The Crimson Tide Blog

Nokia Windows Phones

2011-07-18T06:51:00.000-07:00

Looking forward to seeing the first Nokia Windows Phones

Apparently the first will be here by the end of this year.......and released in Europe first , according to a Nokia BigWig

Told 'em

2011-07-18T05:44:00.000-07:00

We said that Palm's WebOS wasn't going to be the greatest....certainly not for a Tablet.....

....and the seems to be borne out here

Symbian (not) in the US

2011-07-18T05:13:00.001-07:00

Symbian smartphones were never great sellers in the good old US of A.

Th Register reports that sales of the Nokia staple OS has fallen to ....err....0.2% of the US market

Stunning

Microsoft winning the war

2011-07-15T04:12:00.000-07:00

Microsoft may have lost some tactical battles in mobile, but here is an article by veteran reporter Jack Gold, describing how they might be winning the war , certainly financially anyway

Developer interest in mobile platforms

2011-04-26T07:37:00.000-07:00

Interesting to see the article on ZD regarding the developer's view of the mobile platforms available. I think the WP7 figure is quite creditable. Obviously iOS is still top dog in this rewpect - I'd be very concerned if I were RIM .

The article is here

Windows Phone 7 (no) database update

2011-02-15T08:09:00.000-08:00

So, no database integration is coming in the update that Microsoft is launching "soon"

I wonder whether we'll get one in the major update which wil come "later in 2011"

:-(

Smartphone profit share

2011-02-02T06:14:00.000-08:00

This is a very revealing graph..........as Iphone is officially very expensive, Apple should be making a mint......and they are

And Android takes the lead

2011-02-02T06:08:00.000-08:00

According to researchers Canalys, Android is now the number one smartphone platform, taking over the slot from Nokia. See here http://bit.ly/g2BZJ8

Happy New Year

2011-01-05T01:53:00.001-08:00

Here's to a successful 2011 for you all.

A nice list of excellent Windows Phone 7 Apps can be found here

4 ways to get your Office Docs onto Windows Phone 7

2010-12-16T02:54:00.000-08:00

1. Sync with Sharepoint (if you have Sharepoint 2010)
2. Email them to yourself (!)
3. Attach them to a One Note file
4. Save your doc to your Sky Drive , browse to it using IE and Save

Ta Dah !

5 Top Windows Phone 7 tips

2010-12-16T02:49:00.000-08:00

Well done to the guys at AT&T for producing a video on the top 5 tips for Windows Phone 7

See it here

One update or two?

2010-12-16T02:31:00.000-08:00

I hear that certain people are expecting a minor update to Windows Phone 7 in January, and a more major update to coincide with Mobile World Congress in February.

Personally, I'd wait and get it all done in one go in February, but we shall see

Apparently Copy & Paste will be available and there is a rumour of a browser update. Of course, what we really want is access to the database !

HD7 Review

2010-12-15T04:06:00.000-08:00

Very nice review of HTC's flagship Windows Phone 7 device here

Windows Phone 7 Update Coming

2010-12-11T09:08:00.000-08:00

There's a pretty strong rumour that an update for Windows Phone 7 is coming early in the New Year......I'd sat Copy & Paste is a given, but I wonder whether they'll give us the Database ?

Train WiFi

2010-12-02T14:15:00.001-08:00

So, ZD have placed a rather nice image on their site (credit www.mytrainticket.co.uk) showing the UK's wifi enabled train routes........and pricing for same.

Not sure the Heathrow Express is free but the map is quite useful !

WP7 Home Brew kit locked down

2010-12-02T09:34:00.001-08:00

I see that the Chevron SDK, designed to crack open the Windows phone 7 OS has been pulled. It seems that the Chevron people have done so to have "discussions" with our friends in Redmond. Interesting !

Clint off to San Diego

2010-11-26T06:39:00.000-08:00

It had to happen one day but I, Clint Aerialhead, have decided to retire from life at Crimson Tide Towers. The days of Sam, Dave and myself being the face of Crimson Tide have come to a close to be replaced by the new "mpro from crimson tide" brand.

The modernisation of Crimson Tide's offerings also incorporates the new "simply smarter solutions" tag.

So, December will be my last month of blogging for the company and the "Clint Aerialhead Blog" will evolve into the "mpro blog" which will have an associated facebook group and twitter account.

Sync Framework

2010-11-26T06:31:00.000-08:00

Our old friend the Microsoft Sync Framework has reached v4 CTP. This was the framework that we at Crimson Tide Towers called "Soprano".

Hopefully the chaps in Redmond have dealt with the speed issues we had a year or two ago

The interesting thing about the Sync framework which, if you recall, encouraged us to believe that you could sync "anything with anything", is that one of the "anythings" is Android - and another is iOS.

