Manifest Tech Blog

You probably have a digital camera for taking pictures at official events -- family gatherings, vacation trips -- but more and more we're using the camera in our mobile phones to shoot whenever the whim or the situation catches us. After all, there are some 2 1/2 billion (with a "B") mobile phones worldwide, and over a billion more being sold each year, so that's a lot of opportunities for camera phones.

But camera phones are a compromise for picture taking, typically with limited resolution, lower-quality fixed lenses (no focus, no zoom), no flash, and without all those great automatic features to help take better shots, for example face recognition to adjust focus and exposure.

There's only so much photo features that you can squeeze into a tiny cell phone, but each new product manages to cram more in. The Samsung Omnia smartphone from Verizon Wireless, for example, has a 5 megapixel camera, which is a step up from the 2 to 3 MP found on other devices, including the iPhone.

However, phones still are designed for their primary function, and are clumsy to use for taking photos, which is why the Samsung Flipshot from Verizon Wireless (SCH-u900) is such an interesting design.

The phone starts as a standard clamshell design, closed up with a smaller display on the one side and a substantial lens with 3 PM camera on the other. It flips open to access the keypad and larger 2.2 inch inside display. But then you can twist the display around 180 degrees and close up the phone again -- So now you have something much closer to a digital camera, with the large display on the back, the lens on the front, and controls along the top.

The Flipshot also supports camera modes including scenes (landscape, night, macro), multi-shot (panoramas), color effects, and self timer. And it has video out though a separate accessory to display on a TV or monitor.

It has has stereo Bluetooth wireless, expansion microSD memory card slot, and
It's not too tiny at 3.76 x 1.83 x .73 inches and 3.88 ounces. The Flipshot is available from Verizon for $99 with service plan and online discount.

See my Mobile Communications Gallery for more on mobile phones.

    Find the Samsung Flipshot on Amazon.com

There are clear differences in the basic philosophy behind the different smartphones on the market. All now are multi-purpose communications devices, PDAs, and media players -- with phone and e-mail connectivity, contacts and calendar synching, and music and video entertainment. But the differences are also sharp: to greatly simplify, the Apple iPhone is about synching with your desktop iTunes library, the Google Android phone is about synching with the online cloud, the Blackberry is about enterprise communications, and Palm bridges the gap between personal and business.

In each of these cases, the form of the phone follows its function, both in its physical design and in the software interface that runs on the phone. The Apple iPhone is an integrated whole, and the Google Android phone and the Blackberry really are defined by the interface, no matter what hardware it happens to run on.

But what about Windows Mobile phones? These are amorphous -- How do you summarize the key user benefit when "a phone what runs Microsoft Windows" is the defining characteristic? Especially when these other phones work fine with Windows PCs, to interchange e-mail and Microsoft document formats.

So Windows Mobile phones from different manufacturers and carriers end up competing among themselves as well, seeking to differentiate not only in terms of the hardware design, but also by layering a custom user friendly interface on top of Windows Mobile.

Two new smartphones from Verizon Wireless show this design approach at work with a touch screen and custom enhanced interface. Both are built on Windows Mobile 6.1, with the Office Mobile Suite (i.e., Microsoft Office Word, Excel, and PowerPoint (for viewing only) Mobile), plus Adobe Reader LE PDF viewer, and ZIP file viewing/create.

They have cameras for photo/video capture, and media playback for music and video. Both also include the Opera Mobile Browser for HTML Web browsing, and built-in Wi-Fi for fast Internet access for e-mail and surfing at wireless hotspots. And they have a microSD card slot to add up to 16 GB of external memory.

The Verizon Wireless Samsung Omnia (SCH-i910) has a large 3.2 inch touchscreen display that fills most of the font of the unit, at 240 x 480 resolution.

As a multimedia device, the Omnia features a higher-res 5.0 megapixel camera, has FM radio, and support video out to a TV display.

The home screen uses the Samsung TouchWiz interface, with customizable widgets along the left column that you can drag-and-drop as favorites on the virtual desktop. These display information and status, and then you can tap to launch the main Windows Mobile applications. It also has haptic feedback -- vibration to confirm user inputs.

The Samsung Omnia is 4.41 x 2.24 x 0.52 inches and 4.34 ounces. It's available from Verizon Wireless for $269, or $199 with service plan.

