06:05 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

More news from Palm's European developer conference. PalmSource has introduced its PalmSource Installer, a new Palm OS application installation technology designed to streamline the online and over-the-air (OTA) download and install process of Palm OS applications onto Palm Powered smartphones and other wireless devices.

This sounds like a great idea for Palm software providers such as PalmGear or Handmark. Indeed, as Douglas Edwards, vice president of Handmark comments:

"PalmSource Installer is a great solution that will enable us to build on our commitment to innovative wireless solutions for Palm Powered smart mobile devices. As a Palm Powered Mobile World partner, we look forward to continued innovation on the part of PalmSource to bring solutions that generate revenue opportunities for its partners."

Handango already offers the installer labeled as Handango InHand to all palmOne Treo owners for free.

The public beta version of PalmSource Installer is free and available to registered Palm OS software developers in the PalmSource Developer Zone.

06:00 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Yesterday I mentioned an NYT article which indicates that PalmSource is steadily shifting towards smartphones. One day later, PalmSource officially announces three new Palm Powered Mobile World infrastructure partners: Bitfone Corporation, DAT Group, and Notify Technology Corporation. Each company provides the necessary infrastructure to deploy Palm Powered smartphones and wireless devices.

Without question PalmSource's focus lies on wireless; it will be to be seen if PDAs can stand a chance in the wireless future.

05:38 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

The Register has a quick write up of the new Palm OS Cobalt, which was presented at Palm's European developer conference in Munich this week.

According to the article, integration has taken longer than expected, and the first new phones won't appear until the first quarter of next year. I am not sure if by "phones" they also mean handhelds, but if yes, then don't expect to see the new Tungsten T5 under your Christmas tree this year!

New hot Cobalt features mention in the article:
- TrueType font support
- translucent windows and drop shadows
- new web browser with "squeeze rendering", multi-tab

05:19 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

The Windows CE powered mobile gaming device Gizmondo won the "Design Solution of the Year Award" at the Electronics Industry Design Awards in London, a competition claimed to be the "ultimate industry accolade" in the British electronics market.

Carl Freer, Managing Director, Gizmondo Europe, commented, "We are very proud to have won this award which acknowledges the revolutionary nature of our design. Gizmondo is set to change the face of mobile gaming."

The features of the Gizmondo truly look spectacular: 400Mhz ARM9 CPU, GSM Tri-band, GPRS Class 10, Sirf GPS, 2.8” TFT screen running at a 240 x 320 resolution, NVIDIA GoForce 3D 4500 WMP, WAP 2.0, MMS/SMS/EMS, MP3 Playback, Polyphonic MIDI, MPEG 4 playback, JPEG camera, SD flash card reader, Mini-USB client, Bluetooth class 2 for multiplayer gaming, GPS Tracking and Mapping applications, Windows Media Player 9, Customised Windows CE O/S, Stop gameplay when battery near empty.

Gizmondo is scheduled to conquer the UK gaming market in the fourth quarter this year.

04:15 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

In case you have missed it: I heartly invite you to join our ongoing discussion on whether or not it is right to a) DRM-protect e-books and b) crack them again.

I personally find it a very interesting discussion on a very controversial subject which is probably puzzling the minds of many PDA owners.

01:00 PM by Laurens in Archive | Sunrise

This release introduces the following features:

• Support for SSL connections
• Easy way to attach date stamps to document names
• Card Install conduit

More info: Sunrise News

12:37 PM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Announcements

Simply reply to this thread and tell us what you would like to see more at Mobileread.com in future! and tell us something nice

Make sure to PM me your e-mail address so that I know where to send the invite to.

I have like 12 invites many invites waiting for you and will tell you when I run out of them... this is your chance if you don't have an Gmail account yet

09:43 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Who is going to run the show in the future - PDA or smartphone? If you have followed our recent discussion, you know that despite our undisputed love for PDAs, the PDA market is having a tough time these days, while the smartphone segment is heating up (research firm IDC projects that smartphone shipments worldwide will reach 90 million in 2008, up from roughly 17 million this year).

So far Symbian has dominated the smartphone market. I personally hate Symbian. It is slow and it doesn't offer the flexibility that I know from more advanced operation systems like Palm OS. Fortunately or not (depends on how you see the future), PalmSource is slowly shifting towards smartphones now, as newest licensing arrangements with smartphone players like Kyocera and Samsung reveal.

Today I found an interesting NYT article which states that PalmSource plans to announce tomorrow its first operating system designed specifically for smartphones. PalmSource said its software would be available in 11 smartphones without naming the manufacturers.

"We are reinventing the company," said David Nagel, PalmSource's chief executive, in an interview during a recent European tour. The company is betting that the same ease of use that made the Palm a popular hand-held organizer will draw people to phones using the software.

In other words, PalmSource clearly wants to be part of the smartphone hype. Let's only hope that it won't abandon its original roots and leave palmOne without a future operation system.