CTIA 2007

Well, that's it for my coverage of CTIA 2007 - I hope you enjoyed the videos, photos, and write-ups about the Windows Mobile hardware, software, and accessories that I found at CTIA. Hopefully you discovered new applications and devices that you didn't know about before - I know I sure did! Special thanks to other Web sites that linked to these stories and helped spread the word about this project - your help was invaluable since this blog is so new not many people knew about it. I just might be back again next year - who knows?



That's not it for Windows Mobile events this year however: if you're a developer interested in Windows Mobile, MEDC 2007 is coming up quick: April 30th to May 3rd in Las Vegas at The Venetian Hotel. With events like "ISV Speed Dating" and a "Sumo Robot Competition", this event looks like it will be a great opportunity for Windows Mobile developers to network, learn, and pitch their ideas to other professionals (and even have a little fun). Register today.

While at CTIA 2007 I had a chance to get some hands-on time with the HP iPAQ 500 Series Voice Messenger (whew, quite the mouthful!). This is a Windows Mobile Standard smartphone with some decent specs: quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, WiFi 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 1.2, a Texas Instruments OMAP 850 200mhz processor, a two inch colour display running at 176 x 220, 64 MB of RAM, 128 MB of Flash ROM, a microSD slot, and an 1100 mAH battery that provides up to 6.5 hours of talk time and 188 hours of standby time. It weighs in at 3.6 ounces (102 grams) and is 16.3 mm thick. This is an enterprise-focused device, so it's not meant to be sleek and sexy like many of the new Windows Mobile devices - although I have to ask myself, can't an enterprise user take advantage of a T-Mobile Dash or Samsung Blackjack just as well as this device? I'm not the only one asking that question. The battery life is impressive, and the device felt sturdy - but the lack of a QWERTY keyboard may turn off some users. It will be interesting to see how this device does in the market when it's released this spring (meaning, soon).

This is one of the applications that I didn't get a full demo of (I shot this photo over the shoulder of someone else getting the demo), but MY-IPTV Anywhere Mobile seems like a very interesting Windows Mobile application. Their Web site says coming soon, but I have brochure with some details about the application. On the whole, it seems similar to Orb in that it allows you to use your Windows Mobile device to access videos or recorded TV shows on your home computer (presumably running some form of the MY-IPTV software). The MY-IPTV Anywhere Mobile software client that runs on the Windows Mobile device is a custom software application that uses MPEG-4/h.264 video, which is a format highly optimized for mobile video scenarios. The software also seems to have full control over the TV watching on the remote PC - unlike Orb, which uses a Web browser and takes time to switch channels - MY-IPTV Anywhere Mobile supports changing channels directly inside the device. This is definitely an application I'll want to keep my eye on.

Picsel Proviewer is an application for Windows Mobile that I'd heard of before, but never witnessed in person until I was at CTIA 2007. After seeing the application demonstrated, I have to admit I was impressed: it was fast and fluid, two characteristics not normally associated with applications that are designed to open up full-sized desktop file formats. The application can open Word files, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, Adobe PDF’s, and an assortment of image formats including JPEG, GIF (including animated GIFs), BMP, and PNG. Other than perhaps a TIFF or PSD file, those image formats cover the gamut of what you'd likely encounter on a day to day basis. Windows Mobile 6 can already open most of those formats, but they do so by converting the files (in the case of Word and Excel) which can have a negative impact on the document viewing experience. Picsel Proviewer isn't an editor at all - it simply allows you to view the files. When you factor in the ability to view PDF files, this application is made even more valuable. It can be purchased from Handango for $14.99 USD. The application demo is below.

"Inrix Traffic takes the stress out of commuting by providing all the key traffic related information you need – real-time incidents, real-time traffic flow, key route travel times and predictive traffic flow – for over 60 metropolitan areas across the United States. Wherever you want to go in traffic – from home to work, work to home, to that next meeting or your special night out on the town – with Inrix Traffic you can find out what traffic will be like on your planned route and either plan accordingly or use a more optimal route."

