The Symbian Foundation has revealed it now has the Symbian OS running in a test symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) configuration on an evaluation handset.

In a post on the Symbian Foundation blog, executive director Lee Williams wrote that "a team at ST-Ericsson, and ARM have the operating system now running on a highly capable SMP configuration."

The test platform is apparently a reference smart phone built around a ST-Ericsson U8500 chip, one of the first silicon implementations of ARM's Cortex-A9 MPCore, a multi-core version of the ARM architecture found in almost all today's smartphones.

Williams said that multi-core handsets can accommodate features such as high-definition video and hardware accelerated 3D Graphics supporting OpenGL.

Symbian said it intended to support the Cortex-A9 MPCore architecture when it was announced in 2007, but that multiple core processing is only likely to be used when required, to preserve battery life on handsets.

Posted by Daniel Robinson on June 4, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've often fancied one of those natty little Bluetooth headsets that let you take a call while your phone is tucked out of harm's way in your bag or pocket, but there are such a confusing array of these that I've never got around to actually settling on one and buying it.

This week, one of my colleagues solved the problem by offering me one he had been given free by a vendor. I won't name the model in question, but I can't say I'm impressed with the device at all, and I'm now glad I didn't waste any of my own money.

It isn't that the device doesn't work. I had no trouble pairing it up with my mobile phone, after which the handset always diverted audio to the headset whenever the latter was switched on.

No, the problem is that nobody can hear a blasted word I'm saying if I use it to make a call.

The headset is one of those fashionably tiny devices that clips comfortably over your ear, but is so small that the microphone part is actually resting against your cheek. An awful lot of these devices share a similar design, but placing the pickup so far away from your mouth is an obvious flaw, surely?

Whenever I tested the headset to make or receive calls, the person at the far end either couldn't hear me at all, or said it sounded like I was speaking to them from the middle of a boiler room.

Has anyone out there had better luck with these devices, or can recommend one that actually works?

Posted by Daniel Robinson on March 12, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Microsoft's recently unveiled My Phone service for synchronising smartphone content with a web-based storage site is still officially in beta, but the company has allowed me access to test it out.

Generally, I'm quite pleased with the service, but there is definitely room for lots of improvement. As Microsoft is garnering feedback during the beta phase, it is quite possible that many issues will be ironed out before it is opened up for broader use.

As reported in the news here, My Phone lets you synchronise various types of content from your phone up to the web site. This includes contacts, calendar and task entries, but also text messages, documents, photos, videos and music.

Each of these categories can be selected individually by checking a box. You can also synchronise content from Flash storage cards.

Synchronisation is also bi-directional, so you can upload a file to the web site from your PC, and it will be sent to your phone the next time you synchronise - handy for sending across Word documents and such for viewing while on the move later.

This should also allow you to re-load all the content you want if you get a new handset - providing it is also Windows Mobile - but I haven't tested this out.

On the downside, synchronisation seems to take a long time, not just on the first run when all your selected content gets uploaded, but also on subsequent runs when very little has changed. One synchronisation session took close to ten minutes, even when I switched to using the Wi-Fi interface of my handset instead of the cellular HSDPA connection.

You can continue to make calls and use your handset for other purposes while synchronisation takes place in the background, but if you lose the wireless signal for any reason, My Phone simply stops and does not appear to retry without manual intervention.

You can set synchronisation to happen on a daily or weekly schedule, or keep it on manual. Unless you have a generous bandwidth allowance from your mobile operator, manual synchronisation is generally recommended.

I would also like to see more fine-grained selection of content to synchronise. For example, all my photos are stored on a Micro SD Flash card, but I can't set My Phone to synchronise photos only from there. This means that the entire set of sample images that came pre-loaded on the handset also got synchronised up to the web site, even though I don't want these.

Another drawback is that when you choose to synchronise contacts, My Phone only includes names from the Outlook contact list and not any of those stored on the phone SIM itself. This means you are likely to lose some contacts if your phone should go missing, unless you use another method of backing these up.

Access to the online content from a PC browser is also fairly basic at present. For example, while you can view a slide show of all uploaded photos, there is no facility to rotate images you might have captured by rotating the handset sideways to get a landscape shot.  There does not seem to be a way to select more than one image at a time to download to your PC, either, which makes this a laborious process.

However, I should point out the My Phone is still in beta, and is not expected to be broadly available until early Q4 2009, according to Microsoft, so much could change between now and then.

My Phone will eventually come pre-installed in Windows Mobile 6.5, but users with Windows Mobile 6 or 6.1 handsets can download and install it. I am currently trying it out on an HTC S730 handset, which is based on Windows Mobile 6.

