BostonPocketPC

Well if you are a Zune user you may or may not be aware there is an update for the desktop software to version 2.5 called the Spring Update.

These are alot of features that were echoed in the community and its nice to see implemented, but I am still waiting on seeing some movie content on the Zune Marketplace, hopefully that will arrive soon...

New 2.5 Update includes:

• Syncing Zune Cards to a device.
• Enhanced friends search.
• Instant friends.
• Artist and album reviews.
• Reputation badges.
• Windows Live connections.
• Auto playlists.
• Browsing videos.
• Editing album and track information.
• Organizing collections.
• Gapless playback.
• Syncing groups.
• Zune reminders.

Here is the official press release:

Microsoft Corp. today announced that Zune, the company’s all-in-one digital entertainment brand, is adding new software features and content to the Zune online store, music community and Zune Pass monthly subscription service. Zune is expanding its video store to include downloads of popular television shows from COMEDY CENTRAL, FUNimation® Entertainment, MTV, NBC Universal, Nickelodeon, Starz Media (including Magna Entertainment), Turner Broadcasting, Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC) and VH1 that consumers can sync to their device and enjoy on the go. In addition, by further integrating the Zune music community into the core experience, the new software makes it easier for people to find and listen to the music they want, share it with friends, and take it with them wherever they go — whether they choose a Zune Pass or a la carte MP3 downloads. Zune Pass subscribers can now set up automatic, real-time feeds of the music their friends are listening to and add those songs to their collection or Zune device.

Starting today, consumers can choose from more than 800 episodes of popular television series to download and watch on their computer or their Zune, including COMEDY CENTRAL’s “South Park,” FUNimation’s “Afro Samurai” and “Witchblade,” MTV’s “The Hills,” NBC’s “The Office,” “Heroes” and “30 Rock,” Nickelodeon’s “SpongeBob SquarePants,” SCI FI Channel’s “Battlestar Galactica” and “Eureka,” Starz’s “Ghost in the Shell” and “Street Fighter,” Turner Broadcasting’s “Metalocalypse” and “Robot Chicken,” UFC’s “The Ultimate Fighter®” and “Fight Night™,” and VH1’s “Rock of Love” with Bret Michaels. Each television show will be priced at 160 Microsoft Points per episode (approximately $1.99) at launch. With more than 3.5 million tracks, two-thirds of which are available in pure MP3 format, 800 television shows, 4,800 music videos and 3,500 audio and video podcasts, the Zune online store is a great place for consumers to find the entertainment content they want. In addition, the bright, full-color screen on every Zune portable media player delivers a high-quality video experience on the go.

“Partnering with Zune will allow us to develop innovative content offerings for their customers, including flexible pricing and packaging options beginning this fall,” said JB Perrette, president of NBC Universal Digital Distribution. “NBC Universal is excited to offer our hit television shows to Zune customers.”

A Better Way to Experience Music
In a recent study commissioned by Zune, 54 percent of consumers surveyed said they were frustrated when trying to find new music, mostly because they said they didn’t have enough time, didn’t know where to look, or felt that they ended up wasting money on music they didn’t end up liking. At the same time, 89 percent said they would trust a friend or family member’s musical recommendation over a music critic’s.

The growing Zune online music community enables consumers to explore, discover and share music. Members get a free, customizable Zune Card: a snapshot of their favorite tracks and the music they’re playing on their Zune. Previously this personal snapshot resided only on the Web, but with the latest software updates Zune Cards have become much more portable. Now consumers with the Zune Pass subscription have the ability to take what their friends are listening to from the Zune music community on the go via Zune Card personal playlists for easy exploration and access, when and where they want it. The Zune Pass subscription allows consumers to explore millions of tracks with no commitment other than the monthly fee similar to the price of one CD — $14.99 per month.

“Consumers want more than the traditional transactional model of an online music store plus portable device,” said Chris Stephenson, general manager of Global Marketing for Zune at Microsoft. “Zune is putting the strong combination of an online music community together with subscription to deliver a new experience centered on music discovery that’s good for consumers, artists and the industry. This approach exposes consumers to music they might not have otherwise tried, keeps them coming back, and gives them purchasing options that suit their preferences.”

New updates to the Zune online music community include the following:

• Syncing Zune Cards to a device. Consumers simply drag and drop Zune Cards from friends to a Zune device and get updates on what friends are listening to every time they sync. If the song is available with Zune Pass, subscribers automatically have the full tracks on their Zune while nonsubscribers have full album information and artwork. If consumers hear something they like, they can add it to their collection with one click. Next time the user syncs his or her Zune, he or she will be asked to confirm the purchase.

• Enhanced friends search. Consumers now have the ability to add their name, location and bio to their Zune music community profile, making it easier than ever to find their friends.

• Instant friends. The true power of the Zune online music community is unlocked when friends are added and consumers can follow the music they’re listening to. Now, when new Zune owners join the Zune online music community, they’ll find the top music editors from the Zune Marketplace team already added to their friends list, giving them a head start in finding new music.