A few days ago I sat down with Michele Largé from Inrix, and she gave me a comprehensive walk-through of the application. In a nutshell, Inrix Traffic takes the mystery out of traffic. Almost all of us get caught in a traffic jam of one sort or another every week, and we always wonder exactly what the hold-up is. There's also the question of what the best time to get in the car and drive is in order to avoid the bulk of the traffic. Inrix's predictive traffic solution allows you to get a historical view of traffic patterns in a given area. It's a very rich application, with a lot of functionality, so video was the best way to capture how this application works. And there was so much to cover I had to break it up into two parts. If you drive on a regular basis, you definitely want to check out these videos to see how this application can help you. Here's part one of the video demonstration:

I posted about the new release of Mercora M a few days ago, but there's been a new development: Mercora has teamed up with Microsoft and they've kicked off a new promotion that will get you six months of free use of Meroca M. Check this out for more information. Mercora M normally costs $14.99 USD per quarter, so this offer is worth $29.98 USD. You'll need a smartphone with WiFi or an unlimited data plan though, because streaming music burns up the bandwidth.

I made it back from Orlando last night, getting in just before midnight, and it feels great to be home. But there's still some CTIA news, videos, and photos I have to share because I ran out of time before heading off to the airport - so I'll be updating the site today with some of that content. Stick around!

Vringo is one of those services that left me scratching my head a little, wondering if there was really a market for this, but then again I can't grasp the huge market for cheesy-sounding ringtones either. Vringo is a video ringtone service that allows you to see and share your video ringtones with others. They have a Windows Mobile client (shown above) and a rich Web-based system for selecting and managing your video ringtones. Rather than you having a video ringtone for your own device, and having that video play every time your phone rings (which would get boring, quick), Vringo allows you to specify your own custom video ringtone that will appear on everyone else's phone. That means that if you make your video ringtone a clip from the movie 300, everyone else will see it when you call them (assuming they have a supported phone of course). That certainly helps keep the video ringtones fresh, but I can't help but wonder if this will be a repeat of the custom incoming ringtone system that some networks implemented last year: rather than hearing a ringing sound when you'd call someone, you'd hear their custom song. It led to a lot of confused users, and you were subjected to the other person's taste in music - which isn't always a good thing. Will video ringtones be any different? Only time will tell...

"The new enterprise mobility business from Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) today introduced the MC35 Enterprise Digital Assistant (EDA), an all-in-one communication device that harnesses the voice and data applications people expect from an office setting and delivers them in the form of a durable and compact handheld mobile computer. The MC35 joins the durable MC50 and rugged MC70 as the third device in Motorola's family of EDAs and is designed to withstand the rigors of everyday use in the office or in the field while providing enterprise-class wireless connectivity, functionality, and manageability to mobile professionals.

The MC35 combines advanced cellular technology, including built-in Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) capabilities, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, with laptop functionality, camera, and bar code reader. Users can talk, e-mail, connect to the Internet, use mission-critical business applications, and capture data (including signatures) with one, easy-to-use device for lower total-cost-of-ownership."

Motorola officially unveiled the MC35 on the 27th, but they were showing it off at a press-only event on the evening of the 26th. The entire press release is online if you're interested in this device, and below are a few photos of the device that I took. It's an impressive, capable device specifically designed for enterprise scenarios - this isn't a consumer-level device, although the price of somewhere between $640 and $750 is lower than I thought it would be.






The thickness of the MC35 compared to the T-Mobile Dash. The MC35 is thinner and less bulky than I thought it was going to be.

SRS Labs was in attendance at CTIA 2007, showing their audio technology and solutions. The name SRS Labs might not be familiar to many people, but if you've used Windows Media Player 10 or 11, and have ever gone into the enhancements settings to turn on SRS WOW Effects, you've used an SRS Labs product. SRS Mobile HD ships on a couple of Windows Mobile devices on the market, most notably the Motorola Q. I listened to a demo of a song using their big DJ-style headphones, and was able to toggle SRS Mobile HD off and on to hear what kind of a difference it made on the audio coming from the Motorola Q. Could I tell the difference? Absolutely. Were the changes for the better? That's a bit harder to figure out - the sound was certainly "bigger" (what's called having a "wider sound stage"). It sounded fuller - on the other hand, when listening to a different song, it seemed to over-drive the sound and cause distortion.

