First Impressions of BlackBerry OS 4.5

Yesterday I installed BlackBerry OS 4.5 on my BlackBerry Curve 8310. Kommando Kwan tipped me about this italian version available for download from RIM. After hacking the install package (vendor.xml) and scrubbing my device the install succeeded. Here are some first impressions.

1. HTML Email - Not only pictures, but text formatting and a different looking header and subject including a photo of the sender (from your contacts).
2. GeoTagged Photos - automatically add GPS location data to the metadata of photos realtime when taking photos.
3. Turn off GPS - You can power off the GPS in advanced options to save battery after using location based applications.
4. Voice Notes Recorder - Note to self application.
5. Video Camera - even uses the flash to illuminate the subject
6. Browser Start Page - different looking start page with bookmarks, history and goto
7. Browser HTML - seems to format pages better. Defaults to something like the previous desktop view (toggles to column view)
8. Documents to Go Standard - includes Word to Go, Slideshow to Go and Sheet to Go.
9. Spell Check - new for 8800 series devices
10. View Calendar Availability - check attendee availability while scheduling meetings using the BlackBerry calendar.

I give it a huge thumbs up so far. More to come...

GPS Coordinate Conversion

Ever find the need to convert GPS coordinates between the different formats? Converting between the formats including Decimal Degrees (WGS84) or Degrees Minutes Seconds or Degrees Minutes (GPS) takes a bit of math. Jeff Boulter has done a nice job providing a web service to do the conversion and offer several other coordinate related sites.

Popping Corn?

Trickster Evog shared a video with me today on youtube where some guys surrounded some kernels of popping corn with four cell phone devices, then initiated calls to each of them. They all backed off and watched as the kernels one by one popped open into popcorn. It's very entertaining to say the least... if not fright provoking.

Before throwing all my cell devices in the trash... I did some research on snopes and learned that this is a hoax. The videos were part of a marketing scheme lauched by Cardo Systems, a provider of bluetooth headset solutions, in June 08.

Flickr for BlackBerry

In a previous post I described the ability to upload photos to Flickr via email. You just enable the feature in your Flickr account to get the top secret email address. Then attach a photo, add a subject and brief description and send. This is definately a great advancement since it enables you to easily post from a mobile phone or BlackBerry with integrated camera.

Now one thing that I've been studying for some time now is the integration of GPS coordinates into the meta data of the JPG photo known as geotagging. I've learned through my sources that geotagging photos will be a native function available in BlackBerry handheld OS version 4.5. I can't wait for this OS to be released!

Today I stumbled across Flickr for BlackBerry on RIMarkable. Not only does it provide a slick mobile Flickr Uploadr, but you guessed it... It will geotag the photos using the integrated BlackBerry GPS prior to upload to Flickr.

Download it for yourself:
http://www.blackberry.com/flickrdownload

Curve 8310 Battery Life?

One thing that's really getting to concern me about the new ATT Blackberry Curve 8310 that I purchased two months ago is the battery life. My previous T-mobile BlackBerry 8800 could last approx three full working days of heavy email and occasional phone and GPS use. Soon after switching to the new 8310 device I found the battery was getting down in the 20% remaining by 5:00pm. While this is no big deal when I am in the office, it is a huge concern when travelling. Leaving a meeting at 5:00pm and heading for dinner on 20% battery is concerning since I am likely going to be using the GPS to navigate to and from the restaurant and will really be concerned if I cannot make a call once the battery is dead and I am lost!

With some help from colleague Thorson, I've determined that the poor battery life is directly linked to GPS usage. He suggested that I try abstaining from any GPS use for a whole day... whew, what a challenge for me. I found by not using the GPS, I had approx 90% remaining at 10:00pm after a busy work day and evening. Likewise, if I used the GPS even for a short site visit in the morning commute, the battery life would immediately suffer. It almost seems that the GPS doesn't stop after exiting a variety of GPS dependent applications (ex: Google Mobile, Telenav, BBMaps).

Here's my next purchase to remedy this problem: Seidio 2600mAh Blackberry Curve Extended Battery

RoadsideAmerica

Secondary to planning your GeoCaching stops when travelling to a new destination, you'll want to consider the unique opportunities that may be available to experience or see. This is where RoadsideAmerica comes to the rescue.

RoadsideAmerica.com - Your Online Guide to Offbeat Tourist Attractions

For my upcoming trip to attend eBay Live! in Chicago, there are several interesting opportnuties that RoadsideAmerica has got me wanting to visit.

• Ed Debevic's Rude Diner
• Cigar Store Indian
• Muffler Man - Mr Bendo

BBWeather is Back!