• Artist and album reviews. Inside the Zune music community, members have the ability to write and post their own reviews for artists and albums, providing another community-driven feature to support the exploration and discovery of music. The music community helps to find and recommend the best music.

• Reputation badges. Now members of the Zune community can earn badges that are displayed on their Zune Card showing they’re passionate fans or active members.

• Windows Live connections. Windows Live Messenger contacts will now be able to see what users are listening to via the Zune software. Clicking on the tracks displayed in the “Now Playing” feature will connect the Windows Live Messenger friend directly to that artist’s page on the Zune Social.
A More Integrated Way to Manage and Enjoy Entertainment
Responding directly to customer feedback, Zune has updated and added features and functionality to address better integration between the software, the online music community and the store. In addition, the updates include frequently requested features such as the ability to sync multiple Zune players at once. Specific feature updates include the following:

• Auto playlists. Users can create an auto playlist that updates itself automatically as new music is added.

• Browsing videos. Consumers can browse their video collection by genre and series, plus they can preview videos before they play them on full screen.

• Editing album and track information. Users are able to edit track or album information (metadata) quickly via multi-select and drag-and-drop. The advanced metadata editing features make it easy to edit multiple tracks or survey albums and artist information.

• Organizing collections. In addition to sorting by artist or album, consumers can now sort by genre. While browsing by genre they can further sort music by artist, album or release year.

• Gapless playback. Consumers will now be able to listen to an album without the brief gap between tracks, both on their Zune and in the Zune software. This is a must-have for live-concert recordings and compilation albums.

• Syncing groups. Zune software now syncs to multiple Zune players simultaneously. Users can prepare which content on their computer to sync even when their Zune isn’t connected. Consumers can create custom sync groups for music, pictures and videos.

• Zune reminders. Experience is improved when a Zune player’s memory is nearing capacity, via an easy-to-use tool.

Jason Dunn over at ZuneThoughts has some nice screen captures, videos, and descriptions of the update and its new features:

Zune 2.5 Spring Update: Delving Into The Social

Zune 2.5 Spring Update: A Video Walkthrough

Zune 2.5 Spring Update: Finally, Some Serious Software Updates!

Zune 2.5 Spring Update: The Zune Social

Zune 2.5 Spring Update: TV Shows Comes to the Zune Marketplace

Today Barb Bowman at digitalmediaphile -Barb's Connected World announced her contest to win an HP HDX Dragon Entertainment Notebook in Day Five of the 31 Days of the Dragon.

Here are the details of her contest:

Anyone reading this blog entry can enter my contest between now and 6pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time US on May 12, 2008. I’ll be shipping the HDX Dragon Entertainment PC to the lucky winner who will be chosen on May 13.

The Contest Rules

It’s a treasure hunt!

The rules and details:

1. Email subject must be “I want a HDX Dragon” and you must and send to a special email address I have set up. (Click the link to open your default email client which will auto address the email or manually address to hdxcontest@gmail.com.) Blog comments don’t count and I have turned them off for this post to avoid confusion.

2.  Five items must be included in the body of the email. These answers are all on my blog. Do not use images or stationery.

• -1- Somewhere on this site is a hidden blog post with an image of the HDX Dragon HP Pavilion Entertainment PC. Find the hidden post and click on the title, then copy the full URL to the clipboard. You must paste the full URL for the hidden post into the body of the message as the first line.
• -2- On a separate line, type in the specs of the specific Intel processor that my contest machine includes.
• -3- On a separate line, type in the model number of the first HP Pavilion Entertainment PC I blogged about.
• -4- Unlike HP who has a slick and easy 64 bit native program to update system BIOS, what computer manufacturer and laptop was a real problem to update under Vista x64 until I found a workaround? Type this info on a 4th line.
• -5- What brand and model DSLR camera have I been using and take on a recent trip to Seattle?

3. One entry per email address. Please don’t attempt to enter multiple times to increase your chances of winning. Entries will be sorted by FROM return email address and multiple entries will be disqualified. No throw away email addresses like mailinator, etc.

4. You must enter by 6pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time US on May 12, 2008. Emails received after that will not be eligible.

5. A random drawing will be held on May 13. If you did not provide the correct answers to all 5 items, you can not be the winner!

6. I will send an email on May 13 to the winner who will have 24 hours to respond with their full legal name, shipping address (no post office boxes) and phone number for shipping. If no response is received, a second random drawing will be held with the same conditions. I will announce the winner here (no address or phone will be posted). Note that Buzz Corps will make a payment directly to the winner to offset their tax burden.

7. This machine is for your personal use and while what you do with it is up to you, I ask that it not to be sold on eBay or other channel. If you enter, please do so because you are excited about the HDX Dragon and want it for yourself/your family.

8. After the winner receives the dragon and has had a chance to enjoy it, I’d love to do a follow-up story with the winner’s comments.

To learn more about the rest of the details of the contest and how to win your very own HP HDX Dragon Entertainment Notebook head straight here for the contest rules as well as to see what else is going on over at Barb's Connected World including her article, HDX Dragon-First Impressions.

