Personal Technology Tips in Plain English
Treo
Wall Street Journal Review: Samsung Blackjack Beats Out Treo 750
May 18th
Walt Mossberg is one of the icons of “Personal Technology”. I look forward to his column in the Wall Street Journal. And boy, did I like his recent head-to-head review of the Samsung Blackjack vs. Treo 750.
There’s a bunch of advantages that Mossberg points out in his All Things Digital column reviewing the Samsung Blackjack and Treo 750, both on AT&T Wireless (formerly Cingular):
- The Blackjack is 35% lighter than the Treo
- The Blackjack is 36% smaller
- It runs on a faster data network than the Treo 750
- 38% better battery life
- Full keyboard
- The Blackjack is much cheaper (actually it’s now free) than the $399 Treo
He’s eager to see the highly anticipated iPhone, but clearly says that the Samsung Blackjack is the way to go. But for now, “Of these two phones, I prefer the BlackJack.” from his concluding paragraph sums it all up.
Yes, That’s LIVE Streaming TV & Video On My Cell Phone
May 17th
I’ve been playing with my HandiTV application that I recently purchased and downloaded onto my Samsung Blackjack. It set me back $20, and I’m still questioning if it was worth it. But video-casting or clip-casting is about to break free of technical burdens and is here and now it seems from all the major carriers.
Everyone has their own flavor of video streaming to the cell phone, some are video-clips updated throughout the day, and other services provide live or delayed broadcast TV (NICE!). But of course, all this eye-candy isn’t cheap, costing you at least $120/year for the convenience of watching tv on that tiny screen of yours.
Cingular actually has a service through the same software maker as the application I purchased, offering several more channels. But I opted for the one-time purchase of $20 vs. $10/month every month after month.
Both of them really does require you to have a nice clean 3G signal at the very least unless you want to watch really jerky video and/or hear broken up audio/video signals throughout a segment.
For Verizon Wireless, the 8 packaged channels are Fox Mobile, CBS Mobile, Comedy Central, MTV, NBC, NBC News, Nickelodeon, & ESPN. There’s an option for “V Cast Mobile TV LIMITED PACKAGE” which is $13/month (only $2 cheaper!) and has only NBC, NBC News, CBS Mobile & Fox Mobile. On the other end, for $25/month, you can get all that plus unlimited video clips, “Mobile Web 2.0″ airtime & email.
Verizon’s Vcast Mobile TV has a very limited number of channels, but they claim it’s “REAL TV”. And by the looks of the programming guide, it looks like you can find stuff that you’ll actually watch.
The other carriers offer similar services. Here’s a summary of what the major carriers like Verizon Wireless, Sprint/Nextel & Cingular are offering their customers for video over the cell towers:
There’s actually other avenues to access free streaming content on the Samsung Blackjack and other Windows Mobile cell phones (that’s another story for another day…soon). However, they don’t package it all up as nicely as any of these carrier’s own services, which shouldn’t be underestimated. When you’re on the go, sometimes it’s worth it to be able to quickly drill down menu options and get to what you want quickly.
2007 is the Year of Video and cell phone are definitely invited to that party.
AT&T Wireless / Cingular Samsung Blackjack i607 vs. Sprint Treo 700wx
May 8th
The Treo vs. Blackjack
Here’s a head-to-head video comparison between the Treo 700wx on Sprint’s EVDO network vs. the Samsung Blackjack on AT&T Wireless’s 3G network. It’s little things like this that would helped me when I was making my decision to leave the Palm-based Treo to a new Windows Mobile smartphone like the Samsung Blackjack cell phone.
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How To Find Audio Books To Load Onto Your Windows Mobile Cell Phone (like my Samsung Blackjack i607)
Apr 28th
One of the great features of the Samsung Blackjack and many other Windows Moblie smartphones now is the ability to play mp3 files. Most people associate mp3′s with music. But another GREAT source of content for you to play are audio books. There are now tons of titles available and they are a great way to make your downtime productive instantly (like when you’re waiting in line as you always find yourself).
