Will hails from The City of Angels - Los Angeles, California. He spends his time playing with his numerous gadgets and looking forward to seeing what future holds for mobile technology. An avid promoter of a fully "digital" life, he promotes the widespread adoption of truly mobile, paper-less living. He dreams of the day when he can go completely digital. No more snail mail, paper receipts, bound books, notepads/spiral notebooks, credit cards, hard currency. He's a digital warrior - fighting for the converged life. He is an idealist and a realist - he has a perfect view of what the world should be but knows that the world is not perfect. Can we ever hope to see Will's dream become reality? We'll see...
There are plenty of apps out there that allow you to control your computer from your smartphones, but what if you want to browse your Windows Phone from your desktop computer? Well, then you’ll want to check out WiFi Remote Access for Windows Mobile. The new Windows Mobile app installs itself on your Windows Phone and acts as a bridge between the phone and your computer, allowing you to connect to your handset via WiFi and browse its contents through a web browser (like the one you’re using to read this very sentence).
Remote Access is still in beta, but doesn’t skimp on features. You can view photos, complete with thumbnails. You can listen to the music you have stored on the phone. You can even edit your Windows Phone’s registry through the app.
There’s no desktop installation required. Simply install the Windows Mobile app on your smartphone and point your desktop computer’s browser to the handset’s IP address. It’s that simple.
Find more information on Remote Access here. Grab Remote Access here.
We love seeing hot new smartphones getting their price tags slashed mere weeks after its initial launch. The latest price reduction on the Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Droid comes from Dell.com, making it possible to put a Droid in your pocket for just $119 and a 2-year contract with Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless. The deal also applies to contract extensions, so you don’t have to wait until you’re eligible for an upgrade to take advantage of the low price.
If you like high-tech smartphones and want an Android-powered handset, the Droid fits the bill perfectly. If you’re not sure that the Droid is for you, check out our hands-on impressions and video. Keep in mind that the Droid is so far the only Android smartphone to rock the new Google Maps Navigation app.
To recap: Dell is selling the Droid for $119 with new 2-year contract (or a contract extension for existing customers), and will even ship the handset to you for free via Fedex. That’s one “hot deal,” to be sure.
As we wind down our Friday afternoon and wind up for the weekend, we’re going to leave you with some intimate images of the Motorola Droid. The folks over at Phone Wreck managed to strip a Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Droid down to its bare parts, and they took some extensive photos for your viewing pleasure. These teardown pictures give us some interesting insights into the Droid, but they’re mostly just fun to look at.
The Droid teardown shows that the relatively small RAM/ROM chips (256MB/256MB) come from Toshiba (OTCPK: TOSBF). You’ll also want to take note of the beautifully integrated PCB that is so small, it actually turns out to be one of the smaller internal components of the Droid. Interestingly, the NAND Flash memory module bears handwritten markings that indicate the chips are sample units. And, no, we’re not ashamed to admit that handwriting on sample IC’s piques our interest.
Take a gander at the pics and think about just how much work went into making sure your Droid can stream sleepy puppies from YouTube.
Head on over to Phone Wreck for the full Droid teardown gallery.
Quick, raise your hand if you sent an MMS from your iPhone this past week. Okay, how about this past month? If you’re not raising your hand, your either A) not following the rules of this game or B) just like the millions of Americans that just don’t send out MMS (picture messages) regularly from their iPhones. I fall into the latter category. Today’s release of FunMail might change all that.
FunMail for iPhone automatically analyzes your text message and serves up relevant images that you can embed into your message. The idea behind FunMail is to bring MMS out of the dark ages and allow people to use images for rich communication. Rather than send your friend a text message asking them if they want to eat, FunMail would have you send them the same text with overlaid on an image of a burger. You can even send that messages to Twitter and Facebook.
The trick to making picture-chats convenient is FunMail’s “Media Brain,” which pulls out the semantic meaning behind your text and gives the user a set of pictures that might fit the situation. If you’re talking about going to lunch, FunMail returns images of food. Talk about a birthday, and you get birthday-related images.
The app is free in the iPhone AppStore, so it won’t hurt to give it a shot. I personally can’t see myself using FunMail for everyday communication, but it’s definitely worth trying out at least once.
This one goes out to all of you out there in Woodland Hills. In a puzzlingly region-specific announcement, Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless has announced that it has added a new cell site in Woodland Hills, California. Those of you living in the western San Fernando Valley will see improved 3G wireless coverage and performance on your Verizon handset.
Verizon’s press release also mentions that the carrier spent $600 million in infrastructure improvements in California during 2008. With all the back-and-forth between AT&T and Verizon these days, we can’t help but think that the $600 million figure is a jab at AT&T (NYSE: T). Although, we have to point out that Verizon is quoting numbers from a lifetime ago (which roughly equates to a year in the mobile world).
The metaphorical ink on the just-leaked Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Motus spy pic hasn’t yet dried and were already hearing rumors that the Android handset will sport some really unique features. If you thought the form factor was a bit odd, you’re going to want to sit down for this. Word has it that the Moto Motus will feature a “reverse flip keyboard,” and (as if that isn’t crazy enough) something called a “rear directional touchpad.” Of course, the Motus is also rumored to be packing the usual assortment of smartphone features.
