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http://www.digitalblasphemy.com/dbhome.shtml#12-28-09

I hope to have the multiscreen rendering soon!

http://www.wmexperts.com/best-smartphone-experts-27-dec-2009

The end of the year and the holidays aren't stopping us from keeping an eye out for smartphone news and continuing to bring you comparative reviews in the Smartphone Round Robin. Be sure to check out the latest updates page to see what's new, or you can follow via Facebook, Twitter, and of course RSS. This week, you can listen to us discuss the iPhone on The Cell Phone Junkie Podcast, so don't go missing that either. On to the big news of the week!

http://www.wmexperts.com/wmexperts-podcast-episode-83

Malatesta and Phil, Scrooges that they are, blow through their holiday cheer and talk up the HTC HD2 (of course), the Smartphone Round Robin and a bunch of Windows Mobile nerdery. Listen in!

• Download it directly with this link
• Subscribe on your Zune
• Subscribe via iTunes
• Subscribe directly to the Podcast feed with your favorite Podcatcher here
• Listen to it here with the flash player above.

Smartphone Round Robin

• iPhone from a Windows Mobile perspective - Smartphone Round Robin
• Windows Mobile from a CrackBerry addict's perspective - Smartphone Round Robin

Hardware news

• Review: HTC HD2
• Leaked T-Mobile HD2 ROM in video
• Review: HP Glisten Camera
• Hands-on with the LG eXpo from AT&T
• Yes. This is exactly what unboxings are like
• Touch Pro 2 makes a nice dash camera
• Verizon getting LG VS750 in early 2010. Variant of GM750?
• Next Wave of Acer Handsets Teased
• Sprint Announcing a WiMax Capable Windows Phone at CES?

Software news

• xImapPusher: IMAP Idle client for Windows Mobile
• Easy SMS Client for Google Voice
• Set weather update frequency in Sense 2.1
• Opera Beta 2u now available
• SBSH updates PhoneWeaver
• Fortunatus a waste of $500

Community

Thanks, Michael and Elliott, for the e-mails. (Here's the link for the PWI notes problem.) Drop us a line. E-mail podcast@wmexperts.com. Call us at (866) 904-5882 ext. 222. Hit us up on Twitter - @wmexperts, Deiter, Phil, Malatesta, George, Tim.

Credits

Thanks to the WMExperts Store for sponsoring the podcast. Thanks also to these great artists for the music and to CCMixter.org for offering a great database of Creative Commons music!

• Swim below as Leviathans by Fireproof Babies
• GONE by djsociopath

http://www.wmexperts.com/safe-police-need-search-warrant-your-phone

If there is one thing Windows phone users know, it's that their little device can hold a whole lot of information. Whether it's e-mail, personal finances, PIN codes, documents, or naked drunk pictures of yourself at that office holiday party, these mini computers can contain a vast resource of information about our personal lives (and those around you).

While a lot of security issues on smartphones revolves around potential thievery, e.g. remote wiping or spyware, one area up till now has been gray: Do the police have a right to search your phone, even when arrested?

At least according to a recent Ohio Supreme Court ruling, no the police cannot search your phone. Like other areas such as car and home searches, police are required to get a search warrant first.  To quote the NY Times:

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled this month, by a 4-to-3 vote, that the search violated the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable search and seizure. Rather than seeing a cellphone as a simple closed container, the majority noted that modern cellphones — especially ones that permit Internet access — are “capable of storing a wealth of digitized information.”

Expanding upon that notion, there is no need to distinguish between "smartphones" and "dumbphones" either as all phones will be covered, ruling out potential areas of dispute in court.

Of course the flip-side is law enforcement will argue that this will make their job harder, something to which we sympathize.  Regardless, we are quite pleased with this decision.  (Counter argument: we're trying to think of situations where remote-wiping could be nefariously employed here once the phone is in possession, but not searched yet by the police.  Hmmm...)

Either way, would you trust that guy (above) with your tricked out, custom Touch Pro 2 with stealth-tethering hack?  Heck, no ...

What are you thoughts?  Sound off in comments...

