TamsWMS - the Windows Mobile Smartphone Blog

Creating cases for flip phones has traditionally been very difficult - usually, all one gets is either made of silicon or PVC(aka crystal case). Proporta has managed to create a classic aluminum-leather case for the QTEK 8500 flip - can it stack up?

Proporta’s products ship in envelopes via standard mail from London.This is great, as stuff gets delivered to your mailbox(aka you don’t need to be at home to get your stuff) - and the envelopes protect the stuff well enough. The case itself is contained in an extra blister along with a belt clip:

When unpacking the phone for the first time, you get a slightly nasty shock - does Proporta really want my phone to be held by THIS:

However, once you slip your phone in, all doubts are busted - the phone is held firmly and the flip still closes well:

As usual, Proporta integrated cutouts for all important elements:

Unfortunately, the cutout for the sync port is not perfectly done - fitting connectors in can require quite a bit of pressure. But this isn’t all that bad - getting the phone out is very easy:

Last but not least, is a picture of the phone in its case:

In the end, this 35$ case may be a bit expensive(when looking at a 100$ phone) - but it really is worth its price in gold. The case protects the phone well, and in case some peripheral does not fit, removing the phone from the case is easy. If you wish for a leather case, get this by all means!

In case anyone of you feels like owning a Palm Treo 500, but does not wish to pay Palm’s outrageous and insane asking price, could become happy with a VodaFone Palm Treo 500v.

If the price of just 249€ lets you accept the insanely-annoying ribbon interface, head over to HandIt.de now for your personal piece of excess VodaFone inventory!

P.S. The device is SIM-free…no SIM locks here.

Vodafone’s Treo 500v was styled like a consumer device from hair tip to toe - Palm’s Treo 500 was designed in a more “conservative” fashion; the black case really looks quite well. But looks isn’t everything in a TamsWMS review - what about the stuff inside(and on the outside)P

Sizewise, the 500 is a lot slimmer but a bit wider than the Treo 680(equivalent to 750/750v):

Unlike most other Windows Mobile smartphones, the Treo 500 has an excellent keyboard. While typing is a bit more comfortable on machines like a Treo 680, the Treo 500’s keyboard still feels very well and is a pleasure to use:

The screen has a glossy cover that magically attracts scratches. Leaving the unit in a Proporta Gadget Bag for a day and passing it through an airport scan produced a few nasty scratches. The back of the 500 contains the speaker and the camera. The backplate of the 500 isn’t attached with a button anymore - instead, it is just pulled off to the bottom.

Doing this reveals the removable battery(not compatible with 680/750; but interchangeable with a 500v’s), the SIM slot and the memory card slot(uh-oh):

The Treo 600’s top-mounted power button is back(although it doesn’t do anything even remotely useful), and Palm also included the classic volume buttons:

Last but not least, the bottom of the 500v reveals a MiniUSB port and the 2′5 inch headphone jack:

Overall, the Treo 500 is similar to the hp 514…both devices have nicely done hardware with a fatal flaw. Palm managed to get charging/syncing, data input and overall design perfectly right…and destroys the otherwise-perfect device with the waaay-too-sensitive screen cover. Nevertheless, like the 514, the 500 is an exceptionally well-done Windows Mobile Smartphone…and the keyboard…

Tune in soon for a look at the 500’s screen.

Sprint has just announced the Samsung Ace:

The Ace is very similar to the BlackJack II, and has the following specifications:

• Windows Mobile 6
• QVGA screen
• 64 MB of RAM/128 MB of ROM
• Bluetooth 2.0

However, the phone has a radio transmitter that is not limited to CDMA networks - instead, it also supports GSM900/1800, which is the prevalent wireless standard used approximately everywhere outside of the USA. Unfortunately, the GSM module is limited to GPRS(no 3G, no EDGE) - but I dare to say that this is still better than not having a phone at all…

With a 2yr contract, the phone costs 300$ - a 100$ mail rebate brings it down to 199$…

Further reading:
Samsung Ace product page @ Sprint’s

AstraWare’s pirate-themed TradeWinds 2 game brought a fresh twist to “travel-and-trade” games on PDA’s…most of them were set up in a space environment before. AstraWare has now ported it over to Windows Mobile smartphones - can it stack up?

