For the last 2 days I’ve been re-familiarising myself with the Nokia N810 and using it as an online presence, notification tool, microblogging tool and communicator. I’ve got the email client hooked up to Google via IMAP, Mauku tracking twitter, the built in chat client connected to Gtalk and OVI, the built-in Skype client running (voice works too), weather updating on the home page and the RSS reader loaded with feeds. Oh, and because of the very nice sounding audio quality, I’ve been using it as an Internet radio. Canola […]

Maybe 50% of people will be calling this a MID? News is breaking about a new 4.1 inch smartphone (same screen size and res as the Nokia N810) that will be running on the Snapdragon platform from Qualcomm. It’s another cross-over between MIDs and smartphones and I don’t care what anyone wants to call it. If it performs well as a browser (Its running Windows Mobile 6.1 so Opera Mobile 9.5, Fennec and other options could work well on this) then it’s well worth considering. We’re tracking news from a […]

This one has surprised me a little bit. I expect a certain type of MID to merge with the rising capabilities of smartphones but I didn’t expect 50% of people to agree that MIDs (ABI seems to point to big-screen devices that aren’t 24/7 devices) would be cell phone replacements. Have I been a bit short-sighted here? Are we getting to a point where a 4" or even 5" screen MID with voice capabilities would be acceptable as a smartphone by a significant number of people? MIDs have been proposed […]

Back in late 2005, I was thinking carefully about renewing my Siemens ME45 phone. I was reaching the limits of GPRS and WAP versions of websites and needed to take the next step to 3G. At just the right time, along came a ‘netbook’ that resulted in me getting very excited. I would have bought it but it wasn’t in stock so instead, I analysed my needs and wrote up the spec for my Carrypad (almost what the N810 and Compal MIDs are today) and started the Carrypad journal. Carrypad.com […]

An email in from Viliv this morning highlights that the Viliv S5 will have haptic feedback on it’s touchscreen adding another feature that sets it apart from the rest. With XP and an overlay UI, a big battery that should see 4hrs screen-on, online use and 6 hours video playback (we estimate about 10 hours of audio) and 200 hours of standby (device not active) there’s not much that can touch it (ahem!) in the 4.8 tablet market. In theory, a slider keyboard would be nice but then you’d lose […]

I have no problem agreeing with what InStat are saying in their latest report. "Embedding a wide-area wireless modem into devices addresses the frustration many users have with the coverage of Wi-Fi." For me, wireless wan connectivity is an absolute must for a ultra mobile PC and anything without it is just portable between hotspots but I do also understand that there are problems for OEMs too. Adding 3G to a product requires more certification expense, assembly-line options, adds cost and is difficult to research on a global territory basis. […]

Somehow, somewhere, there seems to be a problem getting quality Linux drivers out for Poulsbo’s GPU. First we hear about the delays with Moblin V2 on MIDs  and now we get this story from an experienced Linux contributor. Adam’s article explains problems with the source code and how difficult it is to get working in a new distribution. Clearly the work on the Poulsbo drivers for Linux is delayed. Building your own distro is exactly what Moblin is all about. 12 linux distributors have signed up to use Moblin  but […]

As I come towards the end of the loan period for the Wibrain i1 HSDPA and Compal MID (Thanks Mobilx. Thanks Intel) it’s time to start thinking about what device(s) should replace them. The i1 has been extremely productive and enjoyable and the battery life was the best that I’ve ever experienced without using an extended battery. It will be hard, if not impossible with the devices on the market today, to replace it. The Compal Jax10 (3G) was the best browsing experience I’ve ever had in my pocket so […]