Apr 23, 2006 | blog
So there are two awesome thin new phones coming out soon that are similar in layout to traditional BlackBerry devices. Say hello to the Motorola Q (top), which you’ve probably read about, and the Samsung SGH-i320 (bottom).
The two phones both run Windows Mobile 5 and will be available in the coming weeks in the US. Both have recently been approved by the FCC for use in the USA. While we know that the motoQ is currently a CDMA phone and will be available from Verizon, the SGH-i320 is a GSM phone and could be used on either T-Mobile or Cingular (or some of the regional GSM providers) here in the States.
Unfortunately, the i320 is a tri-band phone (900/1800/1900) and would only really have decent coverage on the T-Mobile network as theirs is primarily a 1900 band network. Cingular relies heavily on the 850 band and has significant 1900 band holes everywhere. Cingular sells only tri-band phones that have both 850 & 1900MHz, or quad-band phones that support all GSM frequencies around the world. T-Mobile has recently rolled out a number of 850MHz towers and has signed a roaming agreement with Cingular for vast 850MHz streaches of the country, and in addition has also taken to selling quad-band phones or tri-band with 850/1900 band support.
At any rate, its great to see this style of phone coming out from two of the top three Windows Mobile phone vendors. Now all we need is to see an HTC version of this format, one that builds on the great layout that BlackBerry has demonstrated, and these two have copied.
For more information on either of these phones, check out these great articles:
Apr 17, 2006 | blog
T-Mobile has finally announced the BlackBerry 8700g, one of the new BB devices that supports EDGE. Cingular launched their version about two weeks ago, if I remember correctly. Found this news on RIMarkable this morning. Good news to those who will be looking for the latest in BB devices. Having the 8700 available on both of the nationwide GSM carriers is a good thing.
Mar 28, 2006 | blog
Acording to RIMarkable, Cingular is bringing BlackBerry Connect to the US market with the Nokia 9300! Good news to all non-BlackBerry device users. RIM actually has a version of BlackBerry Connect for Windows Mobile and Palm. With the lawsuit settled, and the release of BB Connect with the Nokia 9300, there may be other versions of the BB Connect software making it to the US market in the near future.
Mar 14, 2006 | blog
RIM’s BlackBerry supposedly offers a BlackBerry Connect for Windows Mobile software component. What I need to figure out is where do you find this elusive software? Do you get the software along with BlackBerry Enterprise Server, a separate offering, free download, WalMart, at the bottom of my favorite cereal box – where?
The dissapointing thing for me on the BlackBerry front is that there are so few real sources of information and solutions on the Internet. For Windows Mobile, there are thousands. This is the difference between a closed system like BlackBerry, and an open environment like Windows Mobile.
I’m not going to debate the supiority of the BlackBerry push email system – that is obvious, but what I have trouble with is the lack of acceptance of customer choice. The company I work for is planning on rolling out BlackBerry services, for a number of reasons. But what I see is a true lack of choice for our users. What do you tell a senior exec when they come back with a spiffy new Windows Mobile device and you tell them that they cannot use it with our new push email system? With the rates charged for the support contracts, you would think they want to cover all the needs a corporate customer may need.
Come guys where is the customer choice?
Feb 18, 2006 | blog
Ok, so we’re exploring RIM’s BlackBerry solution at work, and I’ve been curious about how to integrate other platforms (I’m a Windows guy – remember?) and finally started digging this weekend. Aha! Here’s the link to BlackBerry Connect for Windows Mobile 🙂. Well. we will just be tucking that into our project folder for later reference, hehehe…