The Verizon Wireless HTC Touch Pro (XV6850) is the next generation of the HTC Touch (XV6900), which used a vertical design like the Omnia, and the iPhone. The Touch Pro has a significantly different design, with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard (like the T-Mobile G1 / Google Android phone, also from HTC, and the upcoming next-generation Palm Pre). It's clearly aimed to people who are going to be doing more texting and e-mail.

The Touch Pro 2.8 inch display is full 480 x 640 VGA resolution, and works in portrait and landscape orientation, for working though menus, browsing the Web, or viewing videos. The main screen works with the HTC TouchFLO "3D" interface -- drag your finger or stylus across the icons at the bottom of the screen, or switch between functions by swiping across the face of the device or pressing left or right on the navigation pad.

It also includes a 3.2 MP camera, with flash and auto-focus.

The HTC Touch Pro is 4.17 x 2.04 x 0.71 inches (with the smaller screen but thicker keyboard), and weighs 4.94 ounces. It's available from Verizon Wireless for $419, or $349 with service plan.

See my Mobile Communications Gallery for more on mobile phones and smartphones.

Find the Verizon Wireless Samsung Omnia
and HTC Touch Pro on Amazon.com

The new smartphones are here -- the new Apple iPhone and Palm Pre are finally ready for action.

The new Apple iPhone 3G S provides up to 2X performance improvement, plus several long-awaited features found in competitive products, including a 3 megapixel camera with autofocus (was 2 MP), video recording (was photos only), and hands free voice control (as in mobile phones).

Apple also released the iPhone OS 3.0 software, again with much-requested features including cut & paste (finally), MMS multimedia messaging, Spotlight Search, landscape keyboard, and a Find My iPhone feature for lost phones (via MobileMe) with a Remote Wipe self-destruct option.

The iPhone 3G S is available from AT&T with 16 GB for $199, and 32 GB for $299. Since iPhones are sold at discounted prices with a service plan, AT&T is charging higher prices for recent purchasers to upgrade. Apple also dramatically reduced the iPhone 3G to $99 with 8 GB (the original iPhone from two years ago was $599 for 8 GB).

And the Palm Pre is now out, with some interesting new ideas in the design of a smartphone interface, including the "Activity Card" interface to flip easily between multiple tasks, and integrated views combining from multiple sources for contacts, calendar, e-mail, and messaging.

The Palm Pre is available from Sprint for $199.99 with a two-year agreement and $100 mail-in rebate.

See Gizmodo's Smartphone Buyer's Guide: The Best of the Best, with helpful charts comparing hardware, software, and costs for the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G S, Palm Pre, HTC Magic (expected T-Mobile G2), and BlackBerry Storm.

See full article: Apple iPhone: Product Summary
See full article: Palm Pre: Product Summary

Also see my Mobile Communications Gallery for more on smartphones

WiFi is great for letting you wirelessly connect to the Internet from your laptop -- as long as you are hanging in a coffee shop with a free WiFi hotspot, or within a wireless campus like a university or Bryant Park in New York City. Even better, you can get wireless broadband through the cellular phone network, so you can connect from anywhere you can get a mobile data signal.

Originally available as a PC card or USB dongle, cellular modems for broadband data service are available with some laptops, and built in to the new netbooks, which are smaller and less powerful, but focused on this kind of always-available online access. However, these do require a mobile data service subscription with a carrier like AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon -- in addition to your other mobile phone subscriptions.

The Verizon Wireless MiFi 2200 by Novatel combines these two ideas in one device that gives you the best of both worlds -- ubiquitous mobile broadband, shared as a personal WiFi hotspot. The MiFi is a cellular modem which connects to the Internet though the Verizon Wireless data service, and it's a WiFi router, supporting up to five simultaneous wireless connections, from your laptop and others in the area.

And the MiFi is tiny, around 3.5 x 2.3 x 0.4 inches, and just over 2 ounces. It has a removable rechargable battery for up to 4 hours of active service with one device, or 40 hours standby. You can then charge it from a USB port, or with the included USB wall charger.

But this is a full-up modem and router. For mobile data, the MiFi supports Verizon's fast EV-DO Rev. A service, with typical download speeds rated at 600 to 1.4 Mbps and uploads at 500 to 800 Kbps. And for WiFi, it supports WEP/WPA/WPA2-PSK security, with MAC/Port filtering, and VPN compatibility. Plus, you can use it as a modem without WiFi by connecting it directly to your computer via USB and running the VZAccess software. (Get the latest version at vzam.net).