The client itself is a 560kB download and unpacks several files, one of which is a runtime of just over 700kB in size. Microsoft recently pushed out an updated version, which was a download of  exactly the same size.

You need a Windows Live ID in order to login to use My Phone. If you have a Hotmail account, then this is your email address.

Posted by Daniel Robinson on March 5, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Back in December, I wrote in this blog about the Skyfire mobile browser, which is virtually unique in being able to show web pages not only as they should appear in a desktop browser, but also supporting Java, Flash and moving video content.

Since that posting, things have gone a little quiet, so I contacted Skyfire to see if there was any news. It appears the company is working on an updated beta release, but the spokesperson would only say that this is expected "in the spring", which implies it is a month or two away at least. No word yet on when a full release version might be available.

I also shared with Skyfire some of the problems I've noticed after using the browser for a while. My main concern is that it is often slow - taking several minutes to load a page, for example. The spokesperson said that some issues are due to the mobile network and tariff a specific mobile user has signed up with, but it should be noted that another mobile browser I have installed - Opera Mini - does not seem to suffer as much from this snail-like download problem.

Other gripes include Skyfire's behaviour if it cannot load a page, which might happen for various reasons, such as momentary loss of signal. When this happens, the browser just does nothing. No error message, nothing. Skyfire just reverts to the page you were looking at before, as if you hadn't clicked a link at all.

However, it should be pointed out that this is a beta version (v 0.85.0.7927), and that bugs are still being ironed out at this stage. And when Skyfire does work as expected, it really is impressive.

Posted by Daniel Robinson on February 6, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've been having a try out with the BlackBerry Storm, Research in Motion's (RIM's) first touch-screen device. My colleague Daniel Robinson has carried out a full review or you can get a look at the Storm in action by watching our video review.

I was keen to get my hands on the device for two reasons. Firstly, I've long coveted an Apple iPhone, mainly for its lovely looks, and screen size and quality and so was interested to have a try out on RIM's touch-screen version; and also because I've just switched over from using my old 8700 BlackBerry and a separate Nokia mobile handset to having just one device, the BlackBerry Bold and so wanted to see how the Storm would compare.

Previously in my old unconverged world of separate mobile/emailer I never used the BlackBerry for anything but checking my email and replying to the odd one here and there; I made the occasional phone call and sent the odd text but much preferred my mobile for those things. So moving to the Bold was quite an experience and I'd advise anyone considering a switch away from two devices to a combined phone/emailer to thoroughly try out the keyboards of any potential handsets before making a purchase.

I found the BlackBerry SMS and phone capabilities difficult to get used to, mainly due to what seem like minor changes from a normal mobile handset but they caused a lot of frustration for me.

For example, the Bold and Storm save all messages in one folder, while I'm used to separate folders for received/sent/draft texts; while trying to change the phone settings, including selecting a ring tone and choosing between the vibrate/ring/vibrate+ring options, proved a real chore, requiring navigating through several different pages and dozens of options before finding the correct Profiles/Advanced/Normal/Phone sequence and arriving at the right place. I also found the requirement of repeating the same choice of Volume/Number of Vibrations and so on for the phone when it is out of holster or in holster an unnecessary duplication of effort; the same process was then required for setting up my preferred SMS profile.

Having said all that, I still rate the BlackBerry as an emailer device, and RIM has made huge improvements since I first began using one a few years ago, especially in terms of the speed of mobile browsing and the ability to view spreadsheets and other business documents.
From my fairly brief look at the Storm, I couldn't spot many different features from the Bold apart from the obvious touch-screen upgrade. Both devices have the same icons, browser, and phone capabilities.

One key upgrade with the Storm was the inclusion of a Chat icon in the menu, offering direct links to download pages for popular instant messaging tools. However, I didn't have much joy with this feature. I managed to download Google Chat, but was unable to log in to my account to try it out.

The music and video players are the same on both devices; the video quality was particularly impressive on both, with high quality picture and sound.

One strange difference was in the charger. I didn't take the charger for the borrowed Storm home with me overnight and when the battery died that evening I automatically went to plug in my Bold charger, only to find they have different connectors. It would be great to see RIM, and in fact all mobile handset makers, standardise on chargers across their different models and it would certainly earn them some green brownie points.

So now onto the Storm's headline-grabber - the touch-screen capability. The general consensus around the vnunet.com office was underwhelming - most people found the virtual keys very difficult to get used to, even with the addition of a "click" when pressing down on the screen - and this was my initial reaction too.

