05:37 AM by Colin Dunstan in Miscellaneous | Lounge

Here's a very cool development in Japan: Japense mobile users will soon move to new frontiers in their passion for mobile telephones and pop music as customers will be able to download full-length, CD-quality songs to their cellphones.

The Inquirer reports that KDDI, Japan's second biggest phone outfits, would offer a service of 10,000 songs with sound quality so good the music can be listened to on stereo speakers. Users can also use the tunes as ring tones.

The service, which begins next month, is called "Chaku Uta Full," or "Full Ringer Songs."

05:23 AM by Colin Dunstan in Miscellaneous | Lounge

Larry Garfield from Infosyncworld looks at the different design strategies of palmOne and PPC-based vendors, and muses on what it says about the way they think. This is an excellent read and mirrors exactly what a lot of our members have been discussing lately:

Where HP and Dell both think in terms of feature count, palmOne, rather out of necessity, tends to tailor its markets more. That's why, according to palmOne anyway, the T5 doesn't have Wi-Fi[...]That's not to say that palmOne doesn't need a bigger push. Next to the equally-priced non-novel but very flashy X50 Advanced, the T5 just doesn't seem impressive, even if it is one of the most feature-rich Palm OS handhelds to date.

So what does the editor of the article suggest? -- That palmOne is better hurrying up to release a Cobalt handheld that could hopefully compete with the latest HP and Dell PPC devices.

05:08 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Portable Audio/Video

Bottom Line: The Rio Carbon is a worthy competitor to the iPod mini, with a gigabyte more storage, great style, excellent sound, and extras such as voice recording and a built-in stopwatch. It charges via USB and doesn't need a driver or dedicated software.

Click here for the full review.

04:08 AM by Colin Dunstan in Miscellaneous | Lounge

Using a mobile phone for ten or more years almost doubles the risk of developing acoustic neuroma, a benign tumor on the auditory nerve, reveals a study released on Wednesday by Sweden's Karolinska Institute (the Swedish Institute of Environmental Medicine).

The risk was confined to the side of the head where the phone was usually held and there were no indications of increased risk for those who have used their mobile for less than 10 years, the Karolinska Institute said in a statement.

Nature.com covers the news in more depth.

Perhaps the only bright spot: Because only analog mobile phones had been in use for more than 10 years, the Institute's researchers said they were unable to confirm that tumours would also develop more frequently in users of digital (GSM) handsets.

08:18 AM by Colin Dunstan in Miscellaneous | Lounge

Audible offers the 2004 U.S. Presidential and Vice Presidential Debates for free download at http://www.audible.com/debates.

Any Audible web visitor can register, download, and transfer audio to any AudibleReady mobile device, burn standard audio CDs for playback away from the computer, or stream audio at the user's computer.

03:42 PM by ignatz in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

The New York Times has posted a surprisingly glowing review of the OQO (registration required, or use BugMeNot). They state that the price point will be at around $1900. They like most things about the unit, but they do enumerate several problems. The lack of a CD or DVD (obviously too large) seems limiting, though the dock sounds good and it does have built in wifi. The main input system is USB, but it's 1.1 instead of 2.0. The battery life is a dismal 2.5 hours! What the hell can you do in that time?! I'm really surprised by the proliferation of "mobile" devices that need to be powered up every couple of hours. Until this trend turns around, I'll stick to lower power devices that can run for at least 6-8 hours.

02:33 PM by ignatz in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

I've had my Tungsten E for a while now, going on a year I think. I use it and abuse it quite a bit, and in all that time I have used only the flipcover that came with it (and a screen protector) for protection. As you might imagine, the relatively vulnerable case is scratched all to hell, which doesn't bother me. Amazingly the unit itself has suffered no damage. I finally realized that my luck couldn't last forever and decided it was time for a proper case. I know that the Rhinoskin cases are old hat by now and have been reviewed all over the place, but here's my contribution to that crowded field.

So what I was looking for was good useable protection, but I also wanted it to be small enough to still fit in my pocket. I don't like wearing my PDA on my belt, and often use it for mp3s from my pocket or just keep it my pocket while at home, to read when I have a few seconds. Rhinoskin and Innopocket make comparable cases for the T|E (and for most PDAs), that are pretty much indistinguishable to look at. I didn't have a preference and just picked the one I found the cheapest. Amazon has the Rhinoskin for just $20, so it won. (Though I just checked and it seems to be gone!)

The case looks great (I'll have pictures up in the next couple of days). It's made of anodized aluminum and it has a great tough finish, distinctly unlike the T|E itself. It feels good in the hand and it opens and closes easily. It attached to the T|E with the side slot that is normally used for the flip cover, and this holds it firmly in place, but allows for easy removal. It has slots for 2 SD cards, but annoyingly you can't see the fronts where you have presumably labeled them. It is cutaway in many locations to allow for access to the power button, stylus, speaker, headphones, SD card, and power and sync cables while the unit is closed or just resting in the case. Most of the inside is coated with a thin layer of what appears to be some kind of neoprene, for shock and scratch resistance. While it does add some size to the unit, it still fits comfortable in my pants pocket.

My only complaint about the case is that the cutout for the headphone jack is not large enough. Most headphones require a little wiggling to get them properly seated. I'm going to have to modify the ones I use most often by cutting away a little of the plastic.

Overall I find the case the perfect addition to my PDA and I feel much more confident carrying it around. This morning it slipped from my hand and clattered to the concrete, and though it put a couple of scratches on the case, my T|E suffered to ill effects. This is highly recommended!

I will try to get a few pics up in the next two days, so you can see the rest of it. This case may also work for the T|5, since the form factors are so similar.

03:21 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

It took only a couple of hours after the official release for several Axim X50/v reviews to pop up:

Dell Axim X50v Pocket PC with VGA Display (PDA Buyer's Guide)
Dell Axim X50 and X50v Review (Brighthand)
Dell Axim X50 and X50v Review (BargainPDA)
Dell Axim X50: Dual Slot Goodness at a Reasonable Price (Pocket PC Thoughts)
Dell Axim X50v High (Aximsite)
Dell Axim X50 Mid (Aximsite)
Dell Axim X50 and X50v (PDA Geek.com)
Dell Axim X50v (infoSync World)
Dell Axim X50 Advanced (infoSync World)
Dell Axim X50 Standard (infoSync World)
Dell Axim X50 / X50v Pocket PC (pocketnow.com)

Skimming through all these reviews, the new Axim series evolves as a clear winner!