Archive for October, 2006
Believe it or not, Windows Mobile O/S is still one of the most popular OS especially for Smartphones and PDAs, despite its late entrance to the market.
To further strengthen its position, Microsoft is planning a release of its new Windows Mobile OS codenamed “Crossbow”.
Here are what you can expect of the upcoming release of the yet-to-be-named next generation Windows Mobile O/S for smartphones.
Check out this new OS in a preview presented at GPS Passion.
Very recently I had an opportunity to be involved as an External Examiner at one of the local universities. My task was to evaluate final year IT projects undertaken by IT students at the university. Interestingly, the theme of this year’s project was mobile commerce. I became very excited to know what the students had to offer.
As expected, majority of the projects involved developing applications that run on mobile devices such as handphones and PDAs. However, to my disappointment almost all of the projects make use of simulator to showcase their project, except one.
Nguyen Kong Minh’s Mobile Restaurant project stood out among all the others simply because he had a real PDA, an O2 Xda IIs. However, not only I was attracted to his real PDA as the medium to showcase his project deliverables, I was also amazed at how smooth his application was running on the sleek device which happened to have been reviewed at this site as well. The system even integrates to a live SMS notification system which is really impressive for a final year project by a university student. As expected, his project, and his O2 XdaIIs PDA, had been selected to be featured at the university technology exhibition shortly after the final year IT project evaluation.
I hope you enjoy these real shots of the PDA running Nguyen’s Mobile Restaurant…hmmm I am hungry.
Name: Nguyen Kong Minh
Email : kongminh83″at”gmail.com
Nationality: Vietnamese
Program: Information & Communication Technology
Institute: Universiti Teknologi Petronas
Final Year Project: UTP M-Restaurant - An advance food ordering service via handheld devices
Garmin is not a household name in PDAs but is a very well known company providing GPS-based navigational system.
Garmin’s iQue 3000 is a special purpose device combining GPS-guided navigation and Palm OS organizer functions into a single device
This Palm OS 5.2 powered PDA is designed for automotive navigation, the iQue 3000 comes with a suction-cup windshield mount for holding the device while you drive. No full cradle to set the device into, just a basic clip-on design with a short flexible mount. You have an adhesive panel in the box if you want to mount it on a dashboard though.
Processor
The iQue 3000 comes with a 200 MHz processor, the same chip that drove its Palm-powered predecessors, the 3600 and 3200. It’s more than capable of handling the GPS navigation software and other organizer functions.
Display
The iQue’s 320 x 320 pixel display isn’t the best in the world but it does produce colors quite well. However the tendency to produce a bit of a yellowish tint might be a concern if you wanted to view photos. This doesn’t however affect navigational use.
Memory
The iQue comes with 32 MB of memory, sufficient for everyday needs. Interestingly, the device also comes with a memory card, saving you some time trying to track down a compatible card yourselves. The U.S. version comes with a 128 MB card, while the European iQue ships with a 256 MB card.
Size & Weight
There is not much say in this area except that the IQue is not really a PDA you want to carry in your pocket. Durability is the the game here and Garmin really excels in this department
Expansion
Garmin used to offer a standard SDIO slot but this unit comes with microSD slot instead which buffles a lot of people. It is just too small for some people to handle. Furthermore \it doesn’t make sense to force customers to use a more expensive format with less capacity.
Communication
Zilch. It has no built-in communications channels except for infrared and USB, and with only a microSD slot you’re never going to be able to add any either. If you primary use of this PDA is for navigation only, this shouldn’t be of too much concern. But without any active communication the iQue 3000 is limited to only what you can download from a synced PC.
Audio
Very basic audio functions offered here. A 3.5 mm headphone jack and an internal amplified speaker come as standard feature. The speaker is loud enough to make spoken directions or audio alerts heard in even a busy automotive environment, which is very good for its navigation tasks.
Battery
The iQue’s battery life isn’t stellar. With the GPS receiver running it only averages about 3-4 hours. But then it is designed to be used while plugged in most of the time. If you plug it in while driving, chances are that you don’t really care about the battery life after all.
Conclusion
iQue 3000 is a decent GPS-based PDA which is the main purpose of the device. The iQue 3000 is also simple and durable. If you require GPS on hand all the time, plus basic organization and PDA functions, this might make sense.
Read more about Garmin products at Garmin
Speifications
Processor: 200 MHz ARM9
Operating System: Palm OS Garnet 5.2.1
Display: 3.0 inch, 320 x 320 pixel transmissive/reflective LCD
Memory: 32 MB RAM; 32 MB ROM; included 128 or 256 MB expansion card
Size & Weight: 4.7 inches long x 2.8 inches wide x 0.7 inches thick (antenna retracted); 5.2 ounces
Expansion: Single microSD/Transflash slot
Docking USB cable; Automotive mounting bracket
Communication:
Serial infrared port
Audio: Internal speaker; 3.5 mm headphone jack
Battery: Internal lithium-ion rechargeable battery
Input: Up/down key; 4 remappable application buttons; touchscreen
Other: Internal 12-channel GPS receiver with WAAS; MCX connector for external antenna (optional)
With the two major rivals competing for each other, I dont blame Circuit City for having such a confusion. I am talking about Windows Mobile vs PalmOS in the PDA arena.
Before the arrival of Windows Mobile, product naming used to be very straight forward. When a new PDA model is introduced, there is no need to have postfix such as ‘w’ or ‘p’ in case of Palm Treo. All PDA models only run Palm Os then.
Thanks to Microsoft, now there must be a differentiator to tell whether it is PalmOS powered or Windows Mobile powered device….never mind if the device is not so powerful after all.
Checkout what I am talking about at Circuit City:
Having a good attention to detail can sometimes be amusing. I was in Circuit City today and was checking out the Verizon phones (since they don’t have Sprint for me) and noticed a poster right by the entrance with a rather large mistake… so I snapped a picture on my phone. The device pictured above is, as most of us know, the Palm Treo 700p. Apparently the person that made the poster didn’t realize that there’s a difference between the 700p (PalmOS) and 700w (Windows Mobile 5.0).
Check it out at Gadgetell to see the picture.
Someone at Circuit City should have checked the poster advertisement thoroughly to avoid this little but slightly embarassing confusion.
When you buy your new PDA, double check that you are getting the preferred model accordingly.
Have fun with your PDA.
Do you know that you can blog with your PDA?
If you have never done that, check out Skweezer by Greenlight Wireless.
Skweezer is very well known for their mobile solutions that extend the PDA’s usage beyond the traditional organizer functions.
Skweezer is completely platform independent and supported by many different type of PDA OSes including Pocket PC, Palm, Symbian, MS Smartphone, Blackberry, PSP2, and XHTML-based cell phone devices.
Skweezer offers a lot of different features, including the following functionalities:
E-mail access
RSS Reader
Address book
Customizable browsing favorites
Mobile site directory
Configurable Web search
Online translation
Automatic content-paging system for cell phones
Multi-lingual interface
Click-to-call hyperlink support
Personalized preferences
Impressed with Skweezer’s superior mobile technology, Blogline, the world’s number one online RSS aggregator. has selected Skweezer as their partner to provide integrated solution into their mobile version of Bloglines called Bloglines Mobile.
If you have been looking for new ways to fully utilize your PDAs, this would be a good start.
Happy blogging….