However, having used the Storm as my main emailer/phone for a few days I got used to the way the keyboard worked - I found it helped to aim to put my finger slightly to the left of keys rather than direct centre of them. I also really liked the ability to go back to using a SureType keypad and predictive text, especially for sending SMS messages, something I really miss with the Bold.

A final point: the way the screen switches view to reflect whether you're holding the phone sideways or upright is a neat feature, but it is slow in switching between the views. In the end I found myself favouring a sideways full keyboard view for emailing; and upright SureType for texting.

Overall my first touch-screen BlackBerry experience was good enough to make me consider a full-time move to a similar device in the future - but preferably one with a more satisfying mobile phone experience.

Posted by Madeline Bennett on December 8, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (17)

This photo shows Apple's iPhone 3G alongside two other new devices, the HP iPaq 914 and Nokia's E71. As the picture demonstrates, they are all approximately the same size, although varying in weight and thickness.

All three devices represent the latest technology, supporting 3G wireless broadband, Wi-Fi, and GPS capability for navigation and other location-based services. As such, these are all high-end devices and potential rivals for RIM's BlackBerry models in the enterprise.

Of the three, the Nokia E71 is the slimmest and the lightest, while the iPaq 914 is the heaviest and thickest at 154g and 16mm. However, it also appears to have the largest battery capacity, at 1940mAh.

The Nokia E71 has already been reviewed in depth by IT Week here. To sum up: it is a very capable business messaging handset, but its keyboard is somewhat cramped compared to a BlackBerry.

The same criticism can be levelled at the iPaq 914, but I found I could enter text fairly easily. The HP device also has one feature that might please BlackBerry users; a jog dial thumbwheel on the right side of the case, similar to that seen on older BlackBerry models before RIM introduced its 'Pearl' mini trackball. It also supports touch-screen input via a stylus as well as a standard five-way navigation control, giving users more input choice than most devices.

Apple's iPhone 3G has the best display and offers the best web experience through its Safari browser, but has two drawbacks as far as I'm concerned; no keyboard and a battery that cannot be removed by the user.

As with the first iPhone, the device is very simple to use, but I found Apple's on-screen 'soft' keyboard a pain - even compared with the tiny keys on the E71 and iPaq 914 - and kept finding myself hitting the wrong letter. The iPhone could prove a hit with business users that need a decent browser - such as for web-based applications - but I can't see heavy email users or anyone whose job entails entering a lot of data being happy with it.

All three models feature some form of assisted GPS (A-GPS) to speed up the time it takes to get a fix on the user's location. While the E71 has Nokia Maps, both the iPaq 914 and the iPhone use Google Maps. The iPhone version of this application is slicker, but both have pretty much the same functionality, including the option to fix your location GPS and get directions to a specified destination. However, Nokia Maps supports turn-by-turn directions for drivers, although it costs extra to have the directions spoken aloud.

Posted by Daniel Robinson on July 28, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (3)

This photo shows the HP iPaq 614 Business Navigator alongside a standard-sized PDA and a smartphone, showing how it fits somewhere between the two in size.

In fact, the iPaq 614 is almost exactly the same size as a Palm Treo, although it has a numeric keypad instead of the Palm’s qwerty keyboard. Like the Treo, it has a touch-screen as well.

The Business Navigator part of the device’s name refers to the act that this iPaq has built-in GPS capability and uses Google Maps to show your location and give directions to a destination when travelling.

This means that the device pulls down the map data as needed, instead of storing it on a memory card, and so you need a live data connection to use the navigation feature.

Fortunately, the iPaq 614 supports 3G with HSDPA where this is available, and also has Wi-Fi capability for speedier web browsing when near an access point. It also supports Bluetooth for hands-free calls. A full review of the HP iPaq 614 Business Navigator will appear in a future issue of IT Week.

Posted by Daniel Robinson on April 27, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)

This photo shows how small and neat RIM's latest BlackBerry device is. The Pearl 8120 adds 802.11b/g Wi-Fi capability to the basic Pearl handset design that was introduced last year, without increasing the size at all and adding just a couple of grams to the weight.

For workers that already use a BlackBerry, the SureType keyboard will probably count against switching. This puts two letters on each key and uses predictive algorithms to work out what you are trying to type. It works quite well, but slows you down sometimes and is probably not the best solution for those who need to send lots of emails.

However, if your company has a BlackBerry server and you don't necessarily need to respond instantly to every email sent to you, then the Pearl is definitely worth a look. Its size and weight are in line with many basic Nokia handsets, making it easier to carry than some earlier BlackBerry models.

The addition of Wi-Fi means that the Pearl can browse web sites much faster when in range of an access point, but has little real impact on the email service.

A full review of the BlackBerry Pearl 8120 will appear in a future issue of IT Week, and the device is available now in the UK from O2.

