Entries from Manifest Tech Blog tagged with 'Communications'
The Verizon Wireless / Motorola Droid X - Yep, It's a Big Display
The difference is clear with the new Verizon Wireless Droid X from Motorola -- it's got a big, big display. For some, this is a great blessing, to view your apps and websites and messages more clearly, and to...
The Apple iPhone 4 is a Video Phone
It's June, and time for the next generation Apple iPhone 4. Some of the surprise may be missing this year, but it's fascinating to see how Apple has redefined this product -- originally as an iPod music phone, then...
Android 2.2 - A Tasty Treat
Time for a tasty frozen treat -- Google announced the details of the upcoming release of Android 2.2 at last week's Google I/O developers conference. This is the seventh platform release since Android 1.0 was launched in September 2008....
Scan and Translate Text with Google Goggles
How much can you do with a camera on a smartphone? The folks at Google Labs are determined to keep opening the aperture by pouring technology into their Google Goggles app to do all kinds of visual searches (see...
Droid Incredible from Verizon Wireless / HTC
The not so modestly named Verizon Wireless Droid Incredible from HTC actually lives up to its name. This slender device is wicked fast, packs some nice hardware upgrades, and features the highly-customizable HTC Sense interface. The Incredible is the latest...
Demoing Smartphone Apps with a Webcam
I've been having a lot of fun this year giving talks and demos about smartphone apps, especially on the Apple iPhone and Google Android. The trick for demoing smartphones, of course, is to find a good way to let the...
Android 2.1 Upgrade Now on Verizon Droid
The Android 2.1 software upgrade that originally shipped with the Google Nexus One phones is now rolling out on the Verizon Wireless Droid by Motorola. This finally adds Pinch to Zoom for web browsing and other apps including Gallery...
Smartphone and Wi-Fi Now Under $30 - Verizon Wireless Palm Pixi Plus
I've you've been interested in trying out a smartphone, but have been put off by the idea of paying $200 for an iPhone, Verizon Wireless has just started a new promotion for you -- the Palm Pixi Plus is...
Cool Gadgets - From 3D TV to Smartphone Apps
I'm back at the Princeton Macintosh User Group (PMUG) on Tuesday evening to present "Cool Gadgets for 2010 – From 3D TV to Smartphone Apps." Come on down! The big push at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (see previous...
Flexible Search -- Google Gesture Search
I've been really spoiled lately by using the Google Android search by voice on the Verizon Droid phone -- and not just for doing translations (see previous post). When looking up crossword clues, for example, it's so much easier to...
Image Search with Google Shopper and Google Goggles
Cameras are for more than taking pictures, and smartphones are more than communications devices. Combine the two, and you have a handheld device that can "look" at objects and tell you about them. For example, the Shop Savvy app (free...
Augmented Reality In Mobile Apps
What's all this about "augmented reality" for mobile apps? Well, Virtual Reality (VR) has to do with being immersed in a synthetic 3D graphics environment, i.e., experienced in a head-mounted display -- whether for action games, or for serious research...
Windows Phone 7 Series - Beyond Apps to "Hubs"
Microsoft has previewed the next generation of its Windows Phone platform at the Mobile World Congress. Dubbed Windows Phone 7 Series, the first products are due for the holiday season at the end of 2010. Windows Phone 7 is a...
Google Translate on Android - Cloud Processing
The Google Android platform is focused on smartphones as cloud devices, integrating with online services like Gmail and Google Contacts and Calendar. But it also integrates with the cloud at a deeper level, with Google back-end services like voice input...
Lower Prices for Microsoft Zune HD
Microsoft has lowered the price for its Zune HD media players (see previous post). The Zune HD 16 GB model has dropped to $199 (was $219), and the 32 GB model to $269 (was $289) on the Microsoft site...