Of course those nice Silverlight tools have come into play since then so could be a useful tool when we bring mpro to those platforms. Look for RTW in early '11.

Kin Hell again

2010-11-18T09:19:00.000-08:00

So, 'tis true, Verizon are once again selling Microsoft's Kin Phone - the one that "didn't exist"

Good luck with that project

Amazing what you take for granted, part 2

2010-11-18T04:20:00.000-08:00

So, as a Windows Mobile house, we have edited our Word Docs/ Excel Spreadsheets and One Note (I love One Note) files on our phones

I heard today that you can now Edit Google Docs on your Android device. Whaaaat! just now ?

And only on Froyo 2.2

How lame is that?

Amazing what you take for granted, part 1

2010-11-18T04:17:00.000-08:00

I have a new work PC at home, I've unpacked, fired it up and it is very nice. I didn't get round to installing Office 2010 and needed the disk etc to do so which was at Crimson Tide Towers. So I installed Open Office as I neede to edit a document.

A few weeks went by and I still hadn't got round to getting Office on the PC. Late last night, my chum Tim sent me a Word Doc to edit. I thought that Open Office would do the job........I was wrong

I probably cost Tim an hour this morning sorting out the errors in the document (and he's really quick) due to formatting errors and change tracking mistakes.

I'll get the disk.....

More NFC stuff

2010-11-16T11:59:00.000-08:00

So, Nokia's C7 is also going to carry a Near Field Communications Chip, as (as is rumoured) will the Google Nexus S (see blogs passim)

The plot thickens......I wonder when we'll see a Crimson Tide application that uses such a chip.....

Nexus S Rumour

2010-11-16T11:52:00.000-08:00

I hear through the grapevine that the Google Nexus S will carry a Near Field Communications chip......interesting for payment and location sensing technologies

Palm Pre receives visit from Grim Reaper

2010-11-16T11:11:00.000-08:00

Looks like the end of the road for the Pre. We thought it was a very well designed device, and that WebOS was a good idea. It just seemed a bit slow to some and the keyboard was very fiddly.

So, we anticipate the end of the Pre and the beginning of the Pre 2.....good luck with that Palm/HP friends, we fear that the Android, iOS and WP7 trains may have left a while ago.......

A small bounce from LG

2010-11-16T11:05:00.000-08:00

We're not convinced about LG's credentials in the smartphone market. Engadget report that their Android 2.2 powered Optimus One (Surely Optimus Prime !?) has sold a million units...Ho Hum, we said , until we are told that that represents sales in 40 days...not bad at all. Well done LG (and thanks to Engadget

Return of the KIN?

2010-11-15T01:57:00.000-08:00

Allegedly, Verizon has Microsoft KIN phones on its roadmap........unbelievable unless you believe in the rumour that there are "tens of thousands" of the YouthPhone in a warehouse somewhere

NoSQL allowed in the Microsoft Azure Cloud

2010-11-15T01:52:00.000-08:00

My friends in Redmond do take a lot of stick, however they do some things that other software companies would blanche at. For example, they are allowing versions of NoSQL on the Azure platform. You'd have thought that the Redmondians would be very protective of their SQL Azure offering, but no, they are so focused on Azure as a platform they are prepare to allow non_SQL server databases on the platform.

We at Crimson Tide Towers are big believers in the cloud and Microsoft is pushing it heavily. We should see a Crimson Tide Azure offering in 2011.

Palm Pre 2 Available

2010-11-15T01:47:00.000-08:00

We have been friends with Palm ever since we started our mobile data business. devices such as the Treo Pro still bring a misty eye to those at Crimson Tide Towers.

Things have been slightly different since the takeover by HP , but we're glad to see the Palm badge still out there.

The New Palm Pre 2 runs WebOS, a great OS if you listen to many in the business, not one we have experienced ourselves . Good luck to Palm - it's a tough market to get penetration into but we hope they do well "for old times sake"

Handy Windows phone Spec Comparison

2010-11-06T03:08:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Engadget we can see the spec details of a number of Windows Phone 7 devices here

Windows Phone 7 Selling Fast

2010-11-04T07:50:00.000-07:00

Seems that my frinds in Redmond have an early success on their hands. Demand for Windows Phone 7 devices is outstripping supply and many places are out of stock.

Thanks to The Register for the info http://bit.ly/bX8vtk

Spotify on Windows Phone

2010-11-01T10:07:00.000-07:00

Microsoft is obviously very keen to get as many apps as it can on Windows Phone devices. It has signed a deal with spotify to put the music sharing app onto both 6.5 and 7 phones. There is a monthly subscription of £9.99 payable if you should want to stream music over the air. And, errr....a sufficiently large data bundle.

