John at myITforum.com

I’ve really got to hand it to HP on this one.  I used the first unit they tried this with, the 6315.  Great device for iPaq lovers, but the snap on keyboard made the device way to large.  I tried the 6515, but it had some issues, particularly when the device used both memory slots.  I also had to give up my high-speed wi-fi access because they took wi-fi out.  They put wi-fi back in the device.  Not certain why they took it out, but it’s back.  I can now switch to wi-fi connections when they are available. I’ve been using the 6915 for over a week, and I’ve been extremely impressed.  It has everything built in, including integrated GPS.  The GPS works much better than the 6515 (it had a tendency to lose the satellites at highway speeds). 

One of the first thing I noticed was the speed.  Thank you HP for putting the faster processor in the unit.  It’s a 416 MHz processor, much faster than the 300 MHz processor in the predecessor device, and much faster than 100 MHz processors in several HTC devices I’ve used.  One of my annoyances in other devices is watching the color wheel spin while it “thinks”, either moving to other apps, or just changing view.  This device is extremely fast in redrawing screens.  I haven’t actually benchmarked it yet, but I put it next to my Verizon Wireless XV6700 (with a similar 400 MHz processor) that I’m testing, and it redraws the screen much faster, and moves between apps much faster.  Again, cudo’s to HP. 

They’ve added a great iPaq wireless indicator that lets you see all of your connections (GPS, Phone, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi) all in one screen.  You can turn everything but GPS off and on at the touch of a button.  The Today Panel is also still there that lets you get to memory (including storage card), battery power, and backlight, again all with the touch of the screen.  They’ve refined the keyboard slightly and made the menu button and the OK button much more easily accessible.  I very rarely need to lift the plastic cover to touch the screen.  I can do almost everything from the keyboard at the bottom of the screen, without needing the stylus.  That was my biggest issue with the HTC phones (like the Cingular 8125).  Those aren’t really designed for one-handed operation.  With the 6945, it’s been a great one-handed device.  Dialing phone numbers is also great.  The number pad is on the right of the keyboard, and its numbers by default on the phone screens. 

One downer though is the lack of hardware buttons.  You can either launch the camera, or hold it in to do voice recordings.  Granted, it hasn’t been much of a downer, but it would be nice to get to other things quickly through the use of hardware buttons so again you don’t have to use the screen.

Audio quality has been extremely improved.  There are times when I’m using the phone that I can’t tell I’m on a cell phone (audio quality coming through the phone is great), and those I’m talking to can’t tell.  When I used a Palm Treo 650, or the previous version of this phone (6515), I heard a lot that they would want me to “repeat” what I said because I was breaking up on them.  That’s happened a few times, but only because I was moving up a highway rather than standing in one place. 

Pocket Streets is also included out of the box.  There are a few maps you can download for free, but you’ll need Pocket Streets, or MapPoint, to get the maps you need on to the device.  The built-in GPS works great with Pocket Streets, and has really come in handy several times already.  I will say however that while it may be cool to watch your dot move around on the maps, its not cool while your moving at high speeds.  I caught myself in that oops moment because I was busy looking down the screen watching myself move on the map.  Again, very cool, but I need to get a mount for my car quickly.  I’ve made a couple of road trips in the last week, and it works extremely well.

Overall, I’m extremely impressed.  HP actually listened to end user feedback, and made some great modifications to the device.  Yes, the battery drains quickly when its in full power mode (particularly when the wi-fi connection is open, or GPS is on), but I can sacrifice that piece.  I will say however that it doesn’t drain nearly as quick as I thought it would.  I’m not certain how they will price this with Cingular (unlocked version is around $600 at hp.com), but it will be interesting to see how well this thing sells.  It’s now my choice of device.

Ed Colligan reported poor retail sales on Treo’s for the first quarter.  Ed blamed a lower than expected sales volume on Treo’s due not to business to business sales, but to competition in the retail space.

He emphasized in his conference call that businesses usually do a more thorough analysis of their needs from a smartphone than retail customers who “are more easily influenced by price, fashion, or aggressive marketing”.

