Teeter!

My latest favorite time waster is Teeter, the motion sensitive game found on the newer HTC devices. I had initially dismissed it as uninteresting when I first started using my Fuze, but lately ive been making my way through the higher levels and now i am addicted!

Sent from my HTC FUZE™

No Xperia Needed

I've just stumbled across TaskFacade from the XDA Developers Forum, which is an excellent application to give you a more useful tile experience than the one on the Sony Xperia. I mapped it to a long press of my enter button and now i can get a visual of what apps I'm running. Fantastic!

Sent from my HTC FUZE™

UBiQUiO 503G Leaked Final ROM

It seems like every day I get an email asking me about the 3.10 ROM for the Ubiquio 503G. So, for those of you who need it, it is located right HERE. I have no idea how long it will remain up, and I didn't put it up there so please don't send me a ton of emails asking about it. It is assumed you have some knowledge about flashing a new ROM to your Ubiquio, and if you don't then you probably shouldn't be doing it or you will most likely brick your phone.
This ROM addresses the following issues that were still unsolved by the previous version 3.05:

1. Voice dial can be activated by pressing the BT headset button

2. Auto answer feature when the BT headset is connected has now been added

3. Removed function that WIFI will turn automatically by push mail where there is no GPRS available

4. Default input indication to "abc" in idle and call screens

5. 4GB SD card support as well as all the SD card fixes are included

6. Optimised WIFI power management

7. Camera Settings can be saved except environment & effect options

8. Fixed some radio bugs for Europe

9. "LED setting of new email doesn't take effect in sound & Notificaitons" fixed

10. Fixed the problem of deep sleep issue. This is a bug present in all 503Gs but very few have noticed it. With your current rom, it can be replicated as follows:

a. Enable sms sent notification

b. send an sms and as soon as you press sent press the power button to put the phone to sleep.

c. wait until you hear a beep and try to bring the phone out of sleep by pressing the power button. You will notice that the phone will not waik up unless you keep the power pressed for 5-6 seconds.

This bug also affects the ability to use repeading alarms programs such as phone alarm.

Good luck to all, and I hope this helps you get more enjoyment out of your device! And remember, I don't use the Ubiquio 503G anymore so please, don't look to me for technical suppport :)


EDIT:
Here's a video of it I did early this summer:

Addicted to Connectivity

Last week my cousin and I got into a discussion about Barack Obama and his impending separation from his Blackberry. We both agreed that, if voted into the White House, we would have to think long and hard about accepting if it meant being detached from our devices. I don't think I've gone a full day in many years without my device in hand.
On that note, here's one man's story of voluntarily disconnecting for 7 days...and my reaction is; better him than me!

Pharos offers up WinMo-based Traveler 619 smartphone for $199.95

I got very excited when I saw this, but the VGA has to be a mistake, right? There's no way this came along and I missed it! Can anyone confirm if this is QVGA or VGA?

 

 

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Pharos offers up WinMo-based Traveler 619 smartphone for $199.95

via Engadget Mobile by Darren Murph on 11/26/08

Filed under: Handsets, Others, Windows Mobile, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA

Can't say it looks like anything special, but Pharos has launched its latest Traveler courtesy of Dell. The GPS-enabled Traveler 619 boasts a 2.8-inch VGA touchscreen, full QWERTY keyboard, 2-megapixel camera, 3.5G support, a quad-band GSM / GPRS / EDGE radio, Windows Mobile 6, Bluetooth / WiFi, IrDA and a battery good for four hours of yappin'. Order now for a buck ninety-nine and it should be under the tree in plenty of time.

[Thanks, Pavel]

Pharos offers up WinMo-based Traveler 619 smartphone for $199.95 originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 26 Nov 2008 15:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How Do you Evernote?

Today i got some really good news that I've been waiting for a long time. Evernote, my favorite note application, released an update for its Windows Mobile client. While it didnt bring offline storage, it did bring the notes into the app and off the browser! Now, instead of glorified shortcut, i can actually use it as my go-to note application. And viewing my online notes is simple and quick through my 3G connection. I'm always finding new and interesting ways to use Evernote- I scanned in all my old journals, I 'bcc' important emails so that i have a copy in an easy to find location, i backup my FriendFeed, Twitters, Facebook wall, and Meetup.com shoutouts so I can easily search for keywords....how do you use Evernote?