Running Out of Names

2010-11-01T05:01:00.000-07:00

It was pretty obvious that phone manufacturers would start to run out of superlative names for their devices (maybe one should be the HTC Superlative?). That same company is now down to the HTC Speedy (better have a decent processor)

How long until we hear about the LG QuiteNice?

New Palms !

2010-11-01T04:56:00.000-07:00

We have always been big fans of Palm and our friend Tim has been a great supporter of Crimson tide over the years.

We're delighted to hear that there will be 6 new Palm devices in 2011 (allegedly). It will be interesting to see if hP has got hold of WebOS and made any strides in the face of stiff competition from Iphone, Android and now Windows Phone 7 devices.

Windows Phone Ads

2010-11-01T04:45:00.000-07:00

I was shocked at the size of the Windows Phone 7 ads at London Bridge station this week. The Orange WP7 devices were dominating poster and screen space.

I hear that the devices are moving fast - good news for Microsoft. As the ads say "Microsoft is back in the game !"

T3 Awards

2010-10-12T08:03:00.000-07:00

The T3 Gadget Award 2010 winners:
App of the Year: Google Maps Navigation
Music Gadget of the Year: Cambridge Audio DacMagic
Gaming Gadget of the Year: Alienware M11x
Home Gadget of the Year: Samsung NaviBot SR8845E
Commuter Gadget of the Year: Apple iPhone 4
Green Gadget of the Year: OneClick Intelliplug
Work Gadget of the Year: Three Mobile MiFi
Innovation of the Year: Apple iPad
New Media Service of the Year: Spotify
Computer of the Year: Apple Macbook Pro
Camera of the Year: Panasonic Lumix GF1
Camcorder of the Year: Sanyo Xacti VPC-CS1
Retailer of the Year: Apple Store
T3 Design Award: Samsung UE55C9000
TV of the Year: Panasonic VIERA TX-P50VT20B
Gadget Personality of the Year: Suzi Perry
Tech Brand of the Year: HTC
Phone of the Year: HTC Desire
Gadget of the Year: Apple iPad Wi-Fi + 3G

Interesting slide on percentages of the smartphone market

2010-10-12T02:25:00.000-07:00

Its Windows Phone 7 Week

2010-10-12T01:59:00.000-07:00

Its different ! . Well thats what Big Steve says . Its got hubs, live tiles, Xbox and many other things. I still haven't got one but have my eye on the top end HTC or Samsung unit.

As usual . ZDNet have done a good job with reviewing devices here

Crimson Tide, the European example for IDC report

2010-10-01T04:20:00.000-07:00

IDC, the very well respected analyst has produced a wide ranging report on the business opportunities around Windows Phone 7.

I quote "This IDC White Paper examines the opportunities for the channel to develop sales of Microsoft servers, business applications, tools, infrastructure deployment services, and managed services to customers building infrastructure around Windows Phone. The document includes a forecast of Microsoft Windows connected phones in North America and Western Europe and the attached revenue opportunity for channel
partners in these regions that sell Windows Phones and other software solutions. In
addition, this IDC White Paper includes two case studies of Microsoft Windows Phone
channel partners: one based in the United States and Crimson Tide based in the United
Kingdom . This document is for current and future Windows Phone ISVs and systems
integrator partners as well as for current and future complementary solution partners
that build on or support key Microsoft applications such as Exchange, SharePoint,
Business Productivity Online Standard Suite (BPOS), Office Communications Server
(OCS), etc."

LG CEO steps down

2010-09-17T03:59:00.000-07:00

Phone sales may be to blame apparently

Credit Engadget http://www.engadget.com/tag/lg,windowsphone7

Windows Phone 7 , not on CDMA yet.....

2010-09-17T03:54:00.000-07:00

As a Windows Phone Evangelist , I have been concerned about the speed of launch of Micorosoft's new OS. I am glad I am not a Verizon or Sprint customer as cnet revealed that these networks will not carry WP7 at launch as it is not going to be CDMA enabled.

RIM numbers

2010-09-17T03:50:00.000-07:00

Profits up substantiall, revenues up, but a little down on forecast, subscribers at 50m

These are some pretty good numbers from RIM

I am unconvinced that the RIM startegy will work in the long term as I see enterprise class email as becoming a commodity, especially as that is where Nokia are aiming their sights.

Gartner Smartphone OS projections

2010-09-10T08:47:00.001-07:00

I've been saying it for a while but, according to Gartner, Android looks to be the big winner in the smartphone space in the coming years.

By 2014, Android is projected to have 30 % of the market. In that weird way of counting many Nokia devices, they are expected to have 30% with RIM at 11% and iOS 15%. Windows Phones are predicted to lose out and fall to 4% (gulp)

I'm not so sure about the Windows fall but the others seem logical to me.