Komando Kwan brought some good news today. He informed me that BBWeather, my all time favorite BlackBerry weather application, is back in service again after some slight modifications by Josh Harris. It turns out that the previous version 0.74 (by Chris Miles) no longer could read data from its source, The Weather Channel. It seems that Josh has identified and corrected the problem and released version 0.77 for public consumption. It works flawlessly again. Could someone help me find a way to make a gratuity-ware donation to either or both of these individuals?

BBWeather, an application for the BlackBerry OS, allows you to predefine a number of cities to keep updated weather details. A single click (or hotkey) allows you to switch between cities or between current conditions and forecast. It pulls weather from The Weather Channel on an adjustable interval to keep the local data fresh. You can very rapidly check weather conditions and forecast without waiting for web pages to refresh. I also enjoy the convenience of flipping between cities that I frequent.

BBWeather 0.77 - OTA Download
http://www.tateu.net/software/download/BBWeather.jad?q=php 

Garmin Mobile

Last week I downloaded Garmin Mobile for the BlackBerry 8310 to give it a spin while travelling in Palo Alto, CA. It has been one of the better street navigation tools I have used.

Positives
3D birds-eye map view
Turn-by-turn directions
Audible voice announcements
Accurate pronounciation (ex: El Camino Real)
Specific driving assistance (ex: Keep left on hwy 280)
No "continue" annoyances (Telenav users know what I mean)

Not-so Positives
Couldn't totally silence (even with volume reduced 0%)
Insufficient map preview of surrounding roads
Unable to use Esc button to exit application

I've been unable to make a final decision if Garmin Mobile can effectively replace my dependency on Telenav as a navigation tool. I need a few more weeks to understand recall all the reasons that I jumped into the $10/month Telenav subscription.

Flickr Posts via Email

While travelling in California this week Virtual Guru Cgrossmeier showed me a new way to post photos to Flickr.com diectly from my BlackBerry 8310. He reminded me of the ability to email a photo as an attachment to a special email address that automajically posts it in my photo stream. While this seemed like an insignificant feature to use at home on my desktop, it makes all the sense from my camera enabled BlackBerry. To do this, you'll need to dig into your account settings on Flickr to learn the special address to post to your photostream. The next question that comes to mind is what if someone else learns this special address... Does this enable them to post to your account? We'll see.

Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/

Mapquest (Telmap) Navigator

It's been some time since I sampled the market for GPS navigation software for the BlackBerry. Since I have an upcomging trip to California, I decided to try a few of the titles that have been released or improved since I discovered TeleNav in May 2007. At that time I was fantastically impressed with TeleNav's awesome interface, birds-eye (3D map) navigation view, accurate POI library, and on and on.... It was cool enough that I could look right past the $10/month subscription. Let me tell you that the free applications are neat... but when it comes to getting somewhere without getting lost or in an accident, TeleNav was the answer. However, there have been some application titles that have emerged since then that deserve some consideration.

Mapquest (Telmap) Navigator

One vendor I recall visiting at WES 2007 was Telmap. I vividly recall asking the vendor the dreaded question to kick off a conversation. "What does your navigation suite offer that I am missing with TeleNav?" I bet they hate comparisons like this... He came back with two answers: One, European maps. Two, a walking (pedestrian) mode. The walking had my attention since I love Geocaching and exploring the city by cab and on foot. I downloaded Mapquest Navigator for the 7-day free trial this past week. After six days of use, I'm really not impressed.

I initially found the interface intuitive and quickly sought out some unique POI's that I normally put to test on a GPS tool. It seemed all was going well. I entered walking mode and began trying to follow the suggested path/track.

• I found it really difficult to see where I was and where it was suggesting I turn from the 'North-up' 2D map. I guess I was expecting a 3D birds-eye view of the corners I should take.
• I also expected it to re-route upon my failure to follow directions. I just kept getting further from the trail as I walked blocks off the suggested route.
• Lastly, one of the points the vendor impressed me with about the walking mode is the ability it has to recommend walking paths to cut corners and save time. It must not be aware of the many municipal walking and bike trails in Rochester, MN.

After six days of tinkering with the application while travelling in the Minnesota and Wisconsin, I uninstalled Mapquest Navigator from my BlackBerry. I have been trying to reach Mapquest to terminate my subscription before being charged... however I have gotten no response yet.

60 Days with an XT

My job in IT provides me the opportunity to evaluate laptop and Tablet PC devices. I recently got my hands on the new Dell Latitude XT and decided to give it a fair comparison against the variety of other Tablet PC's that I've used.