Posted by Daniel Robinson on November 14, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1)

I've been trying out HP's iPaq 514 Voice Messenger phone, which turns out to be a very nice lightweight handset despite having built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless interfaces.

This Windows Mobile 6 device also comes with a built-in SIP client for IP telephony, which is designed to pair up with a SIP server or IP PBX when a worker is in their office and in range of the corporate Wi-Fi network. The problem is, how to go about testing this without access to such infrastructure?

Fortunately, it turns out that there are online SIP service providers that allow you to access IP telephony over a broadband internet connection. Many of these, such as the one I chose to try out – Freespeech.co.uk – are free to sign up for, and offer free calls to other VoIP numbers.

Armed with an 0844 number and my registration details from Freespeech, I set about configuring the iPaq 514 to connect. However, it turns out that the SIP client cannot be configured from the handset itself. Users instead have to link the phone to a Windows PC and use the HP iPaq Setup Assistant that comes on a CD-ROM with the phone.

This tool turns out to be very handy and lets you configure almost all aspects of the handset, including Wi-Fi access point settings, email accounts, speed dial numbers, and even populate the browser Favourites list.

With all necessary configuration information entered, I turned on Wi-Fi and connected the phone to my wireless router at home. The VoIP client then looked for the SIP server and connected, showing the status message "freespeech.co.uk selected". The "selected" part means that any calls made will now go via the internet instead of the cellular network.

I made a quick call using the phone to a colleague that had also signed up on the same service, and found the call quality excellent, if a little on the quiet side.

Overall, I was surprised at how easy it was to get voice-over-Wi-Fi working on this handset. That said, the settings Freepeech emailed to me did not exactly match those in the iPaq 514 configuration screen, and I had to make an educated guess to bridge the gap between the two.

The only drawback to this setup is that I now have a separate phone number for calls made over VoIP that differs from my landline and the mobile number of the iPaq.

This will probably not be a problem in a business environment, as the SIP service will link to the corporate infrastructure and probably tie in with the user's desk phone. For home users, the Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) VoIP protocol, which features in RIM's new BlackBerry 8820, instead links the handset with the mobile carrier's infrastructure.

A full review of HP's iPaq 514 Voice Messenger will appear in a future issue of IT Week.

Posted by Daniel Robinson on July 26, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0)

RIM is keeping up a brisk pace of handset releases, following its launch of the BlackBerry 8800 earlier this year. The new model is the BlackBerry Curve, alternatively known as the BlackBerry 8300, and I was able to get my hands on it briefly during a demonstration by RIM.

As you can see from the photo, the new model fits neatly between the 8800 and the BlackBerry Pearl in size (the Curve is in the middle), and this also gives you a clue where RIM is positioning it – as a device to appeal to both business users and consumers.

Firstly, the device feels very light – so much so that I had to check whether the battery was fitted. Actually, at 111g it is heavier than many standard phones, but it is noticeably lighter than most smartphones that also have a qwerty keyboard.

Because this is the smallest BlackBerry with a qwerty keyboard (at 107 x 60 x 15.5mm), the keys are also smaller than earlier models, especially those of the popular 7200 series. However, I found it no more difficult to key in text than on other qwerty BlackBerry devices.

Equally importantly, the screen is bright and easy to read, which means this device can just as easily serve as a corporate email device as one of the larger models. The Curve also features the pearl trackball, introduced on the BlackBerry of the same name.

The Curve also features a 2 megapixel camera and has an enhanced media player that handles common music and video formats. While some companies may be wary of having these features in a business handset, RIM said that it enables workers to carry just a single device with them instead of cramming both a Blackberry and an iPod into their pocket. These features can also be disabled by policy settings through a company's Blackberry Enterprise Server, if necessary.

RIM's media player is backed by a new application – Desktop Multimedia Suite – that enables users to manage their music and video files on a Windows PC and convert them into a format that works on the BlackBerry, RIM said.

The BlackBerry Curve comes with an updated version of RIM's BlackBerry Maps application, but the device doesn't have built-in GPS capability (as the BlackBerry 8800 does). If users require a precise fix on their location, they will have to purchase a separate Bluetooth GPS device.

Overall, my early impression of the Curve is that it will appeal to current BlackBerry users, because it offers all the BlackBerry features you would expect in a smaller and easier to carry format.

It's a shame that RIM hasn't seen fit to include 3G network support or Wi-Fi yet, but I suspect many BlackBerry users will cheerfully forego these so long as they can have a smaller, lighter version of the device now weighing down their pocket.

Posted by Daniel Robinson on May 3, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0)