Hmm…retail customers are more easily influenced by price, fashion, or aggressive marketing, than business customers.  I guess this means that if they did a more thorough analysis from a needs perspective, they’d be willing to pay more, creating more sales for Treo’s.  Is he sure?

Let’s take Cingular as an example, or T-Mobile.  Hmm, I’m looking and T-Mobile doesn’t even sell Palm Treo’s.  So, guess I’m out of luck if I’m a T-Mobile customer.  Cingular?  Let’s see.  I see a refurbished Treo 650 for $150 (with a two year service agreement), or a brand new Treo 650 for $300.  That’s right, a brand spanking new Treo 650 for $300.  Wait, how long has that been out?  I don’t see any new model Palm Treo units on Cingular’s site.  Guess I’m out of luck if I’m a Cingular customer too.  Wait, I can get a brand new Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC phone with more memory and more out of the box functionality for $250 from Cingular.  On over to Sprint PCS, let’s see.  A Treo 700wx for $500, or a Treo 700p for $500.  Wait, I could get a Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC phone not made by Palm with more memory and more out of the box functionality for $450.  On over to the last major wireless carrier in the US, Verizon Wireless.  Let’s see.  Oops, Palm Treo 650’s are out of stock, but if they were in stock, I could get one for $250.  Palm Treo 700w’s are $400.  Palm Treo 700p’s are $400.  Wait, I can get a Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC phone not made by Palm for $300 with more memory and more out of the box functionality.  So, from a needs perspective, looks like I can get more out of the box functionality at a lower price by choosing a non-Palm device.  Looks like I’m out of luck from a Palm perspective if I need GSM/GPRS coverage, or I pay $100 more for the other carriers to carry a Palm device.

No, I think what he meant to say was that his sales force is more aggressively attacking the business customers because they won’t mind paying more.  Relationships are more solid, business partnerships developed.  Retail customers spending their own hard-earned money are more conscious about cost.  Yes, I agree, retail customers are more easily influenced by cost, and they should be.

Well, my current bill from Time Warner showed up yesterday.  To my surprise, I’m still being billed for the full bundled service from Time Warner.  Phone service, Road Runner, and Digital Cable.  Keep in mind, I called on August 31 to cancel everything, and only keep Road Runner service.  August 31.  It’s now September 30, they’ve billed me for their bundled service until 10/22.  Now, how hard is it to figure out they don’t have my phone number anymore?  Isn’t their billing system integrated to determine whether or not they’re billing folks for phone numbers not even on their system?  How many other customers are paying for service that they don’t have?  How can that be?  Can’t they tell what signal they’re sending over the wire?  Are they still sending a full digital cable signal to my house when I don’t have any boxes to receive the signal?  Can’t they tell that?  Why would they bill customers for full digital cable when there is no box on the other end to receive it?  Again, I asked them for basic service and Road Runner, which leads me to part 2.

Once the customer service rep removed all of the services (the same thing I was told on August 31), he tried to explain what happened.  The woman I spoke with on August 31 scheduled a pick up for all of my equipment, and the equipment pickup was never scheduled.  It was an “open appointment”.  Go back and read what I blogged a month ago.  The woman I spoke to said it wasn’t an option and that I had to take it all in myself.  The rep I spoke to yesterday said it wasn’t true.  They can schedule a technician just for pickup of the equipment.  Say what?  She told me it wasn’t an option, but put it on my account that they needed to schedule a pickup?  How long do appointments stay open without sending notification to someone?  I can have an open appointment for 30 days and they don’t know it?

Next, I was only supposed to be paying for basic service, plus Road Runner.  The rep I talked to yesterday said that was no longer necessary.  They can give you Road Runner without cable service.  Why did the rep tell me a month ago that it wasn’t an option?  Next, he told me they don’t offer Road Runner Premium anymore, and that I’m paying more for service than I should be.  They call it Road Runner Turbo.  Apparently I have an outdated code on my account, and I’ve been paying more than I need to.  He asked how long I’d had Road Runner.  It’s been years, can’t even recall when I switched.  He said they hadn’t used the code I had on my account for awhile, that it was an obsolete code.  So, when I called a month ago and asked to have everything changed, how was the code put back on if the code was obsolete?  Did it just become obsolete?  It’s about $15 less per month than I was paying previously, but I wasn’t told. 