I listened to another demo on a different Windows Mobile device, this time of their SRS Headphone 360 technology, and it was much more impressive. They had a video clip of The Incredibles, and as I watched it the SRS Headphone 360 effect was toggled off and back on every 15 seconds. The difference was incredible - with SRS Headphone 360 turned on, it sounded much fuller, crisper, and easier to hear everything. The problem is that they tend to only sell their products to the OEMs who will bundle it with their Windows Mobile device - as far as I can tell, there's no way to download or purchased the SRS Headphone 360 product if you wanted it on your device. That's really unfortunate, because it's a great-sounding product that would make movie watching much more enjoyable for many people. Hopefully we'll see makers of devices license the technology, especially devices with larger screens.

"An impressive feature-set including Windows Mobile® 6 software, a 520MHz Intel processor, Stereo Bluetooth, WiFi and blazing fast HSDPA wireless data, make the UBiQUiO 503G a mobile powerhouse. Enjoy blazing fast wireless connectivity. The 503G features the latest in 3G wireless technology, HSDPA, which supports speeds up to 3.6 Mbps. That, combined with the quick 520MHz processor, make for a rewarding mobile experience. Staying up to date on your email, appointments, and tasks while on the move has never been more convenient."



The Windows Mobile landscape sure has changed over the years - back when the first Pocket PC was launched, in April 2000, you could count the number of companies making the devices on one hand: HP, Compaq, and Casio. Times have changed, and it seems like every few months there's a new company wanting to make a Windows Mobile device. UBiQUiO is a good example of this - I didn't realize this product was even coming out until I randomly walked passed their booth. The 503G looks like an all-around solid contender: the 520 mhz CPU is faster than most devices on the market toady, the 256 MB of ROM is more spacious than normal, it boasts two cameras (2.0 megapixel with auto-focus on the back and 0.3 megapixel facing toward the user for video conferencing), a fairly hefty 1250 mAh battery, and has very solid construction. The unit they had wouldn't power on, but in my hands it felt very solid - I believe it has a metal chassis, similar to the BenQ P50.



The size of the UBiQUiO 503G  compares quite favourably to the T-Mobile Dash. It's slightly longer, and slightly thicker, but not by much in either direction. The 503G is expected to be available by June 20th, and pre-orders are being taken via Mobile Planet for $649 USD.

Fuel cells have been a high-tech buzzword for the past several years, but most of us are still waiting for the technology to emerge in a usable form. Thankfully, a company named Medis Technologies has come out with the 24/7 Power Pack, a Direct Liquid Fuel Cell that can power a device for many recharge cycles. The exact numbers are always difficult to nail down, but according to this Media product page, the 24/7 Power Pack should power a mobile phone for 30 hours of talk time, and 60-80 hours of use for MP3 players. In the photo above they were giving my T-Mobile Dash smartphone a charge - there's a cable that plugs into the unit, and there are interchangeable tips so you can charge all sorts of devices. While I can't find this specification on their Web site, I believe the representative told me the unit contained 20 watt hours of power.

The 24/7 Power Pack is expected to retail for around $25 USD, and it's not rechargeable or re-usable. It is, however, completely "green" and safe to dispose of. What I'm not clear about yet is whether the tips are purchased separately - I doubt for $25 you'll get every tip they make, so I'm not sure how expensive the "final" solution will be. All in all though, this looks like an excellent solution - the kind of thing you'd purchase and leave in your car glove box (assuming there are no heat/cold sensitivity issues of course) to get a charge whenever you need one. Kensington has signed up to distribute the 24/7 Power Pack, but I can't find any mention of it on their Web site so I'm not sure how (if?) they're being sold yet. This looks like a product I'll want to keep my eye on.

"Create picture and video JuiceCasts that showcase memorable life moments. Whether you're reciting poetry at the local cafe or showing off your new dance moves, JuiceCaster easily captures it all. Use your camera phone to create multimedia JuiceCasts. With JuiceCaster MobileJuiceCaster Mobile: A free mini-application compatible with most mobile phones. JuiceCaster Mobile is the phone-based tool you'll use to create, share and view JuiceCasts and communicate easily with people within and outside of the JuiceCaster Network., or JuiceCaster Mobile LiteJuiceCaster Mobile Lite: A phone-based web site for mobile phones that aren't compatible with JuiceCaster Mobile. JuiceCaster Mobile Lite is the tool you'll use to create, share and view JuiceCasts and communicate easily with people within and outside of the JuiceCaster Network. you can capture and share the latest celebrity sightings and crazy nights on the town. By staying connected to the JuiceCaster Network, your friends are with you wherever you go, so you can view their comments, too."