Microsoft's Stephen Elop becomes Nokia CEO

2010-09-10T08:42:00.001-07:00

Interesting to see that the Head of Microsoft's Business Division has become CEO of Nokia. Stephen was the guy who signed the big MSFT/NOK partnership based around Office and OCS on Nokia devices (we're in discussion with both parties regarding a services partnership)

Crimson Tide - right space, right time

2010-09-09T05:02:00.001-07:00

Larry Dignan of ZDNet reports that sixty-two percent of chief information officers and technology leaders see mobile technology as a high priority for the upcoming year, according to Forrester Research.

That finding comes as enterprise mobility is increasingly wedded to overall corporate information technology. As a result, 48 percent of companies plan to spend on making enterprise applications mobile. Another 37 percent are interested in mobile apps. Increasingly, these apps are moving beyond the standard email and calendar genre and into line-of-business software like field service, sales and business intelligence.

http://zd.net/aav3qv

Nokia N8 - Saviour or merely the last defender ?

2010-09-09T02:27:00.001-07:00

Nokia have introduced the N8, a very smart looking piece of kit. Its main feature is a 12MP camera with video and HDMI to hook it up to a flat panel (does anyone actually do that?). We are intrigued to see whether this device can hold the line against the Android attack!.See more.......http://www.reghardware.com/2010/06/14/nokia_n8_hands_on/

So, now RIM can officially do Office apps

2010-09-09T02:19:00.001-07:00

BlackBerry maker RIM has apparently bought out DataViz, publisher of the popular Documents To Go, in a deal worth $50m in cash.
Credit The Crackberry Blog and The Register

Those on board with Windows Phone 7 include...

2010-07-26T03:57:00.000-07:00

Dell, Garmin-Asus, HTC Corp., LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Toshiba. Carriers such as AT&T, Deutsche Telekom AG, Orange, SFR, Sprint, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telstra, T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone and , of course, Crimson Tide

Reality Distortion Field

2010-07-19T04:13:00.000-07:00

Jobs tries it again !

Oh, so its just a case that's required to fix the Iphone4. Odd that, because the other day it was a software problem which, in my experience, has never been fixed by a case.

Now whay would RIM have wanted Palm?

2010-07-19T04:09:00.000-07:00

I can understand why the following companies would have wanted to buy Palm -

HP - for WebOS, for decent mobile devices, for market share
Apple - For a device with a keyboard
Lenovo - As an entrypoint into mobile
Acer - for a bigger share of mobile, WebOS

One bidder (according to a lot of rumours) was RIM. Who have a keyboard device, an OS and market share in those markets

Why would RIM want Palm then? - an OS for a slate perhaps?

Windows Phone 7 Developer Training Kit

2010-07-13T07:06:00.001-07:00

.....can be downloaded here

Windows Phone 7 Codecs

2010-07-12T02:28:00.000-07:00

Thanks to PocketNow for informing us of all of the codecs that Windows Phone 7 will support....and I quote.....

WAV, MP3, WMA Lossless, WMA Pro, WMA Standard v9, AAC-LC, HE-AAC v1, HE-AAC v2, Adaptive Multi-Rate Narrow Band, Adaptive Multi-Rate ide Band, and Qcelp" in addition to video codecs "WMV (simple profile, main profile and advanced profile), WMV v9, MPEG-4 Part 2 (simple profile, advanced simple profile), MPEG-4 Part 10, H.263 and DivX (4.x, 5.x and 6.x)"

Try doing that lot on a Fruitphone

Samsung creeping up on Nokia

2010-07-09T02:51:00.000-07:00

According to IDC

-Nokia’s Q1 2010 total mobile phone shipments fell 9% year on year
-Their total device market share, year on year, went from 39% to 33%
-Nokia’s smartphone market share fell 16% year on year, from 57% to 41%
-Nokia’s traditional feature phone shipments fell year on year by 18%
-Their feature phone market share fell from 35% to 30%
-Samsung now ships 40% of all feature phones in Europe, but their smartphone are not doing so well
-Nokia’s overall Q1 2010 market share is 32.8% versus Samsung’s 29.3%

Android market share reaches my expectations

2010-07-09T02:35:00.001-07:00

According to comscore Android devices have achieved 13 % of the smartphone market, just behind Windows Mobile. I'll expect that position to change hands next quarter as WM phones in the shiny space continue to disappear whilst we await Windows phone 7 devices in "Holiday '10 "

Samsung Galaxys gt-i9000 review

2010-07-07T09:22:00.000-07:00

Hmm, we're just going to have to post links to Android device reviews now as the wait for Windows Phone 7 is just too long.

