I’ve used a number of mobile devices over the years, and there are a couple of things in my usage pattern that stand out: Speed is a feature. I need to be able to go from email to my calendar to SMS and back again effortlessly and quickly. The mobile web is slow. Even with…
Mobile Archives
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I don’t know why I didn’t think of this earlier, but instead of going month-to-month with a Verizon MiFi, I can simply set up a family plan and add my Palm Pre Plus as a second line (it has the free HotSpot feature). Total cost over my existing plan should be about $20/month. The MiFi…
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Yesterday I switched my phone number from a Palm Pre Plus to a BlackBerry Curve through the Verizon website. This was a pretty painless process, but only because I had a friend who had done it before and because I had some technical knowledge that made it trivial to track down the necessary information. I…
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The way I understand it, if I get an iPhone plan before the 7th I can still get the $30/month unlimited data plan on AT&T (and carry it over to a next-gen iPhone when they are available). I left AT&T a year ago for Verizon and have loved the rediscovered ability to actually make and…
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I’ve posted a review of the Timbuk2 T-Pack iPad bag on my iPad Bag Reviews site. This is the first positive review I’ve put up, which should make a number of folks who have been bugging me requesting this happy. Right guys? Anyways, check it out if you’re in the market for an iPad bag.…
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The iPad has sparked renewed interest in detachable keyboards, but to the surprise of folks who know me (and my attachment to physical keyboards on mobile devices) I’m not on board. I’ve been down this road before, with the Newton, the Stowaway keyboard for the Palm V series and the clip-on keyboard for the Palm…
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One of the things I’ve liked1 about the Palm Pre Plus on Verizon is the hotspot feature which allowed me to cancel my MiFi service and travel with one less device. For the last three days however, I was getting this error message when I tried to turn it on: No Sharing Service Sharing an…
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For all the attention paid to mobile computing these days and all the progress that has been made, sometimes I feel like we’re going backwards in some areas. Customizable launch/home screens, input mechanisms, etc. The Palm Pilot had this capability back in the late 90s, the iPhone, Palm Pre etc. only have it via jailbreak…
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I tried a Palm Pre on Sprint last year and it didn’t take. To be honest, I didn’t really try it as a primary device, I just played with it a bit and returned it. I’m going to give it another go – I have an appointment at the local Verizon to pick one up…
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As a self-admitted mobile junkie, I was interested in today’s Android announcement (best followed here) even though we knew all the details in advance. I want to get a good (read: fast) Android device so that I can really try it out. The only current options are the Droid and the Nexus One (N1). The…
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The iPhone App Store has a lot of (well documented) problems, but on the flip side it has a very simple model that works like you expect it to. The BlackBerry App World is trying to provide a similar service for BlackBerry users, however BlackBerry developers are also able to distribute and/or sell their apps…
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Here I am about to pay $100/year for contact sync. I tried hard to avoid this, having tried pretty much every other solution out there, but none of them worked properly across several Macs plus a BlackBerry. In the end I just need contact sync that works, and so far MobileMe is the only one…
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After my several month dalliance with Sprint, T-Mobile and finally ditching AT&T for Verizon on my BlackBerry (my primary device), I am happy to report that I chose wisely. I have not (yet) had the dreaded “Call Failed (beep, beep, beep)”, or a single dropped call since making the switch.1 Also, the network performance for…
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After my final test run last weekend I decided to keep my BlackBerry Bold with AT&T. That lasted until Tuesday morning when I was on a conference call and the call dropped. Again. I was all set to port my number to Sprint. Their network isn’t quite as good as Verizon’s, but it generally works…
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I returned my Pre this weekend, and several folks asked for my thoughts on it and why I returned it. I didn’t keep or use the Pre very long, but I did give it a chance. It’s a nice device to be sure. For a 1.0, it’s really quite impressive. Things to like: Great browser.…
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A new release of WordPress Mobile Edition, a WordPress plugin to provide a friendly mobile interface for your WordPress powered site, is now available. The new version of WordPress Mobile Edition is really a developer release. This version adds API access so that other plugins can participate in mobile device checking and add to the…
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(with apologies to John Gruber) Hi BlackBerry honey, I’m home. Hey… why are you crying? I know where you were this weekend, and who you were with – that harlot Pre! I… I… Look, I’m sorry. She meant nothing to me – really. I ended it, it’s already over. :sob: Really, why should I believe…
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I’m quite happy that WordPress Mobile Edition, a WordPress plugin I first created back in 2002 to show a mobile-friendly version of my (b2 powered) blog, has reached version 3.0. This plugin creates a mobile-friendly version of your WordPress powered site, without any additional changes required. Over the last 7 years, mobile browsing has gone…
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I was planning to skip the BlackBerry Bold and wait for the Javelin (the updated Curve), but decided to go ahead and get the Bold for a variety of reasons: I wanted 3G I wanted a faster processor for JavaScript, etc. in the browser I played with it a bit and found the keyboard wasn’t…
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I decided to get a screen protector for my BlackBerry 8703e when I first got it, and after looking at a number of options I went with the Invisible Shield. As a WriteRight user for nearly a decade, I was hesitant about going with a solution that gave you only a single shield. Even with…
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Now that I’ve got my calendar sync set-up solved by switching to Google Calendar, I just needed a sync solution for my contacts. Matt pointed to Plaxo for this a little while back, so I set up an account and was all sync’ed up a few minutes later. Very nice. So now I’ve got a…
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Some folks have come along, having heard that the bounty has been claimed, and been purturbed to discover that the solution that claimed the bounty will be commercial. I think it’s worth taking a quick look at this. Not all Bounties are Created Equal The most famous bounty I know of was the ~$14k bounty…
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There have been a lot of questions about the BlackBerry modem solution that claimed my bounty. I’ll try to answer them below. Please note, this information is current as of writing and may change before a public release of the solution, etc. When will this be released? As with all software, date estimates can get…
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Congratulations and thanks to Daniel Pasco, who has created a fantastic solution for using the BlackBerry 870* series as a Bluetooth modem in Mac OS X. I’ve just tested a development build that allowed me to browse the web and download mail. Awesome! Daniel claims the bounty. Daniel is hard at work polishing it up…
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I started the draft of this post back in May, and had this much written as a placeholder: Exchange integration is always going to be easier for Windows Mobile. RIM should be working hard on making the BlackBerry work well with non-Microsoft server integration solutions. My conclusion was also that RIM should strongly consider putting…