MobileViews Blog

Category: Mobile Devices

  • Bizarre Zune 2.5 Errors


    I fired up the Zune 2.5 software on my PC running XP for the first time in over a month and kept getting this window popping up again and again. It pops up regardless of whether my first generation Zune is synced or not.

    I really want to like the Zune. But, it keeps throwing barriers to prevent that from happening. I stopped syncing video podcasts because it took so long to convert the video formats and complete the sync (I understand this is NOT an issue with 2nd generation Zune hardware). I stopped syncing music because it seems to lose track of synced music. Some appear on the Zune, some do not. So, I’m trying to use the Zune to sample podcast subscriptions (keepers go to my iPod). But, the multiple error windows are pretty darn annoying. Something to do with XP SP3, perhaps???

  • Ubuntu Mobile Internet Device (MID) Edition

    I watched/read the various articles and blog posts about the recently released…

    Ubuntu Mobile Internet Device (MID) Edition

    earlier this week. I’ve been working with various Red Hat related distros myself (mostly CentOS and, to a lesser extent, Fedora Core) for most of this decade. But, I’ve downloaded and tried all of the Ubuntu distros when they come out. I have to say that this MID Edition is the one that most interests me the most of any Ubuntu release so far. The irony is that I don’t have any actual MID devices at all (unless you count the OLPC XO). I wonder if Ubuntu is going to provide some kind of ready-to-install ISO file that could be installed in a virtual machine for testing.

  • T-Mobile $10/Month Home Service: Tempting, But I’m Keeping my Landline

    Just read this article over on Fortune…

    T-Mobile launches home phone service

    At $10/month, it seems like a good deal. But, I’m sticking with my old fashioned POTS wireline in my home. My broadband provider is simply not as reliable as my POTS provider.

  • Symbian, S60, and UIQ Team Up and Go Open Source

    I usually get all kinds of UIQ press releases that I don’t care about. The one time there is a UIQ related news item I DO care about, I don’t get anything. Figures. I read this on Brighthand and went over to Nokia’s site to find the press release.

    Mobile leaders to unify the Symbian software platform and set the future of mobile free – Foundation to be established to provide royalty-free open platform and accelerate innovation

    The gist of the press release is that Nokia is buying all of Symbian (it already owned a big chunk of it) and is creating the Symbian Foundation. Sony Ericsson and Motorola and kicking in its UIQ (which used to stand for User Interface Quartz – I can see why they got rid of that part) UI into the mix. And Docomo (Japan) sounds like it will contribute its MOAP(S) (Mobile Oriented Applications Platform).

    The big news though, IMHO, is that Nokia says they plan to Open Source this mix under the Eclipse Public License (EPL) 1.0. I guess this is reaction/preparation to/against the Google Android phone platform.

    It is a long haul to get phone OSes off the ground and into the market (just as Microsoft or Google) though. So, I don’t expect to see anything from the Nokia Foundation until 2010 or so at the earliest.

  • Lego Mindstorms NXT Mobile Phone Application


    I’m writing a non-phone item for O’Reilly’s Digital Media Center related to LEGO Mindstorms NXT and ran into this LEGO provided NXT Mobile Phone Application that lets you control an NXT bot from a Bluetooth phone. It works with a couple of Nokia, Sony-Ericsson, and BenQ-Siemens phones. No Window Mobile support. However, you can find an unofficial Microsoft developed Window Mobile project for LEGO Mindstorms NXT called WiMo the Windows Mobile Robot.

  • My Pocket PC Camera Has Macro Setting?


    I think I noticed the macro switch on my TyTn Pocket PC Phone Edition (aka Professional Edition) when I got it last year. But, I never tested it out until this week. While the TyTn’s digital camera is better than most Windows Mobile device cameras I’ve tried, it is still hampered by a cheap lens. And, the macro feature suffers because of this. The macro photo of the leaf looks relatively sharp here because it is a resized down from the original 2 megapixel image. The original image looks quite blurry.

    Still, it is a nice feature to have. I’ll play around a bit more with distance, lighting, etc. to see if I can figure out optimized techniques for its use.