Tomorrow on May 7th our contest starts! So be sure to check out your chance to win by heading back here!

Also as of today you now have 5 chances to win one of these fabulous laptops from AbsoluteVista, Ars Technica, OSNN.net, and JKontherun.

T-Mobile USA has finally launched its much awaited third-generation wireless network in the U.S., is now live in New York City. However there are currently only 4 phones that can use this new service: the Nokia 3555 and 6263 and the Samsung t819 and t639.

These 4 UMTS devices running on the 1.7 and 2.1 MHz band, provide data speeds between 200 Kbps -300 Kbps. T-Mobile plans to introduce phones later this year taking full advantage of their 3G network running HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access)devices later in the year, which will offer data speeds of 600 Kbps to 1 Mbps.

T-Mobile plans to offer 3G service in 20 to 25 markets (like Los Angeles, Detroit, San Diego, Austin, Las Vegas, Minneapolis and Miami) deployed by the end of 2008. There is also mention of the possibility of 3G cellular PC data cards later this year or in early 2009 as well.

If you are in the New York City area, T-Moble has a beta program for their new 3G service.

You need to be a T-Mobile subscriber, have minimum 600 talk minutes, a data plan and live/work in the NYC area.

I asked the company providing the beta if I could post up the link to apply and they said it is a public offer. So if you are interested you can apply for the beta here.

Here is T-Mobile USA's Official Press Release:

T-Mobile USA, Inc. today announced that the company has taken the first commercial step in the rollout of its third-generation (3G) wireless network by launching its UMTS/HSDPA network in New York City. T-Mobile plans to continue the rollout of its 3G network across major metropolitan markets through the year. By year’s end, T-Mobile expects its high-speed data network will be available in those cities where a majority of its subscribers currently use data services.

“The launch of our 3G network comes at a time when 3G phones and services are more affordable, capable and appealing to our consumer marketplace than ever before,” said Cole Brodman, chief development officer, T-Mobile USA. “We benefit not only from the economic scale of 3G, but also from the extensive commercial experience of 3G in our European markets. Today, T-Mobile USA customers already have among the highest adoption of data and messaging services in the industry. Through our 3G network, we look forward to delivering a rich portfolio of new and meaningful services to enrich our customers’ lives.”

T-Mobile’s 3G network supports voice and data services consistent with available service and handset offerings. The company today offers multiple phones that are able to operate on the UMTS network. The phones are designed to automatically connect to the best available network (3G or GSM/GPRS/EDGE) to provide the great call quality and rich communication services customers expect from T-Mobile.

Customers using a 3G-capable handset from T-Mobile will also experience faster data speeds when accessing the Web, or downloading content from the T-Mobile t-zones content portal, for example.

In the coming months, T-Mobile plans to offer its first HSDPA device, along with new and compelling data-centric, all-in-one devices that help make the most of T-Mobile’s high-speed data network.

The launch of the 3G network also enables T-Mobile to accommodate and serve more customers more efficiently through the use of its AWS spectrum, effectively doubling T-Mobile USA’s spectrum position, and laying the foundation for the company’s future growth. T-Mobile and the U.S. government, namely the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice, continue to work closely and effectively together to make available AWS spectrum that will give consumers access to the 3G network.

As the 3G service rolls out in targeted major markets, T-Mobile will continue to build upon its T-Mobile^® HotSpot Wi-Fi network — its wireless high-speed Internet offering that launched in 2003 — and its nationwide voice and data network, to empower customers to effortlessly stay connected using the best available network.

T-Mobile International is following a common technology path across all of its markets in Europe and the United States, from GSM/GPRS/EDGE to UMTS/HSDPA. T-Mobile USA greatly benefits from

T-Mobile International’s 3G experiences in Europe, where adoption of non-messaging mobile data is growing dynamically; and with more than 120 million customers worldwide, T-Mobile International is able to generate significant global procurement synergies.

Cinco De Mayo is going to be the start of the one lucky person's path to coolness with another contest over at JKontherun.com to win. Today they announced their contest to win an HP HDX Dragon Entertainment Notebook in Day Four of the 31 Days of the Dragon.

If you want to see some shots of the HP HDX Dragon in action Jack Cook has posted up some pictures of the HP HDX we are giving away. We had lunch at our local Panera Bread, which has a line out the door at lunch time and is the mobile office for many. Here is one of the pictures, with me using it as any power user would! Notice it takes up the whole table and not the smaller one on the left. My review of it should be up later today.

OK back to the contest over at JKontherun. This contest is going to require a little work, but I think the prize is well worth it! Here is what it involves:

Our contest starts live right now and we'll accept entries until Midnight EST on May 11.  We will announce the winner on May 12 to keep the 31 days of giveaways alive and kicking. 

