Intelligent Mobile

Ultraportable MSI Wind PC

Daniel — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:53:06 +0000

MSI Wind PC is a cheap ultraportable similar to the Asus Eee PC. The Wind has a larger screen – 10″ – than the Eee though. The battery time is also stated to be longer – 6 to 7 hours.

[Notebook Italia, PC World Italia via Engadget]

Google Calendar Sync for Outlook

Daniel — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 08:42:31 +0000

There are a lot of different ways to keep you calendar data in sync with different sources, but the options for syncing with Google Calendar haven’t been that great. The new Google Calendar Sync synchronizes Outlook with Google, two-way. There are other ways of doing this, but it feels more reassuring to use an application from Google for syncing with their calendar. Other than a few duplicate entries it has worked fine for me this far.

Download Google Calendar Sync (Windows only)

Call recording on Windows Mobile

Daniel — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 10:36:20 +0000

Call recording can be very valuable for example when you haven’t been able to take notes of something that’s been said in a phone call, when you want to go back and check some kind of information or if you want to listen to a deleted voice mail again. Most smartphones don’t have any option for call recording for some reason, so this functionality has to be added by third-party applications.

I’ve been testing Vito AudioNotes on WM6 (Windows Mobile Standard, Smartphone, non-touchscreen) for a while, and I’m very pleased with this solution. With this program it’s possible to both make on demand recordings and to automatically record every phone call that’s made or received. It’s got a simple user interface and it’s very easy to use; the program window shows a list of all your recordings and clicking on them brings up a menu with a few choices like Play, Rename, Send, Delete etc.

The right soft button brings up a settings menu with options for automatical call recording, MP3/WAV format and quality and recording destination (main memory or storage card). When you are recording you can set mic gain and level for voice activated recording, to get get rid of silent parts.

I’ve found that the MP3 medium quality setting gives a good quality/size ratio for me, at around 500 Kb per minute of recorded calls. It has also worked well when recording hour-long interviews. To be able to record phone calls automatically the program must be running in the background at all times, using around 1 Mb of RAM. It installs a shortcut in the Startup folder. I’ve had the application installed to the storage card and set to save the recordings to the storage card, which has worked well, so it doesn’t have to take up internal storage memory. The auto recording is really convenient as you don’t have to do anything at all to get all your calls recorded, it’s just set and forget. The name of the contact you are talking to is even included in the audio file.

Be aware that not every phone model is able to record phone calls, so be sure to use a trial version to see if it works on your device. The device I’ve used is a HTC Tornado. There are also a few other programs that may be worth checking out, like PMRecorder and Resco Audio Recorder. More about Vito AudioNotes can be found on Vito’s product page.

New name system for Sony Ericsson phones

Daniel — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:33:42 +0000

Sony Ericsson has changed the way they name their phones. This is reported by the Unofficial Sony Ericsson Blog. Their scheme below shows how the system works. First letter is for series, C for Cybershot etc., second number is for range (high, mid, low), third number is for version and the last number is for form factor. “i” for international will be omitted.

Quicker Solitaire playing on WM6 standard

Daniel — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 12:00:47 +0000

Playing the Microsoft game Solitaire on Windows Mobile 6 Standard (included on all WM phones), I just found out that you don’t have to move each card from the lower (tableau) piles to the aces piles (the four foundations) by yourself. If you press up on the D-pad when there are cards that may be moved there, they’re automatically moved to the foundations piles. Quite a timesaver if you’re hooked on playing Solitaires, and haven’t already found this out…

Fring does file transfers

Daniel — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:36:30 +0000

Fring is a competent smartphone instant messaging client for Skype, MSN Messenger, ICQ, Google Talk, SIP, Twitter, AIM and Yahoo. Fring is available for S60, Windows Mobile and UIQ. Now they’ve added a file transfer feature that currently works between Fring-Fring and Fring-MSN (some differences between the three platforms).

Read Fring blog post

Download Fring here

ThinkPad X300 recommended

Daniel — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 09:51:53 +0000

Walt Mossberg at The Wall Street Journal reviews the Lenovo ThinkPad X300. You get a feeling of a certain Apple preference; one would think there are more relevant comparisons to do though, like to the Sony Vaio TZ series. Nevertheless he recommends the X300 for its many features, connectivity options, thinness and ruggedness for those who like Windows and can afford the price tag, $2,476-$3,000 (€1,680-€2,040).

Read

New W960 firmware

Daniel — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 09:33:45 +0000

A new firmware version for the Sony Ericsson W960i is available via SEUS now, organizer R6G04.

HP 2133 ultraportable price indication

Daniel — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 11:12:22 +0000

The HP Compaq 2133 UMPC or ultraportable that was leaked yesterday (by mistake or for publicity) is said to launch in April for more than €430 ($630).

“The UMPC features the high-end Intel 45nm Penryn processor, Windows XP operating system and an 8.9-inch panel, and will be targeting the second notebook market for business users. The device will cost more than NT$20,000 (US$630) and will be considered a high-end model, added the paper.”

[Commercial Times via Engadget]

Update: There are also rumors of a VIA-based HP 2133 version priced at $499 (€340).

HP 2133 ultraportable

Daniel — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 13:51:11 +0000

Some information and pictures of a new ultraportable laptop from HP Compaq have been leaked. Actually they call it an UMPC, but I’d call it an ultraportable laptop because it looks like an ordinary laptop with a small screen, much like the Asus Eee PC but a bit larger. It’s got an 8.9-inch 1366 x 766 (WXGA) display, a 95 % of full-size keyboard, starting at 1.13 kg and it will run Vista or Linux.

Read

Update: Known specifications compared to the Asus Eee PC