Granted, I believe everything is fixed now, and the rep I talked to yesterday did appear to be correcting everything, but wow, why should it be this hard to get great service?  I guess I’ll wait a month until I get my next bill to verify, but I’ve now been told I have a rather large credit on my account, a credit that will carry me in to next year without having to pay for service for Road Runner for awhile.  We’ll see.

I took the plunge and installed Activesync 4.5 beta.  What a disaster.  Keep in mind, my device being “right” is critical, as it is with most that I know that use PDA’s.  You need activesync to keep the device current, install apps, etc.  Yes, using direct exchange activesync keeps contacts, email, calendar and tasks current over the air, but I have hundreds of notes that I’m changing all the time.  I have to sync (not sure why other products like Good Mobile Messaging has figured out syncing all of the Outlook data over the air but Microsoft still hasn’t) to keep my notes current.  I also have to sync to keep windows media files loaded.

Well, the first thing I noticed was that it REMOVED all of my installed programs, requiring me to reinstall applications to be able to reload.  I hard reset the devices I test all the time, reinstall applications, etc.  Being able to go to Add/Remove programs in Activesync makes this a simple task to do on the fly without having to rerun setup for each of them.  I installed Activesync 4.5, all the programs I had installed on the device were gone.  So, off I went to run setup for the 10–12 programs I install on each device.

Second, all of my partnerships were deleted.  I’m currently syncing three PDA’s and all the partnerships are gone.  When I tried to sync, I was presented a message saying I was already syncing with a computer, and to sync with this computer, I had to create a new partnership.  Again, what a mess that caused.  I looked at activesync on the devices, there was a partnership for my Exchange server, and two entries for the SAME computer.  That’s right, the SAME computer. 

Third, out of the week or so I had it installed, I’ve been able to actually complete a full sync once.  The other times, it connects, says its looking for changes, and after several minutes of whatever it is attempting to do, gives me an error message that it was unable to complete. 

What a disaster.  How much testing has this thing undergone before release?  Did they actually get users to test this or did they just post it?  This was a really frustrating experience.  I uninstalled it, and reinstalled 4.2, then reinstalled all of the apps I had preloaded, then had to set up partnerships and resync all of my devices.  The least they could have done is post a note that it would delete existing partnerships and clear out all of your installed programs.  I know it’s beta, but this is ridiculous.

For those in Europe, The Palm Treo 750v Windows Mobile Smartphone has been posted to Microsoft’s website.

Pictures are beginning to surface for the Cingular versions of the Palm OS and Windows Mobile versions of the updated Treo’s.  One apparently showed up on Palmgear but was subsequently pulled (I’m sure it was posted by “accident”).  The Palm OS version appears to be tagged the Palm Treo 680 (rather than a 700p), and the Windows Mobile version of the Treo appears to be tagged the Palm Treo 750 (rather than a 700w).  I wonder who at Cingular is paid to come up with device names.  They were obviously instructed to NOT use existing phone names.

Must be getting closer to launch, but how many are waiting on these phones? 

Register today for your chance to win one of six Alpine Blackbird handheld GPS devices.  Winners will be selected during the LIVE keynote, broadcast on November 1, 2006 at 8:00am PST.

Shift your device development into high gear with Windows Embedded CE 6.0. This 6th generation product provides a componentized, real-time operating system and powerful tools that help you to design, build and test innovative devices faster than ever before. The Virtual Launch Event offers a comprehensive introduction to CE 6.0, bringing you up to speed on the CE 6.0 technology portfolio of tools and OS components right from your PC. There's no travel, no registration fees, and no downtime required - just sign up today, and experience CE 6.0 from your office, living room, or any remote location.