PocketNow do a great job so do visit their review for the excellent Samsung GT I9000 here

HTC Sales up 63%

2010-07-07T09:12:00.000-07:00

Mainly due to Android devices HTCs sales rose 63% in the second quarter of this year

And so the speculation begins

2010-07-07T09:08:00.001-07:00

We are now into the second half of the year, and some of us are starting to get excited about their new Windows Phone 7 devices. Of course, part of the fun is the new names given out as codenames by the OEMS (or even speculated upon by bloggers)

The HTC Gold is the first name I have heard, although linked to AT&T so it may just be a US based name.

I did read that some OEMs might find it difficult to surpass their existing efforts (Incredible !)

Stand by for the HTC Ohmigosh and the Samsung Oursisbetter

No Nexus Two

2010-07-05T02:15:00.000-07:00

Google's ill-advised entry into the smartphone market has come to an end with Mountain View stating that there will not be a successor to the Nexus One.
Some might say that the Nexus drew the world's attention to the Android OS , but the concept of Google competing with OEMs was never a good idea in my book.

More Windows Phone 7 Database News

2010-07-01T05:44:00.000-07:00

Suddenly, World + Dog is on trek to find the answer to the Windows Phone 7 Database issue

See here for an independent firm's effort - now I wonder how it syncs?

Told you so

2010-07-01T02:19:00.000-07:00

As you know I am a Windows Mobile evangelist, but Kin phones were officially a Really Bad Idea......and it has now been confirmed that they are going out of production.

We'll have to wait until "Holday '10" for Windows Phone 7

Windows Phone 7 database

2010-07-01T02:12:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's a phrase I thought we may never hear.

Ok, it's not SQL Server 2008, but it is, nonetheless, a database

See here for a description of the isolated storage possibilities linked to Silverlight controls on Windows phone 7 devices

Motorola ES400 and Windows Embedded Handheld Update

2010-06-30T03:00:00.000-07:00

Further news via video here on the Motorola ES400 and the evolution of Windows Mobile 6.5

Note the nugget about CE7 !

Oh dear , Apple = lemon

2010-06-30T02:03:00.000-07:00

As you know, I'm biased, but even ZD are not happy with Iphone 4. Dropped calls, poor aerial design, less than a day's battery etc etc. See here

New Windows Mobile OS

2010-06-29T07:09:00.000-07:00

This is what we have been waiting for folks - a Windows Mobile update later this year and a new enterprise OS based on Windows Phone 7 for 2011

I'd like to think I had a tiny part in that !!

Aticle here

A Windows Phone 7 hands on demo

2010-06-29T02:06:00.000-07:00

For those who have not seen it in action, there is a video here of Windows Phone 7 in action (courtesy of PocketNow.

Running on an LG device with what I am told may have only been a 666MHz processor, I think you'll agree that the OS is pretty impressive. The screen is , I believe, AMOLED and a super AMOLED would liven the view up even more.

Particularly impressive is the multitouch functionality and the new SegoeWP font is really nice and clean.

I love the way that everyone who demos the OS goes to the Xbox tile , brings up the avatar and thinks "Wow". I'm going to be really impressed when I see someone actually use Xbox Live on the OS (about 0.1% of users I bet)

HTC Sense on the Omnia 2

2010-06-28T03:01:00.001-07:00

As I have mentioned, I am not a huge fan of Samsung Widgets or the touchWiz UI on my Omnia 2.

In the interests of research, I have therfore replaced the ROM with a custom (ie hacked) HTC Sense OS

The ROM also removes several annoyances (qik etc) and updates the Browser to Opera Mobile 10 (nice!)

The horsepower of the Omnia is lacking, so the OS does not fly particularly quickly, however I am very pleased with the UI.

Toast from Microsoft

2010-06-28T02:58:00.001-07:00

I see that Windows Phone 7 will carry the ability to configure a live tile to accept advertising. Interestingly, the advertising will be pushed to the WP7 device even when an application is running.

Microsoft call it "Toast" and, I am pretty sure, you'll be able to configure this in other Tile Groups on the phone (although perhaps not the standard MS ones)

I understand the service will be "opt in" (which I probably won't) but the model is quite interesting.

Blinded by the light

2010-06-22T06:21:00.001-07:00

I have been pretty unhappy about using the Samsung Omnia 2 in direct sunlight. I did find I had a setting wrong, (although Touchwiz did not help me find it ) . The screen is definitely brighter now but still unacceptable in my book

I read a comparison on Engadget and apparently the new Super AMOLED screens are considerably better. I;ll look forward to seeing one.

New Samsung running Bada

2010-06-15T08:01:00.000-07:00

I cannot for the life of me think why Samsung developed their proprietary OS, Bada, but hey, what do I know? A prize for the first person to develop a Bada Bing app.

Anyway, the new Samsung Wave S8500 running Bada is arriving shortly and carries a very decent spec too.

The 1 Ghz processor is the de facto standard for a top end phone now and the device carries the seemingly standard Samsung 5Mp camera.