Audible.com is one of the major sources of audiobooks on the web. It’s easy to find many of the best seller books in audio to download. And basically since you can burn the audiobooks to CD in mp3 format, you can just copy the files to your Blackjack. You play them back using Windows Media Player Mobile which is found on the Samsung Blackjack pre-installed.
Another REALLY BIG REASON to use Audible is that it can be integrated with iTunes. Which means getting your audiobooks onto your iPod and PC is a cinch.
Audible.com has a cool option to sign-up for a subscription which gives you discounted credits for new audiobooks every month. And you also get an extra 25% off every other audiobook title in their catalog. A real benefit to the discount subscription is that you get a free audiobook every month that the editors select as well as you get a free audio newspaper subscription to The New York Times or Wall Street Journal delivered daily.
ESSISTME.COM TIP >> I really suggest that you upload the audio files (and any other media files you push to your Samsung Blackjack) onto your removeable microSD memory card vs. the device’s built-in memory. This way, you can easily use the microSD card to put into your USB card reader on your computer to copy files back and forth easily as well as you keep the device’s memory from filling up so fast.
Free International Long Distance Calls on Your Cell Phone (like my Samsung Blackjack)
Apr 17th
Here’s a great tip if you’re traveling short-term or long, and have a bunch of people you regularly call that requires international long distance…and it’s perfect for cell phones like the Blackjack, Blackberry, Treo, iPAQ, Motorola Q, Nokia smartphones, SonyEricsson, etc.
A free service with a twist on VoIp is available from JaJah.com. Instead of direct calls to someone else using VoIP, the service takes your telelphone or cell phone number, and the phone number of the person you want to call through their webpage — after you hit go, they call you first, and then connect the call to the other party. THUS, neither of you need a VoIP adapter, hardware, etc. You can use and call any phone in the world. And of course there’s the network effect — calls between JahJah members are free globally.
JaJah.com just came out with a mobile edition of their site, so you can now initiate calls from your web browswer on the Samsung Blackjack or other smartphone with a web browser. Just go to… Read the rest of this entry »
2 Million Songs On Your Cell Phone (like my Samsung Blackjack) for $5.99
Apr 15th
Lately I’ve been trying to explore different ways to use my Samsung Blackjack to exploit the fact that it handles various media files very well. Music mp3 is one of them. I started with iTunes and ripping my own CD’s to get mp3 files onto the Blackjack (TIP: don’t load them into your device’s memeory, instead copy them onto the microSD card so you don’t run out of room on your device.). Then I found out that eMusic has the same catalog of songs for MUCH cheaper — think of it as a discount iTunes.com
But then there’s Yahoo!Music, which I never really gave much thought too, until someone told me that it supports Windows Mobile devices like the Samsung Blackjack on AT&T Network. . . Read the rest of this entry »
Get Free Local Business 411 Directory Assistance
Apr 13th
It looks like it will be a battle between Google, who recently launched 1-800-GOOG-411 vs. Microsoft, who is acquiring TellMe Networks, operator of 1-800-555-TELL. Both now offer free 411 for local businesses in your area. And both are ways to avoid the $1.25 or $1.50 directory assistance charge from cell phone providers slapped onto your bill each time.
I personally like Tell Me’s various services, including the ability to connect to any airline free of charge without ever having to memorize or write down the telephone number.
Just dial 1-800-555-TELL (1-800-555-8355) and you can get weather, sports scores, headlines and now local directory assistance for businesses including restaurants, banks, clothing stores, dry cleaners, electronics stores, etc.
They’re working on a beta for 411 services where you speak the name or type of business and it will give you the results + map on your cell phone. This is just a hint of what’s to come since voice recognition is finally practical to utilize for more and more services.
I love tech, gadgets and the web. Hope you pick-up a useful tip or two here today that helps you use technology to your advantage! Better yet, why not share your own expertise in a comment on a post today to help the other readers that land here for answers!