Weight
Prior to using the device, I heard several colleages in IT comment that the XT was a heavy device. "It's a tank!" they commented. I don't really find it to be that heavy. In fact the XT with its 45Wh base battery it feels no heavier than the Motion Computing M1600 with its 2600 mAh plate battery that I've carried for the past 6 months. Yes thicker, but not noticeably heavier.

Convertible Hinge
I heard the critics really slam the XT's screen swivel hinge when the pre-production models were shared at the NDA dog-n-pony shows. Initially I found the hinge and swivel to be rigid and durable. After 6-10 swivel open and close motions a day, the lid is indeed getting a bit loose and floppy.


Pen / Touch Hybrid
I have seriously been struggling to form a working relationship with this new Pen+Touch screen. I'd like to divide this into three topics:

1. Pen Input: I find that the screen doesn't respond with the same hard glass feel that I am accustomed to in Tablets. The added layer for touch might introduce a bit of soft response that really slows down my printed handwriting. There is just enough play (wiggle) in the pen tip that with the increased drag of the touch screen actually makes my penmanship quite sloppy. In the past with prior tablet use, I have printed or emailed OneNote pages to colleagues. With the Dell Latitude XT, my penmanship is unacceptable for circulation.
2. n-Trig dual-mode pen/touch screen was less than a positive experience for me. Initially the Tablet was built with Windows Vista and the Dell provided drivers. I had much difficulty switching between pen and touch modes. I reviewed all n-Trig control panel options that govern the dual mode behavior; however was unable to trust this to a usable level. Against Dell's recommendation, I had the drive re-formatted and built from ground up with Windows XP and Dell drivers. Now I am able to switch between pen and touch with almost perfect results.
3. With both Windows Vista and XP, I have experienced on many occasions a phenomena where the mouse pointed jumps into an erratic loop, clicking, moving, dragging all over the corner regions of the screen. Its almost an "I've had tooo much coffee" moment that the pointer goes through. This behavior is reminiscent of the first generation Tablet PCs by Fujitsu.

Battery
My schedule varies throughout the week, some days heavy with meetings, others with long durations troubleshooting problems on the work floor. The longest I recall pushing the battery life on the Latitude XT was 7 hours with both the onboard plus the 45Wh base battery. it certainly fit my workflow needs.

Outcome
While I appreciate the speed and variety of accessories that Dell provides for this device, I have decided to pass this Latitude XT on to another connected executive to try out. I'll be looking forward to trying the next Latitude revision.

REDFLY Mobile Companion

Having used PDA's since the introduction of the US Robotics PalmPilot Professional in 1997, I've watched the functionality of these pocket gadgets grow from simple personal organizers to highly capable communication devices. As the maturity of the devices grew I bought into the emerging connectivity options. For example, I bought a Palm Modem kit for my Palm V so I could remotely synchronize with my desktop while travelling. Later, after equipping the same Palm V device with a Palm Portable Foldable Keyboard, I decided to try exclusively computing on the Palm for a day to see if it would be practical to leave my laptop home for future travel. I think I lasted about 1 hour before the experience zapped every ounce of my patience. The tiny screen size coupled with the inability to tab between multiple applications and neck and back pain made this solution unacceptable.

....years go by and PDA technology continues to grow with Wi-Fi cell data capability, more robust operating systems and enterprise management tools like the BlackBerry Enterprise Server and Intellisync Mobile Suite. Yet there is still no way I could leave my laptop back at the office and do remote computing with a PDA for any encursion longer than an offsite lunch.

Along comes the REDFLY Mobile Companion. This sub-notebook sized device wirelessly extends the smartphone to a larger display, full keyboard, mouse and USB ports.

The REDFLY Mobile Companion is a sleek clamshell design that includes an 8" display, a full function keyboard, and a touchpad mouse. Measuring just 1x6x9 inches and only 2 pounds, the REDFLY Mobile Companion offers over 8 hours of battery life and boots instantly! It also adds three new features - instant VGA output, access to USB flash drives, and the ability to charge your smartphone via USB.
http://www.getredfly.com/

I am ready to try exclusive PDA computing again... I'll let you know more when I get my hands on a REDFLY.

Creative inPerson

This might be the new queen of youbuquity... Colleague Emdee-aych heard I was interested in finding a simple point-to-point video conferencing solution and shared with me a product he saw at CES earlier this year. Creative introduced a new product "inPerson" that is sized like a UMPC that was designed with only video conferencing in mind (no web, email, chat, ect), which in my opinion has the potential to yield a better working and easier to use product.
Check it out at http://inperson.creative.com/

Geocaching in the News

A local article about Geocaching hits the Rochester Post Bulletin.

http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=2&a=325813

Multitasking or CPA?