TradeWinds is centered around “ports”, which are arranged on a map. Your task is sailing from port to port with goods which can then be sold for a profit:

Each port looks different, but contains more-less the same buildings(some aren’t available in every port):

For example, a marketplace allows you to buy and sell goods(the exchange rates vary from port to port):

The money gained in trading can be invested into your ship’s armament at the shipyard. Alternatively, you can use it to buy more goods and get even richer(:)):

While traveling, pirates can attack you. The battles happen in “real-time”, you just click the target that shall be attacked.
Special ammunition can be fired by clicking its icon in the “toolbar”:

In Story mode, “tasks” are assigned to you that must be completed in order to unlock new characters, ships and ports. Additionally, completing a task gets you a nice cash bonus:

This review focussed on version 1.00 of the program on a QTEK 8500. The program needs approx 4100k of memory and can be run from an external memory card!

Overall, TradeWinds 2 is a must-have for everyone who loves “turn-based” strategy games. One can’t imagine how much fun trading and fighting can be…until one has played this game. The first version of TradeWinds was a bit “shallow” to play, but TradeWinds 2 is much more challenging and less repetitive. It’s graphics and background music are quite nice, too - the price of 19.95$ is a bit steep but justified!

Use the discount code TRADEWINDSWMS to get 20% off the purchase price at the TamsShop

Palm’s VodaFone version of the TReo 500(called Treo 500v) had a custom user interface called Ribbon. Ribbon, um, was a horror for every power user to use. Anyways, I am glad to confirm that someone at Palm’s got sensible and decided to ship the 500 with the standard Windows Mobile UI.

Here are a few images of the box showing it in action:

For all those who wish to take a look at the Ribbon UI, there’s a somewhat detailed writeup over at our partner site TamsPPC.

In case anyone of you still wonders if Sprite Archie(the SMS/call log archiving tool for Windows Mobile) is compatible with touchscreenless Windows Mobile Smartphones - I am proud to bring you the following quote from Sprite Software’s support team:

Sprite Archie is fully compatible with WM5 and WM6 Pocket Pc (touch
screen) and Smartphone (non-touchscreen) devices. There are some devices such as the Palm Treo devices which use a third party SMS system so Archie will not work on Treo devices.

In case anyone of you feels like some archiving goodness, feel free to get the app over at Sprite’s web site!

For all of you visiting us from CNET - welcome! However, this IS NOT a new phone for VodaFone - this is a 500v for non-Vodafone carriers and over-the-counter sales!

Palm’s first Windows Mobile Smartphone(the 500v for Vodafone) has been reviewed all over the internet. However, the company has recently released an unlocked version of the device called Treo 500 - and TamsWMS is proud to be the first news service to present you the beginning of a Treo 500 review…by unpacking the box:

Not surprisingly, the 500’s box was stripped off all Vodafone branding - Palm’s design team did a great job at making the package look cool:

Immediately after opening the package, you are presented with a multilingual “read-this-first” manual:

After having read the manual(which I, of course, didn’t do :)), the box reveals a driver CD and a “Quickstart guide”:

Once this is done, you can finally get your paws onto a blister containing your precious Treo 500 and a battery(did I mention that it looks cool?):

Both the 500v and the battery are in small PVC bags - Palm additionally glued blue protective foil over the screen and the camera lens of the device:

Below this blister, one can find a MiniUSB cable, a power supply with international plugs and - a wired headset. As usual, Palm did not include a MicroSD memory card - while I personally feel that this is a rather bad idea(limits users), the widespread availability of cheap memory cards makes this less of a problem than it once used to be:

Last but not least, here is a small video showing the unpacking process:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7068658954178327278&hl=en

In the end, the Palm Treo 500 ships with the same (well-done) hardware bundle found in the 500v’s box. However, Palm significantly beefed up the presentation, packaging the stuff in a fashion similar to the one that debuted along the Treo 680. While this probably won’t make much of a difference for a seasoned mobile device addict, having a “quickstart” manual handy can be a great way to mitigate initial frustrations for the average user….

P.S. - Stay tuned for benchmarks, a detailed screen comparison and much more - in the next parts of our Treo 500 review!