Running a blog for such a long time means that Kevin and I reveal a lot about ourselves over the course of time.  We like to share with our faithful readers and we felt that with such a great prize on the line those of you who want to enter the contest should prove how well you've been paying attention.  To enter the contest email the answers to the following questions.  Be sure and include in your entry your real name and email address so we can contact you if you are the winner.  Do NOT include any other information like your address as we will get that from the winner after the contest.  To insure that no one inadvertently posts the answers here we have disabled comments on this post so if you want to enter you MUST email to the above email address.  It is the only email address we will consider for the contest.  When the contest entry period ends Kevin and I will randomly select a winner from a pool of those with the most correct answers to these questions:

1. What are James' and Kevin's ages as of today?
2. How many times has James been to Paris?
3. What is the name of the young lady besides Barbara who lives in Kevin's house?
4. What is special about Kevin's SUV?
5. Kevin and James both use the same camera for video reviews.  Name it.
6. What sports car does Kevin drive and what year model is it?
7. What is James' current ride and what year model is it?
8. What famous music star did James open for in a concert years ago?
9. How many comments have been left on jkOnTheRun as of right now? (closest one is correct)
10. How many posts have been published on jkOnTheRun as of right now? (closest one)
11. The producer/ director of what famous movie once left a comment on jkOTR?

That's it, these are all the questions you need to answer.  Hey, you didn't expect us to just give the Dragon away for doing nothing, right?

To learn more about the rest of the details of the contest and the email address needed to enter their contest to win your very own HP HDX Dragon Entertainment Notebook head straight here for the contest rules as well as to see what else is going on over at JKontherun.

Tomorrow Barb Bowman at Barb's Connected World will announce her contest so be sure to head there for another chance to enter or head back here for the details or head directly to and back here on May 7th when our contest starts!

Also as of today you now have 4 chances to win one of these fabulous laptops from AbsoluteVista, Ars Technica, and OSNN.net .

Well today is day 3 of the 31 Days of the Dragon and it is the day that the folks at OSNN.net have launched their contest today for your chance to win an HP HDX Dragon Entertainment Notebook!

 

So here are the rules for the contest at OSNN:

OSNN is a big and close-knit community where our primary focus is discussing a large and diverse field of topics on our forums. I have discussed how we wanted to do this competition and we decided to make a part of it simple to allow members both new and old a fair chance at winning the giveaway.

The first part of the competition is simple and as follows – you just have to answer the following questions:

1. What operating system does the OSNN server use?
2. What name did OSNN/NTFS originally have when it started?
3. Which operating system was originally the site’s main focus?
4. What date was the first news post made on the current front page?
5. What Microsoft community is OSNN a member of?
6. When is the Electronic Punk’s birthday?

The answers can be found by using some common sense, a little bit of the search function and learning about the history of OSNN.
The second part is a little more complicated and will require some participation.

I have decided that whoever wins this competition must be an active member of the community, however this does not rule out those that have yet to become members as they have a week to show that they are!
Anyone can submit answers to the questions above and a winner will be chosen from those with the correct answer a week from today. This member will then be checked to make sure that they have made a valuable contribution to our forums and truly become a good member.
Only members that have had their first post moderated will be able to create visible posts and submit their answers but don’t worry the OSNN team will quickly authorize valid posts and you will then be able to submit your answers.

There is no advantage to submitting your answers early so take your time and make sure they are correct as duplicate entries will all be removed. Any duplicate submissions from the same IP address will also be removed. Just make sure that you submit your answers before next Sunday begins as the form will be disabled at some point next Sunday and the winner will be chosen.

As for new members, making your contribution is simple, it doesn’t have to be giving answers to those unanswered questions, but you can ask your own questions, comment on anything you see and generally have fun.

To learn more about the rest of the details of the contest and how to enter their contest to win your very own HP HDX Dragon Entertainment Notebook head straight to here for the contest rules on OSNN.net.

Tomorrow James and Kevin at JKontherun.com will have theirs so be sure to head there for another chance to enter or head back here for the details or head directly to OSNN.net and back here on May 7th when our contest starts!

Also as of today you now have 3 chances to win one of these fabulous laptops from AbsoluteVista and Ars Technica.

The folks at Ars Technica have launched their contest today to win an HP HDX Dragon Entertainment Notebook in Day Two of the 31 Days of the Dragon.

 

Sound like something you might like? Here's the skinny: this is a serious piece of kit, so we're going to make you work for it. Create something for a game that involves Ars Technica. It could be an Unreal Tournmant level or skin, an Ars Technica theme for the PS3, a house in the Sims that's based on our forums, with a funny-looking Peter Bright of course. If you've ever wanted to model Jacqui Cheng's house, complete with 50 iPods under glass, you can do so. You can use any game, and create a level, skin, or anything else your heart desires. Points will be given for originality and ties to Ars, and will be judged by a panel of experts. Namely, us. The contest begins tomorrow, May 3, and ends on May 10—hopefully you work well under pressure.

To learn more about the rest of the details and how to enter their contest head straight to Ars Technica. Also there is currently another chance to win at AbsoluteVista.

Tomorrow the folks at OSNN.net will have theirs so be sure to head there for another chance to enter or head back here for the details or head directly to OSNN.net and back here on May 7th when our contest starts!

The Celio REDFLY Mobile Companion from Celio Corp garnished alot of attention at this year's CES as a notebook replacement with no operating system, but works merely as an extension of a Windows Mobile device providing an 8 inch screen and full sized keyboard.

