MobileViews Blog

Author: todd

  • Flickr Popular Cameraphones List Missing Phones without Exif Data

    If you scroll to the bottom of…

    Flickr Camera Finder

    …you will find a list of popular cameraphones used to take photos submitted to Flickr. In a list of 5 there are 2 Nokia phone models and 3 Sony Ericsson phone models. One would guess that these phones are listed because they all have good cameras (for a cameraphone). But, I began to wonder why there were more Sony Ericssons since Nokia claims to make the most digital cameras in the world. Shouldn’t Nokia have a slight edge just based on total cameraphones sold? Ok, maybe not. The next question was why no Windows Mobile Smartphone had made the list. They seem to be selling well. I submit photos from my Windows Mobile Smartphone (a T-Mobile SDA at the moment) to Flickr. So, I know it can submit photos.

    One possible reason may be that many popular cameraphones do not provide EXIF data in their photos. I took a look at photos from a number of phones I’ve used over the last couple of years and noticed that photos taken with the Nokia 3650 (Symbian), Motorola MPx220 (WM2003), and T-Mobile SDA (WM2005) all lack EXIF data in the JPEG files. Photos taken using an i-Mate JasJar and i-Mate K-JAM Windows Mobile 5 Phone Edition devices did have EXIF data in their JPEG image files.

    So, it may be this lack of EXIF photo identifying information may be the reason why some very popular phones will never be listed in social network sites collecting camera model information. Too bad.

  • MobileViews iPod Troubleshooting Reference Page

    Way back on May 11, 2006 (forever in Internet time), I posted a blog item on the MacDevCenter asking…

    Cause for iPod nano Spontaneous Reset?

    Although the cause of the problem is now known and resolved, this blog item continues to attract questions from people with, apparently, all kinds of iPod issues. It doesn’t seem appropriate to use that blog item as some kind of general iPod issues forum (especially since there are other sites better suited and more focused on that topic). So, I put together a page here (look at the left side bar area under Pages) titled…

    MobileViews iPod info

    …to help people find iPod troubleshooting information and discussion areas.

    I’ve listed a small sampling of the questions my original blog item attracted on that page and will, as time permits, provide specific pointers for some or all of them. Hope this helps the various people with iPod issues that posted to my old blog item.

  • Happy New Year! Get Organized & More Out of Your PDA!

    Fellow Microsoft Mobile Devices MVP Jaap van Ekris has an article to help you get started with 2007 on his MobileNomads.info site…

    Get more out of your day using a PDA

    The article focuses on maximizing what you get out of the PIM (Personal Information Management) and Communications features of your PDA.

    After reading Jaap’s article, you might want to consider visiting an article I wrote for Microsoft.com last year…

    Get Organized with Windows Mobile

    In it I point you to some third party applications you can add to your Windows Mobile Pocket PC or Smartphone to organize your life in 2007.

    Have a safe and happy New Year everyone! And, thank you for visiting MobileViews.com (and maybe even clicking on the ad links or buying from the Amazon affiliate store to help support this site).

  • Belkin iPod TuneBase FM

    Belkin iPod TuneBase FMThe Belkin iPod TuneBase FM has been out for more than a year. But, I just picked one up today. It has a lot of advantages over the Belkin TuneCast that I used a couple of years ago.

    The TuneBase (pictured to the left) plugs into a car power adapter (AKA cigarette lighter) while the TuneCast used an AAA battery. One of the problems I had with the TuneCast is that the battery would rapidly die while driving. The TuneBase also charges a connected iPod which means that both the iPod and the TuneBase are powered and ready to go all the time.

    The TuneBase can tune into arbitary frequencies while the TuneCast is limited to four fixed frequencies. This can be a problem if none of those four stations provide a clear signal to the car radio. The FM radio frequency is displayed on the iPod’s screen when configuring the unit. This makes it pretty easy to quickly configure the system with your car radio.

    The sturdy looking flexible arm can be adjusted to get it out of the way of other dashboard controls. I am kind of concerned about how much pressure it puts on the cigarette lighter though. I think the best thing to do is to use two hands to insert and remove an iPod from the TuneBase.

  • Nakama.ca: Cameraphone Photo/Video Social Networking

    I’m pretty satisfied sending photos and videos from my phone to Flickr, Microsoft Live Spaces, and Blip.tv. Nakama sounded interesting so I signed up for this free web service.

    Nakama.ca

    But, I never felt the urge to use it. The site describes itself like this: Set your phone free! Take pictures or videos from your phone and publish them straight to your blog, Flickr gallery, even your MySpace or MSN Spaces page. You can also look at your friends’ stuff on your phone… so you don’t have to wait to get home to check out what everyone’s up to… their pics and videos are always there waiting for you.

    I obviously don’t get it yet. But, if you do, please clue me in.

  • Stitch Cameraphone Photos Vertically for a Change

    Vertical Photo Stitch ExampleMost people seem to pan across a landscape and stitch photos horizontally (as shown in my O’Reilly example a few blogs ago). However, you can create some satisfying stitched photos by taking a series of photos down-to-up (which I find easier than up-to-down) with a cameraphone. I took three photos with a Nokia 3650 cameraphone a couple of years ago. The vertically stitched result can be seen to the left. It didn’t make the cut for the Digital Photography Hacks book. But, you can see the result here.