T Bryce Yehl: Bryce's Wireless Weblog

Moving

Mon, 04 Nov 2002 20:15:07 GMT

I'm finally taking the plunge and switching to "MT". I'm not going to bother importing this weblog, at least not initially. Too much work for too little benefit. My archives can stay here indefinitely.

My new home page and weblog. Feeds are available in RSS 0.91, RSS 1.0, and RSS 2.0 flavors. I'm not going to set up RSS redirects. I don't like Userland's solution because any aggregator that doesn't understand the format will barf on it. HTTP 301 redirects are better supported, but I don't feel like reconfiguring Apache to allow .htaccess files.

For the couple of people that subscribe to my category feeds, I'll get around to re-creating those eventually. Stay subscribed to the current feeds and wait for an update.

SmartPhone attacks Brittons

Wed, 23 Oct 2002 00:57:38 GMT

Microsoft's SmartPhone platform is finally becoming reality, thanks to the Orange SPV (aka HTC Canary). Forbes reports a US$260 selling price. infoSync has a thorough pre-release evaluation. InfoWorld says that AT&T will offer SmartPhones in the US by mid-2003.

According to Microsoft's specs, the SPV is tri-band. Probably won't be long before someone starts importing them...

Wireless Data Price War

Sat, 19 Oct 2002 02:56:38 GMT

Sprint fires the first shot in the upcoming price war by offering unlimited PCS Vision on all Free & Clear plans for just $10/month, with the first three months free.

Coverage: Press release, CNET.

I would be on the phone with Sprint right now, but the $100 trade-up offer on the Treo 300 has expired and they don't have any Bluetooth handsets...

Lack of PDA Innovation

Fri, 11 Oct 2002 03:27:19 GMT

Steve has a rant on the lack of innovation in the PDA market, spurred by my earlier entry. I had actually started that post as a long rant, and started restating my arguments again just now, but I don't think we really need another long rant. I'll keep this relatively short and sweet.

All of the innovation is happening with non-PPC devices. The primary reason for this is that PPC vendors depend on contract manufacturers for just about everything, following the PC model. Palm OS licensees mostly follow the Apple model, designing nearly everything themselves and using contract manufacturers solely for manufacturing.

The good news is that the decline in prices puts PPC vendors on nearly equal footing with Palm OS licensees. The bad news is that PPC innovations will likely remain few and far between due to the dependance on contract manufacturers, and declining margins will make PPC vendors even more risk-adverse (ie: cool stuff won't be widely available until the costs are low enough to attract Dell).

I think I am slowly convincing myself to go back to the Palm platform. The Sony NX70V makes me drool and the Kyocera 7135 (review) is a highly appealing SmartPhone alternative. I wonder if anyone will come up with a way to directly sync a Palm OS 5 device with a Palm OS 4 phone...

Danger Follow-up

Thu, 10 Oct 2002 23:50:27 GMT

I realized sometime on Monday that it was gonna happen. Too many people reading it, the Network Effect had been triggered, and I was expecting an email any minute. Sure enough, I got an email from a web app engineer at Danger, in response to my rantings the other day. [Anil]

After reading Anil's original rant and posting about Danger's lack of developer information, I sent an email to developer@danger.com asking if they had any "guidelines for creating web content that renders well" on the HipTop / Sidekick. I have received no response.

What good is a web browsing super phone if nobody knows how to design content for it?

CDMA, Cell Phone Standards And Who "Wins"

Mon, 07 Oct 2002 20:08:08 GMT

Fubar writes "Former Qualcomm engineer Steven Den Beste, Captain of the USS Clueless outlines why he thinks the US is primed to overtake Europe and Japan as the technological leader in cell phone technology. He argues it stems from open competition and the use of CDMA."

Superior technology is irrelevant. The EU's problem is that they legislated the adoption of a certain technology before it was ready. America's problem is that it takes forever for the market to select a plurality of winners. America rarely sees the benefits of a single dominant standard unless it is legislated (think: color television) or the market is manipulated (think: Microsoft "CPU Tax" OEM contracts).

Toshiba shrinks Bluetooth SDIO Card

Mon, 07 Oct 2002 16:17:07 GMT

A new Bluetooth SDIO Card from Toshiba cranks things down a notch - 9 millimeters in length, and power consumption by 50%, according to Toshiba. Also, it's Bluetooth 1.1 compliant. [infoSync]

Perfect timing from infoSync. I'd seen something about this a week or two ago, but when I had wanted to post about it the other day I could not locate the original source.