CEO Kirt Bailey told us at CES that the REDFLY is a companion device for Windows Mobile devices without having to repeat computing power on a laptop form factor as well as without having to deal with the operating system, hardware, and software expense and support issues involved with laptops and UMPCs. He told us they were mainly targeting companies and enterprise users that have to issue users with laptops and mobile phones. This saves the cost not only of purchasing a laptop, but also the ROI involved with managing and administering the devices, which are estimated to roughly $4100 a year each. Another issues was security because the REDFLY doesn't store any sensitive information and all the data remains on the smartphone, displays can be shared amongst users without risk of data loss or security breach.

Unboxing and Setting up the REDFLY

The REDFLY comes in one color on release and it will be a scarlet maroon that has some flecks of red metallic in it. There is some nice thought into the overall design including matching the color of the touch pad to the outside color. Out of the box the screen has a protective removable plastic film that should be removed before using.

 

The finish on the REDFLY is similar to many phones in that it has the "soft touch" finish that gives it a slightly rubbery/silicon feel so it has some grip to it and won't easily slip out of your hands.

(Note: the review unit we had was a pre-production unit so the final unit may vary from the one reviewed here)

The REDFLY measures in at 1 x 6 x 9 inches (just a bit smaller than the Fujitsu P1610) and weighs only 2lbs 4oz with the included 9VDC power supply and an ounce just under 2lbs if you choose to leave the charger at home, in the hotel, or back in the office. If you do, the unit when tethered via USB charging our device averaged 5.5 hrs of battery and 7.5 hours via a Bluetooth connection. This is inline with the stated 8hrs if you round up from the 4500ma Lithium Polymer rechargeable battery.

 

The REDFLY has 2 USB 2.0 powered ports on the back of the unit that can be used to synchronize and charge your Windows Mobile device or to connect to a USB keyboard, mouse, or even external storage like a USB thumb drive.

Also on the back is a standard 15pin VGA port used for an external display or projector perfect for giving presentations on a larger screen as well as via a projector.

The last port on the back is a 9VDC connector for charging the device and using it on AC power in case you ran the batteries down.It takes on average about 18 minutes to fully charge the internal Li polymer battery.The unit can even charge the current hungry i-mate JasJar aka HTC Universal.

On the right side of the unit near the hinge is the power button. Pressing the button turns the unit on. Also on the right hand side are two LED lights that the one on the right closest to the power button lights up green indicating that the unit is on in case you have the screen contrast too low or the lid closed since there is no auto shutoff switch or light sensor. The  left light also changes to amber when the device is charging, green when it is fully charged and red when it is low.

When the screen is turned on it will first turn on in full brightness mode with the mouse cursor centered on the screen and a slide out tool bar of icons will appear indicating the status of connection, battery state (charging, fully charged, 1/2 charged, or if the battery needs charging) Num Lock and Caps Lock. If this screen disappears to quickly for you to read it all you have to do is move the mouse cursor over the the lower right-hand corner and bring it back on the display.

The icons will even show you how you are connected via USB 1, USB 2, Bluetooth, or not connected. There also a signal strength meter if you are connected via Bluetooth.

The REDFLY Mobile Companion is compatible with selected Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC and Smartphone editions and Windows Mobile 6 Professional and Standard Editions.  A list of tested smartphones is available at www.celiocorp.com/smartphone.  At the time of this review only a handful of devices were supported on the Pocket PC Platform with support for Smartphones aka Windows Mobile Standard coming soon.

You have two choices in which to install the software either over the air or via your computer.

The 8" screen supports resolutions up to 800 x 480 (WVGA) pixels. The current drivers available for the REDFLY are only QVGA for certain device models like the HTC Mogul - Sprint ,HTC Tilt 8900 - AT&T, HTC XV6800 - Verizon Wireless ,Samsung SCH-i760 - Verizon Wireless and Palm Treo 700wx - Verizon Wireless. I decided to give the HTC Tilt drivers a try and download the drivers directly on my VGA display device, the imate JasJar aka HTC Universal. The drivers had an option to install on the device or on the storage card. I chose to install onto the device to prevent any performance problems.

A reboot was required to install the the drivers properly and after a soft reset the device was ready to be hooked up and paired with the REDFLY.

 

To first connect the REDFLY to your Windows Mobile device you will need to do this via a USB cable. Once connected your Windows Mobile screen will go blank except for a REDFLY icon showing that it is connected and your display will show up on the 8" REDFLY display in landscape mode.

Under the Start-> Settings Folder-> was a new icon for the REDFLY that allowed you to configure how you want the REDFLY to interact with your device.

Once connected via USB or Bluetooth you can also access this screen via the REDFLY button.

To connect via Bluetooth you will need to use the REDFLY software to initiate the connection. This looks at the MAC address of the connected device and establishes the proper pairing and partnership between your Windows Mobile devices and the REDFLY. Up to 5 devices can be paired to the REDFLY, which is great for an office that chooses to save costs and share just one unit for sales calls, meetings, etc. Before authorizing the device you will have to turn your Bluetooth radio set on.