JuiceCaster is one of several applications I saw at CTIA that delivered on the same basic idea: using your Windows Mobile smartphone to capture video, photos, and text and share it with friends. JuiceCaster does it better than most, however, with a rich on-device software program that allows for some impressive functionality. There's an old saying that goes something like this: "the best camera you own is the one you have on you". What it means in this context is that while no Windows Mobile smartphone can take pictures that match a dedicated digital camera, nor can it take video to match a dedicated video camera, it's a device that you always have with you.

Almost no one leaves home or work without taking their mobile phone with them, and the same can't be said about digital cameras and video cameras. Because of that, there are memories and events you'll capture with your smartphone that you'd otherwise have missed. JuiceCaster helps you capture and share those. They have plug-in code that works with social networking sites such as MySpace, allowing you to capture a quick video and have it automatically appear on your MySpace page within minutes. Check out the video demo below for a full breakdown on the product and what it's capable of. And for now, it's free.

One of the bona fide new releases at CTIA was the MSNBC.com Multimedia on Mobile software client. This is a client-side application (meaning, it's something you install on your Windows Mobile smartphone) that allows you to quickly access MSNBC content over a cellular wireless connection. No, unfortunately WiFi connections are not supported. In the demo video below, you can see how the application works as we access MSNBC content.

That little black Anycom box on top of the JBL speaker contains some very interesting technology, and it's something that I think many Windows Mobile device owners will be interested in. Like it or not, the iPod is the current reigning champ in the portable music device world. That means there are an untold number of accessories for the iPod to connect to - especially in the auto world, where more and more vehicles are coming with iPod docks to allow people to connect their iPods directly to their car for music. Users of any other music device are generally out of luck.

The FIPO from Anycom changes all that: it's a small Bluetooth receiver device that has a port on it compatible with the iPod connector. It then acts as a bridge, accepting incoming Bluetooth signals and converting them to an analog signal and sending it down the pipe. So what that means is that any Windows Mobile smartphone or PDA with Bluetooth can broadcast music and the FIPO will pick it up. In the photo above, that means being able to use a Windows Mobile device with the the JBL speaker dock. In the auto world that means connecting to any of the many vehicles that now come with an iPod dock or connector cable. Since almost every new Windows Mobile device now comes with Bluetooth, the FIPO will allow users to connect into a huge variety of speakers and docks for music.

The FIPO is supposed to be available immediately (although I can't seem to find it for sale anywhere) and will sell for an MSRP of $99 USD. More information can be found at the Anycom site.

While Deepfish didn't debut at CTIA (I wonder why not?), it made its debut during the same time-frame, so I'm going to take editorial license and post the news anyway because the technology looks so impressive. Check it out:

"The Deepfish Technology Preview enhances existing mobile browsing technologies by displaying content in a view that is closer to the desktop experience. Our zoom-able interface and cue map allow you to quickly access the information you care about over the web without ever losing track of where you are...Deepfish is a lightweight client application that leverages a powerful server side technology for delivery of content such as web pages to a Windows Mobile device. Content is displayed in a familiar desktop format that requires no additional work by the content or site author."


[images courtesy of Pocket PC Thoughts]

There's a great video of Deepfish in action over at the 10 Web site, so be sure to check that out - and since Microsoft is only accepting a limited number of sign-ups to test the browser, you should download your copy now if you're interested.

Mundu IM is an instant messaging client that goes beyond anything else I've seen: if you're a hard-core IM user, you'll want to check this out. Pretty much everyone I know is on Live Messenger, so I'm lucky enough not to have to juggle multiple applications in order to keep in touch with friends, family, and business collegues. Not everyone is so fortunate however, so universal messaging applications like Mundu IM bridge the gap. Version 4.0, brand new, costs $11 for a lifetime of use - though the representative I spoke with mentioned that it didn't include new versions of the application. Perhaps the most interesting feature of the application is its ability to bridge multiple IM platforms into one conference chat - meaning you can invite one friend who's using AIM (AOL's IM client) on his laptop, one who's using Google Talk on his desktop PC, and you can be using Live Messenger on your Windows Mobile smartphone - and all three of you can chat together. Pretty cool! Check out the demo video below.