Google Maps Updated on Android - with Multi-Touch
Google Maps for Mobile has been updated on Android phones to version 3.4 (see Google blog post), with several interesting features: - Personalized suggestions - Suggests places that you've previously searched for on other Google services (remembered though your...
iPhone / Android Apps vs. Websites - The Weather Channel
Is there really a need for all these smartphone apps for current information, like news, sports, finance, and weather? After all these are plenty of websites that will provide this kind of info, and even let you configure customized listings....
Preview iPhone Apps from the Web
Apple has updated the App Store within iTunes to allow you to share information about an app through a standard Web browser. This certainly makes it easier for reviewers and even enthusiasts to pass along pointers to interesting apps...
Verizon FiOS Mobile App - FiOS TV Remote DVR
Yes, you now can schedule recordings on your home DVR -- on your mobile phone. But why would you want to do that? Well, with the Verizon FiOS TV Remote DVR services you can set up show to record even...
New Display Technology for E-book Readers
While the obvious excitement at CES was around big screens with 3D TV, and small screens with smartphones (see previous post), there also was lots of action with new E-book readers in the middle range of screen sizes -- handheld...
Display Revolution: LED to OLED to E-Ink
Flat-screen LCD displays have swept the field, replacing CRTs as computer monitors and picture tubes for TVs. The revolution is complete, so it's time to move on to the next thing! At CES, Samsung was showing "LED TV" models, which...
New Unlimited Voice and Data Plans from AT&T and Verizon Wireless
AT&T and Verizon Wireless have announced new pricing plans for unlimited voice and data service. After all, we want mobile access to email and Web, and the carriers are happy to encourage more use of their networks for such...
Droid Android Apps - Flash-Lights
We know that the cell phone is a multi-function device, but one of the more prosaic uses is to light up the screen and use it as a flashlight. Cell phones have replaced cigarette lighters to sway along with music...
Grabbing Screen Shots from the Verizon Droid
So, I wanted to talk about the Verizon Droid smartphone and highlight interesting apps in the Google Android Market, but it turns out that you can't browse the market on the Web (see previous post). So I chased down...
Finding Droid Apps in the Android Market
There are some really fun and interesting applications being developed for the Google Android platform, and specifically for the Verizon Droid smartphone. So, I'd like to be able to link to more information about the apps, and show you some...
Verizon Droid Firmware Update 2.0.1
Verizon Wireless has released a new software update for the Droid smartphone from Motorola. This Android Update 2.0.1 includes improvements for battery life, voice quality, Bluetooth, and Visual Voice Mail (see full list below). The disappointing camera performance also...
Archos 5 Internet Tablet with Android
What's all this about Android? Well, Android is Google's version of the software for portable Internet devices, as first shown on the T-Mobile G1 smartphone a year ago (see previous post), and then updated to Android 2.0 with the recent...
Zune HD Adds Games and Firmware
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...
Zune HD AV Dock - Portable HD Video
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...
The Droid is Here -- Android 2.0 from Verizon Wireless
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...
Smartphone Market Update from Canalys
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...
Zune HD -- The Other Microsoft Mobile, and More
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...
The AT&T / HTC Pure is a Windows Phone
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...
Verizon Wireless MiFi -- Personal Mobile WiFi Hotspot
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...
Smartphone Potpourri: Apple iPhone and Palm Pre
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...
Eye-Fi Adds Ad Hoc Networking, Uploads of RAW Photos
Someday we will be able to get rid of our collections of data cables and card readers -- when all our devices are wireless. But until then, the Eye-Fi SD cards are a step in that direction by adding Wi-Fi...
HDMI 1.4 - Theatrical Entertainment in the Home
Don't look now, but the next generation of widescreen displays and home theater is looming on the horizon. You may have heard rumblings of new technologies like 3-D television and higher-definition digital video for movie theaters. And while these are...
Sharing Photos on Portable Devices
Got pics in your pocket? You don't need to carry snapshots in your wallet anymore, much less a photo album in your bag -- That's so last decade! Today's portable electronic devices can make great photo viewers, some with...
Eye-Fi Takes Photo Sharing to Video Sharing
The good news with digital cameras is that it's so easy to shoot lots of photos. The hard part is then accessing and sharing them -- hooking up the equipment and software to transfer your images to a computer, and...