The box pictured below is very afraid of being thrown into the bin by this lovely critter - she has grown tired of it sitting on our TV set and now wants to throw it out:

Please have mercy with the box - it contains a perfectly-ok and completely unused Proporta Alu-Leather case for the hp ipaq 514 business messenger. It was intended to be reviewed along with the unit, but somehow the review wasn’t completed in time. It has never ever been used, but the screw for the belt clip has been lost:

I am now willing to give it away for free to anyone who is willing to cover the posting fees(about 7€, can be paid via PayPal).

Jokes and Doris aside…our friends at Proporta’s have allowed me to give away this sample as I personally don’t have such an iPaq. In case you feel like giving it a pop, just email me at Tamog@gmx.at and we’ll figure out how to get it to you the fastest/cheapest way.

Samsung has just announced the following, pretty cool-looking Windows Mobile Standard box called i-200:

The specs at GSMArena’s look rather average - the device has a MicroSD slot, a QVGA screen and a 2MP camera. It does not have WiFi or a infrared port, but does ship with BT2.0 and a triband HSDPA GSM radio.

As of now, not much further information is known - please stay tuned for further info!

P.s. Samsung has had a long history of both not shipping devices and of shipping devices en masse. If this phone falls into the second category and gets adopted by carriers, it could very well mean hundreds of thousands of potential new WMS users in the market for third-party software.

The German CeBit tradeshow is commonly known for cool devices, sometimes a load of snow and a great press center. Great - for all those who are let in. For most tradeshows, getting in is a matter of proving that you publish something - not so for the CeBit. I have just received my press card for this year’s trade show - please look below for a comparison to last year’s(on the right):

This year’s version states “ONLINE JOURNALIST” right across the Press text - sort of like bloggers are second-class journalists who basically are completely irrelevant to today’s technology world and who are just let in as an act of courtesy from the CeBit media department. Many bloggers have press cards from renowned journalists associations(e.g. yours truly) - but still aren’t worthy of proper treatment in the eyes of the Deutsche Messe AG.

Please keep in mind that this isn’t the first time the Deutsche Messe AG discriminates online mediums(and bearers of press cards not issued by German agencies) - 2000, journalists from really big news sites(e.g. Tom’s Hardware and The Register) were banned from entering the tradeshow). Last year, everything went well - and this year, the bork-ups begin all over again. It feels like a late revenge stunt - hey, we can’t kick you out, but we can still discriminate you by giving you a differently-looking(or stamped) press card.

Dear readers, please help make this public.

Continued here

Recently, many software houses have begun offering components(used in their applications) to third-party developers(take Resco as an example). The US-based company PhatWare has decided to follow suite by offering its OTA-updating utility to developers:

PhatUpdate SDK for Microsoft Windows Mobile offers an easy and convenient way to provide updates for installed software products and offer additional products compatible with the user’s device. In addition to product updates, the application can also be configured to offer trial versions of other 1st and 3rd party software and provides links to download and purchase the software directly from the device. The SDK includes royalty-free redistribution license, one year maintenance and updates, and two hours of engineering support via phone or email.

The system will work on touchscreened and touchscreenless Windows Mobile 5 or 6 devices. Purchasing it(599$) entitles you to 2h of free tech support and unlimited distribution rights(aka you can use it in all your apps, forever). Additionally, you are entitled to free updates for one year after your initial purchase.

T-Mobile have just released an update for their “Shadow” smartphone, adding a feature called “Audio Postcards”.

An Audio Postcard essentially is a MMS-like thingy, consisting of a photo and a bit of recorded voice.

Additonally, the update also tugs along a few ringtones and bug fixes - here’s the official change log:

• Five free ring tones from popular movies and musicians.
• Two free full length songs.
• An assortment of free phone wall paper images.
• Audio Postcard, a fun new myFaves connecting experience.
• Enhanced myFaves and menu graphics.
• Improved text entry experience.

The update can be downloaded here - please try it out and let us know how it goes!

The HTC Kaiser recently won a survey asking Windows Mobile smartphone users about their favorite box - and Verizon now gets a “lookalike”(pictured below):

The SMT5800 is derived from the HTC Vox and has a different keyboard on the outside. The machine has 128MB ROM / 64MB RAM, a microSD slot and Bluetooth 2.0 - wireless data is handled via an EVDO transmitter, which can be updated to EVDO Rev A.

The device is said to cost $314.99 with a 2 year contract, $344.99 with a 1 year contract, and $469.99 full retail. It is said to become available on the 7th, stores will get it by the 21st.

Via Boy Genius Report