The MiFi is available from Verizon Wireless (and other carriers like Sprint) for $99 with $50 rebate and two-year service plan. (Amazon lists it as free with a new service plan.)

Verizon offers mobile broadband data plans starting at $39.99 per month with a 250 MB monthly allowance (10 cents per MB overage), or $59.99 a month with a 5 GB monthly allowance (5 cents per MB overage). Or you can pay as you go with a DayPass plan at $15 for 24-hour access.

Note that there's no "unlimited" service offering for data. Sprint even warns that "Sprint reserves the right to limit throughput speeds or amount of data transferred" -- so don't plan to spend your days watching online videos.

See my Mobile Communications Gallery for more on the MiFi and mobile data services.

    Find the Verizon Wireless MiFi on Amazon.com

The HTC Pure from AT&T is one of the first smartphones based on the new Windows Mobile 6.5, now renamed Windows Phone.

The Pure is a compact handheld design, with most of the front taken up by the 3.2-inch touchscreen display. Its features include a 5 megapixel auto-focus camera, FM radio, built-in Wi-Fi for faster web access, GPS, and haptic feedback (vibration) on button presses. It's priced from AT&T at $149.

But the big news with the Pure is that it is one of the first phones built on the new Windows Phone platform, which is designed to extend the former Windows Mobile platform from business to consumers.

Windows Phone adds significant new services, including the new Windows Marketplace for Mobile with downloadable applications certified by Microsoft, and the My Phone online service to back up your phone's content and locate a missing phone (including Premium services to remotely force it to ring, locating it on a map, and locking or even wiping it).

Windows Phone is intended to be more touch friendly, to get away from the stylus with a redesigned user interface, and to make it easier to get to your important applications by bringing them up to the main Today / Home screen, instead of having them buried in menus. You can configure this with different interfaces -- TouchFLO 3D to quickly flip though the current status of your key applications, or the Windows Default interface with Zune-like scrolling though a list of common functions.

There's also a Start menu screen with icons of all the installed applications, for those who want the comfort of commonality with Windows (However, the Start menu is accessed from the top left of the screen, instead of the bottom left.) One of the four physical buttons below the screen also is a dedicated Windows key, which also brings up the Start screen (or press and hold the phone End call key for the Today / Home screen.

Unfortunately, the finger-friendly Today / Home screen interface is still only skin deep on top of the underlying Windows Mobile platform. Launch an application like Messages or Outlook E-mail, or set options in a dialog box, and you're back to really needing a stylus to access the small menus and controls -- much less to hit the tiny "x" application close box at the top right of the screen -- another remnant of the Windows heritage.

But if you're looking for a phone that works well with Windows, then Microsoft is clearly directed to your needs with the aptly named Windows Phone platform, and the AT&T / HTC Pure is a nice implementation, with a relatively big and responsive touch-screen display in a quite pocketable device. Just be aware that you'll still need the stylus (or a sharp fingernail edge) to fully navigate the interface.

See my full article, Windows Phone -- AT&T / HTC Pure, for more on the AT&T / HTC Pure phone and the Windows Phone platform.

See my Mobile Communications Gallery for more on smartphones.

Find the AT&T / HTC Pure on Amazon.com

While Microsoft is making a major push with its Windows Mobile (now Windows Phone) platform to make it more "finger-friendly" (see previous post), it also has been developing a second and different mobile device platform -- the Zune portable media player. Oddly, these are totally separate platforms, with different interfaces for playing digital media, different PC interfaces to synch files, and even different online stores for loading new content.

In comparison, the Apple iPhone is a clear extension of the iPod family and interface, sharing the common iTunes library and online store, and even with the iPod touch as a bridge device spanning the media player and smartphone markets.

The new Windows Mobile 6.5 interface did adapt a Zune-like design for its Home screen, but the underlying applications and dialogs are still based on Windows-like small menus and buttons.

Meanwhile, the evolution of the Zune line has lead to the recent introduction of the Zune HD, with an impressively attractive and smooth interface that flows cleanly through the entire product. (However, the Zune platform and Zune Marketplace online store are themselves incompatible with Microsoft's previous "Plays for Sure" platform for purchased music and associated players from companies like Creative and SanDisk.)

Microsoft also is playing catch-up in integrating portable and living room devices (as compared to Sony with the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3 -- see previous post). It will be extending the Zune service on the Xbox 360, with unified video catalogs on the Zune Marketplace and Xbox LIVE stores, so you can play purchased movies and TV shows across the PC, Zune HD, and Xbox.

