Picture of the new Motorola Q(2)?

Cool6324, a member of the popular HowardForums.com, posted a picture of what looks to possibly be the new Motorola Q(2) sitting next to the current Q.

(Click on pic for a larger image)

The post did not contain much information about this new Q but I would bet this is the version that should be announced in Feb. Stay tuned!

Motorola Q v2, AKA Motorola Q(2)

The guys over at Engadget posted info released during Motorola's 2007 outlook webcast on the next version of the Motorola Q, the Moto-Q(2). What we do know from the slide is that the device will finally be released with GSM support (T-Mobile, Cingular, etc) but it's unclear what new options or new form it will take on.

I think the Motorola Q really put Windows Mobile on the map with it's release last year (remember the phrase "Blackberry Killer") and sales have been pretty good but I wonder how it will compete against the Samsung Blackjack or HTC Dash. If they give exclusive rights to Cingular or T-Mobile (Cingular would be my guess because of the existing 3G Network), they would have 2 keyboard toting Windows Mobile Smartphone offerings. Also Sprint just released the current version of the Motorola Q this month (3 months late) so I cannot see them updating it with Q(2) any time soon. Will be interesting to see!

Where is EVDO RevA?

EVDOMaps.com has a great site where by using Google Maps you can search the US to determine where and what type of EVDO service is available from actual users. As more providers update to EVDO RevA this will probably be a great source to see where RevA is rolled out before they are officially announced.

Why does my battery die so quickly?

Ever wonder why your battery is empty before the day is up? Here is a great article on how much each item of a Smartphone and PocketPC consumes.

http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile/archive/2006/08/04/689069.aspx

Cingular HSDPA vs Sprint & Verizon EVDO.

Not too long ago I picked up a HTC Dash from T-Mobile as a replacement for my Motorola Q. I loved the phone (except for the touch bar on the side which I hit repeatedly while on the phone). I think it's one of the better phones out there but I could not deal with EDGE's data network speed, or lack there of. After rocking for a while with EVDO I could not go back to a slower network technology like EDGE.

St. Louis has been one the lucky cities to pickup Cingular's new 3G network so I decided to pickup a new Samsung Blackjack (my favorite Windows Mobile Device). After initial tests I was very pleased with Cingular's 3G data network speed. It is actually a little faster than EVDO in my area. I am also getting 4 full bars of coverage in most areas, not so with Verizon and Sprint.

After a few weeks of playing with the phone and Cingular's 3G network I started to notice an annoying issue. A major problem that I experience daily is that on occasion while opening a web page my browser will show "locating" in the status bar and hangs there for sometimes up to 45-60 seconds. Thinking the blame may be the carrier's DNS servers (most ISP and carrier's DNS servers are overworked) I change my DNS settings to OpenDNS. This did nothing to solve the problem. Network speeds are fine because once the page starts to load it is pretty quick. On EVDO I never experinced this problem, web page viewing seems to be pretty effortless. I am also seeing this issue with my e-mail using Microsoft's ActiveSync Push technology. It seems that Cingular's 3G has this annoying "latency" that is not present on EVDO.

After doing a little reading on a few forums it looks like I am not the only one. So I wonder if this problem is because of the technology behind Cingular's network or the network itself?

Crossbow's just around the corner, Verizon's Samsung i760.

Engadget has a few great picks of the new Samsung i760 phone, to be released later this year, and it's running Microsoft's next refresh of Windows Mobile. Glad to see that the cell phone manufactures have "crossbow" in hand to start testing on phones. We all know how long the testing process is with some of these carriers.

The phone should be out sometime later this year.

Great review for the newly release Sprint Motorola Q.

They guys over at Mobility Today posted a great review of Sprint's version of the Motorola Q. I know there are 3 guys in my office who have been waiting patiently for this device to be release and am glad Sprint took the time to work out some of the bugs. I am assuming this is why it missed the Nov release deadline?

"The Motorola Q for Sprint has been a fantastic device for me since I have been using it for the past week. Battery life has been fantastic offering me a full two days of use. This completely blew me away since being a previous Motorola Q customer with Verizon I was forced to purchased extended batteries which still were only giving me a full day of use."

When will I replace my iPod with my Smartphone?

With the increase in size of SD and MicroSD cards you can now store more and more music on your phone which is now makes it more competitive with the iPod. I would love to get rid of my iPod and just use my phone but here are my issues with doing that:

1. Battery Life - The biggest complaints I have with most Windows Mobile phones is the battery life. I can make it a full day on one charge. While traveling it becomes harder to stay on a charging schedule and I try not to use my phone unless absolutely necessary (email, phone, occasional webpages/rss). Nothing is worse than your phone dead on the road. (yeah I could carry a spare charged battery which I do have but I am bad about making sure it's charged).
2. Windows Media Player 10 Mobile - I don't mind it. It works well but is hard to create playlist and navigate files. It needs to be "mp3 player" like in usability. Hopefully with the future release of the iPhone MS will take note and come up with an application that can compete. I have looked at several 3rd party apps and have not found anything I liked.
3. Headphone Jack on the BlackJack - It's a proprietary jack. I like that my Motorola Q had a standard headset jack.

From the information and screenshots I have seen on "crossbow", the next update to Windows Mobile 5, I don't think there is going to be much of an upgrade. Let's hope "photon" will!