[via NY Times]

http://twitter.com/Kalidor/statuses/7081653566

Kalidor @unknown8bit yep .. Narita alright. Not once have I managed to be there without rain. Perpetual rain cloud? Saturday from Twitter - Comment - Like

http://twitter.com/Kalidor/statuses/7081584122

Kalidor @BMIracing still looking for twitter app for winmo? may wanna look at pocketwit - http://code.google.com/p... Saturday from Twitter - Comment - Like

http://www.wmexperts.com/iphone-windows-mobile-perspective-smartphone-round-robin

What could we possibly have to say about Apple and the iPhone that hasn't been said countless times already? Plenty. Given that Apple has spent the past year largely consolidating its power in the mobile space, and Microsoft has spent the past year making many wonder if they're going to continue in the mobile space, it's fitting that we take a look at the two here in the second week of the third annual Smartphone Round Robin.

There will be no talk of iPhone killers.

There will be no talk of the death of Windows Mobile.

OK, there may be a little. Keep reading for more.

Update: Addendum

A look at the year that was

Another year, another major software update for the iPhone. Apple has settled in to a pretty predictable (if yet unofficial) schedule: Announce the next major software upgrade in the spring, unveil it in the summer along with some sort of hardware change. The iPhone 3G got a speed boost in 2009, bringing us the iPhone 3GS, along with the 3.0 (and later 3.1) software.

While a hardware boost is always welcome, it was the addition (or creation, some would say) of cut and paste that many iPhone users had so dearly done without. (That Windows Mobile users have had cut and paste for years was largely ignored by the mainstream media.) Push notifications were welcomed by some, and panned by others because of their "modal" nature, meaning they make you stop what you're doing to deal with them.

Microsoft, on the other hand, announced Windows Mobile 6.5 at Mobile World Congress in February 2009. Months and months went by, during which we saw a number of leaked builds making the rounds, unofficially bringing us Windows Mobile 6.5 long before we even had an official release date. Finally, Microsoft launched WM6.5 -- along with a slew of new phones -- in October. Too little, too late, many say. But it was Microsoft's first attempt at an actual launch "event" for Windows Mobile. And while it didn't knock off any socks, it was better than the usual "OK, carriers, here it is, have fun. Update your phones if you want."

Suffice to say that nobody from "Best Week Ever" is going to come calling on Microsoft for a quote. But it was a big year not just in software, but in hardware. HTC updated its Touch Pro and Touch Diamond lines, and introduced the Snap. Samsung refreshed its Omnia line. And on a sad note, Palm killed off its Windows Mobile Treo line. A slow year, it was not.

The power of consolidating power

Some of the best conversations surrounding smartphones these days have to do with Apple's singular vision. It designs the phones. It keeps a tight fist on the manufacturing process. It largely controls the marketing of the devices. Even the act of selling an iPhone is controlled by Apple. Want to use the iPhone? You have to connect to iTunes at least once. Apps? Only (official) way to get them is through Apple's App Store. Everything, at least at some point, must pass through Apple. Do not pass Go, head directly to Cupertino.

Windows Mobile, on the other hand, has always gone the opposite direction. Microsoft provides the platform, but manufacturers and carriers always have been responsible for the end product. In some ways, that's fine. Look at what HTC has done over the past two and three years, and what Palm did with its now defunct Treo line. Other times, well, let's just say we're not fans of all of the UIs tacked onto Windows Mobile.

There are a number of reasons to argue for Apple's model. Certainly quality control -- for everything: design, manufacturing, marketing, support -- among the top. But for us, it's Apple's update strategy that really stands out. There are millions of iPhones out there. And there are millions of Windows Mobile phones. And when an update is released, which do you think gets the latest firmware more quickly? The iPhone, of course. Updates are pushed out through iTunes, and most normal iPhone users connect to iTunes on a fairly regularly basis. It's the hub for the whole iPhone experience. When an update is available, you're told so. And it's just a few clicks to install. The toughest part is waiting for the new software to download.