Key for me in this phone is the Super AMOLED display which I hope is an improvement (in the light anyway) over my Omnia II.

HTC HD2 hotfix

2010-06-11T03:34:00.001-07:00

I hear that there is an (as yet) unofficial patch for the big old HD2 which solves some touchscreen issues

I can't recommend an unofficial patch , but if you are an HD2 developer (who is prepared to take a risk !) it is here

HD2 with a keyboard

2010-06-11T03:29:00.000-07:00

There is a whisper in the market that HTC's mighty HD2 may receive a hardware keyboard soon. I had a few issues with the HD2 (a bit too big for me) but it is certainly one of the best devices in the market running Windows Mobile 6.5

Phone to Pad

2010-06-10T04:18:00.000-07:00

I am convinced that Pad style devices will increase in popularity and Dell have introduced a halfway house device , the Streak.

With a 5" screen, the Streak is not quite an Ipad, but, of course will make Voice Calls which the standard Ipad will not.

The device runs on Android (although it is currently advertised as version 1.6, not the latest 2.2 Froyo release

I can definitely see a market for Pad devices - the Streak may be too small to qualify , but the market is certainly moving in that direction

Mobile health market

2010-06-09T01:32:00.001-07:00

We are very close to what is going on in "mhealth" - the use of mobile devices in the healthcare market

I was staggered to see the projections for growth in this sector in home patient healthcare

The wireless home health market was about $304 million in 2009 and it looks to $4.4 billion by 2013, according to Parks Research. That is for the US market alone.

Stunning statistics

Crimson Tide's mpro3hx (home patient drug administration) and mpro3nx (nursing) fit right into this space

Back blogging with Snapdragon news

2010-06-04T01:55:00.000-07:00

Been away for a while but back on the case now .

I see that Qualcomm have are releasing the silicon for two new processors - and they are dual core !

Can't wait to get my hands on one running on a phone - should up the ante as far as speed is concerned PLUS an accelerated GPU - which should be quite something

Shhhhh

2010-05-19T12:43:00.000-07:00

...Just Google LG Panther

The Sopranos on 3

2010-05-19T12:40:00.000-07:00

The 3 network (not one we're used to) has signed a deal with HBO to broadcast the excellent US based channel's TV shows on demand on their phone network. Watching TV on the phone has never been one of my particular habits, although Band of Brothers and The Sopranos are probably my two favourite TV series of all time.

this news does, however give me a chance to make an unusual (well, for this blog) picture post......

Mobile data prices down.....except they aren't

2010-05-18T09:32:00.000-07:00

I was reviewing how much my mobile data bill would be in San Diego. I'm told that it will be £25.50 per day with 50Mb. That's about £175 for the week. Not a bargain, I think you'll agree and , what we know in the trade as a 400 % increase.

I'll be looking for a wireless hotspot for the new Samsung N220 then.

javascript:void(0)

Location, location, location

2010-05-12T09:44:00.000-07:00

One of the things that fires my imagination at the moment is location based services. I am convinced that fuel can be saved, efficiencies achieved and congestion eased if vehicle based staff are more effective. Ha ! , I hear you Say, but route planning is easy and some of these telematics boys can do that already. My idea, however is more complex. I want our mpro3 systems to know where a field worker is and, if he is late or cannot fulfil a task, the system calculates this from his location and reallocates the task to another operative.

I had a good conversation about this today with my chum LJ and we decided that it was eminently doable.

Watch this Crimson space

Lenovo Lephone

2010-05-10T04:13:00.000-07:00

I must admit I was confused for at least a year when the IBM ThinkPad disappeared and teh Lenovo Thinkpad arrived. Not being an IBMer meant that I didn't realise they were the same thing and that Lenovo had taken over IBMs hardware division.

Anyway, Lenovo have now released a smartphone - Android based , I am not sure of the specs, but I have to say it looks quite funky

Shares of a bigger pie

2010-05-10T00:42:00.001-07:00

Smartphone sales rose from 35 million in the first quarter 2009, to 54 million in the first quarter 2010. I hereby declare that officially, that is a lot of phones.

Nokia continue to lead (quite how they still have 39% I do not know) followed by RIM and Apple. The IDC survey, however now takes some scruntinising as HTC and Moto are the next on the list and , safe to say , many if not most of their new sales come from Android devices.

As my friends at Microsoft say, this market continues to fly AND with many more devices in the market, this should mean that prices fall.

Now, which one shall I have next?......

Whilst I was driving .......

2010-05-08T11:21:00.000-07:00

...through Davis, California last month little did I realise that a campus-wide trial of Gmail was in process at the University of California at Davis. 30,000 students at UC were apparently having their mail processed by Google.

I would have been less surprised that UC Davis eventually decided that running a mail system through an online information processing provider, was ....er hem....insecure

The Gmail trial has been terminated......funny that.