AMD's Imageon chip is a graphics processor (GPU) designed for mobile devices. While the high-end version is not shipping in any Windows Mobile devices at this point, the demonstration I saw was quite impressive. It's challenging to design high-performance GPUs that don't require a lot of power - performance isn't the issue, making your smartphone last longer than 30 minutes while playing a game is the challenge. In researching this product I found that several Windows Mobile Pocket PCs - most notably the Hitachi G1000, the Toshiba E740, and the Pocket PC XDAII - have had one version or another of the Imageon GPU over the years. I was unable to find the model number of the GPU running the demo below, but I suspect it was the Imageon 2298, announced last month. The hope here, of course, is that technology like this will make it into Windows Mobile smartphones so we can have gaming experiences this fluid and impressive - check out the video for more.

Since this is one of the few Windows Mobile devices officially announced at CTIA, you may have noticed I'm paying extra attention to it. Here we have a very quick video of the HTC Advantage shown from all angles, including the removal of the keyboard and how it attaches to the unit again.

ZenZui is a little hard to explain, so I'll just quote this text from their site:

"Isn’t it time we re-imagined how we consume information on a mobile phone? Once upon a time, pre-ZenZui, mobile browsing went something like this: Navigate through a long list of web sites selected by a complete stranger. Pick one, and wait…then, read a few lines and scroll down down down down down, deeper into the abyss of mobile web boredom. Tedious. Painful. Ultimately an underwhelming experience. Enter ZenZui. Conceived in the research lab by experts in human-computer interaction and data visualization, and refined over three years of development, ZenZui represents an entirely new way to discover and consume the mobile web. With ZenZui, your phone screen is a portal into your own customized Zoomspace, an information landscape of personalized, cached content in the form of Tiles that directly reflect your lifestyle. Using a single thumb, you fly in and out of your Zoomspace – two simple taps get you directly to any Tile. Through some clever engineering, we constantly refresh your Tiles in the background, so they’re always fresh, available, and ready to be Zoomed.

New phones launch every week, with a wild diversity of screen resolutions, input hardware, and orientation. We took this into consideration when we built the ZenZui adaptive rendering platform, which enables your Tiles to work on a wide array of mobile devices and platforms, all with a consistent, intuitive, and gorgeous user interface. Mobile browsing no longer needs to be a slow and painful experience. ZenZui: Choose your Tiles. Stop Surfing. Start Zooming."

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, according to my calculations this 40 second video on YouTube is worth 1.2 million words (30 frames per second, 40 seconds long). Check it out.


As you can see from the video, ZenZui is a new way of interacting with your Windows Mobile device. Most of the interaction is based on touch, though in the video they use a couple of smartphones that lack touchscreens and utilize the control-pad instead. Touchscreens have been largely ignored from a user-interface point of view. Sure, some applications have on-screen buttons that are big enough to mash with your fingers, but actual application navigation, moving from screen to screen? I've seen almost none of that over the years. ZenZui is a very innovative approach, and while I'm not sure what form it will take or when it will be released, I certainly welcome it to the Windows Mobile world.

This product was announced at 3GSM last month, but it's the first time I've seen one in person. I remember how stunned I was when I saw how small the first microSDHC card was - people gasped when I took it out of my phone to show them. Most people still remember the 1.44 MB floppy disks, so showing them the 128 MB microSD card and telling them it stored as much data as 89 of those old disks always made their jaws drop. 4 GB is a long way from 128 MB, so the fact that they're able to cram that much storage into the same form-factor is truly amazing. According to this SanDisk press release, the card has no official release date or price point. Given how inexpensive Flash memory has become over the past year, and given that SanDisk was giving away 1 GB microSD cards to anyone that wanted one, I don't expect the 4 GB microSDHC card to be all that expensive - likely somewhere in the neighbourhood of $100 USD.