Keynote & Q&A: Craig Mundie, Chief Research & Strategy Officer, Broadcast LIVE from Microsoft Studios Technical Sessions On Demand Session 1: CE 6.0 Overview Session 2: Windows Embedded CE 6.0 Kernel and Memory Architecture Session 3: Windows Embedded CE 6.0 Tools Session 4: Application Development for Windows Embedded CE 6.0 Session 5: Access Windows Embedded CE Source Code Session 6: Understanding the Windows Embedded Advantage Session 7: Developing Device Drivers for Windows Embedded CE 6.0 Session 8: Windows Embedded CE 6.0 Real-Time In addition to CE 6.0, you'll also preview the new Windows XP Embedded SP2 Feature Pack 2007 Session 1: Introduction to Windows XP Embedded Session 2: What's New in Feature Pack 2007 for Windows XP Embedded
JUST ADDED: Experience Windows XP Embedded V1.1 Session 1:Windows XP Embedded V1.1 Overview, Shabnam Erfani Session 2: Windows XP Embedded V1.1 Features, Sean Liming
VIRTUAL HANDS-ON LAB (VIA A BROWSER ACTIVEX COMPONENT) How to create, customize, and debug a Windows Embedded CE 6.0 image for the ARM based emulator Writing Microsoft Foundation Class code for Windows Embedded CE 6.0 Writing Managed Code for Windows Embedded CE 6.0 Using the Windows Embedded CE Test Kit (CETK) to test CE 6.0 based devices Using Remote Tools and Profiling a Windows Embedded CE 6.0 operating system image How to create, build, and boot a Windows XP Embedded SP2 operating system image Using the File Based Write Filter (FBWF) to protect folders and files on a Windows XP Embedded SP2 Feature Pack 2007 based operating system image.

Is Google getting a little carried away or is it just me (ok, it MAY be me)?  Ever read the Google Research Blog (http://googleresearch.blogspot.com).  It’s a blog that basically lets you keep up with the things that they’re working on.  Just came across it and was scanning archives, and this one caught my eye:

http://googleresearch.blogspot.com/2006/06/interactive-tv-conference-and-best.html

Now, you may be saying what’s the big deal with Interactive TV?  Here’s the part that is a little scary:

We also presented our work at the conference. Our paper [pdf] (which received the best paper award :) focused on using broadcast viewing to automatically present relevant information on a web browser. We showed how to sample the ambient sound emitted from a TV and automatically determine what is being watched from a small signature of the sound -- all with complete privacy and minuscule effort. The system could keep up with users while they channel surf, presenting them with a real-time forum about a live political debate one minute and an ad-hoc chat room for a sporting event in the next. And, all of this would be done without users ever having to type or to even know the name of the program or channel being viewed. Taking this further, we could collect snippets from the web describing the actors appearing in a movie or present maps of locales within the movie as it takes place (no matter if users are watching it as a live broadcast or as a recoded broadcast).

Did you catch it?  If not, read it again.  “We showed how to sample ambient sound emitted from a TV and automatically determine what is being watched…”.  Now how in the world did a company like Google demonstrate how to sample ambient sound from a TV?  All with complete privacy?  Again, how?  Could it be they are figuring out ways to tap computer microphones to “listen” to the rooms noise?  Have they figured out ways to eavesdrop for those of us who leave their computers on all the time?  Are they also taping in to webcams?  What’s the deal here?  I haven’t read the pdf file yet but the fact that they “demonstrated” how to do this, hmmm.  All with complete privacy?  Complete privacy for who?  Beware if your computer is in your bedroom…

What will they think of next.  Checking out some utilities and apps put out by Toysoft Development, Inc.  Two programs caught my eye.  Too bad they are for the Palm Treo.

Fake Call is a program that is intended to give Treo owners a way to escape impromptu office meetings and unwanted social interactions using the Treo -- by simulating incoming phone calls! With your phone in your pocket, press and hold a hard key or setup an appointment in the Contacts application and voila! A call will materialize from anyone you want, your phone will light up like a Christmas tree, your favorite ringtone will sound and, when you accept your fake call, an active call screen identical to a real one will display and a voice will be heard on the other end of the line! This program is a true escape from any unwanted situation!