 

To connect via Bluetooth you have three options on how to do it. All require that you can initiate it by pressing the Bluetooth key on the keyboard, which is Function F12 and choose which device you wish to connect it to or when you setup your Bluetooth connection settings you can have it automatically pair with your Windows Mobile device upon power up, Ask whether to connect or reject the connection.

Bluetooth is a nice option to have if you forget your USB cable or don't feel like removing your Windows Mobile device from your bag or pocket.

Some Caveats

• When disconnected from the REDFLY it takes about 7 seconds for the screen to return. The default orientation that it returns to is portrait.
• When you are connected to the REDFLY you can't beam files over IR or Bluetooth due to the current communication between the REDFLY and your Windows Mobile device.
• The USB ports also allows you to use USB Jump drives for additional storage, but the USB ports don't see external USB hard dives. The drive will spin up and power up fine, but Windows Mobile may be the deciding factor here. So its just USB thumb drives, which still isn't bad.
• The Bluetooth connection is not as fast as a direct connection given the speed of the data pathway. Bluetooth is good for checking your emails and PowerPoint. USB seems the way to go for extended usage.

Working with the REDFLY

When I got the REDFLY I plugged it in and it charged up in literally 3 minutes at the airport (probably due to a residual charge left on the device when it left Celio) and I took it with me on my flight to Redmond for the MVP Summit. I had downloaded and installed the software on both my HTC Wizard and HTC Universal in under 2 minutes while we waited to take off and was up and running using it. This was without reading the manual, which gives very detailed directions in their Quick Start Guide.  After being told to turn off all electronics and put the tray in the upright position, I turned off both the REDFLY and my phone and placed them in the pouch on the back of the seat in front of me for take off. 

I did bring the Quick Start Guide with me on the plane to read and peruse while we took off.  After being notified to that we could use our electronics I was able to quickly pull them out of the pouch in front of me and get back to work. One of the flight attendants asked me if I was connected to the Internet through my phone, while half the plane got up to use the rest rooms, because he saw it tethered via USB to my phone. I proceed to show him how it worked and what it was. He was impressed and he asked if they were available for sale yet because he would like to use it with his Windows Mobile Treo, but gauffed at the price when I told him.

 

After my quick demo, I quickly brought up Word Mobile and started writing this review. To give you my first impressions and initial findings as I discovered them. I really like the size of the touchpad, which is a wide screen pad matching the display similar to the Apple Macbook Air. The touchpad speed out of the box was a bit slow and required several swipes of the finger to get it to navigate across the screen. I went into the Input tab in the REDFLY and was able to speed up the responsiveness of the touchpad to my preferences which was fast in order to transverse the entire screen in one swipe.

 

I went with the default settings for dimming the screen and sleep (shutting the device down) because it seemed to fit my usage pattern. As I reached looked out the window or partook in a conversation the screen dimmed saving battery life and shut off after 10 minutes, while I was glancing over the Quick Start Guide and gnoshing on some snacks.

 

I easily was able to read and respond to email -even using OWA (Outlook Web Access) using the full sized keyboard. The only request I would want would be the ability to zoom out to fit more text on the screen. I went and changed my System Settings->Screen->Text Size to the smallest setting and found it much more usable and I enabled clear type. It would be nice if these settings could be saved into a profile so when you connected to the REDFLY your settings for smaller print would become active and then default back to your handheld settings when you disconnect. Word and Excel do allow you to set your Zoom levels inside the program which are very useful when using the REDFLY's 8" screen.

   

I found 75% zoom to be comfortable in viewing and typing Word documents.

Using Excel Mobile on the REDFLY is a dream! See I have these pretty large and elaborate spreadsheets for project planning, construction projects, inventory, and IP address, port assignments, my DVD collection, etc. Viewing without panning up/down and left/right is very time consuming and now I can view them pretty quickly and fairly easy as I do when I am using a laptop or desktop computer. I can make changes to a spreadsheet and have it synch via shared folders in Exchange when I am connected to the Internet as well as have a local copy that fits in my pocket. It really is great to see quick graphs and large spread sheets in all their glory with out having to shrink it all down and squint at the content. Coupled with a USB mouse I didn't miss using my P1610.

Remote desktop looks very nice on the REDFLY and even allowed me to control my Media Center at home as well as remote in to a few servers.

The touch and pitch on the keyboard were comfortable enough for short stints of typing. I am used to typing on a small keyboard of my P1610 so the transition for me wasn't too bad as it might be for others it it is you can also add larger USB keyboard and mouse. :) Using the keyboard to quickly cut and paste as well as shortcuts also saves time and increases productivity from working directly on the device, that doesn't have CTRL and ALT keys amongst others. Also being able to use PG UP and PG DN buttons are nice as well when perusing a long document,email, PDF, or spread sheet is great. Switching between applications by using the ALT-TAB key combination is great too, which was helpful when I had to look at a Word document, spreadsheet and email simultaneously.