So you may have thought that the Zune brand was for portable media players, but it's extending across Microsoft platforms to the desktop and set-top, just not yet to other mobile devices.

See my Portable Media Players Gallery for more on media players

See my Mobile Communications Gallery for more on smartphones.

Find the Microsoft Zune HD on Amazon.com

More on the Zune HD and Interface ...

Even with all the excitement about new mobile phones, the smartphone market has been relatively stable over the past year, according to new Q3 figures from Canalys.

Even with the difficult economy, smartphones are still outperforming the overall mobile phone market, as global smart phone shipments grew 4% over the year, to 41.4 million units in Q3. Smartphones are also getting smarter, as the proportion of smartphones with touchscreens is 45% (vs. 31% last year), 80% have integrated GPS, and 75% have Wi-Fi.

The ranking of hardware vendors remained the same, with Nokia, RIM, Apple and HTC combined for over 80% of the market. In worldwide market share, Q3 2009 vs. Q3 2008,
Nokia leads with 40% (was 39%), RIM BlackBerry grew to 21% (was 15%), Apple iPhone is a new high of 18% (was 17%), and HTC has 5.3% (was 5.8%). Canalys reposts that the demand for iPhone 3GS far outstripped supply, and Apple’s satisfaction ratings were consistently highest of any vendor.

The ranking of operating system software was also relatively stable, with, the Google Android platform starting to make progress. Again in worldwide market share, Q3 2009 vs. Q3 2008, Symbian leads with 46% (was 47%), RIM BlackBerry is at 21% (was 15%), the Apple iPhone is at 18% (was 17%), with Microsoft Windows Mobile dropping to 8.8% (was 13.6%), and Google Android appearing at 3.5% (from just under 3% in Q2).

See the analysis at Apple Insider, including nice pie charts.

See my Mobile Communications Gallery for more on the smartphone market.

The Verizon Wireless Droid smartphone from Motorola shipped today, featuring the new Google Android 2.0 updated mobile phone software platform. I've been working with the Droid for a week, and am definitely impressed.

The phone, and the software, are solid -- clean, functional, responsive, and quite usable.

The physical design of the Droid is a slider phone with a full QWERTY keyboard, large 3.7" high-res (854 x 480) display, and 5 megapixel camera with LED flash.

It features integrated Wi-Fi for fast communications and browsing, and integrated GPS for location-aware searching and mapping.

The Android 2.0 platform supports fully-integrated voice search and multi-tasking for non-intrusive background downloads.

The Android platform is focused on syncing to your life online in the Google cloud, with Gmail and Google Contacts and Calendar. Android 2.0 does extends to more traditional business uses (multiple accounts, Exchange support), enhances the interface for responsive navigation and searching, and bulks up the camera with auto-setup, flash, and video (though the camera response is a tad sluggish).

However, the Droid with Android 2.0 is missing common functionality that will be expected by people interested in switching from PDA phone platforms like Windows Mobile and Palm, much less the BlackBerry or Apple iPhone. Particularly glaring are the absence of out-of-the-box support for syncing desktop data and files (as in Outlook and Office documents), and the lack of unified support for managing and syncing media. There's no Tasks or Memos applications at all, and Word and Excel documents can only be viewed by using an otherwise-hidden Quickoffice feature when you download in the Browser app.

In addition, the media support is very plain, with no built-in syncing or unified browsing as we're used to from iTunes. There's a Music app with limited organization (no categories or genres), and a Gallery app for displaying photos and videos, but organized only by folder. The Camera app does shoot photos up to 5 MP (2592 x 1936, JPEG) and videos at 720 x 480, but there's no built-in Voice recorder.

And there's no built-in syncing mechanism to manage and transfer collections of documents or files with a computer -- although you can mount the Droid over USB as an external drive and just drag and drop files from your computer. You also can manually sideload via microSD card, or download from online, depending on the type of media and where you can find it. For example, you can use the built-in Amazon MP3 Store app to buy and download songs and albums. You also can sync with tools like Windows Media Player, and the Motorola Media Link PC software can sync music, playlists, photos, and videos, plus backup and upload online.

The Google Android Marketplace does somewhat addresses these issues, with a variety of third-party applications, from a variety of developers, at a variety of prices (and level of support). So you can cobble together some missing applications (Notepad, PDF viewer), but it's still a clumsy combination with different interfaces, inconsistent features, and without common integrated syncing.