On the Windows Mobile side? First is the trouble up updating. Anyone who had a Samsung Blackjack knows just how unfun (and downright scary) Sammy's firmware upgrade process is. HTC's is pretty straightforward: Plug in your phone and run a file. But it's still full of screens that intimidate the casual user. That's Hurdle No. 1.

Hurdle No. 2: There's no one place Windows phones go to congregate (for lack of a better term). The closest thing we have to iTunes connectivity is Microsoft Exchange, which for the most part drives e-mail for large businesses. And while a large number of Windows phones are used by "business people," Exchange doesn't cover the entire spectrum. So, that's not necessarily the way we'd like to see updates pushed out.

Hurdle No. 3: Updates are large. Currently the iPhone and Windows Mobile do things the same way: You basically download the entire OS and reload the thing. It's much, much cleaner on the iPhone side. You update your phone, and it reloads your contacts, apps and settings -- all of your important data -- back to its previous state. When you update the ROM on a Windows phone, you start from zero. That's not a huge deal for ROM flashers, but remember that most normal people might upgrade a ROM once in their phone's lifetime.

The design obsession

When you talk about the iPhone -- and Apple in general -- the word "experience" eventually comes up. And that's what Apple really is selling. By now, every self-respecting Apple fanboy has watched the "Objectified" documentary. And even those of us who don't drink the Kool-Aid can appreciate exactly what's being done in Cupertino, Calif. You're not just buying an iPhone. You're buying into the entire Apple ecosystem and Apple's carefully constructed user experience.

The iPhone is a beautiful piece of hardware. (That's senior VP of design Jonathan Ive at right.) There's no denying that. It's sleek, it's simple, and it proved that you can have a phone without a physical keyboard. The iPhone will turn three years old in 2010, and for the most part its design hasn't changed. It's still that obelisk with a single button on its face. You could say it's getting boring. Or you could say it stands up over time. You say tomato ...

Microsoft doesn't do hardware, at least in the mobile space ... yet. We've seen what has been done with the Xbox 360 and more recently with the Zune HD. So can Microsoft do hardware? Absolutely. Certainly we don't know the intricacies of designing and building your own cell phone. But if Microsoft can do it in the entertainment space, why not the mobile space?

And speaking of unchanging design, there's the iPhone's user interface. I don't even like calling it that, though. It's a launcher. Its internal name is "Springboard." The iPhone launches apps, plays music and videos and makes phone calls. Plain and simple.

Windows phones, on the other hand, are more about bringing information to your eyeballs. Whether you're using Windows Mobile 6.5's stock today screen (called Titanium) or HTC's TouchFLO 3D or Sense UIs, or Samsung's TouchWIZ, you're presented with information. What time is it? What's the weather like? What appointments do I have coming up? Do I have any e-mails? Any text messages? Any missed calls? Ultimately more useful, and much more pleasing on the eye than a grid of icons. For a phone that's all about design and experience, the iPhone's UI is sparse, cold and boring.

And Apple's user experience also has as much to do with a lack of hardware buttons as it does software continuity. One of Windows Mobile's greatest strengths is its availability on multiple platforms. But that breaks the experience. And even within single devices, the experience can be broken. Take the HTC Touch Pro 2, for example. It has a "back" hardware button. On some applications, pushing the button takes you back a level within the app. In other apps, it exits the application. (Well, there was a "back" soft key. But still. WTF?) That's just not good user experience. And it really is just the tip of the iceberg.

Apps, apps and more apps

Oh, but what is a phone without applications? And the iPhone invented applications, right? Not so much. Sure, Apple loves to boast about how many apps are in the App Store. But we've debunked that as marketing B.S. already. Windows Mobile has had tens of thousands of applications available for years. Nothing new there. Problems is they've been spread out to hell and back. While repositories have existed in the likes of Handango and Mobihand (which runs our own WMExperts Software Store), there weren't any on-device homes for purchasing and loading applications. That's changed with Windows Mobile 6.5 and the Windows Marketplace for Mobile. While it's functional, it's not nearly as sexy as Apple's App Store. (Hell, even the Windows Marketplace for Mobile name is clunky.)