 

With all the keys being a benefit, the REDFLY adds even more. Yes more. You can even customize some of the hotkeys if you wish.

The function keys have additional shortcuts assigned to them:

F1 = Home, which opens your Today screen

F2 = Mail, which launches your Mobile Messaging

F3 = Web, lauches Internet Explorer Mobile

F4 =  Send, acts like the green phone Send key

F5 = End, acts like the red phone End key

F6 = L Menu- which operates like the left softkey

F7 = R Menu - which operates like the right softkey

F8 = OK works like the dedicated OK button on a keypad

F9 = Brightness Decrease

F10 = Brightness Increase

F11 = External Monitor Toggle

F12 = Bluetooth activation key with your Windows Mobile device

REDFLY = There is also a special button to launch the REDFLY software

When I got back from MVP Summit I made it a mission to use it as my primary computer replacement for a week at work. So it brought it to meetings to take notes as I would my current Tablet PC using OneNote Mobile, granted I couldn't take hand written notes and simultaneously record audio, but I was still able to take good typed notes. I could triage, read and respond to email pretty quickly with out having to wait for my computer to wake up from sleep and logon with my password and ground away loading up applications. On the REDFLY I begin using after entering my password on the keyboard nonetheless. Entering numbers into a spreadsheet went pretty quickly using the numeric keypad, much faster than just using my phone. I was also able to answer and place calls using the dedicated buttons on the keyboard.

Bringing the device into meetings did elicit some conversation and comments on my new small laptop. Others were also wondering where I was getting Internet access since there was no WiFi in the conference room. I was able to VPN into our Sharepoint server and pull up some documents from the last meeting as well as easily use the simple Internet Explorer Mobile browser to look up some specs on a few new ceiling equipment booms for our new GI suites.

Browsing websites doesn't look too bad using Internet Explorer Mobile, however if there is a mobile version the page will render for mobile.

Granted I did try to use the new Opera browser beta 9.5 and I got some Direct Draw errors and it wouldn't open.

Using an older version of Opera v.8.65, I was able to work and the experience very similar to working on a small screened laptop or UMPC. It was a nice experience.

Later that day I was able to pull up a PowerPoint presentation I had on a thumb drive to do an ACLS In-Service training for some doctors and nurses. I attached the REDFLY to their conference room projector.

Next all I had to do was press the F11 key and select just like on a laptop either from just the LCD display, LCD Display and external monitor, or just external monitor. I chose to go with dual display as I do with my laptop.   I was able to deliver my training class with no hitches. I even had my Windows Mobile device in my hand and advanced the slides using the arrow keys and the directional pad. Before giving the presentation I did adjust the Battery Power settings in the REDFLY software not to dim the screen or go to sleep.

When using a USB Memory stick it will appear on the device as a Remote Storage device under File Explorer and you can peruse the directory as you would on any device. At the Microsoft MVP Summit, Eric Hicks was able to copy a certificate from his computer onto a thumb drive and transfer it to a server back at home using the REDFLY and Remote Desktop via his iMate JasJar.

Some applications I did miss where I did need to use a laptop or desktop were drawing programs, audio/video editing, and Live Meeting. I hope someone comes out with a Live Meeting client for Windows Mobile soon. However I was easily able to do with out them when out of the office.

Standing and holding the unit one handed and typing was a bit awkward due to the weight of the display being heaver than the base made it difficult to hold unless I held it behind the hinge. It was manageable, but not as easy to use as a Tablet PC, UMPC or Windows Mobile device.

Hey guess what? You can even play some games on the REDFLY. Granted not all screens render perfectly and performance is a bit sluggish, but you can play some games like Bubble Breaker, Solitaire, Zuma, Hexic, etc without any problems. If you want to play video or use applications like Sling Player Mobile, the drivers and speed are not quite there yet.

If allowable by law you can even use the REDFLY as a larger screen for your GPS navigation software in your car.

The REDFLY also works well with both Google Maps for Mobile and Windows Live Mobile Search.

The instant on feature of the REDFLY is a great and connecting it up being productive in a short period of time extends the functionality of your Windows Mobile device is its biggest strength. The price point however is its weakest point with an MSRP of $499 it aligns it self with some very affordable small laptops like the Asus EEPC and HP MiniNote. Where its cost savings comes in is in the licensing of software, maintenance, hardware, security, and service of the laptop, which averages most companies around $4100 per user. These costs are saved without any worry of loss of sensitive data if the device is lost or stolen. The same unit can also be easily shared with up to 5 different users cutting down costs even more.