HTC HD2 ROM updates

2010-05-06T07:55:00.000-07:00

Please be aware that there are various HTC HD2 Rom updates available, from HTC themselves or , operator specific ROMS from your network provider.

We suggest that you go to your network's support site first, then HTC to check for the latest ROM and don't forget to back up your data as a ROM update will "flatten" the device to factory settings.

A new Windows Mobile device from Acer

2010-05-06T06:14:00.000-07:00

Not many new Windows Mobile devices seem to be hitting the street at the moment, mainly due to the announcement of Windows Phone 7 and the focus of OEMs on Android devices.

Acer have been to see us recently and they are rolling out the The P300 slider . Looks a bit lacking in Horsepower to me with a 528Mhz Snapdragon and a WQVGA screen

I am guessing that the price point is Acer's main hope but even then £250 - (ish) is not that cheap

All in all I'm not sure how this device will fare in this very competitive space

Nokia and Microsoft Bring You.......

2010-05-05T07:59:00.000-07:00

.......Office Communicator Mobile for Symbian !

I have been aware for a while that Microsoft and Nokia have been collaborating on a number of things and today sees the launch of Microsoft Communicator Mobile for Nokia handsets.

This smartphone client allows Nokia users to contact their colleagues by phone, email, IM etc using the very smart Microsoft UC client

The Communicator Client will be available on E72s and E75s in the first instance......with more to come. This will also be part of the BPOS push by Microsoft and the collaboration is obviously targeting RIM users.

Google offline Docs are, well, offline

2010-05-05T02:08:00.001-07:00

Google have suspended support for offline Docs today......and haven't told people when working on your documents offline will be reprovisioned.

Most people I know work on their Office-style dosuments on a local machine, rather that directly online so, without going through a File..Export style process they can no longer achieve this goal.

Seems to me that Google have highlighted here why so many people stick to Microsoft Office

Best look yet at Windows phone 7

2010-05-01T11:15:00.000-07:00

There's a new build of Windows phone 7 out (6176) and it comes closest to showing what Microsoft are bringing to market in "Holiday '10". The video is at PocketNow here

One thing I would say is that each iteration seems to deliver a little more than expected, which is good, and the look and feel is excellent

Hmm...WIndows Mobile 6.5 Apps on Windows Phone 7?

2010-04-29T07:57:00.000-07:00

Tucked away on the Agenda for TechEd10 in New Orleans

“Come join us for this interactive session on code compatibility between previous Windows Phone applications and Windows Phone 7. Come talk to experienced application developers and hear what they have to say about code compatibility and share your own experiences with other attendees. Even though the programming paradigm for Windows Phone 7 differs from previous Windows Phone versions, managed applications are still written in C#. Taking a number of best practices into consideration, the majority of your existing code, with the exception of the User Interface, can run on Windows Phone 7.”

There’s also a session entitled “Microsoft’s Next Generation Mobile Enterprise Application Platform (MEAP).” MEAP “allows corporate IT departments to support multiple mobile applications on a single platform.

Hp Buys Palm

2010-04-28T13:59:00.000-07:00

Well , that came out of left field.

HP has bought Palm for about $1.2 bn (not a bargain price we think)

Which really means that HP has bought WebOS and a brand. It was increasingly becoming apparent that HP had backed Windows Mobile, was not part of the Windows Phone 7 launch group and needed traction in the smartphone market.

What next?

Well, we'll see a range of HP smartphone running WebOS obviously, which will likely amount to the same as a bunch of Palm smartphones running WebOS, which is seen to be a very "smart" OS but not a majorplayer in the Iphone, Windows Mobile, Android, Symbian field.

Windows Mobile turns 10 years old

2010-04-28T02:17:00.001-07:00

The old "PocketPC" is 10 years old today. The OS that fired these devices matured into Windows Mobile and , in due course, Windows Phone

I had an Ipaq 3600 and it was, of course, an Ipaq that helped formulate the idea behind Crimson Tide's Mpro range of products and services.

The range of original PocketPc devices is hown below

Nice article on Microsoft Office for Windows Phone 7

2010-04-28T01:57:00.000-07:00

PocketNow have produced a nice piece on Office on Windows Phone 7 here

The article shows PowerPoints being edited on the device - I just hope they get the memory level right because, there's no external storage.

On my Omnia 2, the storage memory is very poor, which I top up with an SD card. If I had no SD slot I would not be able to carry all I need on the road.

I am not sure how Microsoft's idea of continuously connected phones and storage will work in the real world - we shall see

Windows Phone 7 - No Cabs

2010-04-28T01:51:00.000-07:00

Well, we knew that Windows Phone 7 would not allow cabs to be transferred to the device, now we know that ther will be no such thing as a cab.

