Category: mobile-technology

In my Windows days I would use Hamachi for my VPN client and server. But when I switched to gnu/linux I attempted to stick with it but got fed up of the weird UI's and lack of stability I was experiencing. So I stopped using it and looked into openswan and other VPN clients/servers solutions. Problem is I never quite got on with those either although I did get as far as having the PTP/OpenSSL option in my networking

Well after months of not using any VPN options at all. I found the ideal Hamachi client for Linux and got Hamachi working on everything including my old download machine and even my phone! Yes you heard me right, I have the same powerful VPN technology on my Windows Mobile phone too. There's not much you can do right now but its working in 0.30 beta form. I found it because I was thinking they've had a Nokia 770 version for ages but why not Windows Mobile? I imagine Android won't be long behind the Symbian and Windows Mobile versions if things go well. Iphone version? Nahh I can't see Steve Jobs allowing that in the Apps store.

Some of you may say why do you need VPN for phones? Well at least with Hamachi, its a direct connection to my machines, so I'm able to for example see how a download is going at home (although to be fair I've also got a XMPP/Jabber bot which does this too). You can't do it yet, but imagine, being able to pull files back and forth over the network, sync and print to the remote printer. Actually these are possible if you've got some web front end on the remote machine right now. I can't even imagine the possibilities if you turn it the other way around and added some core phone API support. VPN into your phone and flip the goodbye forever switch if its stolen? Who knows…

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HTC create the most advanced mobile devices in the world I would say. And i'm not the only one who would say this either thankfully. They've made Windows Mobile actually attractive and affordable enough. So if you replaced Windows Mobile with almost anything else and you will get one hell of a Geek phone. So great, a phone which the geeks and developers always wanted, but what's going to be the unique selling point for non-geeks? This is the question I pose to the Google's Mike Jennings at Google Developer Day last week.

His answer “Software” was less that satisfactory. I mean you got two phones which look exactly like, they do the same stuff, are priced about the same only one has windows on it and the other google. As a non-geek user which one which you pick? Seriously, which one? Google are going about this all too geek like. Yes developers and geeks will buy the Gphones but unless they put a bundle of goodies on the phone which you can't get anywhere else, there going to lose out. I mean simply putting Google maps, Gmail and Google Search on the device isn't going to cut it. My Windows mobile currently has all that plus thanks to the OpenGL drivers written by the community (no thanks to HTC for that) equalivent OpenGL support. Maybe a few years back when Windows Mobile weren't so open you could make the point that the Gphone software arguement would hold up. But recently I've seen everything including the dialer, mail client and gui replaced if required. For example PointUI's Home. It replaces most of windows mobile user interface with a custom one. I did show Mike Jennings the interface and he was very suprised how customised my windows mobile phone was. So I expect most of the apps which get built on the Gphone will be build on Windows Mobile too and vice-versa.

So what is the unique selling point going to be? I'm starting to think Google are happy with it just being a project thats on going – just an alternative. Never really going to be number one, but then again won't cost much to keep going. A bit like Chrome?

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Thanks to a friend who sent me this video link after reading I was interested in upgrading up to a Omnia phone. I was honestly expecting a standard unboxing not what I actually got. Good on Samsung or whoever for adding a little humour to this usually too over done part of product geeking.

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Its getting around to that time of the year again, when I start thinking about which phone I should be getting next. The other good news is that Google Android is confirmed for HTC phones, so there's some serious changes in this space. But generally the hardware is

HTC Dream

HTC Dream which is meant to be the launch phone of the Google Android operating system. Although I don't really like the block on the right and the keyboard looks quite small.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1

Now this is a shock, Dark horse SonyEricsson creates a windows mobile phone which some interesting tweaks to the Windows mobile Gui. It also supports a 3inch touch screen with a resolution of 800×480 which is insane. Everything else is there including HSDPA, Bluetooth 2.0, Wifi but no GPS. Its also got a slight tilt which is useful plus the keyboard looks like a dream to type on. I've also heard on forums that it might have up to 16gig of memory which is great.

HTC Touch Pro

This is the natrual upgrade choice from my HTC Kaiser/Tilt. Its smaller, lighter and has a VGA screen. HTC have also included the new TouchFLO 3D interface (hopefully they turned on the ATI hardware drivers for this phone). Everything else is pretty much the same, HSDPA, Bluetooth 2.0, Wifi and GPS. The Keyboard is improved and the whole device just looks sharp and beautiful. It also seems like Orange will have this soon because they already have the HTC Touch Diamond.