Product Information

Product Name and Model Number: REDFLY Mobile Companion C8
Size: 1 x 6 x 9 inches
Weight: 2.0 lbs.
Battery Life: 8 Hours under normal use via USB
Display Size: 8 inch diagonal wide screen
Display Resolution: 800 x 480
VGA Display Output: 800 x 480
Keyboard: 8.3 inch 80-key QWERTY keyboard
Touchpad: 1.0 x 2.9 inches
Special Fn keys: Fn buttons are hot-keys for phone control
(i.e. send, end, OK, esc, left menu, right menu, etc)
Operating System Compatibility:
Windows Mobile 5.0 (Pocket PC and Smartphone editions)
Windows Mobile 6.0 (Professional and Standard editions)
More operating system compatibility to be announced
See tested smartphone list at http://www.celiocorp.com/smartphone
Application Compatibility:
Applications and data from the smartphone appear on the REDFLY
enabled display
Ports and Connectors: VGA port, 2 high speed USB 2.0 ports, AC power connector
Smartphone Connection: via Bluetooth Bluetooth 2.0 EDR (compatible with Bluetooth 1.0, 2.0)
Smartphone Connection: via USB Use USB cable included with smartphone
Smartphone Charger: via USB Able to charge smartphones via USB (as supported by phone)
USB Flash Drive Compatibility Standard USB Flash Drives (Drives appear on smartphone file system)
USB Keyboard Compatibility: Standard USB Keyboards
USB Mouse Compatibility: Standard USB Mice
AC Power Charger: AC Power Adapter Input: 90 – 264VAC, 47 – 63 Hz, Output: 9VDC, 2.5A
Operating Temperature: 0 degree C min (32 degrees F), 55 degress C max (131 degrees F)

At the time of this review drivers for only Windows Mobile Professional/Pocket PC devices were available. Today Celio announced support for 12 new phones to its list of supported smartphones (Beta release dates will be announced during Q2, 2008):

HP iPAQ 910 6.0 Professional

HTC Touch Sprint 6.0 Professional

HTC Dash T-Mobile 6.0 Standard

HTC Wing T-Mobile 6.0 Professional

Motorola MOTO Q AT&T 6.0 Standard

Motorola MOTO Q 9h AT&T 6.0 Standard

Motorola MOTO Q Sprint 5.0 Smart Phone

Motorola MOTO Q 9c Sprint 6.0 Standard

Motorola MOTO Q 9m Verizon 6.0 Standard

Palm Treo 750 AT&T 5.0 Pocket PC

Samsung Black Jack AT&T 5.0 Smart Phone

Samsung Black Jack II AT&T 6.0 Standard

Company officials noted that Windows Mobile 6.1 compatibility is particularly important due to the new features of Microsoft SCMDM (Security Center Mobile Device Management). This new functionality allows enterprise IT managers to manage these mobile devices much more easily within the corporate environment to push applications, security settings and transparently manage devices out in the field.

The REDFLY Software will be available for other operating systems in the future.  The REDFLY Mobile Companion from Celio Corp. will be available in May 2008 for $499 MSRP. To sign up for product updates head here to place a pre-order for one head here.

(note this entire review was written using the REDFLY)

AbsoluteVista has just posted up their contest today to win an HP HDX Dragon Entertainment Notebook in Day 1 of the 31 Days of the Dragon.

So here are the rules for the 1st contest at AbsoluteVista:

Simple: I need a story.

Tell me how this elegant desktop-replacement system will enhance your entertainment options.

Inform the world how this fantastic and totally decked-out system will bring up your productivity, and mobile gaming.

Finally, reveal to all how HP and this game-changing device will make your world better!

While I like a well-written treatise as much as the other guy, please don't write me a dissertation.

Be concise, be creative, be funny, can the sob stories, be funny!

Above all, keep to the easy guidelines above, and we'll see.

It is free to enter.

It is free to win.

Process:

The contest will be open from 12.00 am (Pacific Daylight Time) May 2, 2008 until midnight (PDT) May 8, 2008.

All entries are welcome.

The contest is open to all sapient human inhabitants of Sol-3**, and is totally free to enter. You live on Earth? Send me an email, leave me your comments, watch the site for follow-on questions, if any and you may get to win one of these beauties.

Easy as that!

Just send an email with your story, name, country and locality of residence only – I do not need your address unless you are selected, age, occupation or hobby.

For more details on the contest and how to enter for your chance to win an HP HDX Dragon Entertainment Notebook head over to AbsoluteVista.

Be sure to head back here for details on the next contest tomorrow or head directly to Ars Technica and back here on May 7th when our contest starts!

OK I have own some pretty nice watches including a Longines, a Patek Philippe pocket watch I got from my grandfather(heck I still have my first watch as a kid a Star Wars LED watch by TI), but the ones I wear everyday and just love are the MSN Direct SPOT watches. I  received an email from one of our readers that they read over at SPOTStop in a post by Jon Canan, program manager of Microsoft MSN Direct unveiled, that SPOT watches have been discontinued, but the MSN Direct service will remain. The last model to be sold as a SPOT watch is the Abacus 2006. I just recently renewed my service in March and got one of these as a retention gift. (I have been using MSN Direct since the beta). It's a nice watch with very easy to press buttons. Its a shame that further development was halted, some really cool watches with multi-color displays mentioned a few years back would have been great for some really cool designs as well as a possibility of wallpaper and photo sync with a host computer. The current  MSN Direct client for Windows Mobile is cool, but needs some programming refinement and a version for touch screens (which is currently in internal testing and will be out soon!), but its good to see that the service and infrastructure will continue.