Given current trends in the Pocket PC market (few wireless models, many foregoing Compact Flash due to size), why hasn't anyone come out with a dual-SD unit? With Bluetooth SDIO here already, and WiFi SDIO coming, adding another SD slot would provide excellent expansion without adding much bulk or expense.

The probable answer is that Intel's StrongArm / XScale chipsets don't support it. Neither do they support SD's faster transfer modes.

Frank has some goodies...

Sat, 05 Oct 2002 23:03:25 GMT

Today on Pocket PC How2 Log:

Commentary on outliners for Pocket PCs.
Link to some juicy information on Dell's PPC, with pictures.
Word that Jabra's FreeSpeak Bluetooth headset is finally available.

Jabra's FreeSpeak headset has been vapor for a long time, when it was first announced it had the distinction of being the first BT headset that could be worn all day without making you look like a dork. The regular BT version is $100, a version with an adapter for non-Bluetooth phones is $180.

GPS and Mobile Devices

Fri, 04 Oct 2002 19:00:13 GMT

allNetDevices: e911 Pros and Cons.

infoSync: Motorola touts new GPS chip. Single-chip GPS in a 7x7mm package, supposedly sensitive enough to work "under dense trees, in a parking garage, or even a chop shop."

infoSync: 1xRTT and GPS from Verizon, Samsung. The a310 features GPS-based e911 functionality and is available now from Verizon.

I've been wondering for a while now if GPS-enabled cell phones will work with PDAs. The carriers are likely to drag their feet in rolling out location-based services, and their early offerings are likely to be corrupted by their need to derive revenue from them. Not to mention the inherent usability challenges...

Anti-Danger

Thu, 03 Oct 2002 23:56:46 GMT

I was planning to write a little missive against Danger and the HipTop / Sidekick device, but Anil beat me to it [via Mark Pilgrim]. Anil's site apparantly doesn't render well on the Sidekick:

So I decided I was going to modify my page to conform to your browser's idiocy. I went looking for technical docs on what you do to mangle web pages. None. I went looking for a desktop emulator that I could run to simulate your device on my computer. None. I went looking to see an acknowledgement of the shortcomings of your device, indicating that the situation would be improved. None.

Nice job creating a device. Too bad you didn't bother to make it a platform.

One might expect that the year of delays in getting the first Danger product to market might have given them time to establish a developer program and produce guidelines for designing Danger-friendly web content. You would be wrong. From the bottom of the Danger FAQ:

Danger's objective is to make the hiptop application platform open to all developers. At this time, we are working with select developers on an individual basis. We intend to launch our formal developer program in early 2003. If you're interested in becoming a developer for Danger, please email us: developer@danger.com.

Another Sidekick / HipTop note...

Tue, 01 Oct 2002 18:56:43 GMT

T-Mobile is including the camera accessory for free, no idea if that is a limited-time offer.

Danger's HopTop.com will eventually offer weblogs:

Hiplogs Online Journals—It's your chance to be a star! You and your trusty T-Mobile Sidekick, that is. Share your deepest thoughts or wildest whims online with a public journal you can update on the go!

Danger, Danger!

Tue, 01 Oct 2002 16:32:53 GMT

The T-Mobile Sidekick (aka Danger HipTop) has finally launched. I want one, but the only plan they're offering has just 200 voice minutes. Bleh.

Coverage: CNET, PC World, PocketPCHow2

Patented Keyboards

Thu, 26 Sep 2002 04:44:21 GMT

Dan Bricklin has written about the RIM keyboard patents. RIM is suing Handspring over the Treo Communicators.

Tue, 17 Sep 2002 15:41:16 GMT

PDABuzz: First Look : T-Mobile Sidekick (aka Danger Hiptop)

Mon, 09 Sep 2002 17:50:57 GMT

BSquare CEO Bill Baxter shows off the Power Handheld prototype in a News.com video interview. [via PDABuzz]

Fri, 06 Sep 2002 15:38:08 GMT

BSQUARE's CE.NET wireless reference platform

The "Power Handheld" is CE.NET device with an XScale CPU, integrated GSM/GPRS, retractable keyboard, and 4-inch VGA LCD (640x480). It's a bit larger than the current crop of Pocket PCs and uses a horizontal orientation.

I want one.