No, what the App Store did was to bring the idea of applications to the consumer space, and made them easy to find (though not necessarily to sort through), purchase and download. Apps are a necessity. Not that they weren't before. Windows Mobile had 'em. Palm OS had 'em. Symbian's had 'em. BlackBerry's had 'em. Sure, your phone's nice, but what apps does it have? Is the iPhone so successful because of the App Store? Or is the App Store so successful because of the iPhone? It's a fun discussion, but moot at this point.

What isn't moot is the overall quality of apps. Sure, there are crap apps on the iPhone, just as there are for Windows Mobile and any other platform. But where the iPhone has really shined is with its continuity of the design of apps, especially the basic ones. While developers are free to make their apps look however they please, it's the basic apps that often stand out. Using Apple's Cocoa Touch framework, selection menus are presented in a consistent manner. They're easy on the eyes (and the fingers). You know what buttons are going to do, because they do the same things throughout applications.

The one longstanding Achilles' heel? That sheer number of apps. The market's flooded, and the process of getting into the App Store is fraught with secrecy and frustration. Some apps are rejected for what appears to be no reason whatsoever. Others are accepted without question, then later pulled when cooler heads decided that maybe a baby-shaking app was in poor taste.

What's in store for 2010

We don't believe in iPhone killers. That's a phrase that was coined by writers who couldn't think of any other arguments to make. No, we're not looking for Windows Mobile 7, if and when it's announced and later released, to "kill" anything, save for maybe the bad taste that Windows Mobile 6.5 left in a lot of mouths. But even that isn't entirely fair. Microsoft announced Windows Mobile 6.5 and for the most part delivered exactly what it promised. No more, no less. A stopgap to hold things over until WM7.

Will that be the long-desired Zune phone? Will it be a more compelling version of Windows Mobile as we know it? That's hard to say at this point. We just don't know.

And Apple's even harder to figure out. The general consensus is that a major iPhone hardware revision is coming in the summer of 2010. High-definition? Some sort of super processor? A keyboard? (Gasp!) Who knows ... And throw the mythical iTablet/iSlate/iWhatEverIt'sCalled into the mix, and the rumor mill will continue to run rampant for some time now. We wouldn't bet the farm against a fairly major UI overhaul, either.

But, no. Nobody will be "killing" the iPhone anytime soon. And, contrary to popular belief, another platform won't be "killing" Windows Mobile anytime soon. Only thing that could "kill" Windows Mobile is Microsoft, by pulling the plug. Our guess is that Windows Mobile 7 will look to make the leap from the enterprise space (businesses) to more of a consumer space. And if it leverages the quality of the Zune HD with the popularity of the Xbox 360, it could well find itself with a hit on its hands.

Addendum: Jailbreaking and cooked ROMs

We haven't mentioned jailbreaking on the iPhone or ROM cooking on some Windows Mobile devices. That's partially to save your eyeballs (thanks for reading as much as you did), and partially because those are unofficial, unsupported and legally ambiguous methods of using your phone. That said, they are also very important parts of both communities. But chances are if you're reading this in the first place, you're fully aware that you can jailbreak your iPhone, and that many Windows phones (though mostly HTC devices) can have custom ROMs loaded onto them. Have at it. Have fun. And don't say we didn't warn you.

http://www.wmexperts.com/review-hp-glisten-camera

We took a look at the HP Glisten and while the Windows phone isn't as flashy as some of the others recently released, we found it to be a quality device. The Glisten is "old school" in design and while it may lack "sexiness" it fits well with those looking for a no-nonsense phone.

We skipped commenting on the Glisten's camera so we could take our time to give it proper attention. While not everyone looks to the camera as a selling point, many do.  Not everyone carries a standalone digital camera and relies on their phone's camera to capture those memorable moments in life.

Follow the break to see what memorable impressions the HP Glisten's camera made on us.

The Camera

The HP Glisten has a fixed-focus, 3.1-megapixel camera with video capability. The fixed-focus aspect of the camera is a bit of a disappointment. Fixed focus cameras basically are set to focus between two set points. It lacks the accuracy of variable focus cameras and the result is a hit with image quality.