Sent from my HTC FUZE™

Fuze Video Quality

So, just how good is the video camera on the HTC Fuze? I'd say pretty good! Here's my little guy attempting to eat his lunch on his own!

All that Jive...

Well, its official- Beejive is the biggest battery hog EVER.
Yesterday I conducted some pretty scientific gauging to see how quickly my battery gets depleted. Here's what happened on day 1 running Beejive:

Battery 1
7:00AM	100%
8:44AM	91%
9:46AM	86%
10:47AM	76%
11:47AM	72%
1:31PM	45%
2:57PM	1%
Battery2
3:00PM	100%
4:50PM	89%
6:11PM	71%
7:00PM	62%
9:14PM	31%

As you can see, I worked my way through almost 2 full batteries in the course of a regular day. I would say my phone gets about 1-2 hours of heavy use at lunch and when I get home at which time I'm watching YouTube, using PockeTwit, texting, and surfing the web.

Here's what happened on Day 2 with the same usage but not running Beejive:

7:00 AM	100%
8:02 AM	97%
9:09 AM	92%
10:15 AM	91%
11:25 AM	79%
12:36 PM	77%
1:22 PM	72%
2:29 PM	69%
3:30 PM	67%
4:30 PM	60%
5:30 PM	54%
6:56 PM	49%
8:30 PM	40%

My first battery gets me through the entire day! In fact, I've got more juice on one battery than I had on my second one on Day 1!

So, the dilemna is whether or not I will continue to use Beejive. At this point, as I've invested in 2 spare batteries and a standalone charger (the whole bundle was under $20 on eBay!) I think I'll continue to use it and just be prepared to swap out a fresh battery as needed.

Multi-Tasking on my Fuze

Ive got a new habit since i got my Fuze- i spend my lunch hour in my car. Its just that i enjoy my downtime a lot more relaxing in the car listening to streaming radio, catching up on Twitter and IMs and watching a podcast or two. Its the only real 'me' time i have during the day and i enjoy every moment of it!

Sent from my HTC FUZE™

City threatens blind woman over unpaid 1-cent bill (AP)

Seriously?

 

 

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City threatens blind woman over unpaid 1-cent bill (AP)

via Yahoo! News: Odd News on 11/18/08

AP - A 74-year-old blind woman was shocked when her daughter found a letter from the city saying a lien would be placed on her home unless she paid an overdue water bill.

 

 

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Fix that Crappy D-pad Navigation on the Fuze

Seems like there's a fix for this after all! Thanks to all who sent this to me!

 

 

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Fix that Crappy D-pad Navigation on the Fuze

via Fuze Site by Chris Leckness on 11/17/08

It's not really a fix, it's more of "getting to know" how to use it properly or is it adjusting common sense to fit it's bizarre behavior?

A Post over at wmpoweruser.com states…

Many HTC Touch Pro users have complained about the HTC Touch Pro D-pad. Up and down works fine, but left, and especially right works pretty poorly, with accidental activation of the surrounding keys very common.

Raises hand, I am one of those many complainers. That's really the only pitfall I am frustrated with now. I've worked out other things that irked me.

They posted this video based on findings at XDA Devs… Such a simple solution… To be honest, I thought it was a separate sensor inside the actual ring.

Disclaimer: After my initial review, I've actually been splitting time between the Fuze and another WM phone. I will not be purchasing my own Fuze. I like it, but not enough to use it daily.

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The Fuze- The Good, The Bad, and the Muddy

I have been enjoying my new Fuze a lot more than I thought I thought I would-being a slider and all. I suppose years of Treo use have instilled in me the need for a front-facing keyboard. I still miss having that on occasion, dont get me wrong, but to be honest, its actually a relief to be able to enjoy a nice spacious keyboard when I want to sit down and do some texting, writing, etc.
But the thing on the Fuze which does drive me a bit batty is the left and right directional pad. One out of every 6 attempts to navigate left result in my hitting the home key instead...grrr!
The row of symbols on the top of the keyboard is nice- but it will be nicer when I've erased years of making smilies without even looking at what I'm typing under the function button press!
Now that i have everything up and running the way i want, i plan to keep an eye on the battery life- i currently have 3 batteries and a standalone charger which i use to just swap out whenever i need the juice.
The thickness is a tiny price to pay for the compactness of the phone! And the speed is really something. More deets soon....