I can think of a lot of interesting times that may come in handy. 

Have you ever wanted to block annoying callers, marketers, unknown callers, your boss, friends or even family members? Ever wanted to be left alone and enjoy the peace and quiet times? Now you can with BuzzOff™. BuzzOff™ will monitor all incoming calls and SMS and will apply the filters that you have setup to use. If you choose, a logfile will be created for blocked calls.
You can block callers by their phone number, any digit in the phone number, area code, a from and to time to filter the caller, the day of the week from Sunday to Saturday to filter the caller.
BuzzOff™ is simple to use and yet powerful and flexible to keep you in control of who can call you and when.

Time to do some googling to see if I can find similar programs for the Pocket PC.

Appears that users of the Blackberry Pearl are already complaining of hardware issues.  Seems that whoever designed the Pearl built a feature in to the center trackball the ability to mute the ringer.  Apparently it doesn’t take much to press that center trackball, so when it’s in a pocket, the trackball gets pressed muting the ringer causing the users to miss calls.  Several on a message board said they took the phones back already because they kept missing phonecalls.

Word is that T-Mobile/RIM will be offering an update.  Wow, an update already…

Word is that T-Mobile will be releasing a version of the HTC Excalibur, called the T-Mobile Dash.  Looks like the T-Mobile version of the Motorola Q. 

Windows Mobile Team Blog posted a blog about Virtual Earth Mobile being updated to version 1.67.

Recently there was a change to the Virtual Earth server that required a change to Virtual Earth Mobile in order for "Find Business" to work.  Attached to this blog entry is the updated version that fixes this.

In this version, I've also added support for colored traffic overlays.  If you choose "Map Type/ Traffic" you'll see major roads highlighted in red, yellow, or green, indicating how fast the traffic is moving.  (Red = 0-25 mph; Yellow = 25-45mph; Green = 45 mph or faster)  For now, I expire the traffic data when you exit the app.  Eventually I plan to have a smarter, timed expiration.  Traffic data is provided by Traffic.com and is available in selected major metropolitan areas in the United States.

- Jason Fuller

Been trying to catch up on the latest news this morning.  Seems lots of these mobile news sites are reporting “new” Palm devices.  Is that really news?  Palm hasn’t updated the OS running on those devices in what?  Three, four years?  Is the hardware really that different?  Treo 600’s came out how long ago?  Put a Treo 600 next to a Treo 700, or a Treo 750, and what’s changed?  They made the buttons a little different?  So I guess what I’m asking is, if the OS isn’t that different, and the hardware/form factor isn’t that different, is it really news when a “new” device is announced?  If so, why?  What additional functionality do you get with the “new” device and why upgrade?  Primary difference that I see is internal RAM. 

Some may say that the same can be true for Pocket PC phones, but I think if you look at it clearly, Microsoft is trying to fix and enhance their mobile software.  Look at the changes between Pocket PC 2002, Pocket PC 2003, Pocket PC 2003SE, and now Windows Mobile 5.  If you look at the enhancements planned in Crossbow and Photon, you can see that they are at least looking at features and enhancements.  Clearly there are a wide range of form factor differences between Windows Mobile devices as well, like “all shapes and sizes”, anything from a small smartphone device like a mpx 220 or 2125/3125, all the way to a full featured device like the MDA, 6700 or 8125/8525.

So again I ask, is it really news?

Use Pocket Bible on your Pocket PC?

PocketBible 3.041 has recently been released. This version of PocketBible corrects several small problems:

* Under some conditions, Find Next could get stuck at a verse instead of advancing to the next matching verse.

* Under some circumstances, words matching the Find text were not always highlighted.

* Words matching the Find were not unhighlighted when the result list was closed via the menu or context menu and the "Highlight only when list is visible" option was checked.

* Horizontal rules in table cells were not the expected width.

* Some relative font size commands were ignored. As a result, some text that the book editor intended to be larger was not larger.

* Finding text in notes failed when one word was separated from the next by an end-of-line or punctuation.