Still, it's fun to search the Android Marketplace, and I've had good luck so far with high-rated yet free applications, like a Wi-Fi analyzer, GPS status, NYC subway map, Weather channel, and the fun Google Sky map that responds to your viewing position. It's still clumsy to search long lists of apps on the handheld device, and would be much more helpful to be able to search and sync online.

Bottom line: The Droid is very impressive -- and tempting. It's still focused on online cloud computing services, but it's getting closer to filling my needs for a full organizer / pocket digital assistant that fully syncs with my digital life on the desktop. It's priced at $199.99 from Verizon, with a new 2-year agreement and $100 rebate.

The Droid has almost no built-in help, so see the Verizon support site for a user's guide and step-by-step instructions.

See my full article, Verizon Droid from Motorola: Android 2.0, for more on the Droid's design and features and technical specifications.

See my Mobile Communications Gallery for more on smartphones.

Find the Verizon Droid from Motorola on Amazon.com

The new Microsoft Zune HD media player has a bright 3.3-inch touchscreen OLED display, ready to tilt into landscape mode for showing16:9 widescreen videos (see previous post).

And the "HD" in the name refers to the ability to store and play 720p HD videos. However, HD video doesn't do you much good if you're watching on the Zune's 480 x 272 display. So what's going on here?

The Zune HD is part of Microsoft's move to broaden the Zune brand from players into online entertainment, so you can buy movies and TV shows in HD, and enjoy them across the desktop (on Windows), set-top (Xbox 360), and portable devices (Zune HD). The first step is extending the Zune service to the Xbox 360, with unified video catalogs on the Zune Marketplace and Xbox LIVE stores.

But for the moment, you can turn your Zune HD into a HD video player with the Microsoft Zune HD AV Dock, available separately for $89 list ($70 street). Connect up to your HDTV with the HDMI cable, and watch 720p HD video in its full widescreen quality. The dock also includes optical digital audio output and an antenna for FM radio and HD radio reception, plus standard AV cables for display on standard-def TVs, and with other Zune models. There's also a wireless remote control.

The HD videos do take up significantly more storage than standard-def (and take longer to transfer and download) -- you can store some 10 hours HD video on a 32 GB Zune, but 48 hours of SD video. So stay with SD videos if you're only watching on the Zune itself, and then step up to HD with the AV Dock to watch your videos in their full quality.

Microsoft also offers a Zune Premium Car Pack for $79 that auto-seeks the best available FM frequency to play on your car radio, plus an audio out minijack, and a USB port to simultaneously charge a second device.

See my Portable Media Players Gallery for more on media players

Find the Microsoft Zune HD AV Dock on Amazon.com

The Microsoft Zune HD is a touchscreen media player with radio, wireless, Web browsing -- and downloadable applications which can take advantage of its 3.3" screen and graphics performance (see previous post).

Microsoft recently released a set of new games optimized for the Zune HD to give you a sense of the device's capabilities.

These feature a 3D point of view driving game for racing through city streets, which can connect wirelessly to play with others.

• PGR: Ferrari Edition - Select your Ferrari cars and steer through the streets of London, Tokyo and New York with touch and tilt controls. Compete with three other players wirelessly.


• Lucky Lanes Bowling - Chose different bowling alleys, bowlers and ball styles


• Checkers - Classic game, play against the Zune or wirelessly with other player


• Audiosurf Tilt - Ride a song visually on roller coaster track based on the shape, speed and mood of the music. Tilt to avoid speed bumps and collect colored boxes


• Piano - Play portion of keyboard on touch-screen keys

You can review and download Zune apps using the Zune Desktop Software (under Marketplace / Apps) and then sync to the player, or download directly on the Zune HD device. Then run them from the Apps menu. However, apps do take a while to launch -- over five seconds, which is OK for a game but a bit painful for the Calculator app.

Microsoft also has release a new firmware 4.3 update for the Zune HD. Among other improvements, this provides the underlying support for upcoming 3D games and applications, adds an Auto Suggest feature for text input, and speeds Web browsing, with an Internet Settings option to swap between mobile or desktop layout when viewing Web pages. Get the firmware through the Zune Desktop Software (under Settings / Device / Player Update).

See my Portable Media Players Gallery for more on media players

Find the Microsoft Zune HD on Amazon.com