Have you ever felt an irresistible urge to check your email during an important conversation? I have on too many occasions. I always thought I was simply getting more done, multitasking, using downtime... wrong. Technologist Linda Stone explains this behavior pattern, known as "Continuous Partial Attention", and how it can negatively affect your performance and health. I would highly suggest reading her article if you frequently grab your BlackBerry throughout the day.

Continuous partial attention and multi-tasking are two different attention strategies, motivated by different impulses. When we multi-task, we are motivated by a desire to be more productive and more efficient... In the case of continuous partial attention, we're motivated by a desire not to miss anything. There's a kind of vigilance that is not characteristic of multi-tasking. With cpa, we feel most alive when we're connected, plugged in and in the know. We constantly SCAN for opportunities—activities or people—in any given moment. With every opportunity we ask, "What can I gain here?" [MORE]

To each my friends, colleagues and family who have witnessed my CPA tendencies... Sorry. I will learn where the OFF switch is for each of my gadgets and attempt to give you my undivided attention.

GeoCacheNavigator for BlackBerry

BlackBerry Guru Daw411 tipped me this morning about a new Geocaching application for the BlackBerry. Trimble Outdoors now has extended their Geocache Navigator product to work on the BlackBerry platform.

This really opens up a new approach for Geocachers. Until now, there was always a need to prepare for your caching experience by visiting geocaching.com to seek a listing of the caches that will be present at your destination. Once the cacher identifies the caches to seek, some print out individual cache descriptions and tips, while others go paperless by downloading all the cache information into a GPS equipped PDA. Nonetheless, there is preparation involved.

With a cellular data capable BlackBerry with an integrated GPS, and Geocache Navigator, you could with really no preparation, just pull your BlackBerry out and begin caching at any destination. I just downloaded the 30 day trial this morning. I launched the application while out running errands and was amazed at how simple it was to get a list of the caches surrounding me. I have not yet field tested the functionality in the brush actually seeking a cache; however this app get's its own spot on the top row of icons on my BlackBerry screen.

Great Job Trimble!

Asus EEE PC

KomandoKwan tipped me about a new "sub-notebook" that ASUS recently announced. The EEE PC might just be the first laptop my kids will call their own. This small notebook ships with a variety of configurations with solid state hard drives ranging from 2-8GB. The notebook orginally shipped running Xandros (a Linux distribution) that runs OpenOffice.org, Mozilla Firefox, Skype, Tux Paint and other educational entertainment software, E-mail and Internet radio applications, Google Docs and Wikipedia look-up tool. A new version is to be announced shortly that runs Windows. I can't wait! http://eeepc.asus.com/global/

GeoTagging Photos

I've been researching GeoTagging, the point where GPS and Digital Camera meet. Basically adding metadata to photos to include GPS coordinates to reveal where the photo was taken. If all photos were GeoTagged, one should be able to search for a location on an online map and get an option to view publicly shared photos from the area. An example of this technlogy can be experienced at www.flickr.com/map. Flickr seems to have the idea right; however Flickr isn't really one of the sites I frequent to plan travel arrangements.

Netlfix & LG

I have really been enjoying watching past episodes of "The Office" on my laptop using the Watch Instantly feature of Netflix. Colleague, and ImageMaster, Eric has tipped me that LG is working with Netlfix to create a set-top box option to deliver movies directly to the TV. Check it out at http://www.hackingnetflix.com/2008/01/netflix-lg-part.html

Itinerary helper

Man, do I ever struggle picking flights. There are sooo many variables at hand that could save money or travel time or open up a new opportunity. Which airline should I fly? Should I just stick with the my local airport or surrounding alternatives? and the same question applies to the destination end (which requires a visit to google maps for a geography lesson). What time of day should I fly to save the most money yet be realistic considering parking, shuttles, and security delays. After about an our on expedia.com, my nerves feel like I am gambling at a craps table. Finally a solution that can dynamically shift airlines, departures, arrivals, airports. Kayak.com seems to be a tool I will highy value for preparing an itinerary. Check it out: http://www.kayak.com

More BlackBerry Google apps

Got a tip from colleague "Seabass" about a whole new collection of Google applications (applets, shortcuts, etc) for the BlackBerry. After spying all the new icons on his BlackBerry screen including Picasa, Google Sync, Google Reader, Google News, Gmail, Google Maps, Google Search and Google Updater, I knew I had something fun to try during downtime today. Check them out for yourself by pointing your BlackBerry browser at mobile.google.com.