As side note; The one thing that I REALLY like is that I can sync and play songs I have from my Zune marketplace to my Windows Mobile phone. I like my Zune (yes I use both my iPod Nano and Zune) but it's cool I can take Zune music to my phone.

Blackjack Extended Battery

I recently purchased an extended battery for my Cingular (now at&t) Blackjack. With my standard battery was to get about a full day of usage(from around 7A - 11P) on one charge. I normally had 1 bar left on the battery icon. Every now and again I had to stick it on the charger around 6P. My normal usage is mostly data, I send and receive ~ 25-100 emails per day, read RSS feeds about every 45 mins with NewsBreak (I don't have it set-up to auto refresh, I do it manually) and view a few webpages. I only use my phone for voice ~ 20-40 mins per day.

After reading some good reviews on the extended battery I placed an order with Samsung. They shipped it the next day. As with the standard batteries it takes about 1 week of the drain/charge cycle to see the full potential of the battery. While I have not been brave enough to not charge it over nite I normally have 2 bars of battery left when I stick it on the charger at nite.

The extended battery also makes the phone feel a little more substantial than the standard battery. It does feel bigger/heavier in my pocket but it's not bad at all and I like the way it feels in my hand.

Here is a link: http://samsung.com/Products/MobilePhones/Cingular/SGH_I607ZKACIN.asp?page=Accessories

Blackjack 3G/EDGE Network Selection

I have been reading post on different Windows Mobile forums about how switching between Cingular's 3G and EDGE network was killing their batteries. Someone found the key combinations to open an app that would allow you to hard set what network you were on. That is great if you are in the frindge area of 3G coverage.

1. Enter *#1546792*#
2. Select Option 3 Netowork & Call Settings
3. Select option 5 Network Mode
4. Select GSM

While traveling who can remember that key combination. If found this post that is very helpful! http://howardforums.com/showthread.php?p=8601445#post8601445 (specific post http://howardforums.com/showpost.php?p=8598460&postcount=92).

"There is a hidden file in the \Windows directory called AdminSettings.exe.With Resco I had to change it's options to show hidden files.You can create a link to AdminSettings.exe into your start menu with Resco or make a link to it some other way.Just to be clear, this program brings up that nifty settings menu you all are talking about.I didn't read all 5 billions pages of this thread so I apologize if someone beat me to this information.-James"

Thanks James!

New Blog

Over the last couple of years I have had ~ 26 different cell phones. This is my addiction. My first phone was a Motorola bag phone that had to weigh at least 10 pounds, but it was cool!

From there the addiction started. A quick history of memorable moments in my cell phone past:

• The Zack Morris style Motorola brick phone was the next big step for me. A welcomed upgrade from the bag phone.
• The Motorola MicroTAC was my next major phone upgrade from there. I remember when they came out with the slimline battery, you could finally put the phone in your pocket :)
• The Motorola StarTAC, smaller and better!
• While working in San Francisco I found the Motorola V50 phone. The VP for the company I was working for would buy "gifts" for potential clients. This one potential client, who was also a cell phone junky, heard about this new "StarTAC" that was so small you could fit it into the palm of your hand. We tracked it down in Las Vegas and purchased two. They were $1500 each!
• From there I bounced around to a bunch of different brand and style of phones. Nothing really sticks out in my mind as really innovative.
• Back in 1999 I started a consulting company and was reading a review about this new device; the BlackBerry. Being a consultant I thought how cool would it be to get email 24/7 without being tied to a computer so I went out and purchased one. How my life changed! I know the device was not a "phone" but I feel it should be included in my list. The BlackBerry really changed the way I communicated. E-mail became my primary way of communication and my cell phone was bumped to second.
• I am trying to remember when my BlackBerry and cell phone merged into one but cannot recall the model or carrier. Strange, you would think that was an important event.
• I have had so many different BlackBerry phones, to many to list.
• The 7100i was the new design which strayed away from the normal design. If featured a new keyboard that grouped multiple characters on one key and had a predictive text engine. It worked fairly well but being in the tech industry it failed to complete words of the tech nature. I hated this phone but the display was beautiful.
• At this point I started looking at the Windows Mobile devices. Working for a company who is a Microsoft shop I felt the need to give it a look over. The big problem I had with Windows Mobile at the time was its lack of true push email. When an email was sent to me an SMS trigger was sent to my phone, by our Exchange Server, to tell the phone to check messages. SMS is not 100% reliable so I missed a few important emails. Very annoying!
• Last year Microsoft offered true push technology. My first phone with this capability was the Sprint PPC-6700. The push function worked very well and I said goodbye to my BlackBerry. It was awesome while it lasted. The big beef I had with BlackBerry was the lack of cool 3rd party apps.
• Being a big tech head I thought the PPC-6700 would have been the perfect phone for me. I could do everything on it. That was until I used it for a couple of months and realized how heavy and bulky it was. Also found that I did not use all the features. That is the point I started to look at the Smartphone versions.
• Motorola Q rumors were buzzing around as the "BlackBerry Killer" and I could not wait. I think I got one of the first one from Verizon when they came out. I made the switch to Windows Smartphone and have not looked backed.
• Just in the last year I have had the Motorola Q, HTC Dash, Samsung Blackjack and Cingular HTC 3125.
• I have stuck with the Blackjack as I like it the best!

I hope to share my experiences, good or bad, about Microsoft's Windows Mobile platform as well as pass along tips as I find them. I hope you enjoy the blog and please visit often :)