Sent from my HTC FUZE™

My 'Harem'

Well, if it isn't all my 'sex kittens' in a row! You're catching a rare glimpse at all my playthings in one place- my Zune 8G, Fuze, HP Mini 1000 and HP Laptop (DV....something or the other). Everything is working perfectly well, and I'm just waiting for my TV-Out cable to see if the Fuze can show watchable quality movies or if I need to look into the SlingCatcher or other alternative.

My Today Screen

Once you go VGA you can't go back! Same plugins I always use: WeatherPanel, SPB Insight, Skype, Beejive, iLauncher, SPB Diary.

Senior Adult Choir Hip Hop (Short Version)

If You Can't Afford the Xperia...

Seriously, its the worst fake I think I've ever seen!

 

 

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Keepin' it real fake, part CLXVI: the Sany Ericssan X1 with Wyndowz Mobil

via Engadget Mobile by Chris Ziegler on 11/14/08

Filed under: Handsets, Others, GSM

Strategic advantages Sany Ericssan holds over Sony Ericsson:

• A quarterly sales volume measured in the hundreds is considered a rousing success.
• Neither Sany nor Ericssan have any intention of pulling out of the joint venture.
• "Outsourcing" of industrial design saves time, money, and staff.
• None of those pesky Windows Mobile licensing fees to worry about.
• GPRS data speed isn't a problem -- it's a way of life.

[Via PMP Today]

Keepin' it real fake, part CLXVI: the Sany Ericssan X1 with Wyndowz Mobil originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Camera Test

Shot taken in daylight with my Fuze.

Sent from my HTC FUZE™

Beejive vs PocketShield

I found, and fell in love with, PocketShield which is a neat way to prevent keypresses from answering calls while in your purse or pocket. However, I've noticed that while Beejive is running, PocketShield does not auto-lock when the phone is turned off. Anyone have this issue on their Touch Pro, Fuze or Diamond? Anyone aware of a work-around?

Day One with my AT&T Fuze

Sooooo much to tell you about the drama of getting my Fuze...should I start with the 2 hour long event that involved getting my number changed to a local number, fighting (and failing) to keep my $15 Medianet plan over the $30 Pda Plan, driving home in pitch darkness in the middle of what seemed to be a tropical storm last night....
No. I'll bypass my trials and tribulations and get right into it. Let me start by declaring that the only thing that could get me off this phone is if a QWERTY bar VGA phone came out. That's it- I'm not going back to QVGA ever again. I'm getting used to the slider- it will take some time to come naturally to me.
The size is fantastic. Even the much maligned thickness is no big deal...it feels something like holding a bar of soap. Hey, at least its no Jasjar!



Here it is in line with my Zune 8Gb and iPaq 910:






So far everything seems to be going well, except that there is definitely some habit breaking needed to use my finger for scrolling, etc.

More details as I can drag myself away from my Fuze :)

Fuze in Hand!

Finally got my Fuze and will spend the next few hours playing with it...details and all the rest coming up soon!

Love it!

Letters from the Cleav

Random Text Message:

i just got in a fight with a guy at key food. good times.
he was up my ass the acting crazy behind me in the self check out line. then got mad when i took an extra 30 seconds to use my environmentallly friendly bag
finally i said "dude take a fuckin chill, it's just key food. get off my ass" and he started yelling. good god.

Blackberry Bold Hands On

I just popped into my local AT&T store to confirm the date of the Fuze's release (Nov 11) and was able to spend a few moments with the Blackberry Bold.
Well, my first impression of the screen is: wow. It is the clearest, crispest screen I've ever seen- possibly more so than the iPhone. However, the trackball would definitely drive me round the bend. Its sunken into the body making it difficult to get a firm handle to roll it. I definitely had an easier time with my cousin's Curve. Its also too wide in my hand [that's what she said!] for comfort. But I've got to say, for someone who uses a Blackberry already I'm sure it would be a tremendous treat!

--------
Sent from my HP iPAQ 910

My Week in Review

Wow! What a week this has been! My first week of work was grueling and exciting and I spent most of it in a fog trying to fight off the flu.