Unfortunately, the down-side here is that many Windows Mobile smartphones and PDAs will not be able to use this card because of the "HC" part of the name, which stands for "high capacity". The SD card specification tops out at 2 GB, and unless a device has a HC-compatible slot on it, the card will either show up as only 2 GB or not work at all. Strangely enough, even the newest devices from HTC don't seem to have HC-compatible card slots, so it may take a whole new generation of devices before we'll be able to use SD, miniSD, and microSD cards bigger than 2 GB.

"Plantronics today announced the U.S. introduction of the Pulsar® 260 Stereo Bluetooth® Headset, a unique Bluetooth pendant-style headset designed to support high quality, wireless stereo sound and manage mobile phone calls with the touch of a button. The Pulsar 260 will debut at CTIA Wireless 2007 and expands Plantronics’ growing family of stereo Bluetooth headsets for mobile phones, which also includes the award-winning Pulsar 590 series. The Pulsar 260 enables users with Bluetooth mobile phones featuring the (A2DP) Advanced Audio Distribution Profile to wirelessly listen to stereo music and answer/end calls without the need for an adapter or picking up the phone."





I got a little bit of hands-on time with the new Plantronics Pulsar 260, and they look like a great accessory for a Windows Mobile device. They were light, small, and most importantly, in-ear headphones. I'm in the midst of writing a review on another set of Bluetooth headphones, but they're the over-the-year design and as such they offer zero noise blocking and fairly hollow sound. In-ear Bluetooth headphones like the Pulsar 260 offer the best of both worlds: wireless connection from the headphones to the transmitting Bluetooth device, but also the noise-dampening effect of in-ear headphones.The Pulsar 260's are available immediately for an MSRP of $109 USD, though the Plantronics representative I spoke with said they should be somewhere around $80 to $90 at retail stores. As much as I like my Ultimate Ears super.fi 5 headphones, the fact that the cable kinks up on me and never flattens out is a source of constant irritation - so a set of Pulsar 260's may be in my future. The real question is how will they sound...

The folks at Mercora have launched a new version of their innovative software application. I reviewed version one, which I liked quite a bit, but ultimately found their Windows Mobile client to be lacking polish. They've addressed that, and many other issues, in this new release of their Mercora M software.



Some of the new features include:

• Playlists. Now you can listen to your favorite playlists on your M. To access your playlists, just use the drag-and-drop feature in the M for Desktop to create a playlist. Next, select the 'My Playlists' option on your M.

• Podcasts. We've added popular podcasts from leading media services such as CNN, Major League Baseball (MLB), NCAA, and NPR. These podcasts are always updated so you can receive breaking news and information on your M.
  
  
• Large Music Libraries. The new M v2 includes better support for large music libraries, which was a limitation in the previous version.
  
  
• Improved Performance. We've improved the library listening feature so you can continuously listen to your entire library, without interruption.
  
  
• Enhanced User Interface. As a result of your suggestions, we've updated the M v2 user interface with more intuitive navigation.

"Palm, Inc. today announced that an update to the Windows Mobile 6 Professional operating system will be available for Treo(TM) 750 smartphone customers around the world. The Treo 750 is available from carriers in the United States, Europe and Asia and remains a key part of Palm's international expansion strategy to make Treo smartphones available to more customers. For AT&T customers, the update also will facilitate High-speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) capability - allowing faster data-download speeds on 3G/UMTS/HSDPA networks. "Palm continues to work closely with Microsoft to maximize the benefits of Windows Mobile and to deliver the best mobile experience to Treo customers," said Joe Fabris, director of wireless solutions at Palm, Inc. "Our hallmark Palm experience combined with the benefits of Windows Mobile 6 on the Treo 750 will continue to deliver a great productivity tool for businesses across the country and around the world." The Treo 750 is a five-band world phone that combines a great phone with email, messaging, web browsing and organization software. Because the Treo 750 is based on GSM radio technology that is widely available around the world, it is a natural fit for multinational businesses or employees who travel internationally. The flexibility of the Treo 750 combined with Windows Mobile 6 will help the Treo 750 continue to build on its momentum in the business market."

Great news for Palm Treo 750 owners - myself included - because Windows Mobile 6 offers a lot of great benefits. There's no word on pricing yet, or exact availability, but I sure hope it's soon! Here's a link to the full press release.