Windows Mobile Touch Smartphones -- Verizon Wireless Samsung Omnia and HTC Touch Pro
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....
Samsung Flipshot - Camera Phone Transformer
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....
Eye-Fi SD Card Uploads Videos from Digital Cameras
As promised at CES (see previous post), the Eye-Fi Wi-Fi SD Memory card now can upload video clips as well as photos wirelessly from your digital camera to to your computer, or to a photo sharing site like Fickr...
Verizon Wireless Friends & Family Plan
Verizon Wireless has announced its own Friends & Family plan -- a calling group of phone numbers that do not count against your plan minutes. These can be landline phones, or (gasp) wireless numbers on other carriers. The details:...
Palm Pre Preview
The unveiling of the Palm Pre phone at CES in January was big news, for good reason -- It's an interesting combination of new ideas in the design of a connected PDA phone. Of course, the announcement was just...
LG's Dick Tracy Watch Phone
I'm not sure it's practical, but it sure is fun -- the LG Touch Watch Phone that brings Chester Gould's vision of the Dick Tracy 2-Way Wrist Radio to life. At CES, LG demoed a working prototype of the...
Eye-Fi To Upload Videos from Digital Cameras
The Eye-Fi Wi-Fi SD Memory card is a standard SD memory card, with some extra magic: built-in Wi-Fi networking ($129, see previous post). Insert the Wi-Fi card in a digital camera, and when you take pictures at home it...
magicJack Easy VoIP Phone Service
(with Tim Geoghan) (Almost) free phone calls! Who can resist? VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) allows users of software like Skype to make free phone calls over the Internet to other Skype users, and, for a fee, also make calls...
The T-Mobile G1 / Google Android Smartphone
The T-Mobile G1 smartphone is the first commercial implementation of the Google Android design (see previous post). The Android platform is being developed by the Open Handset Alliance -- which just announced the addition of 14 new members interested...
The Multimedia BlackBerry Storm
The new BlackBerry Storm from Verizon Wireless is a heretical abomination, abandoning the dedicated "crackberry" keyboard that stressed the thumbs of communications-obsessed executives in favor of focusing on multimedia features. Instead of a physical keyboard, the Storm has a...
Eye-Fi Wi-Fi SD Card: Not Just for Digital Cameras
I had fun trying out the Eye-Fi Explore Wi-Fi SD Memory card the past week ($129, see previous post). While the Eye-Fi card is currently designed to be used with digital cameras to upload photo files (i.e., JPGs), it's...
Eye-Fi Wireless SD Card - Now 4 GB
Someday all our devices will be wireless, and our files and media will just be there whenever we want them. Even today we can see the beginnings of connectivity for sharing photos, with camera phones that automatically upload photos to...
Satellite Phones for Remote Regions
Mobile phones are a modern miracle, as we have grown accustomed to connecting to a cell tower anywhere around the globe. But there still are remote regions where travelers need to rely on satellite phones to keep in touch....
Satellite Rescue Beacons: Call for Help
While you can use a satellite phone (see previous post) to keep in touch when travelling in remote areas, calling to chat does defeat the whole idea of getting away. Especially for shorter less rugged trips, the SPOT Satellite...
LG Chocolate 3 - Music Phone
The LG Chocolate has been a popular line of multimedia phones, and now Verizon Wireless has the next version -- the LG Chocolate 3, redesigned as a slim flip phone with outside screen and navigation controls for multimedia playback....
LG Decoy - Detachable Bluetooth Headset
The LG Decoy from Verizon Wireless is a sexy slider phone with a 2 MP camera and full-up multimedia and wireless broadband features. But the really interesting innovation is an integrated wireless Bluetooth headset that clips onto the back...
Motorola Adventure V750 - Push to Talk
Yes, Verizon Wireless does Push to Talk too -- With the Motorola Adventure V750 phone you can have walkie-talkie direct communications with one person or a group, in a rugged flip phone design with a no-slip surface, meeting military...