All this is completely unconfirmed at the moment, but Android And Me are saying that the Motus will feature a 3.1-inch touchscreen, a 5-megapixel camera (with LED flash), 3G data, WiFi, GPS, and Bluetooth 2.0. Android 1.5 OS should be running the show with Motorola’s social network-savvy Motoblur UI skinned atop. As for the geeky specs, were expecting a 528 MHz Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM) MSM7201A CPU, 512 MB ROM / 256 MB RAM, quad band (850/900/1800/1900Mhz) GSM radio, and a never-been-done-before quintuple (yes, thats five bands) WCDMA radio pulling down 3G service on the 850Mhz, 900Mhz, 1700Mhz, 1900Mhz, and 2100Mhz bands! For those of you keeping score, that would mean the Motus can hop on any 3G network in the world (even T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) USAs wonky 1700Mhz 3G network) and work as the mobile gods intended.
The “reverse flip keyboard” kinda, sorta, makes sense, given the quirky looking keyboard in the spy pic. That “rear directional touchpad,” however, is just plain confusing. A touchpad on the backside of the touchscreen? Your guess is as good as ours. Whatever it turns out to be, we’re hoping it changes the way we think about interacting with touchscreens.
You see the handset in this here blurry spyshot? It’s apparently the Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Motus that was rumored in a leaked roadmap not too long ago. We know, it looks like it was taken by Mr. Blurry-cam’s drunken step-brother after a booze-fueled night of fun, but Engadget Mobile has confirmed that what we’re looking at is another Android-powered smartphone from Motorola.
The Motus looks like a respectable smartphone from what we can see in the spy pic, but we’ll have to wait until we put hands on it to really get a feel for it. That keyboard might prove to be a sticking point, but, again, that’s us just talkin’ to the wind. The Motus has a lot to live up to…
If you’re looking for a new BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) smartphone with no strings attached, you might want to look in T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) USA’s direction. The carrier has announced their T-Mobile Complete program, which gives customers a choice of four no-contract BlackBerry smartphones to be used with T-Mobile’s pre-paid plans. The kicker? T-Mobile is including the first month of service for free with purchase of a T-Mobile Complete BlackBerry handset!
Of the four options, the BlackBerry Curve 8520 will run $299.99, while the BlackBerry Pearl goes for $149.99. T-Mobile is offering several unlimited pre-paid plans that start at $50 per month. At those prices, T-Mobile Complete BlackBerry handsets would work really well as holiday gifts. Think about it, just buy the pre-paid BlackBerry kit (which, again, includes first month of service for free), wrap it up, and you’re good to go.
You’ll find T-Mobile Complete at Walmart and Best Buy locations.
There are now more mobile apps available in the AppStore than any one person could ever hope to try out in a single lifetime. Add in the myriad Java apps out there, and the sheer volume of mobile apps becomes overwhelming. How is anyone supposed to wade through the much and find truly unique and innovative apps? Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s iPhone app “Top lists” clearly aren’t cutting it. Another possible solution is mplayit’s mobile app discovery engine.
At the Under The Radar conference today in Mountain View, CA., mplayit was showing off their Facebook-based mobile app discovery platform. The idea behind mplayit is to harness the power of crowd sourcing and Facebook’s massive social network to give users a quick way to find new mobile apps. A live “Apptivity Feed” integrates with Facebook to show you, in real-time, what apps other Facebook users have been checking out. The “Featured Apps” section monitors apps that are trending hot with Facebook users, while the “Shared” and “Popular” sections display apps that have been shared the most or downloaded the most, respectively.
Once you’ve stumbled upon an interesting app, mplayit serves up app descriptions, reviews, screenshots, and even videos of the app in action – if it’s a Java app, you can even demo it through mplayit’s emulator. You can even download the app, add it to your “collection,” and share the app through email and Facebook right from mplayit’s platform.
At this point, only iPhone and Java apps are supported, but Android and BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) will be supported by year’s end. Windows Mobile and webOS will be coming in 2010. Check out the demo video below, and then hit up mplayit.com to see for yourself!
Instant message aficionados have been eagerly waiting on Cerulean Studios to bring their profile-synchronizing Trillian client to the iPhone. It’s been years, in fact, since we first heard of the Trillian iPhone app. Today, that wait ends. Trillian for iPhone has officially hit the AppStore with a $4.99 price tag!
The thing about instant messaging apps is that there are a veritable truckload of options available on the AppStore. Some really good apps are offered for free. If you’re not a hardcore IM user, you’re probably going to be just fine sticking with one of those apps. But, if you use instant messaging services like your life depends on them, Trillian for iPhone will probably be a worthy investment.
Trillian supports multiple IM services and allows you to switch between conversations with a tabbed interface. But, it doesn’t stop there. Trillian for iPhone synchronizes your IM accounts with their the Trillian Astra servers, so when you change your status or update your buddy list on the iPhone app, those changes will automatically be pushed to your Windows Trillian client and the web-based Trillian client. There’s also an option to have any instant messages pushed to your iPhone. And, since all chats are stored on Cerulean Studios’ servers, you’ll never have to worry about losing a chat transcript again.
Trillian for iPhone isn’t going to be for everyone, especially with its premium price-point. But, for power-users, Trillian is going to be hard to beat.
This one goes out to all of you out there in Woodland Hills. In a puzzlingly region-specific announcement, Verizon (
The metaphorical ink on the 
There are now more mobile apps available in the AppStore than any one person could ever hope to try out in a single lifetime. Add in the myriad Java apps out there, and the sheer volume of mobile apps becomes overwhelming. How is anyone supposed to wade through the much and find truly unique and innovative apps? Apple (
Instant message aficionados have been 