Samsung Omnia i900

This is the other dark horse in the room. Samsung have made some news with the Blackjack windows mobile device but I've never really consider it because I don't like those blackberry type devices. Anyway, this is a looker and has the specs to go with the looks. 3.2 inch touchscreen supporting 400×240 resolution. Like everyone else, they've tweaked Windows mobile to include a couple of new features but once again HSDPA, Bluetoooth 2.0, Wifi and GPS. Its also got 16gig of memory in the box and unlike the rest a 5mpx auto focus camera which also supports VGA camcorder recording, the rest are 3mpx auto focus and QVGA recording. Samsung have gone one better by including FM radio, Geotagging ability, accelerometer and even TV out for playing back video. The only thing missing is the keyboard and its not quadband, so no 3g in north america. Suprisingly Orange have this phone already and its priced like a HTC phone, so actually affordable if you like WinMo phones.

Its amazing, things like USB, SD slot, Speakerphone, 3g, full spectrum HSDPA (up to 7.2meg down), Mp3 ringtones, replaceable batteries, etc, etc are just standard now. Shame the Samsung doesn't support Quadband like everyone else but to be honest, I'm unlikely to use 3G heavly when roaming in america, because I don't like big mobile phone bills. The keyboard will be missed a little and I'm not super keen that it has no stylus at all. But these are small issues really. I think I will get a Omnia in the end. I wonder if anyone will port Android over to it?

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So I've started using my windows mobile phone as a USB 3g modem (maybe not as elegent as the USB 3g modems but its more useable. For some reason since I've upgraded the phone to Windows mobile 6.1, the bluetooth connection has failed to work and I've not found the time to really find out what's wrong. Anyway I did a couple of speed tests using the phone connected via USB while sitting on the 13th floor of the Travelodge (trust me, your licence fee is not going on expensive hotels) in Holborn. The phone was showing a strong HSDPA signal and I wanted to know exactly what that meant in real speed, because it felt like I was using wireless or something.

The best download speed I could achieve was 1995 kbps (249.4Kb/sec) and upload speed 361 kbps (45.1Kb/sec). Frankly this is pretty amazing speeds, although a long way off the therotical 1440Kb/sec on the download the upload is very close to the maximum 384Kb/sec. Even on average I'm not getting less that 200Kb/sec download or 38Kb/sec upload. Not bad for a 6 pounds a month extra charge for evening and weekend 3g access.

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Yes another person slagging off the iphone, but it made me chuckle. Why so serious?

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So I've said nothing about the iphone 3g launch but mainly because I don't really care except to see how cheap I can pick up a old iphone for on ebay (they would make nice ebook readers I've been thinking). But according to some this thing above is meant to be Blackberry's answer to the iphone. What a joke! Its also worth noting it has almost the exact same features as the M700 (pictured below).

However I'm interested that the general shape of originally the SPV M500 (not the iphone) and its successors including the Touch and M700. Looks to be the industry standard now. Before the M500, I believe it was all about the flip, the slide or the candy bar. Now its about the slate and everyone's got one.

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Windows mobile how I hate you so much. Its such a shame because the devices are so powerful and well designed in my opinion. The software is sometimes painful and in need of a clear kick up the ass. Its like windows, years and years of badly thought-out design decisions bundled into a messy operating system. Don't get me wrong its usable but only through habit.

Someone started writing a new user interface for Windows mobile a while back, called pointui. In that 0.2 alpha release was more design thought that any of the other Windows mobile releases to date.

So whats got me going? Well with Over the Air, I've been thinking a lot about mobile devices and interfaces. The iphone interface is good but also lacks any deepness. This might be fine for most people but not for an advanced user like myself. Windows mobile 6.1 is due or available now and it promises to learn from the iphone and fix its mistakes. The mistakes are best explain in this blog post from Gizmodo.

The number one biggest problem with Windows Mobile is its UI.
I have no problems with Windows itself, and I work on a Vista PC (along with a Leopard Mac) every single day. WM's problem is that it isn't Windows. Here are a few of the unnecessarily complicated attributes that Windows Mobile doesn't share with desktop Windows:

• It's very hard to multitask
• Closing a program doesn't really close it
• Different builds work differently
• If you're an advanced user, you'll eventually be able to learn how to bypass or augment certain parts of the phone with third-party applications

Actually Windows mobile's 3rd party support is its saving grace. If it had been a dead end like the iphone I would never have picked up the handsets ever. I've had about 6 generation of windows mobile / pocketpc devices and each one has been more powerful that the last.

Technorati Tags: windowsmobile, windows, mobile, microsoft, phone, htc

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