* A broken link and some typographical errors in the Help file were corrected.

Go to www.laridian.com

Advisory: HP iPAQ rw6800 Multimedia Messenger - Setting Up the Device to Give You the Longest Battery Performance Time Between Battery Changes

Well, my saga with Time Warner continues.  Granted, I only have my high-speed internet access with them, maybe I should shop that too.  As I wrote earlier, they wanted to come out to cap the cable inside the house.  They wanted to come out yesterday.  I do have a day job, and they promised they would call first.  Well, guess what?  They didn’t call first.  I got a phone call from customer service saying the technician was at the house knocking with no answer, and that I’d have to reschedule the appointment because they weren’t waiting.  No advance warning, no advance phone calls as they promised, I couldn’t make it home from work in time to let them in, now I have to call and try to reschedule.  What exceptional customer service. 

And…my bill just came.  So much for “reducing” my bill by consolidating services.  My “monthly savings” all but disappeared with itemized charges above what their “deal” encompassed.  What do I mean?  They charged me a basic flat fee (which they said they would) for digital cable plus telephone.  Then they started adding things.  They charged me extra for whatever the “variety tier” is, probably added when I asked about children’s programming and what channels were included.  They charged me $9.95 extra, per box, for the DVR function.  They charged me and additional $4 extra, per box, for something called DVR converter.  What the heck is that?  So, it looks like they wanted $13.95 per box, per month, to use their DVR service.  Can you believe that?  $14 per month, per box?  DirecTV charges me $4.95 per month, TOTAL, for the DVR/TiVo service, no matter how many boxes I have that can record.  I won’t belabor the point that DirecTV DVR service WORKS, while Scientific Atlanta service with Time Warner didn’t.  But Time Warner wants an extra $14 per month per box for the service.  Unbelievable.  They also charged me $4.99 for something called “home networking”.  Now, keep in mind I’ve been a Time Warner customer for years using their Road Runner service.  Now all of a sudden they added $4.99 for home networking.  What in the world is that for?  The total of all of the “add-on’s”?  $48.83 extra per month.  This gave me the ability to do the same thing with Time Warner cable I was doing with DirecTV, multiple boxes with multiple DVR capabilities (after all, I have three boys and our interests in programming and what they want recorded are not the same).  Almost $50 extra per month for those add-on’s.  When I signed up for this service (after almost a 15–20 minute phone call “review”), I was told I’d be saving approx. $30 per month by bundling service.  As you can see, the add-on’s will actually cost me $20 MORE per month, not $30 less.  So, what they did was give me their “basic” pricing to convince me to switch, only to allow me to add services but not telling me that I was eliminating my savings and moving to more charges every month. 

Time Warner wants $20 more every month than I was paying before switching.  And the service was worse.  Before I thought it was a “get what you pay for” issue.  I was wrong.  If you are considering “bundling” to save money based on ads and commercials, make sure you read the fine print and ask them what the total charges are AFTER you get what you want.  I was duped.

According to the companies, BlackBerry Pearl, which is 4.2" x 1.97" x .57" and weighing just 3.1 ounces, would be an ideal phone for the burgeoning consumer mobile email market, providing the sleekness and multimedia capabilities. The new BlackBerry Pearl also includes a digital camera, multimedia capabilities and an expandable memory slot.

Some of the services provided by the new BlackBerry Pearl from T-Mobile USA, a member of the T-Mobile International group, includes BlackBerry Internet Service, popular instant messaging clients, multimedia player with stereo headset jack, high performance HTML browser, Quad-band GSM/GPRS and EDGE network support for international roaming.

Learn more here.

How rude is that?  You work for a company and rather than sitting down and discussing options, your employer decides that it can be completely impersonal and use email to let you know you’ve been laid off.

The Seattle Times is reporting that Radio Shack used email to notify 400 workers that their positions had been eliminated. 

"The work force reduction notification is currently in progress. Unfortunately your position is one that has been eliminated," the e-mails read. A spokeswoman said workers knew it was coming and e-mail was faster and more private.

Faster and more private?  E-mail?  Wow, sounds like a great company to work for.