Coverage: InfoWorld, CNET, PPC Thoughts, BSQUARE Press Release

Thu, 05 Sep 2002 20:47:08 GMT

InfoWorld: BlackBerry attracting third party improvements. Nextel plans to offer a "slightly redesigned" Blackberry with Direct Connect. Brief mention of Boost Mobile, a SoFL company offering pre-paid Nextel service.

I don't care much for Nextel's service because indoor reception is terrible, and Direct Connect is often more annoying than useful in business settings. On the plus side, they have a web interface for managing your phone contacts. Why haven't other manufacturers and carriers emulated that?

Thu, 05 Sep 2002 20:25:23 GMT

PPCW: Improve the Battery Life of your HP Jornada 928 WDA. Closing the cover only turns off the backlight, not the PDA.

PPCW: How to dial SIM card entries with PPC PE. Smells like an opportunity for a third-party to build a better dialer.

Thu, 05 Sep 2002 20:20:24 GMT

PPCW: Peter Aloisson Diamante T68. Lots of gold bits, 849 diamonds, $28,000.

Thu, 05 Sep 2002 20:15:29 GMT

Where is Sendo?

This article suggests that Sendo will price their Smartphone device to be cheaper than O2's XDA, with an anticipated price of around $460 with contract. The article goes to report that the Smartphone won't be released until first quarter 2003, which would be later than the targetted September/October ship date. [PocketPCHow2 Log]

Same old story. I have serious doubts that Sendo will ever ship anything, and I'm still wondering what carriers they expect to offer $600 subsidies. Maybe that's what is really holding back Microsoft's Smartphone platform...

Thu, 05 Sep 2002 20:04:19 GMT

infoSync: Smartphone 2002 gets J2ME support. Microsoft isn't smoking crack, the support comes via Insignia. No bundling deals announced.

Thu, 05 Sep 2002 19:28:57 GMT

infoSync: Bluetooth will succeed.

Oliver Thylmann theorizes that Bluetooth will succeed because Apple supports it, basing his opinion on what Apple has done for Firewire and Digital Photography. I'm not so sure that Firewire is a raging success, particularly if you exclude Macintosh storage applications -- Apple forced Mac users into Firewire by limiting internal expansion options and eliminating SCSI ports. Digital photography certainly owes little to Apple. Way back in 1994, Apple was a leader with the Kodak-designed QuickTake 100. Today, iPhoto is a response to the continued popularity of digital photography, not a catalyst for it's success.

iMovie might be an example of Apple following and catalyzing simultaneously, and the iPod for Windows may seriously push Firewire for PC users, but I digress.

Back to Bluetooth... I have doubts that Bluetooth will "succeed" on the desktop. The most mainstream application of Bluetooth on the deskop is to synchronize phone numbers with a cellular phone. Yawn. Connecting desktops to PDAs, wireless keyboards and mice... these are niche applications. Bluetooth is too slow to replace USB in most other desktop applications.

The good news is that Bluetooth doesn't need the desktop. Many applications of Bluetooth revolve around cellular phones, and most are more compelling and mainstream than synchronizing phone numbers. The bad news is that there are still few Bluetooth-enabled cellular phones on the market. In the US we have the Ericsson T68, and that's it. Motorola's 280i is MIA, Nokia's Bluetooth models have yet to cross the pond, and Ericsson has largely given up on America.

Sat, 31 Aug 2002 02:04:28 GMT

PPCW: HP Jornada 928 WDA. Two-part review with lots of pictures and details. In terms of hardware and software, HP seems to have an edge over the current PPC PE devices, but the battery life is disappointing.

Sat, 31 Aug 2002 01:45:42 GMT

Samsung has been busy

Samsung has a bunch of interesting 1xRTT stuff in the pipeline. The SPH-A500 is a striking clamshell phone with J2ME support, available from Sprint now [infoSync, Web McDeb]. The SPH-i700 is a PPC Phone Edition CDMA device that sports a digital camera [infoSync, Pocket PC Thoughts]. The SPH-i600 is a SmartPhone 2002 CDMA device in a classic clamshell format [infoSync, Pocket PC Thoughts, PDA Buzz]. The SPH-i500 is a Palm OS CDMA device similar to the SPH-i600, but with a Grafitti area above the keypad [infoSync, Palm Infocenter].

Kyocera's 7135 Smartphone is also due soon, similar to the SPH-i500 and sporting an SDIO slot [Palm Infocenter, PDA Buzz].