On the tech front, my HP Mini 1000 arrived yesterday and I love, love, love it! I also sold my Asus EEE Pc and sent it off to its new owner. Before I did I was able to take some nice side-by-side shots:





I love my new HP mini so much more than I could love my Asus! The first thing that I enjoy is the keyboard! Wow, it feels so good not to be pecking at tiny keys (I mean, you expect to do that on a pda/phone but not on your notebook!) and the screen real estate means no horizontal scrolling. And there's nothing like having a familiar OS (Windows XP): I already installed Firefox with Foxmarks, Digsby, Skype, and suprisingly SlingPlayer!
Last night I paired it with my HP 910 and was suprised to find that I could use my HP Mini as stereo speakers! I was able to stream music using PocketTunes and listen to it on my Mini.

Today I shipped off a bunch of items that I successfully sold:
-Asus EEE PC,
-Archos 605 Wifi
-LG KS360

Now I'm waiting for the release (hopefully on Tuesday) of the Fuze. Dean has the day off so I'm hoping I can convince him to go and pick one up for me because I'm sure they'll be sold out by the time I get off work.

Hope you had a good week too!

Where Have All these Developers Been?

Here's the thing: I'm am really getting annoyed by the crop of 'new' developers suddenly whipping up all these interesting applications for the iPhone. Have they never heard of Windows Mobile? Even Yahoo OneConnect that I had been pining for miraculously appeared available for the iPhone/iPod Touch leaving us still no date for the WM version. And now with the G1 I'm sure its going to be even more noticeable. Yes, I'm jealous and bitter and airing my grievances- developers, you better get on it...we WM users aren't going anywhere! And we've been here all this time waiting for you!

Knee Deep in Phones!

One of the nice things about having my aunt come to visit is that she is just as tech crazy as I am. Fortunately for her, she does a whole lot of traveling and gets to pick up all kind of phones from different countries under various carriers (O2, Vodaphone, etc). In her goody bag she had a whole bunch of phones, and even though she loves her basic sliderphones, she is lusting heavily after the Xperia X1 to replace her old Sony Ericcson (I forgot the model number). In the mix are a Samsung SGH-J700 (pink), a Samsung E250 (blue), a Treo 700 (my mother's phone), and an LG KS360 (which she ended up giving to me) and my HP 910 which looked like a total beast compared to the rest.

AT&T's got me on a short Fuze

As if sensing that our time together is about to come to an end, my HP 910 has decided to really give me a hard time. Without fail, the very moment I attempt to launch an app stored on the card, or show someone photos on my phone, the microsd card suddenly vanishes- never to be seen until the next time I reset my phone. And every 1 out of about 100 times that I turn on my phone, the keyboard is frozen, battery cannot be detected and a reset is needed. And the camera continues to be a joke: I have more snaps of the corner of Seth's retreating rear than I would ever have thought possible.
Now the word on the street seems to be implying that the Fuze won't be out until Black Friday! Seriously, I can't take it! I could accept this Friday, or even next week, but beyond that I am likely to fling this out of a moving car!

--------
Sent from my HP iPAQ 910

Breaking News: AT&T Fuze vs T-Mobile G1

AT&T Forum member 'Fokized' has posted some awesome photos of the Fuze along the G1. The photo confirms two facts: the G1 is one fugly phone, and man, I can't wait to get my hands on a Fuze!

Netbook Upgrade: HP Mini 1000

In the few months that I've had my Asus EEE PC 2GB Surf I've pretty much limited its use to my bedside. I don't know much about Linux so I haven't really added anything to the device. In my mind, I envisioned using it for Twitter, Facebook, surfing the web wherever. In reality, I've not used anything other than Firefox and the foxmarks addon.
Lately I also started encountering some dcopserver, etc errors on the device which I temporarily fixed with a factory reset but I'm sure they'll be back. The horizontal scrollling has also driven me all kinds of nuts.
I started thinking about what my gadget usage patterns are going to be:

FUZE
I know I'm going to be getting my hands on the Fuze when that comes out. That means that I plan to be more media-centric in my pdaphone usage, reading books, skimming TinyTwitter (or CeTwit, if VKoser ever graces us with a new release), browsing news headlines, listening to internet radio and watching video podcasts.