T-Mobile G1 - Google / Android Phone
Ta da! The T-Mobile G1 -- the first Google / Android phone was launched today at an event in New York (see video of the launch, especially the demo clips). The G1 will be available in the U.S. on...
Verizon Wireless XV6900 / HTC Touch Smartphone
The Verizon Wireless XV6900, released earlier this year, is based on the HTC Touch design. This is certainly a very nice design and interface built on the Microsoft Windows Mobile platform -- And the first smartphone that my 20-something...
WINLAB and the Future of Wireless
I've seen big computer rooms, and grids of mesh computers, but I'd never seen 400 computers hanging from the ceiling until I visited the WINLAB facility in North Brunswick, New Jersey. WINLAB, the Wireless Information Network Laboratory, is an...
Verizon Wireless / LG Voyager Multimedia Smartphone
While the Verizon Coupe is a simple phone for people who don't need fancy features (see previous post), the Verizon Wireless / LG Voyager Multimedia Smartphone is the opposite: a phone for people who revel in messaging, music, and multimedia....
Verizon Wireless Coupe - Simple Cell Phone
Smartphones are hot, combining phone and email and Web and media -- There's the excitement for the Apple iPhone, addiction to the RIM BlackBerry, patient fans of the Palm Treo, and the new promise of the Google phone. And regular...
The Apple iPhone is a Holiday Delight
The Apple iPhone has been a tremendous success in revitalizing the smartphone concept. The iPhone combines phone, PDA, and Web usage -- with the full iPod player experience (syncing content with iTunes), mobile phone, plus Wi-Fi wireless networking. While...
Eye-Fi - Wi-Fi SD Card for Digital Cameras
Tired of all that manual messing around whenever you want to get photos from your digital camera -- Bring the camera back to the computer, dig out the necessary cables and docking connectors, fire up the photo software to upload...
Digital Holiday Trends 2007: Portable Media and Accessories
It's holiday shopping season again, and time to explore the trends and new possibilities in portable electronics and associated accessories. This first installment focuses on portable media and accessories, looking at trends in these areas, and some sample products that...
Wi-Ex zBoost Cell Phone Signal Boosters
(with Josh Page) Stressed by lost calls on your mobile phone? Tired of searching along windows or by open doors for even one precious bar of cellular signal? Instead of you having to go find the signal, bring the...
Live TV on Your Mobile Phone - Verizon V CAST Mobile TV
Did you think broadcast TV was going away, replaced by subscriptions to hundreds of channels of cable service, and then Internet TV? But broadcast is coming back, not only with digital TV, but also with like TV service to mobile...
Eye-Fi - Wi-Fi SD Memory Card
In these days of wireless communications, why are we still physically connecting digital cameras to access our photos? Tired of finding and connecting the proper USB cable, or chasing down a compatible memory card reader? Your problems are solved, with...
Triple Play Digital Services: Comcast & Verizon
(with Josh Page) Here in central New Jersey, it's has been the summer of the "triple play." No, I'm not talking baseball -- this is about the battle to provide digital connections to the home, with the full bundle...
Recognize the Music -- Verizon Wireless V CAST Song ID
What *is* that song? It's so familiar -- dah, dah, dah, dum, de, dum ... But I can't quite get it. So frustrating! Never fear, your phone can recognize the music for you: Just hold your handset up to the...
Verizon G'zOne Rugged Phone
Here's something different to combine the rugged lifestyle with all those cool wireless phone services -- camera, mobile Internet, video and audio downloads, wireless navigation, and more -- the Verizon Wireless / Casio G'zOne Type-V rugged handset (pronounced "G-Z-one")....
Mobile Internet: Verizon EV-DO
Wi-Fi is great for wireless broadband Internet access in your home or office (see the Wireless Alliance. Wi-Fi on the road is more problematical -- Libraries and coffee houses may offer free Wi-Fi, while hotels and airports often have rather...
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