Trying to decide whether to go with the Treo 700w (or 700wx), or the 6700 style PDA?  There’s an excellent write-up over at jkOnTheRun.  Read the write-up here.

I've made no secret how much I have enjoyed using my Palm Treo 700w but there is one thing I demand from my tools and that is reliability. This is especially true for my mobile phone because I run my business from my phone through both calls and email. The past few weeks my Treo has been exhibiting signs that the low memory installed in the device was getting regularly overwhelmed, even though I really haven't been taxing it. Sometimes it would take forever to open the phone window when I wanted to make a call, and even worse when a call would come in while the Treo was retrieving push email the call would just go off into never-never land. The past week things took a turn for the worse as at least four phone calls from my clients just rolled into voice mail without even ringing the phone. I am almost certain this happened when the Treo had run extremely low on memory. Two of those calls were from a client in Scotland who left a message for me to call him back right away. Two expensive international calls that shouldn't have been necessary because the Treo was sitting in my shirt pocket but didn't ring. I can't afford to miss calls like this, the one thing a phone must do without exception is get and receive phone calls but since the Treo is having difficulty doing that it was time to go.

So go is what I did to the Verizon store and largely due to Kevin Tofel's experiences (and especially his video review) I picked up the XV6700. The surprising thing about the 6700 is how it is smaller than the Treo…

Palm has updated their 700w/700wx page to reflect availability for both Verizon Wireless and Sprint PCS.  From appearances on the website, looks like there is a $200 price difference between Sprint’s offering ($499) and Verizon’s offering ($299).  I said “it appears” for a reason.  You’ll be paying roughly $25 more per month for monthly service from Verizon Wireless, so you’ll make up the $200 in eight months.  Keep in mind, the wireless carriers want the recurring monthly fees, so they’ll offer the hardware at what appears to be a good deal.  Read the fine print.  What may look like a deal really isn’t.

Rumors are that the HTC Excalibur is being tested on the T-Mobile USA network, soon to be released?

The HTC Excalibur, a Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone, featuring Quad-band GSM and WIFI, and an innovative response to the scroll wheel found on the Motorola Q. On the left of the device is a touch sensitive strip, with which one can scroll up and down, and activate Start and OK. Despite its chunky appearance its apparently only a few millimeters thicker than the Samsung SGH-i320, and 2 mm shorter.

I’m not a big fan of the Smartphone OS, I prefer having the full Pocket PC OS, including touchscreen, but these are nice looking phones.  Photo courtesy of smartphonethoughts.com.

Sprint PCS has released the 700wx and is available for $499 with a new line of service ($649 regular price).

About this Phone

Manage work and play more easily with the versatile Treo 700wx. This go-anywhere Windows Mobile® device combines a smarter phone with wireless email, web browser, rich media capabilities and familiar Microsoft® applications.

What a sad day.  I woke up this morning and turned on ABC news like I typically do, only to learn that Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin has died.  Apparently Steve was diving and received a puncture wound to the chest from a sting ray. 

The wildlife expert and a cameraman were snorkelling across Batt Reef in shallow water at about 11:00 am AEST.  Mr Stainton says the cameraman was initially unaware of the fatal sting.  "He [Irwin] just swum over the top of the ray and the barb came up and hit him," he said.  "The cameraman said at the time he didn't even know that it had hit him [Irwin] and then he saw blood in the water."

Rest In Peace Steve.

Rumor is that HP may begin shipping the 6940/6945 (no camera/camera) next week.  Is the rumor true?  We’ll see.  It was supposed to be released mid-August, but apparently it was pulled back due to QA issues.  Let’s hope that there are fewer bugs in the final release.