ZUNE
My Zune is my stealthy powerhouse that I use to listen to my podcasts and music in my car, in the bathroom, kitchen, while bathing Seth, and pretty much anywhere I am.

ARCHOS
I haven't decided if I am going to be hanging onto my Archos 605 WiFi. Currently, we predominantly use it to watch PC movies on the big screen TV in the den. However, if I can get the Fuze set up to do TV Out seamlessly, I am going to go ahead and sell it.

DESKTOP
My desktop is a dream with a large screen and enough power to be the heartbeat of our home. I keep the Tivo Server running on it, Orb, LogMeIn, Evernote and everything else I need.

DEN LAPTOP
We got a pretty highend midsize laptop in our den which gets a lot of use. Dean and I share it as we sit in the den, and he also uses it in the garage as he looks up info to help him as he restores a 1978 TransAm (the one from Smokey and the Bandit, apparently?)

HP MINI
I just purchased the new HP Mini with an expected ship date in mid November. Its light enough that I'll be able to comfortably tote it around the house, and runs on Windows so I hope to be able to run Digsby and also connect to my home network for media.



So I'm going to be selling off my Asus EEE PC Surf and replacing it with the new HP Mini 1000. The hope is that I can get enough interesting offline apps that the next time I am stuck without WiFi access I can still entertain myself, and possibly even use Bluetooth DUN from my phone!

Podcasts-Why MobilityToday Rocks, and others, Not so Much

Let me start by saying that I generally keep things on a positive tone here at Mobigasmic, especially when it comes to other sites that are doing the same thing I am- writing about things we're passionate about. However, I have to rant about the podcasts over at msmobiles.com.
I have several podcasts that I listen to on a regular basis such as CNet's Buzz Out Loud, The Cell Phone Junkie, Modaco, WMExperts and of course, my all-time favorite, Mobility Today.

To understand why I love Mobility Today, you have to know a little bit about the way my mind works: I love to laugh. So if something has me rolling in hysterics, I am extremely unlikely to take offense. The Mobility Today podcast feels like being in a boys' lockerroom and hearing all their saucy jokes. Sure, they can be pretty sexist at times, but their barbs are so damn funny and there is such an underlying good rapport among the guys that even when they are all in total disagreement. I wouldn't say I learn anything from them as I am probably just as up-to-date with the happenings in the mobile world, but I do hear differing opinions on hardware and software.

Now here's why I loathe the msmobiles podcast: Alli (correction: Edward). The first time I gave the podcast a try this guy was actually eating during the show. And not in a subtle manner either- he was talking as he ate, and it sounded awful. The rest of the hosts could well have carried off a pretty good show, but the constant interruptions by Alli with comments that were neither insightful nor helpful caused me to delete the podcast from my queue.

Fastforward to today. I decided to give their podcast another try...and it was just as bad as before. Apparently the female host (Chris?) was in a hotel and was using some makeshift equipment to participate. She was still clear, and could be heard just fine. But I could also hear Alli...who spent a good amount of time bitching and moaning about what laptop, headset, and microphone she was using and why it was sounding 'like crap'. I'd had enough. This time msmobiles got deleted from my queue for good.

Look- do a podcast, banter, whatever. But be sure that it comes across the airwaves the same way it sounds in your head.

ADDED 12/11/08:
It seems that this post is now under a lot of review so to clarify, I had the names wrong. Alli is the name of the female host and Edward is the name of the man I wrote about. The point of the story was that one prominent host ruined, for me, what could have been a pleasant podcast experience. (Alli has commented below that Chris apparently is also on the MobilityToday podcast.) And, as I wrote, this was my experience with just 3 MS Mobiles podcasts.
This entry was written last month, and today the host of MobilityToday, David Ciccone, selected me as the winner of his HTC Diamond giveaway. Thanks Dave, and keep up the great show. And I agree with your co-hosts, you should totally do a show on Christmas eve!

Second Today on HTC Diamond

Now this makes me very happy. I plan to use this to be able to get the best of both worlds. And I popped into BestBuy yesterday and was lucky enough to get my hands on the TouchFlo3D interface. I think its great to use as an app...but I want my standard plugins to be able to look at.