keep on wondering how & when will Palm is going to take place to compete with them? WinMob 7 scheduled to be released at 2009 (no more details of date yet), which is the same as Palm's new schedule to release it's new Palm Nova OS (formerly known as Linux-based Palm OS).

Surely Steve Jobs and his Apple minions won't stay still just watching, I'm betting my money that the most rumored 3G iPhone will also be hosting a new UI; and this baby is set to be release this half of 2008. Apple's greatest strategy is to stay on the head of every competion by releasing newer products before everybody else do, and this has been proven to be successful. Every Apple products owner are taken the pride to held the devices that mark them as pioneer, thus creating the same loyalty that Palm users once had.

So to wrap my predictions up, this 2008 will be the year for WinMob devices. Because with WinMob 6.1 coming soon, and iPhone UI is likely won't be changed much; Palm is going to rely on WinMob since their OS is not ready until next year. And even Steve Jobs can't deny the fact that there are more WinMob devices out there in the market than his locked iPhone.

Boy o' boy, I can't wait till year 2009 where every big companies release their new mobile OS which includes Google's Android. Wish I have a warp engine right now, and beam myself faster than the speed of light to the future...

(blogged with my Treo 750v)

pRSSreader errors

Reading RSS feed news can be more addicting than we could ever thought, that include me for instance; at first I just wanted to know news from a certain website I often visited. But after I experienced on how fast and easy it is to get the latest news from many websites at once with a RSS feed news application, I often check my Treo 750v for news. It's almost like every 30-45 minutes, I turned on the screen to check them.
A good freeware application to get RSS feed news is pRSSreader from David Andrs, the latest version already support QVGA screen; it's a real pitty that Treo 750v doesn't have it.
I must say that pRSSreader has a very clean interface and easy to use with many options available for you to choose, specially the Today Plugin options are really something cool to try if you're bored with the same display of RSS feed news. But it seemed there is still big error problem lurking inside pRSSreader, I experienced blank Site Manager after a while of use; even if I re-entered the RSS feeds this blank error will still happened. Maybe this got to do with the Windows Mobile 6 upgrade? Because probably the pRSSreader only support WinMob 5, that's why I also have problem when I uninstall it from the Remove Programs menu. WinMob 6 said that the pRSSreader can't be removed and asked me if I want to remove it from the list, even if I pressed the Yes button; pRSSreader was still exist and can be ran normally.
I tried to emailed David Andrs, but seemed the email address is not valid; always bounced back to my email inbox.
It's a real pitty, pRSSreader would be one of the most rated and everyone favourite if there are no errors like I mentioned above...