The device should be released with Windows Mobile 5 Phone Edition with the Messaging and Security Feature Pack already included.  It also has an Intel PXA270 Processor operating at 416 MHz, 45MB available persistent storage, 64 MB of SDRAM for running applications, a mini-SD slot, GPRS/EDGE technology, 802.11b Wi-Fi (my biggest complaint with the 6515), integrated bluetooth 1.2, quad-band, integrated GPS, SXGA 1.3 megapixel camera, and a slew of applications.  Check out the list:

Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Voice Recorder, Notes, Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, PowerPoint Mobile, Internet Explorer Mobile, Windows Media Player 10 Mobile, Calculator, Solitaire, Bubble Breaker, Messaging, File Explorer, Terminal Services Client, VPN Client, Infrared Beaming, Clock, Align Screen, and Memory. Microsoft Outlook 2002, Microsoft ActiveSync 4.1 HP Exclusive Applications: HP Photosmart Camera Software, HP Photosmart Mobile Software, iPAQ Wireless with Today Screen plug-in, HP Profiles with Today Screen plug-in, Bluetooth Manager, Today Panel Lite, HP Help and Support, HP QuickStart Tour, Modem Link, and SIM Manager.

If the rumors are true, I’ll be grabbing one.  Look for an out-of-the-box experience hopefully next week.

Well, yesterday morning, right at 9:30, just like they said they would be, my local Bell company showed up and removed all of the TW equipment.  I had no idea that they had “hid” so much equipment up in the ceiling of my basement to make the phone work.  It’s a pretty big box, bigger than my cable modem to make Roadrunner work.  I also know why TW asked for a power strip.  The box to make the phone work needed a plug, and the cable splitter needed a plug.  No wonder nothing worked if the power was off.  Now I have a big pile of equipment that needs to be returned.

Needless to say, my basement and my house are all back to normal.  All my phones work, and both phone numbers are now back active on the old system.  Voicemail is working the way it’s supposed to without needing a single call to customer service.  I can get rid of the waiver for my alarm system I had to sign when I switched to digital phone service (they couldn’t guarantee their system would dial correctly in the event of an alarm), and don’t have to worry about being without phone service should I lose power.  I guess I took the plunge a little too early, and there are a few bugs still to be worked out.

The funny thing is, I called TW and told them that they could turn everything off yesterday afternoon. I had to be transferred twice because I was downgrading service.  They said they needed to schedule an appointment to “cap” the open line in my house because I still have Roadrunner, but not digital cable.  I’m only supposed to have the “basic service” now, and since I have Roadrunner, they can’t turn it off without putting a cap on the line.  I told them I don’t have any TVs hooked up to the cable, but she told me they still needed to come out.  I asked them to cap it at the street, or at the hookup right outside the house, and they told me they have to get in the house.  Why?  There’s a TW cable box attached to the side of my house.  They can’t put the cap there?  They also said that if I didn’t answer the phone when they called on the day of the appointment, they would automatically cancel the appointment and I’d have to call them to reschedule.  I have to call them?  To put something in my house I don’t really need?  I have DirecTV.  Why in the world would I watch their cable?  Understand how the system works.  I can’t have cable and DirecTV running on the same cable in my house, and even if I could, why would I do that?  This is for them, not me, and they have the nerve to tell me that they only try once, and if I don’t answer or it goes to voicemail they automatically cancel.  Nice service.  I’ll bet if something happens, they try to bill me for it.

Secondly, they told me that I had to return all the equipment myself to the nearest customer service center.  I can’t give the technician the equipment.  Again, why?  They don’t mind coming to the house to put all the equipment in (multiple times in my case), yet I have to take it all back myself and can’t give it to the technician that needs in my house to cap the cable?  That’s just plain silly.  I asked her why, and she said “in order to receive proper credit for returning all the equipment, you need to take it to a service center”.  Let me guess, their technicians have been known to steal the equipment without turning it in, so we have to do it in person?  How inconvenient for the customers.  I looked on the internet and there isn’t a customer service center within 10 miles of my house.  Ridiculous if you ask me.  Why can’t they look at their schedules, and when a technician is in the area stop and pick it up?  How hard would it be to have a receipt of what they were supposed to pick up and have us both sign it?  Particularly when a technician has to come to my house to make sure I’m not stealing cable (which is why they have to cap it). 

Time Warner has a lot to learn about good customer service.  It’s been an interesting experience to say the least, but I’m done.