The files that developers provision will be implemented via a xap file, a kind of zip file that will include all of the files necessary to run the app.

And, of course, the xap file we only be able to be loaded via Marketplace

Microsoft Project Natal - June release announcement?

2010-04-28T01:43:00.000-07:00

Seems like the folks in Redmond are looking to announce Project Natal's release in June - Holiday '10 anyone?

The project which Big Steve calls Microsoft's most exciting release this year brings gesture based interaction with the Xbox using a camera and video setup

I look forward to watching my son snipe the enemy from behind the sofa on Call of Duty

64 Gb on an SD Card (yes, that's 64GB)

2010-04-28T01:35:00.000-07:00

We're lookiong into an application for photographers at the moment and, with their huge photo files, I'm sure they'll be interested to know that SanDisk have produced a 64Gb SD card (well played SanDisk)

The minor drawback is that the price would appear to be about $350 (netbook anyone)

See the details here

New Blackberry devices

2010-04-28T01:32:00.000-07:00

We have to keep up with the times here ar Crimson Tide towers and, although Blackberry is not our premier recommendation , we bring news of the refresh to the Bold and Pearl series

The 9650 and Pearl 3g will run on BB OS 5.0 and seem to be just a refresh rather than anything new and exciting

Live Messenger - for Iphone

2010-04-28T01:25:00.000-07:00

In Microsoft's bid to license all of its products everywhere , I hear that Live Messenger for Iphone is slated to arrive in the coming months

Microsoft apps on the Istore, well fancy that.

Information Week give smartphone stats

2010-04-27T07:47:00.000-07:00

Far too much detail for me but excellent article from Information Week here

As predicted, Android is taking amarket share like crazy from all players, except RIM (I'm surprised at this part)

I am 100% sure this will continue

Nice news article on the Crimson tide healthcare applications

2010-04-27T07:28:00.000-07:00

Mobile News - April 2010

Data solutions provider Crimson Tide has won a four-year contract worth up to €100,000 a year from Dublin company Temperature Control Pharmaceuticals (TCP) to develop software enabling Europe's first barcode safety system for blood disorder suffers to treat themselves in their own homes. The system runs on a range of
Windows smartphones supplied to the patients. The system verifies the product
identification before self treatment is carried out. It can be used to alert patients to product recalls. Where there is more than one haemophilia patient in a household on different treatments, it ensures the right patient is treated with the correct medication. Crimson Tide executive chairman Barrie Whipp said: "This is our largest subscription deal to date. Our application is relevant to in-home patient drug administration worldwide, therefore we are anticipating extending our sales of this type of product in other markets."

Crimson Tide has also developed a mobile system to guarantee the security and confidentiality of a 10-year Irish Government study into the needs of older people.
The study examine 8,000 people aged 50 and over living in Ireland. It charts their health, social and economic circumstances over a 10-year period. The mobile system uses a Motorola MC55 phone into which people from the sample group can input information over a long period of time.

12 Mp camera on a phone? - Good grief !

2010-04-27T05:31:00.000-07:00

I see that Nokia have announced the release of the new N8

As you may know, we do very little with Nokia smartphones (although we supply a lot of the "day to day " phones.

I was stunned to see that this new Symbian OS 3 device has......a 12Mp camera. It also recoeds video in 720p HD, which I think is quite amazing.

We're yet to be convinced by an N series device, although one of my friends at a serious softwrae company that I cannot name tells me the new devices are excellent indeed.

Have a look here (we won't be ordering the sickly green one)

Crimson Tide Tablets ?

2010-04-23T05:30:00.000-07:00

Our mobile data solutions work really well on Windows Mobile smartphones , and we will certainly be developing for Android at some point soon.

In some instances, we can see that our applications would be really efficient on a Tablet device.

The IPad is leading the way , but there is an HP tablet running Windows 7 and Google are also developing this form factor. I'm sure there will be more to come. Even though I like the Kindle concept, it is just so easy to run other apps on this type of device I cannot see any reason to just run an e-book reader.

Watch out for a first draft mpro app for Tablets in the second half of 2010

Adobe Flash being developed for Windows Phone

2010-04-23T05:13:00.000-07:00

After an unholy row with Apple, the people at Adobe have mentioned that they are working on mobile versions of Flash for Windows Phone 7.

I find this slightly odd as WP7 will be running on a Silverlight based platform. You'll recall that Silverlight was introduced as a direct competitor to Flash (but has now developed into a much broader canvas)

I am guessing (literally) that Flash is being developed to work within the Browser on Windows Phone 7 which, as we know HAS to be a cutdown version of IE

Adobe say they are developing for Android and other OSs too.

Nice Healthcare News

2010-04-23T02:26:00.000-07:00

There is a nice mention here on the new Crimson Tide mpro solution for haemophiliacs