Shutter actuations are accomplished by pressing the center button on the control pad.  Setting the phone to silent or vibrate will also silence the shutter sound.  There is a lag time between pressing the shutter and capturing the image.  If you move the camera too soon, you'll blur your picture.  This is likely due to a small buffer size between the camera sensor and storage location.

The Software

The camera software on the Glisten helps make up for the fixed focus lens a little.  It won't turn lemons into lemonade, but it will take away some of the sour taste.

The main screen/viewfinder has a series of icons across the top indicating capture modes, white balance setting, digital zoom setting, pictures remaining in storage, the location of storage (phone or expansion card) and image size.  To the left corner is an icon that will launch HP's Photosmart application (picture viewer) and to the right, the settings icon.

You have seven capture modes that include photo, timer, burst, frame (frames your pictures with decorative framing), panorama, video and MMS video modes. The bad thing about the capture modes is that by default the camera returns to photo mode when you turn off the camera. If your primary use for the camera is video, I can see this being a pain.

You have six exposure modes/effects that include Normal, Black&White, Negative, Solarize, Sepia and Aqua. Whichever style you choose is reflective on the screen as you take the picture. If you choose Black&White, the viewfinder will be in black&white.

The Glisten's camera has two resolution settings (1600x1200 and 2048x1536) and you can adjust the white balance based on a range of lighting conditions (incandescent, fluorescent, daylight, and cloudy) or let the camera choose the best with the Auto setting.

The camera software on the Glisten also allows you to adjust how the software processes the image (in-phone) with respect to brightness, saturation, sharpness, and contrast.

The software on the Glisten also has Capture Settings that allows you to customize controls such as where to store the pictures/videos, how long the timer is, how many photos in a burst, video format, shutter sound, etc.

Performance

It is very hard for a fixed focus camera to compete with variable focus cameras. Whether the camera is on a Windows phone or a stand alone camera, fixed focus cameras enter the game handicapped to begin with. The Glisten, unfortunately, is not an exception.  Note: The only processing performed on these photos was to re-size them for publication.

Unedited, image quality is mediocre at best. I experienced a mixed bag of results ranging from noticeable color casts to over-saturation, to out-of-focus images, to decent images.  The fixed focus lens appears to have a minimum focusing distance of about one foot and is not as sharp (as expected) as other phone cameras I've tested.

Indoors, you need a good bit of light to keep the shutter speed up there to avoid blurring due to camera or subject movement.

The exposure effects give a glimmer of hope and creativity to the Glisten's camera.  I found the Sepia and Negative settings to perform the best.

There's not much difference between Sepia and Black/White with the brown tone giving the Sepia a slight edge in quality.  Aqua simply increases the blue color cast and Solarization takes an acquired taste.

I picked the worst week possible to test this camera in that it was either cloudy or raining all week. The camera did seem to work better when your subject is beyond 3 to 4 feet away.

Using processing software, I can improve quality making the images more presentable. You can also tinker with the in-phone processing settings to help ease the pain but, if you don't like messing with image processing, I wouldn't rely on the Glisten's camera beyond emergency use (documenting a traffic accident), a contact photo, or a casual snapshot.

Video capture wasn't much better with regards to image quality but it was still lacking. The video was dark and softly focused.

Overall Impressions

While I liked the Glisten overall, if the camera is a critical feature in considering a Windows phone I'de look elsewhere. If you're in a jam and need to document a traffic accident, something you see in the store while shopping, or need a thumbnail picture for a phone contact the Glisten's camera will do.

However, if you're wanting to take a picture of your children on Santa's lap, getting a school award, or use your Windows phone camera for similar photographic needs (pictures that are more than a casual snapshot) the Glisten will not do. In defense of the Glisten, it is more designed for the professional/conservative crowd that wants more of business styled Windows phone than a mult-media machine. The camera feature is still useful but seriously limited.

I still like the Glisten and while it has nostalgic features and design, the camera should have been more up to date.

http://twitter.com/Kalidor/statuses/7056670619

Kalidor @IMKristenBell Wonder how different the TV version is. IMDB says the director removed his credits when they changed title&edited for tv Saturday from Twitter - Comment - Like